J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Emotional moments mark flagging-off of bus to Rawalkot

Poonch, June 20 It was an emotional moment for Farida Begum as Rawalkot-bound bus, she boarded, started its journey from here this afternoon after being flagged off by UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi. A Pakistani woman enters India after boarding a new bus service between the two countries at Chakka-da-Bagh in Poonch on Tuesday. — Reuters

Shrine board denies tampering at cave
Srinagar, June 20
The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has described as unfortunate the attempts being made to rake up a controversy over the ice lingam formation at the holy cave, saying that there was no question of tampering with the sanctity of the revered cave shrine by the board.

IAS, KAS officers transferred
Srinagar, June 20
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered transfer and postings of 25 IAS and KAS officers.

Body of youth found on cave route
Srinagar, June 20
The body of a young pilgrim was recovered from Sangam, 5 km short of the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, official sources said today.

Emotional moments mark
flagging-off of bus to Rawalkot
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Poonch, June 20
It was an emotional moment for Farida Begum as Rawalkot-bound bus, she boarded, started its journey from here this afternoon after being flagged off by UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi.

She had reasons to get emotional as she was undertaking the journey to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for first time to meet her parents and relatives from whom she was separated 41 years ago in 1965.

Incidentally, bus service from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) has been inaugurated on World Refugees Day.

Farida Begum said she never expected that road would reopen in view of bitter relations between India and Pakistan.

Other passengers also described the bus service as a dream come true. Most of the divided families are living in border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.

Passengers of the bus from PoK arrived before the bus from here was flagged off. They were taken into the immigration office at Chakan-da-Bagh on the LoC for clearance of documents.

The passengers from this side were greeted by Mrs Gandhi and presented with roses and souvenirs before they boarded the bus for Rawalkot in PoK. Those, who arrived from PoK were surprised to see Mrs Gandhi receiving them with warmth.

Chakan-da-Bagh that was notorious for infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan now has become a symbol of bolstering people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan.

Amirullah Khan and his wife Naseem Akhtar, who boarded the bus for Rawalkot, said that they would propagate the message of love and end of bloodshed in the state.

They said they would meet their relatives in Mirpur, Rawalkot and Muzaffarabad and stress for the end of the gun culture.

Zaheer Bhatti and his wife Shakeela said the bus service was a dream come true for them. Bhatti said he himself was a victim of terrorism as his mother Saifa Begum was killed by militants in his house at Rajouri in 2004.

Abdul Majeed said that he was travelling to PoK for the second time. Earlier, he travelled to PoK via the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route.

The Wagah-type gates on both sides of LoC were opened as the passengers reached there.

The entire area around Chakan-da-Bagh, which was mined by troops to prevent infiltration of terrorists, was de-mined by Army engineers to pave the way for the construction of 10 km road from Poonch town and other facilities for the passengers on LoC.

Shrine board denies tampering at cave
Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 20
The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has described as unfortunate the attempts being made to rake up a controversy over the ice lingam formation at the holy cave, saying that there was no question of tampering with the sanctity of the revered cave shrine by the board.

A spokesman of SASB said the board got information from its sources from the holy cave that there was small lingam this year compared to previous years. Accordingly, a team of board officials visited the cave in the second week of May and found that lingam formation had not taken place.

However, the ice lingams of Parvati and Ganesha had formed at the normal place, 5 feet from the Shiv lingam, he added. The spokesman said a team of High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) was sent to inspect the track and surroundings of the cave on May 14.

The team found that the cave-top was totally free from snow, glacier cover had receded by 100 metres or so and the Shiv lingam site was found dry.

Another team of the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) was later sent on May 18 to the holy cave shrine to look into the possible causes. Through visual inspection and satellite pictures, this team too confirmed the receding of glaciers primarily on account of global warming.

Elaborating further, the spokesman said that a welcome development was reported by SASE about water trickling at the speed of two to three drops per minute on May 19 and by ending May there were reports of heavy snowfall in the area and that a Shiv lingam had started forming.

The spokesman said prior to commencement of the annual yatra, complaints about piling of snow flakes and applying vermilion etc on Shiv lingam by some persons had been received and grill at sanctum sanctorum was raised and side entrance closed.

"This was done to prevent people from moving near the lingam of Lord Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh", he added.

He emphasised that the piling of snow over the lingam by someone could not be prevented as the shrine remained un-guarded for over 10 months.

He added that the shrine board is not a commercial organisation looking for profit but is only a facilitator to regulate and provide logistic support for the smooth conduct of yatra. There is, therefore, no question of trampling the sanctity of the shrine or playing with the religious sentiments of devotees, he said, hoping that the pilgrims would not get swayed by motivated stories.

IAS, KAS officers transferred

Srinagar, June 20
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered transfer and postings of 25 IAS and KAS officers.

An official spokesman said here that Mr Mandeep K. Bhandari, Additional Secretary, Power Development Department, has been transferred and posted as Additional District Development Commissioner, Kathua.

Mr Saurabh Bhagat, Subdivisional Magistrate, Basholi, has been transferred and posted as Additional District Development Commissioner, Jammu. Mr Charanjeet Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, is the new Additional District Development Commissioner, Rajouri.

Mr Sharief-ud-Din, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, becomes Additional District Development Commissioner, Srinagar. — TNS

Body of youth found on cave route

Srinagar, June 20
The body of a young pilgrim was recovered from Sangam, 5 km short of the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, official sources said today.

The body, identified as that of 25-year-old Anil Kumar of the Bihari Park area of Delhi, was recovered by a security patrol at Sangam on the Baltal route last night, the sources said.

Although investigations were on to ascertain the cause of his death, the sources said Kumar might have died after accidentally falling from a hillock while returning to the base camp. — PTI