J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

J&K Govt gears up for panchayat poll
SRINAGAR, Oct 21 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government is gearing up to fulfil its commitment of holding the much delayed elections to 2600 panchayats from January 5 next year for which the process of revision of electoral rolls has already set in.

Rahi denies maligning Lone
JAMMU, Oct 21 — Mystery around flashing of a communication by Al Barq Chief Malik Bilal Rahi to a Srinagar-based newspaper in which he had accused People’s Conference Chairman Abdul Ghani Lone and senior Hurriyat Conference leaders of swindling large sums of money which agencies across the border had sent to him for distributing it to those families whose youths had been killed by the Indian security forces has deepened with Malik Bilal Rahi emphatically denying having issued any statement.

Cong for changes in Panchayati Raj Act
JAMMU, Oct 21 — The Congress has demanded changes in the present Panchayati Raj Act and withdrawal of the official proposal to divide the regions of Jammu and Ladakh on communal lines before holding panchayat elections in the state.

Factions quarrel in Surjewala’s presence
JAMMU, Oct 21 — The AICC has decided to hold organisational elections in Jammu and Kashmir within a month. In order to clear the decks for the proposed poll, the chairman of the election committee for the state, Mr S.S. Surjewala, held a meeting of senior party leaders including MLAs and former MPs here today.

Thakur inaugurates Kargil mela
SRINAGAR, Oct 21 — Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur today lauded the role of the Army during the Kargil conflict terming the sacrifices by troops as a “milestone” towards the cause of the integration of the country.

• Langeh is J&K BSP chief

J&K Govt gears up for panchayat poll
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 21 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government is gearing up to fulfil its commitment of holding the much delayed elections to 2600 panchayats from January 5 next year for which the process of revision of electoral rolls has already set in.

An amount of over Rs 30 crore, including Rs 15 crore, on the conduct of elections and Rs 15 to 18 crore on security arrangements is likely to be spent on the elections. These elections are being held in four phases in view of the security arrangements.

According to the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Mr Mohammad Ramzan, the first notification for these elections shall be issued in November and the elections would be required to the held within 45 days from the date of issuance of notification.

Elaborating on the process of elections, which are scheduled to be held here after a gap of 22 years, the Agriculture Minister said the whole exercise involving about 2600 panchayats would be completed in a month barring few pockets where, if necessary, they can be held in April. The number of such panchayats would be around 100, he added.

Expressing optimism about completing the election process for grass roots institutions, he said the elections in phases were necessitated by the law and order situation in the state where the security forces would be required to move from one district to another for holding elections. He said the government did not anticipate any major problem on account of panchayat elections.

First of all, these were being held on non-party basis and the involvement would be localised. Secondly, since these were being held in winters the participation of the people would be greater.

Panchayat elections in the state have been postponed a number of times during the past four years despite pressure from the opposition parties to conduct these elections for the grass roots institutions. The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, during the recently held autumn session of the state legislature announced the holding of these elections from January 5 next year “even if atomic bombs fall”. Further, the Houses also passed various Bills, including that of the creation of two municipal corporations for Srinagar and Jammu cities and upgradation of other local bodies of over 72 towns of the state.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has ordered summary revision of electoral rolls for the parliamentary and assembly constituencies in the state with reference to January 1, 2000, as the qualifying date. Following the draft publication of the rolls on November 2 next, the period for filing claims and objections has been set from November 2 to November 17. The final publication of the electoral rolls would be made on January 2 next year, three days before the commencement of the elections.

Rahi denies maligning Lone
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 21 — Mystery around flashing of a communication by Al Barq Chief Malik Bilal Rahi to a Srinagar-based newspaper in which he had accused People’s Conference Chairman Abdul Ghani Lone and senior Hurriyat Conference leaders of swindling large sums of money which agencies across the border had sent to him for distributing it to those families whose youths had been killed by the Indian security forces has deepened with Malik Bilal Rahi emphatically denying having issued any statement.

Malik Bilal Rahi has conveyed on phone his ignorance about the letter to a couple of journalists in Srinagar. He has confirmed he had some differences with Mr Lone but he would be the last person to malign his (Lone’s) name.

Al Barq, which used to be treated as the military wing of the Peoples’ Conference headed by Mr Lone had in the so-called statement blamed Mr Lone of having dumped arms and ammunition in the house of his son, Sajjad Lone. These arms, the statement had alleged were to be used by Mr Lone for grabbing power after Kashmir was granted independence.

On the basis of this statement several rebel outfits, especially the Hizbul Mujahideen, had started demanding that Mr Lone should return the weapons and ammunition his son had dumped in his house.

Reports received from across the border Malik Bilal Rahi had developed a rift with his colleagues in Al Barq. Those who were recently chastised by Malik Bilal Rahi were used by some agencies in Pakistan to make a statement levelling serious charges against Mr Lone. And to make the statement “credible” they used the name of Malik Bilal Rahi.

Mr Lone has preferred to remain silent over the issue. He has simply said that since Malik Bilal Rahi was in police protection in Pakistan there should have been no difficulty for agencies “inimical” to his stand to use him for “maligning my name.”

Sources close to Mr Lone said Sajjad Lone had been out of Kashmir for the past 10 years. He has been shuttling between Dubai, where he works, and Pakistan. Hence the charge that Sajjad had dumped weapons and ammunition was “untenable”.

Inside reports said the agencies across the border had been annoyed over the way Mr Lone weighed India and Pakistan in the same balance while addressing a party convention in Srinagar on October 8.

In the middle of July these very agencies scuttled the proposed peace parleys between the Hizbul Mujahideen and the government by using Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin for forcing Abdul Majid Dar, Commander Operations, to call off the ceasefire. Since then not much has been heard about the Hizbul Mujahideen and the agencies across the border removed Syed Salahuddin who headed the Jehad Council on the charge of having supported the peace talks in the initial stages.

A section of the Hizbul Mujahideen has started a campaign against several separatist leaders, including those in the Hurriyat Conference, conveying to Pakistan agencies that these leaders had misused the funds sent to them or used them for personal comforts. This way the Hizb is trying to regain the patronage it used to receive from Pakistan during the past eight years.

The sole factor responsible for the Hiazbul Mujahideen to campaign against those separatists who were either trying to favour “azadi” or early peace talks was to encourage the Pakistani agencies to resume sending adequate funds and weapons to Hizb activists. The quantum of flow of money and weapons had been reduced by the Pakistani agencies in favour of the Hizbul Mujahideen after they started strengthening the Lashkar-i-Toiba and the Jash-e-Mohammad revel outfits which have domination of foreign mercenaries.

Cong for changes in Panchayati Raj Act
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 21 — The Congress has demanded changes in the present Panchayati Raj Act and withdrawal of the official proposal to divide the regions of Jammu and Ladakh on communal lines before holding panchayat elections in the state.

Reacting to the announcement of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister to hold the elections in January, 2001, the spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Amrit Malhotra, pointed out “undemocratic” provisions of the state Panchayati Law according to which the government had assumed the authoritiy to nominate representatives of women, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Mr Malhotra demanded the implementation of the provisions of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution — which were introduced by the Government of India during the regime of Rajiv Gandhi — regarding Panchayati Raj institutions.

Factions quarrel in Surjewala’s presence
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 21 — The AICC has decided to hold organisational elections in Jammu and Kashmir within a month. In order to clear the decks for the proposed poll, the chairman of the election committee for the state, Mr S.S. Surjewala, held a meeting of senior party leaders including MLAs and former MPs here today.

Mr Surjewala said the election process would start on November 1 and be completed by November 10. It would be for the first time in the past 28 years that organisational elections would be held in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Surjewala directed the Congress leaders to return the membership forms within two days failing which disciplinary action would be initiated against them.

He told mediapersons that free and fair elections would once again strengthen the Congress in the state and enable it to wrest power from the NC.

To a question, he said Ms Sonia Gandhi remained the unchallenged leader and she would be re-elected as the AICC President possibly without a contest.

Though Mr Surjewala was here to bring the warring groups together, he had to witness an exchange of hot words between members belonging to the rival factions today. The trouble, during the meeting started when Mr Hari Singh, PCC General Secretary, announced the end of the meeting. The announcement was greeted with protests from the rival group. Most vocal among the protesters was Mr Yashpal Khajuria, a former legislator. He alleged that a particular group had the patronage of a senior party leader in Delhi.

Mr Khajuria and his supporters blamed the PCC for doing nothing to rejuvenate the Congress. Some blamed Mr Shafi Qureshi, PCC Chief, for having “packed the PCC and DCCs with his benchmen”. Mr Surjewala tried to calm down the critics and assured them that the ensuing poll would put an end to groupism. 

Thakur inaugurates Kargil mela

SRINAGAR, Oct 21 (PTI) — Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur today lauded the role of the Army during the Kargil conflict terming the sacrifices by troops as a “milestone” towards the cause of the integration of the country.

The mela was being organised in view of the uhygenic health conditions in Kargil, the minister said, adding it would also provide prosthetic aid to those handicapped during the decade-long militancy in the valley.

Langeh is J&K BSP chief

JAMMU, Oct 21 (PTI) — Mr Tulsi Dass Langeh has been appointed President of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) replacing Sheikh Abdul Rehman, a party press note said here today. It also said Mr Rehman would continue as the leader of the party in the Assembly. Mr Langeh was appointed President at a meeting of BSP leaders who also reviewed the performance of the party in the state.