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35 kg RDX seized in Anantnag
Five of family hurt in Pulwama blast
Urban poverty alleviation |
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35 kg RDX seized in Anantnag
Srinagar, June 18 The Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Mr Gopal Sharma in a statement said here that 35 kg of RDX were seized from a house in Shamsipora, Mattan, in Anantnag district today. Three persons held in this connection have been identified as Muzaffar Ahmad, Hilal Ahmad and Farooq Ahmad, who made “startling disclosures before the police with regard to various blasts in South Kashmir,” the statement said. In a related development, the Pulwama police has unearthed the conspiracy that led to the blast on June 13 in which 15 persons were killed and several others injured, besides heavy damage to public property, the DGP said. The conspiracy of the blast had been hatched by the Hizbul Mujahideen militants at a meeting in the orchards of Haf-Khore, Shopian. Omar, alias Suhail, from Arwani, Beijbehara, divisional commander of the outfit, South Kashmir, masterminded the operation. The meeting was attended by three others including Mohammad Ashraf Parray, district commander, Rayees Ahmad Dar, alias Tawheed, and Ishfaq, all belonging to South Kashmir. Besides, active support was provided by two Pakistani militants, Omar and Abu Azan of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, active in the Shopian area of Pulwama district. Some more individuals, including an employee of the Education Department who have a strong bearing on the investigation of the case, were absconding, the statement said. A manhunt has been launched to nab them. The explosion had been caused by triggering 40 kg of IED planted in an old Maruti car, according to the police. Its damaged engine, found about 10 m from the blast site, has been sent to FSL for expert opinion. Some others have also been arrested here for their involvement in various grenade attacks, including those outside Biscoe School here, Dalgate, and Batamaloo areas of the city. One of them has been identified as Riyaz Ahmad alias Yaseen of the Shopian area and belonging to the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen outfit, the DGP said. Javed Ahmad Sheikh, allegedly responsible for the grenade attack outside Biscoe School here last month has also been picked up. |
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Five of family hurt in Pulwama blast
Srinagar, June 18 The infiltrators fled after an encounter, while four UBGL grenades were seized from the spot. A police spokesman here said six unidentified militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces near the LoC in the Karnah sector of Kupwara district yesterday. Four AK rifles, eight magazines, 96 rounds, two pistols, two magazines, 11 rounds, 36 hand grenades, a wireless set, 5 kg of explosives, Rs 6700 Indian currency and Rs 1714 Pakistani currency were seized from the slain militants, the police said. At least four members of the family of Ghulam Qadir Dar, including two women, were injured when an IED went off in their house at Malangpora, Awantipora in Pulwama district last night. Dar’s son, Parvez Ahmad Dar, alias Parvez Kachroo, according to the police, is an active militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. The separatist APHC (Geelani) has expressed concern over the incident and blamed the security forces for the attack on innocent family members. Its spokesman held that this incident had taken place despite tall claims of those having recently visited Pakistan. An IED was seized from the house of a militant at Panjgam in Pulwama district today, that was neutralised without causing any harm, the police said. The security forces seized one pistol, three magazines, 138 rounds, one AK magazine, 30 AK rounds and 54 pika rounds during searches in the Panchi nullah, while a youth was rescued from militants in Udhampur district. |
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Urban poverty alleviation
Srinagar, June 18 In his address at the two-day national conference on “Urban poverty alleviation” the Chief Minister urged the central and state governments to come out with a policy in this direction. He emphasised that the people should not live in the slums that were increasing and without any specific data available. Senior officers from different states are participating in the two-day meeting, the first of its kind being held outside the union capital on this topic. Inaugurating the conference, the Union Minister of State for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Ms Selja said out of 285 million people living in over 5000 cities in the country, nearly 67 million population lived below the poverty line and 62 million in urban slums and squatter settlements. She said that cities struggled to provide access to shelter and basic infrastructure services to the vast and ever-growing population. The increase in urban population apart from natural population growth was because of the migration from rural areas. “The poor people in rural areas who are squeezed out of the economic system due to the natural demographic process and reduction in land holdings are forced to migrate to cities in search of employment,” she stated, adding that the pressure of migration was enormous. Referring to the central government’s approach on “urban renewal” to improve the quality of the urban poor, as part of its common minimum programme, the union minister said it was being considered as a “mission mode”. She pointed out that there was a proposal “to put in place a targeted programme to focus on the areas inhabited by the urban poor”. This included focus on basic amenities, facilities, services, social security and transparency. Seeking a public-private partnership, she pointed out that there was requirement of massive funds and the contribution of all stakeholders, particularly the government, and the role and contribution of the corporate sector, to achieve the goal. She stressed the need for initiating a dialogue on private-public partnership in providing social housing and urban basic services to the poor. The union minister asked the conference to deliberate on an 11-point programme to reach a practicable and implementable action plan. Disclosing that the government had “no reliable statistics for slum population”, Ms Selja said the ministry was considering to conduct survey to collect proper data and statistics on slums. There was a need to review the Housing and Habitat Policy, 1998, to make it more public and industry friendly, she said. The Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Tourism, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, sought to redefine the concept of poverty line beyond its “calorific definition” as there were other factors also responsible for poverty. Mr Mir’s view was corroborated by Ms Selja who sought to review the definition of urban poverty. “Mere reliance on calorie consumption and a few non-food expenditures may not be enough,” she stated. Mr Mir pointed out that there were factors clearly other than hunger and malnutrition, like basic sanitation or minimal health services, homelessness or inadequate housing, unhealthy or unsafe environment, lack of education, social and political exclusion, which caused deprivation among people leading to a state of poverty among them. Referring to the prevalent formula for determining poverty, the minister said the per capita daily calorie intake of 2400 for rural and 2200 in urban areas was taken as an index of poverty and expenditure necessary for meeting this nutritional requirement. The Housing and Urban Development minister said that according to the formula poverty in India had come down from 44.4 per cent to 26.1 per cent over the past two decades. In Jammu and Kashmir, he said, the poverty had declined from 24.4 per cent in 1983 to 3.4 per cent in 2000. The decline in percentage during this period was 41.2 at the national level, while it was 86.7 in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest in the country, he said. Referring to the figures of the Planning Commission, the minister said that only 49,000 out of 25 lakh people in urban areas of the State were living below the poverty line and 1.37 lakh people had been lifted out of it since 1993. He added that these figures coincided with the worst form of militancy in the state. |
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Waheeda finds peace in Kashmir
Srinagar, June 18 “Peace has returned to Kashmir after a long gap. The situation will further improve... complete peace and tranquility will be there again, Waheeda said at a function to provide relief to widows and orphans of a home, being run by a local NGO. The Padamshri awardee, who has come to Kashmir after a gap of 25 years, said she hoped Bollywood would come for shooting in Kashmir as the state was limping back to normalcy. Terming Kashmir as the most beautiful place she had ever visited the actor, however, expressed concern over population explosion in the valley and shrinking of the famous Dal Lake in the city. “Since I am coming to Kashmir after a long time, I feel the lake has shrunk and is polluted also. There is need to keep it and its surroundings clean,” she said. Observing that an educated person could achieve anything, Waheeda hailed the role of teachers and said they had the topmost place in society. She is the second celebrity to meet the orphans after former Miss Universe and Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen.
— PTI |
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