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Monday,
March 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Azad likely to continue as PCC chief Hurriyat flayed for silence over Dar’s killing Healing touch projected wrongly: CM 1 killed in Poonch blast 7 Bagliar project workers held |
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Brown sugar worth Rs 3 cr seized
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Azad likely to continue as PCC chief Jammu, March 30 Mr Azad has virtually shifted to Delhi following futile attempt to instal him as the Chief Minister after the Assembly elections in November last. There were indications that he was being given the post of the General Secretary of the AICC. Some senior party leaders said with his wide experience as minister at the Centre and within the party, Mr Azad was capable of running the show at this crucial stage when Congress activists are sore over having lost the opportunity to form a government in the state after a gap of 27 years. Moreover, they pointed out that the organisation was getting further weakened because of too much interference of the central leadership which was trying to create its own cells here. Mr Arjun Singh, Ms Ambika Soni, Mr Makhan Lal Fotedar and Mr R.K. Dhawan have already their respective supporters in the PCC. A senior Congress leader expressed fear that the party might further weaken as the PDP was making all-out efforts to strengthen its roots in the Jammu region. He pointed out that a large number of Congress activists switched over their loyalties to the National Conference in the past 27 years and now many others might choose to go with the ruling PDP as the Mufti was also once a Congressman and headed the organisation in the state when Sheikh Abdullah was the Chief Minister. Several National Conference activists have joined the PDP in the past few days, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
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Hurriyat flayed for silence over Dar’s killing
Srinagar, March 30 It was surprising that the Hurriyat had not come out with a befitting response to the assassination of Dar. Most of the senior leaders of the Hurriyat were not even present at his Rasm-e-Chaharum (fourth day ceremony), Shah told PTI here. Shah said the silence adopted by the Hurriyat over Dar’s killing had unnecessarily raised suspicion over his character and he was seen by many as a traitor instead of a front ranking freedom fighter that he was. Even the freedom-loving people of Sopore, Dar’s native town, who had made a lot of sacrifices for the Kashmir cause chose to stay away from the bereaved family, he added. The Hurriyat’s silence was very sad despite the fact that Dar had taken into confidence all leaders before announcing the ceasefire with the Government of India, Shah said. Shah even went on to claim that the ceasefire announced by Dar was not his brainchild but effected on the instructions of Hizb supremo Syed Salahuddin, who was based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. “Dar met me and other freedom-loving leaders not once but twice before and during the ceasefire. But his attempts for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue were later disowned by many a leader for reasons better known to them,” Shah said in a vieled attack on the 25-party conglomerate. Shah said he felt it was his duty to put Dar’s killing in the right perspective before the people of Jammu and Kashmir and clear any misgivings about his character. “My conscience shook me up and I decided to put the facts before the public. I am not afraid of anything,” he added. Shah had openly lambasted Hurriyat leadership at Sopore on Dar’s fourth day ceremony for their absence. If the Hurriyat top brass could camp for four days in Sopore on the death of professor Ghulam Rasool Baccha, didn’t Dar’s family even deserve a courtesy call, he questioned. Shah, who was declared “prisoner of conscience” by the Amnesty International in early 1990’s, said the Hurriyat was mistaken over his efforts to unite the separatist camp as an attempt to join the amalgam. “My desire is not to join the amalgam. I wrote to the Hurriyat leadership to unite on a common platform to give a decisive direction to the movement,” he added. “Nobody should harbour any misgivings about my intention. I have not emerged in the post militancy era. I have been around for long enough for anybody to think that I am eager ‘to join their bandwagon’,” Shah said. PTI
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Healing touch projected wrongly: CM
Srinagar, March 30 “The peace initiative by the government in the state will become a movement forward”, Mr Sayeed said at a rally after distributing appointment letters to 202 victims of militancy in the border town of Kupwara yesterday. “They are the enemies of the people but we will not allow them to succeed,” he said. Mr Sayeed asserted that his government would steer the state from the present morass. “My government will continue the policy of healing touch even though it is wrongly projected to create confusion among some people,’’ he said. He said the people had suffered immensely due to the situation created during the past 13 years. “Women have been widowed, children orphaned, mothers deprived of their children, injustice meted out to many, the education system derailed and development activities hampered. The basic objective of the policy of healing touch is to give focussed attention to various issues and to apply ointment on the wounds of the affected people, he said and added that “We have to continue our efforts to win hearts and minds of the people”. UNI
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1 killed in Poonch blast Jammu, March 30 Meanwhile, the chopping of nose of six persons, including a woman, has created a scare in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. The terrorists have been devising new methods of scare away the people of these districts which are on the Line of Control with Pakistan. Terrorists had sometimes ago beheaded three girls in a bid to force women wear “burqa” and not go to educational institutions. |
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7 Bagliar project workers held Jammu, March 30 The police swung into action and arrested seven workers, who entered into the compound of an adjacent industrial area and raised anti-Mufti and management slogans. “The strike has entered the 23rd day today but the Mufti Government, which is talking tall of giving healing touch to the Jammu and Kashmir people, has ignored workers, CITU unit President K.N. Bakshi told reporters.
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Brown sugar worth Rs 3 cr seized Jammu, March 30 A consignment of 3 kg of brown sugar was recovered from a hideout here after the police received a tip off from trans-border smugglers arrested last Thursday, the police sources said here. On Thursday, seven smugglers were arrested and brown sugar and heroin worth Rs 4 crore was recovered by the police, the sources said.
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