J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Walkout over ‘discrimination against Jammu’
Jammu, March 10
Mr Jugal Kishore (BJP) and Mr Ashwani Sharma (Jammu State Morcha) today walked out of the Assembly, accounting the Jammu and Kashmir Government of discriminating against the Jammu region by not ordering a fresh delimitation to increase the number of seats here.

Vote-on-Account passed amid NC protests
Jammu, March 10
Amid protests by National Conference members, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today approved the Rs 2671.50-crore Vote-on-Account (VoA) for three months.

NC demands reopening of Uri-Rawalpindi road
Srinagar, March 10
The National Conference (NC) today demanded reopening of the Uri-Rawalpindi road and initiating meaningful dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully.

A Kashmiri family rows their boat on Dal Lake in Srinagar on Monday behind the outline of a rifle hanging from a soldier's shoulder.  — Reuters

Tough weather forces ultras to lie low
Jammu, March 10
Groups of militants, equipped with sophisticated weapons, have come down from alpine forests and hilltops because of severe difficulties they have been facing in heavy snow, rain and chill, lashing mountain belts of Anantnag, Kupwara, Baramula, Doda, Poonch and Udhampur districts during the past three weeks.

Snow, rain renew cold wave
Srinagar, March 10
Fresh snowfall in upper reaches and incessant rains in the plains hit normal life in the Kashmir Valley today, forcing people to remain indoors and the cancellation of all flights. All incoming and outgoing flights were cancelled due to bad weather.

Army suspends rescue operations
Jammu, March 10
The Army authorities have suspended rescue operations in the Ladakh region where 10 soldiers and four porters were killed and 25 others went missing after the area was hit by avalenches last week.

2 securitymen killed
Srinagar, March 10
Militants attacked a security patrol killing an Army personnel and injuring two others in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir today, official sources said. As the security personnel reached Wanigam village of Pattan, militants fired on them from automatic weapons in which a personnel died on the spot and two others were injured, the sources said.

Copter courier service in J&K
Jammu, March 10
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has introduced a helicopter courier service for the snowbound areas of the Kashmir valley and has also decided to allow the use of the state helicopter for the shooting of flimsy adventure sports and pilgrimages.

Road closure hits supplies
Srinagar, March 10
Despite claims by the authorities about the adequate stock of essential goods, the Kashmir valley is facing an acute shortage of these items, including LPG cylinders, following the closure of the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to snowfall and landslides.

Raju is Vigilance Commissioner

Walkout over ‘discrimination against Jammu’
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 10
Mr Jugal Kishore (BJP) and Mr Ashwani Sharma (Jammu State Morcha) today walked out of the Assembly, accounting the Jammu and Kashmir Government of discriminating against the Jammu region by not ordering a fresh delimitation to increase the number of seats here.

The walkout came during question hour when they were asking supplimentaries to a question tabled by Mr Babu Singh (Independent). They alleged that the number of Assembly seats in the Kashmir valley was more than that in Jammu although the population here was higher.

Intervening in the matter, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed asserted that the coalition government would not tolerate discrimination with any region and was prepared to have a through discussion on the issue of regional disparities raised by certain members. The government believes in transparency and there should not be any kind of injustice with any region, he said.

Earlier, replying to supplimentaries, Law Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig said the constitution of a fresh delimitation commission was possible by an amendment in the Section 47 and Section 3 of the Representation of the Peoples Act and the amendment would also be required in the constitution of the state. A fresh delimitation was scheduled in 2006 under the existing law.

Mr Beig denied the allegations of disparity and said the available record indicated that the population of the Kashmir valley was 54 lakh, 24 per cent more than the Jammu division with a population of 43 lakh.

He said despite having more population, Kashmir gets only 5 to 10 per cent of the plan allocation, 14 per cent less in view of the population of the region. Jammu gets 13 per cent allocation against its entitlement of 9 per cent, Rajouri 3.56 per cent and Poonch 4 per cent of the total Budget.

Two National Conference members, Mr Javed Rana and Mr Mohammad Aslam, walked out of the assembly during zero hour, protesting against the reported remarks of Mr Puran Singh, Minister of State, against a particular community.

Mr Puran Singh, however, vehemently denied that he made any such remarks.

During question hour, Mr Beig said the administration in the state would be revamped within two months. Replying to supplimentaries of Ms Mehbooba Mufti, he said the new government did not order an administrative reshuffle immediately after coming to power as it did not want to create an impression that it was indulging in which hunting.

The Chief Minister said Rs 32 crore would be provided by the Centre under the natural calamities relief fund as draught relief for payment to farmers whose crops had suffered damage. The relief would be made available before the kharif season.

Minister for Power Mohammad Sherief Niaz, while replying to a question of Mr Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPM), said that a house committee would be constituted to probe the alleged irregularities in the purchase of substandard transformers and electronic metres by the Power Development Department during the past two years. Material worth Rs 39 crore was purchased by the department in the past two years.

Vote-on-Account passed amid NC protests
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 10
Amid protests by National Conference members, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today approved the Rs 2671.50-crore Vote-on-Account (VoA) for three months. The Vote-on-Account was presented in the House by the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig.

There were noisy scenes during Mr Beig’s reply to the debate on the VoA when he said that even after having joined hands with the BJP and the RSS, the previous National Conference government failed to get any package for the state to bail it out of the financial crisis.

He said keeping in mind the extraordinary situation in J&K, the Centre should review the pattern of providing grants to the state. A serious efforts should be made by all parties to persuade the Centre to provide a package to the state.

Mr Beig said sometime ago, J&K stood at number four in the per capita income in 1988, but now it had been relegated to the 24th position because of mismanagement of funds during the previous regime.

Replying to the objections raised by the NC members against presentation of the VoA, Mr Beig said this was within the rules.

He said the government was contemplating to set up a state planning commission to formulate a comprehensive economic and fiscal policy.

Earlier, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather (NC) pulled up the state government for presenting the VoA instead of a full-fledged Budget although the coalition had come to power about four months ago and had sufficient time to study the financial position.

Mr M.Y. Tarigami (CPM), who is supporting the coalition, called for financial discipline and immediate check on the misuse of government vehicles by ministers and officers.

He said the expenditure should be monitored and efforts made to bring it down.

He regretted that despite being a special category state, the Centre was denying the budgetary support to which J&K was entitled. The Centre should compensate the loss which the state was incurring due to the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

NC demands reopening of Uri-Rawalpindi road

Srinagar, March 10
The National Conference (NC) today demanded reopening of the Uri-Rawalpindi road and initiating meaningful dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully.

Tough weather forces ultras to lie low
M.L. Kak

Jammu, March 10
Groups of militants, equipped with sophisticated weapons, have come down from alpine forests and hilltops because of severe difficulties they have been facing in heavy snow, rain and chill, lashing mountain belts of Anantnag, Kupwara, Baramula, Doda, Poonch and Udhampur districts during the past three weeks.

That the rebel groups have started coming down the slopes became evident when in the upper reaches of Ashmuqam, near Pahalgam in Anantnag district, four militants were buried under avalanches and three others killed in an encounter with the security forces during the past three days.

Though the security forces have been directed to intensify patrolling in the base areas of mountain slopes in Pahalgam, Kokernag, Kishtwar, Kupwara, Poonch, Rajouri and upper reaches of Udhampur, the men in uniform too have found it difficult to carry out operations against the militants, camping in safer areas due to heavy snow and rain.

Official sources confirmed that as a result of unfavourable weather conditions, the militants have been forced to lie low. This was confirmed from a 20 per cent drop in the incidents of violence. According to the sources, during the past four months, 994 militancy related incidents were recorded in various parts of the state against 1,229 during the corresponding period, last year.

There were 30 cases of crossfire between the militants and the security forces during the past four months against 46 during the corresponding period, last year.

Since a majority of militants remained in hibernation during the past four months, the security forces could kill 396 against 682 during the past four months of the last year.

The sources admitted that possible instructions from agencies across the border, asking rebels to lie low, and a change in the political scenario in the state, could have resulted in the drop in the rate of terrorist strikes. However, weather also played a key role in forcing the militants to look after their survival and comforts rather than carrying out operations against the security forces and mainstream political activists.

Reports from across the border said Lashkar-i-Toiba activists, operating in Jammu and Kashmir, had received instructions to step up violence but they had conveyed to their mentors that unfair weather and the lack of support from the local people had forced them to lie low.

Snow, rain renew cold wave

Srinagar, March 10
Fresh snowfall in upper reaches and incessant rains in the plains hit normal life in the Kashmir Valley today, forcing people to remain indoors and the cancellation of all flights. All incoming and outgoing flights were cancelled due to bad weather.

About four inches of snowfall was recorded between Qazigund and the Jawahar Tunnel along the highway. About 30 cm snowfall was recorded in the upper reaches in Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Khilanmarg, Duksum, Yousmarg and Sonamarg.

JAMMU: With heavy snowfall during the past three weeks completely cutting off the far-flung remote areas of Kishtwar tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, the condition of 60,000 persons living there is unknown, a senior opposition MLA said here today. The worst affected villages are Sukhnai, Ganhari and Sumchang in this area and added that 44 houses had collapsed in Warwan.

SHIMLA: More snow in the higher reaches renewed the cold wave conditions in Himachal Pradesh today. High altitude areas in Chamba district and the Lahaul-Spiti district had fresh snowfall. PTI, UNI

Army suspends rescue operations
Our Correspondent

Jammu, March 10
The Army authorities have suspended rescue operations in the Ladakh region where 10 soldiers and four porters were killed and 25 others went missing after the area was hit by avalenches last week.

The Defence Ministry sources said that soon after the area between Drass and Siachen was ravaged by avalanches, rescue operations were initiated which helped troops to rescue four wounded, including three Army personnel, and recover 14 bodies. For three days the rescue operations were continued to trace the missing but when the area was lashed by snow the operations had to be suspended It is a wall of snow right from Zojila up to the 19000 ft high Siachen glacier.

2 securitymen killed

Srinagar, March 10
Militants attacked a security patrol killing an Army personnel and injuring two others in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir today, official sources said. As the security personnel reached Wanigam village of Pattan, militants fired on them from automatic weapons in which a personnel died on the spot and two others were injured, the sources said. The security personnel retaliated but the militants fled, they said.

Copter courier service in J&K
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 10
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has introduced a helicopter courier service for the snowbound areas of the Kashmir valley and has also decided to allow the use of the state helicopter for the shooting of flimsy adventure sports and pilgrimages.

The state government has to helicopters and a nine-seater fixed wing aircraft worth about Rs 30 crore. It is for the first time the government has decided to utilise its fleet its for commercial purposes. The helicopters ferried 129 persons who were stranded at various places on March 6 and 7.

Road closure hits supplies

Srinagar, March 10
Despite claims by the authorities about the adequate stock of essential goods, the Kashmir valley is facing an acute shortage of these items, including LPG cylinders, following the closure of the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to snowfall and landslides.

Meanwhile, the highway was opened for one-way traffic despite snowfall at Qazigund. The closure of the highway for a few days due to snowfall has caused a shortage of essential commodities in the Valley. UNI

Raju is Vigilance Commissioner
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 10
The Jammu and Kashmir Government here today appointed Mr R.V. Raju, ADGP, as Commissioner of the Vigilance Organisation in place of Mr Rajinder Tickoo. Mr Raju, who was Additional Director of the CBI, has been recalled from the central deputation to head the Vigilance Organisation here.

Mr Tickoo, who is of the rank of the DGP, has been posted as Commissioner, civil-military liaison, in the Home Department.