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Thursday,
August 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Bandh
affects life, separatist
Mufti
downplays strike call |
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Conferences
won’t change Kashmir’s status: Hurriyat
Council
meeting symbolic, says Amarinder
Women
CMs not present at meeting HC
orders demolition of Poloview building J&K
Govt to construct flats for staff
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Bandh affects life, separatist leaders held Srinagar, August 27 The police took into preventive custody JKLF vice chairman Javid Mir and Awami Action Committee leader Shahidul Islam from Maisum for defying prohibitory orders and trying to march towards Budshah Chowk along with their supporters. The police resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse the activists of Muslim Khawateen Markaz near here who were protesting against the visit of the Prime Minister. Later police took into custody six women activists. A spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir Realistic Front
(JKRF) said that front chairman Hilal Ahmad was taken into custody along with his six supporters at Maisuma near here this afternoon. The police swung into action when, a former militant, tried to hold a demonstration to draw the attention of the Prime Minister to the plight of the people of the state. They wanted that the Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the wishes of the people and the Line of Control should be opened so that Kashmiris living across the border could visit each other. Three pedestrians were injured in an explosion at Karan Nagar here, while two explosives were defused at separate places in Baramulla town today, reports here said. There were also anti-Modi and anti-Vajpayee demonstrations led by underground separatist group, Kashmir Mass Movement and Khawateen
Markaz. An explosion took place in the deserted house of a migrant Pandit at Karan Nagar here this morning, causing no damage, DIG, BSF, Mr K.
Srinivasan, said. He added that the explosion was not aimed at any installation or vehicle of the security forces. The police also defused two explosives near hotel Dawat and at main market in Baramulla town this morning. These were defused by the bomb disposal squad without causing any damage, the police said. The bandh call was given by senior separatist leader and former chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and supported by various other separatist organisations, including the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference. Similar shutdowns were observed in the valley earlier on the occasion of the visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in April last, and on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations. All shops and business establishments here remained closed, while transport was off the roads. However, private vehicles and auto-rickshaws were plying on some of the routes. Many educational institutions and banks also remained closed. There was thin attendance in government offices as the employees could not reach there due to lack of transport services. Other major towns of the valley, including
Baramulla, Kupwara, Sopore and north Kashmir and Anantnag, Pulwama and south Kashmir also observed a complete shutdown in response to the bandh call. All shops and business establishments were closed in these towns and traffic was off the roads. However, skeletal transport plied on some of the inter district routes. |
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Mufti downplays strike call
Srinagar, August 27 Talking to mediapersons ahead of entering the closed-door session of the two-day meeting, the Chief Minister said the strike call given by separatists would have no bearing on the peace process initiated by the people of the state. “The road to peace is tedious and long . It cannot be achieved overnight. It will take time to take roots,” Mr Sayeed said. He said the holding of the council meeting — being held for the first time outside the Union Capital since its inception in 1990 — would have an encouraging effect on the normalisation process in Jammu and Kashmir which had been ravaged by 13 years of mindless violence. Mr Sayeed said the presence of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr L.K. Advani had raised new expectations among the people of the state. “People in the valley want peace, “ he added. Asked whether the Prime Minister would take any initiative to hold talks with separatist leaders, Mr Sayeed said “Well — that I do not know. But we are very sure that neither will we shy away from any dialogue, nor the Centre.” Asked to comment on Pakistan’s response to Indian peace overtures, he said, “The offer of peace made by the Prime Minister has been responded to well by Islamabad.” “Pakistan’s response was good. — The two countries need to move step by step, consolidate and move forward,” he said. Mr Sayeed urged the two countries to avoid creating a hype around the peace process as it could go the Lahore-Delhi bus service or Agra Summit way, which ended inconclusively as the two countries could not agree upon the inclusion of the issue of cross-border terrorism in the joint declaration. Mr Sayeed said Track-II diplomacy had yielded results, with people from both sides, including radical leaders like Fazl-ur Rahman, making positive statements. Referring to the twin car blasts in Mumbai on Monday, in which 46 persons were killed, Mr Sayeed said those who carried out such attacks were present everywhere. He said India was a big country and any effort to destabilise it would not succeed.
— PTI |
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Conferences
won’t change Kashmir’s status: Hurriyat Srinagar, August 27 The Hurriyat, which, alongwith many other separatist organisations, has given a call for strike in protest against the conference, has also said such conferences are being held to show to the international community that “all is well in Kashmir.” Media reports here quoted a Hurriyat spokesman as having said the Centre and the state governments were resorting to “amazing and unacceptable political means...The Hurriyat wants to make it clear that the Kashmir issue does not pertain to the government formation or governance but the provision of right to self-determination,’’ the media quoted the spokesman as saying in a statement. “Such conferences and visits will not change the status of Kashmir. It did not happen in the past and it will not happen in the future...Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should follow his statements with practical measures,” the statement added.
— UNI |
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Go back Modi, say separatists
Srinagar, August 27 Activists of the Muslim Khawateen markaz, the Jammu and Kashmir Realistic Front and the Kashmir Mass Movement took to the streets in protest against Mr Modi’s arrival here for the two-day Inter-State Council meeting. The protesters, who began the march from Jehangir Chowk, were holding placards, which read “Narendra Modi ko wapas karo” (send back Modi). The police swung into action and took at least 12 protesters, including five women, into preventive custody when they reached the Budshah bridge, official sources said.
— PTI |
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Council
meeting symbolic, says Amarinder Srinagar, August 27 Talking to TNS before the meeting started, he said a majority of the states were suffering because of paucity of funds and were finding it difficult to undertake development programmes, and forums like the Inter-State Council were silent about it. The deliberations of the meeting, though being held for two days, were restricted to merely five hours, which was hardly enough for serious discussions on any issue, he said. On the contrary, the Congress Chief Ministers’ conference, held here in April this year, was more business-like as the deliberations were held for three days and continued from morning till evening every day, he said, adding that participants were able to discuss important issues in the presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. A concrete action plan emerged out of the meeting there, but here issues like power, education, health were not being touched, he said. Asked about the difference between his last visit to attend the Congress Chief Ministers’ conference here and now, Capt Amarinder Singh said the situation was improving. |
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Srinagar
Diary Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is staying in Nehru Guest House at Chashme Shahi overlooking the Dal Lake, along with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, told the managing director of Hotel Grand Palace Lalit Suri that he forgot to mention to the organisers of the two-day Inter-State Council meeting about his liking for the hotel where he could have stayed at Pooja Ghar. But by the time he remembered about this, it was too late. Pooja Ghar is an exclusive mansion in the hotel where special guests are lodged. Mr Vajpayee could have been in the midst of chief ministers and yet he could have privacy. Rajya Sabha MP and managing director of the Hotel Grand Palace Lalit Suri specially came down to Srinagar in his private aircraft to supervise the arrangements for the ‘mother of all conferences’ being held in Srinagar for the first time. Prime Minister Vajpayee decided to stay two nights in Srinagar after he was told that there was a strong possibility of making a credible move towards a dialogue with the separatist organisations like the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. That is why, the decision-makers had organised a formal function for the Prime Minister where he would make some announcement for employment generation in the state. But then, all hopes for making the initial move towards the dialogue process were dashed when Hurriyat leaders received a stern warning from militant organisations like the Hizbul Mujahideen that any move towards dialogue would have serious consequences and would be treated as an insult to the martyrs who had laid their lives for the Kashmiri cause. But in the process, Mr Vajpayee had been able to attend to a long-pending demand of the Jammu people who had been complaining about the neglect of their region. The Prime Minister would pay a short visit to Jammu before he returns to the Capital on Friday. While Uttar Pradesh went almost unrepresented at the meeting, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was considered a ‘security’ threat by the state administration, was the focus of the media which was keen to have his views on the issue. Mr Modi too, wanted to talk to reporters but then the meeting had begun and the agenda was so tight that he could not come out of the conference hall. Law and Justice Minister Arun Jaitley almost had chief ministers eating from his hands as he mesmerised them by his talk on the emerging service sector which had tremendous potential for jobs. |
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Women CMs not present at meeting Srinagar, August 27 Chief Ministers Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), J. Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) and Rabri Devi (Bihar) are not taking part in the Inter-State Council meeting, the first being held outside New Delhi since its inception in 1990.
— PTI |
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HC orders demolition of Poloview building
Srinagar, August 27 Acting on a petition by Fayaz Ahmed Bhat, a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice V.K. Jhanji and Mr Justice Syed Bashir-ud-Din asked the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to supervise and execute the demolition in coordination with Senior Superintendent of Police and the municipal authorities. In 1996, the Srinagar Municipality had permitted Bhat to restore the first floor of the two-storyed building damaged by fire at Poloview with the condition that its original shape, size and height would be retained and no alteration would be permitted beyond the sanctioned plan. Instead, the petitioner dismantled it fully and started reconstruction on the pretext of another order. He obtained this order after filing a petition before a single Judge who directed for maintenance of status-quo with regard to the ground floor and approved the restoration of first floor of the gutted two-storyed building. Intending to regularise his construction of four-storyed building, on May 5, 1997, Bhat presented a third writ petition before the court seeking to restrain the municipality and others from demolishing the structure. Taking strong note of the averments, the Division Bench said it only inferred the boldness of the petitioner to transgress earlier direction of the court for status-quo on the ground floor and restoration of the first floor. Bhat’s counsel argued that tenants were carrying out their business from the building and demolition would render them jobless, besides constituting a punishment on them without being heard. The Bench, however, did not find merit in the argument, saying that no person could claim any interest in illegality committed by his principal. The court directed the respondent to take immediate steps to restore status-quo-ante as on July 15, 1996.
— UNI |
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J&K Govt to construct flats for staff Srinagar, August 27 The approval to the projects was given by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed during the presentation of the proposed plan for construction of flats at Rajbagh and Tulsibagh in the city at a high powered meeting, official sources said. The Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC), one of the premier construction agencies of the state, has been entrusted with the construction work of 24 blocks comprising 48 flats with three-bedroom duplex for commissioners in the posh Rajbagh area. These flats would be raised over an area of around 5 acres of land and would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 7.29 crore. Similarly, the housing board would construct 84 one-bedroom and 30 double-bedroom flats at Tulsibagh for the moving employees. The project is estimated to cost Rs 7.51 crore, the sources said.
— PTI |
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Major commits
suicide
Jammu, August 27 |
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