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April 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Lone under house arrest J&K Assembly session showed Opposition in poor
light Fencing must to check
infiltrators: CM Nine soldiers
killed, three hurt in mishap
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Lone under house arrest Jammu, April 4 “Our 15 party office-bearers, including two Vice-Chairmen, have been arrested by the authorities, preventing them from taking part in the party rally to be held at
Kathua,’’ said Mr Lone, while talking on the phone this morning from his house. Inspector-General of Police
(IGP) R.V. Raju said: “Mr Lone has been kept under protection keeping in view the threats from the Shiv Sena and BJP activists. The police did not want to take any chance regarding the security of Mr Lone. We have deployed adequate troops around his house.’’ Mr Lone alleged that the authorities were not allowing People’s Front activists to take part in the rally at
Kathua. Mr Karan Singh and Dr Ghulam Mohammad Hubi were among those arrested. Some were missing since last evening. Superintendent of Police (SP) of Kathua Manohar Singh said the rally had not been banned by the authorities, but some Shiv
Sena, BJP and Congress activists had given a call to disrupt the rally and some persons had been taken into custody as a preventive measure to ensure law and order during the rally.
Mr Lone said they wanted to hold a rally in Kathua today in support of the Centre’s decision to have a dialogue with separatist leaders of Kashmir. “We just wanted to mobilise public opinion in support of the Government of India’s decision that a conducive atmosphere has been prepared for heading towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue,’’ Mr Lone said, adding that we just wanted to convey the message that the Kashmir issue could only be solved by negotiations. He said it was time that talks with Pakistan were held as that country had admitted to aiding militancy in Kashmir by saying it was now ready to stop giving support to the militants. So far, Pakistan had maintained that it was giving only moral support to the militants, Mr Lone pointed out. He said that if the Central Government issued passports to Hurriyat leaders, they would be able to go to Pakistan and hold talks with several militant groups and the Pakistan Government to break the deadlock. Meanwhile, three persons were killed and four arrested in the Kashmir valley while a powerful bomb rocked Dalina village of Baramula district, official sources said. An alleged Army informer was shot dead by unknown militants at Bonigam in Kulgam area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir. The sources said militants gunned down retired forest official, Abdul
Salam, outside his residence in Handwara area of the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir today. The body of a civilian was found in Shopian area of Pulwama district last night.
PTI |
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J&K Assembly session showed Opposition Jammu, April 4 The Budget session demonstrated that the Opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the BJP, were a house devided. On several occasions whenever some members belonging to the Congress staged a walkout, not all its seven members joined the protest. The case was similar to the BJP where the division among its eight members was more manifest. In case of the BSP, Mr Somnath was often seen with the Congress protesters than with his leader, Sheikh Abdul Rehman. The eight members of the BJP did not follow in the footsteps of its leader, Mr Shiv Charan Gupta, in the same way as Congress members did not okay whatever the decision their leader in the Legislature, Mr Tara Chand, took. The lone Panthers Party member, Mr Harsh Dev Singh, and the CPI(M) member, Mr M.Y. Tarigami, were seen joining one side or the other only on vital issues, keeping in view their party’s known stand on those matters. Though several National Conference members raised a number of issues to the embarrassment of the party leadership, nobody from the party benches dared to oppose the Chief Minister, who proved himself as the tallest figure in the House. The last day of the session saw the announcement of a major gift for retired members and former Chief Ministers. A Bill adopted on the last day gave to the former Chief Ministers a monthly pension of Rs 5,000, rent-free accommodation with a provision that furniture and furnishings could be installed at a cost of Rs 35,000 per annum. These former Chief Ministers would be entitled to free telephone calls up to a sum of Rs 48,000 per year and they could use 250 litres of petrol for the car given by the government. The former Chief Ministers would be entitled to a personal assistant, a special assistant and two peons. They would have medical facilities on a par with sitting ministers. The Bill also enhanced the monthly pension of former members of the Assembly and the Council from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5000 per month. The sitting legislators got only one benefit, that they would get Rs 9 against 75 paise per km as petrol expenses whenever they had to attend a meeting. The CPI(M) member, Mr Tarigami, was the only member to oppose the Bill on the plea that undue favours were being given to former legislators and Chief Ministers when the state was already faced with an acute financial crunch. He said the government had no money to sanction unemployment allowance and execute projects which could provide basic amenities to the people, but the same government had no financial problem in giving lucrative allowances to former legislators and Chief Ministers. The
Budget session indicated that several NC members are not happy with the Chief Minister’s decision to have joined the NDA led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. On several occasions some NC members made sarcastic remarks when some ministers informed the House that a programme could not be taken in hand or completed because of paucity of funds. The last day of the session triggered a controversy when an NC member, Mr Sadiq Ali, suggested to Dr Farooq to quit the NDA alliance. The Chief Minister was visibly upset over the member’s suggestion. He told him to show the way. Mr Sadiq Ali was quick and forward his resignation from the membership of the House to the Speaker, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil. Later, Mr M.Y. Tarigami intervened and requested the Speaker to reject the resignation as Mr Sadiq Ali had taken the decision in anger. The Speaker rejected the resignation. Though numerically weak, the Opposition members tried to create problems for the NC which has a two-third majority in the House. They could have done better if the Congress and the BJP members had not remained engaged in settling old scores. The shawl controversy saw the two main Opposition parties locked in a tussle, much to the amusement of the ruling party. |
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Fencing must to check
infiltrators: CM Jammu, April 4 Intervening during a discussion on the Prime Minister’s peace initiative on the last day of the Budget session of the state Assembly here, the Chief Minister said fencing work had begun. He hoped it would be completed shortly. He said once the IB was fenced, the security forces deployed in the area, could be shifted to the LoC for checking infiltration, which was the only way to contain militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. Referring to the non-initiation of combat operations against the militants, Dr Farooq said that it had caused some problems as killing of innocent civilians, political activists and security personnel had increased. The Chief Minister said Pakistani firing on the border had stopped after the enforcement of the ceasefire which had given relief to people living in border villages. But there was no improvement in the security scenario within the state. He urged Pakistan to reciprocate the peace initiative announced by the Prime Minister. He said Islamabad should not mistake India’s peace initiative as a sign of weakness and “India has the capacity to rattle Pakistan.” The issue was raised by Mr Sadiq Ali, NC, Mr Ashok Sharma (Cong) and Mr Harsh Dev Singh (Panthers Party). They said the ceasefire had caused immense problems for the people and it should be withdrawn. Referring to the controversy over the distribution of Pakistan made shawls among sarpanches and panches in Udhampur by the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Prof, Chaman Lal Gupta, the Chief Minister said CID investigations had revealed that a factory in Ludhiana manufactured shawls and pasted on these labels of different brands and countries. He, however, announced on the floor of the House that he would request the Centre to have the matter probed by the CBI. Winding up the discussion, the Chief Minister said he was for empowerment of women in the state. He said to give more powers to the Women Empowerment Cell headed by Dr Girja Dhar, he had decided to accord Cabinet rank to her. He advised all members to contribute Rs 1 lakh from their constituency fund to the cell. He announced his government was committed to amending the Panchayati Raj Act so that women belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes had seats reserved in each committee. Dr Farooq said he, too, was concerned over the killing of political activists and he would take up the matter with the Central Government so that the families of those killed by the militants received Rs 5 lakh as ex gratia instead of Rs 1 lakh. The Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Mr Shiv Charan Gupta, welcomed the Chief Minister’s announcement regarding a CBI probe into the shawl scandal. During zero hour, Congress members again tried to rake up the scandal, but were pacified when the Chief Minister informed the House that a CID inquiry had absolved the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation of all charges.
The BJP and the Congress members exchanged hot words. Nine soldiers
killed, three hurt in mishap Baramula, April 4 Official sources said the vehicle, part of an Army convoy, on way from Uri to Baramula fell into river Jhelum, when its driver lost control. Seven security personnel died on the spot and five were injured. Two wounded died later on way to the hospital. The injured were admitted to Army Hospital. Their condition is stated to be serious. The deceased were from 3 Jat Regiment, 43 Field Regiment and 579 Army Engineering Corp Supplies.
Agencies |
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