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Friday,
October 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Doda no cakewalk for NC DGP critical of EC decision on SOG, STF
PC proxy threatens to
pull out |
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Bandh partial Keep tabs on funds for Pak, USA urged
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Doda no cakewalk for NC Batote (Doda district), October 3 Doda district will go to the polls on October 8 with more than 45,000 security personnel on duty. The polling here was earmarked separately from the other 13 districts of the state because extraordinary security arrangements have to be made in the district for conducting the elections. Not development, but terrorism is the main issue here during the elections as the people are fed up of massacre of hundreds of innocent people. Work on the prestigious Dul Hasti hydroelectric project of the HNPC at Kishtwar remained stalled for several years because of the terrorist activities. Foreign engineers of the project were kidnapped by terrorists. At present, three seats of Doda, Inderwal and Kishtwar are with the National Conference while the Banihal seat is being represented by an Independent and Bhaderwah and Ramban have MLAs of the BSP and the BJP, respectively. The contest is high profile particularly in Bhaderwah where Sheikh Abdul Rehman, president of the BSP is seeking re-election. However, this time it will be an uphill task for him because he is not receiving the tacit support of the NC which he got in the last election in 1996. The NC has fielded its own candidate, Mr Mohammad Aslam Goni, who has resigned as advocate-general to contest the election. The Congress has given ticket to Mr Mohammad Sharief Niaz, a close relative of the PCC chief, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad. In this backdrop, the BJP, which has fielded its state president, Mr Daya Kishen Kotwal, is hoping that with the division of the Muslim votes among these candidates, he has a high possibility of winning the election. He had lost in 1996 from Sheikh Abdul Rehman with a margin of 4,355 votes though he had the support of Dr Abdullah who did not field any candidate of the NC. Mr Kotwal enjoys a clean image and was on the hit list of terrorists as he had been delivering fiery speeches against the militancy and failure of the state government to tackle the menace. However, nothing can be said for sure because of presence of the highest number of 13 candidates in this constituency. Doda district had remained a stronghold of the Congress prior to 1977 when Shiekh Abdullah was installed as Chief Minister. It was only once in 1977 during the Janata Party (JP) wave that the JP candidate won the Ramban seat. However, the Congress managed to snatch it again in 1987, but Mr Bali Bhagat of the BJP won it in the last election in 1996. This time six candidates are in the fray in the constituency with Mr Bhagat seeking re-election as the BJP nominee. The Congress has fielded Mr Ashok Kumar and the NC, Mr Chaman Lal. The contest in the Doda constituency is also interesting as Mr Khalid Najeeb Sorawardhy, Minister of State for Home, is seeking a second term. He had secured 75.16 per cent votes in the last election in a direct contest with Mr Ajay Kumar of the BJP who got 24.84 per cent votes. The constituency was represented thrice earlier by his father, Mr Attaullah Sohrawardhy. The district has a total electorate of 4.34 lakh with the highest number of 91,180 in Bhaderwah. The sapphire-rich Kishtwar constituency was represented by Mr B.A. Kichloo, a minister, who died sometime back. The position of the Congress is poor here and the party nominee mustered only 3.66 per cent votes there. This time the NC has fielded Mr Syed Hussain, while the Congress ticket has been given to Mr Ghulam Haider Sheikh. The BJP has fielded Mr Salam Din. There are a total number of 9 candidates here. In the Banihal constituency, which has also seen much bloodshed, the NC has fielded Mr Mohammad Farooq Mir, who had won the last election as an independent defeating the NC’s nominee, Mr Abdul Hamid. The NC has replaced its candidate in the Inderwal constituency and fielded Mr Mohammad Aslam in place of Mr Jalal Uddin, who had won the last election. |
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DGP critical of EC decision on SOG, STF Srinagar, October 3 Mr Suri, while being critical of the EC decision, said the STF should not have been confined to Police Lines. The EC on September 28 ordered the confinement of the STF to Police Lines. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh in the wake of allegations by some political parties that STF and SOG personnel were helping the National Conference. Before the commencement of polls election, the EC had passed a similar order but it was withdrawn later after the importance of the STF was pointed out by senior officials of the State.
PTI |
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PC proxy threatens to
pull out Srinagar, October 3 “I will boycott the elections if the Kupwara Superintendent of Police and Sogam Naib Tehsildar are not transferred by 6 p.m. tomorrow,” he told reporters. Mr Khan alleged that officials were terrorising his workers, 16 of whom had already been detained in the past three days. Militancy hotbed Lolab will go to the polls on October 8 after the polling, originally scheduled for September 16, was countermanded following the killing of National Conference nominee and Law Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Lone on September 11. Mr Khan charged that the SP was acting as NC’s card-holder and alleged that the Naib Tehsildar was campaigning for the ruling party in the constituency and
misusing his official position. PTI |
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Bandh partial Jammu, October 3 The bandh was called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the J&K National Panthers Party and the Jammu Joint Students Federation. The shops remained closed in the morning, but opened in the afternoon. However, many of these were forced to close by groups of activists who went around the town asking shopkeepers to pull up the shutters. Main shopping centre of Raghunath Bazar remained open for most of the time. Transport services remained suspended for the day. A spokesman of the Panthers Party claimed that the police lathi charged its activists who marched in procession in main bazars. |
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Keep tabs on funds for Pak, USA urged Jammu, October 3 The BJP leader, who was addressing election meetings at Shatru, Goa and Gandoh in militancy-infested Doda district, said it was necessary to ascertain whether the help given by the USA to Pakistan to shut down centres breeding militancy was not used to further give a fighting punch to terrorism in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Union Minister of State for Defence and a BJP leader, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, today dubbed the National Conference and the Congress as communal and said these parties were solely responsible for nursing, sustaining and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. He was addressing election meetings at Goha, Gandoh, Chatroo and some other places in the far-flung areas of Doda district. |
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