JKPCC leaders criticise Aslam
JAMMU, Oct 23 — Undue interference in the affairs of the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir by "rootless" leaders in Delhi, delay in selecting candidates and lack of effective PCC leadership were some of the reasons for the debacle of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Two killed in accident
KATHUA, Oct 23 — Two persons, including a pilgrim from Ferozabad were killed and three seriously injured when a Tata Sumo collided with a truck at Loget Morh, 5 km from here, on the Jammu-Kathua highway this afternoon.

11 militants killed in valley
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 23 — At least 15 persons, including 11 militants were killed and 16 others injured in separate incidents of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

Six militants, all of them believed to be foreigners, were killed in an encounter with the security forces in the Lalmarg forest area near Safapora in Baramula district this afternoon. Defence sources here said the encounter started at 1 p.m. today. Till the last reports came in, the operation to trace out any militant in the deep forests was going on.

This is the second major encounter in the area during the past two weeks. More than 15 militants, most of them foreigners, have been killed in the area in different encounters with the KILO forces of the Rashtriya Rifles so far. The KILO force had recently been organised to fight militants in the area.

At least four militants were killed in another encounter with the security forces at Baglian in Kupwara district on Thursday night.

Three personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) were killed and four others injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by a landmine in Anantnag district last evening. The police said a landmine hit the BSF vehicle on the Moharipora-Hillar road last evening, injuring seven persons. Three of them later succumbed to their injuries while being shifted to the hospital. The vehicle was completely damaged in the landmine explosion.

Unidentified militants shot dead a civilian, Ali Mohammad, at Lariagam Panzla in Baramula district yesterday. The residents of the area have alleged that he was killed by security force personnel. The residents also took out a protest demonstration against the killing.

A group of militants intruded into the house of Lassa Bhat in Krimshore village of Budgam district last evening with the intention to kill him, the police said. When his son raised the alarm one of the militants opened fire. The bullets hit a militant of the same group who died on the spot. The militants fled the scene taking away the body of the foreign militant.

As a squeal to the incident, unidentified militants hurled a grenade at a truck belonging to Lassa Bhat at the bus stand in Budgam this morning. At least 13-pedestrians were injured in the explosion, a police spokesman stated here this evening.

In another incident, at least three boys of Government Middle School, Sanghla, Surankote in Rajouri district were injured this morning. The police said an explosion took place on the premises of the school at about 10 a.m. today leading to injuries to three students.

JKPCC leaders criticise Aslam
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 23 — Undue interference in the affairs of the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir by "rootless" leaders in Delhi, delay in selecting candidates and lack of effective PCC leadership were some of the reasons for the debacle of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

This was the unanimous opinion of Pradesh Congress Committee members and several senior party leaders who met here yesterday for a post-mortem of the party performance. The PCC chief, Mr Mohammad Aslam, presided.

Several leaders criticised the role of the PCC chief who remained out of the state for most of the time. Mr Aslam was blamed for not having campaigned in favour of Congress candidates in all six constituencies.

Some members demanded that either Mr Aslam resigned on moral grounds or assert authority. Several party leaders said for about a month Mr Aslam was kept confined in Delhi by senior Congress leaders on the pretext of seeking his opinion on the candidates who could be fielded. But these "rootless AICC leaders from Jammu and Kashmir interfered in the process and selected their own men and their names were announced hardly a week before the date of filing of nomination papers".

Mr Ayub Khan, a former MP and PCC chief, said he was shocked to receive a letter telling him to submit his biodata so that his name could be considered for the party ticket. "Such a thing has never happened before, he said, adding that inducting "ornamental" politicians in the Pradesh Congress Committee and sidelining genuine party leaders had also contributed to the defeat of the Congress.

Mr Rafiq Sadiq blamed senior PCC leaders for their failure to involve party workers at the grassroots level. He said senior party leaders from the state were never consulted while preparing the list of Congress candidates for the five seats.

Mr Gulchain Singh Charak said he was shocked to be informed by the Congress candidate from Ladakh that he was contesting on his own and there was none from Jammu or Delhi to campaign for him. Mr Charak said it was because of the failure of the party leadership in the state that the Congress had lost its safe seat in Ladakh.

Mr Raman Bhalla, expressing concern over the way some leaders from Jammu camping in Delhi had hijacked the Pradesh Congress Committee and force their will through their touts in the organisation, demanded immediate reconstitution of the PCC so that leaders who mattered in the party and who had pockets of influence were given a berth in the reconstituted PCC.

Mr Dharampal Sharma, Ms Swaran Lata, Mr M.L. Kaul, Mr Beli Ram Kundal and Thakur Diwakar Singh were also critical of the PCC chief in his failure to take all leaders with him.

It was felt that after the resignation of Mufti Sayeed from the Congress and exodus of several leaders, including Dr Mehboob Beg and Mr Talib Hussain from the Congress to the National Conference, the party had suffered a major erosion in the vote-base.

A majority of leaders were of the opinion that the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir should play the role of effective Opposition. This called for better leadership.

Other leaders were critical of the patronage a couple of AICC leaders gave to certain groups within the state unit of the Congress. They said after Ms Mehbooba Mufti quit the party and resigned from the leadership of the Congress Legislature Party, the matter regarding who would succeed her should have been left to the PCC. Instead, "rootless" leaders in the AICC were trying to foist a leader.

A large number of leaders are in favour of Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA as Ms Mehbooba Mufti's successor. But there are indications that the AICC leader, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, may intervene and "impose" a person of his choice.

College deceived students: minister
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 23 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has blamed the management of PRIME medical college, a private professional instruction established here four years ago, for deceiving the students by setting up the college in violation of prescribed norms and regulations.

The Minister for Health and Medical Education, Dr Mustafa Kamal, said here today the college was established despite the Unnikrishnan report, which had banned the setting up of such institutions and admitting students without prior information to the government. The minister was addressing a press conference here today. He said that court notices had already been issued to 34 such institutions and the case of setting up such educational and progressional institutions was subjudice.

Dr Kamal said the government was fully aware of the problem faced by the students as their future was at stake. "We want to save their future", he said. He expressed concern over the admission of 80 students for MBBS and BDS courses by the Public Research Institute and Multiplex Education (PRIME) in 1995, which had also admitted a second batch of students during the past four years. Mr Kamal held that there was no justification for the relay fast by the students of the college.

The MBBS and BDS students of the college have been on relay fast since October 14 last in protest against the delay in conduct of their MBBS examinations, which have not been conducted by the University of Kashmir since their admission in 1995. The Chief Minister who also visited the college recently and several other ministers and MLAs who had been in touch with the situation had expressed concern over the career of the students. The Chief Minister had assured the students that their future career would be taken into consideration and if the college failed to fulfil its basic requirements before the MCI and the Union Government they would be admitted to other government colleges in the state.

Expressing the government's concern Dr Kamal said the state Law Minister was asked to approach the high court, where the case was pending, and seek expeditious judgement in this connection. The minister said the state government also wanted relief, and the Law Minister was asked to look at any kind of relaxation in the statures of the University of Kashmir to enable the students to appear in the examinations.

Earlier, Dr Kamal said the government had no role to play in so far as the question of recognition of the college by the Medical Council of India and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the government of India was concerned. He was answering to the calling attention motion tabled by M.Y. Tarigami of the CPM in the state Legislative Assembly today. The minister said the recognition of the college by the said agencies was dependent on rectification of all deficiencies pointed out by the team of inspectors of the Medical Council of India.

The minister said the state government recently persuaded the Government of India to depute a team of three reputed doctors to visit the college. This, he said, was to see how for the deficiencies pointed out by the team of experts of the MCI had been rectified. The team proposed that the college lacked fulfilment of the norms laid down by the MCI which had delayed the consideration for recognition even on year-to-year basis by the MCI and the Government of India.

Tarigami grapples with Minister
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 23 — The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was adjourned by Speaker A.A. Vakil at the end of a brief 11-day autumn session here today.

A number of questions related to problems faced by people in distant areas of the state were raised by members during zero hour and question hour. Members tabled various call attention notices and resolutions during the proceedings. The government presented various Bills in the House.

This was the only and last sitting of the House this year here in the capital city of the state Offices, including the Civil Secretariat, will be shifted to Jammu for the winter months. The next session of the two Houses of the legislature will be held in Jammu now.

The Speaker, adjourning the assembly sine die, referred to the heated exchanges between the Law Minister and CPM MLA today in the House. He hoped that such situations would be avoided in future.

The Works Minister, Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, appealed to the members to maintain the sanctity of the House and avoid unparliamentary language. Mr Shiv Charan Gupta of the BJP, Mr Som Nath (Cong), Mr M.Y. Tarigami (CPM) and Mr Harsh Dev Singh (Panthers Party) also expressed their views.

Earlier in the day noisy scenes were witnessed as the lone CPM member, Mr Tarigami, entered the well of the House and crossed the floor in his attempt to grapple with the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

The situation was saved with the intervention of some Opposition members and the watch and ward staff during question hour. There was an heated argument between the MLA and the minister, Mr Pyare Lal Handoo, on the issue of the construction of the legislature complex in Srinagar.

The Opposition members including those of the BJP, the Congress, the Janata Dal and the Panthers Party, who had packed the MLA on his stand on the incomplete complex, later tried to defuse the situation. The BJP member, Mr Ashok Khajuria, was seen pulling the agitated MLA back to his seat. The Speaker, Abdul Ahad Vakil, who later intervened on the subject, expunged the "derogatory remarks" and unparliamentary language used by the MLA and the minister.

The acting Chief Minister and Works Minister, Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, intervened on the subject after he had replied in writing to the question raised by Mr Tarigami who alleged the government had failed to complete the structure since work on it began in 1981.

The project at a cost of Rs 6 crore remained incomplete. Only a sum of Rs 2.49 crore was spent on it from 1981-1989. The work on the project was suspended with the rise of militancy in the state.

The Works Minister denied the charges that there was negligence on the part of the government in the completion of the project. He assured the House that the complex would be completed with the availability of funds and work on the same would start next year. During his speech various members, including the NC MLA, Mr Mujahid Mohammad Abdullah, and Mr Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party tried to intervene but they were not allowed to speak by the Speaker.

In his written reply the Works Minister said the construction cost was estimated at Rs 23.38 crore against the initial cost of Rs 6 crore. He said there was an increase in cost due to stoppage of work because of the abnormal law and order situation caused by militancy. The minister said further execution of work was pending due to lack of funds.

The House mourned the death of Abdul Gani Mast Faridi, a former member of the House and a minister.

The Speaker, in his condolence remarks, said that Mast Faridi from Doda district was a "veteran leader and a friend of the people.

"By nature he was gentle. He had high qualities of head and heart".

The House observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the departed soul. The House did not conduct zero hour proceedings.

Two killed in accident
From Our Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct 23 — Two persons, including a pilgrim from Ferozabad were killed and three seriously injured when a Tata Sumo collided with a truck at Loget Morh, 5 km from here, on the Jammu-Kathua highway this afternoon.

Reports said the Tata Sumo (1884 JK02J) on its way to Jwalaji in Himachal Pradesh from Jammu was carrying pilgrims to Vaishnodevi when it collided head on with a truck (1157 JK08) at Loget Morh. Two persons travelling in the Sumo were killed and three injured. The truck driver escaped.

A police party from the Kathua police station rushed to the accident site and shifted the victims to the district hospital. The deceased have been identified as Subash Kumar a resident of Janipura, Jammu and Rati, a resident of Ferozabad, Uttar Pradesh.

A case has been registered.