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| Wednesday,
January 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Bandh hits life in
Kashmir Extend Central Act to
J&K gurdwaras: BJP
Qureshi regrets
hijack incident |
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Bandh hits life in
Kashmir SRINAGAR, Jan 23 — Normal life was paralysed here today in response to the Hurriyat-sponsored strike call to protest against the alleged custodial killings in the valley amid unilateral ceasefire offered by the central government. All shops and business establishments were closed here and other major towns of the valley. There was thin attendance in government offices and passenger transport was off the roads. Reports from Kupwara, Sopore and Baramula, major towns in north Kashmir, said normal life was thrown out of gear in support of the call given by the separatist All-Party Hurriyat Conference. There was total response to the call in South Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Pulwama. Today’s bandh was called particularly in protest against the alleged custodial killings of Bilal Ahmad Mir, driver of the State Forest Corporation (SFC) last week. Mir was arrested by the police on Wednesday last by the police amid reports that the vehicle he was driving had been used by the militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba to reach Srinagar for a suicide attack at the outer gate of the airport on January 16. Later, the police claimed he was killed in an encounter between the police and the militants while he was being taken for recoveries in the Ganderbal area. Another youth, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, an activist of the Muslim League, a constituent of the APHC, was also allegedly killed in custody after having been picked up by the police from his residence at
Doulatabad, Khanyar, here on the evening of Friday last. The Hurriyat Conference has appealed to all human rights organisations to take note of the “happenings” in Kashmir which include the alleged custodial killings and excesses being committed by the security forces on the “innocent Kashmiri masses.” |
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Extend Central Act to
J&K gurdwaras: BJP JAMMU, Jan 23 — The state unit of the BJP has demanded that all gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir be brought under the purview of the All-India Gurdwara Act of 1925. In a statement issued here today, Mr Varinderjit Singh, Member of National Council of the BJP, said that he had requested the Central Gurdwara Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Harbans Singh, to get the central Act extended to the state so that all gurdwaras and allied religious and educational institutions here functioned in the same way as in the rest of the country. Mr Varinderjit Singh said that Gurdwara Act of 1970 in Jammu and Kashmir had several lacunae and warranted a major amendment. He said that all gurdwaras, deras and educational institutions, established with Sikh sangat funds, be brought under the purview of the Gurdwara Act of 1925 to ensure their proper functioning and growth. He said that a Sikh delegation would visit Amritsar and New Delhi to meet the Akal Takht and SGPC Chiefs, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner to persuade them to extend the Act to Jammu and Kashmir so that the “money of the Sikh sangat” was not misused. However, those who oppose the demand argued that the BJP leader’s views “carried political overtones.” They said that the Gurdwara Parbandhak Board was looking after the Sikh shrines and proper accounts had been maintained by the managers of several gurdwaras. A board functionary said that the BJP leader’s purpose of getting the central Act extended to the state was to force a major section of the Akali leaders to toe the BJP line. He said the state government had a supervisory role in looking after the working of the board and, hence, there was no justification in the demand for bringing the gurdwaras under the purview of the central gurdwara Act. |
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Qureshi regrets
hijack incident SRINAGAR, Jan 23 (PTI) — Surrendered hijacker of Indian Airlines plane, Hashim Qureshi, today regretted hijacking Fokker friendship “Ganga” in 1971 and favoured the extension of the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. “I am against violence of all kinds, Mr Qureshi told reporters outside the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, Mohammad Nazir Fida, who sent him to 15 days’ judicial custody today. He also pleaded for the extension of the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Prime Minister. “Though people have been killed in custody during the ceasefire but it should be extended so that common Kashmiri is relieved of the tension”, he said. He parried questions about the presence of foreign militants and “fidayeen attacks” on security installations by them saying “I am against violence of all types”. Mr Qureshi requested those who were carrying out attacks in the civilian areas to stop it as innocent people were getting killed. He disagreed that political struggle in Jammu and Kashmir bore no fruits and youth had taken to arms saying “there has been no political struggle in Kashmir. People here had surrendered all rights to former Chief Minister, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah”. He alleged that he was being denied justice because he was a Kashmiri and wanted independence for the state both from India and Pakistan. Citing the example of the release of two Sikh hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane who had undergone jail terms in Pakistan within 24 hours of their arrival in India, he said he was convicted in Pakistan for being an “Indian agent” while in India “I am being tried for being a Pakistani agent”. |
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