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Jammu, February 24 The proceedings of the state Assembly were disrupted for about 15 minutes today by members of the National Conference who accused the PDP-led coalition government of pursuing a hidden agenda to dilute the law pertaining to permanent residentship of the state. Omar sets up manifesto panel
Three top Hizb commanders
shot
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Army orders probe into death of
civilian
Indira Gandhi Dental College inaugurated
Grants given to 11,000 units that don’t exist
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NC disrupts House
proceedings
Jammu, February 24 Mr Ali Mohammad Sagar and Dr Mehboob Beg, both of the NC, said that the government had earlier dilated the Transfer of Property Act pertaining to the mortgage of property and had now withdrawn the appeal from the Supreme Court against the orders of the high court wherein the girls marrying outside the state would maintain the status of permanent resident of the state. The leaders pointed out that the state had so far failed to promulgate an ordinance in this regard as was announced earlier. The Opposition members were pacified when the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, said he would allow a discussion in the House on the issue tomorrow. However, Ms Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP said that while equality between men and women was the order of the day, the NC members were seeking to create an imbalance. She accused the NC of trying to politicise the matter for their “narrow ends.” Later, while replying to a debate on the demand for grants pertaining to the finance and planning departments the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain
Beig, said the government was planning to dispense with adhocism and discretionary allocations that lead to flaws. He said the State Planning Board was the first step in this direction. One-time allocations would be made for all schemes to ensure timely completion. |
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Ministry expansion waste of public money, says
NC
Srinagar, February 24 Talking to The Tribune here before of the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Omar Abdullah said that his party had given a stable government with a reasonable small size of the ministry. “The present government is pulled in different directions, first by the constituents of alliance, and then within the constituent groups” of the Congress the,
PDP, the Panthers Party and others. He added to the size of the ministry added other functionaries like chairmen and the Speaker making the total strength 47. “Given the nature of financial problems faced by the State, this government is an unnecessary burden on the people”, he commented. Mr Omar Abdullah took over as president of the National Conference from his father and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on June 23, 2002. This was followed by Assembly elections after a couple of months, in which the party won only 28 seats against 60 in the previous elections held in 1996, under the leadership of Farooq Abdullah. Mr Omar claims that party’s “failure” after nearly three decades was due to different factors. He pointed out that the expansion of the ministry was done even as efforts in rest of the country were on to downsize it to 15 per cent only. He said that the Congress, a major partner of the PDP led coalition government, had supported a resolution in Parliament to downsize the ministry. The Congress seems to “suggest one thing and do another”, he added saying that it was a party for increasing the strength of the ministers in Jammu and Kashmir. On incidents of human rights violations by security forces while tackling militancy, Mr Omar Abdullah said there was no denying that various incidents took place during the NC regime. “There was Chhatisinghpora and other incidents, where the human rights record of the National Conference was questioned. But wherever incidents have taken place, the government was quick to order inquiries and at least try and bring those guilty to the book, he claimed. “There was immense pressure on Farooq Abdullah from the Central government not to order a judicial enquiry into Pathribal incident, but he did not succumb to the pressure”, Mr Omar said, adding that the PDP exploited it. |
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Omar sets up manifesto panel Jammu, February 24 The 10-member parliamentary board consists of Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, Mr Mohammad Shaffi Uri, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, Dr Mehboob Beg, Mr Ajay Sadhotra, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Moulana Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Mr Ghulam Mohammad Jan, Khalid Najib Surawardhy and Qamar Ali Akhnoon. The manifesto committee includes Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, Mr Mohammad Shaffi Uri, Mian Altaf Ahmad, Mr Sujit Singh
Salathis, Mr Mushtaq Bukhari, Mr Mohammad Yousuf Taing, Sheikh Ghulam Raool and Mr Shabir Ahmed Salaria. |
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Three top Hizb commanders shot
Srinagar, February 24 The three Hizbul Mujahideen commanders — self-styled district commander for Badgam Mohammad Yousuf Gursi of Sangerwani, his deputy Gulzar Ahmad Sheikh of Kulobugh (Badgam) and battalion commander Bashir Bhat of the Safakadal locality in Srinagar — were killed in an encounter with troops of 10 Para at Chamanpathri Bahak in the Shopian area of Pulwama district this morning. The encounter began last evening when the troops raided a Hizbul Mujahideen hideout in the area and continued for nearly 12 hours. Three Ak rifles, 10 magazines, three self-loading rifles, a rocket projectile gun and a wireless set were seized from them. In another major encounter, two unidentified militants and an Army jawan were killed and two soldiers injured at Kangikula in Kulgam area of Anantnag district last night. The jawan was identified as Prashad Kumar, while the identity of the killed militants and their group affiliation was being ascertained. Two AK assault rifles, three magazines, 50 rounds and four hand grenades were seized from them. The security forces killed another militant, Muzaffar Jamali, of the Gool area in Udhampur district in an encounter at Devsar in the Kulgam area of Anantnag and seized an AK rifle, two magazines, 20 rounds and two hand grenades from his possession. Meanwhile, militants abducted and later shot dead a member of the counter-insurgency Ikhwan group, Bashir Kasana, at Larnoo in the Kokernag area of Anantnag last night. The security forces also averted a major tragedy when they detected a powerful IED on the main road at Koimoh village in Anantnag this morning. —
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Army employs
Pahari Muslims
Poonch, February 24 Union Minister of State for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta said: “We could have done the whole task on our own, but it is for the benefit of the local population that we decided to involve them in fencing operations.’’ Brig
K.V.S. Lalotra of Bhimber Gali sector said, “We are giving the locals three times the normal market rate. Usually, the wage per day to a local person ranges from Rs 120 to Rs 240, depending on the nature of the work.” —
UNI
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Army orders probe into death of civilian
Srinagar, February 24 “An unfortunate incident involving the death of a civilian has been brought to our notice and therefore an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the facts,” a Defence spokesman said reacting to the killing of shopkeeper Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Narasthan village. However, he said neither the postmortem report of the deceased is available nor the inquiry completed. “It will not be fair to pre-judge the issue,” the spokesman said, adding, “If the inquiry finds any wrongdoing, the Army will take exemplary action against the defaulters.” The residents of Narasthan organised day-long protest yesterday and dispersed only when senior Army officers, police and civil administration visited the area and assured action against the men involved in the killing. The residents alleged that Mir was picked up by the troops of Rashtriya Rifles during a search on Sunday and his body was handed over to his relatives the same night. —
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Indira Gandhi Dental College inaugurated
Jammu, February 24 The dental wing of the medical college has been converted into a dental college and named Indira Gandhi Dental College. Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Health Minister Lal Singh and principal of the medical college, Dr H.L. Goswami, were present on the occasion. It is learnt that admission to the BDS course in the college would be possible only next year as the process of recognition of the institution by the Dental Council of India has yet to be undertaken. The affiliation of the Jammu University has also to be sought. The Mufti called upon the doctors and other technocrats of the state, who have been abroad, to return to their country and serve the people. He said that treatment and diagnostic facilities were being modernised in the hospitals. He said that with the setting up of the dental college more experts would be available in the state for dental care. The Deputy Chief Minister inaugurated the new building of the eye hospital. Health Minister, Lal Singh, said that steps were being taken to improve healthcare in the state. |
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Grants given to 11,000 units that don’t exist
Jammu, February 24 Winding up discussion on the demands for grants for industries, commerce and transport departments which fall under his charge, Mr Sharma admitted in the State Assembly last evening that lackadaisical approach had been adopted in providing incentives to units that actually did not exist. He said incentives, subsidy and other benefits were provided to 11,000 such units which were untraceable. However, he said the industry-friendly atmosphere had attracted Rs 1000 crore-investment proposals from big corporate houses of the country. —
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Six militants, including three top commanders of the Hizbul Mujahideen, and an Army jawan were among eight persons killed in overnight incidents in Jammu and Kashmir while the security forces averted a major tragedy with the timely detection of a powerful improvised explosive device
and seized 15 kg of RDX today, official sources said.
