J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Pandits not to attend APHC meeting
Jammu, July 16
Leaders of major organisations of displaced Kashmiri Pandits today reiterated their resolve not to attend the meeting convened by the APHC leadership in Srinagar on July 19.

Invite to Hurriyat: NC, hardliners embarrass Centre
Jammu, July 16
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s delay in inviting the APHC leaders for talks has given a handle to the Opposition National Conference and to the hardliners among the separatists for causing embarrassment to the Centre and the moderate Hurriyat leaders.

BJP asks Cong ministers to quit
Jammu, July 16
The state BJP chief, Dr Nirmal Singh, today urged the Congress ministers in the Mufti-led coalition government to resign in protest against the announcement by the Chief Minister regarding creation of three new tehsils in Doda district and not implementing the report of the Wazir Commission that recommended creation of three new districts in Jammu division.

Copter service for yatris challenged
Jammu, July 16
Mr Rajinder Sharma, president of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Welfare Organisation, has filed a petition in the high court against the helicopter service that has been introduced to carry pilgrims to the mountainous shrine from Baltal.

Pandits not to attend APHC meeting
Our Correspondent

Jammu, July 16
Leaders of major organisations of displaced Kashmiri Pandits today reiterated their resolve not to attend the meeting convened by the APHC leadership in Srinagar on July 19.

The meeting has been convened to debate on the return of the displaced people to the valley and on the future of Kashmir in the light of the continued militancy-related turmoil.

Leaders belonging to the Delhi-based Kashmiri Samiti, the Panun Kashmir and the All-State Pandit Solidarity Conference made it clear that owing to a wide chasm in the ideology of the APHC and the one being pursued by the “nationalist” Kashmiri Pandits, there was no scope for a “meeting ground.”

The chairman of the Panun Kashmir, Dr Ajay Chrungoo, the chief of the Kashmiri Samiti, Mr Sunil Sakhdar and the president of the solidarity conference, Mr O.N. Trisal, told mediapersons in Jammu today that “we have decided not to attend the meeting.”

They said, “the possibility of a meeting with the separatists is ruled out after they made their intentions and preferences clear during their recent visit to Pakistan where some of them favoured a united states of Kashmir, others supported Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan and yet others described the ongoing violence in Kashmir as freedom struggle.:”

“What sort of confidence and security can the separatists infuse among the people of our community when they have neither condemned the genocide of Pandits, nor identified the killers of muslim political leaders?” asked Dr Chrungoo.

The Pandit leaders said, “We want communalism in Kashmir to be defeated, we want reversal of genocide and we want the separatists to condemn the ongoing violence. If the APHC leaders make a commitment in this direction, there can be a meeting ground with them.”

Others who have announced their boycott of the meeting include the All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, headed by Mr A.N. Vaishnavi and the Vichar Manch led by Dr R.L. Bhat.

The general secretary of the Kashmiri Pandit Conference, Mr Hira Lal Chatha, said “I have not received a reply from the APHC leadership whether it is ready to accept the Constitution of India and the state’s accession to India.”

However, a senior APHC leader, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, said, “We have not invited those Pandit leaders who play politics. We have invited people from the migrant camps and prominent academics, technocrats, businessmen and those who do not shout in favour of a separate homeland for Pandits.”

He said the “July 19 meet is the beginning of the process of involving Pandit leaders in the process of normalisation of the situation in Kashmir which could facilitate their return to the valley.”

Dr Chrungoo said, “no methodology has been adopted by the APHC. The agenda which is slated for discussion at the meeting has not been communicated to us and we do not think the interaction can prove purposeful.”

However, Professor Bhat said the agenda was being given final touches and would be intimated to those present at the meeting in advance.

Invite to Hurriyat: NC, hardliners embarrass Centre
M.L. Kak

Jammu, July 16
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s delay in inviting the APHC leaders for talks has given a handle to the Opposition National Conference and to the hardliners among the separatists for causing embarrassment to the Centre and the moderate Hurriyat leaders.

According to Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads a conglomerate of hardliners, the APHC leaders are begging for the resumption of dialogue with the Government of India.

In his frontal attack on the rival Hurriyat leaders, Mr Geelani has been telling people at the rallies that by “begging for the resumption of talks with the Centre the APHC leaders had brought disgrace to the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.

Though Molvi Abbas Ansari, a senior APHC leader, ridiculed Mr Geelani’s “assertion”, saying “he (Geelani) had become frustrated over the fast-changing scenario in which Pakistan had recognised us as representatives of people of Kashmir”, the moderate separatists feel embarrassed over the way Delhi has been showing hardly any haste in resuming the dialogue with them for the settlement of the Kashmir issue.

This has encouraged Mr Geelani to announce publicly that the Centre was “never serious in resolving the Kashmir issue”. He even went to the extent of saying that the only solution to the problem lay in granting freedom to Kashmir.

Even the National Conference leadership has found sufficient material for taking a dig at the moderates among the separatists, the Centre and the Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed. During public meetings, the NC President, Mr Omar Abdullah, has been accusing the centre of not being serious on the resolution of the Kashmir issue. He usually tells people that the Kashmir problem has to be resolved as per the “wishes and aspirations” of the people of Kashmir and even if the APHC leaders were invited for a dialogue, they would be treated to a cup of tea, nothing beyond.

Apparently piqued by continued support the Congress has been giving to Mufti Mohd Sayeed for running the coalition government smoothly, Mr Omar Abdullah has been blaming the Centre for providing patronage to puppets in Srinagar. In support of his argument, he has been citing the example of his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, and father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who, he said, were dislodged as chief ministers when they refused to act as puppets of the Government of India.

Inside reports indicated that the NC leadership was annoyed over the way the Congress-led UPA government refused to explore the possibility of forming a government in Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the National Conference. In that case the NC leadership could have hastened the exit of Mufti Mohd Sayeed from the Chief Minister’s chair.

It is in this context that Mr Omar Abdullah is not prepared to give any credit to the Mufti for facilitating the reopening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, saying that the road was opened under “international pressure”. Knowledgeable circles said that the NC leadership was sharpening its knives against Mufti Mohd Sayeed so that the Congress was motivated to install a Congress leader as the Chief Minister as per the October 2002 agreement.

BJP asks Cong ministers to quit
Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 16
The state BJP chief, Dr Nirmal Singh, today urged the Congress ministers in the Mufti-led coalition government to resign in protest against the announcement by the Chief Minister regarding creation of three new tehsils in Doda district and not implementing the report of the Wazir Commission that recommended creation of three new districts in Jammu division.

Reacting to the Chief Minister’s announcement that he made in the presence of a Union Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, in the Doda area yesterday, Dr Nirmal Singh said the Mufti had perhaps not taken the Cabinet into confidence before creating three tehsils in Doda. The creation of these tehsils was beyond the recommendations of the Wazir Commission.

He welcomed the decision of creating new tehsils, but accused the Congress of having once again failed to get the report of the Wazir Commission implemented.

Copter service for yatris challenged
Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 16
Mr Rajinder Sharma, president of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Welfare Organisation, has filed a petition in the high court against the helicopter service that has been introduced to carry pilgrims to the mountainous shrine from Baltal. His lawyer, Mr Parag Sharma, said passengers were being fleeced by private airlines that were operating the service. He said the ice “lingam” had started melting because of the disturbances being caused due to the nearly 40 sorties that were being operated daily.