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Friday,
June 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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QUESTION IN ASSEMBLY Mukti Morcha, JSM part
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12 ultras among 16 killed Recall of state cadre IAS officers
sought Uproar in Assembly over Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Yaseen Malik’s arrest triggers protest
Amnesty for prisoners ruled out
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QUESTION IN ASSEMBLY Srinagar, June 12 Intervening during supplementaries to a question in the legislative Assembly here this morning, the Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir had a vast scope for the production of cash crops like saffron, mushroom and other high value agriculture produce. He asked agriculture universities and the Agriculture Department to pool their resources and expertise for the transfer of technology and research from laboratory to the land. He said the government would help cultivators in arranging profitable marketing of saffron across the country through its emporia. He said, he had already taken up the matter with the Rajasthan Chief Minister for helping in marketing of state’s saffron there. Referring to the cultivation of saffron in the Pampore area, the Mufti said decrease in its production was probably due to the long dry spell, which the state faced during the last few years and because of old seeds. He asked the Agriculture Department to go in for producing high quality seed in a big way so that the old seed could be replaced and farmers get optimum yield from their land holdings. He also directed the authorities concerned to ensure the payment of drought relief to saffron cultivators of other areas of the state, as had been done in the case of Pampore. He said sprinkle irrigation facilities had been arranged from the Lethpora lift irrigation scheme to facilitate saffron growers of Pampore. Earlier, in reply to the main question of Mir Zahoor Ahmad, Minister for Agriculture, Mr Abdul Aziz Zargar, told the House that a research centre had been set up by SKUAST, Kashmir, to produce drought-resistant saffron seed. He said irrigation facilities were also being planned for saffron cultivation. The Chief Minister said institutional funding would be raised for adding more buses to the SRTC fleet for plying these to various destinations in the country. Minister for Health and Medical Education Lal Singh informed the House that 409 posts of B grade specialists and assistant surgeons have been referred to the Public Service Commission and as soon as the selections are made, the doctors would be posted in various health institutions as per the requirement. He said 40 vacancies of doctors in Pulwama district would be filled after the selections are finalised by the public service commission. Minister for Education Harsh Dev Singh in reply to a question by Mr Mohammad Khalil Naik told the House that 1967 teachers had been appointed in Jammu and Kashmir under the Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan and Education Guarantee Scheme. The minister said Rehbar-e-Taleem guidelines had been adopted for engaging teachers under these schemes. |
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Mukti Morcha, JSM part
ways Jammu, June 12 The relations of Dr Gupta with the JSM leadership, including its chairman Shri Kumar, had soured in the past few months over certain issues and the split had become inevitable. When contacted, Dr Gupta confirmed that he had disassociated himself from the JSM and would activate his JMM which was not dissolved so far. On the other hand, Mr Kumar claimed that Dr Gupta’s step would not weaken the JSM as out of nearly 20 members of the central working committee only he had disassociated. Moreover, the JSM was now well entrenched with the support of all communities, including the Muslims and the Sikhs in the region. Dr Gupta said he was not satisfied with the “arbitrary” functioning of certain senior leaders of the JSM who did not take the rank and file into confidence even on major issues. A handful of leaders were trying to steer the JSM without taking the other constituents into confidence, he alleged. Dr Gupta did not accompany the delegation of the JSM which met Mr N.N. Vohra, the Centre’s interlocutor, here on Tuesday and is expected to lead a delegation of the JMM separately to him tomorrow. He said although he himself had remained associated with the RSS, but he did not relish the Sangh and the BJP trying to use the JSM as their umbrella organisation. It is worth mentioning that following the poor performance of the BJP in the recent Assembly elections, the RSS was being pressurised to withdraw support to the JSM which had split the voters of the party. The BJP and the JSM secured only one seat each. However, Mr Ashwani Kumar, the lone MLA of the JSM, was basically a Congress activist and following denial of the party ticket contested as a nominee of the JSM. The RSS had openly supported the JSM candidates on the 12 seats which the party contested and the BJP believed this to be the cause of its poor performance. |
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12 ultras among 16 killed
Srinagar, June 12 A LeT commander Abdul Waheed, resident of Pakistan, was killed in an encounter with security forces at Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara last night. Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militant, the spokesman said. Security forces on a specific information conducted a search operation to nab militants at Safalpora Handwara village in Kupwara district last night. When the security forces came under heavy fire from militants hiding in a house, they retaliated and four militants were killed in the clash. Another militant was killed by the security forces in an encounter at Chak Natnussa in the same district last night. The spokesman said security forces in yet another operation eliminated four militants at Ramwali Gali near Kalaroos last evening. A large cache of arms and ammunition, including four AK rifles, 14 magazines, 250 rounds, 24 UBGL grenades, four hand grenades, 14 RPG rockets with boosters and one wireless set, were recovered from the killed militants. Two more militants were gunned down at Dingla Top in Poonch district of the Jammu region last night. He said one Farooq Ahmad was killed when an explosive device went off at Batapora Khag in the central Kashmir district of Badgam last night. Meanwhile, militants kidnapped Haji Nissar and Mohammad Ayub at Pazalpora in Bandipora and killed them, while the body of a shopkeeper Mukhtar Ahamd Khan was recovered at Sarnal Balla in south Kashmir today. Security forces also recovered 2.5 kg of RDX from the house of one Abdul Ahad Shah at Sogam last night. JAMMU: In the wake of “heavy movement” of militants in the Poonch hills, night curfew was imposed on Thursday in the border district, which would remain in effect for two months, official sources said. The night curfew would be imposed from 2030 hours to 0400 hours in rural areas of Poonch district and from 2200 hours to 0400 hours in towns with immediate effect to maintain peace and order, an order issued by Additional District Magistrate (Adm) said. This was being done in view of the heavy movement of militants in the Poonch hills during night, the order said.
UNI, PTI |
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Recall of state cadre IAS officers
sought Jammu, June 12 Among the officers who have returned to the state include Mr S.L. Bhat, Mr Rakesh Gupta, Mr Lokesh Jha and P.G. Dhar Chakarvarty. The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had announced that he would seek the recall of all IAS and IPS officers sent on deputation to the Centre. During the last six months, only two IPS officers have returned to the state. They are Mr S.M. Sahai and Mr R.V. Raju. Mr Raju had not completed his tenure in Delhi but the Chief Minister persuaded the Union Home Minister to spare Mr Raju, who has been appointed the head of the Vigilance Organisation. Official sources said the Chief Minister was waiting for other IAS officers to return to the state so that another reshuffle in the higher echelons of the administration could be carried out. Indications are that the administrative reshuffle will be carried out after the end of the budget session of the state legislature. This is because the government does not like to invite criticism on account of shuffling senior officers either on the eve of the Assembly session or when the session is still in progress. Recently major reshuffle was carried out in the departments of forests and hydraulics. Meanwhile, there has been one noticeable change in the prolonged tussle between local and non-local IAS and IPS officers. The tussle had sharpened during the six-year National Conference rule when the then Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, had placed all his eggs in the basket of Mr Ashok Jaitley, former Chief Secretary. Mr Jaitley, according to a number of local officers, had patronised non-local IAS officers with the result that 80 per cent of the key posts had been given to them. This had caused resentment among local officers who were either IAS promotees or direct recruits. Local officers feel hopeful that the Chief Minister would give weightage to merit and integrity and avoid treating the local officers as inferior to those from outside the state. The government has started tightening the noose around those officers who had allegedly misappropriated government funds while carrying out renovation of guest houses in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. An inquiry has been ordered in such cases. What has also intrigued many is the Government’s silence on the demand for holding an inquiry into the allotment of work on the 900 mw Bhagliar power project. Several legislators had raised this issue during the April session of the state legislature, urging the government to book those who had collected money from the contractor. |
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Uproar in Assembly over Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Srinagar, June 12 Mr Singh was replying to the first question of the day during question hour, when some members from the opposition NC were on their feet alleging that they were not consulted by the Education Department when the schools were opened under the scheme in their constituencies. Mr Singh said so far 1,337 teachers and para-teachers had been recruited under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, while 630 had been engaged under the Education Guarantee Scheme in the state. He said he had directed all zonal educational officers to consult MLAs before selecting the place for such schools. Challenging the Minister’s statement, NC member Dilawar Mir said his directions were not being honoured by the officials and the situation on the ground was entirely different from what he was projecting in the house. Mr Singh retorted that the NC government had failed even to start these centrally sponsored schemes for the past three years in the state “it is our government which has implemented the scheme during the past six months.’’ Admitting that the Jammu and Kashmir lagged behind other states in implementing the scheme, he assured the House that they would make progress and reach every corner of the state. A number of ruling party MLAs also complained that they had not been consulted before the schools were opened under the schemes. NC member Ali Mohammad Sagar expressed surprise that only 34 schools had been opened in eight Assembly constituencies of Srinagar district, which had a population of over 12 lakhs. Mr Yogesh Sawhney also complained that no school was opened in Jammu district. Mr Dev replied that the Centre had instructed schools under these schemes would be opened where no school exists. Mr Mubarak Gul of the NC Walked out of the House after he was not allowed to speak further on the question, which consumed 20 minutes of the 90-minute question hour. The House could take up just four questions during the question hour. Two MLAs, one from the National Conference and the other from CPM, today staged a walk out from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly for not being allowed to speak. Opposition National Conference MLA Mubarak Gul walked out of the Assembly during the Question Hour after being told by Speaker, Tara Chand, to take his seat as another member was already speaking. Mohammad Khalil Naik of CPM also walked out of the Assembly in protest as he was denied a chance to ask a supplementary during a question on appointment of doctors in the state service. UNI, PTI |
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Yaseen Malik’s arrest triggers protest Srinagar, June 12 As the news of Mr Malik’s arrest reached here, a number of his supporters converged at the office of the JKLF at Maisuma near Budshah Chowk and held demonstrations. All shops and business establishments in the locality were closed down as the trouble started. The police lobbed a number of teargas shells to quell the demonstrators. |
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14,097 civilians killed so far Srinagar, June 12 It said 14,097 civilians and 4,003 securitymen have lost their lives during militancy- related incidents across the state. Srinagar was followed by Baramula where 2,559 civilians and 629 security personnel were killed followed by 2,153 civilians and 413 security personnel in Anantnag. The frontier district of Kupwara lost 1,829 civilians and 544 security personnel followed by Doda where 1,220 civilians and 428 security personnel were killed. Pulwama district, which is connected with Doda through Pirpanchal range, witnessed the death of 1,207 civilians and 228 security personnel; Badgam 682 civilians and 206 security personnel; Rajouri 494 civilians and 255 securitymen; Jammu 326 civilians and 71 security personnel; Poonch 457 civilians and 305 security men; Udhampur 347 civilians and 175 security personnel; and Kathua 33 civilians and 24 security personnel. The Himalayan region of Ladakh remained by and large unaffected though Leh witnessed the death of 10 persons, the official figures said. But there was no death of any security personnel in the entire district bordering with China and Pakistan. Another district of the Ladakh region, Kargil witnessed a number of bomb blasts claiming the lives of six civilians and five securitymen. The families of all the 16 victims of the Ladakh region were given ex-gratia relief by the government besides compensate appointments under SRO-43, records said. The coalition government had made 1,740 appointments under SRO-43 during the past eight months against 2,909 appointments made by the National Conference government during its six year rule, the records said. However, only 446 persons were adjusted during the period from 1990 to 1996 when the state was under President’s rule.
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Amnesty for prisoners ruled out Srinagar, June 12 “There is no proposal to grant general amnesty to the political detainees under the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978,” Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Abdul Rehman Veeri told the state Legislative Council. Replying to a question by G N Shaheen (NC), Mr Veeri, speaking on behalf of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said “detainees who covertly or overtly support violence through underground outfits were not being considered for release”. However, he said, detainees not involved in any heinous crimes were being released by a screening committee constituted by the government, the committee had released 26 detainees, while 98 had been set free on the instructions of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and its subordinate courts. Mr Veeri said the government had resolved not to re-arrest the released persons and the Chief Minister had instructed the police not to re-arrest detainees set free by courts.
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Srinagar, June 12
