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Jammu, April 18
Dr Manmohan Singh said today that Mrs Sonia Gandhi was the natural leader of the Congress and she would be the Prime Minister if the party came to power at the Centre.  In
video (28k,
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99 pc booths in Baramula hyper-sensitive, sensitive
Only 3 women in poll fray in valley
Tough fight between BJP, Congress
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Leaders make a beeline for Jammu, Baramula
A Kashmiri activist of the Congress climbs a ladder to attach his party’s flag to an electric pole in Baramula, 55 km north of Srinagar, on Sunday. — Reuters
photo
Grenade attack in Baramula
Group to move court against parties defacing valley
28 suspended for saying no to poll duty
18-cr ropeway for Vaishno Devi
MLA’s security officer held
with heroin
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Manmohan Singh allays fears on threat to Mufti govt
Jammu, April 18 Dr Manmohan Singh was talking to mediapersons here before addressing a series of election rallies of the Congress before the campaign for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat came to an end. He said that the allies would sit together and choose the leader in case the Congress did not get the strength on its own to form a government at the Centre. He said that the credit for the shining of India went to the Congress as the infrastructure for development in all fields was laid during the regime of Mr Rajiv Gandhi and Mr Narsimha Rao. The BJP was trying to mislead the people by claiming that all development had come during its rule. He said that the development in telecommunication sector, road network and industrialisation was initiated during the Congress regime. Dr Manmohan Singh said that there was no threat to the Mufti-led coalition government in J&K and it was a wishful thinking of certain parties that the government would collapse after the Lok Sabha elections. He said that the Congress did not want to create uncertainty in the state on the issue of contesting the Baramula seat. It was a friendly contest between the Congress and the PDP at Baramula. He said that the Congress would not allow the controversial daughters’ Bill to be passed in the legislature. There was enough time for the government to implement the report of the Wazir Commission and set up a delimitation commission. Dr Manmohan Singh said that the aspirations of various regions were being met as the powers had been decentralised to the district level. |
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99 pc booths in Baramula hyper-sensitive, sensitive
Baramulla, April 18 As there is no threat of shelling by Pakistani troops from across the border on the polling day following ceasefire, the authorities have for the first time decided to set up polling booths in the villages near the Line of Control (LoC). An official spokesman told UNI that all arrangements had been made for free and fair elections on
Tuesday. He said about 1,167 polling booths were set up across the constituency for 9,41,053 voters, including 4,17,628 females. The highest number of 82,807 voters are in the Kupwara assembly segment, while the Gurez assembly segment has the lowest number of 14,439 voters. However, there are just 22 normal polling stations while 526 are sensitive and 619 hypersensitive, he said and added that the authorities had also decided to set up 16 new auxiliary polling booths to help the voters cast their votes. A polling station has been set up at Khragbal Gurez for just 80 voters while another polling station had been set up for 99 voters at Bardan in Uri. The Election Commission has also decided to set up 11 polling stations in Udhampur, Jammu and Delhi to enable 15,753 Kashmiri migrant voters of the constituency to exercise their franchise there. Official sources said a number of polling stations were set up just near the LoC for the voters in Teetwal, Keran, Karan and Uri. People in these areas said in the past they had to travel to polling stations set up in the safer places, as Pakistani troops were firing mortars and artillery shells during almost all elections since the people were given voting rights. Since the ceasefire by India and Pakistan, people are living a peaceful life, said Ghulam Rasool, a farmer of Karnah. “We are doing farming and children are going to school every day after the ceasefire,” he said. Another villager Abdul Khaliq said people will cast their vote, as it was their democratic right. Now we have no fear of shelling by Pakistani troops and polling station is also in the village. The authorities have made adequate security
arrangements for the polling station, officials and voters following an abortive bid to attack a polling station set up at Kreeri near Pattan and a blast in another station last week. Besides, the security forces who were already engaged in counter-insurgency operations, a large number of security personnel, drawn from different states, have been deployed in the constituency. However, the killing of top commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashker-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen will definitely instill confidence among the voters. Returning officer of the constituency Dheeraj Gupta told UNI that no security personnel of the contesting candidate or VIP would be allowed to enter with arms within a range of 200 m of the polling booth.
— UNI |
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Only 3 women in poll fray in valley
Srinagar, April 18 Of the 34 candidates contesting the parliamentary poll from the three constituencies in the Kashmir valley, only three happen to be women. Barring the ruling people’s Democratic Party (PDP), no other recognised or registered political party has given a ticket to women for the valley seats. Of the three women candidates in the fray, only PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has the realistic chance of becoming only the second woman Lok Sabha member from the valley and the third from The state. Begum Akbar Jehan, wife of National Conference founder Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah, is so far the only woman Lok Sabha member from the valley. She won the Srinagar seat in 1977 and the Anantnag seat in the 1984 general election. Besides Jehan, Congress leader Parvati Devi made it to the Lok Sabha in 1977. Darakshan Andrabi and Mehmooda Shadab, both Independent candidates from the Srinagar constituency for this year’s election, might be in the fray just for the sake of contesting as National Conference President Omar Abdullah and PDP leader Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura are considered to be locked in a head-on fight for entry into the 14th Lok Sabha. The National Conference as well as the PDP, who both claim to support the Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill, which deprives women of property rights if they marry someone outside the state, blamed each other for the non-passage of the Bill in the Legislative Council. As the Bill was stalled in the Legislative Council on March 11, the National Conference and the PDP came out in support of the Bill, saying that it was to protect the special identity of Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress, the National Panthers Party and the BJP opposed it on the grounds that the Bill was discriminatory against women and was an obstacle to their empowerment. Surprisingly, none of the parties in the state have made it into an election issue although it has put PDP’s alliance partner Congress on the backfoot as the BJP is trying to cash in on the Bill at the national level.
— PTI |
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Tough fight between BJP, Congress
Jammu, April 18 The BJP, which has fielded Dr Nirmal Singh in the constituency accounting for the largest number of electorate in Jammu and Kashmir, is trying to encash on granting of official language status to Dogri, completion of Udhampur railway line, multi-crore packages for the state and efforts to open Uri-Muzaffarabad road, besides the peace initiatives. Singh’s electioneering got a boost with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other BJP star campaigners, including union minister Arun Jaitley, holding a big rally here on April 14 in his support. Mr Vajpayee has struck a chord with the people of the region having announced a Rs 78 crore package for the border migrants and Rs 178 crore for Kandi water supply project. With discrimination against Jammu and the Women’s Bill as his poll plank, Dr Singh says “except of the BJP, all parties including the Congress, PDP and NC were Kashmir centric. Dr Singh, BJP state unit chief and a professor in the Jammu University, is also promising a solution to pending issues like compensation to PoK refugees, rehabilitation of migrants, citizenship rights to Pak refugees and regional councils for Jammu and Doda. He has the backing of all pro-statehood parties, including Jammu Mukti Morcha, Jammu Statehood Front, All Party Jammu State Conference and the RSS. The BJP leader had unsuccessfully contested the 2002 by election losing to NC’s Talib Hussain by 65,000 votes. The Congress has fielded state minister Madan Lal Sharma, who is finding it tough with the party yet to fulfil its 2002 poll promise of rehabilitation of nearly three lakh border migrants which were the party’s biggest vote bank. Non-implementation of the Wazir Commission report, delimitation commission and passing of Women’s Bill are other odds against Mr Sharma who twice contested the seat unsuccessfully in the 2002 by-polls and in 1999. However, the Congress candidate, who represents the Vijaypur assembly seat, claims “the
environment of peace is because of our coalition government and not because of the Centre. Our governance on common minimum programme has won hearts and mind of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”. The National Conference, which did not re-nominate its sitting MP Hussain, has fielded Mr Surjeet Singh
Salathia, who lost Vijaypur assembly polls in 2002 by 10,000 votes to BSP candidate.
— PTI |
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Leaders make a beeline for Jammu, Baramula
Jammu, April 18 It was a busy schedule for the security personnel and the district authorities as these leaders started arriving here in the morning. However, none of the national leaders visited the Baramula constituency where the coalition partners, PDP and Congress, have crossed swords. The Sikh dominated Simbal camp and the Rajput and Scheduled Caste belts of Samba and Bishnah were the favourites of the BJP, NC and Congress leaders who campaigned today. Mr Chautala and Dr Abdullah jointly addressed election rallies at Simbal camp, Samba and Vijaypur. Dr Manmohan Singh went to Simbal camp and Gandhi Nagar while Mr Vinod Khanna addressed BJP rallies at Vijaypur and Bishnah. Polling for the two constituencies would be held on April 20. The campaign for the Jammu seat passed off peacefully although the two terrorism-prone districts of Rajouri and Poonch are a part of this constituency. Initially there were 27 candidates in the fray but with the cancellation of the papers of Zulfikar Ali, a Pakistani national, who was contesting on the symbol of Mr Chandra Shekhar’s party, following a special scrutiny, has brought down the number to 26. But it is more or less a
triangular contest between Mr Madan Lal (Congress), Dr Nirmal Singh (BJP) and Mr Surjeet Singh Salathia (NC). The issue of the daughters’ Bill dominated the campaign and the Congress came under criticism on this point. The slogan of the PDP for reopening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road also came under criticism by the Opposition parties. The BJP targeted the PDP, Congress and the Panthers Party (all coalition partners) for neglecting the unemployed and showering incentives of a fixed deposit of Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 2,000 per month as allowance on terrorists who surrender. The Jammu constituency has the largest number of 20 Assembly segments in it. It also has the largest number of 18,51,838 voters and of this 8,83,753 are female. |
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Srinagar, April 18 Official sources said militants lobbed a grenade aimed at A vehicle of security personnel near a bus stop at Bandipora But it missed the target and exploded on the road. There was no casualty in the blast which took place Around 12.05 p.m., the sources said. The Chief Minister addressed a public gathering at Bandipora at 3.30 p.m. as per schedule. A major tragedy was averted last night in the heart of Doda town of Jammu region with the timely detection of a powerful grenade. Police sources said that some passersby detected a grenade lying at Nehru Chowk in Doda and immediately passed on the information to the police. Sources said police and Army jawans rushed to the spot. As the grenade’s pin had been taken out by the militants, who had thrown it, it had to be defused on the spot, the sources added. Vigil was further stepped up in Doda town today as intelligence reports suggested that militants could step up their activities in the area on the eve of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Sources said at the entry routes to Doda town, the police and Army personnel were maintaining a tight vigil. Militants made a vain bid to blow up a polling booth hours before the electioneering was to end in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency today. Alert army and police personnel detected an IED planted by ultras in a school building in Baramulla town to be used as a polling booth for April 20 Lok Sabha elections, official sources said. The device was defused before it could cause any damage, they said. Baramulla is one of the two constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir going to polls in the first phase on April 20. Security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 17 anti-personnel mines in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, foiling a plot by militants to escalate violence during the parliamentary polls, a BSF spokesman said here today. Acting on a tip-off, BSF troops in a joint operation with the Army unearthed the arms dump in the orchard of Mr Shabir Ahmad at Naibugh village in Tral area last evening, the spokesman said. The recoveries include 17 anti-personnel mines, eight UBGL grenades, 6 kg of raw material for IEDs and two pencil timers, he said. According to intelligence inputs, the consignment of explosives was meant for carrying out explosions during the elections in the valley, he added.
— PTI |
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Group to move court against parties defacing valley
Srinagar, April 18 Despite having several preventive laws, residents say the authorities have so far failed to stop political parties from plastering posters and scrawling slogans on walls and putting up banners and flags across the valley, particularly in the city. Legal expert Abdul Hamid noted that fixing of posters, banners, flags and writing slogans was a
cognisable offence under the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1985. Besides, he said, it is also prohibited under the Municipal Act and model code of conduct for elections issued by the Election Commission of India. “We have another law which prohibits the use of polythene, but look at the buntings, posters and flags of different political parties, they are all made from polythene and are ecologically disastrous’’, he said. Under the law, defacement is punishable by imprisonment up to three months or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both, he said. A group of young men in the city say they are planning to move the court in this regard. They were critical of NGOs, saying that these had also failed at a time when there was a need to educate political parties about the environment protection. Interestingly, among the violators of the laws is the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. The National Conference, however, has complied in part by using cloth for its party flags.— UNI |
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28 suspended for saying no to poll duty
Jammu, April 18 Altogether 22 officials of Budgam district, who were assigned poll duty for Baramula parliamentary constituency, were placed under suspension with immediate effect for non-compliance of order after they failed to attend their duty yesterday, the spokesman said. District election officer Bashir Ahmad has suspended the officials, including 11 from the Education Department, two each from electrical department, R and B Department, Revenue Department and one each from social welfare, rural development animal husbandry, cooperative and PHE departments. District Election Officer, Doda, Hirdesh Kumar has issued suspension orders of six employees of different departments of the district for their non-compliance of orders of election duty outside district, the spokesman told PTI.
— PTI |
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18-cr ropeway for Vaishno Devi
Jammu, April 18 This was stated by the Governor, Lieut-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), who today inspected various development works being initiated by the shrine board. The ropeway will be 450m long. The Governor, who is chairman of the shrine board, said a proposal to remodel the cave was being examined. He also inspected the remodelling of the Adhkuwari complex and interacted with students of the school. The track to the shrine is also being widened and a sewerage project is also underway. |
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MLA’s security officer held
with heroin
Jammu, April 18 On a tip-off, the police last night conducted a raid in the Kishtwar market and seized two packets of heroin, each weighing 750 gm, from the duo. The two were arrested when they were about to hand over the consignment to some local people, the police said.
— PTI |
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Jammu, April 18
