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Sunday,
June 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Depoliticise
police, revamp intelligence: Vohra
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Ten LeT
ultras shot in Poonch JKLF chief
Yaseen Malik freed Stop
killings, Mufti to militants KASHMIR ISSUE NEWS ANALYSIS PDP
favours death for rape Be
responsive, officers told Kargil
gets Hill Council status
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Depoliticise police, revamp intelligence: Vohra Jammu, June
14 Mr Vohra was delivering a lecture on “Some Concerns About Internal Security Management” organised here by the Centre for Strategic and regional studies in the Jammu university. Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, was the chief
guest. Mr Vohra said it would be hazardous to deal separately with the country’s internal and external security concerns which have got most closely interwoven over the past two decades. He said that the states which are receiving significant assistance from the Centre to improve their security apparatus, shall have to improve their functioning without any further loss of time. Among the most urgent steps required to be taken by the states is to depoliticise the functioning of the state police organisations and to specially strengthen their intelligence wings which should operate in close and effective collaboration with the central intelligence agencies. He said that taking an across the board view, it may be said that a large majority of the serious threats to the country’s internal security have emanated from Pakistan’s unceasing attempts to seize J&K and pursuing a sustained strategy to launch varied subversive activities to create chaos and disorder in several parts of the country. Commencing from the early 1980s, the Pak ISI succeeded in inducting terrorism in Punjab which suffered enormous human and economic loss till the situation was normalisd in the mid 1990s. Benefiting from the experience gained from its foray into Punjab, Pakistan launched a proxy war in J&K from around the end of 1989. The continuing wave of terrorism and ethnic cleansing has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives, rendered lakhs into refugees, ruined the economy and shattered the secular fabric of the state. In the North-East region several states have been facing varied insurgencies on a continuing basis. The Cross Border intrusions, particularly the ISI supported activities and the unabated illegal immigration from Bangladesh have caused a demographic upheaval and generated serious communal, political, social and economic tensions in several areas of the region. Mr Vohra said that there has been a growing increase in the emergence of pan-Islamic outfits which have been establishing madarsas preaching subversion and spreading violence in several parts of the country. The systematic indoctrination of Muslims in fundamentalist ideology has resulted in creating communal unrest, specially in the border areas. Abetted and supported by the ISI, the so-called Mujahideen and jehadi elements operating from basis along the LoC have been supporting and controlling the activities of the various fundamentalist and terrorist groups operating in J&K. He said that the growing nexus between the underworld, mafia and the subversive terrorist network was the cause for most serious
concern. They are among the more significant disorders which have generated serious internal security concerns and have kept the Centre constantly engaged in dealing with the arising situations, some of which have posed grave threats to the very unity and integrity of the nation. Mr Vohra stressed the need for overhauling the colonial Police Act of 1861 which has become altogether incompatible with the requirements of policing within the democratic framework. He said that the prolonged deployment of central police forces or the army to carry out counter insurgency operations may not invariably result in restoring normalcy unless the state Chief Ministers, their cabinet and the entire administrative apparatus devotes prompt and simultaneous attention to providing effective governance and pays particular heed to resolving the day to day difficulties faced by the common man on account of the disruption of the normal functioning caused by an ongoing insurgent situation. He stressed that special attention should be paid by the state governments towards solving the grievances of the people. Mr Vohra also stressed the need for eradicating corruption which weaken the very foundations of the administrative and legal framework and disrupts the rule of law. Another cause of serious concern is that while we continue to have hundreds of altogether obsolete and irrelevant laws, most of which were enacted during the colonial period, we do not have an adequately stringent law applicable all over the country, which can meet the requirements of effectively dealing with terrorist offences, cyber crimes and the fast growing areas of organised criminality which pose a grave threat to the nation’s unity and integrity. We also do not have a federal crime agency which can deal with the serious offences committed by criminal networks whose activities spread across several states or even the entire country. Mr Vohra warned that the economic offences have a potential of disrupting the national economy if a comprehensive law for dealing with such offences was not framed. Mufti Sayeed said that normalcy was returning to the valley because of various confidence building steps taken by the centre and the state government. He said that there were many vested interests which did not want peace to return to the state. |
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Ten LeT ultras shot in Poonch Jammu, June 14 On a specific information about the presence of a large number of foreign mercenaries belonging to Pakistan and Afghanistan, army and police launched a joint operation in Hardi mountains of Surankote belt of Poonch district this morning, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mukesh Singh told PTI. The SSP said the ultras fired on the security forces, who retaliated killing 10 Pakistani militants belonging to LeT on the spot. Six AK rifles, one pika gun, two pistols, 14 magazines, 390 rounds, eight grenades, three IEDs, 17 detonators, 19 UBGL and some documents were recovered from the area. A civilian, Mohd Azam (30), was also killed in the crossfire and an army personnel and a civilian were wounded. According to another report Pakistani terrorists beheaded two persons in Bajmasta village in the Ramban area of Doda district last night. The victims have been identified as Abdul Gani and Mohammad Shafi. Reports said the terrorists entered the house of these two persons and beheaded them. The terrorists have been resorting to such tactics to create a scare among the people. Earlier, they had beheaded three girls in the Rajouri district and had chopped off the nose of two persons. An entire family of six persons was also beheaded in the Budhal area of Rajouri. SRINAGAR: About 30 kgs of explosives and a loaded rocket launcher were today seized in separate operations by BSF in south Kashmir, a BSF spokesman said. Acting on a specific information, the troops raided the house of one Abdul Hamid Dar at Bating in Anantnag district and recovered 28.25 kgs of explosives this afternoon. In another search operation, the troops seized a loaded rocket launcher from the Nahar Panju area of Tral in Pulwama district, the spokesman said. However, no one was arrested during the operations, he said. |
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JKLF chief Yaseen Malik freed Srinagar, June 14 Mr Malik, his deputy Javid Ahmad Mir and another senior leader Noor Mohammad Kalwal were granted bail by a court last evening and their release was effected this afternoon after completion of legal formalities, official sources said. JKLF activists went to Srinagar central jail to receive party leaders who were lodged there after judicial magistrate, Anantnag remanded them to five days of judicial custody after their arrest. The JKLF leaders were arrested at Heller village of Kokernag in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on the second day of the its signature campaign planned out by the organisation to know the role Kashmiris want to play in any dialogue between India and Pakistan aimed at resolving Kashmir issue.
PTI |
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Stop killings, Mufti to militants Srinagar, June 14 “Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee broke the ice in the valley by inviting Pakistan for talks. At the same time, Centre’s interlocutor N.N. Vohra started interacting with a cross section of people in the state,” Sayeed said intervening during a reply in the Legislative Council. He said his government wanted to create a conducive atmosphere for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue. Hailing the confidence building measures initiated by the Centre as a follow-up to the Prime Minister’s ‘hand of friendship’, Sayeed said steps had already been taken to resume air, rail and road links between India and Pakistan. Mr Sayeed expressed the hope that these measures would lead to a long-lasting friendship between the two countries and amicable solution of all bilateral disputes. He said the world had “fiercely” turned against violence post-September 11 and it was an “opportune” time for militants operating in the state to give up the gun and join the mainstream. “If they have any grievances, let them fight politically in the democratic way,” Mr Sayeed said. Regarding allegations of human rights violations, the Chief Minister said “I have made it clear to all the security agencies operating in the state that no human rights violations will be tolerated.”
PTI |
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KASHMIR ISSUE Jammu, June 14 “I believe that the gun is no solution to Kashmir problem and trilateral talks among India, Pakistan and people of Kashmir are the only solution for bringing peace in J and K”, Adhokshjanan told PTI here today. Puri seer, who completed his two-day visit to Kashmir valley, said involvement of people of Kashmir in trilateral talks was important, rather a cornerstone in the success of Indo-Pakistan talks on Kashmir. “You must know the disease before healing it that is why people of Kashmir are necessary for these talks,” he added. Puri seer, who will be organising a seven-day long ‘Yagya’ in the border district of Rajaouri from tomorrow, said “Kashmir is a battle of interests between India and Pakistan as both are out to defeat each other diplomatically over the past 50 years.” Now the time has come, when both India and Pakistan should engage each other in fruitful and conclusive talks to bring peace in this war zone and stop bloodshed and violence, he said. Standing by a joint declaration signed by him and Muslim leaders last year which said the verdict of the Supreme Court on Ayodhya would be binding on Hindus and Muslims, the Shankaracharya said “if the court verdict goes in favour of constructing the mosque at the disputed land, I, along with Hindus, will construct the mosque while they (Muslims) will construct a temple in the adjacent land.” Similarly, if the Court verdict is in favour of constructing a temple on the disputed land, Muslims will construct the temple while Hindus will construct a mosque at the adjacent land, he added. The seer asked political leaders to desist from using religion as an electoral weapon, saying
unnecessary confusion was being created on the Ayodhya issue. He said he was scheduled to meet Muslims leaders again in the first week of July. “I am a religious man and have no intention to enter politics. Those sadhus whom the government grooms as Hindu religious leaders should either join politics and adorn khadi or give up the saffron robes,” he said.
PTI |
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NEWS ANALYSIS Jammu, June 14 Corruption in government offices, which has got institutionalised over the years, is flourishing despite the repeated warnings of the Mufti that strict action will be taken against the corrupt officials. The anti-corruption drive has failed to make an impact because only some small fish have been booked while the government has given a clean chit to some top bureaucrats who were facing serious charges of misuse of authority and corruption. There is hardly any office in the state where things can be got done without greasing the palms of the officers concerned. One thing that is well known here is that anything can be got done in certain offices by “paying the price” for it. The case of illegal allotment of land by the Jammu Development Authority which came to light recently is a glaring example of corruption. The Power Development Department, the PWD, the traffic police and the revenue offices have become a den of corruption. A local TV channel recently telecast pictures of traffic police constables accepting bribes for letting trucks enter the city during the peak hours when their entry is banned. However, no action is learnt to have been taken against these policemen so far. |
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PDP favours death for rape Srinagar, June 14 Speaking in the state Assembly after Question Hour, Ms Mehbooba expressed concern over increasing incidents of rape of minors in the last decade. She referred to the recent incident of rape of a minor at Shangus in Baramula. Ms Mehbooba called upon the members to condemn perpetrators of “such henious crimes in one voice”. The members endorsed Ms Mehbooba’s view and termed incidents of rape as serious crime deserving toughest punishment.
PTI |
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Be responsive, officers told Jammu, June 14 The District President of the party, Mr Goutam Sharma, today visited many areas of the city which were facing the shortage of drinking water. They also criticised the authorities for the frequent power failure. They said regular power supply should be ensured to residents. |
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Kargil gets Hill Council status Srinagar, June 14 With this, both districts of Ladakh — Leh and Kargil — have now got the AHDC status. A notification has been issued for electing members to the first AHDC of Kargil. Filing of nominations will be held from June 16 to 23 and scrutiny will take place the next day. The last day for the withdrawal of nomination papers is June 25 while the polling will be held on July 10. Counting of votes will take place on July 12 while the results will be declared on July 15.
UNI |
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