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Mufti not to downsize ministry 5 militants, couple killed Hospitals to have sterilisation units No invitation for talks received yet,
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Mufti not to downsize ministry Jammu, January 11 Contrary to the implementation of the constitutional amendment, which restricts the size of the ministry, pressure is being mounted on the Chief Minister to further expand the Cabinet by giving more representation to the Congress, the PDP and Independents, who are partners in the coalition. There are 29 ministers in the state and their number is expected to increase to at least 33 once a green signal is given by the Congress high command. As such, the constitutional amendment, which has received the assent of the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is not a binding on Jammu and Kashmir until both Houses of the legislature here ratify the 91st Amendment. Jammu and Kashmir has a separate Constitution and enjoys a special status under Article 370. Sources said the Mufti at the moment was interested to settle the discontent among the legislators supporting his government. Any cut in the size of the ministry was bound to precipitate the discontent. Once the Central law is made applicable here, the strength of the ministry shall have to be restricted to 13, which may not be to the liking of the coalition partners, although more than a sum of Rs 25 crore was being spent on running the establishments of the ministers in this financially starved state. Jammu and Kashmir has been selective in extending Central laws here. While the state government immediately accepted the amendment during the Emergency relating to increasing the life of the Assemblies to six years, yet it did not revert to the five-year term for which the Janata Party made an Amendment in the Constitution. The Assembly here continues to enjoy a six-year term. While the Congress supported the Bill in Parliament for restricting the size of the ministry, party activists here were adamant for a greater share in the ministry. Another peculiar situation is that Jammu and Kashmir also has the Legislative Council with 36 members, besides 89 members in the Assembly. The Mufti is himself a member of the Legislative Council as he did not face the Assembly elections and as such it was being suggested that the combined strength of 125 of both Houses should be taken into account in case the Central law was to be made applicable here. That would enable to accommodate about 18 persons in the ministry. A senior MLA of the opposition National Conference, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, during the recent winter session of the Assembly, introduced a Bill seeking to restrict the total size of the ministry to one-tenth of the total strength of the two Houses of the legislature. The Bill will be taken up for discussion in the next session of the House. Mr Bhim Singh, whose Panthers Party is a coalition partner in the Mufti government, also demanded in the Legislative Council that the strength of the ministry should be restricted to 10 per cent of the total strength of the legislature. |
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5 militants, couple killed Srinagar, January 11 Four militants were killed in an encounter at Bekhipora-Panzla in Baramula district yesterday. One of them have been identified as Imran of Pakistan. Two securitymen were injured while three houses and two structures were damaged, an official spokesman said here today. Another militant was killed at Sonapathri-Bandipora in the same district. One AK rifle, four magazines, 50 rounds and a wireless set were recovered from the slain militant, he said. He further said militants intruded into the house of a photographer, Farooq Ahmed Mirza, at Lurgam-Tral in Pulwama district and fired at him and his wife Zaina, killing both on the spot. Militants also barged into the house of Wali Mohammad Sheikh at Chhanapora-Rajpora in the same district and hurled a grenade followed by firing on the inmates resulting in the death of a cable operator, Firdous Ahmed. The security forces recovered the huge cache of arms and ammunition near the Line of Control in Rajouri district, an official spokesman said here. Among the arms seized were two boxes of universal machine gun rounds, 47 under-barrel grenade launchers, 30 hand grenades 48 detonators, two IEDs, 8 safety fuses, two AK magazines, five rounds, two stick grenades, one anti-tank mine at Bagla-Basholi Nullah belt near Rajouri district this morning, the spokesman said. In a joint operation by the police and security forces at three places in Baramula district of north Kashmir,
Hathlangoo-Sopore, Bhutoo forests in Bandipora and Manzseer-Sopore, the spokesman said. One AK rifle, a pistol, 22 anti-tank grenades, four
handgrenades, five detonators, one IED booster, nearly 1000 rounds, three
wireless sets and six AK magazines were recovered from the militant hide-outs. He said militants kidnapped Lal Hussain at Dubri-Mahore in Udhampur district and tortured him to death last night. —
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Hospitals to have sterilisation units Jammu, January 11 Minister for Health and Medical Education Lal Singh said this while responding to the charter of demands of para-medics at the one-day conference of the Medical Employees Association held here yesterday. Mr Lal Singh also announced constitution of a committee, chosen democratically for examining, projecting and analysing the demands of the para-medics at an appropriate fora. The Public Service Commission had been requested to expedite the selection of posts for the health department. More vacancies for the department would be advertised. He said the hospital buildings housing women polytechnic and Rehbar-e-Sehat organisation would be got vacated. These places would be made available to the employees working in emergency and odd hours. |
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No invitation for talks received yet, says Ansari Jammu, January 11 He said, “Reports from
Delhi, circulated by the news agency, indicating that Mr Advani and his team will first hold talks with Maulvi Umar Farooq and then other leaders, if true, may not be acceptable to us.” “Before accepting talks collectively or at an individual level we have to know the agenda for the dialogue so that our executive committee will discuss that and see whether the offer for talks is worth acceptance,” he added. He said, “Yes if we are invited separately to
discuss the modalities of the dialogue we are ready. First of all an agenda has to be framed which should include a meaningful discussion on the Kashmir issue.” The
APHC(Abbas) chairman said “The proposed talks with Mr Advani are not meant to discuss devolution of more financial and political powers to Jammu and Kashmir.” “We have supported a dialogue with Delhi not for enabling us to get jobs or a government but for settling the Kashmir issue which is a key to the restoration of peace and normalcy not only in Jammu and Kashmir but in the entire subcontinent,” the Maulana said. |
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The Mufti-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir at the moment is not in a mood to implement the central law of downsizing the ministry to 15 per cent of the Assembly’s total strength as the Chief Minister is already facing a lot of discontent on the issue of denial of ministerial berths to certain legislators.
