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Transport of railway coach to valley hit by snag
India, Pak must promote Kashmiriyat: Sinha
Deaths in custody lowest last year, claims Azad
Hizb militant among 2 killed
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Rights violation down in J&K, says report
Maulvi Farooq losing ground in Srinagar
J&K artisans to hold expos in USA, Germany
Pilgrim dies of heart attack
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Transport of railway coach to valley hit by snag
Jammu, October 30 The frame of the trailer-truck developed cracks at two places even before it pulled the coach hardly 75 metres within the railway siding. A tyre of the coach also punctured and it was took a lot of time to replace it. Special puja was performed at the Railway siding at 4 pm, auspicious moment, set for the purpose by priests. A 50-member paraphernalia was escorting the coach that might take more than 15 days to reach destination. The trailer has been detached for the welding of the frame. Road transport experts were keeping their fingers crossed on the success of the first-ever such trial of driving the Railway coach on the mountainous road that has numerous hairpin bends. However, such risky operation was being undertaken to meet the deadline of February fixed by Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, for inaugurating the local train within the valley. Railway engineers said here with the total length of 102-foot of the coach and the truck, it was one of the biggest challenges before them to roll it on the mountaineous road to Badgam in the valley from here. Moreover, the Jammu-Srinagar highway being one of the busy roads in the country, it would be an uphill task. Landslides have narrowed the road considerably at many places on the 80 km stretch between Ramban and Banihal. This is for the first time in the history of the Railways that the coaches for the local train in the valley are being driven on the road. In all 24 coaches will be taken one by one through the road to the valley. |
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India, Pak must promote Kashmiriyat: Sinha
Srinagar, October 30 The Governor said this while inaugurating a three-day international seminar on ‘Approaches to Kashmir Studies’ organised by the Centre for Kashmir Studies, University of Kashmir, here, last evening. He referred to the functioning of the Department of Kashmiriyat at Punjab University, Lahore, and said it could interact with the Centre for Kashmir Studies closely to strive for the common goal. The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Sports, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, was the chief guest while the Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, presided over the inaugural session. Delegates from Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan besides different parts of the country participated in the seminar. Referring to the participation of Pakistani scholars in the seminar, the Governor said India and Pakistan were united by history, geography, culture and language, yet there had been six decades of trust deficit, soured relations and conflicts between the two. General Sinha (retd) said Kashmiriyat was influenced by different religions and was a vibrant force that has sustained the people of Kashmir throughout history. Though some misguided people tried to trample it, it had bounced back, revitalised and refurbished. The Governor said although Kashmiriyat is not a religion but it is no doubt influenced by different religions, which he called humanism. The three religions, which have influenced Kashmiriyat, were Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. In his presidential address, the Chief Minister said that greatest strength of Kashmir had been its multi-dimensional pluralism, culture of tolerance and infinite capacity to accommodate cultural, religious and ethnic differences. He said that the diversity of Kashmiri found expression in their lifestyles, arts, culture, music and literature. “Kashmir was a model for the sub-continent”, he added. Tracing the rich ethos of the valley, the Chief Minister said that Kashmir was home to Sharada Peeth, the finest seat of learning in the region during the ancient times. The great king of Kashmir, Zain-ul-Abudin (Budshah), refused a tribute of horses and instead preferred books for his library. “It is time to recall and recover Kashmir’s glorious past,” he said. The Chief Minister said there had been a proliferation of studies on Kashmir in the recent years. While some were driven by a sense of objectivity, unfortunately for some Kashmir had become an industry. Mr Azad said Kashmiriyat was not a political slogan but a way of life. He said that Kashmiriyat’s spiritual and cultural heritage goes back to the dialogue and symbiotic relationship between three great religious traditions, Sufi Islam, Mahayana Buddhism and Shaivite Hinduism. He said Sheikh-ul-Alam’s life and massage besides Lal Ded’s Vakhs provided eternal radiance to
Kashmiriyat. |
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Deaths in custody lowest last year, claims Azad
Srinagar, October 30 The Chief Minister was speaking after occasion laying the foundation stone of Rs 1.50 crore Khidmat Trust Hostel comprising of 42 rooms, meeting hall and allied facilities here yesterday. Senior Congress leader and MLC Ghulam Rasool Kar and other leaders of the state unit of the party were also present on the occasion. Spelling out achievements of his government during one year, since he took over on November 2 last year, the Chief Minister said measures political, developmental and administrative have been taken to address issues of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Measures had been enacted to curb corruption, downsize ministry and prevent defection by political representatives for personal benefits. He said legislation for enhancing Assembly seats by 25 per cent, constitution of delimitation commission and finance commission have been enacted to make administrative setup responsible and people oriented. Mr Azad said when he took over the state was declared number two corrupt state in the country. The government enacted a law under which ill-gotten property of corrupt public servants could be confiscated and properties of eight such persons had already been acquired which were found disproportionate to known sources of their income, while 45 cases were under investigation. The Chief Minister said the government created eight new districts, three sub-divisions and 13 tehsils and enhanced allocation to districts from 30 to 40 per cent and relieved districts from the burden of loan component. He said when he took over as Chief Minister, he found that in past 10 years works worth Rs 1800 crore had been started without administrative approval which created vested interest and nexus between contractors and engineers. “We have done away with this practice and created an effective mechanism of launching and monitoring schemes at every stage. In this connection additional district development commissioner in each district has been placed”. Mr Azad said the government removed the ban on employment and identified 23,000 vacancies of which about 15,000 have been referred to recruiting agencies including State Public Service Commission. Three more battalions of police have been raised, more than 1,000 engineers engaged on contractual and orders for engaging all unemployed engineers have been issued. He said the Cabinet had also approved engagement of agriculture graduates on monthly stipend while as salaries of SPOs and freedom fighters have been doubled. On political front holding of roundtable conference at Dehli and Srinagar and constitution of five-working groups was historic achievement. He said meeting the challenges of October 8 last year’s earthquake and rehabilitating quake sufferers and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and public property was a gigantic task undertaken by the government. He said adequate supply of medicines, blankets, tents, ration, etc, along with shifting of quake survivors in temporary sheds was a big achievement. These efforts, he said, saved affected population in quake-hit areas from cold and deaths. |
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Hizb militant among 2 killed
Srinagar, October 30 Hizb militant Shabir
Piswal, alias Sidiq, was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Kadoora village in Bandipora in Baramula district early today, he said. He said an AK assault rifle, two magazines, 35 cartridges and a wireless set were found on the slain rebel, who had been active in the area for the past several years. The police recovered the body of 25-year-old Mohammad Iqbal Mir, alias Riyaz, with the throat slit, from the Rajpora area in Pulwama district last night, he said.
Riyas was running a shop in the area and had been kidnapped by militants last evening, the spokesman said adding that a Hizb note was found on his body that said he was killed for being an Army informer. A baker, Mohammad Amin Dar, was kidnapped by militants from Awarigund in the Tral area of Pulwama and an operation launched to rescue him, he said. An LeT militant was arrested after a brief gunbattle with the security forces in the Killanwali-Seeldhar area in the Gool sector in Doda district and a .303 rifle, a magazine with 11 cartridges and a .12-bore gun were recovered from him, the spokesman said. The security forces arrested another LeT militant, Pervez Ahmad Khan, from Maidan Tikipora in Kupwara district with two hand grenades and unearthed a hideout at a house at Keller in Pulwama district where arms and ammunition were stored, officials added.
— PTI |
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Rights violation down in J&K, says report
Jammu, October 30 The official report, released here today, contended the national claim that incidents of human rights violation were on the rise. In support of its contention, a state government spokesperson said while 146 cases of human rights violation were registered between 1996 and 2001, the number dropped to 118 during 2002-2005.The report said the number further dipped to nine cases between November, 2005 and October 23, 2006. The report claimed that during the current year four cases pertaining to rape/molestation of women by security personnel were registered against 20 between 2004 and 2005.It also claimed that there had been a marked decline in militancy-related violence during the past one year. It said while a decline of 20 per cent was recorded in the incidents of violence, over 27 per cent drop was registered in the killing of civilians and security personnel during the past one year. The spokesperson said field reports had revealed that there was a drop in the incidents of firing and explosions. Against 118 incidents of explosions and firing registered between 2004 and 2005, only 71 such incidents took place during the current year. He said, however, the number of grenade attacks by militants had increased from 126 last year to 200 between November, 2005 and October 23, 2006.Since the rise of militancy in the state in 1990, 16,219 civilians had been killed. However, after the PDP-Congress coalition government came to power in November, 2002, the incidents of civilian killings had seen a decline. Between 2002 and 2005, 1,600 civilians were killed as against 408 during the current year.He added that incidents related to killing of security personnel also witnessed a drop during the past four years. While 1,014 security personnel were killed by militants between 2002 and 2005, not more than 97 troops lost their lives during the current year. As opposed to this, 4,791 security personnel had been killed during the past 16 years. |
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Maulvi Farooq losing ground in Srinagar
Jammu, October 30 Reports received by the state government indicate that a large number of supporters of Maulvi Umar Farooq have already joined the conglomerate headed by Mr
Geelani. According to these reports, the supporters of Maulvi Umar Farooq are feeling dejected with the widening of the link between them and their mentor and hence they have been enticed by Mr Geelani. These reports said since Maulvi Umar Farooq has been spending more time on his foreign trips than in interacting with his supporters, Mr Geelani has succeeded in making inroads in the Kashmir Mirwaiz’s bastion. In addition, some of the supporters of the Maulvi have come to know that every senior APHC leader is trying to adopt his own course and hence in the absence of any collective responsibility they have found it convenient to join the Tehrik Hurriyat Conference. However,
sources close to Maulvi Umar Farooq told this correspondent that Geelani had been trying to make inroads in the area dominated by Kashmir Mirwaiz but had not achieved much success. |
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J&K artisans to hold expos in USA, Germany
Srinagar, October 30 Another three such expos to be held in Dubai, South Africa and the UK are also in the pipeline and the sanction in this regard is expected soon, an official spokesman here said. These expos are being sponsored by the Union Ministry of Textiles in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Handicrafts Development Corporation (HDC). According to the Chairman, HDC, Haji Abdul Rasheed, a sale target of Rs.13.50 crore had been fixed for 22 outlets of the corporation for the current financial year. He said a renovation programme had been launched for Chandigarh, Jammu and Srinagar branches at a cost of around Rs.1 crore. During the next year, the corporation intends to renovate Delhi, Kolkota and Amritsar branches. He said the expos were aimed at providing an opportunity to the artisans of the state to sell their handicrafts and artefects at the international level. Mr Rasheed said the corporation had introduced a website that would be fully functional within one month while more showrooms were being opened in metropolitan cities of the country in a phased manner. He said to boost sales the corporation intended to introduce credit facility to its customers in collaboration with ICICI bank. |
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Pilgrim dies of heart attack
Jammu, October 30 Shanti Devi, a resident of Kurukshetra district in Haryana, collapsed in the Adhkuwari area, officials said. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead.
— PTI |
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