J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

NC to go it alone, yet to finalise nominees
Srinagar, February 22
The National Conference, that represented four out of six seats from Jammu and Kashmir in the last Lok Sabha, will be going it alone in the forthcoming elections and is yet to finalise candidates, particularly from the valley. Having been pushed to the opposition with only 28 seats in the present Assembly against 60 in the previous elections, it awaits a “proper time” to decide over the choice of its candidates. Staff 

650 kg explosives seized
Srinagar, February 22
The Border Security Force today claimed a major success with the seizure of 650 kg of explosives and 11,000 rounds of AK ammunition during raids last night. Acting on specific information, a joint party of the BSF and the police recovered 50 kg of high explosives and 11,000 rounds of AK ammunition from an abandoned migrant labourer’s house at Parimpora on the outskirts of the city early this morning.

BSF troops display seized explosives and ammunition at Srinagar on Sunday. — Photo by Amin War

YOUR TOWN

Srinagar

Polio drops being administered to a child in Srinagar on Sunday. — PTI

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NC to go it alone, yet to finalise nominees
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 22
The National Conference (NC), that represented four out of six seats from Jammu and Kashmir in the last Lok Sabha, will be going it alone in the forthcoming elections and is yet to finalise candidates, particularly from the valley. Having been pushed to the opposition with only 28 seats in the present Assembly against 60 in the previous elections, it awaits a “proper time” to decide over the choice of its candidates.

The party looks forward to the return of its patron and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who has arrived in New Delhi, and is expected here within a couple of days. Any decision regarding the final list of candidates is expected after taking him into confidence. Dr Abdullah, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, is also being pitted for any of the two out of three seats in the valley. His name has been proposed by some of his senior party colleagues either for Srinagar or Baramula. He had represented the Srinagar constituency in 1977. There are other faces to be fielded either from Baramula or Srinagar, feels Dr Abdullah’s son, Omar Abdullah. The party is facing difficulty in its choice for candidate in the south Kashmir constituency of Anantnag where some senior party cadres had been killed.

A former Union Minister and NC president, Mr Omar Abdullah, who was elected from the Srinagar constituency twice, loves to be in the state Assembly, he said here today. In case of any senior MLA being fielded for the Lok Sabha elections, he might then seek an election to the state Assembly. He was defeated from Ganderbal, the home constituency of Dr Abdullah since 1977 but a final decision was yet to be taken, he said.

He said the party would be launching a formal campaign only after the Assembly session concluded early next month. He said his party’s approach would be different this time. Even as it had the strength of four elected MPs in the last Lok Sabha, and had the largest opposition status with 28 seats in the Assembly, it was playing the role of the opposition only, he said. “It has to be a part of learning experience”, he said, in view of the party’s defeat in the first Assembly elections after he took over the reigns of the party from his father, in 2002.

Referring to his party’s poll plank, he said it ranged from greater autonomy to the “misdeeds” of the coalition government.

650 kg explosives seized
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 22
The Border Security Force (BSF) today claimed a major success with the seizure of 650 kg of explosives and 11,000 rounds of AK ammunition during raids last night.

Acting on specific information, a joint party of the BSF and the police recovered 50 kg of high explosives and 11,000 rounds of AK ammunition from an abandoned migrant labourer’s house at Parimpora on the outskirts of the city early this morning. This assignment, probably coming from the nearby Gouripora side, was meant for the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen outfit, a BSF spokesman here said.

In another raid, a joint party of the BSF, Army and the police recovered 590 kg of low explosive from a grocery shop of one Noor Mohammad Gojri of Maharaj Gunj. He was taken into custody and is being questioned.