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Saturday,
April 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Rift in Hurriyat reappears Talks only solution: Umar Farooq
Extend Gurdwara Act, 1925, to J-K: Front |
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| Rs 188 cr spent under BADP
in J&K Jammu, April 26 The Jammu and Kashmir Government has utilised Rs 188 crore for the development of border areas under an ambitious centrally-sponsored scheme to create infrastructural facilities and meet special needs of people living in remote and inaccessible belts.
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Rift in Hurriyat reappears
Srinagar, April 26 Jamaat leaders evaluated the statements of Geelani, in connection with the participation of Mirwaiz Moulvi Umer Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone and unanimously decided they were contrary to the policy espoused by the party viz-a-viz the resolution of Kashmir problem, the Jamaat said in a statement The meeting, attended by senior party leaders and office bearers and chaired by Ameer-e-Jamaat Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, said the statement given by Geelani, who is a former Hurriyat chairman, should be taken as having been made by him in his personal capacity. Reiterating its stand on Kashmir, the party in a press note issued after the meeting said it believed in a “peaceful, tripartite political talks” as the best possible way to address Kashmir and whatever “respectable solution” emerges therein and “which is also acceptable to people of Kashmir, the Jamaat will readily agree to it”. Geelani, talking to reporters at a function here recently had vociferously opposed elections and supported armed struggle in Kashmir. Meanwhile, London-based president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement Ayub Thakur criticised Hurriyat leaders for condemning “jehad” and stressing only on talks for Kashmir resolution. Questioning Hurriyat’s credentials, Thakur said Hurriyat owed its existence to jehad only and “without it they will be reduced to non-entity”. “In fact the political weight of APHC leaders is only because of jehad which they had waged a few years ago and in which thousands of Kashmiri youth are waging to press India to allow Kashmiris their freedom,” Thakur said in a faxed-statement which appeared in a local English daily here today. Referring to the recent Dubai conference, he said “neither Lone or Umar are doing jehad nor Sardar Qayum. They can’t decide about stopping jehad as only Mujahideen could decide about it and they have not authorised anybody to decide about it on their behalf”. PTI
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Geelani taken in
preventive custody
Srinagar, April 26 Geelani was intercepted at
Pattan, on the Srinagar-Baramula National Highway while he was on his way to
Bandipora. He has been detained in the police station, Pattan.
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Talks only solution: Umar Farooq Srinagar, April 26 “If some of our senior leaders, with greater experience, have any doubts, they should talk to us instead of creating confusion among the masses,” said Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq in his address at the Friday congregation held at Jamia Masjid here this afternoon. This was directly in response to Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s (without being named) recent remarks at a function here on Tuesday on the Dubai meet. The meeting had raised many an eye brow following his remarks on the recent statement of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on the latter’s return after attending the meeting. Elaborating on the meeting, the former APHC chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said various proposals would be taken up by the APHC before making the suggestions public. He said it was a golden chance to have such a meeting with other Kashmiri leaders like Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan, chief of the Pakistan’s National Committee on Kashmir. The meeting, he said, discussed threadbare the resolution of Kashmir issue and would help a long way in the final settlement of the problem. He reiterated the APHC stand on the tripartite talks and held that the resolution of the Kashmir issue could be possible only through peace talks. He said there was no other way out. Referring to the participation in elections in the state scheduled later this year, he said the APHC had taken a stand in 1996. “Hurriyat Conference will not participate in any kind of electoral process aimed at getting power,” he pointed out, adding that “we do not want elections but peaceful dialogue”. Geelani had on Tuesday criticised Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for his remarks. Geelani remarked that there was no change in the Hurriyat stand on the issue and resolved that jehad would continue in Kashmir, no matter what the global scenario following the September 11 attacks in the USA. The Jamaat-e-Islami, of which Geelani is a representative in the 23-member APHC, yesterday “disowned” his remarks. A spokesman for the Jamaat-e-Islami said it had taken a serious note of Geelani’s remarks wherein he “debunked the conciliatory and anti-Jehad stance adopted by Umar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone after their participation in the Dubai meet. The spokesman claimed that Geelani’s remarks were his own and that “these were contrary to the policy espoused by the party vis-a-vis the resolution of the Kashmir problem.” He added “peaceful tripartite talks to resolve the Kashmir issue” were the only solution to the problem.
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Extend Gurdwara Act, 1925, to J-K: Front Jammu, April 26 The demand was made by the Chairman of the National Sikh Front, Mr Varinderjeet Singh, at a press conference here today. He said when all Central laws had been extended and were in force in Jammu and Kashmir, there was need to bring the state under the jurisdiction of the Gurdwara Act. He said that the interests of the Sikh community and their religious places were not being fully protected by the Jammu Kashmir Gurdwara Act. Mr Varinderjit Singh also called for bringing all educational institutions and professional colleges, run by some Sikh leaders and organisations, under the purview of the Gurdwara Act. If it was done, elections to the managing committee of these institutions would have to be held every five years. He said since these institutions were not controlled by the Gurdwara Act, they had become almost a personal property of some Sikh individuals since when these institutions had been raised from the donations given by “our community people.” He said that since the Sikhs had been given the minority status in the country, all state governments should give due representation to them in the democratic institutions. In this connection, he has sent a memorandum to the President of India, requesting him to urge the state and the Central governments to give all benefits a community with minority status deserved. The front leader also demanded Sikh representation from Jammu and Kashmir in the SGPC, Amritsar. He said the committee had representation from various states, but there was none from Jammu and Kashmir. In reply to a question, he said the dismissal of the Gujarat Chief Minister or imposition of President’s rule would not solve the problem. If Mr Modi was dislodged, the BJP would still be in power. He said the BJP should go in for fresh elections. When reminded that holding a fresh poll would be to seek mandate from the bodies he shot back, “Did not the Congress go in for poll soon after the 1984 riots and won the mandate on the bodies of Sikhs who had been killed?” |
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Rs 188 cr spent under BADP in J&K Jammu, April 26 Spelling out the broad features and achievements registered under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) during the past nine years, Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly said 44 border blocks in the state had been brought under the ambit of the scheme. The Chief Secretary, who was reviewing the sectoral performance of the state-level screening committee of the BADP here yesterday, said the main activities undertaken under the programme include the provision of additional accommodation for schools, developing playing fields, provision of drinking water facilities, construction of roads, improvement of basic healthcare services and power supply. Mr Jaitly said the major thrust areas of the programme should be road construction, regular drinking water and power supply, upgradation of diagnostic and treatment facilities, besides strengthening educational infrastructure in the border areas. He said drinking water and toilet facilities need to be provided to the schools constructed under the BADP, with priority to schools for girls. He said adequate funds available under the programme might be spent in the 5-km border belt. He impressed upon the Planning Commission to enhance the allocations to the state under the BADP and suggested that teams of the commission should visit border blocks of Jammu and Kashmir to see achievements registered under the programme and suggest improvements.
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