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Baglihar report a ‘win-win’
situation for India, Pak: Azad
Mufti seeks third round-table conference
Militants ‘unwanted’ lot in Pak, PoK
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Address root cause of unrest, says Pak expert
HC treats e-mail as PIL
Vaishno Devi shrine experiences first snowfall
Man crushed to death
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Baglihar report a ‘win-win’
situation for India, Pak: Azad
Jammu, February 13 “We welcome that the recommendations of the World Bank neutral expert (Richard Lafitte) who has cleared our state-owned project. It is a win-win state for India and Pakistan too”, Azad told a rally at the Chanderkote-based project site in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. Azad, who flew to the Baglihar project site to take part in celebrations organised by workers of project and people of Ramban, said “...the recommended height of the dam would be reduced and project would be completed by December end this year”. Observing that it was a battle that Jammu and Kashmir and India won without defeating Pakistan, he said that “our project is safe and J&K would soon be a hydro-electricity producer in the country after Baglihar project is commissioned”. Felicitating people of J&K in general and of Doda in particular, Mr Azad said “it was an award we were waiting for a
long time and Pakistan had raised multiple objections since its inception. “Now this long-drawn battle has come to an end with the clearance of the project...Jammu and Kashmir would now focus on the massive production of the hydro-power which has great potential in the state”, he said. “As per the recommendations, we will reduce the height of the dam by one-and-a-half metres and would complete the first phase by December end, and also start work for the second phase immediately (thereafter)”, Azad said. The completion of the Baglihar project would be a landmark in hydro-power development in J&K and the project would eradicate the power crisis in the state, he said. “We can also sell power and earn money, which would be used for the development of the state”, he said. Maintaining that the report had not only saved the interests of J&K and the country but had also fulfilled the interest of Pakistan as well, the Chief Minister said even Pakistan had welcomed it as Islamabad accepted that it had not harmed its interests too. Earlier, Mr Azad, along with Power Minister Rizgin Jora flew to Baglihar project site at Chanderkote in Doda district and was received by over 5,000 persons, who, despite heavy rain, had assembled there to celebrate the clearance of the project by the World Bank expert. “We welcome the decision of the World Bank expert on the clearance of our prestigious Baglihar project, on which Pakistan had raised several objections+, an official spokesman said.
— PTI |
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Mufti seeks third round-table conference
Jammu, February 13 The Mufti, who was talking to mediapersons here, urged the separatists and also the National Conference (NC) to shun their boycott and participate in the round-table conference to make the deliberations more purposeful. He said that except the working group on Centre-state relations, the four other groups have finalised their reports. As these working groups were the outcome of the second roundtable conference of the Prime Minister, their recommendations should be discussed in a similar meeting. He said that a lasting peace to the current turmoil can be found only by addressing the internal dimensions and not only through dialogue between India and Pakistan. The ongoing peace process was irreversible. The Mufti urged the Centre to reciprocate the four-point peace proposal of President Pervez Musharraf, who appears keen to solve the Kashmir imbroglio. He said the ministers belonging to the PDP would be asked to take up in the cabinet the issue of gradual demilitarisation of Kashmir and deployment of the state police. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act should also be repealed, as the situation in the state has undergone a change compared to 1990. He hoped that Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, who was the architect of the common minimum programme (CMP) of the coalition government in J&K, would positively respond to these demands. The repeal of the Special Powers Act would be a stepping stone for the resolution of the Kashmir problem, he said. The Mufti said that the self-rule proposal of the PDP was different from the autonomy formula of the NC, as the former seeks to address the external and internal dimensions of the problem, while the latter is confined to the relations between Delhi and J&K.
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Militants ‘unwanted’ lot in Pak, PoK
Jammu, February 13 A senior police officer today said that those militants who had surrendered before the security forces, after sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border, confessed that the authorities in Pakistan and in occupied Kashmir had started forcing "us" back. Some of them are said to have told their interrogators that they were an "unwanted" lot in the eyes of the authorities in occupied Kashmir. The police officer, however, said that it was not yet clear whether it was by design that some militants were being forcibly sent back to Kashmir for raising the level of violence or their presence in Pakistan had started causing embarrassment to Islamabad, which was being persistently told to stop aiding cross-border terrorism. Official sources confirmed that in recent weeks, the level of infiltration of militants from across Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara and Uri had dropped to a trickle. The sources said that the Pakistani authorities had also opened rehabilitation camps for Kashmiri militants, where they were being educated on self-employment schemes. The sources, basing their information on the reports received from across the border, said that militants had been directed to forget about Jehad in Kashmir and either return to the valley or start finding some gainful employment. This development could help the ongoing peace process gain momentum when the authorities in Muzaffarabad were now willing to export gas and electricity to J&K for strengthening the confidence-building measures.
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Address root cause of unrest, says Pak expert
Jammu, February 13 Dr Hasan, who was speaking at Jammu University, said the results of peace talks would be fruitless in case these were not acceptable to the common people. He said Pakistan was ahead of India as far as turmoil was concerned. The number of dis-satisfied people was more in Pakistan than in India. Replying to a question about the ongoing peace talks, Dr Hasan said the intention of the Indian and Pakistani leadership appears to be good. Both might sign some peace document and also get it signed from Kashmiris, but that might not solve the problem unless the basic cause of unrest was addressed. Referring to the derailment of democracy in Pakistan, he pointed out that in the past 60 years as many as eight presidents, 12 prime ministers and 10 elected parliaments have been dismissed there. He regretted that the rich and powerful have flourished in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the voice of the poor and minorities has drowned. Dr Hasan said that the people of J&K were politically awakened and were currently discussing the new structure of the government. He recalled the genesis of the unrest that started during the British regime in the sub-continent. He stressed the need to decentralise power and drastically change the colonial laws. Earlier, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Amitabh Mattoo, said that Dr Hasan was engaged in the peace process between the two countries for the past over 20 years. Born in Panipat, Dr Hasan served as an engineer in the Punjab Irrigation Department when he was posted at Amritsar. He was engaged in the track-two diplomacy for the past 14 years. Mr Ved Bhasin, a journalist, said people-to- people contact on both sides of the border would help restore peace.
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HC treats e-mail as PIL
Jammu, February 13 Mr Arun Shirgaonkar, an Indian official serving with the embassy in Qatar, sent an e-mail titled “Killing of an innocent bear in Tral, Kashmir” to Chief Justice B A Khan on December 21, 2006 about the killing of the animal by people in Pulwama district three days earlier. Mr Shirgaonkar, who said he and his wife were deeply affected by footage of the incident beamed on TV, sought the court’s intervention in the matter. A division bench of Chief Justice Khan and Mr Justice J P Singh treated the e-mail as a public interest litigation plea and issued notices to the state Chief Secretary and the Chief Wildlife Warden, seeking an explanation about the circumstances in which the bear was killed and why no action was taken by the Wildlife Department and the police. The matter was posted for hearing on March 12.
— PTI |
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Vaishno Devi shrine experiences first snowfall
Jammu, February 13 The number of devotees had come down to just 2,000 a day compared to 4,500 last week as the temperature had come down below normal, the sources said.
— PTI |
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Man crushed to death
Srinagar February 13 He said a boulder came hurtling down during quarry at Wantrang in south Kashmir district of Anantnag when some labourers were working there. Mudasir Ahmad Thokur was crushed under the boulder. However, others escaped unhurt.
— UNI |
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