Jammu, January 31
Speaker Tara Chand today adjourned the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly till afternoon after Opposition, National Conference (NC), members walked into the well of the House amid sloganeering against “fake encounters” by the police in the valley.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Upper House where, following rejection of their adjournment motion, NC members tried to block the proceedings during question hour by raising anti-government slogans in front of Chairman Abdul Rashid Dar’s podium.

However, Mr Dar continued with the business amid the din.

The NC members in the Assembly started to protest against the Speaker’s decision to disallow their adjournment motion as soon as the House assembled in the morning.

The Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes without transacting any business. However, as the House reassembled around an hour later, the NC members trooped into the well of the House and stalled the proceedings.

Thereafter, the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 pm.

Leader of the Opposition Abdul Rahim Rather said his party would not allow transaction of any business until their adjournment motion was accepted and a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court ordered into the killing of innocent people in fake encounters.

He referred to the recent killing of Abdul Rehman Padroo by the police.

He said the police and security force forces were indulging in killing of innocent people in fake encounters to get rewards from the government.

The Speaker, while disallowing the adjournment motion, ruled that Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had made a statement in the House just two days ago and members could again raise the issue during discussion on the grants of the Home Department tomorrow.

He said the Chief Minister had categorically stated that the guilty officers would be punished.

However, Mr Rather said the statement of the Chief Minister was confined to a particular incident, while the adjournment motion was against a chain of such killings and human rights violations.

Minister for Consumer Affairs Taj Mohiuddin said the government had no objection in case the Speaker allowed a discussion on the issue. Senior PDP member Ghulam Hassan Mir said the House was worried at such incidents and it was not a matter pertaining to a single party. He demanded the holding of a discussion on the issue.

As the Speaker adjourned the House, Mr Rather told media persons outside that a sense of insecurity prevailed among the common man as the police was engaged in killing of innocent people.

Fake encounters were being staged to claim rewards from the government, he alleged.

He warned of severe setback to peace process if such incidents were not stopped.

The credibility of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had promised “zero” tolerance in human rights violation in the state, was at stake, he added.

He said people were unhappy with the inquiry by a DIG into the killing of Padroo. Nothing had come out of around 110 magisterial inquiries held so far in such incidents, he rued.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami of the CPM demanded the government to establish some credible mechanism to check human rights violations.

Jammu, January 31
The Jammu and Kashmir Government today gave an assurance in the Legislative Council that the migrants uprooted from the Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur border areas of Jammu division would be treated at par with those who migrated from the Kashmir valley in terms of adequate compensation and their re-settlement.

The issue was raised in the Upper House by Prof Bhim Singh of the Panthers Party, under Rule 60, who said nearly 20,000 families had been uprooted from the border areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and Udhampur due to the shelling across the Indo-Pak border, but these migrants were ''being ignored'' by the state government in terms of adequate compensation.

''There was a J-K High Court directive, which was also upheld by the Supreme Court, in which the state had been directed to treat all migrants, whether from the borders areas of Jammu division or from the valley at par,but the government has failed to act accordingly,'' Prof Bhim Singh said, while initiating the discussion in the House.

He said there had been mass exodus not only from the valley, but also from the border villages of Jammu division.

''The government needs to change its policy on migration to do justice with the families uprooted from the border villages in Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Udhampur.The monthly compensation of Rs 400 per head and some ration to the migrants from Jammu division was stopped in March, 2004.Let them also be given the arrears from that date onwards,'' he demanded.

Mr Nasurullah, joining the discussion, stated that there had been migration of families in large numbers from the Kargil sector as well during the Army conflict in that area,but those people were also being ignored.''There is one village where 80 per cent of the population was forced to migrate and their houses were occupied by the Army during the Kargil conflict,'' he added.

Minister of State for Revenue Prem Sagar, in his reply, assured the House that Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had already taken up the matter with his ministerial colleagues so that those migrated from Jammu border division could be adequately compensated.

Acknowledging that such migrants from Jammu border areas were neglected after 2004, Mr Sagar said a cash assistance of Rs 400 and 11 kg of ration,along with 10 litres of kerosene,had been given on a monthly basis to each of the 179 families from Reasi village and 169 families from Mahore village of Udhampur district. Similarly, 11 kg ration per head and 10 litres of kerosene per family on a monthly basis were distributed regularly for three months last year to 938 such families who were living in different clusters in safer places in Udhampur district.

Similarly, the minister said 133 families of Doda district were registered with the Relief Organisation at Jammu as per the high court directions and they were getting relief ''at par with the Kashmiri Pandits''.

Stating that the matter of compensation was being reconsidered, Mr Sagar said the Chief Minister had requested the state Home Minister in writing to communicate the agreement of the Union Government to the proposal of granting relief to the migrants at par with the Kashmiri Pandits.

He added that the financial implications would be to the tune of Rs 9 crore per annum for compensating 1,682 families or 9,388 persons as per the breakup of compensatory grants to the Jammu migrants.

Jammu, January 31
The issue of revenue losses to the state exchequer often comes up for discussion in state Assemblies, but when it comes to the turn of lawmakers being held accountable for payment of taxes, they have the right to elude it.

This is exactly what happened in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council today, when members opposed the passage of a Bill seeking disqualification of a member of the legislature, against whom sales tax or other taxes are outstanding.

The Bill, moved by senior Legislative Council member Ghulam Rasool Kar of the ruling Congress, was immediately opposed by members led by Minister of Law Prem Sagar.

When consensus could not be reached on the fate of the Bill, Legislative Council Chairman Abdul Rashid Dar asked for voting. With 10 votes on either side, the Bill was withdrawn by Mr Kar, who later left the House in resentment. Some members and ministers even abstained from voting.

The Bill stated: “There is a huge loss to the government exchequer due to unpaid taxes by people and persons holding important positions who become defaulters, which adversely affects the state’s economy.

“It is in this context that the proposed amendment is brought in this Act (Jammu and kashmir Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2007) to put as legal binding on such defaulters so that they shall be disqualified for being chosen as Member of the State Legislature. Hence the Bill.”