The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Proceedings stalled in House
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 3
Proceedings in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly were stalled twice today following pandemonium in the House over the suspension of opposition National Conference member leading to adjournment of the House till tomorrow. The NC member, Mr Sharifuddin Shariq, was suspended on Wednesday for the remaining two days of the session, for using un-parliamentary language on the Bill on office of profit introduced by the Law Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain, seeking to amend the Office of Profit Act, 1962.

Soon after the House began its proceedings this morning, the Opposition National Conference members sought the attention of the Speaker over the suspension of Mr Shariq saying that the action had not been taken under rules. They held that the member was suspended when he was not present in the House and without serving notice to him. The members said that the resolution passed by the Treasury Bench to suspend the member was unconstitutional. They demanded revocation of the suspension by the treasury bench and an apology by the ruling coalition members in the House.

In his unique gesture, Mr Shariq staged a protest dharna outside the main gate of the state Assembly in protest against his suspension and withdrew after the adjournment of the House around 12-30 p.m. He was holding a placard with Urdu verses in support of his claim of siding with the truth.

The noisy scenes continued for about 10 minutes after which the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, adjourned the House for 15 minutes. The House, however, reassembled after over two hours at 12-15 p.m., leading to further noisy scenes in the House by the opposition NC members. They were shouting slogans like “Shariq Sahib ko wapas Lao”, and demanding immediate revocation of the resolution moved to this effect by the ruling party yesterday. The Speaker asked the National Conference members, Mr Ali Mohammad Sagar and Mir Saifullah, separately to lay the calling attention motions already enlisted in the proceedings. The members, who were already demanding immediate revocation of the suspension of their colleague, did not budge. After about five minutes of noisy scenes and confusion, the Speaker adjourned the House till tomorrow, the last day of the six-day-long summer session.

Senior Congress leader and Transport Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, meanwhile, asked the Speaker to go ahead with the proceedings as the matter regarding suspension of NC member would be taken up by the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister.

Leader of the NC, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, said action should be taken against those who disrupted the proceedings instead of Mr Shariq who was not present in the House when suspended. “It is unrealistic. The ruling party should tender an apology and withdraw the resolution”, he said.

Speaker suspends NC member
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 3
National Conference member Shariefuddin Shariq was suspended by the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, after a voice vote in the House on Wednesday for the remaining two days of the session. This was proposed by the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, after heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches.

Members from the treasury bench demanded suspension of Sharief-ud-Din Shariq for using unparliamentary language. Speaker Tara Chand adjourned the House for 10 minutes. However, when the House again met, the members of treasury bench continued to stress for suspending the member and came into the well. At this time, all National Conference members walked out from the House.

The heated exchanges took place in the House during discussions when the Deputy Chief Minister was replying the discussion on the Bill seeking to exclude various offices from disqualification and empowering the government to notify other offices in this behalf.

Mr Baig said since the Supreme Court has given a verdict in a case of Jaya Bachchan it was required that the legislation was brought to declare which office was deemed to be under the government.

He clarified that the chairmen of corporations holding the status of a minister were never under the ambit of office of the profit specified by the Supreme Court, adding that the Bill introduced in the Assembly to this regard was of declaratory in nature and the Legislature had full power of making laws with restrospective effect other than that of panel nature.

Bill to boost saffron cultivation
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 3
The government has introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Saffron Bill in the House to encourage cultivation of saffron and check the use of saffron land for construction purposes, and seeking to regulate the quality of saffron meant for sale.

This was stated by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Abdul Aziz Zargar, in the Legislative Council today. He said as per survey conducted by the Agriculture Department in the mid-eighties, 5,000 hectares were covered under saffron cultivation in Pulwama district.

He said the productivity of saffron had never exceeded 150 gms per kanal. The total cultivable area under saffron at present is 3830 hectares. There are 8300 cultivators and 125 wholesalers and retailers in the area. The minister said one of the main factors responsible for reduction in the area of saffron fields was due to drought, which prevailed during 2001-02 and 2002-03. During this period the production per kanal was as low as 50 gms.

Another factor has been the outbreak of corm rot syndrome, for which necessary campaigns had been launched to educate farmers to treat corms before plantation. The minister said tubewells had been dug in Pampore to provide irrigation facilities to saffron land.

Diversion of wheat: SAC takes notice
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 3
Taking a serious note of a complaint against the consumer affairs department for allegedly diverting huge stocks of wheat for grinding to benefit a particular flour mill owner, the state accountability commission (SAC) today ordered the secretary and also a former director of the department to file their comments by September 5.

The order of the SAC has come on the basis of a joint complaint by 19 flour mill owners of Jammu who alleged that certain officers of the Consumer Affairs Department were causing loss running into crores of rupees by diverting huge stocks of wheat to the particular mill owner.

They have pointed out that with such actions of the department, the state government was not only losing a subsidy of Rs 2 crore from the Food Corporation of India, but was itself paying an exorbitant amount to the particular mill for carrying the grain to Udhampur.

They have pointed out that the grinding work at Jammu would be cheaper than Udhampur.

They have complained that the department was supplying wheat for grinding to the particular person in his two flour mills here and two at Udhampur.

The undue favour to the person was just a tip of iceberg as the department was allotting him the work without inviting any tenders. The successive ministers of the department were favouring the mill owner by bending rules and regulations.

A bench of the SAC consisting of the acting chairman, Mr Justice G. N. Raina and Mr Justice Muzaffar Jan, have ordered Mr Khalid Habib, secretary of the department and Mr Aijaz Iqbal, a former director of the department, who is now Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, to file their comments on the issue by September 5.

Bus to Muzaffarabad resumed
75 board Karvaan-e-Aman

Srinagar, August 3
The Karvaan-e-Aman bus today left here with 75 passengers for Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), official sources said.

They said the passengers in two buses left here under tight security for Kaman post, the last Indian military post on the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector.

The 25 passengers, including 14 men and 11 women, are going for the first time to PoK to meet their relatives after about 60 years since partition. They said 50 passengers, including 30 male, 17 female and three children will return to their homes in Muzaffarabad and other areas in PoK after meeting their relatives here.

The passengers have to deboard the buses at Kaman post where their documents will be checked before allowing to cross over to PoK.

They had to cross the Aman Setu bridge on foot and later board the buses of PoK for Muzaffarabad.

The Srinagar Muzaffarabad bus service, resumed after 58 years was started on April 7, 2006 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed flagged off the first bus from Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium.

The service remained suspended for two months when the Kaman bridge and major portion of road on the other side were damaged in the October 8 quake in which more than one lakh persons were killed and the same number rendered homeless. — UNI

Infiltration by Lashkar terrorists: Army on red alert
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 3
The security forces have been put on red alert in Jammu and Kashmir following reports of a group of about 22 terrorists of the LeT having infiltrated into Poonch district from Pakistan with the objective of a major attack around Independence Day.

These terrorists are reported to have infiltrated through the Doonigram area along the LoC earlier this week. They are reportedly heading towards Tangmarg, the base camp of Gulmarg in the Kashmir valley, to meet the local commander of the LeT.

The infiltration came to light after they kidnapped a villager to use him as a guide. However, he managed to escape after two days following an encounter with the security forces and went to an Army camp to inform about the militants.

The Army and other security forces have launched a major operation in the Peerpanchal mountain range to track them down.

The Army and police check points on the highway and other roads have been activated and vehicles were being checked.

The ISI is again engaged in infiltrating trained terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir. As many as 52 terrorist training camps are active in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. There are reports that the ISI has trained the terrorists to cross the electrified fencing along the LoC and escape sensors that have been installed to detect infiltration.

2 militants killed while making IED
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 3
Three persons, including two militants, were killed and four security personnel injured in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

A heavy cache of arms and ammunition was recovered when security forces busted a hideout in the Tral area of Pulwama district. The police said two militants were killed when an IED exploded while being prepared by them at Kamla Bachu forests in the Tral area on this morning.

They were identified as Irshad Ahmad Bhat of Rathsuna and Nazir Ahmad Bhat of Khrew, Pampore. Several other militants were also injured. The militants fled from the spot and boarded a load carrier at Bachchu Bala village. They were chased by the security forces but they abandoned the vehicle and escaped.

The security forces busted a hideout measuring in Satpukhar Nag. Recoveries included one RPG, one rocket launcher, one UBGL, one AK rifle, seven AK magazines, two grenades, one grenade launcher, an one IED receiver and an IED, among other things.

Militants shot Farooq Ahmad Dar of Chansar, Kulgam in Anantnag district, last evening.

Four security personnel were injured when the militants hurled a grenade and fired on a patrol party at Dharam village in the Gool sector of Udhampur.

Over 50 cops shifted from militancy-hit areas

Jammu, August 3
The Jammu and Kashmir government has shifted over 50 policemen following intelligence reports that they had links with militants.

The reports also alleged that these policemen, posted at Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts, were also helping militants in subversive activities and cross the border.

After the reports, the state government is also keeping a strict vigil over 100 police constables for their alleged links with militant outfits, particularly the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Inspector-General of Police S P Vaid said

The action comes close on the heels of the arrest of five police personnel and three Army jawans last month for allegedly having links with the LeT.

He said a number of police personnel, mostly constables, were transferred out of Doda and Poonch districts as there were reports that they could be working for militants. — UNI