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Wednesday,
September 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Efforts on to recall rebels, says Bhat Hurriyat divided despite all efforts Insurgency leaves psychological scars Editorial: Woes of women Highways are new targets of militants |
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Parray's killing
setback to peace process: Omar Engineers burn
Mufti’s effigy
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Efforts on to recall rebels, says Bhat
Srinagar, September 16 This was stated here today after an executive committee meeting, a day after the rebel group announced the unanimous election of Syed Ali Shah Geelani as its new Chairman in place of Moulvi Abbas Ansari. The meeting was attended by four of the seven executive council members. Those who abstained included the JKLF, which had not decided its position as yet, Jamaat-e-Islami and People’s League. The executive council, led by Moulvi Abbas Ansari, decided to engage the APHC in talks with the diplomats of different countries in Delhi adding that the “initiative will come from the APHC”. Mr Bhat said the APHC had been doing it in the past also and thereby took into confidence the governments of different countries having diplomats in India. Replying to questions, Mr Bhat said the APHC was for negotiations with India and Pakistan, as both the neighbouring countries were party to the “Kashmir dispute”. He added: “We (Kashmiris) are the principal party and therefore we need to take initiative”. He said with which country the talks would be held first, was a matter of detail. Talking to mediapersons at the end of the meeting, at the party headquarters here this afternoon, Mr Bhat said the members held discussions in the backdrop of the “split at the general council level”. He added the split was not in the seven-member executive council, but at the level of general council. Mr Bhat said founder Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was authorised by the executive council “to get in touch with basic members of the APHC who have distanced or fallen apart. He is busy talking the to the general council members who have joined Mr Geelani...we hope his efforts will bear fruit”, he added. Referring to other issues taken up at the “extraordinary session” of the executive council, Mr Bhat said it considered to “preserve the APHC at all costs” in its essence. He added that the meeting also “decided to take all necessary measures to strengthen the APHC and invite groups outside it to join us any time from today”. Mr Bhat reiterated the APHC stand that due representation be given to the voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “When we talk of India and Pakistan, we wish both of them good... we bear malice to none but goodwill to all”, Mr Bhat said. He added: “We simultaneously want that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are heard”. Mr Bhat stressed the need for a tension-free situation in the state which could be achieved only by resolving the Kashmir dispute and addressing the root cause.
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Hurriyat
divided despite all efforts Jammu, September 16 Molvi Umar Farooq has had a series of meetings with various leaders loyal to Mr Geelani, but they have refused to remain under the command of the Molvi Abbas Ansari faction. During these meetings, the Geelani camp insisted on the expulsion of the People’s Conference from the separatist amalgam and replacement of Molvi Abbas Ansari, who heads one faction of the APHC. Both camps claim to be real APHC, but the Hurriyat Conference (Geelani) has one initial disadvantage. His faction has not received support from four major parties — the Awami Action Committee, JKLF, People’s Conference and Jamait-e-Islami. According to Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, a former APHC Chairman, since Mr Geelani had ceased to be a member of the undivided APHC executive committee and retired from the Jamait-e-Islami, he could not claim to represent any major section of the people of Kashmir. He told this correspondent: “Despite the decision of the JKLF to remain neutral, we have the support of the majority of the constituents of the executive committee.” However, sources say that the Geelani faction draws strength from several rebel outfits and agencies across the border. “This is evident from the support Mr Geelani has received from the Syed Salahuddin-led United Jehad Council in Pakistan and the Pakistani media.
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Insurgency
leaves psychological scars Srinagar, September 16 These are no exaggerated figures, but the official record kept in Psychiatric Hospital, Srinagar. Since mid-1990s, the cases of mental disorder have been rising because of the trauma inflicted by terrorists. Experts are worried how the state and society will live with these individuals even if peace returns one day. The patients include families of the victims of militants’ fire and relatives of the slain militants. Then there are the security agencies. A large number of security personnel, posted in the valley, have sought psychiartric help due to the killings and the stress. Dr Mushtaq Margoob, head of the Psychiatric Hospital, Srinagar, told The Tribune that this was the biggest fight yet to be fought in the valley. Even if peace returns one day, how the state and society will handle such persons remains a question. There are innumerable heart-rending stories in the hospital. An 8-year-old girl saw her entire family wiped out in two attacks by militants within a few years. She was just three when her father, grandfather and uncle were killed by militants who opened fire on a street in 1997. Two years later, she lost her mother and brother in a bomb blast. The girl today suffers from fits, extreme bouts of anger, depression and fear. She is awakened at nights by the recurring dreams of the killings and then screams all night. A middle-aged woman, who had lost her husband, father-in-law, three brothers-in-law and other relatives in an attack by militants on their house in 1999, became numb and developed suicidal tendencies. Occasionally, she had fits of aggression. She once begged her doctors to kill her. The woman was remarried to a younger brother of her husband and is responding to the treatment. Her mother-in-law helped her come out of the shock. Three adolescent girls from the same family, who had gathered the body parts of their relatives, are still under treatment. Patients come here from all over Kashmir. A number of them come here after wasting years on faith heelers. The most common symptoms are re-experiencing, intrusive recollection (when they hear a blast or a gunshot), distressing dreams, numbing, avoidance of thoughts and feelings.
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Highways
are new targets of militants Jammu, September 16 Following a series of terrorist strikes on these roads in the past couple of days, the BSF yesterday seized 10 kg of RDX from near Tamatar More, a short distance from Udhampur towards Patni Top on the strategic Jammu - Srinagar highway. The explosive is suspected to have been brought there by terrorists to cause some major damage. A vehicle of the BSF was last year blown up around this point and many security personnel had died. The site of the recent encounter between the Army and terrorists at Ghatti in the Kathua district is close to the Jammu-Pathankot national highway. Terrorists had crossed the national highway to reach Ghatti, where they lay trapped for seven days. Many nullahs, including the Ujh and the Basantar, flowing to Pakistan through the highway have become the infiltration routes for terrorists. The Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed for a couple of hours last week after an explosion near Banihal. A culvert on the Kashmir side of Jawahar Tunnel was blown up recently halting traffic on the highway. Only one tube of the tunnel is open these days for one-way traffic as terrorists have been eyeing the strategic tunnel which provides the only road link to the valley with the rest of the country. Vehicles are allowed to enter the tunnel only in a convoy. Many other roads in Anantnag and Baramulla have become the targets of terrorists. An Army convoy was recently targeted near Srinagar. Unusual construction activity has been going on near the important highways for the past some time, but the authorities concerned have failed to take notice of this. |
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Parray's
killing setback to peace process: Omar Srinagar, September 16 Mr Abdullah said it was high time for the Union Government to take note of the deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir and protect those against gun culture in the state. He urged the state to announce a special economic package for the backward areas of the state.
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Engineers
burn Mufti’s effigy Jammu, September 16 Over 400 to 500 unemployed degree and diploma holders also burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister at Jammu University campus gate and Divisional Commissioner’s Office this afternoon amid anti-Mufti and anti-government slogans, official sources said. The engineers also presented a memorandum to Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, L.K. Jha in supplort of their demands, including the launch of a special employment drive for unemployed engineers in Jammu and Kashmir.
PTI |
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85 cr NABARD loan for J & K Jammu, September 16 The loan will be utilised by the state government on 73 rural roads and bridges in the Kashmir region. |
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Srinagar, September 16
