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J&K far behind in vital sectors
Efforts for APHC-PM meeting on
Kin of PoWs ready to visit Pakistan
J&K Cong, BJP leaders to campaign in Punjab
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Jawan killed in encounter
PDP backs NC-moved Bill
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J&K far behind in vital sectors
Jammu, January 16 The creation of economic institutions that cross the Line of Control (LoC) would be a step toward the kind of practical and honourable arrangements that most people believe are essential for a lasting Kashmir settlement. The idea of a South Asian free trade area raises a visionary possibility for Kashmir. Participation in trade liberalisation, to which the rest of the region aspires, would open up economic options for Kashmir that have been shut off for decades. The survey indicates that J&K is poor with the lowest per-capita income of Rs 16,190 as compared with the neighbouring states. The per-capita income in the neighbouring states is Rs 30,701, Rs 27,486 and Rs32,712, respectively. The survey points out that the gross state domestic product
(GSDP) in J&K is Rs 10,627 against Rs 48,532 (Punjab), Rs 9879 (HP) and Rs 43,502 (Haryana). In fact, J&K stands at the top of the four most educationally backward states the other three being
Arunachal, Jharkhand and Bihar. The survey has painted a grim picture of the industrial scenario by pointing out that of the 36,510 small-scale industrial units, only 15,145 are functional. It points out that of the 20,000 mw of identified hydroelectric potential in the state, only 1481 mw has so far been tapped. The state sector projects are generating only 311 mw. Expressing satisfaction over the gradual recovery being made by the tourism sector that suffered a nosedive due to terrorism, the survey has found that 6.50 lakh tourists, including 19,000 foreigners, visited the valley last year. More than 62 lakh pilgrims visited the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi in the Jammu region. |
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Efforts for APHC-PM meeting on
Jammu, January 16 Before
leaving for Delhi on Tuesday Chairman APHC, Moulvi Umar Farooq,
emphasised the involvement of representatives of people of Jammu and
Kashmir in the ongoing dialogue process. His colleagues, Prof Abdul Gani
Bhat supported it by saying that “bilateral talks are good but these
should be followed by tripartite dialogue so that a solution to the
Kashmir issue was found. The two leaders expressed a desire to meet
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh prior to their visit to Islamabad to
prepare base for their parleys with the establishment in Pakistan. It is
in this connection that the three APHC leaders landed in Delhi on Monday
to explore the possibility of having even a brief session with Dr
Manmohan Singh for who has returned from his trip to Philippines.
Sources said Union Minister for Water Resources, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz,
had initiated measures for arranging a meeting between the Prime
Minister and the APHC leaders after the latter expressed desire for a
dialogue with Dr Manmohan Singh before leaving for Islamabad. These
sources said a section in the PMO had opposed the meeting on the eve of
APHC leaders’ visit to Pakistan as an impression could go round that
the Hurriyat leaders were on their visit to Islamabad as Prime Minister’s
emissaries. The sources said that Prof Soz and his supporters at the
Centre have not given up efforts and were planning for a secret meeting
between the two sides. Prof Soz and others were in favour of the
resumption of the dialogue with the Hurriyat leaders after they had made
it clear that they wished to meet the Prime Minister with an open mind
and with the aim of carrying the ongoing process of dialogue to its
logical conclusion. Prof Bhat said today “even if Dr Manmohan Singh
could not meet us prior to our departure for Islamabad we are available
to exchange ideas with him after our return and as per the convenience
of the Prime Minister.” As the APHC leaders were trying to register
their presence and importance through their visit to Islamabad where
they will meet Pakistan President. Pervez Musharraf, and other prominent
political leaders. Such efforts were being diluted by Mr Geelani by
having given a call for a hartal on Wednesday. He has received support
from Hizbul Mujahideen militants the Kashmir Bar Association and the
Dukhtarae Milat and other organisations. In fact the exercise of the
camp led by Mr Geelani was aimed at demonstrating its strength as it has
already accused the APHC leadership of a sellout. |
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Kin of PoWs ready to visit Pakistan
Jammu, January 16 "I have decided to go to Pakistan to find my husband who disappeared in the battle of Chamb Jorian in 1971 in Jammu district," Kaur said while packing her baggage for the visit. This will be Kaur's 13th visit to Pakistan in search of her husband. She said her earlier efforts to trace her husband had failed as Pakistani authorities did not help. "But the recent statement of Gen Musharraf has given us a new hope for tracing our relatives," Kaur said. "I hope Musharraf will stand by his statement and help us fulfil our last wish of meeting our separated relatives," she said. Subedar Singh, who was a Junior Commissioned Officer of 5 Sikh Regiment, was reported dead while fighting the enemy in the Chamb Jorian area on December 17, 1971. But On August 20, 1972, a radio news bulletin said that Assa Singh was alive and was a PoW in Pakistan jail, Kaur said. Kaur claimed her husband was being held in Lahore jail but she could not contact him despite several efforts in her earlier visits to Pakistan via Wagah border. She said recently released Indian prisoner Bogal Ram told her family that her husband was in Lahore jail. Kaur had met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and top Army officers requesting them to do something for her husband's release. Like Kaur's, Rano Devi of Kathua district has a similar wish as she wants to meet her husband Sepoy Jagdish Raj of 2nd Maha Regiment who, she claimed, was currently a PoW in a Pakistani jail. Rano hoped "Musharraf will not let us down. He will not back out from his statement and help us trace our people." Santosh Devi of Udhampur district has readied herself for a visit to Pakistan to trace her PoW husband, Hav Krishan Lal, who also disappeared on December 13, 1971, during the war. Lal, first declared dead by the Army, turned out to be alive as per the report of Pakistani Radio on August 9-10, 1972, she claimed. There are 54 PoWs of Jammu region in Pakistan and most of them were being held in Lahore, Peshawar and Kot Lakhpat jails there, according to the relatives of missing defence personnel. — PTI
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J&K Cong, BJP leaders to campaign in Punjab
Jammu, January 16 According to the BJP unit president, Mr Ashok Khajuria, “We have been allotted four Assembly constituencies for assisting the party candidates in campaigning. Our workers and leaders will campaign in Sujanpur, Pathankot, Dina Nagar and Narote areas. They will also visit constituencies where the SAD has fielded its candidates.” He said the party jathas would leave for Punjab after January 25 and stay their till the end of campaigning. The Congress unit is waiting for the signal from its counterpart in Punjab. It has already decided to send teams of workers and party leaders to Punjab. Mr Ravinder Sharma said, “We shall send our teams only after directions were received either from the AICC or from the Punjab Congress leadership.” The Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, and several Congress ministers from Jammu and Kashmir were ready to campaign in favour of the party candidates in Punjab, he added. He said the Chief Minister might campaign in favour of the Congress in Uttrakhand. The state Chief Minister, Mr N.D. Tiwari, had already requested Mr Azad to spend some days in his state for mustering support of the electorate in his favour. Both Mr Khajuria and Mr Sharma said, “It is our moral duty to support our party candidates in Punjab because workers and leaders from there have been visiting Jammu and Kashmir whenever Assembly poll were held here.”
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Jawan killed in encounter
Srinagar, January 16 A Defence spokesman said here troops detected the IEDs during patrol when a sniffer dog smelled the objects buried in the ground in front of the hospital. By the mechanical detection, it was found that two huge IEDs were planted. Bomb Disposal Squads of the police and the Army along with troops of TA Battalion defused the IEDs and destroyed these at 9.10 a.m. and 10.20 am, respectively, he added An Army officer in charge of safety of the area said militants probably were aiming at targeting civilians before Republic Day. According to the police one IED was found fitted in a tin box and weighed one kilogram which was defused. The other one was placed in a hole and diffused at 10.10 am. Meanwhile, a jawan was killed and an SPO injured in an encounter with militants at Chanj-e-Mulla, Rajwar near Handwara in Kupwara district today.
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PDP backs NC-moved Bill
Jammu, January 16 The rift surfaced when Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was not in the House. While 27 members votes in favour of the amendment, 15 voted against it. Although the Minister of State, Mr Prem Sagar Aziz, opposed the Bill at the admission stage, the turning point came when Mr Muzaffar Hussain
Beig, a senior PDP member and former Deputy Chief Minister, said “we should not oppose the Bill simply because it has been moved by a member of the Opposition”.
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