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Army opposing AFSPA revocation, says Omar
BJYM activists protest against UPA govt
Job scheme fails to improve lives of West Pak refugees
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NC, Congress jostle for political one-upmanship
Lt Gen Parnaik, Guv discuss security issues
Janata Party chief for fresh approach to K-issue
HC gives govt two more weeks to file response on pepper gas
Fratricide case
Hassle-free travel on Jammu-Udhampur highway from early next year
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Army opposing AFSPA revocation, says Omar
Shopian, May 22 “It’s a fact known to all that the Army is the biggest hurdle in revocation of AFSPA,” Omar said when asked about the inability of the government to revoke the controversial Act despite both the coalition partners National Conference and the Congress advocating the revocation. Omar was interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of a public rally in the Wathu area of the south Kashmir district. “We are trying to take the Army on board and sorting out whatever reluctance they have regarding the revocation of AFSPA. Hopefully we will be able to break the ice on the issue,” Omar said. Omar said he would again raise the issue of the AFSPA revocation in the internal security meeting to be held in New Delhi on June 5. “The meet will be chaired by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. The Prime Minister will also be attending the meeting. The AFSPA revocation will be definitely discussed during the meeting,” said the Chief Minister. When asked about the delay in approval of the yearly financial plan by the Planning Commission, Omar said that last year too “our plan was finalised in the month of June”. “We have held preliminary talks regarding the plan with the Central government. The date for the final approval of the plan was set for May 20, but there was some delay in preparations on our part as well as New Delhi’s part,” he said. Earlier while addressing the gathering, Omar predicted an overwhelming victory for his party in the 2014 Assembly elections. “There are MLAs who have remained away from the proceedings of the Assembly, hence failing to highlight the public demands and grievances at the right platform,” said Omar. “People should ensure permanent eviction of these MLAs from the Assembly,” he added. Omar said a modern fruit ‘mandi’, the first of its kind in Asia, had been sanctioned for Shopian district to facilitate fruit growers and traders. “An amount of Rs 40 crore has been earmarked for this fruit market,” Omar said. |
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BJYM activists protest against UPA govt
Jammu, May 22 Led by BJYM state president Ravinder Raina, a large number of activists took out a procession from the party headquarters and raised slogans against the government. Addressing the protesters, Raina said the Congress-led UPA government had plundered the nation’s wealth and that its rule was “worse than the British rule”. He said the ministers in the UPA government and their family members were involved “neck-deep” in corruption. The BJYM leader termed the UPA government as “the most corrupt government since the Independence”. |
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Job scheme fails to improve lives of West Pak refugees
Bhutay Chak, May 22 Although the scheme was introduced in the camps of these refugees, the real benefit is yet to reach them due to the “apathetic attitude of the authorities and local elected representatives”. Tarseem Lal, a resident of Bhutay Chak, managed to get a job card but in vain. “The job card was issued to me in 2010 but for the last three years, I have not been provided 100 days of guaranteed employment,” said Lal, who used to be a seasonal labourer in fields during the time of sowing and reaping. “In 2010, only a 30-day employment was provided to me,” he said, adding, “We were engaged for a few days under MNREGA scheme but after the completion of that work, we were left jobless,” he said. Echoing similar complaint, Bharat Kumar, another unemployed youth, said getting the 100-day employment under MNREGA scheme was a distant dream for them. “We were provided job cards only as a formality. We repeatedly approached officials concerned to give us jobs but till now, we have been unemployed,” he said, adding it was all due to the “refugee tag” that neither the authorities nor the elected representatives were taking them seriously. “We don’t have the right to vote in the Assembly or panchayat elections so local politicians are not treating us like human beings,” said Ram Singh, who is a local representative of the West Pakistani refugees in Mandal block. Since West Pakistani refugees are denied jobs in the government sector, they were hoping that employment-generation programmes such as MNREGA would change their fate but all their hopes were dashed to the ground. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a recent report, had observed that the percentage of households which were being provided 100 days of employment was only 14 in the year 2011-12 which was just 2 per cent in 2007-08. “The non-provision of employment to the bulk of job card holders defeated the basic tenets of this programme, which call for providing assured 100 days of employment to the rural population to ameliorate their lot,” the report pointed stated. |
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NC, Congress jostle for political one-upmanship
Jammu, May 22 NC leaders in the garb of expressing solidarity with the residents of the quake-hit areas are trying to get a foothold in Ghulam Nabi Azad’s fortress. Without naming Azad, they are attacking his close associate Ghulam Muhammad Saroori for alleged false statement regarding cash assistance of Rs 334 crore released for the earthquake victims of the Chenab Valley. The NC used its third rung leaders, former minister Babu Ram Paul, provincial secretary Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, ex-MLC Brij Mohan Sharma, ex-MLC Kashmira Singh, Gurdeep Singh Sasan and Sajjad Shaheen to attack Saroori for going to the public without checking the facts. These NC leaders termed the statement irresponsible utterances and playing with the sentiments of the victims. Saroori had claimed that Centre had released Rs 334 crore for the quake-affected areas of Doda and Kishtwar but later it was revealed that money was released by the Centre under the state disaster relief fund. Not only the second rung leaders of the NC but its additional general secretary Mustafa Kamal and provincial president Devender Singh Rana have been saying on a regular basis said that the NC does not believe in raising its political edifice over the miseries of the people. Now, Sarooori is hitting back at the NC leaders and has questioned their intentions towards erstwhile district Doda. “When Azad and his men were reaching every nook and corner to address people’s grievances, the NC leaders felt they are on shaky ground and thus came here to play politics. It was due to Azad’s efforts that Rs 334 crore was released under the state disaster relief fund,” Saroori said. “Why the state government is not giving a single paisa from this amount (Rs 334 crore) to the quake-hit areas? Do they want to use this money somewhere else,” Saroori questioned. He alleged that the government had adopted a step-motherly attitude towards erstwhile Doda district. “They (the NC leaders) must know Azad is going to be the next chief minister and people of all regions of Jammu and from the Valley also want this,” Saroori added. |
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Lt Gen Parnaik, Guv discuss security issues
Srinagar, May 22 During the meeting, they discussed issues related to internal and external security, an official spokesman said. Lt Gen Parnaik apprised the Governor of various aspects of recent infiltration attempts
from across the Line of Control (LoC). He also updated the Governor about the recent developments in eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Lt Gen Om Prakash, GOC, 15 Corps, was also present at the meeting. The visit of Lt Gen Parnaik assumes significance following the Chinese incursion along the LAC and the attempts of infiltration by armed militants from across the LoC in northern areas of the Kashmir valley. The Northern Army Commander, who arrived here yesterday, is on a three-day visit to the Valley to
take stock of the security situation. The Army had recently foiled an infiltration bid in Machil sector successfully, a Defence spokesman said. The Army Commander was received by Lt Gen Om Prakash and was updated on the operational preparedness and prevailing environment in the Valley. The Army Commander also visited forward areas, the Defence spokesman said. |
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Janata Party chief for fresh approach to K-issue
Srinagar, May 22 Addressing a press conference here, Swamy alleged that Pakistan’s Prime Minister designate Nawaz Sharif had won the recent elections with the “help of Taliban” and other “extremist forces” and that he could not do anything as far as India was concerned. Asserting that talks with Pakistan would not resolve the Kashmir issue, he said there was a need for a fresh approach for the resolution of problems of the state. Reiterating the party stand that Kashmir was an integral part of India, he said the only unfinished agenda of Kashmir was to get Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) back. He said the Janata Party “was ready” in case India decided to wage a “war” in this regard. He said Article 370, which grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was meaningless in the present context. He claimed the article had been violated by militants by “driving away” Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. He said the Janata Party would also discuss ways of resolving the Kashmir issue in it national council meeting being held here. |
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HC gives govt two more weeks to file response on pepper gas
Srinagar, May 22 Earlier on April 17, the court had granted the authorities three weeks to file their response to the PIL. As the matter came up before a bench comprising Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey today, NH Shah, the counsel representing the state government and the police in the PIL, pleaded for more time to file the response on behalf of the authorities. Shah also submitted that pepper gas was not being used by the police on the protesters. The bench, after hearing all the sides, granted the authorities two more weeks to submit their response. Earlier on March 19, the court had issued notices to the state government, Director General of Police and the Union Home Ministry, asking these respondents to file their objections to the PIL within two weeks. Apart from banning the use of pepper gas for crowd and riot control in Kashmir, the PIL had also prayed for compensating the victims in case of death or other health hazards suffered due to the exposure to pepper gas, which has been termed as ‘life threatening’ by health experts. Health hazard
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Fratricide case
Jammu, May 22 On the fateful night, SSB jawan, Vijay Singh, a native of Una district in Himachal Pradesh, had sprayed bullets on his colleagues inside the high-security District Police Lines in Kishtwar town killing two of his colleagues, Narender Singh of Uttarakhand and Vir Singh of Uttar Pradesh, and injuring two others — Paviter Nath Roy and Habib-ul-Islam. The border guard was given a severe thrashing by other personnel in the barrack and consequently he had to be hospitalised in the Kishtwar district hospital. “Though his condition has improved, we are waiting for his custody because a murder accused cannot be interrogated in a hospital. So far, we haven’t recorded his statement,” said Kishtwar SP Kulbir Singh. Those injured in the attack have dropped some hints about the reason for the attack but most of the men were fast asleep when the man opened fire, said the SP. The SP, however, denied reports that the some border guards were under the influence of liquor when the incident happened. “Once we get his custody, he will be grilled thoroughly. We will see if he had any mental disorder or some problem back home,” said Singh.
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Hassle-free travel on Jammu-Udhampur highway from early next year
Jammu, May 22 Sources said despite the delay in acquisition of land, the executing agency had completed 55 per cent of the work on the highway till May 15 and it was expected that the project would be completed before the deadline. Widening of the road is part of the NHAI’s prestigious project of four-laning the 286-km long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and the deadline for the project, estimated to cost Rs 10,600 crore, is May 2016 (five years since commencement of work). Sources said the acquisition of private land at Jajjar Kotli and Jakheni remained a major bottleneck in the execution of the project so far. “All issues with local residents have been sorted out and the work is in full swing despite technical glitches. And, if all goes well, the four-lane Jammu-Udhampur highway will be opened for traffic well before its deadline,” sources said, adding that over Rs 1,800 crore was estimated to be spent on four-laning the highway. Sources said the four-laning of the highway would reduce the travel time between the two towns to near half of the present. “At least 54 small and major bridges are being constructed on the road. This stretch also holds significance as Northern Command headquarters is located in Udhampur,” sources added. Project Director, NHAI Jammu, R P Singh said they had completed 55 per cent work on the Jammu-Udhampur highway. “We have completed 42 per cent work in the country’s longest tunnel between Chenani and Nashri and the entire project (from Jammu to Srinagar) is being executed as per the plans,” the project director said. He, however, said the work on four-laning of Ramban-Banihal was yet to be awarded to any agency owing to some technical problems. The NHAI has divided the Jammu-Srinagar highway four-laning project into six sub-projects, which include widening of the Jammu-Udhampur road (65 km), construction of Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km) and Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km), Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 km). The four-laning of the highway would reduce the distance between the two capital cities by approximately 50 km. The reduction would take place mainly due to tunnels. The present 9 to 10 hours travel would be covered in just 4 to 5 hours on the highway. |
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Shopian, May 22
Jammu, May 22
Jammu, May 22
