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Tuesday,
April 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Geelani
stays away from Hurriyat meeting
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| I’m ready to face poll: Shabir Centre should hold talks with Kashmiris Jammu, April 29 In a significant statement, senior separatist Kashmiri leader Shabir Ahmed Shah has said he will have no hesitation in contesting elections if these “help in resolving the Kashmir issue” and asked the Centre to form a team of senior functionaries of key ministries to hold renewed talks with the “true representatives” of people of the state.
‘Yatri nivas’ en route to Amarnath mooted Panthers Party moots ‘commandos of peace’ Computer centre for tribal students
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Suicide attack in Surankote Jammu, April 29 The Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch, Mr Kamal Saini, said a suicide squad lobbed grenades and unleashed a barrage of gunfire on the security personnel in a busy market. The jawans retaliated, killing one terrorist on the spot. Sixteen persons, including three security personnel, were injured in the attack. Srinagar: Five persons, including two militants, an Army jawan and a woman, were killed and 11 others, six of them soldiers, injured in the Kashmir valley, where ultras attacked a Jammu-bound Army convoy today, a police spokesman said. A group of heavily-armed militants hurled grenades and opened fire on the Army convoy at Chechikote between Awantipor and Sangam on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway around 9.20 a m, he said. As troops fired back, a woman identified as Gulshan Akhter was killed and eight others, four of them Army men, were injured. In another incident, two militants and an Army jawan were killed and two soldiers injured in an encounter at Banderpora village in Anantnag district this afternoon, the spokesman said. The search operation in the area was still on. Ultras shot dead a civilian at his village in Sangarwani-Kellar and wounded a woman outside her house at Ratnipora-Shopian of Pulwama district today, he said. Militants lobbed several grenades and followed it by firing towards CRPF guards posted at the Punjab National Bank branch in Pampore of Pulwama district last night, he said. No casualty was reported. Meanwhile, the BSF arrested three militants, Nazir Ahmad, his brother Abdul Rashid and Manzoor Ahmad Bhat from Panzan- Chadura in Badgam district and seized four grenades from them, he said, adding that the police arrested another militant, Mukhtar Ahmad Wani along with a pistol, a magazine and three rounds from the Khudwani area of Anantnag district.
UNI, PTI |
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I’m ready to face poll: Shabir Jammu, April 29 Asserting that the Kashmir issue could be resolved only through political means, the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) chief said his party believed in a democratic process. “A dialogue should start between Kashmiris and the Centre. From the talks, even if election emerges as a way towards resolving the vexed Kashmir issue and leads to ending day-to-day sufferings of the people of the state, I have no problem to face these,” Mr Shah told PTI in an interview here. “Post-September 11, the situation has changed. We are currently assessing the situation,” said Mr Shah, who along with a number of his party leaders is touring the state to “gauge people’s desires”. “Any decision (on contesting elections) will be based on the response of the people,” he said, adding “whatever be the decision, it will be in the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.” Alleging that the successive governments at the Centre had “committed ‘vishwasghat’ (breach of trust) with the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, Mr Shah said “New Delhi should change the impression by taking some sincere concrete steps.” Mr Shah said the “sacrifices of the people of Jammu and Kashmir will not be allowed to go waste.” Stating that militants had “performed their role of highlighting the Kashmir issue”, the JKDFP leader stressed that the dispute could be solved only at the “negotiating table.” Emphasising that a dialogue should begin between Kashmiris and the Centre, he said the Central Government should “demonstrate its sincerity” to resolve the Kashmir issue and “hold talks with true representatives” of the people of the state. Stating that he was keeping “all options open”, the separatist leader said “no side should come to the dialogue table with a closed mind.” He welcomed the meeting between Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone with a leader of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan in Sharjah early this month, saying it was a “good indication”. “Leaders considered hardliners like Syed Ali Shah Geelani should also be allowed to travel abroad,” he said, adding “it will not bring ‘kayamat’ (doom) but create a better atmosphere.” The JKDFP leader said he did not want India’s break-up and had hope in Mr Vajpayee. Stating that “dangerous clouds” were hovering over South Asia as troops of both India and Pakistan were face-to-face, Mr Shah said “Kashmiris should be allowed to decide their future” and “any decision emerging from a dialogue process should be acceptable to the two countries”. The JKDFP chief asked Pakistan not to put “any hurdles if Kashmiris talk with the Government of India as we also did not object to the Agra Summit and in fact welcomed it.” He advocated that all the three parties to the dispute — India, Pakistan and Kashmiris — adopt a “flexible approach” to ensure a peaceful resolution. Claiming that the K.C. Pant mission had “failed to achieve anything” and asked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to form a team of senior officials of the ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs besides his own ministry to talk to the “true representatives of the people of entire Jammu and Kashmir.” The government should take the Congress and other opposition parties into confidence “as this is a national issue”, Mr Shah said, adding these parties should also extend their cooperation to help resolve the issue.
PTI |
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Geelani stays away from Hurriyat meeting
Srinagar, April 29 Though the exercise was seen as an attempt by Hurriyat Conference Chairman Abdul Gani Bhat to “keep his flock” together, he termed the meeting as “informal” convened to discuss the situation in the Jammu and Kashmir. “There are differences among Hurriyat leaders but once we sit together these will be sorted out,” Mr Bhat told the media before the commencement of the meeting at the Hurriyat headquarters. Though Mr Bhat told mediapersons that the Sharjah meeting was not on the agenda, Hurriyat sources said “this was the main bone of contention between various constituents of the amalgam.” Those present at the meeting were Bhat (Muslim Conference), Mirwaiz Moulvi Umer Farooq (Awami Action Committee) and Moulvi Abbass Ansari (Ithad-ul-Muslimeen). The fire-brand Jamaat leader could not be contacted for his failure to attend the meeting but a spokesman at his residence said. "Mr Geelani is not well and, hence did not attend the meeting.”
PTI |
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‘Yatri nivas’ en route to Amarnath mooted Srinagar, April 29 About 50 kanals of land had been identified for construction of the “yatri nivas” at Khanabal, 55 kms from here on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which would be used as a transit camp for Amarnath pilgrims instead of the degree college premises, using which affected the academic calendar of the institution, Anantnag District Development Commissioner Bashir Ahmad Runyal told reporters at Pahalgam yesterday. He said the Minister of State for Tourism had inspected the site that would soon be acquired and handed over to the Tourism Department for the construction of the nivas. About the law and order situation in the district, Mr Runyal said it was better. The district administration was working in coordination with the security forces, he added. He referred to the Kullar incident in which four BSF personnel accused of raping a teenaged girl had been identified and taken into custody. In reply to a question on electoral rolls, he said the process of updating the voters’ lists had been completed in the district. The names of about 19,000 persons, who had died since the lists was last updated in 1989, had been removed. The names of 10,000 persons who had attained the voting age had been added to the fresh list, he added. He said about 90 per cent of the damaged infrastructure in the district, including 34 major and minor bridges and 129 school buildings and utility assets, had been rebuilt. Mr Runyal said four vital bridges at Aubura, Nanil, Guri and Zirpara were completed towards the end of the last financial year, adding that 99 per cent of the last year’s district plan of Rs 60.36 crore was utilised on the execution of development and welfare schemes. He said an additional allocation of Rs 1.07 crore and loan of Rs 5.96 crore from the NABARD were also spent in full in the district that is spread over an area of 3984 sq. km.
PTI |
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Panthers Party moots ‘commandos of peace’ Jammu, April 29 The decision was taken at a camp attended by the leadership of the party at Sudhmahadev in Udhampur district. Party workers also pledged to oppose any plan of the National Conference seeking greater autonomy for the state. The party was of the firm opinion that the restoration of pre-1953 constitutional status was bound to divide the state on communal lines. The leaders said terrorism in the state was the result of corruption, social injustice and criminalisation of politics encouraged by the Central Government. Gun was no solution to the problem of injustice, poverty and unemployment. The gun culture had to be challenged through the “voice of logic” and the proposed body would be entrusted with this task, the leaders added. The party condemned the Gujarat violence and demanded that men behind killings of innocent people should be exposed. It resolved to carry on the fight against terrorism and corruption on its own. |
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Computer centre for tribal students Jammu, April 29 The multipurpose computer centre and the laboratory are for the benefit, the youth enrolled in the tribal school run by the Guljjar Desh Charitable Trust. Several veteran Gujjar leaders, including Mr Masood Chowdhary, a senior police officer, have been instrumental in establishing the institute for Guljjar students. Besides the usual academic courses emphasis in the school is on moral education and research regarding Gujjar culture, language and folklore. Inaugurating the language laboratory and the computer centre Ganeral Yadava said the Army had taken up several measures which have benefited, especially those in the border villages. He said apart from development of road, holding of medical camps and construction and renovation of school buildings, the Army authorities had adopted a number of orphans and villages. These villages were being developed into model hamlets. General Yadava said during war and peace, Gujjars had helped the troops in a big way and the Army. |
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