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Hurriyat accepts PM’s offer
In video (28k, 56k)
Shabir Shah feels disappointed
Mufti for early resumption of dialogue
Morcha wants Bhim Singh to replace Mufti
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Drinking water problem in Srinagar
Raids to trace SSP,
wife
Lieut-Gen Hari Prasad retires
Consensus candidate wins Zanskar seat
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Hurriyat accepts PM’s offer
Srinagar, August 31 “We have received the invitation from the PM’s Office and we have in principal accepted it,” Mirwaiz told UNI this afternoon. However, he said, members of the Executive Council Working Committee and the General Council would meet tomorrow at its Rajbagh headquarters to discuss the offer. The meeting was being held to take into confidence every constituent of the amalgam before holding talks with Dr Manmohan Singh, he said, adding that “it will have no effect on our decision to accept the invitation”. “We have accepted it and are going to Delhi for a dialogue on the scheduled date,” he said. When asked about the agenda of the meeting, Mirwaiz Omar said everything would be discussed. “Besides the basic Kashmir issue, we will take up issues of continued human rights violations, release of detenues languishing in jails for years, custodial deaths and fake encounters.” However, the main thrust will be on how to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the Kashmir issue acceptable to all three parties — India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir. This will be the first meeting between the moderate Hurriyat Conference and the Prime Minister after the UPA assumed power at the Centre in May, 2004. Earlier in April this year, Dr Manmohan Singh had given his consent for talks with the moderate HC and three dates were shortlisted. However, amalgam leaders refused to meet the Prime Minister and stuck to their demand of first holding discussions with the Pakistani leadership and travelling to Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Observers here said it was Union Panchayati Raj Secretary Wajahat Habibullah, who arranged the meeting between Dr Manmohan Singh and the HC leaders after he had a closed-door meeting with Mirwaiz Farooq at his Nigeen residence here on Saturday. He reportedly discussed the proposed dates for talks between the Hurriyat leaders and the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the CPM today welcomed the Prime Minister’s invitation to the moderate HC leaders for talks. “It is a welcome step,” he said, adding that it should be broad-based and other groups should also be involved in the dialogue process. The talks should be result-oriented, state secretary of the CPM Mohammad Yousuf Targami told UNI here this afternoon. However, he stressed all other parties should be involved in the dialogue process and the process should be institutionalised. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, welcomed the invitation to the Hurriyat Conference for talks on September 5 and termed it as a positive development. “The move highlights the seriousness with which the Centre is addressing the Jammu and Kashmir issue,” Mr Sayeed said. He added that the invitation was a positive development that would help further promote the atmosphere of peace in the state. He said he had always maintained that dialogue was the only option to address issues and referred to the statement of the Prime Minister today that “howsoever a problem, might be complex in nature, it could be sorted out through dialogue and democratic process”. The Chief Minister hoped that the talks would be the fore-runner of a wider dialogue in which other groups in the state would see the merit of the talks and join the process. Mr Sayeed also appealed to the gun-wielding youth to give peace a chance, especially now when dialogue at the highest level was going to take place to address the problem. He also emphasised the need to involve the elected representatives of the people from the three regions of the state in the dialogue process.
— UNI |
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Shabir Shah feels disappointed
Jammu, August 31 Reacting to the PM’s invitation to the Hurriyat leaders for talks on September 5, Mr Shah told this correspondent over the telephone that he always favoured a result-oriented dialogue. He was unhappy over not being invited for talks. While Pakistan and the European Union accepted him as a leader of Kashmir, what hitch did the Indian Government feel in inviting him for talks, he
said. |
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Mufti for early resumption of dialogue
Srinagar, August 31 Addressing a series of public meetings in Pulwama district yesterday Mufti Sayeed said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was committed to an unconditional dialogue. Expressing the hope that talks would start soon, he, however, stressed on the need to involve people of all three regions in the process to accommodate their aspirations. The Chief Minister said situation in Jammu and Kashmir had improved a lot. He said till the problem was finally addressed economic and development issues could not be ignored. Accordingly, he said the government while making all out efforts for the return of lasting peace had embarked upon a massive development programme in the state. He thanked the Central Government for the liberal assistance provided for the economic reconstruction of the state. Addressing the meetings, Minister for Rural Development Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said the present phase was an experimental one in which 119 villages in Jammu and Kashmir would be developed as model villages. He asked the people of these villages to form committees to monitor the works that would be undertaken under the model village scheme. |
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Morcha wants Bhim Singh to replace Mufti
Jammu, August 31 In a joint statement here, Mr Shri Kumar and Mr Tilak Raj Sharma, chairman and co-chairman of the JSM, said Mr Bhim Singh, who is a staunch supporter of a separate state of Jammu, would definitely be welcomed as the next Chief Minister by the people of Jammu who were suffering from a sense of deprivation. They said that although the Panthers Party is a junior partner in the ruling coalition the claim of Mr Bhim Singh should not be brushed aside. The JSM leaders said though Chief Minister from Jammu was no substitute to the separate state of Jammu, it would be a healing touch for the people of Jammu who had been shabbily treated by the successive governments. Meanwhile, the Panthers Party has launched a signature campaign here in support of Mr Bhim Singh being appointed Chief Minister.
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Drinking water problem in Srinagar
Srinagar, August 31 The accumulation of snow during winters on high mountains surrounding the valley determine the quantum of flow of water to suffice the summer. Even as the last winter had a heavy snowfall with accumulation of snow breaking the record of 40 years during February, there was no end to the shortage of drinking water this summer. The protest demonstrations continued intermittently, but the travails of the people on the shortage of proper water supply in many areas of the city were many more. Three major reasons are given by experts to the shortage of drinking water in summer months, particularly in the capital city of over 12 lakh population. First, the efficiency of old plants has reduced by 25 per cent. Secondly, a population of about 10 per cent has been added over the years, thereby creating additional burden on its resources due to migration from rural areas. Lastly, drinking water is misused by irrigating lawns, kitchen gardens and construction purposes. “This becomes evident when the water supply gets automatically restored following showers,” said Mr Shabir Hussain, an engineer of the Public Health Engineering Department
(PHE), looking after the drinking water supply. “It is not because our reservoirs get full of water due to rains, but the watering taps in lawns and kitchen gardens are stopped,” he adds. Officials here claim that the shortage of drinking water would be overcome within a year, for which the state government has formulated a Rs 104-crore project to be implemented during the current year with the Asian Development Bank assistance. The time-bound project being implemented by the economic reconstruction agency would meet the increased demand for potable water in the city, according to an official spokesman. Against the designed capacity of 57.55 MGD of water, the efficiency has reduced to 43.74 MGD, according to the officials. They said only one treatment plant constructed in 2000 gave the designed production of 4 MGD while the efficiency of all other plants, some of whom have been commissioned as back as in 1939 and 1959, has gone down. The officials said the
ADB-funded project would raise the efficiency of the existing water treatment plants. The fall in the production level in old plants coupled with overdrawing of potable water by people during summer has resulted in a shortage of water in tail-end areas of various water supply schemes. These areas count for 2 per cent of the total population. The problem, according to the officials, is aggravated by the misuse of potable water when people indiscriminately use it for gardening and construction purposes. The use of direct online boosters adds to the problem and when the temperature comes down the problem of water shortage vanishes even in the tail-end areas.
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Raids to trace SSP,
wife
Jammu, August 31 The police said Mr Karnail Singh, who is currently posted as commandant of the 6th battalion of the IRP, and his wife were untraceable and police teams had been rushed to various places for producing the two for questioning regarding their involvement in the case. Five persons, including a Special Police Official, Naresh Kumar, have already been arrested and the police claimed that they had confessed their involvement in the murder. The others arrested are Dalip Singh, Jaimal, Ajit Kumar and Sonu. The body of Nitin was found in a canal at Greater Kailash here on August 26. |
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Lieut-Gen Hari Prasad retires
Jammu, August 31 Officers carried the Army Commander in a colourfully decorated jeep at Udhampur after which he inspected a guard of honour. General Hari Prasad said that he would settle down at Secunderabad where he had constructed a house. He hails from Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh. He said that the Northern Command was a torchbearer and showcase of the Army and had a very crucial role to play since the operations were of a very large magnitude. |
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Consensus candidate wins Zanskar seat
Srinagar, August 31 Mr Raza, who fought the byelection held in the constituency on August 26 as an Independent, was declared elected at the end of the counting of votes today, the sources said. Mr Raza polled 8,942 votes, while his nearest rival, National Conference candidate Aga Syed Abbas, got 4,976 votes.
— PTI |
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