Jammu, September 16
Dethroned Muzaffar Hussain Baig is back in the PDP with a bang. He has been assigned the task of preparing a detailed document on self-rule which the PDP leadership believes can be a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Party sources said the document on self-rule would be discussed threadbare by the PDP’s political affairs committee which was scheduled to meet in Srinagar on September 21.

The patron of the party, Mufti Mohd Sayeed, will preside over the meeting.

The committee is composed of high-profile leaders of the party, including Ms Mehbooba Mufti, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig, former Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, former Minister, Mr Tariq Hamid Qarra, Urban Development Minister, Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari and six other senior leaders.

Two PDP ministers, Mr Dilawar Mir and Qazi Mohd Afzal are special invitees to the committee.

According to the party general secretary, Mr Nizanuddin Bhat, the committee would discuss party issues and political affairs, besides the destruction caused by recent floods.

Mr Bhat told this correspondent today that while discussing political affairs, the committee members would be apprised of the document on self-rule in order to secure the opinion and suggestions of the members.

He said Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig was engaged in giving final touches to the document and he had suggested that the committee should discuss whether it was advisable for Mufti Mohd Sayeed to visit New York for distributing the document on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Session.

Mr Bhat said Mr Baig had made it clear that some people had hatched a conspiracy for “breaking the PDP” and warned his baiters that he was not a saleable commodity, thereby setting at rest the speculation that the Muftis were yet to repose trust in the former minister.

The PDP leader said: “I do not think the Congress leaders should oppose Mufti Sayeed’s visit to New York when the Union Government had given permission even to separatist leaders to fly to the US.”

He said the ruling coalition believed in democracy and debate and “ if we favour self-rule, we have every right to propose a solution to the Kashmir issue.”

He said the PDP leadership was not supporting the National Conference’s demand for restoration of greater autonomy.

Srinagar, September 16
Demonstrations were held at many places and outside several mosques after yesterday prayers here against the reported remarks of Pope Benedict XVI against Islam and Prophet Mohammad that had been carried by some newspapers yesterday.

This followed the Pope’s reported blasphemous remarks against Islam and Prophet Mohammad on September 12 that were carried by some newspapers yesterday. The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Pioneer, that carried the reports from Germany, was stalled here yesterday. All copies of these newspapers were seized by the police here yesterday as a precautionary measure.

The APHC chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, and Mr Shabir Ahmad Ashah, chief of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) were kept under house arrest. Several other leaders, including Masarat Alam, chairman of Muslim League, a constituent of the APHC (Geelani), were taken into preventive custody. Alam had given a call for the protest against the Pope’s remarks.

The APHC has called for a general strike in Kashmir on Monday after demonstrations for the next two days.

Protest demonstrations were taken out in central Lal Chowk area by the Kashmir High Court Bar Association, raising slogans against the Pope.

Srinagar, September 16
As many as 31 government officials, including four doctors and 11 teachers, were placed under suspension for dereliction of duty and absenteeism in Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said today.

Three doctors and 15 para-medicos of sub-district hospital at Qazigund in Anantnag district were suspended after being found absent from duty during a surprise visit by Minister of State for Health Peer Mohammad Hussain today, he said here.

Five teachers of Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Pulwama district also faced the same action when Deputy Commissioner Mehraj Ahmed Kakroo found them absent from duty the spokesman said.

A report from Jammu said Block Medical Officer (BMO) Sardari Lal Dalia and his medical assistant Subash Chander, posted in Primary Health Centre, Basantgarh, Udhampur district, were suspended for dereliction of duty by Deputy Commissioner O.P. Kalandria.

Both officials were allegedly found drunk and were not in a position to provide immediate treatment to some Village Defence Committee (VDC) members injured during an encounter in Basantgarh on September 14, official sources said. The Deputy Commissioner has ordered an inquiry against them.

In another crackdown, Chief Education Officer (CEO) has suspended six teachers, including the Head of a middle school at the Dheerti Tarore area in Udhampur, for remaining absent without taking proper leave, the sources said. Their dues had also been withheld. — PTI

Suchetgarh (Jammu), September 16
The PDP leader and former Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, today said that the Prime Minister should try to build a national consensus on self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

He rejected the autonomy formula of the National Conference (NC), saying that it would not help solve the problem.

The Mufti was addressing a public meeting at Sai village. He said self-rule that provided for regional federalism could meet the aspirations of people of all three regions of the state but a sense of discrimination would prevail even if autonomy was granted to Jammu and Kashmir.

This is perhaps for the first time that the Mufti has publicly defined and differentiated between the two proposals put forth by the PDP and the NC during the roundtable presided by Dr Manmohan Singh.

He said implementation of self-rule would not trifurcate the state. He said while self-rule aimed at providing self-governance in all three regions, at the apex level, some formula could be worked out for coordination among the regions.

He said the dialogue between India and Pakistan could not be stopped as the 60-year experience had proved that nothing could be resolved with bullets. People in the forward areas were living in peace. “We should not let this golden opportunity pass,” he said.

He demanded that the border at Suchetgarh should be opened for trade through Sialkot and no customs duty should be imposed on goods exchanged between India and Pakistan from these points.

The Mufti pooh-poohed the claim of NC leader Farooq Abdullah that the alliance between the PDP and the Congress was on the verge of collapse. He said the alliance was in the interest of the country and the state and there was no question of snapping ties.

Dr Manmohan Singh had drafted the common minimum programme of the coalition in the state, he said.

Among others, Mr Dillawar Mir, Irrigation and Tourism Minister, Mr Manjeet Singh, Minister of State for Education, and Mr T.S. Bajwa, MP, also spoke.

Asst Director held in food scam
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September16
The police today arrested an Assistant Director of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department and two others allegedly involved in a food scam in Doda district.

According to Doda SSP Manohar Singh, Assistant Director Tarsem Raj, storekeeper Mohammad Ali and salesman Mohammad Ashraf have been arrested in connection with the food scam. Some more arrests are expected shortly.

These officials have been arrested following the detection of the food scam worth about Rs 3.50 crore. They were accused of selling ration, earmarked for those living below poverty line (BPL),in the market.

Three shopkeepers selling the government ration have already been arrested.