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Monday,
September 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Protests
over ticket allotment Forces
deployed for Sept 16 poll EC: rescind transfer orders |
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boom in valley before poll Srinagar, September 1 It is marriage boom in the valley with people seeking to have an early wedding during the season this year to avoid uncertainties associated with the election time. Ladakhis
set example of unity Solidarity call for
statehood
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Protests over ticket allotment Jammu, September 1 Bus loads of Mr Chowdhary’s supporters staged a demonstration in front of the BJP headquarters, demanding party ticket for him. Mr Sham Chowdhary had become suspicious after a senior National Conference leader, Mr R.S. Chib, joined the BJP yesterday and emerged as a potential candidate from Suchetgarh. The demonstrators shouted slogans against the party president, Mr D.K. Kotwal, and threatened to expose his “shady deals”. Mr Chib told TNS that he had been humiliated by the National Conference leadership which had ignored his services to the party and the people by not giving him the NC ticket. He said he would expose the “communal” politics being played by NC leaders. He admitted that he was being given the BJP ticket from Suchetgarh. However, Mr Kotwal, told the demonstrators that he had recommended Mr Chowdhary’s name to the party high command in Delhi. Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to be free from controversy created by several party leaders who continue to be the aspirants for the mandate in Jammu East, Jammu West and Gandhinagar constituencies. The state Morcha, backed by the RSS, has already announced the names of its candidates for these constituencies which has added to the danger of split in the pro-Sangh Parivar votes. While the BJP is trying to grapple with this problem, the insistence of more than two BJP leaders to contest from these seats has caused an embarrassment to the party leadership. On one side Mr Ashok Khajuria, MLA, is seeking party ticket from Jammu East from where he was elected in 1996, on the other the party vice-president, Mr Chander Mohan Sharma, has conveyed his desire to contest from this seat. The state Morcha has fielded Prof Virender Gupta, president, Jammu Mukti Morcha, from Jammu West and Mr Tilak Raj Sharma from Jammu East. The BJP Election Management Committee has sent a message to the party high command that the BJP be allowed to contest all 37 seats in the Jammu region. In the message it has been conveyed to the party bosses that since the state Morcha, led by the RSS, has decided to contest on more than 23 seats it was time for the BJP to assert itself and flight on all 37 seats. The Congress plight is no different as its leaders are locked in bitter confrontation over ticket allotment in 30 constituencies in Kathua-Udhampur and Jammu districts. Several senior party leaders have been camping in Delhi for the past several days to ensure party mandate for the candidates of their choice. In this battle of wits the PCC President, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the vice-president, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, have been on a collision course. |
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Forces deployed for Sept 16 poll Jammu, September 1 The police authorities say that the DIGs and SSPs of the four districts have been detailed to supervise the security arrangements and after sanitising the areas hand over the security of polling stations to the paramilitary forces. So far, 200 companies and nearly 20,000 men of paramilitary forces, including the Punjab police commandos, have been deployed in the sensitive border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. A senior police officer said, “We have sufficient forces to create a favourable security environment for a free and fair poll in Poonch and Rajouri districts where 76 candidates are in the fray in seven Assembly constituencies.” He, however, admitted that the “challenges posed by the militant outfits were tough not only in Poonch and Rajouri districts but also in Kupwara and Baramula districts as these areas are militancy-infested zones.” According to Mr Pramod Jain, Chief Electoral Officer, elaborate security arrangements had been made at least 40 to 45 days before polling as against the normal routine of strengthening the security network 15 days before the polling. He said the purpose of holding the poll in 87 constituencies in four phases was to enable paramilitary forces and the police to shift to other areas, where polling was to be held under phase II, after the phase I polling was over. The cycle would be repeated till the poll process was completed in all the constituencies. Of the total 7,000 polling stations, 1,760 are in Kupwara, Baramula, Poonch and Rajouri. Nearly 10,000 security personnel are required to provide security to the polling booths in these four districts, a senior police officer said. The police authorities believe that since the number of candidates in these four districts is 188, the government could deploy three to five security personnel to each candidate. Sanitising polling stations and their adjoining areas against mortar and rocket attacks from militants has engaged the security experts. Security experts were of the opinion that providing foolproof security cover to the electorate in these four districts, which have a total area of 12271 sq kms, was a difficult task as these areas have sanctuaries for the militants in the mountain forest belts. |
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EC: rescind transfer orders
Srinagar, September 1 An official spokesman said the Chief Education Officer, Anantnag has been asked to cancel the transfer order of a teacher posted in primary school at Ladgoo Kulgam in south Kashmir. The EC has also directed senior superintendent of police Jammu to rescind attachment orders of two sub-inspectors in Police Training College at Talwar. The direction to cancel the orders came since these had been issued after the model code of conduct for the coming Assembly polls came into force from August 2,2002, he said.
UNI |
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Marriage
boom in valley before poll Srinagar, September 1 With poll schedule for Jammu and Kashmir announced by the Election Commission on August 2, most people who were getting married between August 16 to October 10 — the peak season for marriages in Kashmir owing to pleasant weather — decided to advance their dates of wedding. “I just wanted to avoid the elections as past experience tells us that it would be difficult to move around during the polls,” Tariq Shameem, who is getting married today, told PTI. Another groom-to-be Abdul Majid said “I thought it is advisable to get married before elections as the situation in Kashmir deteriorates during the polls.” Majid, 40, said his marriage had been postponed last year due to a “custodial killing” of a close relative. “I could not think of enjoying the marital bliss when my brother-like cousin was killed. This time I thought I should avoid these things,” he added. The attendants at various shrines in Kashmir, where the grooms-to-be pray to seek blessings before the wedding, said the visit of grooms had increased since the time-table for the polls was announced. “We have around 20 to 25 grooms coming every day, which is around 10 to 15 more than the average for this part of the year otherwise,” Ghulam Nabi, an attendant at the Hazratbal shrine on the bank of Dal Lake, said. The story is no different at the shrine of Syed Yaqoob at the base of Zabarwan hills at Sonawar here with around 20 grooms seeking blessing of the medieval saint. The vendor and shopowners around the shrine are just pleased with the increase in marriages. “The grooms come with a large entourage which brings in extra bucks,” Fayaz Ahmad, a shop owner outside the Hazratbal shrine said. But is the only government-run maternity hospital in the valley up to the task of handling the baby boom expected around June-July next year. “We will manage the situation. We had 160 delivery cases in a day last month though we have around 60-70 cases on an average daily,” Medical Superintendent Lalded Hospital Farooq Ahmad said.
PTI |
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Ladakhis
set example of unity Jammu, September 1 Both candidates of the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF), Mr Pawang Rigzin and Mr Sonam Wanchuke, will be declared elected from the Leh and Nubra Assembly constituencies after the scrutiny of papers tomorrow as no one had filed nominations against them. On the contrary, the demand of statehood for Jammu is getting bogged down as the 19-party conglomerate Jammu State Morcha has failed to make a common cause with the Jammu State Morcha (JSM). The Ladakh Buddhists Association (LBA), which has been spearheading the movement against “discrimination” of the area by the successive Kashmiri-dominated governments, had sometime ago launched an anti-government agitation which led to setting up of a separate regional council for the area. However, the LBA has not abandoned its demand for the union territory status. The impact of the demand was visible last week when a sitting MLA and Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Tsetan Namgyal, resigned from the ruling National Conference to join the LUTF. Mr P. Namgyal, a senior Congress leader and a former union minister, has also resigned from the party and joined the LUTF. All political parties in the area have joined hands in support of the demand for union territory. The LBA has been accusing the state government of discriminating against Ladakh in all spheres, including development and recruitment. Although the APJSM leaders today vehemently pointed towards the success the LUTF had met because of the unity, but there was hardly any hope of the outfits uniting on the demand of statehood for Jammu. Mr Bhim Singh said that the problem here was that Jammu had 37 Assembly constituencies, whereas the LUTF had to take only two constituencies into consideration. |
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Solidarity
call for statehood Jammu, September 1 The appeal was made in a joint press conference, which was addressed here today by Mr Yash Bhasin, convener of the APJSM, Mr Dhan Raj Bargotra, president of the Janata Dal (S), Mr Bhim Singh, president of the Panthers Party, and Mr Swami Raj Sharma, a retired IAS officer. They said the BJP, the Congress and the BSP, who have a base in the Jammu region, should unite for the elections. |
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Jammu, September 1
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