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Tuesday,
September 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Jethmalani ignoring
other parties: BJP NEWS ANALYSIS EC orders
transfer of 10 police officials
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to stay away from poll Jammu, September 2 The Jammu Joint Student Front, an organisation of students advocating trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, today decided to stay away from the coming Assembly elections saying that its efforts to get all like-minded parties together on the statehood issue has proved futile. Panthers Party seeks
security for nominee J&K BJP expels
another MLA 36 BSF
companies for Rajouri, Poonch Rs 11
lakh for reimbursing photo charges 2
Independents elected from Leh, Nobra Ill-equipped
forest guards hold protest Beating
up of scribe: report sought Pakistan
troops target 14 outposts 25
Muslims shot by ultras in a week 
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Jethmalani ignoring other parties: BJP Jammu, September 2 The state BJP chief Mr Daya Krishan Kotwal, questioned the committee’s “single-track” attitude of talking to Hurriyat leaders to ensure their participation in the coming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir while “completely ignoring” various political as well as apolitical outfits currently struggling to ensure a separate status for Jammu. “We urge our central leadership to focus their attention towards Jammu also which is reeling under the discrimination being perpetrated by the ruling National Conference (NC) in this region as well as in Ladakh. It is not entirely without any purpose that various outfits are gradually uniting to fight for a separate Jammu state,” Mr Kotwal said. He questioned the necessity of deputing BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley to talk with the NC on the devolution of powers while predicting that it would lead to nowhere. “What more powers the NC needs. There is no question of reverting to pre-1953 status. Moreover, they enjoy enough freedom to steer the state in the desired way and who stops them?” The state BJP chief said his outfit sympathised with the statehood parties and had accordingly decided to go for electoral understanding with them. Currently, the BJP and the RSS-backed Jammu State Morcha
(JSM) had been hammering out seat adjustments in various constituencies, which, Mr Kotwal said, was necessary to avoid the splitting of vote and solidify the mass base.
UNI |
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NEWS ANALYSIS Jammu, September 2 Militants have not contributed enough to ensure a total response to the poll boycott call. Election rallies attract large crowds. Security forces and National Conference activists continue to be the target of militants. During the past two months as many as 16 NC workers and 30 security personnel were killed by militants in the valley. More than 120 militants were killed which included 60 foreign mercenaries on the LoC in the Kupwara sector. Militants continue to fortify their bases in Surankot in Poonch, hilly belts of Kupwara, Anantnag and Pulwama districts. Candidates in these areas have not dared to launch their campaigns. A senior police officer confirmed reports that a segment of Surankot, Pulwama and Kupwara were virtually under the control of militants. The state vice-president of the BJP, Mr Kuldeep Raj Gupta, changed his route twice during his recent tour of Poonch following information about militant hideouts in the forest belt. Massive rallies in favour of independent candidates in Kupwara district have been attributed to voters’ “grudge” against the National Conference. Their pro-Azadi slogans sound more as a cry for “liberation from the NC rule”. According to senior police and BSF officers, while 90 militants were killed on the LoC in Kupwara, Poonch and Rajouri sectors since July 19, more than 50 militants had crossed over to Kashmir in August from across the Kupwara sector. Islamabad’s plan was to wreck the poll in Kashmir and “our efforts are to foil this plant, they say. |
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EC orders transfer of 10 police officials Srinagar, September 2 He said the commission had directed the state government that all police officers up to the rank of SHO, who had completed four years in their present place of posting, be shifted. Mr Jain said the transfer orders of SDPO Shaheed Gunj, Khanyar and Uri had already been issued. The SHOs who had been transferred were from police stations Kothibagh, Nowhatta, Ram Nagar, Rahmbal, Boniyar, Keran and Kishtwar, he added. Asked about revenue officials who had completed four years at their present place of posting, Mr Jain said their identification was in progress. “We are meeting state authorities today to take a final decision on this issue,” he said. Mr Jain said Dr S.P. Vaid, DIG, would be in charge of the overall security arrangements in the twin border districts of Baramula and Kupwara where polling in 15 Assembly constituencies would be held on September 16, in the first phase.
UNI |
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JJSF to stay away from poll Jammu, September 2 “We had tried to get all like-minded political, social and trade organisations on a common platform but our efforts in this context proved futile and there after the JJSF has decided to stay away from the Assembly poll”, JJSF president Rajinder Singh Jamwal told reporters here. The JJSF, one of most active organisations spearheading the statehood movement, warned the people to guard against politicians and organisations who have jumped into the fray on the plank of statehood movement to fulfil their vested interests. “Communal forces have entered into the separate statehood movement just three months before poll,” he said adding that “I think all this is done at the behest of their masters in Delhi as they knew that the BJP had lost their mandate in the state.
PTI |
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Panthers Party seeks security for nominee Srinagar, September 2 “The divisional administration, Kupwara, has deprived Mr Laldin of security, exposing the tall claims of the Centre, the state government and the Election Commission to provide equal level-playing field to all contestants in the state,” said Mr H.S. Jamwal, JKNPP state secretary, in a statement here. He urged the DIG, Mr S.P. Vaid, in charge of security in Kupwara, to personally intervene in the matter and provide security to the party nominee. The JKNPP also claimed that two of its candidates from Shopian and Wachi segments of Pulwama district, which is going to the polls in the third phase, had been “illegally and unlawfully” detained by the Jammu police and demanded their immediate release. The party has urged the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, Mr Promod Jain, to intervene and get the detained leaders of the party released.
PTI |
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J&K
BJP expels another MLA Jammu, September 2 State BJP supremo Daya Krishan Kotwal, talking to UNI this morning, said Mr Prem Lal, MLA, was expelled from the party’s primary membership “due to indiscipline and insincerity.” But Mr Kotwal denied any schism within the rank and file of the party, saying that the switching of loyalties was part of the electoral gameplans of the respective deserters. Apparently, Mr Prem Lal had vented his grievances against senior BJP functionaries to newspersons some time ago and the decision to expel him was in retaliation for this, the state BJP said.
UNI |
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36 BSF companies for Rajouri, Poonch Jammu, September 2 “We have deployed 36 companies comprising 3,600 personnel for the first phase of polling in Rajouri and Poonch districts”, the spokesman said here today. Bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Rajouri-Poonch belt in the south of the Pir Panjal range is considered as an operational hub of militants and poses a challenge to the security forces for holding trouble-free elections, he said. There are over 600 polling stations declared as hypersensitive and sensitive in the belt. Besides the BSF, the CRPF, Railway Protection Force (RPF), the Punjab Armed Police and the local police have been deployed in the areas for the elections, he
said. PTI |
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Rs 11
lakh for reimbursing photo charges Srinagar, September 2 Over 10 lakh such identity cards have been completed so far, of which more than 6.5 lakh have been distributed to the voters in different district of the state. A total of over 56 lakh voters are registered in Jammu and Kashmir for the forthcoming four-phased Assembly elections in the state. An amount of Rs 15 each is being reimbursed against a photo identity card issued by the municipality, tehsildars, etc. at different levels in the state. Referring to the review conducted by senior authorities in Baramula and Kupwara districts of north Kashmir yesterday, the CEO said a senior-level police officer, Mr S.P. Vaid has been assigned the job to oversee the security arrangements in five Assembly segments of the border district of Kupwara. Meanwhile, as a follow-up action to the instructions of Election commission of India (ECI) three Subdivisional police officers (SDPOs) and seven Station House Officers have been shifted from their present posting as they had the longest stay. |
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2 Independents elected from Leh, Nobra Srinagar, September 2 Making the announcement, state Chief Electoral Officer Pramod Jain said Mr Nawang and Mr Narboo were the only candidates left in the fray at the end of the last date for the withdrawal of candidature today. Meanwhile, six candidates remain in the fray for the two constituencies of Kargil district of Ladakh division. In Kashmir, Baramula district remains at the top with 59 candidates in the fray for 10 Assembly segments. The twin districts of Baramula and Kupwara in north Kashmir, Leh and Kargil in Ladakh and Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu division are going to the polls in the first phase on September 16. On the last day of the withdrawal of nomination papers today, three independent candidates have withdrawn their candidature in the Kargil Assembly segment. Thus, the ruling National Conference candidate, sitting member and minister, Mr Qamar Ali Aakhoon, is pitted against an Independent, Haji Nissar Ali in the Kargil constituency. In the Zanskar constituency of Kargil district, three candidates have withdrawn their nomination papers leaving behind only four candidates in the fry. They are Haji Mohammad Abbas of the National Conference, Aakhoon Mohammad Hussain, Congress, Ahsan Ali, BJP, and Tsering Chhosphail, Independent. With the withdrawal of nomination papers by three candidates, 59 candidates remain in the fray in the 10 Assembly constituencies of Baramula district. Those who have withdrawn their nomination papers included Muhammad Akram Rather (Awami League), Mohammad Qasim Ahangar (Ind) and Balwant Singh (Ind). The Assembly segments of Baramula going to the polls include Uri, Rafiabad, Sopore, Gurez, Bandipora, Sonawari, Sangrama, Baramula, Gulmarg and
Pattan. |
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Ill-equipped forest guards hold protest Jammu, September 2 The guards raised anti-establishment slogans and threatened to rebel against the authorities. They said it was not possible for them to protect the state’s forest wealth from timber smugglers and militants without weapons. A guard, Gianeshwar Singh, said: “Militants have established their hideouts in forest belts in various areas of the state and we have no means to dislodge them.” Another guard, Balram Singh, said: “What has been the use of our year-long training in police training centres when we have not been provided with the required kit and tools to challenge land grabbers, poachers and timber smugglers.” It may be mentioned here that the government decided to raise a battalion of the Forest Protection Guards in 1997. Youths were imparted training in the handling of weapons and wireless sets. After the training, they were posted in different areas without means of communication, transport, weapons etc. The Chief Conservator, Forests, Mr R.D. Tiwari, assured the protesters that their demand would be met. He said the guards would be provided with weapons and the kit required to fight smugglers and land grabbers. The state government had raised the force after it found that during the past 13 years, 40 per cent of the forest wealth in the valley had been depleted. |
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Beating up of scribe: report sought Srinagar, September 2 “Yes, I have taken up the matter with the Inspector-General of Police K, Rajinder Kumar and asked for a report,’’ Mr Pramod Jain told reporters here today. He said Mr Rajinder Kumar was asked to take stern action against those responsible for beating up and injuring Mr Jaleel. Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged at police station, Rajbagh, against the officials who beat up Mr Jaleel outside his Jawahar Nagar residence on Saturday. Mr Jaleel has alleged that he was beaten up by cops without any provocation. Journalists in the valley have condemned the incident and demanded action against those responsible.
UNI |
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Pakistan troops target 14 outposts Jammu, September 2 There was no casualty in the firing. Pakistani troops had targeted four forward defence locations in the Drass sector with artillery fire since last evening forcing Indian troops to retaliate, they said. Intermittent small arms fire was reported along the international border at eight places in the Kanachak and Samba sectors in Jammu district during the past 24 hours. Exchange of small arms fire also took place between Pakistani Rangers and Indian troops at Karol, Matarian and Chak-Chunga in Kathua district during the period, they said adding no damage was reported on the Indian side.
PTI |
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25 Muslims shot by ultras in a week Jammu, September 2 While seven of them were killed in the Kashmir valley, 18 of them were killed in terrorists atrocities in Jammu division from August 25 till yesterday, a defence spokesman of the Northern Command said here today.
PTI |
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Gen Mankotia dead Jammu, September 2 General Mankotia (53) is survived by his wife and two daughters. Hailing from Panjwar in Una district of Himachal Pradesh, General Mankotia was also the chairman of Army Public School at Udhampur, the note added.
PTI |
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