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Thursday,
April 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Grenade attack in J&K kills woman, hurts 17 Hardline policy not to pay: Hurriyat Massacre mars ‘Navreh’
celebrations |
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J&K ultras to work under Al-Mansurian HC contempt notices to top officials Mobile
services: BSNL, Army at loggerheads Katra to be major pilgrim destination Corporation to buy medicines in J&K Seven cement producers
to be prosecuted
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Grenade attack in J&K kills woman, hurts 17 Srinagar, April 2 The woman, Aisha, was killed and another wounded in an encounter between militants and security forces at Chewdara village in the central Kashmir district of Badgam this morning, official sources said. The encounter took place after a search party was attacked by the militants with automatic weapons. Meanwhile, sources told UNI that unidentified militants lobbed a hand grenade towards security forces at main market Shopian in the south Kashmir district of Pulwama this afternoon. However, the grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside injuring 16 persons. The injured were admitted in hospitals where two of them were stated to be in a critical condition. This was the second grenade attack in south Kashmir after a blast took place at Mattan Chowk yesterday. Militants also attacked Damhalhanjipora police station in the south Kashmir district of Anantnag last night with automatic weapons. Police guards reacted and the exchange of fire continued for some time. However, there were no reports of any causalities, sources said adding that the militants to escaped. Poonch:
Security forces gunned down three militants and busted two militant hideouts in separate incidents in the district in Jammu division today, Defence sources said.
UNI, PTI |
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Hardline policy not to pay: Hurriyat Srinagar, April 2 “The Hurriyat Conference is to the opinion that the hardline policy had not paid and would not be fruitful in future”, an APHC spokesman stated after a meeting of the executive committee of the party here today. He said the meeting observed that the people in Kashmir had been facing such stringent policies for long. The meeting presided over by the APHC President, Mr Abdul Ghani Bhat, was attended by the former Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Moulana Abbas Ansari, Khaleel Mohammad
Khaleel, Bilal Ghani Lone and Sheikh Ali Mohammad. Today’s meeting by the seven-member executive committee at the party headquarters, Rajbagh here, was held as routine weekly meeting. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Governor
G.C. Saxena held a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani and other union ministers, Mr George Fernandes and Yashwant Sinha in New Delhi on Monday. It decided to constitute a special group to tackle militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of recent massacre of 24 non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits at Nadimarg in Pulwama district of south Kashmir. This meeting was followed by a separate meeting of the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, with the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today. The APHC Executive reiterated its stand on meaningful negotiations between the parties concerned for the restoration of peace in South Asia that would “only be in the interests of the people of India, Pakistan and Kashmiris”. According to the spokesman, the executive committee also expressed its concern over the activities of SOG of the Jammu and Kashmir police and other security agencies, that indulged in excesses and atrocities against the people. He added that the SOG had not been disbanded despite claims by the government. It also expressed serious concern over the alleged non-compliance of court orders regarding the release of detainees in various detention centres. |
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Massacre mars ‘Navreh’
celebrations Jammu, April 2 Not only the Pandits but their Muslim friends and neighbours would spend hours together on every “Navreh” under the pink blaze of bloomed almond trees in the sprawling gardens around the fortress. Though right from the early morning hours migrant women, men and children were seen praying in different temples in Jammu today, their eyes roamed through the gardens around Hari Parbhat where they used to enjoy water
chestnuts. Janki Nath, living in Muthi camp, recalled the bliss he used to get while sharing water
chestnuts under the bloomed almond trees. He said: “We have no other alternative but to sustain ourselves by reminiscing on the happy memories of our childhood and on the bitter memories of our exodus from the valley.” The Nadimarg massacre had cast its shadow on the Navreh celebrations in the migrant camps in Jammu. “We feel sad over our miserable plight, “said another migrant, Arjan Nath. He said, “ without any of our fault we have been deprived of a secure and happy life.” He said “I would see to it that I wear new clothes on Navreh when I was a child. This practice continued till my college days as my parents would be the last people to disappoint me.” “I have not been able to do it when the turn of my children has come to wear new clothes on Navreh because I cannot afford it,” he lamented. The parents of newly wed daughters were seen quite upset. They had to spend quite a sum on sending gifts, including new clothes to their daughters and their in-laws. |
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J&K
ultras to work under Al-Mansurian Somewhere near the line of control, April 2 The move follows public outcry against these outfits by human rights organisations and peace-loving nations. “The ISI had realised that following the suicidal attacks on September 11 last year in New York city, such terrorist organisations would hitherto be subjected to greater scrutiny and subsequently outlawed for their activities,” the sources said.
UNI |
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HC contempt notices to top officials Srinagar, April 2 The Division Bench comprising Mr Justice A. N. Kukroo and Mr Justice Pramod Kholi issued notice to Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Secretary, Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) and three other officers for interfering in earlier court orders. “Issuing advertisement in newspapers asking the violators of law to register their illegal constructions with the LAWDA for regularisation amounts to contempt of this court,” the judges said. The advertisement, which was published in local newspapers yesterday, further says that the illegal constructions not registered within one month would be demolished. Taking a serious note of the advertisement, the court asked the Divisional Commissioner and Secretary, LAWDA, and Municipality Administrator to be present on Friday when the case comes up for hearing. The court has also directed the Vigilance Commissioner to be present in the court on that day. Meanwhile, passing an interim direction, the Bench revoked the earlier order exempting the state Director General of Police DGP, Mr A.K. Suri, and Managing Director (MD) of the Police Housing Corporation from their personal appearance in a case relating to the construction of official residence for the police chief and a police mess on the bank of the Dal Lake. The court heard the arguments of lawyers from both sides after the DGP and MD filed affidavits stating that no organisation, including LAWDA had raised any objection when the house for the police chief and the police mess were being constructed. “We came to know that the construction was illegal only after the court directions and through newspaper,” they said. However, the court, describing the affidavits as concocted, said former Vice-Chairman of LAWDA Khurshed Naqib, since suspended, had in his affidavit stated that he had sent a letter to police officials on October 23 last year in which the construction was described as illegal. But the court also took strong notice of a letter issued by LAWDA on August 19, 1999, wherein it was stated that the authority was not in a position to issue No Objection Certificate (NOC) as the constructions on the site had already been completed. The court also took serious note in the case of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Guest House and Municipality. It took the entire record of municipality in its custody and directed all officers connected with the case to be present on the day of hearing. The court also accepted the submission made by the Advocate General regarding the extension of two weeks’ time in respect of residential building of DGP, so that full facts could be presented to the court.
UNI |
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Mobile services: BSNL, Army at loggerheads Srinagar, April 2 With many stumbling blocks, it was not practical to meet the deadline, BSNL Kashmir General Manager G. S. Marshall said here today. Having just 12 days to go for the deadline, the BSNL is yet to get the permission to install a communication tower at Indira Nagar which falls with in the Badami Bagh cantonment area, Mr Marshall said. “The tower at Indira Nagar is very pivotal to our plans and there is no question of shifting it any where else. We have written to the higher authorities of the cantonment for the permission to install the tower,” he said. “As of now, I do not see the permission coming very soon. And even if it is granted with in a week or two, we still require another month for erecting the tower and putting the infrastructure through various tests before we go public with the service, Mr Marshall added. He said the application for permission to install the tower was given to the Army officials two weeks ago but nothing had materialised yet. The closure of the national highway due to landslides and confusion over tax clearance for the equipment imported from Sweden were also contributing to the delay. “Our deadline was March 31 but that was not possible as we got the equipment only on March 22. The closure of the national highway and tax clearance for the equipment consumed almost 40 days,” he said. He said the BSNL was working day and night to complete the ground work and start the mobile phone services at the earliest but the delay was inevitable. “We have started work on other towers and the foundation work has already been completed,” Mr Marshall said. The General Manager, however,
said the Indira Nagar tower was one of the four towers to be connected
to the telephone exchange and without it, it would not be possible to
start any form of mobile telephony in Kashmir. PTI |
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Katra to be major pilgrim destination Jammu, April 2 “We have worked out a multi-pronged development strategy for the integrated development of Katra town, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, and preservation of its natural beauty,” Mr Mir told the PTI here. “A master plan-2020 is being finalised soon for the town, the area under which would be expanded from 600 acres to 2,500 acres,” he said. The plan included construction of a new circular road, tourist parks, modern bus stands, commercial complexes and relocation of government offices. Mr Mir stressed the need for conserving water bodies and forests and said arrangements would be made for proper sewage disposal to preserve the environment. “Katra town has been major source of income for the state over the past 13 years of turmoil when the tourist flow stopped to all other places of the state,” he said. A separate two-lane road from Katra to Panth would be constructed, the minister said. “To increase the present water supply to the town from 6 lakh gallons to 12 lakh gallons per day, a new scheme is already under execution and likely to be commissioned next year,” Mr Mir said.
PTI |
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Corporation to buy medicines in J&K
Jammu, April 2 “A blueprint has been prepared for J and K Procurement Corporation by the health and medical education ministry and the proposal is being sent to the state cabinet for taking a decision on its April 4 meeting” the sources told PTI here today. The corporation would do away with middle-men and put an end to the purchase of sub-standard drugs in the state-run hospitals and other health institutions, the sources said. The ministry would check the purchase of sub-standard drugs and end the possibility of middlemen in the government supply contracts. Only those pharmaceutical companies that have annual turnover of Rs five crore and income tax
clearance certificates would be eligible to bid for the tender of the corporation, the sources said. The corporation would bring parity in rates and quality of medicines available in the government-run health institutions, they said Under the corporation, drug stores would be set up at district and tehsil levels with precautions for providing better medical facilities to people, they said.
PTI |
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Seven cement producers
to be prosecuted Jammu, April 2 He said the Food and Supplies Department had, earlier, taken the samples from 27 cement manufacturers and sent these to different laboratories of the country for testing. Of these, the adulteration in seven cases was found to be as high as 40 per cent. The products were also without any ISI certification. |
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Jammu, April 2
