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Wednesday,
February 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Transfer of POTA
case : HC rejects Centre’s plea Jammu Morcha to form core group on statehood APHC cool to Pant’s ‘mission Kashmir-II’ 6 civilians hurt
in Pak shelling |
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Signature drive in
Geelani’s, support Demonstrations
rock valley Journalists
on safe-driving mission Kashmiri
boys back from tour Ajit opens conference on horticulture Sikhs urge Centre to rein in RSS Cigarette shop attacked 9 smugglers held,
cattle seized
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Transfer of POTA
case : HC rejects Centre’s plea Srinagar, February 4 A division bench of the High Court, comprising Mr Justice DC Gandhi and Mr Justice Pramod Kohli, passed an order yesterday asking the Centre to clarify its stand on POTA. The court’s order came on a PIL filed by Advocate Syed Tassaduq Hussain challenging the application of POTA in Jammu and Kashmir on various constitutional grounds. Dismissing the government counsel’s plea to shift the case to the Supreme Court, the two judges instead asked the Centre to clarify its stand on the anti-terror law under which over 100 persons had been booked in the state so far. Responding to another writ petition filed by Hussain challenging the Public Safety Act, the bench directed the state government to submit before it whether they wanted the law to continue or be abolished. Taking note of the absence of the Advocate-General during the hearing, the bench directed the Law Secretary that the AG or any other lawyer should be present in the court to defend the government or the court will pass the judgement ex parte.
PTI |
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Jammu Morcha to form core group on statehood Jammu, February 4 The core group is expected to be set up at a meeting of the JSM to be held shortly. A section of the JSM leadership was reportedly not satisfied with the “arbitrary” style of functioning of certain leaders. The JSM backed by the RSS was set up shortly before the Assembly elections and was allocated only nine seats in a pre-poll tie-up with the BJP. However, it won only one seat and that too by a rebel of the Congress, Mr Ashwani Kumar. Although the leadership of the JSM was satisfied that it had succeeded in sowing the seeds for separation of Jammu from the Kashmir valley, but it feels that an aggressive attitude had to be adopted to mobilise a mass movement in this direction. The JSM received a boost when the former DGP of Punjab, Mr P.C. Dogra, joined the party and Mr Joginder Singh, a former Director of the CBI, backed the demand for separation of Jammu, but the morcha failed to encash this during the elections. The JSM has been highlighting that the Jammu region was being discriminated in every field by the successive Kashmir dominated state governments and the injustice could be undone only with the separation of the region from the valley. The morcha leaders point out that the national level parties, including the Congress and the BJP, have also not contradicted the allegations of discrimination. However, the Congress, which is the coalition partner of the PDP-led government, short of separation has openly been supporting the demand for implementation of the recommendations of the Gajenderagadkar and the Wazir commissions to remove the imbalances. The BJP, which during the elections remained silent on the issue, has now after its debacle started toeing the discrimination theory. A section of the JSM was of the opinion that the outfit should be given a secular outlook by involving the Muslims of the Jammu region without whose support the goal could never be achieved. The morcha has already started strengthening itself by involving the youth and women and some of its leaders were in favour of launching a coordinated movement with the support of the BJP although the sharing of seats by the two parties in the elections was a bitter experience. The existence of the party will be made felt at the constituency and panchayat levels. However, the activities of the JSM have virtually come to a standstill after the Assembly elections. But the leaders of the morcha point out that most sections of the Jammu region have started realising that they were being discriminated and neglected over the years. |
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APHC cool to Pant’s ‘mission Kashmir-II’ Srinagar, February 4 “What is still in the air should not even ordinarily engage one’s mind... we will wait and see how things shape up”, Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Gani Bhat told PTI in an interview here. Hinting that the 25-party separatist amalgam would harden its stand, Bhat said, “Let there be no miscalculations about it, that the Hurriyat stand is rooted in principles and principles do not change like a chameleon’s colours”. The Hurriyat was adamant on not meeting Mr Pant during his Mission Kashmir-1, but the conglomerate met the Kashmir Committee led by former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani. Mr Ram Jethmalani’s Kashmir Committee is a different proposition. It represents the urge of the people of India to resolve the dispute in the interests of peace and prosperity, Bhat said, explaining why the Hurriyat chose to shun Mr Pant and met the Kashmir Committee. The government’s envoys see a dispute with through a blinkered vision where they do not take the principles into consideration. If the Kashmir dispute is to be resolved the principles have to be accepted, he added. Mr Bhat said unless the Centre recognised Pakistan as a basic party to the Kashmir dispute, a permanent solution would elude the problem. You cannot ignore Pakistan... Kashmir dispute is a historical one and Pakistan is a party to it. Permanent peace will continue to elude the region if it is not involved in the process of finding a long-lasting solution to the issue he said. Asked whether greater autonomy to Kashmir was a possible solution to the Kashmir imbroglio, Mr Bhat said, “no, it never has been and it never will be”. “You cannot quote a single instance where the slogan of autonomy has been raised at the people’s level. Yes, it has been raised at organisational level by the National Conference and we cannot deny them the right to express themselves”, he said adding that the Hurriyat Conference wanted a permanent solution to the Kashmir dispute.
PTI |
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6 civilians hurt in Pak shelling Jammu, February 4 Four of the injured have been identified as Nazira Begum and Swalla Begum of Degwar village and Shoukat Hussain and Rashem Khan of Dhokri village. They have been admitted to the district hospital in Poonch town, the sources said. About 250 mortar shells landed in Degwar, Dhokri, Sabjian, Kerni and adjoining villages, the sources said. Indian troops retaliated and an exchange of firing continued till this morning, they said. The two sides also exchanged fire along the LoC in the Bhawani sector in Rajouri district last night. Pakistan forces escalated firing in several sectors along the international border in Jammu division since last evening to disrupt the fencing work. Pakistani rangers, using light and medium machine guns, also targeted several border outposts in Akhnoor, Arnia, Samba, Ramgarh, R.S. Pura and Hiranagar sectors last night, the sources said.
PTI |
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Signature drive in Geelani’s, support Srinagar, February 4 A delegation from Baramula today handed over a copy of 20,000 signatures to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed describing Geelani as innoncent. They requested Mr Sayeed to take up the case of Prof Geelani, who hailed from Baramulla, with the Centre for his unconditional release. They said the POTA court had chosen to rely on the story framed against Prof Geelani by the prosecution and dismissed the testimony of the defence witnesses, especially two Kashmiri Pandits, who found no objectionable reference in the telephonic conversation to the attack on Parliament.
UNI |
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Demonstrations
rock valley Baramula, February 4 Official sources said Peer and another
person — Habib — were released yesterday after allegedly being
tortured during detention. The two were taken to hospital where Peer
died. Shops and other commercial establishments in the area remained
closed. Hundreds of residents, mostly women demonstrated and blocked
the Nowgam-Handwara road demanding immediate action against the
guilty. Massive demonstrations and strike to protest against the death of two youths allegedly by the security forces paralysed life in North and South Kashmir today. People at Tral in south Kashmir district of Pulwama took to streets today after Sajjad Ahmad, a class IX student was killed allegedly due to firing by the security forces at 10.30 a.m. today. The demonstrators who blocked traffic and raised slogans against the security forces alleged that the security forces fired on the boy when he was on his way to home. The
demonstrators, mostly women, demanded stern action against the
officials responsible for the killing the boy. UNI |
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Journalists on safe-driving mission Jammu, February 4 “We are happy to be in the city of temples and to spread the message of safe driving in the entire state,” the journalists, who will traverse a distance of 14,930 km in 28 states during the “one lap of India one lap for safety” mission, said on of them. Spanning the incredibly diverse landscape of our country, the mission promises to be as gruelling for man and machine as it will be spectacular, they said at the welcome ceremony here today, organised by the sponsors of the event Mahindra automobiles. But unlike the raid de Himalaya or the Paris-dakar, the unique feature to the event is that all the participants will spread the message of safe driving across every state, with pamphlets and talks on safe driving techniques at designated exclusive scorpio showrooms.
PTI |
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Kashmiri
boys back from tour Srinagar, February 4 All 40 Kashmiri boys, who had started their tour on January 17 from here, had meetings with the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the Director-General of the BSF, Mr Ajai Raj Sharma, in New Delhi. These boys on their return said that the President while interacting with them had told them to dream, aim and work hard for achieving success. “I could not believe that I spent 45 minutes with the President of India. That was the most memorable moment in my life”, said Shabir Hussain Mangral, a student of Class 10th, who came from Uri in north Kashmir to be a part of the tour. The Inspector-General (IGP) of the Border Security Force (BSF), Mr G.S. Gill, welcomed the students on their return at the STC here. During the tour they witnessed the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, the retreat ceremony at the international border, Wagah, Amritsar, and visited famous monuments and historical places at Agra, Jaipur, Ajmer-i-Sharief, Pushkar lake, Delhi, Amritsar and Jammu. |
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Ajit opens conference on horticulture Srinagar, February 4 Inaugurating a two-day conference on horticulture in northern hill states, organised by the Agriculture Production Department of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Ajit Singh said the interests of apple growers in the northern states were being taken care of. He said the import of apple into the country was being discouraged in view of the interests of the apple producers of the country. The conference was also attended by the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Others who attended the function included the State Agriculture Minister, Abdul Aziz Zargar, Mr Haroon Yusuf, Horticulture Minister of the Delhi Government and senior officials of the ICAR. The meet held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC) was also attended by nearly 1,000 fruit growers and those linked to the production of various horticulture products in the state. Responding to the demand of the participants on granting industrial status to horticulture in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister, Mr Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, announced that his government would take up the issue in the state Cabinet at the earliest. Mr Sayeed said the government was also contemplating to launch a market intervention scheme to improve the quality of fruit for better marketing of Kashmir’s famous fruit. Under the proposed scheme, the State government at a pre-determined support price would procure the low grade apple and only the better quality and high grade after proper certification by the competent authority. This he said, would restore the reputation of the Kashmiri fruit in markets outside the state. He said the low-grade apple procured by the government would be used for the manufacture of juice at the government owned Doabgah fruit concentrate plant whose full capacity would be utilised. He said he had taken up the matter with the Defence Minister who promised him that his ministry would buy the fruit juice for the armed forces. |
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Sikhs urge Centre to rein in RSS Jammu, February 4 The leaders, including Mr S.S. Wazir, President, Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, Mr Dayal Singh, General Secretary, SAD, Mr Paramjit Singh, President, AISSF, Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser, Bhai Kanhaya Nishkam Sawa Society, and Mr Narbir Singh, President, Youth Akali Dal, told newspersons here that the recent statement of the RSS chief, Mr K.S. Sudershan — “Sikhs are Hindus and everybody whether a Jew, Muslim or Christian, living in India, is a Hindu and everybody has to preach Hinduism” — had the potential of destabilising the country by fomenting communal divide. |
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Cigarette shop attacked Srinagar, February 4 Unidentified persons threw a bomb from a moving auto-rickshaw which set of a fire in the shop in Batmaloo in which Riyaz Ahmad Bhat and Manzoor Ahmad were injured,
they said. The shop was partially damaged in the attack which the police suspects was the handiwork of the Hai-e-Alal Fallah outfit, a lesser-known group which recently imposed a ban on the sale and purchase of cigarettes in the valley. In December last year, a cigarette dealer was seriously injured when he was set ablaze by militants at Habbakadal in downtown Srinagar.
PTI |
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9
smugglers held, cattle seized Jammu, February 4 The cattle, in two trucks, were heading for the Kashmir valley for the Id festival when the police intercepted them at the Tikri area on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway last evening, the sources said. The nine smugglers identified as Munna, Mohammad Hussain, Jamat Ali, Mohammad Sharief, Nazir, Ishaq Hussain, Sharief Din Ayoob and Majid were arrested, the sources said, adding that 28 animals were seized along with the two trucks. A case has been registered.
PTI |
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8 jawans killed Jammu, February 4 |
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Infiltration bid, ultra shot Jammu, February 4 |
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