 |
|
20 fail to report for poll duty, suspended Poll can’t solve Kashmir row, says Geelani Luxembourg envoy to witness Udhampur polling |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Poll officers airlifted to Leh areas Jammu, May 8 Polling parties for six polling stations in the snow-bound areas of Leh district in the Ladakh constituency, which goes to the polls on May 10, have been airlifted to the area, an official spokesman said here today.
Fake killings mar Army’s image Heavy rains disrupted life in the summer capital and adjoining areas today. Srinagar, May 8 An earthquake of slight intensity today rocked Jammu and Kashmir for the second time in as many days. The quake measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre 17 km from Srinagar, was recorded at 2.45 pm, Met Office in Delhi said. Measles grips 250 children Major killed as rifle goes off by accident
|
|
20 fail to report for poll duty, suspended Jammu, May 8 The suspended officials are of the Education Department against whom action has been taken on the orders of the Election Commission. There was scare among the officials to go on election duty, particularly in Doda district where terrorists have given a call for boycott of the poll. Militants threw a grenade at a Government school in Kishtwar where the polling staff was lodged. About 16 persons were injured in the incident. Campaigning for the two seats of Udhampur and Ladakh concluded today. Polling for the two seats would be held during the fourth and final phase of the elections on May 10. The Chief Electoral Officer, Mr.B.L. Nimesh, yesterday flew to Doda to have an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and arrangements for the polling. Despite the boycott call, as many as 2,800 election rallies were organised by various parties for the six seats in the state. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the Union Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, campaigned for the BJP candidate, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, Minister of State for Defence, at Udhampur and Hiranagar. The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the PCC chief, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mrs Ambika Soni campaigned for the Congress candidate, Mr Lal Singh, Health Minister. A former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and the National Conference chief, Mr Omar Abdullah, addressed several rallies for the NC candidate, Mr Khalid Najeeb Surawardhy. The Education Minister, Mr Harshdev Singh, came out to canvass for Mr Bhim Singh, chairman of the Panthers Party, who is contesting the election as a rebel of the ruling coalition. There are as many as 20 candidates for the Udhampur seat that is spread over 17 Assembly segments. In all, 1,655 polling stations have been set up for an electorate of 13,48,721. As many as 520 polling stations have been declared hypersensitive and 758 sensitive. Of the 540 polling booths in Doda district alone, 244 have been declared hypersensitive and the remaining 296 as sensitive. There is a four-cornered contest in the Ladakh constituency covering the districts of Leh and Kargil. The candidates are Mr Sonam Paljor (BJP), Mr Hassan Khan (NC), Mr Thupstan Chhewang, chairman of the Ladakh Hill Development Council, (Independent) and Mr Wazir Mohammad Ali (Ind.). Of the 442 polling booths in Ladakh, 32 have been declared hypersensitive. Polling parties for six snowbound booths in the Lingshet area of Leh were today airlifted. The snowbound polling stations are Lingshet, Potoksar, Youlchung, Naraks, Skumpatha and
Dipling. |
|
Poll can’t solve Kashmir row, says Geelani
Srinagar, May 8 Mr Geelani, who started an anti-election campaign in the valley, told reporters here that the elections to the Lok Sabha were “farce and fraudulent” and the “poor turnout” showed that a majority of the people was with the “freedom movement”. Referring to the split in the Hurriyat Conference, the leader said: “The cleansing and purification process in the Hurriyat last year has been justified by the acts of erstwhile leadership (Ansari faction) during the elections.” The Kashmir issue could not be resolved by elections, running bus service between Lahore and Delhi or by playing cricket or hockey matches between India and Pakistan, he added. On the unification efforts within the Hurriyat Conference led by Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom and Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, Mr Geelani said, “We have a constitution of the amalgam and whoever accepts it is welcome.”
— PTI |
|
Luxembourg envoy to witness Udhampur polling Jammu, May 8 Mr Steinmetz is the only foreign diplomat who will visit the Udhampur constituency where there are apprehensions of stepped-up terrorist violence particularly in Doda district. Diplomats of several Western countries had visited various constituencies during the Assembly elections in 2002 when separatists and terrorist organisations had given a call for the boycott of the poll. Meanwhile, Mr Amitabh Bhattacharaya and Mr Vivek Kumar Singh have been appointed general observers for Udhampur and Doda districts, respectively. Four other observers are already camping at various places in the constituency. The Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Mr Hirdesh Kumar, has ordered dry days from today till May 10 after the polling concludes. |
|
|
Poll officers airlifted to Leh areas
Jammu, May 8 The polling stations where polling personnel had been airlifted included Lingshet, Potoksar, Youlchung, Naraks, Skumpatha and Dipling. Besides, polling parties for 80 polling stations of Nyoma, Nobra and Durbook blocks of Leh district had also left for polling stations from Leh, he said, adding that 355 polling personnel of Leh district, who had been deployed on election duty in Kargil district, had also left for Kargil. The deployment of polling parties at all 223 polling station of Leh district would be completed by tomorrow, he said.
— PTI |
|
|
Fake killings mar Army’s image Jammu, May 8 The scandal has come to light at a time when people have started forgetting the failures of the Army in the Hilkaka area of the Poonch district where Pakistani terrorists had constructed concrete bunkers and established “cantonment” with stores of rations and arms and ammunition. The Siachen scandal has painted a bad picture of the troops deployed in the world’s highest war field that was climatically unhospitable throughout the year and it may take a lot of time for the Army to come out of the situation. The top brass of the Udhampur-based Northern Command is working overtime to come out of the embarrassment. While the Army headquarters in New Delhi yesterday accepted the reports of fake encounters at Siachen, the Northern Command is trying to put a curtain on the ongoings. The Army had to do a lot of image building exercise last year when concrete bunkers of terrorists were detected in the Hilkaka area. Questions were raised as to how the terrorists managed to construct such structures while the Army was claiming to be present in strength in the area that had become a safe passage for ultras. The top brass of the Army had to do a lot of explaining to the media on this account, but their arguments failed to convince the common man here. Defence Minister, George Fernandes and Army chief General N.C. Vij made a number of trips to Poonch and other border areas to access the situation. The infamous Samba spying case in which many Army officers were accused of having passed on secret information across the border had rattled the defence circles in 1970s. However, the court exonerated most of the accused. Among the other recent incidents that embarrassed the Army was the allegation of porters having been used as shields in the Bandipura area during an encounter with terrorists in early February. Five porters were killed in the incident. General Vij had to rush to the valley to pacify the agitating villagers whose kin were killed in the incident. |
|
Srinagar, May 8 The upper reaches of the Kashmir valley witnessed yet another light snowfall while the plains, including Srinagar city, received rains resulting in considerable chill disrupting life. Power service was also affected after a number of trees were uprooted and fell on the transmission lines due to heavy rains. Power supply to essential services was also affected, official sources said, adding that the Power Development Department have mobilised all its resources to restore the supply to consumers early. However, traffic jams on the damaged roads in the city, particularly from Rambagh to Nowgam residence of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, disrupted vehicular movement. A report said Amarnath cave, Sheshnag, Mahaguns and Pisso Top experienced about six inches of fresh snowfall early this morning. The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh highway, which was closed in November last year due to heavy snowfall, remained closed due to late snowfall in the first week of this month. A traffic police official said the highway is yet to be declared open by the Beacon authorities, responsible for the maintenance of the highway after the snow was cleared by them.
— UNI |
|
Srinagar, May 8 The quake measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre 17 km from Srinagar, was recorded at 2.45 pm, Met Office in Delhi said. No injuries or damage to property was reported in the tremor, the police said. Yesterday, a quake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale was recorded in the state.
— PTI |
|
|
Measles grips 250 children Jammu, May 8 Reports reaching here said the condition of 20 children was serious. Doctors of the Army and the Health Department have been rushed to the area. The epidemic was first noticed by Army teams. About 80 patients have been provided medical aid so far. The outbreak of the epidemic is causing concern among residents of the area, but the Health Department of the state government has yet to come out in a big way to the rescue of the ailing children. Three children had died in the area last month due to measles. The authorities have not taken any step to check the problem. |
|
Major killed as rifle goes off by accident Srinagar, May 8 Major Gurvinder Singh of the Rashtriya Rifles died instantly after being hit by a bullet from his own service rifle while he was leading a patrol party near Akhad park, they said. In a similar incident, a BSF jawan Manpaul Singh was injured when a bullet from his service rifle hit him in his leg.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Accusing the Ansari-led faction of the Hurriyat Conference of conniving with the Centre on elections, Chairman of breakaway amalgam Syed Ali Shah Geelani said today that poll was not a solution to the Kashmir issue which could only be resolved through tripartite talks or implementation of the UN resolutions.
