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Thursday,
December 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Shah to contest House attack case
verdict Sentence triggers protests in Baramula Cabinet expansion: Beig likely
to visit Delhi POSTINGS/TRANSFERS |
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Cabinet forms panel to cut PSU
losses Poonch Plan outlay up Pak troops fire mortar
bombs Gen Vij ends 2-day tour of Jammu
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Shah to contest House attack case verdict Srinagar, December 18 Reacting to the death sentenced given to three persons and five-year rigorous imprisonment to another in the case by a Delhi court, Shah said he had not “lost all hopes and an appeal would be filed in High Court and if need be in the Supreme Court under the prescribed legal procedure”. He said the anti-terrorism law POTA, under which they were tried, had been enacted to “suppress the opposition and turn it into a vote-garnering machine” for the next parliamentary elections. He said a protest march would be held on Friday in Baramula, home town of S.A.R. Geelani, one of the three convicts awarded death sentence. JKLF vice-chairman Javed Ahmed Mir said the verdict would not help resolve the Kashmir issue. Meanwhile, lawyers in the Kashmir valley stayed away from courts, expressing displeasure over the verdict. President of the Bar Association of Kashmir, Zafar Ahmed Shah said that the lawyers’ action had nothing to do with the nationwide strike. Security has been tightened in and around vital installations in the kashmir valley to thwart any militant strike following pronouncement of death sentence on three of the four persons convicted in the parliament attack case by a special court in Delhi today. The police has been asked to be on an alert. Inspector-General of police K. Rajindra told PTI here. He said security had been beefed up around government and semi-government installations all over the valley as also the Security forces camps.
PTI |
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Sentence triggers protests in Baramula Srinagar, December 18 Senior separatist leader and chief of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Shah visited residence of S.A.R. Geelani at Tawheed Gunj in Baramula this afternoon. Showkat Ahmad Gooru and Mohammad Afzal belong to the Doabgah area, near Sopore, in Baramula district. The Hurriyat Conference has condemned the death sentence to the accused. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Srinagar has given a token strike call for tomorrow in Kashmir to register its protest against the death sentence to the accused. The “Dukhtaran-e-Millat”, a separatist women underground outfit, has also given a token strike call for Friday in protest against the death sentence. |
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Cabinet expansion: Beig likely
to visit Delhi Jammu, December 18 During his six-day stay in Delhi the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed, had discussed the matter with Ms Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh and other Congress leaders. However, the Congress could not finalise the list of its nominees who were to be inducted into the Council of Ministers headed by Mufti Sayeed because leaders were engaged in detailed deliberations on the Gujarat poll results. Mr Beig is visiting Delhi to pick up the thread which was left by the Mufti last week. And if some progress is made in the discussions the Finance Minister will have with the Congress leaders, the Chief Minister too is expected to visit Delhi within the next three days to resolve the Cabinet
expansion issue. The Chief Minister is keen on expanding his nine-member Council of Ministers. As he himself put it, “there is a lot of work to be done which requires a bigger team” than what he has at present. Soon after the Gujarat poll results were out the AICC leadership had second thoughts about its support to the PDP-led coalition government as some of the party leaders had been led to believe that the Congress rout in Gujarat was the result of the Mufti’s “liberal” policy towards the militants. However, doubts on this count have been cleared. The second reason for the delay in the finalisation of the list of party nominees for a berth in the Cabinet was the large number of Congress aspirants for ministerial posts. In the meantime, the PDP leadership is awaiting clearance from CPM Politburo members for their MLA, Mr M.Y. Tarigami, to join the Cabinet. The Chief Minister is himself keen on inducting him into the Cabinet and it was out of his desire that Mufti Sayeed had detailed discussions with senior CPM leaders, including Mr Harkishen Surjeet, in Delhi last week. Supporters of Mr Tarigami, including a number of voters from his Kulgam constituency, have mounted pressure on CPM leaders to grant permission to the Kashmiri legislator to join the Cabinet. These supporters have conveyed to the CPM Politburo members that if Mr Tarigami was allowed to join the Cabinet he could prove helpful for the development of the area. Once these two issues are settled, Cabinet expansion may take place anytime next week. |
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POSTINGS/TRANSFERS Jammu, December 18 The decision to shift these officers was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet which met here today with the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed, in the chair. The shakeup was awaited since November 2 when the Mufti-led Cabinet was sworn in. In fact, the Chief Minister wanted the shakeup to succeed Cabinet expansion, which has been delayed for various reasons. Under the new orders Mr M.S. Pandit has been given key posts. He had been posted as Financial Commissioner and will continue to hold charge as Commissioner, Agricultural Production Department. Mr Amit Kushari has been posted as Principal Secretary, Higher Education and Mr N.R. Gupta, Principal Secretary, General Administration Department. Mr G.D. Wadhwa has been posted as Chairman, Subordinate Services Recruitment Board. Mr B.L. Nimesh is now Commissioner, Social Welfare Department; Ms Sonali Kumar, Commissioner, Technical Education; Mr R.K. Jerath Commissioner, Food and Supplies Department; Mr K.A. Ganai, Resident Commissioner in New Delhi; and Ms Mumtaz Afzal Secretary, Revenue Department. The Deputy Commissioners of more than eight districts have been transferred. The districts include Srinagar, Jammu, Budgam, Rajouri, Poonch, Anantnag and Kargil. Mr Nayeem Akhtar has been made Special Secretary to the Chief Minister. |
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Ultras target BSF, CRPF men Srinagar, December 18 Militants shot dead Tariq Ahmad Sheikh at the Sopore bus stand in Baramula this afternoon. Official sources said militants hurled a hand grenade on a BSF party at the main Yaripora market in the south Kashmir district of Anantnag this afternoon. However, the grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside, causing injuries to 21 persons, including three BSF men. The injured were admitted to different hospitals. The Army and Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir police arrested two militants Javid Ahmad and Bilal Ahmad of the Islamic Front — along with two AK rifles, two magazines, 270 rounds, one UBGL and five remote control
devices(RCD) at Beerwah this morning. The Army also seized two launchers, two grenades, 121 rounds and one pouch from the fields at Arikalan Magam today. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the heart of the city was attacked by militants with rifle grenades this afternoon, injuring one civilian. Official sources said militants fired a couple of rifle grenades towards the CRPF camp set up in Pomposh Hotel, near here. However, one of the grenades exploded mid-air while and the exploded near a shop, causing injuries to a bystander. Later, CRPF personnel conducted a search in the entire area, including the nearby shoping complex and took 12 persons in custody for questioning. CRPF personnel fired in the air when a group of mediamen, mostly photographers went there to take pictures. However, no one was wounded.
UNI |
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Cabinet forms panel to cut PSU
losses Jammu, December 18 The Chief Secretary, Dr S.S. Beloria, said the Cabinet approved setting up a four-member expert group for recommending measures required to mobilise additional resources. Dr Beloria said this group would be headed by Dr Hasib Drabhu, Editor, Business Standard. Heads of the Department of Economics of the two Jammu and Kashmir universities and one expert from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy would be the members. The committee will submit its report within a month. The Chief Secretary said the Cabinet had decided to set up a core group for studying the functioning of all public sector undertakings and recommend measures required for restructuring these units to ensure their cost-effective functioning and introducing voluntary retirement scheme for the employees. The Cabinet also decided to enact a law under which people would have the right to information about government functioning. The Cabinet also approved a scheme under which the territorial chief engineers would monitor recovery of power tariff arrears and leakage of electricity as a result of theft and distribution losses. |
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Poonch Plan outlay up Jammu, December 18 Referring to the unemployment problem among educated youth in Poonch, he announced a special 100 per cent literacy programme for Poonch town and its adjoining areas. He said the scheme would help create additional employment for the educated unemployed and recruitment under the scheme shall be made on the pattern of the Rahbar-e-Taleem programme.
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Pak troops fire mortar bombs Jammu, December 18 Pakistani troops fired 65 mortar bombs in the Bareri area of the sector for five hours. Indian troops also retaliated effectively. There had been no loss of life or damage reported on the Indian side so far, while any casualty on the Pakistan side could not be ascertained, they said. Intermittent small-arms firing was also reported between the two sides along the International Border at the Pindi and Pital border outposts in Jammu district during the past 24 hours.
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Gen Vij ends 2-day tour of Jammu Jammu, December 18 General Vij, who is also Colonel of Dogra Regiment and Dogra Scouts, visited an infantry battalion of the Dogras deployed for Operation Parakaram in Udhampur. |
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