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Pak ‘plans’ multiple infiltration bids
Army jawans patrol along the LoC fence. File photo ‘Dead ground’ along border aids terrorists Kargil records season’s lowest temperature
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JKLF founder's brother booked under PSA
Cong high command will decide on 2014 alliance, says Soz
Identify safe land for border residents: Azad
Gulmarg to host national winter sports championships
Rights being stifled in state: CPM
Geelani addresses rally in Sopore; calls for election boycott
BJP to launch agitation for refugees’ cause
Work resumes on Chenani-Nashri tunnel
Avian visitors keep winter date with Hokersar
Srinagar MC to shut down salons violating hygiene norms
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Pak ‘plans’ multiple infiltration bids
Jammu, November 1 Intelligence agencies have sounded an alert along the J&K frontiers. “We have inputs that Pakistan’s BATs (an amalgam of Pakistani Army regulars and Pakistani terrorists) are planning forced intrusion bids. They may open up fronts in different stretches along the LoC and IB to push in armed militants in small groups,” said Intelligence sources. The Tribune had on September 20 exclusively reported about specialised training of 50 hardcore terrorists in a dense jungle in Kacharban in Bagh district of Pak occupied Kashmir opposite Saujiyan sub-sector in Poonch district. On August 6, BAT had killed five Indian soldiers in Chakan-da-Bagh area along the LoC. “Nearly 300 terrorists are waiting in 42 terror camps in PoK opposite Rajouri and Poonch districts. We have strong inputs of multiple infiltration bids this Diwali. These terrorists would definitely be helped by BATs,” said an Army source. He said the Army has also been using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance missions. “Based upon Intelligence inputs as well as data given by these UAVs, we have gathered some vital information and devised a strategy,” he said. BSF sources said despite the October 29 sector-level flag meeting at the octroi post, the BSF was fully alert to the situation along the international border. “We are fully aware of the movement of militants on their side of the International Border right from Paharpur to Chicken Neck area of Akhnoor. Yes, they promised to hold peace at the sector-level flag meet but we are keeping a close watch on their activities. You cannot trust them,” they said. They said under the garb of military exercise, the Pakistani Army has been ferrying militants in their vehicles during the night opposite Paharpur and Bobiyan in Kathua district. “We also know there is a concentration of militants in some forward villages in Sialkot district and Samba and Hiranagar sectors,” they added. 300 terrorists ‘Waiting’
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‘Dead ground’ along border aids terrorists
Jammu, November 1 Referring to the successful infiltration from Chhap Nullah in the Hiranagar sector in September, he said, “They successfully infiltrated from the Hiranagar sector before carrying out two terror attacks on the Hiranagar police station and an Army camp in Samba on September 26.” The border, which runs from Paharpur post on the Punjab-Kathua border to the Chicken Neck area in Akhnoor, is largely a plain area with rivers and rivulets flowing into Pakistan. “It is not difficult to cross into India through a rivulet because of the lack of an effective anti-infiltration obstacle system in place,” said the source. The source also divulged that the firing by Rangers at BSF posts and villages appeared to be a well-planned strategy to provide cover fire to ultras attempting infiltration under the cover of darkness. In March this year, the BSF had reclaimed nearly 230 acres of barren land near Zero Line in RS Pura sector of Jammu district with the dual purpose of addressing security concerns as well as giving it to farmers for cultivation. The BSF had removed thick growth of ‘sarkanda’ (a tall weed) in Nawapind, Karotona Khurd and Abdulian in RS Pura sector to bring the undulating ground under direct observation, said a BSF source. “It is true that undulating ground with thick growth of ‘sarkanda’ and rivulets makes observation a difficult task for us. Following the flag meeting, Rangers and BSF have agreed to remove ‘sarkanda’ growth on both sides of the border, but we know that they have kept militants on their side. We are alive to the situation and cannot afford to lower our guard,” said a BSF officer.
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Kargil records season’s lowest temperature
Srinagar, November 1 In Kashmir valley, the ski-resort of Gulmarg was the coldest. The mercury settled at a minimum temperature of minus 2.8°C against minus 0.2°C the previous night, he said. Gulmarg and other high altitude areas in the valley received the season's first snowfall on Wednesday night, which continued intermittently yesterday as well. Pahalgam, in south Kashmir, recorded a temperature of 1.8°C, while the minimum temperature in Kupwara town of north Kashmir settled at 2.7°C. Srinagar recorded a night temperature of 4.8°C, which is two notches above normal for this time of the season, he said. He said the weather would remain dry and pleasant till November 5. — PTI |
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JKLF founder's brother booked under PSA
Srinagar, November 1 Zahoor Ahmed Bhat, brother of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, was booked by the local authorities under the PSA. Zahoor was detained along with other people near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keran sector on October 22. A case was also registered in the Keran police station against all the five family heads in the group for moving in a prohibited area close to the LoC without any justification. Children and wives of the family heads were, however, allowed to go by the police and no case was registered against them. “We have booked Zahoor under the PSA and the other four family heads, who tried to exfiltrate along with him, have been allowed to go. Zahoor was sent to the Hira Nagar jail in Jammu because apart from the latest case, various cases have been registered against him,” a police officer said. Apart from Zahoor, those who were detained are Fayaz Wani of Hyhama Kupwara, Mushtaq Mir of Babadem Srinagar, Syed Munir-ul-Hassan of Lolab Kupwara and Syed Zahoor Bukhati of Keran, Kupwara. Out of these five families, four had returned to the Valley through Nepal under the J&K Government's rehabilitation policy for surrendered militants approved in November 2010. |
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Cong high command will decide on 2014 alliance, says Soz
Jammu, November 1 Soz, who was here to review preparations for visit of All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president Rahul Gandhi, said, "As of now, the Congress is running a coalition government with the National Conference and this coalition will complete its own term." "As far as the decision on an alliance in the next Assembly elections is concerned, it will be taken by the high command keeping in view the aspirations of Congress workers in mind," he said, but added that the interests of the party would be the first priority. With Rahul Gandhi slated to visit Jammu and Srinagar on November 6 and 7, respectively, to address panchayat conferences, Soz adopted an aggressive posture on the issue of incorporating relevant clauses of the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution in the J&K Panchayat Raj Act. "We are committed to empower panchayats in J&K. Our coalition partner, the National Conference, has agreed to incorporate relevant clauses of the 73rd Amendment," he claimed and added that Rahul Gandhi was taking keen interest to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions in the state. Soz further said that coalition partner had also agreed to adopt the Food Security and Land Acquisition Act. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a Panchayat Conference at Maulana Azad Stadium at Jammu on November 6. The Congress has decided to organise panchayat conferences at Jammu and Srinagar respectively to reap political benefit of the recent decisions taken by the state government to empower panchayats. Congress leaders are claiming that announcements of Panchayat Development Fund (PDF) and honorarium for panchayat members are the result of pressure from the party leadership and the personal intervention of Rahul Gandhi. Soz also convened a meeting of party ministers, legislators and senior leaders and assigned them tasks to mobilise panchayat members for the rally. empowering panchayats |
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Identify safe land for border residents: Azad
Jammu, November 1 He was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Member of Parliament Madan Lal Sharma, Minister for Urban Development Nawang Rigzin Jora, former Minister GM Saroori, MLC Jangahir Mir and other senior leaders of the Congress. Sarpanches, panches and a large number of people attended the public meeting. Villagers in Chatta Gujral in Pargwal demanded "at least five marlas of land" at safer places. Azad said the matter would be taken up with the Central and state governments to ensure safety of civilians. He said the officers concerned would be asked to identify suitable land to accommodate the people of border areas during any emergency. Azad said people living on the borders had shown immense courage and the entire nation was with them in these troubled times. He said these people, too, had stood guardian to the borders and their contribution is very significant. He assured them that their demands would be taken up with the concerned quarters at the Centre on a priority basis so that they could be redressed at the earliest. Later, Azad visited Pindi Charkan Kalna village in Bishnah where people said though the village was situated on the zero line, they had not been given any special status. They also apprised the minister of inadequate health care facilities and shortage of medicines at the primary health care centre, which they said could not cater to emergency situations. He expressed concern over the education of children in the affected areas and assured people that possibilities would be explored to relax qualification criteria for them during recruitment drives. |
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Gulmarg to host national winter sports championships
Srinagar, November 1 The Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) has given its nod to make the state the host for two national-level winter games championships this year. The two championships will include Senior and Junior Alpine Ski and Snowboarding Championships at the Gulmarg valley. Winter Games Association of J&K (WGAJK) president Farooq Ahmad Shah said federation president Brigadier SS Patwal and its ex-president and adventure sportsperson SS Pangte have agreed to make Gulmarg the venue for these two championships. WGAJK spokesperson Muhammad Yusuf said the Junior National Snowboard Championship will be held in India for the first time. “The concept of snowboarding in India originated in Kashmir back in the, but winter sports took a big hit during the turmoil.” These games will be held in January-February next year. “The schedules will be released soon. These two championships are expected to boost both the winter sports scene as well as winter tourism in Kashmir. The arrival of participating teams from across the country will help promote the Valley as favoured winter sports cum tourist destination,” Yusuf said. The association is exploring the possibility of making Gulmarg a venue for international winter sports. The Association is ready to upgrade various slopes of the Gulmarg valley so that events of international stature could be hosted there. Association president Farooq Ahmad Shah said experts, including Walter Trilling from the International Ski Federation (FIS), had visited Gulmarg to explore the possibility of holding international winter sports events and to certify the slopes. “The experts suggested a minor upgrade of the Kongdori slopes as per international standard. We will take up the matter with the J&K State Cable Car Corporation, which is the main stakeholder and the funding agency for winter sports at Gulmarg. The experts were all praise for Gulmarg and said it could become a premier ski resort in Asia after making some minor changes,” Shah said. He said the Gulmarg valley has an edge over global winter sports destinations due to its numerous slopes where multiple events could be held simultaneously. “We have vast slopes at Kongdori where we can simultaneously hold various winter games, including Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super Giant Slalom, Downhill and Cross-Country events, which no other winter sports destination can offer,” he said. Experts have also stressed the need of install artificial snow-making mechanism to start the winter sports season from November or December. He said after finalising details of the ambitious project, the state government would be requested to approach the Centre for funding. Adventure sports bonanza *
The National Alpine Ski and Snowboarding Championships would be organised in January-February next year *
These would include the Senior and Junior Alpine Ski and Snowboarding Championships at the Gulmarg valley *
The Junior National Snowboard Championship will be held in India for the
first time |
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Rights being stifled in state: CPM
Jammu, November 1 Addressing a press conference at Jammu, Tarigami condemned the police crackdown on workers of the Chenani-Nashari four-lane road and tunnel project in the Jammu region. He said the right to holding peaceful protests was being stifled. Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said this would only encourage the
emergence of autocratic and violent forces in the society. He demanded immediate release of workers who have been detained by the police in “false and frivolous” cases. The CPM leader observed that the democratic process should not be misconstrued as having a relation with only the electioneering process. He said it meant the protection of constitutional guarantees of democratic rights, which include civil liberties and right to protest as well.
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Geelani addresses rally in Sopore; calls for election boycott
Srinagar, November 1 The 84-year-old separatist leader also visited the families of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in February this year, and a slain militant commander, who was killed in October last year, and called for the boycott of the upcoming elections. Geelani was released earlier this week after being in detention at his residence here in the city for around eight months. He was barred by the state administration from leaving his residential compound and prevented from even attending weekly congregational prayers. Soon after his "surprise release" on Tuesday when police personnel deployed outside Geelani's house vacated the area, the chairman of the hardline separatist faction announced that he would visit Sopore town on Friday and address a rally there. Geelani travelled amid a caravan of vehicles to Sopore, 55 km north-west of Srinagar, where thousands of people had gathered in the main square area for his rally. Sopore town, which Geelani represented in the state Legislative Assembly during his stints as legislator till 1990 when militancy erupted in the region and he resigned, is a stronghold of the separatist sentiment and has been a bastion of militants until recently. Large banners eulogising slain militants of Sopore were being waved at the rally site. Geelani urged people not to vote next year in the elections to representatives for Parliament and later, for the state Legislative Assembly. Geelani said there was no difference between the parties contesting the elections and termed the promise of the mainstream politicians to bring change as fake. Geelani also accused the United Nations of failing to deliver in solving the Kashmir issue.After addressing the rally, Geelani visited the house of Muzumil Amin Dar, a Laskhar-e-Toiba commander who was killed last year. Later, Geelani went to Doabgah - the native village of Afzal Guru. Eye-witnesses said some youth had thrown stones at a police vehicle when the rally ended, following which the police fired tear-smoke canisters at the crowd. Geelani criticised the youth indulging in stone-throwing on the police and termed them as “vagabonds”. |
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BJP to launch agitation for refugees’ cause
Jammu, November 1 Addressing a function after the conclusion of “Refugee Adhikar Yatra” in the border town of
RS Pura, Rajya Sabha member and in charge of the state BJP unit Avinash Rai Khanna said Jammu and Kashmir was the
only state in the country where more than 12 lakh people had been living with the tag of refugees. He said the tag was a curse and the BJP would work
to remove it. Khanna assured that the refugees who had been agitating for the past over six decades would be granted all the rights, which were being enjoyed by other citizens of the country. BJP state president Jugal Kishore Sharma, too, reiterated the party’s commitment for the cause of refugees. He said the BJP would take up the issues of refugees inside and outside the Assembly. Leader of BJP Legislature Party Ashok Khajuria while elaborating on the need to take out this yatra, said the refugees needed to be educated about the double-speak of NC and Congress leaders.
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Work resumes on Chenani-Nashri tunnel
Batote, November 1 The workers were protesting against the non-fulfilment of their demands by the management of Leighton Welspun Contractors Pvt Ltd (LWCPL), the Australian firm constructing the tunnel for the National Highway Authority of India. The workers were demanding reinstatement of ten employees, wages in lieu of
overtime, weekly off and risk allowance. At Chenani, the police resorted to lathi-charge and tear gas shelling to control the protest by stone-throwing workers. Deputy Superintendents of Police Gyanchand Sharma and Amara Begum; SHO, Chenani, KK Gupta; and the SHO, Kud, and some protesters were reportedly hurt during the process. The police said 56 persons — 25 at Chenani and 31 at Nashri — including the “local miscreants supporting workers” had been detained. |
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Avian visitors keep winter date with Hokersar
Srinagar, November 1 “The arrival of migratory birds has begun in large numbers,” Muhammad Maqbool Baba, Wetland Warden (Kashmir), said. “We have around 3,00,000 migratory birds in the reserve this time. This is a record so far as first migratory arrivals are concerned. We expect to host over one million migratory birds in the various bird reserves of the Valley this winter, which would be the highest ever number,” he said. The warden added that the migratory birds have arrived early and in such large numbers because their winter homes are well maintained. “We have maintained optimum levels of water in Hokersar this year,” Baba said. The Hokersar reserve, spread over 7.6 sq km, is situated 20 km from city Lal Chowk on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. The other prominent bird reserves of the Valley are Shallabugh, Mirgund and Hygam. In addition to this, migratory birds also spend the winter months along more than 120 other small and big water bodies, including the Wullar Lake and the Dal Lake. Migratory birds come to Kashmir each winter from Siberia, China, the Philippines and Turkey and some Eastern European countries. “We have around 25,000 greylag geese, over 100,000 mallards, nearly 1,50,000 teals, over 50,000 shovellers, pintails, gadwalls, wigeons, coots and purple moorhens in the reserve and with each passing day, more birds are arriving,” the warden said. Some rare species, including brahmani bucks, have been spotted in the reserve as well. “Their numbers are definitely less, but we have seen them arrive in comparatively better numbers," the warden claimed. Encouraged by the variety of birds coming in, the warden said he is also expecting some other rare bird species like tufted ducks and cotton teals to return to the wetland. “For many years, tufted ducks and cotton teals that are highly endangered species of migratory birds have been rarely sighted in our reserves. This year, we are expecting them to return to their once-cherished winter home,” Baba said. Migratory birds come to Kashmir to ward off the extreme winter in their summer homes, where water bodies freeze over and become rock solid, making feeding and movement difficult for them. Baba said wetland reserves were notified as winter homes for migratory birds and declared protected zones in Kashmir in 1945 by the erstwhile Dogra King, Maharaja Hari Singh, even though bird shooting as a sport was banned in the state only in 1995. “Nobody can shoot a migratory bird of any species in the state anywhere. This law is applicable to both the bird reserves and all other water bodies where these birds are found,” the warden said. He, however, did not deny that poachers had been shooting birds at some places outside the bird reserves, especially at night. “Poaching, like other crimes, will always be there. We are trying our best to check this and ensure the safety of the birds,” Baba said. The warden, meanwhile, blamed the shortage of staff for their inability to completely stop poaching. “We do not have sufficient workforce to ensure that there is no poaching at all. Even then, we are doing our best to check the menace,” he said. In addition to migratory birds that come to spend the entire winter in Kashmir, the Valley also plays host to some species known as ‘birds of passage’. “These include the cormorants and the sandhill cranes. These birds spend few days in the Valley on their trip to the Indian plains and while returning from their journey to their summer homes,” Baba explained. — IANS |
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Srinagar MC to shut down salons violating hygiene norms
Srinagar, November 1 “Hair and beauty salons in Srinagar are using worn-out and old equipment, which may transmit various kinds of diseases. We will shut down salons which fail to obtain a no objection clearance certificate from us from,” SMC Health Officer Dr Shafqat Khan told The Tribune. Till now, none of the beauty parlours in the city has registered with the SMC, especially for complying with the standard health norms. Dr Khan said a comb which is unwashed or used over a period of time at small street men salons, could easily transmit skin diseases. “We are also wary about about the hairdresser's health. If he suffers from any kind of skin or blood infection, he is not fit for the job. The hair salons from now on will have to be careful in appointing hairdressers and skin treatment specialists,” he said. Dr Khan said most of the salons in the city used only a simple disinfectant like Dettol. “The use of sodium bicarbonate and phenol solutions as disinfectants will be made mandatory in salons,” he said. “It has become imperative for the state government to issue public directions on hiring professional beauty practitioners for ensuring hygiene to customers,” said Sheeba Kaawoos, owner of a beauty parlour in the Baghat area of uptown
Srinagar. |
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The Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) are being extra-cautious along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border as Pakistan is learnt to be planning multiple infiltration bids in tandem with Border Action Teams (BATs) around
Diwali. Intelligence agencies have sounded an alert along the J&K frontiers.
Jammu, November 1
Srinagar, November 1
With over 3,00,000 migratory birds thronging the famous Hokersar Bird Reserve so far, officials here say they are expecting the highest number of avian visitors this winter.
“The arrival of migratory birds has begun in large numbers,” Muhammad Maqbool Baba, Wetland Warden (Kashmir), said. “We have around 3,00,000 migratory birds in the reserve this time. This is a record so far as first migratory arrivals are concerned.
“The undulating ground on the international border, which is not under direct observation, makes it easy to attempt infiltration. We call it dead ground in military terms,” said an Army source. 