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Curfew, Hurriyat strike paralyse Kashmir
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Cross-LoC trade gives rules a go-by
The Chakan da Bagh Cross-LOC Trade Centre in
Poonch. A Tribune photograph
BJP to take up Article 370, panchayat empowerment
BJP leader and former cricketer Kirti Azad addresses mediapersons in Jammu on Friday.
Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
Separatists demanding ‘azadi’ must visit Gilgit-Baltistan: Parthasarathy
Former diplomat G Parthasarathy (centre) at a national seminar in Jammu on Friday. A Tribune photograph
Alert in state after Hyderabad blasts
Proposed police Act is flawed, claim social activists
PDP wants unbiased probe into Hyderabad blasts
Patnitop winter carnival fails to attract tourists this time
Kuldeep Khoda takes oath as CVC
Governor NN Vohra administers oath of office to Kuldeep Khoda and RK Jerath
at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Friday. A Tribune photograph
Omar meets Home
Minister
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Curfew, Hurriyat strike paralyse Kashmir
Srinagar, February 22 Today was the twelfth Kashmir-wide closure in a series of government-imposed curfews and separatist-called bandhs in the last fortnight since Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging. The region has remained open for businesses for only two days since February 9- on Monday and Tuesday this week. In downtown
Srinagar, curfew was imposed and civilian movement remained restricted. Several shops in uptown Srinagar where no curfew was imposed also remained shut. Reports said curfew was also strictly imposed in south and north Kashmir districts. Today’s shutdown was the culmination of the three-day protest calendar issued by Syed Ali
Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference earlier this week. Geelani, who is in New Delhi, has warned to continue the protest till Guru’s body, which has been buried inside the Tihar Jail, is returned to his
family. Hardline Hurriyat has called for businesses to resume for the next three days when the next protest calendar will be issued, said Mohammad Ashraf
Sehrai, group’s senior leader. “There will be no shutdown for the next three days,” Sehrai said. He appealed to residents to hold evening meetings to offer prayers for Guru and also asked them to write graffiti on walls to demand return of Guru’s body. A police spokesman said the curfew and restrictions had been imposed at
different places and the situation across the region remained normal. Restrictions on public and transport movement had been imposed in areas falling under the jurisdiction of 11 police stations in Srinagar till further orders, an official spokesman said. However, three persons were injured when protest erupted at a village in Kulgam district of south Kashmir. Two protesters and a policeman were injured during a demonstration at Trehgam town in Kupwara district of north Kashmir. Moderate separatist group led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement said its senior leaders, including
Mirwaiz, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Abdul Gani Bhat and Syed Hassan Mosavi, were placed under house arrest and were denied to offer Friday prayers. |
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Cross-LoC trade gives rules a go-by
Jammu, February 22 Under the standard operating procedure (SOP), traders (permanent residents of J&K) had to export goods manufactured within the state to PoK traders but hardly any commodity being exported today is produced or manufactured in the state. Besides, the trade that is meant for the permanent residents of J&K has been “hijacked” by traders
from other states like Punjab and Delhi. Taking benefits of the biggest confidence-building measure between India and Pakistan, their modus operandi is that they are using state subjects as middlemen. The trade between the two parts of divided Kashmir had started on October 21, 2008, via Chakan da Bagh in Poonch district and Salamabad in Baramulla district. “Under the SOP it had been clearly mentioned that the trade would take place between two Kashmirs (PoK and J&K) but in brazen violation of the rules it has been hijacked by traders from Delhi and Punjab,” said a trader. Though 165 traders are registered with the Indian authorities at the Chakan da Bagh trade centre, only 35 traders actively do business with their PoK counterparts. “Out of the 35 traders, only five are permanent residents of the state while 30 traders belonging to Punjab and Delhi do business with PoK traders in the name of J&K traders,” he said. The state of affairs at the Salamabad trade centre is similar, he added. A top official source also confided in The Tribune that traders from Delhi and Punjab were actually taking the benefit of cross-LoC trade, which was conceived by then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed for permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. He said traders from Punjab and Delhi armed with a power of attorney do business on behalf of local traders. “For every truck, a local trader is being paid Rs 5,000 and if 10 such trucks on his name cross the LoC every week carrying merchandise for PoK trader, he fetches Rs 50,000 without investing even a rupee,” he said. Hilal Khan, general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Cross-LoC Trade, said the matter had been brought to the notice of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah but no action was initiated and the malpractice continues. “The J&K traders had submitted a letter to the Chief Minister in 2010, and had promised action but nothing has been done to date,” he said. Another official source disclosed that hardly any item out of the 21 listed in the export list was being manufactured in the state and the commodities being exported to PoK traders were being brought from other parts of the state. Under the SOP, it had been clearly stated that items manufactured within the state and mentioned in the export list would be traded with PoK. The export list includes fresh fruits, dry fruits, medicinal herbs, moongi (cereal), tamarind, spices, chillies, coriander, pillows and mattress, rugs, wooden and walnut furniture, shawls, carpets, embroidery items and wooden handicrafts. NORMS FLOUTED
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BJP to take up Article 370, panchayat empowerment
Jammu, February 22 While addressing a press conference here today, Azad said he would take up the issue of Article 370 under rule 193 of the Parliament Business Rules to enable a wider discussion on the subject. He said Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to the state and which was meant to be temporary, had done more harm than good to the state. Referring to Parliament’s unanimous resolution of 1994 to get back the part of Jammu and Kashmir which is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, Azad said February 22 was a historic day as it was on this day that this resolution was passed. “Unfortunately, the Congress-led governments which have been in power for most of the time have taken no concrete measures to ensure implementation of this resolution,” he said. Azad said despite the Congress being in power in the state and at the Centre, it had failed to extend as many as 133 provisions of the Indian Constitution to the state, depriving its people of benefits available to people of other states. These include reservations for SCs, STs and women, he said.
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Separatists demanding ‘azadi’ must visit Gilgit-Baltistan: Parthasarathy
Jammu, February 22 Parthasarathy was speaking during the concluding session of a seminar organised on the implementation of 1994 Lok Sabha resolution to liberate a part of Kashmir from the illegal occupation of Pakistan. The seminar was organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Security and Strategies. “As part of the 1994 resolution of Parliament, Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir as well as India so separatist leaders of the Kashmir valley who have been demanding azadi and raking up the issue of human rights violations should be asked to visit that part of Kashmir to inquire about the plight of people living there,” he said. Parthasarathy, who has served as High Commissioner of India to Pakistan and Consul General in Karachi, cautioned the nation against the development in Gilgit-Baltistan. “The presence of China in Gilgit-Baltistan has been posing as a grave threat to India. It is high time the country took some step,” he said, adding, “Pakistan, as part of its nefarious designs, has been changing the demography of Gilgit-Baltistan by settling people of Swat in this Shia-dominated area.” He said the involvement of China in this region had been increasing. He said the killing of Shias was going on unabated not only in Gilgit-Baltistan but in other parts of Pakistan too. Sajjad Hussain Kargili, who has relatives in Gilgit-Baltistan, said, “Constitutionally, Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of India but the response of the government towards the killing of natives of that place is not encouraging.” |
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Alert in state after Hyderabad blasts
Jammu: In the backdrop of the twin blasts that rocked Hyderabad on Thursday, the state police has sounded a high alert, particularly in the militancy-infested areas of the state.
The Indian Mujahideen (IM) and Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) are being seen as two prime suspects behind the blasts. “Though no terror outfit has so far claimed the responsibility of the terror attack or linked it with the hanging of Afzal Guru, the police has been put on a high alert,” Kishtwar-Ramban-Doda range DIG Garib Dass said.
— TNS
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Proposed police Act is flawed, claim social activists
Srinagar, February 22 “It looks like the government wants to enforce this important Act without having a wide range of consultation on it,” said Navaz Kotwal, the Coordinator Police Reforms at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation. The J&K Government has already prepared a draft of the law and has uploaded it on the state Home Department’s website. The Home Department has sought public comments and suggestions within a period of fifteen days commencing from February 15. “Making the draft public is a welcome step, considering the state has spent the last seven years in resisting and delaying police reforms proposed by the Supreme Court. However, it will be highly appreciated if consultation with eminent lawyers, social and human rights activists is done prior to the introduction of the new bill in the state legislature in the upcoming session of the Assembly. The introduction of a new police law should symbolise the introduction of a new vision and style of policing,” said Kotwal. “To allow only a 15-day period for comments on the law is not a well thought-out decision. It will only result in a bad law coming out of a bad process,” she said. A Right to Information activist, Raja Muzaffar Bhat, who quit the mainstream politics recently, said the new Act should intend to dodge political interference in policing. “For maintaining neutrality, a State Security Commission (SSC) is to be set up under the Act. Under the Act, the SSC is to be chaired by the Chief Minister, the leader of Opposition as a member and objectively selected independent members. The present composition of the commission as laid out in the draft Act fails to comply with the model as laid down by the apex court. It fails to include the leader of Opposition and it fails to lay down a selection process for independent members. Such a body is bound to fail,” Bhat said. Nadeem Qadri, a lawyer, said the government should not pass this law in haste. "It has serious flaws and needs detailed consultation before it is made a law," Qadri said. However, state Home Minister Sajjad Kichloo said the draft is already on the website and it is aimed at generating a wider public debate. “We will consider all genuine changes that people will suggest before the passing of the Act,” he said. The Supreme Court in 2006 paved the way for better policing by directing states to put in place six precise changes. If obeyed in letter and spirit, these changes can go a way in putting policing houses in order. Fourteen states in the country have already introduced their new police Act.
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PDP wants unbiased probe into Hyderabad blasts
Srinagar, February 22 Mehbooba said while everybody was looking forward to the results of the investigation and severe punishment for the perpetrators of the crime, it was important not to go “witch hunting” as had been done on many such occasions previously. She said “victimisation” of members of a community in Makkah Masjid, Ajmer Sharief, Malegaon in Samjhauta Express blasts had “resulted in a large number of youth being framed on charges that were proved to be completely fabricated after they had spent years in custody”. "Nobody must be harassed for his religious affiliation,” Mehbooba said. The PDP president lamented that on such occasions, Kashmiri youth in different parts of the country were becoming “natural suspects”. Those arrested in the Lajpat Nagar blast took more than 17 years to establish their innocence and in the process, a few families were devastated and the implicated young men lost all hope for a promising life,” she said. "Scores of youth from Kashmir are imprisoned across the country, many of them reportedly in Delhi’s Tihar jail alone on charges which are yet to be proved," she said. On reports that many students in Uttrakhand had to return home to escape the harassment by extremist elements following Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging, Mehbooba said some students had been arrested earlier also. She said such preconceived approach towards a particular community created reasons for alienation among its members. The Government of India and national party leaders should ensure that a professional and an unbiased probe is conducted in all terrorism-related cases, she said.
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Patnitop winter carnival fails to attract tourists this time
Patnitop, February 22 The rafting teams are to take part in a rafting competition at the Chenab in Doda from February 24 to 27. “Every year, the Department of Tourism in collaboration with other agencies such as the Patnitop Development Authority organise such carnivals during the winter in different parts of the Valley. Since Patnitop is the only snow-bound resort, we organise this carnival in peak winter to attract more tourists by promoting our culture, location and also through entertainment,” said Mir while speaking to mediapersons. “There were few tourists this time because hardly any snow was seen here today. Many pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine come here all the year round. The occupancy rate at the local hotels here is around 20 to 30 per cent these days which is quite satisfactory,” he said. When asked as to how the touring rafting teams were not aware of the skiing and other snow-related competitions held on Wednesday, the minister said he would check why the Department of Tourism had not well publicised it. “An amount of Rs 5 lakh was spent on five-hour-long events of skiing, sledging, snowman-making and tug-of-war in different categories at Nathatop held on Wednesday. A three-hour cultural programme at Patnitop today failed to achieve its
very purpose,” a local resident said. “The occupancy rate at the Tourist Complex and huts of the Jammu Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) was hardly 5 per cent and about 10 per cent at the surrounding privately-owned hotels,” he added. A damp squib
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Kuldeep Khoda takes oath as CVC
Jammu, February 22 Khoda superannuated as DGP on May 31 last year. An IPS officer of the 1974 batch, he got the coveted post on July 17, 2007. Khoda has also served as IGP, Traffic, from July 1996 to December 1999, State Intelligence Chief from November 2000 to May 2003, ADG Armed Police from May 2003 to May 2005, Additional DG, CID, from May 2005 to July 2007. First Lady Usha Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, DGP Ashok Prasad, State Chief Information Commissioner GR Sufi, Planning and Development Principal Secretary BR Sharma and Higher Education Principal Secretary KB Agarwal were among those present on the occasion.
— TNS
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Jammu, February 22 An official release issued here said Omar and Shinde discussed matters related to the recent developments in the state.
TNS
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Jammu, February 22
The BJP has decided to take up the issue of Article 370 that guarantees J&K autonomy and the failure of the state government to empower panchayats by implementing the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution in the state, in the budget session of Parliament. This was disclosed by party MP and former cricketer Kirti
Azad, who is a member of the BJP team constituted to raise issues related to the state in Parliament.
Cautioning the nation against the increasing intervention of China in many parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), former diplomat and eminent columnist G Parthasarathy today suggested that Kashmir-based Hurriyat leaders who had been demanding “azadi” should be asked to visit Gilgit-Baltistan, where the Pakistani authorities were denying basic rights to people.
Jammu, February 22
