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Wednesday,
March
20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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13
escapees, 12 staffers held, says minister JKDFP
rejects PM’s poll offer Hurriyat
warned against taking part in poll Six
Hurriyat leaders get security J&K-Centre
MoU on farm export zone |
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13
escapees, 12 staffers held, says minister Jammu, March 19 This was stated by Minister of State for Home, Mr Najib Soharawardhy in reply to a question tabled by Mr Ashok Khajuria of the BJP in the Assembly here today. Among those who had escaped from prison and from police custody, 22 were state subjects, six were from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and one belonged to Malaysia. Mr Soharawardhy stated that action had been initiated against 20 police and jail officials. He said militants had killed or injured 113 police officials from whom they had snatched weapons. As many as 26 constables and SPOs had been punished after completion of an inquiry. The minister informed the House that eight SPOs had rejoined militant outfits. In his supplementary, Mr Harsh Devi Singh of the Panthers Party and Mr Somnath of the BSP wanted to know what action the government proposed against External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, who had escorted Masood, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and two others to Kandahar for securing the release of 150 Indian Airlines passengers. They also wanted to know whether the government proposed to bring back those militants from Pakistan against whom cases had been filed in Kashmir. The Speaker, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil, intervened and ruled that since extradition was a Central subjects, it could not be discussed in the House. In reply to another question, the government informed the House that more than 12 state government employee involved in militancy had been arrested during the past two years and no case of any such employees absconding had been registered during this period. After inquiries, 11 employees had been released. Two police personnel had not been reinstated yet. One employee of the Power Department had got a court stay against his suspension. In reply to another question, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather admitted that expenditure of the state exceeded revenue receipts. He informed the House that the budget deficit was being covered through various measures, including market borrowings, additional resource mobilisation, financial assistance from the Central economy drive and overdrafts from the Jammu and Kashmir Bank. He said measures were afoot to restructure the public sector undertakings which had been facing recurring losses. He informed Mr Piara Singh of the BJP that closing all public sector undertakings in one go was not advisable as it would threaten the survival of 24,000 employees and workers. A golden handshake scheme was being introduced to reduce surplus workers. Soon after question hour ended, members belonging to the BJP, the Congress and the Panthers Party were on their feet, demanding that all sacked Class IV employees, be reinstated. The Speaker assured the agitated members that they could come to his chamber to discuss the issue and find a solution. He calmed down the members by assuring them that he had sympathy with them and those employees who were on indefinite fast. The Opposition members demanded that the government implement the commitment made by the Chief Minister regarding reinstating the dismissed employees. Later the Finance Minister introduced a Bill seeking to amend the Excise Act, General Sales Tax Act and Stamp Act so as to provide a deterrent to tax defaulters. |
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JKDFP rejects PM’s poll offer
Srinagar, March 19 “We believe in real democratic process. But as far as Kashmir dispute is concerned, our policy is crystal clear that we do not consider traditional poll process a meaningful one in the present situation,” party chief and senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah said here. The Prime Minister’s announcement in Parliament assuring free and fair poll “is an open admission that all elections held in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 were not free and fair and were not held in accordance with the wishes and will of people of the state,” Shah said, winding up the three-day central executive meeting of the party here. “All previous elections held in the state were organised as per the will and wishes of the ruling party at the Centre,” Shah alleged. The Pro-Pakistan Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, a radical militant group, and former Chairman of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani also rejected the invitation and ruled out participation in any poll process till the Kashmir dispute was resolved. The Hizbul Mujahideen has already rejected the offer and ruled out participation in the elections.
PTI |
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Hurriyat
warned against taking part in poll Srinagar, March 19 They include the APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, former Chairman, Moulvi Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Javed Ahmad Mir, both of the JKLF, Abdul Ghani Lone, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Bashir Ahmad Tota, Shahid-ul-Islam, and Nazir Ahmad Ronga (Bar Association). It has also warned the leaders against their frequent visits to Delhi and instead asked them to pay more attention towards “smaller units associated with the ongoing movement” in Kashmir. “These leaders seem to be at the forefront in Indian politics... Islamic Front, as a constituent of the United Jehad Council (UJC) would not allow the game plan of its enemies to succeed”, a statement of the front, copies of which were circulated to vernacular news papers here, said. It asked the leaders to desist from participation in elections and warned them that they would have to face “worse consequences” in case they took part in the elections, adding that nobody would be spared, be it Syed Ali Shah Geelani or Shabir Ahmad Shah. Senior leaders of the Hurriyat Conference were not available for comments. However, Javed Ahmad Mir of the JKLF, a constituent of the APHC, said top Hurriyat leaders in Delhi would be informed about the latest development. The Hurriyat Conference has recently constituted a six-member independent election commission initiating a “democratic process” to determine its representative character across Jammu and Kashmir. The election commission comprised two Co-Chairmen — Mr Tapan Bose, a human rights activist from India, and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, former Chief Justice of Pakistan. |
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Six Hurriyat leaders get security Jammu, March 19 Former chairman of the 23-party separatist amalgam Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has been given ‘Z’ security, with four personal security officers (PSOs) and two sections of J and K Armed Police for residential guard. Its chairman Abdul Gani Bhat has been given one PSO and one to four police personnel as residential guard, Home Minister Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardhy said in a written reply. Abdul Gani Lone had been provided with two PSOs, while Syed Abbas Ansari and Syed Hassan Molvi had been given one PSO each. These three leaders and Syed Ali Shah Geelani had been provided with one to four police personnel as residential guards. The leaders had been provided with the security on the basis of threat perceptions to them. It was the responsibility of the state to protect the lives of citizens who were under threat, the minister said.
PTI |
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J&K-Centre MoU on farm export zone Srinagar, March 19 The MoU was signed by the Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Mr Mohammad Shafi
Pandit, and Mr Anil Suroop, Chairman, Agriculture Production Export Development Agency
(APEDA) on behalf of the state and Central Governments, respectively. Others present on the occasion included the Minister for Agriculture, Choudhary Mohammad
Ramzan, Speaker of the Himachal Assembly, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil, who represents Sopore constituency, and representatives of fruit growers, an official spokesman said. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Omar Abdullah said other agriculture products like saffron, maize and basmati would also be brought under the agriculture export rule. The minister said by declaring Jammu and Kashmir as an agriculture export zone for apple and walnuts, a project worth Rs 83 crore would be started for the integrated development of horticulture. The project would take production and post-production care of fruit, nursery modernisation and renovation of old orchards. He said the project would also help in improving forecasting, testing laboratory facilities, grading, packaging and controlled atmospheric storage facilities. Mr Omar Abdullah said the Central Government would provide about Rs 24 crore as cost of the project while Rs 22 crore would be sought from NABARD as a soft loan. He said the Central Government would also provide 100 per cent project cost for establishing a testing laboratory in the state for soil, water,
fertiliser, insecticides and fungicides testing. For providing better information facilities to growers on timely marketing of their produce, an information centre would be set up at Fruit Mandi.
Sopore, at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, the minister said, adding that the Central Government would be approached for providing transport subsidy to the fruit growers of the state on the pattern of the North-Eastern states. The Agriculture Minister, Mr
Ramzan, said the horticulture sector was yielding an annual revenue of Rs 1,200 crore to Jammu and Kashmir. he said five lakh families were directly involved with the sector in the state. He said the state was being brought under the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme which would come into effect from April this year. The horticulture sector would also be brought under the Crop insurance Scheme within the next three years, he said, adding that agriculture and horticulture were the core sectors of our economy. He said better marketing opportunities were being explored in foreign countries for apple export and asked the growers to export only quality fruit. |
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