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Tuesday,
March 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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J&K HOUSE SESSION Noisy scenes in J&K House
over Resolution to review Indus treaty adopted Lashkar militant
killed JKLF leader,
9 others held
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J&K HOUSE SESSION Jammu, March 3 Senior NC member, Ali Mohammed Sagar, said that greater autonomy was the only solution for the Kashmir issue. He said that once greater autonomy was restored in the state and trade and travel between people on either side of the LoC eased it would lead to the solution of the Kashmir problem. Referring to the Governor’s Address Mr Sagar wondered that it was silent on terrorists and terrorism. He asked were the ruling coalition leaders trying to appease terrorists? He said that such tactics would not make the ruling coalition leaders invulnerable to terrorist strikes. Earlier Mr Abdul Rahim Bather, a former Finance Minister, lambasted the government for seeking a vote on account instead of presenting a complete Budget in the legislature. He said what intrigued him was the way the government changed its plan when the Assembly secretariat, in its calendar had mentioned that the Budget proposals would be presented in the current session. Mr Rather said he was not convinced with the government argument that since the plan-size had not been finalised and the measures for narrowing down the gap between revenue and expenditure had not been taken in hand Budget proposals could not be presented in the House. He said in 2001-2002 the plan-size was finalised in July but “we presented the Budget proposals in March.” He said no government could perform miracles in four months but seeking a vote on account in the legislature required emergency situation which did not exist in the state. He reminded the Finance Minister that Budget proposals were formulated on estimated figures and assumptions and not on realistic figures which are never available. Referring to the government’s commitment to carry out fiscal reforms Mr Rather said that such reforms could not be implemented without the approval of the state legislature and hence Budget proposals should have been presented and adopted in the House. Though he supported the government’s first step of reducing power cut by four hours he feared that the state may not be in a position to meet the cost incurred on it. He said that the government might not be in a position to bear the financial burden when the power arrears had crossed Rs 1300 crore. When Ali Mohammad Sagar advised the ruling PDP leaders not to trust the Congress partner because it had ditched us (NC) quite often the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, reacted telling Mr Sagar that it was the NC which still sought the Congress support for forming the government. He asked Mr Sagar if your want us not to trust the Congress why then your party President, Mr Omar Abdullah, has been seeking Congress support for the NC to form the government? Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, said that during its long-rule the National Conference practised communal and parochial politics. He alleged that NC leadership wanted to retain Kashmiri hegemony over the Jammu and Ladakh regions. He said as a result of discrimination against these two provinces a demand for statehood for Jammu and Union Territory status for Ladakh was the natural result. Mr Sharma berated the NC members for raking up the demand for the restoration of greater autonomy. “You will never achieve greater autonomy? he thundered. And when some NC members reminded him that the PDP-Congress too had committed itself to autonomy the Deputy Chief Minister shot back autonomy to all the three regions and not the one you have been clamouring for. He said if the NC had emerged as a regional party it was the result of support from the Congress which it enjoyed since the freedom struggle that took roots in the state in 1939. In this connection he referred to series of Congress-NC accords, including the Sheikh-Indira and Rajiv-Farooq accords, and said that the NC enjoyed power with the support of the Congress. Mr Mangat Ram had a dig at the National Conference while referring to the Resettlement Act, providing for the settlement of those who had crossed over to Pakistan and occupied Kashmir if they chose to return to the state. He said the NC leadership was worried about those in occupied Kashmir and not about several lakh refugees living in Jammu for several decades. He blamed the NC leadership of being “power hungry.” He said love for power motivated the NC leadership to join hands with the BJP at the Centre which enabled Dr Farooq’s son, Mr Omar Abdullah to get a berth in the central Council of Ministers. On the sidelines of the House Finance Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, told newsmen that the ruling coalition leadership would not interfere in the review exercise to be carried out by the screening committee. He said “it is an official committee set up to examine cases of detained people and we will not poke our nose. He said those against whom there were no specific charges into it” those who had overstayed in the jails and those against whom there was no witness were to be released. |
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Noisy scenes in J&K House
over security cover Jammu, March 3 Both issues were raised in the House during question hour. Members belonging to the National Conference demanded adequate security cover to the party activists. Mr Ali Mohd Sagar said “As a result of lack of security cover, a number of my party activists have been killed by militants.” He said during the past six years, 725 activists of the National Conference had been gunned down in the state. Replying to a question tabled by Mr Prem Sagar, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Abdul Rehman Veeri said the government had not withdrawn security from any protected person. He said 236 protected persons, including ministers, legislators, prominent political leaders, former legislators and ministers had been provided security vehicles. When several members, including those from the ruling coalition complained that security guards and vehicles had been withdrawn from some protected persons soon after the new government took over, Mr Veeri informed the House that a committee was reviewing periodically the threat perception in individual cases and accordingly the security cover was being provided. He assured agitated members that in case of some discrimination he would look into the matter provided specific cases were brought to the notice of the government. When Mr Yogesh Sawhney of the Congress complained that his party activists were not being provided with vehicles and those provided had been using rickety cars and jeeps, Mr Veeri said “we do not have a fleet of new cars and jeeps. We have placed an order for it and whenever the new vehicles were delivered to us, they would be given to the protected persons.” When several NC members agitated over the lack of security cover to their party men, Mr Veeri said as many as 235 NC men had been provided security guards. There was a breezy pandemonium when several opposition members expressed dissatisfaction over the government reply on the issue of unemployment raised by Mr Dilawar Mir of the National Conference. Mr Mir was joined by several party men while protesting over government’s inability to tackle the problem. The Minister for Employment, Mr Rigzin Jora, told the House that job opportunities in the state were limited and as such the number of unemployed educated youth was on the rise. He spelt out some measures for tackling the problem but when the members, most of them belonging to the NC, were not satisfied with the measures, they were on their feet. Mr Dilawar Mir and Mr Ali Mohd Sagar of the NC raised their voice against the dismissal of those youths who had been already appointed in different government departments. The Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, pleaded with the agitated members to be on their seat. It was at this juncture that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, demanded that an hour be earmarked for discussion on the unemployment problem. The Finance Minister, Mr Musaffar Beig, intervened and said the government had to throw out the educated youths who had been recruited by the former government on an ad hoc basis. He said this had been done as per the instructions of the Supreme Court. He informed the House that the Supreme Court had ruled that no government could keep an ad hoc employee for more than nine months. He said the state government had to face the contempt of court proceedings as it had not implemented the court directive and to avoid further embarrassment, the ad hoc employees had to be thrown out. In reply to another question, the Education Minister, Mr Harsh Dev Singh, assured the House that the government was considering the proposal of introducing leave facilities, including maternity leave in case of female teachers, for those appointed under Rehbr-i-Taleem scheme. He agreed that the Rs 1,500 monthly honorarium was on a lower side and said the government would examine it. During zero hour, Dr Mehboob Beg of the NC caused a flutter when he said the sports industry in the Kashmir Valley had been ignored by the government. Referring to cricket bats being manufactured from the willow trees, he said the ongoing world cup had skyrocketed the demand for Kashmiri willow cricket bats but the bat industrial units were not able to honour the orders from different states as they had no drying facilities. He wanted the government to set up required plants where drying of willow trunks could be carried out speedily. The government informed Mr Ajay Sadhotra of the NC that since the PDP-Congress coalition party took over, the state’s fixed wing plane and two helicopters carried out 376 sorties on which about Rs 1.60 lakh had been spent. These small planes were used by the Chief Minister, his ministerial colleagues and senior bureaucrats for performing official duties. |
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Resolution to review Indus treaty adopted Jammu, March 3 The resolution was moved by Ms Deependra Kour, NC member. She said the state was suffering heavy losses as it could not utilise water of Jhelum, Chenab and the Indus rivers fully to generate electricity or for irrigation purposes. Later, the resolution was adopted with a voice vote. The Minister for Irrigation, Qazi Mohammed Afzal, said the state government had already approached the Central Government and the working group of the National Water Resources Council in this regard. State experts had estimated that in the power sector the annual loss had gone to Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 352 crore in the irrigation sector. He said as a result of these restrictions, over 1.70 lakh hectares of land in the state could not be irrigated. The state had not been in a position to make optimum use of the waters of Jhelum, Chenab and the Indus. At least 30,000 million units of electricity could have been generated from the existing projects and the new plants. He said whenever the state formulated new plans for power generation and for increasing the irrigation potential these had to be submitted in advance to Pakistan for approval. In this connection he referred to the Tulbul navigation lock project on the Jhelum river and the Wullar lake and said in the absence of approval from Pakistan these projects could not be launched. The state Government has requested the Centre either to scrap the treaty or modify it. Qazi Mohammed Afzal informed the House that under the treaty six rivers, Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum and the Indus flow to Pakistan. But the treaty has imposed limitations in Jammu and Kashmir. Members cutting across party affiliation supported the resolution and some of them insisted on scrapping the treaty. A senior Congress leader, Mr Raman Bhalla, said: “It is strange that we are exporting water to Pakistan and in return we are importing terrorism from Islamabad.” |
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Lashkar militant
killed Jammu, March 3 The encounter broke out when militants fired on an Army patrol party conducting search operation in the Mankote area of the district in the wee hours and lasted till afternoon. One AK rifle, one magazine and 20 rounds were recovered from the encounter site, the sources said. SRINAGAR: Three persons, including a woman, were killed in separate incidents in the Kashmir valley since yesterday, official sources said on Monday. The body of a woman identified as Raja Begam was fished out from a river at Awantipora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir this morning, the sources said, adding that the cause of her death is being ascertained. Militants abducted and later killed Riyaz Ahmad Bhat at Panzoo village in Pulwama. Bhat was killed for his alleged links with the security forces. The sources said the police also recovered a body of an unidentified person near Trehgam in Kupwara district today.
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JKLF leader,
9 others held Srinagar, March 3 The police swung into action when Mr Mir, Mr Untoo and Awami Action Committee leader Shahidul Islam along with their supporters were protesting at Regal Chowk near here against the blacklisting of Anjuman-e-Nusratul-Islam, an NGO headed by former Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq. Raising slogans against the Centre and the Indian democracy, they said the government’s decision was another repressive measure to silence the voice of the Kashmiris who were fighting for their rights. Later, Mr Mir, Mr Untoo, Mr Islam along with seven others were taken into preventive custody.
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