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| Sunday, September 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Don’t do census duty:
EWC LAWDA officials
booked
Lashkar disowns
threat on burqa |
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BSF attestation
parade held Victor Force
celebrates Raising Day PCC opposes
trifurcation 14 Bangladesh
nationals held
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Don’t do census duty:
EWC SRINAGAR, Sept 9 — Over 22,000 state government employees on census duty beginning Monday, have been asked by their union not to participate in view of the militants’ threat to their lives. This announcement was made by the Employees and Workers Confederation (EWC) after a meeting here yesterday to discuss the threat issued to the employees in view of the warning by Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen. Lashkar-e-Toiba on Thursday had issued a statement warning the employees against taking part in the census operations in the valley. “If anyone among the 22,000 government employees participates in the census operations, he or she will be killed without any warning”, a statement issued by the Lashkar-e-Toiba had said. This followed a warning by the Hizbul Mujahideen asking the government to call off the exercise as there was no possibility of a “fair and credible” census under the circumstances. Elaborating on the futility of the census operation, a Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman said a large number of people of Kashmir had migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country. “Thousands of people have either gone underground as a result of the oppression by the security forces or crossed over to azad Kashmir. Thousands are missing and thousands have been incarcerated”, a spokesman stated. He appealed to the people in general not to cooperate in this exercise. “Let it be known to one and all that they will not give up their right to self-determination in exchange for the widening of the roads or the construction of drains”, the statement said. The first phase of census was completed in May this year. The second phase is scheduled to commence from September 11. The census in Jammu and Kashmir could not be held in 1991 in view of the troubled situation. Former Union Minister Prof Saifuddin Soz earlier this week had urged the state and Central Governments to adopt a cautious approach while undertaking the census operation in Kashmir. He apprehended that clandestine efforts was being made to change the demographic structure of the state. In order to avoid this, the former Union Minister had asked the government to exclude non-state subject persons from the headcount. He claimed that the declining number of the Muslim majority in the state during the previous census operations was due to the “clandestine effort” to change the demographic structure of the only Muslim majority state in the country. However, the state government allayed his apprehensions on the reliability and credibility of the census operation and held there was no scope for changing the demographic pattern of Jammu and Kashmir. Reacting to the statement of Prof Soz, an official spokesman said while it was a fact that all persons residing in areas on the dates of enumeration at any place was required to be counted, but there were specific columns for identifying any persons like migrants from other areas and members of the armed forces. The total census figure clearly indicated the number of such persons as migrants, members of the armed force or the labour force, the spokesman said. |
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LAWDA officials
booked srinagar, sept 9 (pti) —
The State Vigilance Organisation has registered seven cases against officials of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (lawda) for alleged irregularites committed in the execution of development works in and around the Dal Lake. A lawda spokesman said here today that firs had been registered under the provisions of the prevention of corruption laws against the officials of the agency. “Preliminary inquiry has prima facie established allegations of misuse of official position, financial irregularities, grave misconduct by indulging in corrupt practices in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy to loot the state exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees,” he said. The inquiry had revealed that huge amounts were drawn for “works done only on paper,” he said, adding the accused included senior officers of the agency. The executing authorities had deviated from the basic plan and the budgetary allocation had been exceeded to the tune of crores of rupees, the spokesman added. |
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Lashkar disowns
threat on burqa JAMMU, Sept 9 — Confusion continues to grip separatists and militant outfits in the Kashmir valley, resulting in a scare among the people. The latest instance of this confusion has been the “threat” issued by Lashkar-i-Toiba to those running beauty parlours, to women who move about without burqa, to employees on census duty and cable operators. Yesterday when unidentified gunmen stormed a beauty parlour in Srinagar and resorted to indiscriminate firing, wounding two women and the owner, Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Toiba immediately issued a statement disowning the threat to cable operators, census workers and others. A spokesman of Lashkar-i-Toiba in Islamabad, Abu Umer, said that the outfit had not issued any threat to cable operators, beauty parlour owners or women unwilling to wear burqa. He said some vested interests had issued press statements in the name of Lashkar-i-Toiba. He also denied that the outfit had threatened to eliminate employees carrying out the census exercise. He made it clear that these issues were extraneous and had nothing to do with the ongoing “jehad”. Ask a common Kashmiri about the political scene and he will say he does not “trust anyone.” “We have been cheated and ruined by all politicians and rebel activists,” is the common refrain. Informed sources say that intermittent threats to cable operators and owners of beauty parlours have been the result of a rift among these operators. One section of operators uses one group of militants to attack rival operators. This is what has happened in Kashmir during the past four years. Despite these threats, there has been a mushroom growth of beauty parlours and cable operators in Kashmir. People are confused as to whose writ runs in the valley. |
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BSF attestation
parade held SRINAGAR, Sept 9 — Yet another batch of 227 recruits participated in the attestation parade at the Subsidiary Training Centre (STC) of the Border Security Force (BSF) at Humahama near here today. With this the total number of recruits who have been trained at the STC so far since its inception in 1990 has gone up to 4226, 1658 of them being Kashmiri youth. Mr G.S. Gill, Inspector-General, Frontier Headquarters of BSF, Srinagar, took salute at the parade commanded by recruit Constable A.N. Mishra. The new recruits of batch numbers 32 and 33 started their training from September 6 and November 11, respectively, last year. Five constables, three in batch number 32 and two in batch number 33 were adjudged outstanding for their distinctive performance during the training period. They include: Constable Dwijo Sinha, all-round first; Constable Duliya Bhavare, all-round second; Constable Mukesh Singh, best in drill in batch 32; Pawar K. Singh stood all-round first and Constable A.N. Mishra stood all-round second and best in drill from batch 33. Out of 227 recruits, 104 belonged to Gujarat, 25 to Uttar Pradesh, 14 each were from Bihar and Rajasthan, 11 each from West Bengal and Maharashtra, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, 60 from Himachal Pradesh, 10 from Haryana, four from Assam, three each from MP. Nepal, two each from Kerala and Meghalaya, Manipur, Punjab and Tripura, one each from Nagaland, Delhi, Karnataka and Orissa. During their basic training stress was laid on physical training and fitness, weapon handling, shoot-to-kill exercises, map reading and discipline. Besides this, training is also given in the fields of engineering, field craft,monor tactics, anti-terrorist and anti-insurgency operations, commando operations and human rights. |
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Victor Force
celebrates Raising Day SRINAGAR, Sept 9 — Victor Force (Rashtriya Rifles) operating in south Kashmir celebrated its seventh Raising Day today with a traditional remembrance of its martyrs to the national cause. Victor Force was raised on September 8, 1994 and has been operating in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Pulwama districts. During the past seven years it has eliminated 533 militants and apprehended 751, many of them hailing from Pakistan and Afghanistan. It has got various gallantry awards for distinguished services, including one Ashok Chakra, three Kirti Chakras, 35 Shaurya Chakras, 94 Sena Medals and 10 Vishisht Seva Medals. In its unswerving commitment to help in the process of normalising the situation in the valley, winning the trust of the people and ameliorating their hardships due to the decade of militancy, it has initiated numerous schemes aimed at socio-economic uplift of many villages in Kashmir. It has conducted numerous medical camps to treat locals who cannot afford specialised treatment. Several schools in south Kashmir today impart modern education at highly subsidised rates to Kashmiri children residing in far-flung habitats of the valley. As part of vocational training, centres for computer literacy are on the cards, both as a vocation for umemployed youth and as an introductory syllabus in schools. Ahgam village, reduced to ashes in a militancy related operation, was rebuilt from scratch and today with its numerous amenities and public utilities is a model village unlike any other village in the valley. |
PCC opposes
trifurcation JAMMU, Sept 9 — The state unit of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has opposed the trifurcation of the state and restoration of greater autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a press conference here today, party Vice-President Gulchain Singh Charak, said the National Conference government was playing a dangerous game by dividing the state on communal lines. He blamed the NC for having encouraged communalism in Ladakh. He said if the government did not take immediate steps to bring Buddhists and Muslims together, the region may go the Kashmir way. He expressed concern over the delay in the completion of work on the Jammu-Udhampur railway line and demanded panchayat and civil elections as promised during the Assembly poll. |
14 Bangladesh
nationals held JAMMU, Sept 9 (PTI) — Fourteen Bangladeshi nationals were arrested by the BSF while trying to cross over to Pakistan yesterday, a BSF spokesman said here. BSF troops on nakas observed movement of a group of persons crossing over to Pakistan along the International Border near Mangral border outpost in RS Pura yesterday afternoon, sources said. The arrested Bangladeshis included four men, five women and five children, they said. |
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