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Monday,
December 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Dialogue
only way out, insists Mufti Release of
detainees only after Central nod Farooq
made promise, but Mufti kept it
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Jawan
killed in ambush Stone laid for
ARTO complex
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Dialogue
only way out, insists Mufti Pampore, December 1 Addressing a large public meeting here, the Chief Minister said a national consensus was being evolved to create an atmosphere for dialogue with the Kashmiris. In this connection he referred to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s assertion that some mistakes had been committed in the past. He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had declared that unconditional talks would be held with other people in the state. “We want to create an atmosphere for a fruitful dialogue,” Mr Sayeed said. The Chief Minister said a healing touch was needed and his government was facing challenges like unemployment and succor to victims of militancy and their dependents. He announced that various measures were being taken for speedy fulfilment of the promises made to the people under the common minimum programme. He said many persons had been released from jails after his government took over and more were being released, depending on the charges against them. Earlier, the Chief Minister distributed about Rs 73.69 lakh as relief among 8,245 families of 25 villages around Pampore, dependent on saffron cultivation, whose crop had been damaged due to drought during the past three years. He said the Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology had established a research centre in the area to find out other reasons behind the decline in saffron growth in the area. A total of 2,947 hectares in the Pampore area, about 15 km from Srinagar on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, grows the costliest variety of saffron, which has earned an annual income of over Rs 25 crore. During the past five years, there has been a decline in saffron growth. Last year, a decline of about 75 per cent in its growth was registered, according to the Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama. The cash relief, according to officials, was part of the proposals sent to the government earlier. Other proposals included the provision of irrigation to saffron fields over the carevas along the national highway and multiplication of saffron corns to poor farmers. |
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Release
of detainees only after Central nod Jammu, December 1 Officials sources said a list of the detained persons to be released on the eve of Id-ul-Fitr would be sent to the Union Government for approval. The list would be prepared on the recommendation of the head of the state. The sources said the practice was followed even when the state was placed under Governor’s rule. As usual those who would be released on the eve of Id would be persons who had completed their detention period or those against whom there were no serious charges, the sources said. A senior police officer said this time the list was expected to be longer in keeping with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s healing touch policy. Since the release of 16 separatists the Mufti was told by the Centre to go slow. He would not have heeded to the suggestion had attacks not been carried out by militants on two temples in Jammu and on two security pickets in Kashmir. |
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Farooq made promise, but Mufti kept it Jammu, December 1 Both Krishan Lal and Dilip Singh had lost their family members in a massacre carried out by militants in Prankot in the upper reaches of Udhampur district in April, 1998.
Soon after, the then Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who was the first to visit the site of the carnage, had announced an economic package for the survivors of the massacre, including jobs. Mukhti (33), a mother of six, had nothing to bank upon after her husband Ghulam Hyder was gunned down by militants years ago. Tears trickled down her face when she received an appointment letter from the Chief Minister. All 45 persons who received the appointment letters was at a loss of words. Since the Mufti took over, as the Chief Minister on November 2, he has issued appointment letters to 400 kin of those killed by the militants in Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramula districts. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said there was a need for evolving a consensus at the national level on problem in the state. “It is a golden opportunity which nobody should miss,” he said. He laid emphasis on his programme of giving a healing touch to the people in order to remove alienation which alone was needed to isolate the militants who had tacit support from Pakistan. The Chief Minister listed a series of steps his government had taken to mitigate the difficulties of the people. |
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Jawan killed in ambush Srinagar, December 1 Militants attacked the house of former Tourism Minister Sakina Itoo with a grenade and assault rifles at Damhal- Hanjipora in Anantnag district last night, he said. Ms Itoo was not present in the house at the time of the attack, he said adding that the militants fled when security personnel posted at her residence retaliated. No one was injured in the attack, the spokesman said. A jawan was killed and five injured when militants attacked the Army convoy in Reshipora in Banihal on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway today. The traffic on the highway remained suspended for several hours following the ambush. In another attack, the spokesman said militants opened fire on a road opening party of the army at Bilalabad in Doda district today, killing a jawan of the Rashtriya Rifles and wounding two others. The security forces also returned the fire and gunned down two militants said to belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba, who took shelter in a nearby house after being chased by the security personnel, the spokesman said, adding that a civilian was caught in the cross-fire and three others injured in the shoot-out. The spokesman said security forces gunned down five militants at Biryanigali in the border district of Poonch in Jammu region yesterday. The ultras were trying to sneak from across the border when they were confronted by security forces resulting in the gunfight, he said. The Army apprehended a Hizbul Mujahideen militant Irshad Ahmad Peer from Kurumsara forest in Kupwara district and a Lashker-e-Toiba militant Tanveer Ahmad Khan from Sedow-Konga in Pulwama district.
PTI |
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Stone laid for ARTO complex Jammu, December 1 The complex, being built at a cost of Rs 56 lakh, would be completed in two phases. The first phase would be completed in April next. The entire complex would be ready by next year. Addressing a large gathering present on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said that ARTO would be upgraded to full-fledged RTO in the near future to meet the heavy rush of incoming and outgoing vehicles. He said every effort would be made to strengthen the Motor Vehicles Department, which is one of the major revenue generating organisations of the state. |
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