J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Jammu highway opens after 12 days
Srinagar, March 23
A bright sunshine brought back smile on the face of the people in the Kashmir valley after about two weeks today following heavy snowfall and rains leading to blockade of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and closure of educational institutions.

Release political, militant leaders: JKNPP
Jammu, March 23
The Jammu-Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today urged the government to immediately release all political and militant leaders who were put behind bars without any trial. This the party said would help in furthering the peace process initiated between India and Pakistan.

Expert upbeat over Jammu’s oil-gas potential
Jammu, March 23
Jammu and Kashmir can give the Gulf nations a run for their money if the potential for extraction of oil and natural gas in the state is tapped, said a global geology professor here.

Teenaged girl shot
Srinagar, March 23
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead a teenaged girl. The police here said that suspected militants fired indiscriminately upon Gulshan Akhtar (18) inside their house at Harmain, Shopian. — TNS

Two jawans killed in snow avalanches
Srinagar, March 23
Two Army men died in snow avalanches along the LoC in the Kargil area of the Ladakh region since yesterday.

Jammu highway opens after 12 days
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 23
A bright sunshine brought back smile on the face of the people in the Kashmir valley after about two weeks today following heavy snowfall and rains leading to blockade of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and closure of educational institutions.

The flood alert sounded in Kashmir on Tuesday last has been called off with clear weather conditions since yesterday, with a gradual decrease in the water level in the Jhelum. Three more deaths, two in Anantnag district and one in Budgam, were reported today as a result of the snow and incessant rain.

The vital 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was thrown open to traffic after a gap of 12 days. Heavy snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop and landslides at Panthihal, about 130 km from here, near Ramban, blocked traffic resulting in scarcity of essential commodities in the valley. Though the snow was cleared at Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop soon after, frequent landslides triggered by frequent rainfall blocked the highway at Panthihal.

According to officials here, the water level in the Jhelum at Sangam, 35 km south of here, was recorded at 13 ft, which had crossed the danger mark of 21 ft earlier this week. It measured 14.15 ft at Ram Munshi Bagh here and 12.30 ft at Asham, 30 km north of here. Dewatering in low-lying areas that were waterlogged due to the incessant rain since earlier this week, continued in many parts of the valley today, with many localities in the capital city still inundated.

Meanwhile, Minister for Transport Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen has said that the state government would formulate a comprehensive plan to ensure that protection measures were taken well in time while dealing with natural disasters. Reviewing the flood situation in Budgam district at a high-level meeting today, the minister said the government would take every step for the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people in the state. He was informed that due to the floods and continuous rain 24 residential houses and seven water supply schemes were damaged, besides 1250 souls of 206 families, whose residential houses were damaged due to the land erosion, were shifted to safer places in Budgam district.

Release political, militant leaders: JKNPP
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23
The Jammu-Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today urged the government to immediately release all political and militant leaders who were put behind bars without any trial. This the party said would help in furthering the peace process initiated between India and Pakistan.

But at the same time, the party also demanded an amendment in Article 370 of the Constitution “so as to empower Parliament to legislate in respect of those subjects which had been included in the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, by Maharaja Hari Singh”.

These two varied demands were among a few resolutions unanimously adopted by the party leadership at its public rally here, which was presided over party president Bhim Singh.

In another important resolution, the Panthers Party demanded an immediate session of the state Assembly to discuss the common minimum programme of the Congress-led coalition government in the state. The coalition government was formed in November 2002 with the Congress, the PDP and the JKNPP as the main stakeholders.

“The common minimum programme agreed among the coalition partners, particularly on the appointment of Delimitation Commission, return of Kashmiri Pundits and filling of all vacant posts in the government departments should be implemented without any delay,” the resolution stated, adding that the JKNPP urges the government to fulfill its commitments.

Condemning former chief minister and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Syed for demanding demilitarization, Bhim Singh said conceding to this demand would bring more trouble in Jammu and Kashmir.

Expert upbeat over Jammu’s oil-gas potential

Jammu, March 23
Jammu and Kashmir can give the Gulf nations a run for their money if the potential for extraction of oil and natural gas in the state is tapped, said a global geology professor here.

Jonathan Craig, geology head of oil firm Eni Milan, Italy, said here that Jammu and Kashmir may well turn into a well of "white gold if proper research is done in quest of extracting oil and natural gas potential of the state".

"The rocks here are similar in character to those of the hydrocarbon-yielding infra-Cambrian sequence in oil-rich Oman, North Africa and natural gas-rich Pakistan," he said during a workshop organised by the Geology Department of Jammu University and the J&K Council for Science and Technology Thursday.

Infra-Cambrian rocks were until recently considered devoid of petroleum but after the giant oil and gas fields of the world were discovered from these rocks in Siberia, Africa and other continents, the opinion has changed.

A two-day international conference on “geology and hydrocarbons potential of neoproterozoic-Cambrian basins in northwest India, Pakistan and Oman” would be held in Jammu University on February 20 and 21 next year, he added.

Craig is also chairman of the Maghreb Petroleum Research Group at University College, London.

Eni Milan, one of the six largest international oil companies, is currently operational in Rajasthan, India and Sind in Pakistan. — IANS

Two jawans killed in snow avalanches
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 23
Two Army men died in snow avalanches along the LoC in the Kargil area of the Ladakh region since yesterday.

Head constable Vinod Singh of 13 Raj Rifles died in a snow avalanche near the LoC in the Kargil area yesterday, the police here said. His body is being taken to his home district of Satwar in Uttar Pradesh.

Sepoy Y. Ravut of 7 Maha also died in a snow avalanche near the LoC in the Drass sector of Kargil district today, a defence spokesman here said.