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7,000
migrant voters from Doda district unable to vote Panthers
Party for re-polling in Doda district Heavy
Buddhist turnout gives edge to Chhewang Geelani’s
bid to unite separatists |
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Rs 27
crore central relief for displaced persons Denied
money, cops shoot man High Court Shehar
writes her success story with Army’s help
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7,000 migrant voters from Doda district unable to vote Jammu, May 11 But Hazira was among the estimated 7,000 migrant voters from Doda district in the state who were unable to vote yesterday as no polling booth was set up for them in Jammu. The migrants staying in tents and makeshift houses at Belicharana were peeved that they were denied voting right and said that polling stations should have been set up for them in Jammu on the pattern of those for the Kashmiri migrants. The migrants, both Hindus and Muslims, left their homes in the Doda district a decade back due to the threat of militants. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer B.L. Nimesh said there was a legal hurdle in making separate polling booths for the Doda migrants as, unlike the Kashmiri migrants, they had not been registered. “They cannot put the blame on the government,” Mr Nimesh asserted and added that to cast their votes, the migrants would have to go back to their native places. Hazira said she was abducted in 1994 by militants along with her husband Khuda Baksh from their house in Teka, a village in Banihal, Doda. The militants shot dead Baksh but threw her into a ditch after torturing her. She was saved by Army jawans patrolling the area, who evacuated her to a hospital. Hazira sat outside her makeshift tenement at Belicharana yesterday in the hope that poll officials would visit their camp and ask her to cast her vote. However, she was disappointed. Balwant Singh of Dandi, Bhaderwah, and Bihari Lal of Kailard, Doda, said they had migrated 10 years back, after militants threatened to kill them and their family members, if they did not leave the area. Another migrant Ghulam Abbas said he and his brothers left after militants set nine of their houses on fire at Chhapsana Dalen in Bhaderwah. “We got ourselves ready in the morning with the hope that the state administration may have made polling stations for us in Jammu, but when we came to know that no such arrangement has been made for us, it surprised us,” additional chairman of the Doda Migrants Welfare Committee Kaushal Sharma said. “All of us are perturbed over such an indifferent attitude of the government towards us,” he added. Later, a deputation of the migrants met some senior officers in the divisional commissioners office to make known their discontent over the denial of right to vote. He said when a polling booth could be set up for 17 voters at a height of 16,000 ft in Kargil, why polling booths could not be made for them in the plains of Jammu. Mr Nimesh said the Doda migrants were putting up in Jammu on their own and thus could not claim facilities similar to those extended to the Kashmiri migrant voters.
— UNI |
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Panthers Party for re-polling in
Doda district Jammu, May 11 “It was due to inadequate security that incidents of violence took place in the district forcing the voters not to participate in large numbers in the electoral process yesterday,” chairman of the JKNPP Bhim Singh, who is also in the fray among 20 candidates in Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, said today. He said a number of blasts and firing incidents during the past few days created a sense of fear among the electorates in the district and consequently polling was less in different Assembly segments of this district compared to two other districts of this constituency.
— PTI |
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Heavy Buddhist turnout gives edge to Chhewang Ladakh (Leh), May 11 Out of total votes polled in the last phase of Parliamentary elections yesterday, 60804 is the quantum of Buddhist votes as against 57, 295 Muslim votes which are expected to have gone to NC candidate Hassan Khan from Kargil. However, out of these some would have certainly diverted towards former NC man Wazir Ali who contested as an Independent from Kargil. An overall analysis of the voting pattern shows that the Buddhist electorate in Leh, Nubra and Zanskar segments managed to dominate the Muslim voters in Kargil. Eligible voters in Leh were 76, 169 and the final voting percentage turned out to be 67.94. That means 51, 749 votes were cast in yesterday’s polls. Number of votes cast in Nubra segment was 8873 (71.54 per cent of the total 12, 414 eligible votes). Since the general population of Leh and Nubra is 85 per cent Buddhist and 15 per cent Muslim, out of total 60, 622 votes polled in the two segments, 51, 528 are expected to have gone to Buddhist candidate Thupstan
Chhewang. In Kargil, out of 62, 047 eligible voters, 46, 535 (75 per cent) have cast their vote. In Zanskar segment which is again 65 per cent Buddhist, a total of 11, 408 votes have been polled (52.04 per cent of 21, 922 eligible votes). Since 65 per cent of Zanskar’s population is Buddhist, 7415 votes are expected to have gone to Buddhist candidate from Leh. Buddhists are known to be extremely conscious of their community and its decreasing numbers. They invariably vote for a Buddhist candidate, irrespective of segments. Kargil also has 4 per cent Buddhists, which means 1861 votes out of the total Kargil votes would have gone to the Buddhist candidate. This brings the total Buddhist votes cast in Ladakh at 60804 (51, 528 in Leh, 7415 in Zanskar and 1861 in Kargil). On the other hand the total Muslim votes calculated are about 57, 295 (44208 in Kargil, 3993 in Zanskar and 9094 in Leh). However the 9094 Muslim voters of Leh are also not expected to have cast their vote in favour of NC’s Hassan Khan. It may be recalled that heads of all premiere Muslim organisations in Ladakh recently resigned from their posts to campaign for Buddhist candidate Thupstan
Chhewang. Furthermore many of Kargil’s Muslim votes would have gone to Wazir Ali, making things difficult for the NC. This brings the Buddhist-Muslim vote tally in Ladakh at 60804 as against 57, 295 (in case Leh’s Muslim votes go to the Muslim candidate). In such a scenario, Chhewang would lose only if BJP’s Buddhist candidate Sonam Paljor manages to muster over 3000 Buddhist votes in Ladakh, which is an unlikely situation. |
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Geelani’s bid to unite separatists Srinagar, May 11 In a letter to JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik, JKDFP chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, JeI’s Nazir Ahmad
Kashani, Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoum, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League chief Sheikh Abdul Aziz and others, Mr Geelani said: “We all should work unitedly to achieve the goal of freedom.” Mr Geelani said his Hurriyat Conference would continue to work for the unity among the separatist organisations in Kashmir so that the cause could be pleaded more forcefully. After the split in the Hurriyat Conference, the JKLF and the Peoples League did not join any faction. Meanwhile, a Hurriyat spokesman has condemned the killing of Suhail Ahmad Khan, allegedly by the security forces, at Bandar Pulwama.
— UNI |
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Rs 27 crore central relief for displaced persons Srinagar, May 11 An amount of Rs 27 crore has been sanctioned by the Centre as compensation for displaced persons, out of which Rs 7.5 crore would be provided immediately, Divisional Commissioner Khursheed Ahmad Ganai said at a high-level meeting here yesterday. He said the process of providing compensation would be expedited after land and other properties are acquired. The Divisional Commissioner directed the concerned officers to acquire custodian and private land in Athwajan area for construction of 70 shops for 200 dislocated shopkeepers and also identify more sites for the rehabilitation of other shopkeepers in the Nowgam area. He said the shops would be made available to the affected on no profit no loss basis.
— PTI |
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Srinagar, May 11 Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has a ordered the termination of the service of the police officials involved in the incident. Director-General of Police Gopal Sharma told reporters that action under law would be taken against the police officials who have been arrested. He said an FIR was registered at the local police station against them. Source said a group of masked police personnel entered a house at Brari-Angan Shopian in south Kashmir late last night and demanded money from the house owner. They later shot dead the house owner and injured eight others after the inmates raised the alarm. It was only when the neighbours caught hold of the masked personnel, it was known that they belong to a local police station. It was learnt that the service of the police personnel involved in the incident has been terminated. However, this could not be confirmed officially.
— UNI |
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High Court Chandigarh, May 11 Major Surinder Singh, the Army officer who brought into the open the fake killings staged by Army units in Siachin, had moved the High Court seeking directions to the Army authorities not to attach him to a unit in J&K. During resumed hearing on the matter, counsel for the Union Government informed the court that while it had been earlier decided to attach Major Surinder in J&K, it would not be done now. He also said that a free and fair trial would be held to bring out the truth in the matter. Major Singh has provided details of fake kills made by the companies posted in Siachin to a court of inquiry headed by Brigadier H.S
Nagra, Deputy General-Officer-Commanding (GOC), 3 Infantry Division. He told the court of inquiry that the companies, with the knowledge and instructions of Commanding Officer Colonel
K.D. Singh, reported kills of militants and enemy soldiers that never took place. He also gave details of how the scam was perpetuated. In some cases, to provide video support to the claims, soldiers of the company would play dead enemy. He provided specific details of the "kills" to the court of inquiry. Major Singh himself participated in some of these fake kills and was later recommended for Vir Chakra or Sena Medal. Presently, he is attached with N-Area, Chandigarh, on medical grounds. In his petition, he had said that he should not be sent to J&K as he was not medically fit. Today, after hearing counsel for the petitioner as well as respondents, the Bench directed that the trial in the matter be carried out outside J&K. To the request of counsel for Major Surinder that the trial be held outside the territory of Northern Command, the Bench gave him the liberty to file a separate petition for this
prayer. |
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Shehar writes her success story with Army’s help Ladakh (Chushot), , May 11 As you converse with Shehar, the only earning hand in a family of four, you realize that her’s is one of the finest success stories ever written. Right from her birth she could hardly concentrate on studies or her future because she was forever concerned about her ailing mother and father, her congenitally blind elder brother and younger sister. Tender years of Shehar’s life went in making whatever little money she could for the dependent family. She would indulge herself in the farms, work as a household help and undertake all possible tasks to make the money needed to treat her father and mother. In between she also found time to study whenever she could. She says, “My sister and brother could not be treated because the doctors said they were both blind by birth. But my mother, who suffered from respiratory disorders could recover if we could manage enough money. So I laboured day and night to make money for her treatment. She is now relatively fine, although she still needs complete medical attention.” Shehar breaks into tears as she tells us about her past travails. Left to care for ailing parents and blind siblings, she was still struggling to find a road to survival when one of her friends told her about the Women Empowerment Cell being run by the Army in Chushot, the only Muslim dominated village of Leh. Sahar did not think twice before taking the plunge that was to salvage her from all her desperations. She joined the year-long diploma course in Information Technology. Brilliant and diligent as she was, it was easy for her to pick up basics of the trade very fast. As she reversed her fate by working hard, a world of possibilities opened before her. In every step that she took towards a better future, she found the Indian Army guiding and facilitating her. Today Shehar is the IT instructor at one of the many IT centres being run by the Army in Leh. She is paid Rs 3000 a month. With the help of financial assistance, she has been able to send her younger sister to Ahmadiya School for the Blind in Aligarh. Shehar’s elder brother is now married. He has taken a new home and with the help of his wife he is sustaining himself financially. As for Shehar, she is happily taking care of her father, providing for his medicines. She is also supporting her younger sister in Aligarh. Ask her how it feels to be guiding other helpless girls find their vocation in life and Shehar, is quick to admit, “It feels like heaven. But nothing would have been possible without the support from the Indian Army, which ensures that girls like me not only learn new skills but also apply them for improving their living conditions. I am because the Army is!” |
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