Jammu, January 23
A Sub-Inspector of the CRPF, Babu Lal, allegedly shot himself today in the Maulana Azad stadium here while it was being sanitised for the Republic Day celebrations.

Babu Lal of 68 Battalion of the CRPF was on duty at the stadium complex.

A police spokesman said he died due to an accidental shot from his own service weapon.

Meanwhile, security in and around Jammu city and other vital installations in the state has been beefed up. Army personnel were also engaged in checking all vehicles heading towards Jammu on the national highway.

Security arrangement for the Republic Day celebrations, particularly for the main function being held at here, were today reviewed at a high-level meeting that was chaired by the Director-General of Police, Mr Gopal Sharma. The heads of various units of security forces and the police participated in the meeting.

The meeting took stock of the present security scenario and discussed various matters pertaining to arrangements put in place to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct of the function.

Additional Director-General of Security Kuldip Khuda, Inspector-General of CRPF, SSP (Traffic), SSP (Jammu), SSP (Security) and officers of the Army and paramilitary forces were present in the meeting.

Jammu, January 23
The Power Minister, Mr Nawang Rigzin Zora, was grilled in the state Assembly by Opposition and ruling party members today for frequent breakdown of the power supply and long curtailments in the rural areas.

Mr Zora faced embarrassment as not only the Opposition members but also those on the Treasury Benches grilled him for the failure of the Power Development Department (PDD) to meet its commitment of uninterrupted power supply to those areas where electronic meters had been installed.

Dr Manohar Lal (Congress) and Mr Mohammad Aslam (NC) walked out of the House as they were not satisfied with the reply of the minister to their supplementary during question hour.

Dr Manohar Lal got agitated when the minister informed him that a power cut of 12 to 14 hours was being enforced in the Billawar area of Kathua district. The member was pacified by the Health Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, before he staged a walk out.

Mr Aslam alleged that there was discrimination against the border district of Rajouri in the supply of electricity.

Mr Yashpal Kundal (Panthers Party) was also critical of what he described as the discrimination against the rural areas by the PDD.

In a written reply to a question of Mr Jugal Kishore (BJP), the Power Minister said arrears amounting Rs 1976.61 crore were to be realised from electricity consumers in the state. The PDD itself was a defaulter with arrears of Rs 3.22 crore. .

The minister informed Mr Aslam Khan (NC) that of the 127 villages and 864 hamlets which were yet to be electrified, the Centre had provided Rs 29.62 crore to electrify nine villages and 368 hamlets.

Srinagar, January 23
The Awami Action Committee (AAC) of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has clarified that the APHC chairman had sought militant leaders’ support in the ongoing dialogue process saying that he had not appealed them to shun the gun. This has overtly come in the wake of the response by the Save Kashmir Movement (SKM) organisation here yesterday, which had criticised Mirwaiz for the reported call of an end to armed struggle in Jammu and Kashmir.

A spokesman for the AAC, a constituent of the APHC, here said the Mirwaiz, currently heading a three-member delegation to Pakistan for talks, had appealed the militant leadership to support the dialogue process. He added that the “anti-movement elements” attempted to describe it as the Mirwaiz’s appeal to militant leaders for an end to the armed struggle for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The spokesman held that such “frustrated elements,” labelling themselves as militant organisations, had “launched a propaganda” against the Mirwaiz and others who sought a peaceful end to the Kashmir problem.

He described such elements as “vested interests, anti-movement and exploiting forces,” who were not happy with the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process. Such elements were frustrated even more with the current visit of the APHC chairman and other leaders to Pakistan during which they had been holding talks with the leaders of all shades of opinion, the spokesman claimed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan-based convener of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference and chairman of the People’s Freedom League Mohammad Farooq Rehmani has reiterated the party’s stand on the right of self-determination “as defined in the UN charter and its resolutions on Kashmir.”

Jammu, January 23
Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir has rendered as many as 11,336 children orphaned and 3,654 women widowed during the past 16 years.

This was stated by the Social Welfare Minister in a written reply to a question of G. N. Shaheen in the Legislative Council yesterday.

The minister informed the member that 1,017 youth were missing in the state during that period.

He said there were 2,045 orphans in Kupwara, while 531 women were widowed in the Doda district.

This was followed by 1,640 orphans in Doda, 1,580 in Baramulla, 1,149 in Budgam, 1,019 in Pulwama, 843 in Srinagar, 858 in Anantnag, 884 in Rajouri, 868 in Poonch and 521 in Udhampur.

The minister said the number of widows was 528 in Kupwara, 502 in Baramulla, 415 in Anantnag, 373 in Budgam, 369 in Pulwama, 272 in Rajouri, 232 in Poonch, 220 in Srinagar and 173 in Udhampur.

As many as 433 youth missing were from Baramulla district and 153 from Anantnag. Sixty-six boys were missing from Ganderbal, 62 from Kupwara, 61 from Handwara and 66 from Kulgam.