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Tuesday,
December 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Azad reluctant to head PCC, eyes AICC post 4 Lashkar militants killed in encounter Copter services for
Gulmarg, Pahalgam BHEP project workers’ stir ends Protests against custodial deaths |
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| General’s Iftar party for scribes Srinagar, December 2 A number of journalists attended the Iftar party hosted by Lt-Gen V.G. Patankar, GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Crops, here last evening. Around sunset as many as 24 media representatives were driven to the Chinar Officers’ Institute at Badami Bagh Cantonment here.
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Azad reluctant to head PCC, eyes AICC post Jammu, December 2 Of late Mr Azad has found himself getting distanced from the AICC Chief and his place was being occupied by party stalwarts, including Mr Arjun Singh, Mr M.L. Fotedar, Dr Manmohan Singh. After his re-election to the Rajya Sabha Mr Azad is said to be interested in working at the national level as AICC general secretary because he has found even his party colleagues, including a few ministers, were not cooperating with him as they used to before the formation of the coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir. Also Mr Azad has felt hurt the way senior Congress functionaries in Delhi supported Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for the Chief Minister’s post. Congress sources in Jammu said that Mr Azad had been assured of the Chief Minister’s post in case the Congress was in a position to form the Government with the support of other political groups and independent MLAs. He is not prepared to wait for three years as provided in the Congress-PDP understanding under which the Mufti will remain the Chief Minister till 2005 end.In case the AICC president agrees to relieve Mr Azad of he headship of the PCC Prof Saifuddin Soz MP is likely to replace him. Peerzada Mohammad Syed could have been another choice for the PCC Chief’s post but he had already been inducted in the Cabinet and AICC leadership is in favour of a Kashmiri to head the PCC. As a former minister in the Union Council of Ministers for a long time and as PCC Chief, Mr Azad is said to be reluctant to play second fiddle to Mufti Sayeed when he (Azad) is not consulted before taking vital decisions. |
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4 Lashkar militants killed in encounter
Srinagar, December 2 Acting on a tip-off, BSF jawans and intelligence men and the local police cordoned off a cluster of scattered ‘dhoks’ (huts) at Hajan and zeroed in on a hideout of the militants, the spokesman said. He said the militants opened heavy fire on security forces which was retaliated, resulting in a six-hour-long shoot-out at the end of which three militants, including a self-styled district commander of the outfit, were killed. The slain militants, who reportedly had made several attacks on security forces in Budgam district, were identified as Siraj Khan, alias Sajjad, a resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan, Bashi Ahmad Ahanger, alias Gazi, and district commander Mohammad Akbar Bhat, the spokesman said. He said Siraj was part of a suicide squad reportedly planning attacks in Srinagar city, Bashir and Akbar were both ‘B’ category militants and carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, he added. The spokesman said Akbar, who was battalion commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, was wanted for killings in Pattan, including that of one Army havildar and two ITBP personnel. Three AK assault rifles, two AK magazines, one under-barrel grenade gun (UBGL), two rifle grenades, two hand grenades and one wireless set were recovered from the slain militants, the spokesman said. Giving details of the encounter at Arampora-Sopore in Baramula district of north Kashmir last evening, he said ambush party of the BSF’s 88 Battalion had foiled a bid by the LeT to storm the camp. Investigations revealed that the Pakistani militant killed last evening was part of a suicide squad, he said. The two militants lobbed two hand grenades on the troops and fired bullets on them. Security forces returned fire in which Sohail, alias Abu Ahmad Sahani, a resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan, was killed while another escaped, he said. One BSF jawan, constable Prem Singh, received minor splinter injuries, the spokesman said, adding that one AK rifle, five magazines and a hand grenade were recovered from the site of the encounter. PTI
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Copter services for Gulmarg, Pahalgam
Srinagar, December 2 Helicopter services will be made available to interested tourists from the airport to Gulmarg and Pahalgam, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said here yesterday. Among other steps aimed at reviving tourism in the state, he said the government was organising interaction with tourism industry leaders and holding familiarisation tours and events in different parts of the country. Besides, several steps would be taken to improve the tourism infrastructure in the valley, he said, adding that the government accorded priority to the revival of tourism that had badly suffered during the past 13 years. He said while serious efforts would be made in this direction it was important that the tourist traders came forward and supplemented the government’s efforts. Mufti Sayeed, who held a series of meetings with tourist traders, including hoteliers, houseboat owners and travel agents, to solicit their suggestions for attracting holiday makers, particularly domestic, to the state, said a whole lot of activities would be undertaken to attract tourists from different parts of the country. An interaction with the tourist industry and film industry would be held in New Delhi and Mumbai between December 12 and 18, followed by familiarisation tour of frequent past visitors and travel writers to Gulmarg and holding of Kashmir food festival in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, he said. A detailed programme has been chalked out to carry out these activities throughout the year, Mufti Sayeed said, adding the immediate effort was to explore the possibilities of attracting winter tourists to Gulmarg and other spots. More than media publicity, an individual tourist going back with a positive impression was a great tourism promoter, he said. The Chief Minister said a consultative committee would be set up comprising officers of different departments related to tourism to sort out problems confronting the tourism trade. Representatives of this trade would also be co-opted on the committee, he said. In the area of facelift of the available tourist infrastructure, the Chief Minister said Gulmarg and Pahalgam golf courses would be improved. Amusement parks for children would be laid out at Pahalgam and Srinagar. He asked the officials to explore possibilities of developing Pahalgam as a winter sports destination and focus on Patnitop, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, as a winter tourism spot for Vaishnodevi pilgrims. Responding to the demands of hoteliers and houseboat owners, the Chief Minister said the remittance of the power tariff between 1990 and 1997 would be sympathetically considered. He said timber would be allotted through the Houseboat Owners Association for the repair or reconstruction of damaged houseboats. The association, he said, would be responsible for the allotment to the deserving people. State Tourism Commissioner Mushtaq Ahmad gave a detailed account of the proposed tourism promotion activities and said a snow carnival would be held at Patnitop on January 15 next year, ski competition at Gulmarg in the first week of February, Travel and Tourism Fair at World Trade Centre, Mumbai, and Jammu Mela in March 2003. PTI
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BHEP project workers’ stir ends
Ramban (Doda), December 2 “The management and workers have reached an agreement, with the former conceding eight of the 10 demands”, Mr Tarigami, told mediapersons here. The 643 MW BHEP project, one of the biggest power projects in the country, is being constructed by the J.P. Industries which employs some 13000 workers. “The strike by workers has ended and work has been restarted by the skilled and non-skilled labourers from today” workers’ union leader Javed Ahmed Zargar told reporters. “All of us are satisfied with the outcome of the deliberations held in the presence of Mr Tarigami”, Director of the J.P. Industries Sameer Gaur and Mr Zargar said. The demands that have been conceded included enhancement of wage rate by Rs 10 per day, reinstatement of all workers whose services were terminated, immediate release of land compensation to the local villagers, employment to the local people and compensation to those injured or dead during construction, Mr Zargar said. PTI
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Protests
against custodial deaths Srinagar, December 2 They alleged that Mr Wani was arrested by the police few days back and later tortured in custody. He was taken to hospital yesterday by the police where he died early this morning. The demonstrators demanded immediate arrest of police personnel involved in the incident. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) activists led by its vice-chairman Javid Ahmad Mir staged a silent dharna at Budshah Chowk near here today in protest against the alleged custodial death of its Doda district chief Maqsood Ahmad.
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General’s Iftar party for scribes Srinagar, December 2 Around sunset as many as 24 media representatives were driven to the Chinar Officers’ Institute at Badami Bagh Cantonment here. Most Army officers dressed in traditional Kashmiri attires or civis, greeted the mediapersons. Soon after Iftar the mediapersons offered prayers, for which special arrangements had been made on the lawns of the institute. The Corps Commander attired in cream traditional Khan suite, however, parried questions by saying. “We will talk about these things later, some time after Id.” |
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