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Search operation on in Machil sector
Senior Hurriyat leader silent on election boycott controversy
Geelani hits out at moderate Hurriyat
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Lashkar-e-Toiba operative arrested in Sopore
Gulmarg hotels run without sewage treatment plants
on the frontline
Civic poll issue yet to reach Cabinet
Pak poll verdict to yield rich dividends for both countries, says Mufti
Mughal Road without automatic weather system
SHRC to probe police role in death of govt employee
J-K cricket body to elect new office-bearers in June
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Search operation on in Machil sector
Srinagar, May 19 A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was killed and a soldier injured while foiling the infiltration in the wee hours on Saturday. “Though militants are believed to have returned to Pakistan after the exchange of fire on Saturday morning, we are still carrying out searches to ensure that no militant stays back in our territory,” said a senior Army officer in Kupwara. The police said it was trying to find out whether the group of four to six militants had returned to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) or managed to sneak in. “The searches in the Machil sector are going on. The militants had infiltrated 4 km into our territory and it is difficult to return once the exchange of fire starts,” said a police officer. Defence spokesman Northern Command Col Rajesh Kalia said no fresh recovery had been made during the searches. On Saturday, after the exchange of fire, the Army had recovered two assault rifles and some war-like stores from the Machil forests during the search operation. The Army maintains that it was the first infiltration bid that was foiled this year. The Army and the Special Operation Group of the J&K Police are also continuing with the search operations along the LoC in Kralpora, Vilgam and Rajwar sectors of Kupwara district since May 7, after the Army noticed movement of militants near Budnambal,
Chowkibal. Terror trail
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Senior Hurriyat leader silent on election boycott controversy
Srinagar, May 19 Bhat is the former chairman of the Hurriyat and is considered close to both Bilal and moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq. He was asked about his views on the poll boycott strategy by mediapersons on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the moderate Hurriyat Conference at its headquarters in Srinagar today to commemorate the death anniversaries of the separatist leaders, Abdul Gani Lone and Mirwaiz Mohammad
Farooq. “We will decide about this issue at an opportune time. I refuse to be drawn into a controversy,” he said when asked if issuing a poll boycott call at this juncture would be a wise decision, especially when the people in Pakistan have overwhelmingly participated in the just-concluded elections. On Saturday, Bilal Gani Lone, who is one of the executive members of the Hurriyat conference, while questioning the poll boycott strategy of the separatists had said the poll boycott calls in the past had yielded nothing and benefited only mainstream political parties such as the National Conference and the People’s Democratic
Party. Bilal said this while speaking at a function organised by the Peoples Conference to commemorate the death anniversary of its founder and Bilal’s father, Abdul Gani Lone, who was killed on May 21, 2002, by unknown gunmen. Earlier, in his address, Bhat said the winds of change were blowing across the region, including Pakistan, which went through a successful election process recently. “The tides of change are blowing in the region. Instead of getting carried away by these tides, we shall have to ride these tides of change. We will have to rise to the occasion and seize the opportunity,” Bhat said. He said the Hurriyat was for the resumption of a result-oriented and credible dialogue process between India and Pakistan. “To lend credibility to the process, both countries will have to involve the people of Kashmir,” he said, adding that people of Kashmir wish for a safe and secure future for the whole region, which lies in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. |
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Geelani hits out at moderate Hurriyat
Srinagar, May 19 “The martyrs have not given us this mandate and right to start considering second options and try to implement them when the freedom movement stretches longer than expected,” Geelani said. Though Geelani mentioned no names, the target of his statement appeared to be the moderate separatist leaders who are observing a “martyrdom week” from May 16 to 21 to commemorate the assassinations of two separatist leaders. The two leaders, Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone, were assassinated on May 21, 1990, and May 21, 2002, respectively, by unknown gunmen. The state government says the two separatist leaders were assassinated by Islamist militants while most in the separatist camp blame the killings on unidentified
gunmen. Geelani said there was no scope for any “second option” as a solution to the Kashmir issue. “Those people who are talking about the four-point formula, self-rule, status quo and soft borders are liable for dishonouring the blood of the martyrs and they have no moral authority to observe their anniversaries,” Geelani said in the statement. Moderate separatist leaders, in the past, have defended former Pakistan president Pervez Musharaf’s four-point formula as a possible solution to the Kashmir issue while Geelani has been an advocate of plebiscite as a solution to the Kashmir issue. The two Hurriyat Conference camps have been at loggerheads with each other recently on the issue of the boycott of the Assembly and Parliamentary elections in 2013. While the hardliners led by Geelani have already issued several boycott calls, the moderate are reluctant to issue any such call. |
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Police tortured me to accept planning terror plot: Liyaqat Kupwara, May 19 Liyaqat, who reached his home in remote Dardpora village of the Kupwara district, said on Holi, the police was set to execute him and label him as a dreaded militant but it (the police) could not execute as media had highlighted his arrest and a section of the media argued that I was an innocent. “The Delhi police does not allow normalcy to gain ground in Kashmir. Muslims are falsely implicated in terror cases and put behind the bars,” said Liyaqat. He alleged that the police committed third degree torture on him and forcibly made to accept that he talked over phone with a militant commander namely Bahadur on his arrival in Nepal from Pakistan. “For three consecutive nights, the police tortured me and finally made me to accept that I talked to militant commander on the phone and we discussed about carrying out a
terror attack in Delhi. I was put in a small cell where I could hardly unfold my legs,” he said. Liyaqat thanked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his personal intervention in seeking his release.
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Lashkar-e-Toiba operative arrested in Sopore
Srinagar, May 19 A police spokesman said the LeT operative, a resident of Naseem Bagh in Sopore, was arrested by the Sopore police for his involvement in subversion. “He had been working for banned militant outfit LeT for a long time under the name, Muviya. He was arrested following a disclosure by Pakistan militant Hafiz Naveed, alias Fahadullah, who was recently arrested by the police,” a police spokesman said. “Fahadullah said that Mudasir had been managing the finances of the outfit in and around Sopore, besides providing logistical support to the LeT militants. Mudasir had also been distributing money to dependants of the killed militants in Sopore,” the spokesman said. “When Mudasir was frisked at the time of his arrest, a ‘one million dollar note’ (as it is known) along with two tokens and an authentication certificate was recovered from him,” the spokesman said. He said the note along with the tokens was used as a novelty item. “The current market value of the note is about Rs 4,500 ($75). The note has at times been used to cheat people around the world,” he said. |
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Gulmarg hotels run without sewage treatment plants
Srinagar, May 19 Though the only five star hotel at Gulmarg has installed an STP, it has not been made functional yet despite the hotel being fully operational, reveals a recent government inspection report. As per the rules, all hotels having a capacity of more than 19 rooms are supposed to have an individual STP facility in case a common STP facility for the hotels is not available. However, during a recent spot inspection of various establishments, including hotels and restaurants, it was found that not even one hotel, having either capacity of more than 19 rooms or below, had an STP facility that was functional. The spot inspection was made by the Executive Engineer and other officials from the Gulmarg Development Authority early this month following directions by the High Court issued on April 16, which is hearing a public interest litigation calling for preservation of eco-sensitive areas of Gulmarg and Tangmarg from illegal constructions and encroachments. “Only one hotel, Khyber Himalayan Resorts (five star) has an individual STP facility in place but that too is yet to be made functional,” the Executive Engineer has submitted in his inspection report to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Gulmarg Development Authority. “Other hotels having capacity either of more than 19 rooms or less than that have simply individual soakage pits and septic tanks for management of the toilet waste,” the report states. In the report, it has also been revealed that at present there is no system in place to treat or manage tonnes of solid waste and garbage, mostly non-biodegradable plastic and polythene material. The government is now planning to set up an incinerator at Gulmarg, the official documents reveal. “It has already been decided to set up an incinerator at Tangmarg for management of solid waste. Mechanical components of the plant have already been procured and the allotment for the construction of plant room has also been made,” the Gulmarg Development Authority CEO has stated in his letter dated May 9 to the Legal Department of the Tourism Department.
Poor sanitation
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on the frontline
Kashmiris, who were looking for steps forward by Islamabad during the Pakistan Peoples Party’s rule in Pakistan, were disgusted by the way sectarian and terrorist violence swept through all corners of Pakistan. The nation that found itself on the political map of the world as a nation for Muslims was being torn apart by Muslims living there. There was a threat of Balkanisation as ethnic and sectarian feelings were running high, and Pakistan had failed as a nation in the eyes of many in the world. There was a ball-by-ball commentary on Pakistan’s elections by Twitter-savvy Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. First, he talked of its violent background and then the lessons that it had for the people in the Valley --- that they should learn to resist extremists and vote in the coming parliamentary and Assembly elections in the state. If Omar could utilise Twitter to broadcast his message, his chief rival Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti could not afford to lag behind. “Learn lessons from Pakistan and go in for change” was PDP’s response. It has been reiterating that the National Conference-led coalition government of the past four and a half years “must be changed” and the PDP that had “shown the best of results by taking people-friendly measures during its three-year rule from 2002-2005 should be given another chance to govern the most corrupt and misgoverned state at the moment.” The PDP has been promising the moon to the people. There is something common between Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir --- there are different ethnicities in its three regions and the voting pattern is different in all three regions. Whatever the political parties may say and claim about working for all three regions without any discrimination, the fact of the matter is that the reverse is the case. The National Conference and the PDP are essentially Kashmir-centric parties and their heart hardly ever beats for all three regions. The Congress, despite showing its deep-rooted love for
Kashmiris, is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir. They identify the Congress with Delhi and, therefore, it doesn’t get that kind of support in the electoral field as it always claims ahead of elections and settles for playing second fiddle to the NC or the
PDP. Now what has changed with the May 11 elections in Pakistan is that Kashmir hopes that there would be some government that would engage India in a positive manner. Their optimism rests on the sweet talk that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has had with Nawaz
Sharif. It seems that they have forgotten that some of the militant outfits flourished under the watch of Sharif when he was Prime Minister in the 1990s, or for that matter Kargil war did happen during his tenure in 1999, the same year when he was ousted in a military coup and had to leave his own country. Realistically speaking, Pakistan has its own problems, pressing ones, to deal with. Its economy is in a shambles, terrorism has bloodied the landscape of Pakistan and the world is afraid of the terrorism exported from Pakistan. Both the state and the non-state actors are active there. Its policy against the drone attacks is going unheard, its relations with the United States have soured to a great extent and it has a very limited capacity to guide the course of events. In a way the euphoria of Kashmiris is premature, if not misplaced. |
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Civic poll issue yet to reach Cabinet
Jammu, May 19 It is the prerogative of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is the Minister in charge of the GAD, to bring the proposal in the Cabinet, but so far, no such issue has been raised before the Cabinet. “We are ready to hold the urban local bodies’ elections at any point of time. For this, we have submitted a proposal with the Chief Minister and waiting for the Cabinet’s nod. It is only the GAD that has to bring the proposal before the Cabinet,” said Nuwang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Urban Local Bodies. Jora said his department had made all necessary arrangements for the elections. The elections to the urban local bodies could be held only after getting a green signal from the coordination committee of the National Conference and the Congress. But, during a recent meeting of the committee, no consensus was reached between the two coalition partners.
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Pak poll verdict to yield rich dividends for both countries, says Mufti
Jammu, May 19 He hoped that the Indo-Pak peace process would gain pace as designated Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif had been for the improvement of relations with India. Addressing a one-day convention of party workers at Samba town, Mufti said the strengthening of democracy in Pakistan had provided an opportunity to take some bold initiatives for the resolution of all issues, including the Kashmir problem. “A decisive verdict given by voters in Pakistan to Nawaz Sharif is a positive and encouraging development for restoring lasting peace in the region,” he said. |
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Mughal Road without automatic weather system
Jammu, May 19 The government has so far failed to send a proposal to the Meteorological Department to install the weather system. Snowfall in the winter season and rain in the summer makes movement of vehicles on the road difficult. Sonam Lotus, Director, Meteorological Department, Srinagar, said, “So far, the government has made no proposal on installing the automatic weather system on the Mughal road, which was recently opened for the public. When we will receive a proposal from the government, we will install the system on the road,” said the Director, Meteorological Department. Recently, rain and snow had blocked the road and hundreds of vehicles were stranded en route, causing inconvenience to the travellers. Poonch Deputy Commissioner Sajad Ahmed Khan said, “It (the road) gets blocked on a patch of 10 km from Chatta Pani to Peer Ki Gali. We always stop the vehicles there during the rain.” “If we get the weather forecast for this road, we can stop the vehicles in advance and make necessary arrangement. There is no proposal from our side as yet, but it is a good suggestion. Now we will definitely send a proposal to install the automatic weather system on the road.”
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SHRC to probe police role in death of govt employee
Srinagar, May 19 The victim’s family had lodged a complaint with the NHRC on March 1, alleging that Dar was abused, beaten and put behind bars by the SHO of Beerwa Budgam police station and was released only after paying bribe and was warned of dire consequences if he disclosed it to anyone. “Dar was shocked and died days after he was released,” the family had alleged in the complaint to the NHRC. Taking cognisance of the complaint, the NHRC has asked the SHRC to look into it. “The compliant, received from Ashiq Ahmed Dar (son of the deceased) was placed before the commission on March 20. After perusing it, the commission has transmitted the compliant to the JKSHRC for necessary action,” the Assistant Registrar (Law) of NHRC wrote to the Secretary, JKSHRC. Secretary, SHRC, Tariq Ahmad Banday said the case would be investigated by the Commission. “The NHRC had left it to us to decide about the case and we are going to investigate it,” Banday said. Dar’s family said he was summoned to the Beerwa police station over a minor clash with a neighbour on February 21. “My father being a respectable of the area went to the police station but unfortunately the police officials put him behind bars. He was abused, beaten and was released only after he fell ill,” Ashiq alleged. The family said Dar was deeply shocked and he even talked to Minister of State for Home, Sajjad Kichloo, over the phone about the humiliation meted out to him. “Even though the minister listened calmly, he did nothing against the police officials and his health deteriorated further because of it. My father was under constant stress after release. His helplessness and humiliation increased so much that he couldn't bear it and died on February 28,” Ashiq said. The case file
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J-K cricket body to elect new office-bearers in June
Jammu, May 19 The present term of the JKCA office-bearers and its chief will end next month. Sources in the JKCA said the upcoming election was important because the main office-bearers had either been sacked or had resigned after the infamous multi-crore cricket scam which surfaced in March 2012. Since then, the JKCA is functioning without its general secretary, chairman and some main office-bearers. The last elections were held on June 23, 2011. JKCA treasurer Manzoor Wazir said the JKCA chief was keen to conduct the elections on time. “During my telephonic conversation with Farooq Abdullah, he said there should be no delay in conducting the elections. I called him few days back to finalise the date for the working committee meeting and he stressed on the timely conduct of elections,” the JKCA treasurer said. “As far as the appointment of a new coach is concerned, it can be unanimously decided by the members of the working committee in consultation with the JKCA chief. But at this moment, our prime concern is to conduct the elections to strengthen the organisation,” Wazir said. “Infact, Farooq Abdullah was eager to convene the working committee meeting, but he decided against it because he was not feeling well. Right now, the JKCA president is in the US. After his return, we would decide about the future course of action,” he said. “After the elections, the appointment of a new coach and other important issues will surely be taken up. Though the post of a coach is lying vacant after the resignation of former cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi, the association is very much aware of it,” said another office-bearer. Sources said the JKCA president was not happy with the present state of affairs, especially with two projects stopping midway. The construction work of the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Academy in the Valley is still incomplete. The construction of the proposed international stadium at Bajalta is yet to begin. |
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A new wave of optimism is blowing through Kashmir after it became clear that Mian Mohammad Nawaz
Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), will be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan. The point that was being rejoiced was that for the first time in Pakistan’s history there was going to be a transition from one civilian government to the other. The terms of the rest of the governments in Pakistan were interrupted with spells of army
rule.