J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

More forces in Udhampur for
incident-free poll
Jammu, May 6
More than 200 additional companies of security forces have been sent to the Udhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha constituency, which is the largest parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir, for ensuring incident-free polling scheduled to be held on May 10.

Election time is celebration time
Ladakh (Nubra), May 6
In the far-flung areas of the Nubra and Leh assembly segments, villagers are getting ready for the May 10 poll. The mood is upbeat and the voters are busy getting their best attire in place.

Chinmayanand woos Kathua voters
Jammu, May 6
Swami Chinmayanand, Union Minister of State for Home, said today that the BJP-led NDA government had taken several steps to remove the hardships faced by residents of the border areas that the successive Congress governments had failed to do all these years.

A fisherman rows his boat in the waters of Dal Lake in Srinagar, early on Thursday. The Dal is surrounded by mountains and pine trees and was the main attraction for many international and domestic tourists before militancy. — Reuters

Society to move NHRC in torture case
Jammu, May 6
The Bhai Kanahiya Jee Nishkam Society today decided to approach the National Human Rights Commission against the torture of a Sikh youth by the police in Ranbirsinghpura earlier this week. The decision was taken at a meeting of the society presided over by Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser.

16 officials suspended
Jammu, May 6
Sixteen officials of the Consumer Affairs Department here were placed under suspension today as they were found absent when the Minister of the department, Mr Taj Mohiuddin, made a surprise visit there.

More forces in Udhampur for incident-free poll
Our Correspondent

Jammu, May 6
More than 200 additional companies of security forces have been sent to the Udhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha constituency, which is the largest parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir, for ensuring incident-free polling scheduled to be held on May 10.

Official sources said that security arrangements were further strengthened in the constituency following reports that groups of militants had sneaked into Doda and in the upper reaches of Udhampur districts from across South Kashmir.

The sources said after having succeeded in their game-plan of forcing majority of voters to remain indoors on the days of polling in Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramula constituencies groups of youths, equipped with sophisticated weapons and grenades, had entered into Doda district for disrupting the poll process.

However, the senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mr Sunil Kumar, told this correspondent today that “We have sufficient forces for foiling any mischief by the militants during and before the polling.”

He said “We have completed the deployment of the security forces in all sensitive areas and I hope the polling will be incident-free.”

Election authorities in Jammu said out of 1,655 polling booths 1,227 had been declared hyper sensitive and sensitive where the district administration had been asked to deploy heavy contingents of security personnel.

A senior police officer said round-the-clock patrolling by the police, paramilitary forces and the troops had been ordered in highly sensitive areas of Kishtwar, Doda, Mahore, Gulabgarh, Gool, Arnas (all in Udhampur) and in Bani,Billawar areas of Kathua district.

Police surveillance had been strengthened on the highways linking Kishtwar, Doda, Bhaderwah with Batote, Banihal, Ramban with Udhampur and Hiranagar Bani, Billawar with Kathua.

There are 20 candidates in the field and the contest is primarily among the nominees of the BJP, the Congress, the National Conference and the Panthers Party. While the BJP has fielded Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, who won the Udhampur seat in 1998 and 1999 poll, the Congress nominee is Mr Lal Singh, Health Minister in the Cabinet headed by Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, the Panthers Party candidate, Prof Bhim Singh and the National Conference nominee, Mr Khalid Najib Sohrawardhy, are trying their luck.

There are over 13 lakh voters in the constituency and in case militants do not succeed in creating scare among the voters through series of grenade and gun attacks over 55 per cent polling is expected.

Election time is celebration time
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Ladakh (Nubra), May 6
In the far-flung areas of the Nubra and Leh assembly segments, villagers are getting ready for the May 10 poll. The mood is upbeat and the voters are busy getting their best attire in place.

Women have made turquoise and ruby necklaces for themselves. While men have settled for a traditional dress with colourful waistbands that will distinguish a Ladakhi Buddhist form a Ladakhi Muslim.

Locals say that the scene is the same during all elections. In the enthusiasm of the elections, they even forget about the distance they will have to cover to reach the nearest polling station. If it is Ladakh, the distance will range between 5 km and 12 km. Ladakh is the only place in India where the Election Commission has not been able to ensure that voters don’t have to walk beyond 2 km to reach the nearest polling station. It had declined to sanction some auxiliary polling booths.

Tsering Dolma of Sumda village says, “We are used to walking larger distances than these. Moreover, we travel in groups and enjoy our walk. More important was to get the voter card. We are very excited about voting.”

Cut off from the world for most part of the year, Ladakhis treat elections as an occasion to express their feelings. In this closed society, democratic participation is seen more as a privilege than a right.

It is this love for democracy that explains a heavy voter turnout in Ladakh during the elections. The turnout varies dramatically across Jammu and Kashmir, with Ladakh always leading despite the terrain. The lowest voter turnout ever recorded in Latah was 69.7 per cent in the 1996 assembly elections but even this was ahead of the turnout in Kashmir (46 per cent) and Jammu (61.4 per cent) in the same elections.

The 1996 Lok Sabha elections also witnessed a huge turnout in Ladakh (80.9 per cent) as compared to Kashmir (45.9 per cent) and Jammu (50.3 per cent). The trend was repeated in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections when Latah recorded a turnout of 81.90 per cent, as against 17.7 per cent in Kashmir and 43.8 per cent in Jammu.

This year, there has been a marked increase in the number of women voters as compared to the earlier years. Kargil has a larger number of women voters. Out of 84,195 voters, it has 44,543 females.

In Leh also, the number of women voters is encouraging. Out of 88,993 voters, there are 43,374 females.

Chinmayanand woos Kathua voters
Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 6
Swami Chinmayanand, Union Minister of State for Home, said today that the BJP-led NDA government had taken several steps to remove the hardships faced by residents of the border areas that the successive Congress governments had failed to do all these years.

Swami Chinmayanand, who was addressing a series of election rallies in support of Mr Chaman Lal Gupta of the BJP in Kathua district, the growth rate had considerably increased under the NDA government.

He said there was peace on the borders because of the initiatives taken by Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in this direction. He described this as a diplomatic win of Mr Vajpayee.

He said the Centre had met the long-standing demand for the inclusion of the Dogri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and a grant of Rs 125 crore had been provided for upgrading Jammu Medical College to the level of the AIIMS.

The minister said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 179 crore for providing drinking water in the kandi area of Jammu and six battalions of the Territorial Army and an equal number of cantonments had been established.

He described the Jammu-Udhampur rail link as a major achievement on which Rs 600 crore had been spent.

Meanwhile, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, who is also Minister of State for Defence, appreciated the soldiers for providing timely assistance to the nearly 20,000 shepherd families which were trapped in the unseasonal snow in various mountainous areas of Jammu.

Protest against ‘excess’ by security forces

Srinagar, May 6
The traffic on the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway was disrupted for about three hours after villagers blocked traffic at Khanpora, near Qazigund, in protest against the alleged excess by the security forces.

Official sources said militants attacked a security force patrol at Khanpora near Qazigund this morning with automatic weapons. The security forces also retaliated but the militants escaped. Later, the security forces searched the area during which they allegedly beat up villagers, including some elderly persons.

The villagers later blocked traffic and demanded action against the security forces. It was only after senior officers visited the area and assured the villagers to look into their complaint, that they allowed traffic to move.

A large number of people, mostly women, took to streets at Beerwah in the central Kashmir district of Badgam in protest against the alleged excesses by the security forces. — UNI

Society to move NHRC in torture case

Jammu, May 6
The Bhai Kanahiya Jee Nishkam Society today decided to approach the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the torture of a Sikh youth by the police in Ranbirsinghpura earlier this week. The decision was taken at a meeting of the society presided over by Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser.

The boy was allegedly tortured following the murder of his mother by some unidentified miscreants. The police suspected his hand in the incident.

Leaders of various other organisations, including the Youth Akali Dal and the AISSF, participated in the meeting, which thanked mahant Manjit Singh of Dera Nangali Sahib for rescuing the boy from the police. — TNS

16 officials suspended
Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 6
Sixteen officials of the Consumer Affairs Department here were placed under suspension today as they were found absent when the Minister of the department, Mr Taj Mohiuddin, made a surprise visit there.

The minister issued warning to 34 other officials who reached the office late. He ordered the officials to be punctual and attend to the consumers without delay.