Srinagar, March 20
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was today closed to traffic after landslides triggered by incessant overnight rains, led to hundreds of vehicles being stranded on the arterial road linking Kashmir to the rest of the country. The 300-km-long highway has been closed to traffic after a landslide at Nashri, 145 km from here, an official of the Traffic Control Department said.

The two-way traffic on the road, the economic lifeline to Kashmir, was restored yesterday after it remained affected for most of the past week. Landslides are a common occurrence on the highway at this time of the year due to rainfall. The Border Roads Organisation, which maintains the road, pressed its men and machines to clear the landslide at Nashri. However, unabated rains hampered the road-clearance operation.

The closure of the road has left hundreds of vehicles carrying passengers and essential commodities stranded at various places on the highway.

The official said no vehicles were allowed to proceed to Jammu from here as those might also get caught in the bad weather.

Meanwhile, rains continued to lash the Kashmir valley for the second consecutive day today while the upper reaches and mountainous regions received a fresh snowfall.

The rains and snowfall plunged the day temperatures by several degrees. — PTI

Jammu, March 20
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of Mufti Sayeed is vertically divided on the issue of selection of a candidate for the Sangrama Assembly seat for which byelection will be held on April 24.

While the Mufti has reportedly made up his mind to give the party ticket to Mr Javed Baig, a close relative of Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Deputy Chief Minister, the rival faction led by Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, MLA and a former minister, has announced that Mr Shoaib Lone would be fielded as a rebel candidate in case the ticket was denied to him.

Mr Shoaib Lone is son of Mr G N Lone, the then Education Minister, who was assassinated by unidentified terrorists at his official residence in Srinagar a few months ago.

The Mir faction has stressed that Mr Shoaib Lone was the right candidate as the seat was vacated due to assassination of his father.

However, the other faction was determined to support Mr Shoaib Lone as they were not only sympathetic towards him but have also raised objections that Mr Baig was an "outsider" as he did not belong to the Sangrama constituency.

Jammu, March 20
Taking a contrary stand on the PDP’s demand for “self-rule” in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, a party MLA and a former minister, today alleged that the proposal was aimed at stalling the dialogue process that has been initiated by the Centre with those who had so far been alienated in the valley.

Mr Mir, who was talking to this correspondent, said that the PDP’s “self-rule” proposal and the National Conference’s demand for autonomy for J&K were two sides of the same coin.

He said that the PDP, which had recently discussed the proposal with the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during the conference of PUGWASH at Islamabad, should come out with the contours of “self-rule” it was seeking. It is not clear whether the proposal aims at making J&K a sovereign state.

Mr Mir, who did not participate in the round table conference organised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently at Delhi although he was invited for it, said that he had reasons for not going there as he did not want that different voices should be raised by the partymen on the issue on that platform. He later met the Prime Minister separately to discuss the issue and various other proposals for peace in Kashmir.

He said that in case the Kashmir leadership was serious for a dialogue between the alienated people and the Centre, then why were they putting forth the demand for “self-rule” and autonomy for the state. He said that self-rule already existed in Jammu and Kashmir as the duly elected legislators have chosen the Chief Minister and the elected Panchayats and other local bodies were also functional.

Mr Mir described such proposals as a “political gimmick” and alleged that certain elements were bent upon creating uncertainty so that bloodshed and militancy continued in the state.

Jammu, March 20
Two persons, including a policeman, were arrested today for allegedly gang raping a girl in a village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and the police has launched a hunt for five other suspects.

The girl of Nathipura village, near Anantnag town, lodged a complaint on Friday alleging that seven men accosted her while she was going to the house of a relative in Jintal and raped her, officials said here.

They said the police arrested two suspects, identified as Constable Shabir Ahmed and Manzoor Ahmed in Banihal belt of the district this morning and were trying to trace the others. — PTI