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Sunday,
October 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India
  
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Relent on
CM’s post, PDP urges Cong Cong, NC
to blame for J&K mess: BJP Delay in
govt formation worries Bhim Govt
formation: will J&K go the UP way? NC
reorganisation starts |
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Revoke NC
govt’s resolutions: VHP APHC
welcomes de-escalation Ex-Joint
Director (Education), 3 others held
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Relent on CM’s post, PDP urges Cong
Srinagar, October 19 “The Congress should understand that the alliance can get going once someone from the PDP is appointed as the Chief Minister, party’s Vice-President Mehbooba Mufti said here. She said her party was in favour of settling the issues through dialogue but was unaware of the next step of the Congress in ending the deadlock. Ms Mehbooba said this was not a fight between PDP President Mufti Mohammed Sayeed or Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, but a battle on principles. “Let me make it clear that the Congress should understand that the PDP had been given the mandate in the Valley against the National Conference and should be allowed to serve the people”. She alleged that the Congress was spreading rumours about its staking claim to form the government which leaves the Independents, whose support is crucial for government formation vulnerable to horse trading. The PDP Vice-President said “the Congress should come and hold talks and stop making claims and adopting a one-sided approach in resolving the crisis” No crisis can be resolved without holding talks and the government formation was a small issue, which has been unfortunately blown out of proportion, Ms Mehbooba said. Asked about the October 20 deadline set by a group of Independents to the PDP and the Congress to resolve their differences, Ms Mehbooba said “I have nothing to say on these deadlines but let me make it clear that such a situation has arisen only due to the uncompromising stand of the Congress”. Setting the deadline, the Peoples Democratic Forum, a group of Independents and CPM legislators led by rebel Hurriyat leader Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Sofi, has threatened to seek support of the National Conference in government formation. Ms Mehbooba said the Congress and the PDP should come and initiate a dialogue which could lead to the formation of government. Other smaller groups and Independents will fall into the line themselves, she said. She said her party was not rigid on the Mufti being the Chief Minister. “We have a galaxy of leaders who can take the responsibility”, Ms Mehbooba said. She said the Congress should refrain from its “so-called signature campaign” as this was brewing mistrust between the two parties. Asked about the possibility of a split in the PDP if the Congress staked claim without the PDP support, she said “my party is intact. No MLA is willing to defect against the wishes of the people of the state”. To a question whether the Governor’s rule has been thrust by the National Conference, she said “I will not like to comment about the decision taken by Dr Farooq Abdullah (of refusing to continue as caretaker chief minister) but I wonder Dr Abdullah remembered his moral responsibility only after he was out of power”.
PTI |
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Cong, NC to blame for J&K mess: BJP
Jammu, October 19 Addressing a meeting of the state unit office-bearers, district presidents party nominees and other activists of the BJP here yesterday, Professor Gupta said the responsibilities of nationalists in the state had increased due to post-election developments as and the emergence of extremist elements in manipulated elections in the neighbouring Pakistan. Referring to the setback to the BJP in the recent Assembly elections Professor Gupta said the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir was a legacy of a movement and the setback or successes would not make such difference. He said it was the will and the ultimate goal that mattered. For the BJP the objective was high i.e. to defend Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India and defeat the forces of secessionism and communalism. The BJP leader described the revival of the Congress in the state as a danger signal because the leadership of this party had thrust upon the state the National Conference and later bungled for which the entire country was still paying a heavy price. He ridiculed the recent statements of Congress leaders for being the guardian of the rights of the people of Jammu and pointed out that several regional disparities had emerged during the Congress rule and the Congress was not still committed whether it was prepared to grant its due share to Jammu in the state Assembly as also in the Lok Sabha on voters’ strength and its geographical area by dismantling the present political set-up of the state. In this regard, Professor Gupta pointed out that the strength of voters of the Jammu region was 28.92 lakh and that of the Kashmir valley 25.46 lakh, but still Jammu had been granted just 37 Assembly seats and two in the Lok Sabha against 46 in the Assembly and three in the Lok Sabha to the Kashmir valley although the geographical area of Jammu was almost double to that of Kashmir. Referring to the fundamentalists and extremists winning a large number of seats in the so-called elections in Pakistan, Professor Gupta said as things were developing in the
neighbourhood, problems of militancy and extremism were bound to turn more ugly and it was the duty of the nationalists to prepare right from now to meet the challenges ahead. |
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Delay in govt
formation worries Bhim Srinagar, October 19 Mr Bhim Singh, whose party has four members in the new Assembly, claimed that he was not given any chance to approach the Governor, for he had the support of at least 50 members to form the government in the state. He said he would approach the Governor again to satisfy him over the support of the members. The Panthers Party chief earlier in the day had a meeting with the Governor, Mr Girish Chandra
Saxena, along with the elected members and apprised Mr Saxena of the “agony and pain of the people due to the delay” in the formation of the government in the state. He said the Governor was informed about the support to him that could help in the formation of the government. |
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Govt formation: will J&K go the UP way? Jammu, October 19 The Governor, Mr
G.C. Saxena, had under Section 92 of the state constitution assumed to himself “all powers of the functions of the government of the state”, after having kept the newly constituted Assembly in suspended animation. Constitutional experts, including a noted lawyer, Mr
A.K. Sawhney, said the imposition of Governor’s rule was the only legal way to end the constitutional crisis in the state. The Governor has kept the option for the formation of the government wide open by having kept the state Assembly in suspended animation. Political analysts are of the opinion that the imposition of the Governor’s rule is likely to force the two principal contenders for power, the Congress and the
PDP, to agree to the formation of a coalition government as had happened in Uttar Pradesh. The PCC president, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, has blamed Dr Abdullah for thrusting Governor’s rule on the state. The Union Minister of State for Defence Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, said both Congress and the PDP had not been able to fulfil the aspirations of the people and honour the verdict of the voters. He said the two remained locked in a tussle over the Chief Minister’s seat, indicating that they had no concern for the problems of the people. Prof Gupta was equally critical of Dr Farooq Abdullah and said the NC leader had not accepted the defeat with grace. However, one NC leader said, “They (Congress and
PDP) were digging our graves and how can one expect that we should provide them the shovels.” |
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NC
reorganisation starts Srinagar, October 19 “The move has been initiated because of the desire of the party to breathe new life into the organisation,” the handout issued from the party’s media centre here today said. It added that the operational responsibilities would be transferred to Srinagar until the bodies were reconstituted. The statement said the Srinagar district president would hold the temporary charge of the rural district of Ganderbal and all block bodies till further notice. Party sources claim that Mr Omar Abdullah, who resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on October 14 after the recent elections, is keen to “revive the party and requires two years for fully getting to know the party.” This, according to the sources, was necessary for rejuvenating the party, which faced a debacle in the recent Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the PDP President and former Union Home Minister accompanied by his senior party colleagues, including Qazi Mohammad Afzal, who humbled Mr Omar Abdullah in the Assembly elections, held a public meeting in the area yesterday. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s first public appearance at Ganderbal after the elections is being looked as a symbolic one. Mr Omar Abdullah, on the occasion of taking over as the party president here on June 23, had categorically indicated that he would be rejuvenating the party structure and not “rely” totally on the old lot of party leaders and workers. Following these assertions, the party launched its separate media centre from the residence of the Chief Minister, prior to the Assembly elections. It has been issuing statements and reactions on a day-to-day basis. UNI adds: Dr Farooq Abdullah has brushed aside allegations that he created a situation which led to the breakdown of the constitutional machinery and drove the state to Governor’s rule. “I did not left my post in a huff. I stayed on the post till I was morally and constitutionally bound and I did not slip away. I discussed the issue with my senior party colleagues and legal luminaries...Their views were exactly the same,’’ Dr Abdullah told a TV channel in an interview on Friday night. Asked if Governor’s rule in the state was not a betrayal of the people’s mandate, he said those people who had been shouting on top of their voices that the mandate was in their favour should be blamed for it. The former Chief Minister said he never wanted Governor’s rule in the state. ‘’I am the last person who wants a Governor’s rule in the state. I have opposed it in the past...I do not agree with Governor’s rule at all.’’ |
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Revoke NC govt’s
resolutions: VHP
Jammu, October 19 The President of the
VHP, Dr Rama Kant Dubey, told newsmen here today that the restoration of greater autonomy and establishment of regional councils, on the pattern recommended by the National Conference, would “dilute” state’s integration with India. Dr Dubey said it was the duty of the Governor to scrap, through an ordinance, the Resettlement Act providing for citizenship rights to those who had migrated to Pakistan in case they returned to Jammu and Kashmir. The VHP president said under the Governor’s rule Mr Saxena’s job should not remain limited to running the day to day administration but to undo the wrongs committed by the National Conference regime. He said first of all the commission set up by the NC Government to verify the legality of state subject issued be disbanded because the commission had been instrumental in “harassing” genuine citizens of the state. He also demanded that the order under which the rent of evacuee property including the land had been hiked eight times be revoked immediately. Dr Dubey demanded that Mr Saxena should issue an ordinance under which the refugees from Pakistan settled in Jammu since 1947 be given all citizenship rights, including the right to vote in the Assembly and seek jobs in government departments and admission to professional colleges. He said measures were required to rectify the “wrongs” committed by the NC regime and on top of it the Governor should initiate steps for ending regional discrimination. He said during the last 54 years the successive Congress and the National Conference governments had discriminated against people of Jammu and Ladakh provinces which had resulted in simmering discontent among the people. |
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APHC welcomes
de-escalation Srinagar, October 19 “This is a positive step towards easing tension along the borders between the two neighbouring countries”, an APHC spokesman said here. But, if the de-escalation was only restricted to the return of troops it would not help in any way the growing tension between the two countries, he added. The spokesman said there was need to address the Kashmir issue that would lead to the easing of tension between the two countries. Meanwhile, the People’s Conference, a constituent of the APHC, has taken strong exception to the “negative and divisive regional sentiments” of some political parties. |
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Ex-Joint Director (Education), 3 others held
Srinagar, October 19 According to the Senior Superintendent of Police crime branch, four persons, Ghulam Hassan Mir, a retired Joint Director, Education, Muhammad Amin Makhdoomi, Lecturer, Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Anantnag, Muhammd Afzal Khanday, Senior Assistant DIET, Anantnag, and Ghulam Muhammad Lone, Senior Assistant (Zonal Education Office), Serigufwara were involved in the case. Investigations revealed that the accused, taking shelter under government order No. 1220-GAD-89, dated August 11, 1989, “issued’’ a fake and fictious order (No 1740-Gr-Education of 1993, dated November 23, 1992) for pecuniary consideration, wherein services of 58 ad hoc appointees in the Education Department were “regularised’’. Those “regularised” were neither ad hoc appointees nor even employees of the Education Department. Investigation were on and more arrests are likely, a spokesman of the crime branch said.
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