 |
Thursday,
October
16, 2003,
Chandigarh, India
|
Army to shift 14 hamlets from LoC Five top militants
shot
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Probe ordered into employee’s
kidnap Mufti tries to bind coalition partners
together Power bill to
double Kashmiri Pandits’ ultimatum to CM Panthers Party against entry of UK police Nirmal may be
re-elected state BJP chief Srinagar to have branch of Jaipur
foot
EME Corps celebrates raising day
|
|
Army to shift 14 hamlets from LoC
Jammu, October 15 “Fourteen border hamlets situated just on the LoC along the Indo-Pak border in Rajouri-Poonch sector would be shifted soon to safe and peaceful areas,” the sources said here today. These hamlets, which either lie ahead of forward defence locations or right on the LoC, are at the receiving end of Pakistani shelling and suffer during intrusion bids by militants from across the border, the sources said. However, the land along the LoC can be used by the villagers for farming. The Central Government had already sanctioned Rs 100 crore for the shifting project, the sources said. A proposal in this regard was submitted by 16 corps headquarters to the centre for shifting of border village in June, 2002 and it was okayed by Centre in August 2003, the sources said. These villages include Tarkundi, Dabhi, Rarti, Broti, Panjni, Qasba, Dasti, Sohale, Ramluta, Bbasonia, Deori, Daksi and upper Dalothe in Balakote and Kerni sub-sectors of Poonch sector, the sources said, adding that the villagers would be given residential plots and monetary assistance to build houses. —
PTI |
|
|
Five top militants
shot Jammu, October 15 Two terrorists were killed at Surankot and one at Hillkaka. Meanwhile, a BSF jawan, Dheeraj Singh, who was wounded when terrorists fired rockets at a security post in Gool, succumbed to his injuries in the Military Hospital here, increasing the toll in the incident to three. A woman and a child had died earlier. Noor Jamal was kidnapped by terrorists and killed in a forest in Doda district. Terrorists fired at a VDC member, Ram Lal, at Bani bordering Himachal Pradesh. However, he retaliated and they fled, leaving behind an AK magazine. SRINAGAR: A jawan and a militant were killed and five soldiers injured as militants ambushed an army patrol and opened fire on a police station in the valley, where a powerful blast left 11 persons, including two Armymen injured since last night, official sources said on Wednesday. A jawan was killed and five others were injured when heavily-armed militants opened fire on a patrol party of the Rashtriya Rifles at Chunti Mullah in Baramula district late last night. Pak-based militant outfit, Al-Mansoorian, claimed responsibility for the attack. An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with BSF troops during search operations at Ratsuna village in the Tral area of Pulwama district last night. Eleven persons, including two jawans, were injured when a powerful IED went off in the Lolab area of Kupwara district. The sources said the IED, planted by the militants, went off while the troops were conducting searches. The injured have been shifted to hospital where the condition of two of them was stated to be critical. The militants opened fire on a police station at Shopian in Pulwama district last night. None was hurt. —
PTI Jammu, October 15 Targeting forward defence positions in
Jhangar, Kalsian, Rumlidhara, Bhawani and Laam areas of Nowshera sector, Pakistani troops fired around 500 mortar bombs from last evening till early today, they said, adding that Indian troops also retaliated. —
PTI |
|
|
Probe ordered into employee’s kidnap Srinagar, October 15 Justice Bashiruddin also upheld the SHRC recommendations asking the government to pay ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the family of Fayaz Ahmad Beigh, an employee of the Central Asian Studies Department in University of Kashmir. Fayaz’s father Abdul Rashid Beigh filed a complaint in December 1997 before the SHRC stating that Fayaz was taken into custody by the Special Operations Group (SOG) at the Lethapora-Awantipora camp from the university campus on September 6, 1997. Seeking help from the SHRC in tracing his son, he pleaded for quashing of a false case in Soura police station stating that Fayaz escaped from custody on September 9,1997, when a police party which was taking him for a raid, came under heavy fire from militants at Nowhatta. The Commission in April, 2000 accused the police of “foulplay” and directed the government to initiate disciplinary action against the erring police officils and pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of the victim. However, the government did not take action on the report, which compelled Abdul Rashid Beigh to file appeal for a writ of mandamus in the High Court asking that a murder conspiracy case should be registered against the police officials indicted by the SHRC. Upholding the SHRC judgement, Justice Bashiruddin observed that the respondents have done nothing except reiterating the very version before the court, which they had stated before the SHRC. Directing the government to register a criminal case against the erring officials as recommended by the SHRC, the court asked it to re-investigate the case under an officer of SSP rank. The court said disciplinary action against erring police personnel shall be immediately initiated, processed and concluded promptly. Directing the government to pay Rs 5 lakh to the affected family, the court said the compensation shall be payable within two months. The court said it is left to the state whether to recover the amount of compensation or part thereof from the officers/ personnel actually responsible for wrong done in the case. The court said it was painful to note that government has shown no response to the Commission’s report. The court observed that the police and state government was under duty and a legal obligation to register the case and investigate the version of writ petitioner, which was upheld by the SHRC. —
PTI |
|
Mufti tries to bind coalition partners
together Srinagar, October 15 This assumes significance with the return of former Chief Minister and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah here yesterday pledging to mobilise the party and warning the Mufti Sayeed government. Predicting the fall of the Mufti government on its own due to its internal contradictions, Mr Farooq Abdullah has asked his party members to rise to the occasion in case of any such eventuality. A meeting of the leaders of the coalition parties was convened at the residence of Chief Minister here this evening. It was attended by his senior party colleagues, including the PDP President, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, the Congress, the Panthers Party, the CPM and others. The Mufti, talking to his coalition partners, stressed the need to remain united and fight the disruptive forces bent upon creating trouble. Sources here said the Mufti warned the coalition partners against the enemies of peace and said that elements of disruption were at work that would be frustrated at all costs. This follows the Mufti’s discussions with AICC general secretary and chairman of the State Coordination Committee, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, here yesterday. Today’s meeting of top leaders of the coalition parties has assumed significance in view of the recent overtures by some of the Mufti’s coalition partners to the National Conference leadership, the main Opposition party. The Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly and former minister Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah had indicated here last week. that there was a view in the party to topple the government with its own strength of 28 members in the House. A section of the People’s Democratic Forum (PDF), one of the main alliance partners, had also indicated to rethink on continuing its support to the government. Senior PDF leader and Revenue Minister, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, also had a separate meeting with two other leaders of the coalition parties here this morning. Both of them, the Panthers Party chief, Mr Bhim Singh, and CPM state secretary and MLA, Mr M.Y. Tarigami, have been expressing their resentment against the coalition government overtly as well as covertly for quite some time. Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said here today that “failure of the Mufti government....has compelled the National Conference to redraw its strategy and play a more proactive role” so that the suffering of the people of the state were mitigated. Addressing his party legislators in the presence of the NC president, Mr Omar Abdullah, here today, the former Chief Minister predicted that the Mufti government was likely to fall due to its own internal contradictions and lack of performance. While asking his party legislators to rise to the occasion, Mr Farooq Abdullah said his party “which has always been the victim of conspiracies has never been a conspirator”. According to a statement issued here, the former Chief Minister also informed the legislators about the deliberations he had with the Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes. He assured the legislators that he and Mr Omar Abdullah would be involved in an “ongoing series of dialogue with different shades of opinion to finally evolve a strategy which is focused towards the welfare of the people of the state”. |
|
Power bill to
double Jammu, October 15 The hike is likely to be with retrospectory effect as the consumers have not received their bills for the past about six months. There were indications that the hike in tariff would be effective from March last. It is learnt that the government might not announce an increase in the existing tariff of Rs.1.30 per unit as such, but the Power Development Department (PDD) has been asked to revise the power agreement of every household by increasing the load by 100 per cent. The consumers will be put to a loss by sticking to the system of charging the tariff on the basis of load as there was a daily power cut of nearly five hours in the main towns. The electricity supply was erratic in the rural areas where the curtailment was of the order of eight to nine hours. It is worth mentioning that the consumers in J&K are generally made to pay their electricity bills as per the load agreement and not by the meter reading. Although the government has denied that no increase in power tariff was being ordered, but certain officials of the PDD indicated that the fresh bills will be issued only after revising the load agreements. The PDD was trying to meet the anticipated deficit of Rs 1075 crore in tariff by hiking the load agreements. The government has managed to recover from consumers a substantial amount of arrears which were of the order of Rs 2500 crore. Jammu and Kashmir perhaps tops in theft of power which the government has failed to check over the years. According to estimates, the number of illicit power connections was over 10 lakhs. The Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, was himself not in favour of installing electricity meters as he feels that it leads to theft of energy as the consumers devise one or the other method to stall the meters. Installation of electronic meters during the previous regime of the National Conference became a major issue during the Assembly elections as the consumers were against the move. Meanwhile, reports of people agitating against the proposed hike particularly in the Kashmir valley have been received. The state government has so far refused to implement the power reforms in J&K and the show was being run by the PDD. Half hearted efforts were expected to be introduced for preparing the bills by assigning the job to some private company, but the revenue collection will be done by employees of the PDD. With the strong lobby of the PDD employees, the state government was not in a position to annoy them by installing electronic meters or take away from them the work of revenue collection although there were allegations of rampant corruption in this regard. |
|
Kashmiri Pandits’ ultimatum to CM Srinagar, October 15 “If the state government does not meet our demands within three days, we will be forced to take the extreme step of migration from the valley as enough time has been given to the administration to look into our demands,” a spokesman for the Hindu Welfare Society, a Kashmiri Pandits’ organisation, Mr C.L. Bhat told reporters here. “In the aftermath of Nadimarg massacre, we had deliberation with high-level officials and ministers and put forth some genuine demands of the community,” Mr Bhat said, adding that so far the goverment had failed to take any concrete measures to mitigate the sufferings of the Pandits living in the valley. “On the one hand, the government is talking about bringing back those Kashmiri Pandits who have migrated but on the other they are able to redress the problems of a handful who have stayed back in the valley through thick and thin, he said. Among the demands were an employment package for the youths of the Pandit community, clusterisation of the community and treating its displaced members within the valley at par with the migrants. —
PTI |
|
Panthers Party against entry of UK police Jammu, October 15 Referring to media reports on the British police trying to open a station in Srinagar, he said: “This move would be resisted by every nationalist as it would tentamount to surrendering the
internal sovereignty to British imperialism.” “Even Maharaja Hari Singh did not allow the British police to enter J and K,” he said. He said the entry of the British police would mean inviting the CIA and the ISI to the soil which would prove dangerous for the security of the state. Accusing the USA and the UK for attacking Iraq and threatening the existence of Palestine, he said the two super powers had decided to shift their focus to South East Asia by using Pakistani. He charged the Central government with playing into the old Anglo-American gameplan and termed the joint Indo-US military exercise in Ladakh as detrimental to national security. — PTI |
|
Nirmal may be
re-elected state BJP chief Jammu, October 15 The elections for the post is scheduled to be held here on October 19 under the supervision of Prof O.P. Kohli and Prof Brij Lal Rinwa. The nominations will be filed on October 18. With Dr Nirmal Singh, who is a teacher in Jammu University, enjoying the blessings of the BJP high command, he is likely to have a smooth sailing for his second term as chief of the state unit of the party. He was nominated to the post last year when Mr Daya Kishen Kotwal was removed following the debacle of the party in the Assembly elections. The poll is significant for the BJP because of the coming civic elections, particularly to the Jammu Municipal Corporation where the party has mostly been in power. |
|
|
Srinagar to have branch of Jaipur foot Srinagar, October 15 “The State Waqf board will provide land for setting up a permanent rehabilitation centre in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said today after inaugurating a 10-day rehabilitation camp organised by the Mahavir Viklang Sahita Samiti in coordination with the waqf board. Over 500 disabled persons have been registered for rehabilitation by the board and will be provided artificial limbs during the camp. Mr Sayeed directed the authorities to dispense an ex-gratia relief to 23 persons from Rajouri who were disabled due to landmine explosions or cross-border shelling. —
PTI |
|
|
EME Corps celebrates raising day Jammu, October 15 A sainik sammelan was presided by Col Sanjive Sirohi and messages from the DG EME and other senior military officers were read out. A gymkhana, “badakhana” and a volleyball match were held on the occasion. The 639 battalion has been instrumental in ensuring operational fitness of the wide array of equipment held by 39 Mountain Division. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Srinagar, October 15
