Tagore Hall rededicated
SRINAGAR, Oct 12 — After about a decade, Tagore Hall, the centre of cultural activities and the seat of intellectual pursuits of littereauters, was rededicated amid a cultural programme here last evening. Renovated at a cost of Rs 22 lakh by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, the function was presided over by its President and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

Death of woman sparks protests

SRINAGAR, Oct 12 (UNI) — Two ruling National Conference leaders were among three people killed while ten others suffered injuries in the Kashmir Valley during the past 24 hours.

The Jammu and Kashmir police Special Operation Group (SOG) arrested five militants, including a self styled deputy chief of Alfateh, and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition in the valley during the period, an official spokesman said.

He said militants hurled a hand grenade at a security force vehicle near Pulwama bus stand this afternoon. However, the grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the road causing injuries to ten people. The injured were admitted to a hospital where the condition of three of them is stated to be very critical. Four vehicles were damaged in the blast.

He said security forces averted a major tragedy when they detected and defused a powerful improvised explosive device planted by militants on Batpora-Dialgam road in south Kashmir today.

According to the spokesman militants shot at Ghulam Nabi Dar, a ruling National Conference leader, at Vacharnag on the outskirts of the city last evening. He died on the way to hospital.

The spokesman said militants also killed another National Conference leader, Abdul Qayoum Mir at Rawatpora in the frontier district of Kupwara last evening.

The Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Abdul Ahad Vakil has condemned the killing of Mr Dar.

He said the senseless killing of innocents was intended to destroy the socio-political fabric of the state.

People at Fatehpora, about three km from Baramula, today took to streets, alleging that the security forces had killed a woman Hajra, last evening in her house.

The protesters claimed that security forces entered the house of one Sabir Rather at Fatehpora and tried to molest his daughter Fahmeda. When the family members resisted, the security forces fired upon the inmates, killing Sabir’s wife Hajra and injuring his son Bashir Ahmad.

The Baramula Bar Association has demanded stern action against those involved in the incident.

The SOG arrested a self styled deputy chief of Alfateh outfit Parvez Ahmad alias Saiful Khalid in the downtown city last evening. Later at his instance the SOG seized five AK rifles, 22 magazines, 19 grenades, one wireless set, one remote control device and 624 rounds of ammunition.

He said the SOG also arrested three other militants, including former deputy chief of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen from different parts of the city. One AK rifle, one pistol, one wireless set, one rocket, one booster and two magazines were seized from the arrested militants.

JAMMU PTI: A villager was injured in Pakistani firing along the border, while BSF troops arrested 46 Bangladeshi national in R.S. Pura and Hiranagar sub-sectors of Jammu last night, official sources said.

Harbans Singh of Jabowal village was injured when he was hit by a volley of bullets fired by Pakistani troops when he was working in the fields, the sources said, adding he had been hospitalised in Jammu.

Pakistani troops also resorted to firing in Nanga, Nikowal, Pitaal, Pindi, S.M. Pur, S.H. Way, Sai, Suchetgarh, Abdullain, Nawapind, Mehta Post, Zero Point, Londi Chapriyal, Phadpur, Chak Faqura, Jogma, Hamirpur and Pargwal areas of R.S. Pura, Samba, Hiranagar and Akhnoor sub-sectors, they said.

BSF troops arrested 46 Bangladeshi nationals, including 20 women, when they were infiltrating Indian territory in the Hiranagar and Korotona areas of Kathua and R.S. Pura last night.

Iran funding Islamic schools: CM
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 12 — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said here today that some foreign countries were funding private educational institutions in Kashmir and schools run by Jamaat-e-Islami. These were coming up under the banner of English medium schools.

"Our education system is in a shambles. We have not been able to get it back on the rails," he said in the Legislative Assembly. While intervening on a question tabled by a member of the ruling National Conference on the plight of government schools.

The Chief Minister said: "Jamaat-e-Islami is running its schools under the banner of English medium schools. This will create trouble for us". Saudi Arabia pumped in money for such fundamentalist institutions and now Iran was also doing so through the Hizbullah.

Intervening on the issue in the Assembly during question hour, Dr Abdullah said teachers were more interested in "politics than teaching". We have been trying to appoint teachers in distant areas".

But, the Chief Minister admitted that this could not be taken up on account of the apprehension of the charges of corruption at the bureaucratic level.

Referring to the plight of schools in far-flung areas of Doda and Udhampur districts in the Jammu region, the Chief Minister said these schools were "almost closed". There was "infighting" on the seniority issue among lecturers, ad hoc principals in colleges and higher secondary schools and other levels, he said.

Earlier, School Education Minister Mohammad Sharief Tariq said the attendance of teachers was less in militancy-prone areas.

The minister stated that the Education Department was contemplating to introduce English as a medium of instruction in all government schools. The state government had already constituted a cabinet sub-committee which would examine the proposal.

The minister said Rs 43 crore had been spent on the renovation and reconstruction of 489 damaged schools.

Dr Abdullah also announced that panchayat elections would be held soon and preparations for the same were going on.

The Chief Minister regretted the opposition from his own party members on the holding of the panchayat elections. However, he did not mention the date of these elections.

These elections had been deferred thrice during the past three years. It was during the Budget session held earlier this year in Jammu, that the state government announced the decision of postponing these elections on account of lack of funds.

The government had already been working on the modalities for the conduct of the elections, including the revision of electoral rolls.

The Chief Minister also announced that efforts were on to convert the Jammu and Srinagar municipalities into corporations and the Town Area Committees to corporations.

The panchayat elections had not been held since 1977.

UNI adds: Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Medical Education Mustafa Kamal, meanwhile, informed the Assembly that 104 children had died at Lal Ded and a children's hospital in June.

Replying to a question, he said 99 infants had died before their birth at Lal Ded Hospital while five deaths were reported in a children's hospital.

However, these deaths had not occurred due to the administration of spurious fluids or any drug as alleged by a member.

The government had ordered an inquiry and the Deputy Commissioner could not submit her report because she was shifted following the Election Commission's directions. He said she would submit a report soon in this regard.

BJP unit sees NC as threat
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 12 — Three factors are said to have prompted the state unit of the BJP to oppose the plan of the National Conference to join the NDA Government at the Centre. The state unit of the BJP did not resent support by the National Conference to the BJP-led coalition government during the past over 13 months. In fact it was because of this support that the BJP survived and in the final count it lost on one NC vote, that of Prof Saifuddin Soz, who was later expelled from the National Conference.

The main factor provoking the BJP unit in Jammu and Kashmir to oppose entry of the National Conference to the NDA is that its senior leaders feel that once the NC joins the NDA government Mr Umar Abdullah will be the first choice for inclusion in the council of ministers. The NDA present is a bigger body than it was in the 12th Lok Sabha and Mr Vajpayee may not be able to give more than one seat to Jammu and Kashmir, which was not represented in the previous Union Cabinet.

The two BJP MPs from J&K, Vaid Vishnu Dutt, who won the Lok Sabha poll from Jammu constituency for the second time, and Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, who reentered the Lok Sabha for the third time in a row, have been hoping for a berth in the union council of ministers. Prof Gupta is the most favoured candidate but was ignored last time for reasons known to Mr Vajpayee. Hence neither Mr Dutt nor Prof Gupta want to seal their own fate by allowing Umar Abdullah entry into the Council of Ministers.

The state unit of the BJP also insists that if the NC is allowed to join the NDA its own position will be rendered awkward because of the clash of ideology. While the National Conference has been favouring greater autonomy for the state the BJP is for full integration, including one vidhan ( constitution), one pradhan (governor) and one nishan (flag). The state under Article 370 and the Instrument of Accession, enjoys a separate constitution, separate flag and different ways of appointing its governor.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls the National Conference ranked at second place in securing support of voters of the Jammu region relegating the Congress to third place. It even posed a serious threat to the BJP in the Jammu seat. The state unit is of the opinion that if the NC becomes part of the NDA the anti-NC vote which sided with the BJP may be driven into the arms of the Congress.

The NC's main interests in joining the NDA is to get a share in power. Informed sources said Dr Abdullah was trying to groom his son, Umar Abdullah for eventual succession and his experience as union minister would help him.

The decision to join the NDA is also fired by state government's concern on account of an unprecedented cash crunch which had resulted in public anger against the government. The Chief Minister is keen to secure additional financial assistance from the Centre, which he could get as a partner of the NDA.

Dr Abdullah has decided to submit a charter of demands to the new Government in which emphasis will be laid on waiving the state's debt of Rs 1275 crore which force it to pay Rs 600 crore as servicing charges each year. The state government will also ask the new government to reimburse security related expenses, which have touched over Rs 700 crore allowing the state to reduce the overdraft from Jammu and Kashmir Bank. At present the state pays over Rs 150 crore as interest on its
Rs 800 crore overdraft from the bank.

The memorandum will explain the measures the state government took to increase its internal resources and why, despite the exercise, the internal revenue had not crossed Rs 600 crore against a wage bill Rs 3,000 crore per year.

The state government's recent order, under which load shedding had been increased from four hours to nine hours a day has generated deep public resentment. The state Government is aware of this and has pleaded with the Centre to increase allocations for allowing the state to draw more electricity from the northern grid because of the fall of local generation owing to a drop in water levels in rivers.

Financial crunch has echo in J&K House
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 12 — The financial crunch being faced by the state for the past about two years has dominated the proceedings of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for the past two days.

Several questions raised by members in the assembly today pertained to developments in various sectors, including Power and Education, and the payment of arrears to employees under the Fifth Pay Commission.

In a written reply during question hour, the Finance Minister, Mohammad Shafi, said: "It is a fact that the central government has released, 10 per cent and 5 per cent dearness allowance from January, 1999 and July, 1999, respectively, to its employees. However, the state government has not paid the second instalment of pay revision arrears yet because of financial constraints". He added "Due to these, the state government is not in a position to release the same at present."

The Minister of State for Power, Syed Abdul Rasheed, in a written reply about the steps proposed to overcome the shortage of electricity said: "The government imports energy to the extent of availability of financial resources for such purchases to marginalise the shortage". In response to a related question on the government’s intention to purchase more electricity, the gave an identical reply.

Intervening, the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, admitted that the Power Department had to increase the daily load-shedding duration in order to compensate for the shortage of power as well as funds. He said the tariff charged at present, which had caused resentment among the consumers, was "even less" than required. He, however, gave an assurance about reducing the duration of the load shedding. At present, there is load for 10 hours daily in the valley.

The Chief Minister said there was need to "rationalise the finances" in view of the constraints faced buy the state.

Minister for School Education Mohammad Sharief Tariq said at least Rs 15 crore was required for the renovation of 339 school buildings damaged during militancy. For the past three years, the government had been able to spend only Rs 43 crore on the renovation and reconstruction of 489 schools of a total of 828 schools damaged during militancy.

In a written reply, the minister stated: "The Education Department plans to introduce English as a medium of instruction in all government schools to remove the disparity (with private schools) as also to provide furniture and other things to the remaining schools in a phased manner subject to the availability of funds".

Tagore Hall rededicated
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 12 — After about a decade, Tagore Hall, the centre of cultural activities and the seat of intellectual pursuits of littereauters, was rededicated amid a cultural programme here last evening. Renovated at a cost of Rs 22 lakh by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, the function was presided over by its President and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

Ministers, legislators, writers, poets and artistes were present.

Mr Balwant Thakur, Secretary of the academy referred to cinestars who had been associated with the hall.

He said the auditorium was the first of its kind in the North, having a 16-track digital sound system with recording facility. It also had a remote lighting system.

Sangeet Natak Akademy Award was given to Ghulam Mohammad Saznawaz, a senior artiste with the Radio Kashmir, on the occasion.