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Friday,
April 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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J&K Sikhs fear strike by ultras 28 Pandits shift to Jammu Film-makers keen on shooting in J&K
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Bill term leaves staff sans pay Probe Dal Lake cleaning scam: HC Power project staff stir ends JKLF leader held for joining students’ protest Drainage
plan for Srinagar 4 girls drowned in pond 5 jawans killed in accident
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J&K Sikhs fear strike by ultras Jammu, April 10 The president of the State Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, Mr S.S. Wazir, said here today that he had led a high-level delegation of the leaders of the community to convey “our apprehensions on the uncertain future of the Sikh families living in various parts of the valley” to the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. He said, “our fears have started becoming real after several Sikh houses were knocked at by mysterious hands during the nights in the Sikh inhabited area of Tral in Pulwama district.” Mr Wazir, was accompanied by Mr Rangil Singh, former minister and senior PDP leader, Mr Pradhuman Singh, Congress leader, and Mr Gurmukh Singh Musafir, former minister, at the meeting with the Mufti. Mr Wazir said, “We had suggested to the Chief Minister to keep one Cabinet minister in charge of each district in the valley who could coordinate with the Army and other security agencies the issues related to the strengthening the security cover in areas inhabited by the minorities.” Mr Rangil Singh expressed dismay over the way the Chief Minister “brushed aside our suggestion and described our fears of possible strike against Sikhs by the rebels as baseless.” He said agencies were making a determined bid to force the minorities to migrate from the valley and strikes on the soft targets at Poonch, Rajouri, Gool in Udhampur and then at Nadimarg bore “testimony to our fears.” Mr Wazir said there had been a series of attempts in the past to scare away Sikhs, like Pandits, from the valley. He said it was due to “our efforts that mass migration of the Sikhs from the valley was stopped.” He said that in 1990, when over 3.50 lakh Pandits had fled from the valley over 18,000 Sikhs, most of them from Baramula district too had migrated to the plains. He said, “our efforts and those made by senior Akali Dal leaders from Punjab had created a situation in which a majority of Sikhs had returned to the valley within one year of their migration.” The Sikh leader said, “During the past three years, fresh attempts had been made by agencies to trigger mass migration of Sikhs when 36 Sikhs were gunned down in village Chittisinghpora in 2000. He confirmed that after that carnage, several Sikh families had migrated to Jammu. Though most of them have returned, a majority of the migrants had purchased land and houses not only in the Jammu region but also in the neighbouring Punjab with the purpose of having a second place in case an exodus was forced on them. He appealed to the state and the Central governments to carry out a fresh review of the security scenario in the valley and provide an adequate security cover to the hamlets inhabited by the minorities in order to foil the gameplan of forcing yet another migration. |
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28 Pandits shift to Jammu Jammu, April 10 “A fresh batch of 28 people from Nadimaro village, where 24 Kashmiri Pandits were killed a fortnight ago, have arrived here last night.” Vice-president of the All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) H.L. Chatta told PTI today. With their arrival, 105 Pandits have migrated from different places of the Kashmir valley to Jammu in the past fortnight, Mr Chatta said. The migrants, who had been persuaded by the state government not to migrate on assurance of protection, demanded that state and central governments should rehabilitate them at one place permanently. Claiming that the Relief Commissioner had failed to provide relief to these migrants and no official or minister had visited them here. Mr Chatta said the government should register them as migrants. PTI The All-India Kashmiri Pandit Solidarity Conference (AKPSC) has said that the zest shown by the Mufti government for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley was politically motivated. The AKPSC alleged that the Mufti led government was soft towards terrorists and following the Hurriyat agenda. The executive committee of the AKPSC, at a meeting here today under the chairmanship of Mr O.N. Trisal, said that the Mufti government’s stand on the return of Pandits to the valley at two places, Mattan and Khirbhawani had created a hostile situation resulting in the massacre of 24 persons at Nadimarg by terrorists. The AKPSC blamed the state government and the terrorists for the killings. It alleged that the Pandits were being made the sacrificial goat by impressing on their return to the valley. |
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Film-makers keen on shooting in J&K Khilanmarg (Gulmarg), April 10 This assurance was given to the visiting film producers and directors by the State Tourism Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir, at the concluding function of the three-day second Gulmarg skiing competition here today. The producers and directors who were here on the invitation of the state government included Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Ashok Thakaria, Manmohan Shetty and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The Minister said adequate security measures would be provided for shooting purposes in the valley. He said helicopter services would also be made available to the film makers in the valley. He also made the mention of the Mughal gardens in this connection, which figures in the background of many romantic movies made before the eruption of militancy in Kashmir. The visiting personalities, who have been here earlier also in connection with the making of films hoped to return to Kashmir for using its picturesque spots in their films. “The people here are welcoming. We should respond to the call of the people here”, said Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer of “Mission Kashmir”. He added, “We will come and exploit the possibilities of making use of Kashmir landscapes in the movies”. The film producers said that they were working on scripts for movies that could suit shootings in Kashmir. “We invited travel agents, industrialists and others to assess the situation and to see that economic activities are going on in spite of the militancy-related incidents”, said Mr Mir. The three day meeting of the managing committee of the Travel Agents Association of India to explore the possibilities of tourist attraction concluded here on Monday. A team of FICCI is also here and engaged in meetings with senior government functionaries. Referring to the heavy snowfall in Kashmir this winter, the Tourism Minister said it facilitated various winter sports events here during the past few months. He said the events sent the message that things were different in Kashmir and it was “worth visiting”. “More and more domestic tourists from Gujarat and Maharashtra are pouring in”, said Mr Farooq Ahmad Shah, Managing Director of Cable Car Corporation, and Chief Executive Officer of the Gulmarg Development Authority. He said various measures and steps were under way to beautify Gulmarg to attract more tourists and keeping its slopes green and clean. Addressing the prize distribution function after a demonstration of skiing on the high mountain slopes here in the presence of Bollywood personalities and senior officials, Mr Mir said that there was a need to take practical measures for the revival of tourism and thereby boost economy in Kashmir. He said that the economic strength had worsened due to the long years of turmoil in Kashmir but hoped that the situation would improve with the revival of tourism, which has an important role to play in strengthening the economy of the state. |
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Bill term leaves staff sans pay Jammu, April 10 In view of the mounting arrears, the state government had sometime ago ordered that the salary for march will be paid to the employees only after they produced the certificate of having paid all electricity dues. The arrears of electricity bills in the state have increased to over Rs. 400 crore. Many class IV employees residing in sub-let accommodation or hired rooms are the worst hit because the electricity meters on the premises are not on their names and, thus, they have not been issued the certificate. |
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Probe Dal Lake cleaning scam: HC Srinagar, April 10 The court has asked state Vigilance Commissioner R.V. Raju to investigate how the money allocated for cleaning the lake was spent by the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority. A Division Bench of Mr Justice N.A. Kakroo and Mr Justice Pramod Kohli said the reluctance of the state government forced them to order an investigation. Observing that the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority tried to “play hide and seek” with the court, the Bench said the Vigilance Commissioner would probe into the total amount allotted to the authority for the development of the lake from the inception of the scheme. It directed the authority to hand over the account files of the financial year 2002-2003 to the Vigilance Commissioner who would also investigate into the source of allotment of the money spent by it till March 31 this year. The court directed the authority to present the records of money spent for the scheme to the Vigilance Commissioner today. The court directed Mr Raju to probe the agencies and individuals through whom the work was executed by the development authority.
UNI |
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Power project staff stir ends Jammu, April 10 The Rs 3,800 crore project is situated in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. “We have resumed work at the site this morning, as management of Bagliar project, J.P. Industries, has accepted workers’ demands including the cancellation of termination of 1,400 employees of the project,” the General Secretary of the Chenab-Bagliar Project Workers Union, Mr Javed Zargar, told reporters here. After three rounds of talks among the Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Industries, Mr Sameer Gaur, the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Anil Gowswami and Zargar-led workers’ team, the management agreed to take back all 1,400 employees. “The striking workers got justice after the long strike and are happy over it,” Mr Zargar said. He thanked N.Y. Tarigami, the state secretary, CPI-M, who, he said, opposed the “anti-worker policies” of the management.
PTI |
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JKLF leader held for joining students’ protest Srinagar, April 10 Students of Sri Pratap College assembled on the college campus, in the heart of the city, to stage a demonstration in protest against the killing of Mohammad Iqbal Wani, a resident of Shopian. Mir joined the students, carrying placards and banners, demanding an end to what they called “harassment of Kashmiri students outside the state” and an inquiry into the alleged custodial killing of Wani, they said. Sources said Mir was taken into preventive custody and the student protesters were chased away when they came out of the college and tried to block the main road. However, no one was injured in the police action. Mir is lodged in kothibagh police station, they said. Mumbai police had described Wani as a militant of Lashker-e-Toiba.
PTI |
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Drainage
plan for Srinagar Srinagar, April 10 The plan envisages a long-term solution to problems being faced by the people of the summer capital especially during the rainy season, Housing and Urban Development Ghulam Hassan Mir, who went on a tour of downtown Srinagar yesterday, said. Mir said an expert team had been asked to proceed to Meerut to assess the related technical aspects and parameters for the formulation of the plan. The minister also took stock of the progress made in the construction of a sewerage treatment plant coming up at a cost of Rs 30.32 crore. The minister was informed that the treatment plant, once commissioned, would drain out 22.4 billion litres of sewerage a day.
PTI |
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4 girls drowned in pond Jammu, April 10 The girls entered the pond for taking bath last evening, but started drowning, the sources said. The uncle of one of the girls jumped into the pond to save them but he too was drowned. The bodies of Nisha (14), Shallu (12), Guria (9) and Jai Krishan have been fished out, the sources said.
PTI |
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5 jawans killed in accident Jammu, April 10 The accident
occurred late last night near Ramsu in Ramban tehsil when the driver of a road opening party vehicle lost control while negotiating a sharp curve, killing the jawans, the sources added. Three bodies have been recovered so far while search was on for the remaining two. The police has ruled out any possibility of sabotage.
PTI |
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