Jammu, July 31
An IAS officer of 1970 batch is without any work. He is slated to retire in January 2008 but the civil secretariat is out of bounds for him.

He has been booked by the Vigilance Bureau for his alleged involvement in a jute mat supply scam. The bureau has neither filed a challan in the court nor the government has placed him under suspension.

Mr Ajit Kumar was granted bail on October 25, 2004. Since then, he has not held any office though no suspension order has been served. The Central Government has not sanctioned his trial.

Inside reports said wrangles in the higher echelons of the state bureaucracy are responsible for keeping the sword of Damocles hanging on his head.

On the basis of seniority, Mr Ajit Kumar is eligible to be the next Chief Secretary after Mr S.S. Beloria retires in September this year. Those junior to him are said to have manipulated affairs, preventing Mr Ajit Kumar for staking claim for the post of Chief Secretary.

What intrigues his supporters in the bureaucracy is the way the state government has deliberately slept on the matter after the Centre did not sanction his trial. They say after the Centre did not sanction his suspension, the state government should have allowed him to rejoin duties as Financial Commissioner.

It has not been done, secretariat sources said, because senior ruling political leaders and bureaucrats loyal to the ruling government were engaged in clearing decks for an IAS officer junior to Mr Ajit Kumar to get installed as Chief Secretary.

Mr Ajit Kumar is due to retire in 2008 and as such his installation as Chief Secretary could block elevation of at least four IAS officers who are due to retire between 2005 and 2006.

Sources in the civil secretariat said the government was changing the yardstick which it had applied at the time of filling the Chief Secretary’s post two years ago. At that time, Mr Beloria, who was junior to Mr K.B. Pillai, Mr Jaleel Ahmed Khan and Mr H.L. Kadalbujoo, was appointed Chief Secretary on the plea that Mr Pillai, Mr Khan and Mr Kadalbujoo had only seven months left for their retirement.

Srinagar, July 31
The Jammu and Kashmir Government today effected a major reshuffle in both civil and police administrations which included the replacement of Chief Secretary S. Bloeria by Vijay Bakaya and the appointment of Baramula Superintendent of Police Muneer Ahmad Khan as Srinagar SP.

Bakaya, who was principal secretary to the Chief Minister, was appointed as the Chief Secretary at a cabinet meeting chaired by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, an official spokesman said.

Bloeria, who will be retiring in September, has been appointed as adviser to the Chief Minister, he said.

The spokesman said Abdul Majid Khanday has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner of Kupwara in place of Abdul Hamid who has been posted at the secretariat.

Nayeem Akhtar has been made the principal secretary, general administration department, in place of S.L. Bhat, who has been sent on deputation to the central government, the spokesman said.

S.S. Kapoor has been repatriated from the central government and posted as Principal Secretary in the Department of Industries.

Commissioner-Secretary Health and Medical Education Sonali Kumar has been transferred and posted as Commissioner-Secretary in the Revenue Department, he added.

The government also effected a reshuffle in the police administration transferring as many as 16 senior officers including Baramula Superintendent of Police Muneer Ahmad Khan, who has been appointed as SP Srinagar in place of Sayeed Ahmad Sayeed. Sayeed has been made SP CID (headquarters), the spokesman said.

Senior IAS officer S.V. Bhave, who was on central deputation, has been made the Principal Secretary in Health and Medical Education Department while Madhav Lal, who was on a foreign assignment, has been appointed as Principal Secretary in Housing and Urban Development Department relieving Anil Goswami from the additional charge, the spokesman said.

Lokesh Dutta Jha has been transferred from the Revenue Department and posted as Commissioner-Secretary in Science and Technology Department, he said.

Senior police officer Abdul Qayoom Manhas has been transferred and posted as Assistant Inspector General of Police in the personnel section of police headquarters in place of Showkat Hussain Kant, who has been given the charge of SP state Vigilance Organisation, Kashmir.

Ashkoor Ahmad Wani, who was SP in CID (CIK section), has been transferred and posted as SP Baramula while Ghulam Hassan Bhat has been moved to CID (CIK section), he said.

Naseer Ud Din has been given the charge of SP state vigilance organisation while Ghulam Mohammad Dar takes his place as SP, security, Kashmir.

Jagjeet Kumar and Alok Puri, both awaiting posting orders, have been appointed as SP security and SP CID, Jammu, respectively. — PTI

Jammu, July 31
Separatists who are keen to resume dialogue with the Government of India believe that intermittent fidayeen attacks and other violence incidents, including alleged human rights violations by the security forces, are stumbling blocks in the road to peace and the settlement of the Kashmir issue.

“We know that these incidents will continue to take place till India and Pakistan address the core Kashmir issue and resolve it to the satisfaction of people,” a senior APHC leader, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, said today.

He said: “If the incidents of excesses by the security forces as one witnessed in Kupwara recently in which three boys were killed in the Army fire and the fidayeen attack in the Lal Chowk area continued, these may create difficulties in the way of those keen to solve the problem through dialogue.”

Prof Hari Om, vice-president, BJP, said: “If the Government of India opts for resumption of dialogue it should not be Kashmir centric but state centric so that representatives of people of Jammu and Ladakh regions too were involved in the parleys.” He said the dialogue with the separatists should remain confined to the issue of restoration of peace.

Regarding recent statements of leaders of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, who are on an eight-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir these days, the BJP leader said: “Those who matter across the LoC also do not recognise the Hurriyat leaders as the representative of the people of the state.”

He was of the opinion that increase in the level of violence was the result of power struggle between the PDP and the Congress. He said the events that took place in the state during the past three months had clearly revealed that militancy-related violence escalated after April 7 when the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road was thrown open for traffic.

Besides mainstream political leaders, even a section of separatists blame the vested interest in the state and across the border for creating a situation in which the ongoing peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad may not be a durable exercise.

Srinagar, July 31
Four militants, including a foreigner, were among five persons killed, while as many civilians were wounded in two separate grenade blasts in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening, an official spokesman said today.

He said the security forces killed Hizbul Mujahideen militant Abdul Wahid Bhat in an encounter at Katarsoo Kulgam village in Anantnag district this afternoon.

The encounter began after a search party was attacked by the militants, he added.

Another Hizb militant, identified as Irshad Ahmad Dar, was gunned down by the security forces at Sirigufwara in the same district late last night, the spokesman said.

The security forces shot dead a foreign militant in an encounter at Budnambal in Trehgam of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara last evening.

The security forces killed another militant in Phagala forest in Rajouri district of the Jammu region during a gunfight.

The militant was identified as Mohammad Adil.