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Tuesday,
August 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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CPI to
contest 8 seats in Jammu Row over
selecting Cong candidates Cong men
hurt in lathi charge
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NC
derailing poll process, says BSP Jethmalani’s
statement rubbish: Hurriyat Lt-Col
killed in ambush One
injured in Pak firing TPS Brar
is GOC 16 Corps Chhari
Mubarak in Chandanwari
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CPI to contest 8 seats in Jammu Jammu, August 19 The decision was taken at a meeting of the regional council of the party at its meeting here yesterday. Mr Kulbir Singh presided over the meeting. The meeting cleared the names of Mr Dalip Singh Bhati from Suchetgarh, Dr Ganshayam Charak from Bishna, Dr Mohinder Singh from R.S. Pora Mr Dev Raj from Kathua and Mr Mohinder Pal from Hiranagar. The party will announce the names of its candidates from Chenani, Basholi and Bhaderwah shortly. The CPI also decided to support candidates belonging to secular organisations in rest of the area in the Jammu region with the sole aim of defeating the BJP and its allies. This indicates that the CPI may either support the Congress or the National Conference. Its first preference would be the National Conference provided the ruling party supported two Leftist leaders in south Kashmir. Meanwhile, despite tussle between one faction of the RSS and the BJP the latter has decided to field its candidates from all 37 constituencies in the Jammu region, four in Ladakh and 10 to 16 in the Kashmir valley. However, it may agree to leave four to five constituencies for the Statehood Morcha led by the RSS provided the RSS sincerely supported the BJP candidates. The BJP list would be sent to the party high command in day or two. The committee set up to prepare a panel of names for each constituency in the Jammu region has retained all sitting MLAs. In more than three constituencies the sitting MLAs have been placed at number two. At one stage the RSS had planned to carry all organisations associated with Statehood Movement but Mr Yash Bhasin, convener of the Movement has asked the RSS to keep its hands off the organisation. Hence the RSS with the help of a section of the BJP and the VHP would run the Statehood Morcha for building pro-reorganisation of the state as a pre-poll movement. In the meantime the VIP, headed by Dr Ramakant Dubey, has criticised the Election Commission for adopting a dual approach on the plea that it has ordered the postponement of the Assembly poll in Gujarat and refused to defer it in Jammu and Kashmir where the security situation was far worse than in Gujarat. He demanded that the poll should be postponed and whenever it was held it should be conducted under the Governor’s rule. He said that the VIP would lend support to those parties which were for the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir. Indications are that in case the statehood morcha led by Mr Kumar of the RSS decides to field its candidates the VHP may support it. |
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Row over selecting Cong candidates Jammu, August 19 A senior vice-president of the state unit of the party, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, is said to have raised a banner of revolt against the way the PCC President, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, constituted a jumbo-sized board. Mr Sharma met Mr Azad twice here yesterday and protested against the inclusion of those party men who had lost their relevance so far as their influence among the electorate was concerned. The board, which will hold its meeting in Srinagar today, has 22 members. Inside reports said Mr Sharma protested against the inclusion of those party men who were aspiring for the party ticket to contest the ensuing Assembly poll. He told Mr Azad that it was absurd that those who were seeking party ticket were included in the board to select a panel of candidates. Several senior party leaders have supported Mr Sharma on the plea that even those who were not considered for the party ticket in the 1996 Assembly poll had been included in the board and those who had “miserably” lost in the previous poll were dominating the board affairs. |
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Cong men hurt in lathi charge
Srinagar, August 19 A Congress spokesman said about 100 party workers led by youth wing president Mohammad Amin Bhat and general secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Bazaz were chased away by the police soon after they came out from their headquarters to proceed towards electronic media centres. Demanding the imposition of Governor’s rule ahead of the elections, they raised slogans against the local stations of Doordarshan and Radio Kashmir for their alleged “black out” of the news of Congress activities. A Congress spokesman, condemning police action, said four party workers were injured in the lathi charge. A police spokesman said mild lathi charge was used against the Congress activists as they tried to take out a procession in violation of the prohibitory orders.
PTI |
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NC derailing poll process, says BSP
Jammu, August 19 Talking to mediapersons here, state BSP chief Sheikh Abdul Rehman said though the Centre had time and again promised a free-and-fair poll in Jammu and Kashmir, the ground realities in the state were grim. “The so-called computerised electoral rolls are ineffective as scores of names have been omitted from these. The NC has violated the model code of conduct by indulging in mass transfers of officials on back-dated orders,” he alleged. Mr Rehman claimed that the NC regime had misused its “brute majority” during the past six years of its rule by legitimising unprecedented corruption in public places, discouraging meritorious and clean officers, and instead extending patronage to corrupt and inefficient ones. He accused the NC of derailing the election process and commencing the rigging process by transferring “blue-eyed” officials, thereby violating the code of conduct.
UNI |
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Lt-Col killed in ambush
Jammu, August 19 Militants ambushed and fired at the patrol party in the Seeri-Kakai area of Noushera sector in Jammu division, killing Lt Col K.J. Singh and injuring a havildar, the sources said, adding that the militants escaped after the attack. In another militancy-related incident, a woman was shot dead, while a militant was killed in an encounter in Poonch and Doda districts of Jammu division. Unidentified ultras shot dead Naseema Begum in the Prem Nagar area of Doda district, they said. Militants killed a man and his son, who were working as porters with the army in the Reasi area of Udhampur district today. The deceased, residents of Bana Chasana in Reasi tehsil, have been identified as Kala and his son Zakir Hussain. Gangoo Devi, who was injured in firing by militants in Qasim Nagar on the evening of July 13, succumbed to her injuries in hospital here last evening, raising the toll in the carnage to 30. A report from Srinagar said a Deputy Commandant of the BSF had been killed in the frontier Kupwara district amid conflicting versions over how the incident occurred, triggering off a row between the Army and the paramilitary force. The IG, BSF, Baramula frontier, Mr Naresh Mehra, who had visited the spot yesterday, said today that the officer died in crossfiring between militants and the security forces on August 17 In another incident, militants shot dead a woman Special Police Officer (SPO) and attacked a police station with a grenade in the Kashmir valley since last night. SPO Nahida was shot dead by militants inside her house at Naidnoh village in the Bijbehara area of Anantnag district. One person was injured today when militants tossed a hand grenade at a tehsil office in central Kashmir where a large number of people had gathered to collect their electoral photo identity cards, official sources said. They said the ultras hurled the grenade on the Beerwah tehsil office in Budgam district around 11.30 am. Two persons, including a girl, were killed and one injured by militants in south Kashmir last night. The sources said militants fired upon a girl, Dazi, and Fayaz Ahmad Wagay at Naid mohalla, Bijbehara, in Anantnag district late last night. The injured were admitted to a hospital where Dazi later died. In another incident, militants shot at and wounded Bashir Ahmad in Ananatnag last night. He died in a hospital this morning. A report from Baramula said business activity came to halt at Kunzer on the
Srinagar-Gulmarg road this morning after security forces allegedly beat up four shopkeepers.
PTI, UNI |
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One injured in
Pak firing Jammu, August 19 The Pakistani troops resorted to artillery shelling on the forward defence locations from across the LoC in the Dras sector since last evening, forcing Indian troops to retaliate. The exchange continued till this morning without any loss on the Indian side. Small arms fire from across the LoC was also reported from the Bhawani sector in the Rajouri district last night, they said. Intermittent exchange of firing between the two sides took place at 24 places along the international border in the Kanachak, Khour, Akhnoor, Arnia, RS Pura and Samba sub-sectors in Jammu district last night. Viky Sharma was injured in the Pakistani firing in the Pallanwalla area of the Khour sector last evening.
PTI |
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Jethmalani’s statement rubbish: Hurriyat
Srinagar, August 19 “I don’t know what prompted his (Jethmalani’s) statement in Delhi after he accepted that dialogue was necessary for the resolution of the Kashmir issue in Srinagar. He might have been under pressure,” senior Hurriyat executive member Moulvi Abbass Ansari told PTI here. Asked if Hurriyat would continue with the dialogue process in view of Jethmalanis’ statement, he said “only time will tell. Hurriyat will meet soon to decide on the verbal invitation extended by the Kashmir Committee on behalf of the Government of India.” The Prime Minister’s Office was expected to extend a formal invitation to the Hurriyat leadership for dialogue, but “now I am not able to say whether the efforts in this direction will continue,” Ansari said. The Hurriyat appreciated the Kashmir Committee for accepting that “Kashmir is a disputed territory and involvement of Pakistan at some stage of negotiations is inevitable,” he said. On his return from Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, Jethmalani had said in New Delhi that Hurriyat’s non-participation in the elections would send a wrong signal to the people that they were dancing to the tune of Pakistan and have no strength to show.
PTI |
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TPS Brar is GOC 16 Corps Jammu, August 19 On the eve of relinquishing his charge at Nagrota yesterday, Lieut-General Yadava said terrorism in the Jammu region had been contained. |
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Chhari Mubarak in Chandanwari Srinagar, August 19 With the arrival of the last batch of 238 pilgrims at Pahalgam and Baltal today, the total number of pilgrims who joined this year’s yatra has gone up to 1,08,648. After a night stay at Chandanwari, the mace would start its journey tomorrow morning and have a halt at Sheshnag. It would have another halt at Panjtarni, 6 km short of its destination, before it is taken to the holy cave on Shravan Poornima, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan on August 22. |
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