The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, March 16, 2003, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

J A M M U & K A S H M I R

Allies indulge in govt bashing
Jammu, March 15
The Mufti-led government in Jammu and Kashmir is facing embarrassment in the Assembly these days as it is being bashed not so much by the opposition National Congress, but from legislators of its own coalition.

Centre’s nod to 6 TA battalions
Jammu, March 15
The Centre has given permission to the Jammu and Kashmir Government for raising six battalions of the Territorial Army for checking infiltration along the border, Union Minister of State for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta said today.

MKM Chairperson, activists held
Srinagar, March 15
Chairperson of the Mutahida Khawateen Markaz, Razia Sultan was taken into preventive custody along with 14 party activists when they tried to take out a march violating prohibitory orders here today, official sources said.

Toll on fodder import may go
Jammu, March 15
The Jammu and Kashmir government today said it was considering abolition of toll on the import of fodder to provide relief to the drought-hit farming community of the state.

Entry to Sectt made easier
Jammu, March 15
By opening two booths for issuing passes, a more people-friendly system for better regulation of entry into the Civil Secretariat, here, is being adopted to avoid inconvenience to the visitors on one hand and to improve work culture on other.

YOUR TOWN

Jammu

EARLIER STORIES

	Talks with Vohra: APHC undecided March 15, 2003
	House adopts two Bills March 14, 2003
	Militants attack telephone exchanges March 13, 2003
	Mufti govt mum on autonomy March 12, 2003
	Walkout over ‘discrimination against Jammu’ March 11, 2003
	Rs 2671 cr VOA presented in J&K Assembly March 10, 2003
	APHC: dialogue move half-hearted March 9, 2003
	3 NC members stage walkout March 8, 2003
	Talks fruitful, says N.N. Vohra March 7, 2003
	Hurriyat forms panel for deliberations in Delhi March 6, 2003

Allies indulge in govt bashing
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 15
The Mufti-led government in Jammu and Kashmir is facing embarrassment in the Assembly these days as it is being bashed not so much by the opposition National Congress (NC), but from legislators of its own coalition.

Hardly any day has passed when the PDP-led government has not been pulled up by its own coalition partners during the current Budget session. The grilling by coalition partners has been keeping the Mufti on tenterhooks.

The worst came when a senior coalition partner, Mr Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPM), staged a walkout from the Assembly on the issue of the alleged leniency being shown by the government towards Jai Parkash Industries which has sacked about 1,500 employees “illegally” from its Baghliar hydroelectric project. Some Independents, who are also supporting the Mufti-led government, backed Mr Tarigami on the issue.

Mr Tarigami alleged that instead of coming out in the aid of the terminated employees, the government was trying to plead the case of the project management.

Mr Balwant Singh Mankotia of the Panthers Party, which has two ministers, has been ridiculing the successive governments for discriminating against the Jammu region and took the Mufti government to task on certain issues.

The coalition government faced the anger of some of its supporters on the issue of setting up a delimitation commission which was on the election manifesto of some of them. The Panthers Party MLAs were not satisfied with the number of Assembly seats for the Jammu region and had demanded that a fresh delimitation should be ordered. They were not satisfied with the claim of the government that a fresh delimitation was due in 2006.

Mr Mankotia and certain other members put the government on the defensive by demanding that the recommendations of the Wazir Commission and various other bodies regarding the removal of regional imbalances and discrimination against the Jammu region should be implemented without further delay.

However, the Mufti has said that his government will not allow discrimination against any region and offered a thorough discussion on the issue of regional disparities voiced by some members.

Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, Finance Minister and think tank of the PDP, dispelled apprehensions of the members regarding regional disparities and said according to the available data, the population of Kashmir valley was 54 lakh which was 24 per cent more than that of the Jammu division with a population of 43 lakh.

However, outside the Assembly, the youth wing of the Panthers Party has contested the claim of Mr Beig and has demanded that the delimitation should be ordered as it was promised in the common minimum programme.

Centre’s nod to 6 TA battalions

Jammu, March 15
The Centre has given permission to the Jammu and Kashmir Government for raising six battalions of the Territorial Army (TA) for checking infiltration along the border, Union Minister of State for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta said today.

Asserting that India was determined to eliminate cross-border terrorism in the state, he told a public meeting in Kathua district that these battalions would be raised exclusively for checking infiltration from across the border.

Recruitment for the new battalions would start soon. “Preference will be given to the youth hailing from the border areas,” Mr Gupta said.

Kashmir is an integral part of India and will continue to remain so, he said.

People of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered a lot on account of Pak-sponsored terrorism, he said and asked the neighbouring country to behave like a good and responsible neighbour and desist from indulging in nefarious activities against India.

“Pakistan will be wiped out from the world map if it dares to indulge in any misadventure,” Mr Gupta said and reminded it of the 1965 and 1971 wars when Indian forces inflicted a crushing defeat on its troops.

Blaming the Congress for the present situation in Kashmir, he said India lost a golden opportunity in 1971 when “our troops occupied one-third of Pakistan and captured over 93,000 Pakistani soldiers as prisoners of war.” Had the then government shown a little bit of maturity and bargaining power, the Kashmir issue would have been settled once and for all. PTI

MKM Chairperson, activists held

Srinagar, March 15
Chairperson of the Mutahida Khawateen Markaz (MKM), Razia Sultan was taken into preventive custody along with 14 party activists when they tried to take out a march violating prohibitory orders here today, official sources said.

The burqa-clad MKM activists, carrying placards and banners demanding release of woman Hurriyat leader Zamrooda Habib and intervention of human rights organisations to stop the alleged atrocities against women in the Valley, gathered near Partap Park and started marching towards the local office of the United Nations Military Observers Group at Sonawar, the sources said.

They were stopped by the police at Regal Chowk and 15 of them, including Ms Sultan, were detained, the sources said, adding that other women participants dispersed on their own.

Mr Habib, a general council member of the Hurriyat Conference, had been arrested by the police in New Delhi earlier this year on charges of receiving money from the Pakistan High Commission for funding terrorist outfits. PTI

Toll on fodder import may go

Jammu, March 15
The Jammu and Kashmir government today said it was considering abolition of toll on the import of fodder to provide relief to the drought-hit farming community of the state.

Speaking at a migratory sheep breeders conference-cum- awareness camp at Mansar, about 73 km from here, State Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Abdul Aziz Zargar said the government might waive the tax.

He also announced Rs 1.50 crore grant for sheep development schemes under the Technology Mission Programme and a Rs one lakh grant for providing tents and tarpaulines for the migratory sheep breeders to protect them from hailstorm and heavy rains during transit.

The minister said the J&K Wool Board would be revived to protect the interests of sheep breeders and to eliminate middlemen in the procurement of wool and other wool products from the breeders. UNI