J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Back home, J&K leaders happy
with Musharraf
Jammu, March 23
There is enthusiasm among Jammu and Kashmir leaders who have returned here from Islamabad after meeting the Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, during the conference that was organised by the US-based PUGWASH.

NC members seek minister’s sack
Jammu, March 23
Amidst noisy scenes by the opposition National Conference members, who were demanding sack of Public Health Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal, the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, adjourned the Assembly today.

Rs 1 cr spent on top leaders’ security
Jammu, March 23
The Jammu and Kashmir government has spent a sum of more than Rs 1 crore on protecting the 10 top separatist leaders who have questioned accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

About 130 kg of RDX seized
Srinagar, March 23
About 130 kg of RDX and other explosives, besides a large cache of arms and ammunition, including mines, IEDs, grenades and bombs, were seized by the Army in the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours, a Defence Ministry spokesman said today.

Back home, J&K leaders happy with Musharraf
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23
There is enthusiasm among Jammu and Kashmir leaders who have returned here from Islamabad after meeting the Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, during the conference that was organised by the US-based PUGWASH.

Leaders of various parties were allowed by the Centre to go to Pakistan and participate in the conference and they also took the opportunity to meet General Musharraf.

Back home, most of these leaders are full of tales of their meeting with General Musharraf which they recite with excitement and have little to say about the deliberations of the PUGWASH conference.

This has apparently come as a god-sent gift to General Musharraf as some participants of the conference have started describing him as more flexible than the Indian leadership on the Kashmir issue.

Some of them describe the PUGWASH conference as more fruitful because a few separatist leaders also participated in it while they boycotted the roundtable conference convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Another section of the Kashmir leadership in their gossip claim that the PUGWASH has raised the stature of General Musharraf who was otherwise pushed to the wall on the issue of allowing terrorism to flourish on his land. They claim that the PUGWASH has the White House orientation.

A CPM leader, Mr Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who has been targeted by terrorists a couple of times, after his return from Islamabad said he found more flexibility among the leaders and also the common people in Pakistan on the issue of solving the Kashmir problem.

He stressed that India should restore Article 370 providing a special status to Jammu and Kashmir in its original form. He endorsed General Musharraf’s demand for demilitarisation in Jammu and Kashmir by demanding that at the first instance troops should be sent back to the barracks at the places where peace prevailed.

Mr Bhim Singh, Chairman of the Panthers Party, was beaming after his meeting with General Musharraf. He says that General Musharraf’s propositions deserve a serious attention of the Indian leadership vis-à-vis the ongoing confidence-building measures between the two countries.

Mr Pinto Narboo, a Ladakhi legislator, visualises a sea change in Musharraf vis-a-vis his Agra meeting during the NDA regime.

Mr Narboo says that while General Musharraf talked from a position of strength during the Agra summit, has now got reduced to a bargaining position. Independence for Kashmir is now a closed chapter for him.

Dr Nirmal Singh, state BJP chief, was critical of the role of the National Conference president, Mr Omar Abdullah and Mr Bhim Singh at Islamabad, who, he alleged, challenged accession of J&K with India.

Mr Hakim Yaseen, Minister for Consumer Affairs, who also visited Islamabad, has described the PUGWASH conference as a positive step in the right direction.

Prof Amitabh Mattoo, Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, who led a 10-member team of the university to participate in the conference, says that the roundtable conference of Dr Manmohan Singh cannot be undermined. It was a loss for the separatists who rejected the invitation of the Prime Minister.

By sitting in the nearly seven-hour-long meeting, Dr Manmohan Singh has signalled how much J&K means to him. He said during his visit to Islamabad, he found that there was tremendous desire for peace in Pakistan.

Among the separatist leaders who participated in the conference were Prof Abdul Gani Bhat and the Peoples Conference chief, Mr Sajjad Lone.

The National Conference (NC) and the PDP submitted their respective peace formulas of restoration of autonomy and “self-rule” to the Pakistan leadership. However, a former minister and PDP leader, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, has stressed that the party leadership should first explain the contours of the “self-rule” to the people.

NC members seek minister’s sack
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23
Amidst noisy scenes by the opposition National Conference (NC) members, who were demanding sack of Public Health Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal, the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, adjourned the Assembly today.

The NC members were demanding that the minister should be dismissed for having "misled" the house on the issue of backdoor appointments in the department.

Pandemonium started in the morning as soon as the house assembled when the NC members blocked the question hour and raised slogans against the coalition government.

The Speaker adjourned the house for 30 minutes, but as the NC members refused to relent, the house was again adjourned till the afternoon.

However, the NC members again tried to stall the proceedings by raising slogans and walking into the well of the house. The speaker, however, put the demands for grants of various departments to vote amidst chaotic scenes and these were passed before he finally adjourned the house for the day.

Mr Tara Chand and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made efforts in vain to pacify the NC members during the adjournment. The opposition members were adamant on dismissal of the minister, who, they alleged, had given a false statement on the backdoor appointments in the House.

The leader of the opposition, Mr.Abdul Rahim Rather, said that the minister had been denying these allegations and all of a sudden read a statement in the house yesterday announcing that all those appointed after 2002 when the coalition government came to power have been disengaged by him with immediate effect.

Mr Rather said the minister had made the statement to circumvent the house committee that was set up to probe the facts about these appointments. The minister had committed a breach of privilege by making the statement, he claimed.

He said the minister, in his statement, has accepted the irregularities that the house committee had to probe.

Rs 1 cr spent on top leaders’ security
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23
The Jammu and Kashmir government has spent a sum of more than Rs 1 crore on protecting the 10 top separatist leaders who have questioned accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

The Chief Minister informed that a sum of Rs.1,00,87,939 was spent on their security during the year 2005 and Rs.91,32,735 during 2004.

The leaders on whose security the expenditure has been done were Moulvi, Umar Farooq, chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, Prof.Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Mr.Sajjad Lone, Mr.Bilal Lone, Mr.Shabir Ahmad Shah, chairman of the J&K Democratic Liberation Front, Mr.Saleem Geelani, Aga Syed Hussain Mousvi, Mr.Hashim Qureshi, chairman, J&K Liberation Front and Mr.Yaqoob Vakeel.

The Chief Minister said that leaders of different political ideologies are provided security on the basis of their individual threat perception.

In response to the query of the member that why no action was being taken against those preaching secession directly or indirectly, the Chief Minister said that action as warranted is invariably taken against those who violate the provisions of law.

In a written reply to a question of Mr.M.Y.Tarigami (CPM), the Chief Minister informed him that 535 civilians and 39 political activists were killed during the year 2005 and up to February 15 this year.

As many as 444 cases have been registered in different police stations of the state in which 61 cases stand challaned, 78 cases have been closed as untraced and 214 cases were under investigation.

The Chief Minister informed the member that the government has received the report regarding the terrorist attack in which the Minister of State for Education, Mr.G.N.Lone, was gunned down at his resident at Tulsi Bagh in Srinagar on October 18 last year. Mr.B.B.Vyas, secretary, finance, was appointed as the enquiry officer.

In a written reply, the chief minister informed Mr.Abdul Gani Malik (NC) that as many as 4316 victims of terrorism were waiting for government jobs.

About 130 kg of RDX seized

Srinagar, March 23
About 130 kg of RDX and other explosives, besides a large cache of arms and ammunition, including mines, IEDs, grenades and bombs, were seized by the Army in the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours, a Defence Ministry spokesman said today.

He said based on specific information from locals, the Army busted three hideouts and seized RDX and other arms and ammunition.

A search operation was conducted at Trehgam village in North Kashmir late last night after locals provided information about a hideout.

He said the arms and ammunition seized from the hideout included 9 kg of RDX, 19 kg of other explosives, two RPG rocket fuses, three RPG bombs, one Chinese mine, nine slabs of plastic explosives, one anti-tank IED, 10 hand grenades of various types, two AK-47 rifles, 10 AK magazines, one UBGL, two radio sets, 540 rounds of AK rifle and 21 pistol rounds. In yet another operation in Kokernag in Anantnag district, the Army busted another hideout and recovered seven packets of explosives, each weighing 12 kg. — UNI