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Judge promises to dig out truth about ice lingam
12 LeT militants arrested
Infiltration bid foiled, 8 killed
11 trains to be extended to Katra by February
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Lawyers’ strike leaves
litigants high and dry
DSP arrested in sex racket case
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Judge promises to dig out truth about ice lingam
Srinagar, June 30 Retired High Court Justice
K.K. Gupta told ANI today that his commission of inquiry would get to the bottom of the entire incident and "bring the facts to the surface". The state government ordered an investigation into the alleged presence of an artificially created ice Lingam in the cave shrine after Hindu community leaders said there sentiments had been trampled upon. Justice Gupta said he would take into consideration the sentiments of the believers. "We will be investigating all areas from where we can get to the facts. I will go to Srinagar and to the place where the Shiv Lingam forms to find out the facts. I will also ask the people, various agencies, and religious institutions which raised the issue," Justice Gupta told ANI. Meanwhile, a view has surfaced that vested interests are playing up the Shiva Lingam controversy to get their mileage out of the incident that has hogged newspaper headlines for almost a month. The President of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, has already said in a statement that the Amarnath Shrine Board has imposed a levy on porters and
ponywallas, which they can't afford. Then, there was a leak of a Pollution Control Board report of 2005 that coincided with the commencement of the pilgrimage. The Shrine Board countered it by enumerating measures taken by it to preserve the ecology through installation of modern and hygienic toilets, preventing waste matter from flowing into the Lidder River, placing dustbins for the disposal of garbage and a record of the river's pollution levels. To counter the various allegations, the Shrine Board invited an all-party delegation of legislators to visit the Nunwan Yatra Camps at Pahalgam and
Chandanwari. So impressed was the delegation by the various steps taken by the Shrine Board to control pollution, that they not only complimented the Board, but also made some constructive suggestions which the Board agreed to implement. Before the formation of the Amarnath Shrine Board in 2002, donations offered at the cave were distributed between Mahant Deependra Giri, the Buta family and the priests of Mattan. As per the direction of a court, all three were to be given a one time compensation in return for waiving away their rights to future donations. Mahant Deependra Giri is said to have accepted Rs 1.02 crore as compensation in 2005. His request for further assistance to cover expenses for the journey of Charri Mubarak to the Holy Cave every year was not agreed to by the Board. The other two parties are yet to accept the compensation. Mahant Deependra Giri has also demanded that the Amarnath Yatra be confined to one and not two months. This demand has surprised many on the board as the Mahant has been party to the decision to allow the pilgrimage to last for two months both in 2004 and 2005. It appears that there is now an orchestrated campaign directed against the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to derail the Yatra. Charges of fabricating an artificial Lingam, corruption, commercialization, the DGCA objecting to helicopters not adhering to safety regulations and so on are being made. Despite all the controversy and hurdles, in the past 16 days 1,31,359 pilgrims visited the Holy Cave as against 89,127 in 2005 and 97,069 in 2004 during the first 16 days of those
Yatras.
— ANI |
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12 LeT militants arrested
Srinagar, June 30 Disclosing this at a press conference here, DGP Gopal Sharma also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for those helping to apprehend the mastermind behind the attack. The mastermind has been identified as a Pakistani militant, Salahuddin, alias Bilal, presently operating in the Bandipore area of Baramulla district in north Kashmir. Seven persons, including two policemen, three Congress workers and two fidayeen militants were killed and 21 others, including IGP K. Rajendra, were injured in the attack on the rally in Sher-e-Kashmir Park last month. This was the only attack that took place here so far this year as compared to six suicide attacks during the corresponding period last year, the DGP said. “Investigations clearly indicated that Lashkar-e-Toiba was involved in the attack”, the DGP said, adding that vital clues had been procured about three grenade attacks on tourist buses. He said Al-Bader militant outfit was responsible for the attack on tourist buses. “These terrorists not only organised weapons and uniforms for the two Pakistani terrorists who carried the suicide attack but also organised for their shelter and other logistics”, the he said, adding that on May 5, Yusuf, alias Tahir, collected two AK 47 rifles, six magazines and four grenades from two women near Iddgah and handed these to the main kingpin, Raja, alias Mudashir Gojri. While Yusuf has been arrested, three others, including one Raju and two women, were still at large. During the course of investigations, cases of five killings, several attempts of killings of civilians and seven grenade attacks had been worked out, the police chief said. The recoveries include two AK 47 rifles, six magazines, six rifle grenades, five Chinese grenades, 10 detonators, 150 AK rounds, three Chinese pistols, three magazines, 14 pistol rounds, a wireless and a bag containing clothing left behind by the slain militant. Mr Sharma also revealed that overall violence in the state had declined by 18 per cent this year as compared to the corresponding period last year. There was a thrust on grenade attacks this year as compared to car bomb explosion last year, he added. He, however, maintained that the number of militants killed, arrested or surrendered, was equivalent to that of the last year.
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Infiltration bid foiled, 8 killed
Srinagar, June 30 A defence spokesman said the militants were part of an infiltrating column, which had sneaked past the LoC last night. The infiltrators walked into an ambush laid by the Army. When the ambush party challenged the militants to stop they responded by opening fire leading to an encounter. On the search of the area in the morning, eight bodies of militants were recovered. The search parties also recovered eight AK 47 rifles, 29 magazines, 478 rounds, 28 hand grenades and five radio sets. Large quantity of food items were also recovered from the spot, the defence spokesman said.
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11 trains to be extended to Katra by February
Jammu, June 30 Mr J.P. Batra, Chairman, Railway Board, stated this while presiding over the passing out parade of the RPF at Kathua today. He said work on the
Qazigund-Baramula rail line was in progress and Railway services would be operational on at least 45 km stretch in the Valley. The
Qazigund-Baramula rail line was likely to be completed in three years. On the ongoing work on the double laning of rail track between Jammu and Jalandhar the Railway authorities stated so far 57 km-long stretch had been covered and in the current year 90 km stretch would be covered for which Rs 120 crore had been approved. The plan of doubling the rail line between Jammu and Jalandhar was conceived in 1997-98 and the work started in 2002. It was stated as expansion in the rail network demand for RPF men had increased. The demand further escalated with the plan of connecting Jammu with Baramula by train and accordingly the Railways authorities had laid emphasis on imparting training to larger batches of RPF personnel. At today’s passing out parade 1038 RPF men were said to have completed one-year’s training.
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Lawyers’ strike leaves
litigants high and dry
Jammu, June 30 The members of the Bar Association raised slogans against the government’s continued “unhelpful attitude” it had adopted in conceding “our demand for the transfer of the sex scam case” from Srinagar to Jammu so that lawyers could defend their clients in the court. The president of the Bar Association, Mr V.S. Wazir, said that after “one of our colleagues, Mr Sunil Sethi, had received threats in Srinagar it had become imperative for the government to transfer the sex scam case to Jammu.” He said: “The recent statement of the president of the Kashmir Bar Association, Mian Abdul
Qayoom, that the case should not be transferred to Jammu because a Jammuite was involved in the scandal, was untenable because out of 14 charged so far 12 belonged to
Kashmir.” The association announced that the indefinite strike would continue till the government either transferred the case to Jammu or provided an adequate security cover to those lawyers from Jammu who wanted to defend their clients in the court. |
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DSP arrested in sex racket case
Srinagar, June 30 Mir is the second police official arrested in connection with the racket that has rocked the state. Fifteen persons, including Sabeena, the alleged kingpin of the racket, and two sitting MLAs, have so far been arrested by the state police and the CBI. Meanwhile, a local court today sent senior IAS officer Mohammad Iqbal Khandey and hotel manager Riyaz Ahmad Kawa, who were arrested in connection with the sex racket case, to four-day CBI remand till July 4. Both of them were brought to the court by CBI sleuths minutes before its closure to seek the remand.
— PTI
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