Jammu, March 26
Whether the seven-week-old conflict between the Congress and the PDP has been resolved will be determined on March 29 when the Chief Minister has convened a meeting of the Cabinet.

If the four PDP ministers attend the Cabinet meeting it will indicate that differences between the two have been ironed out. Since February 28, the PDP ministers have boycotted three consecutive Cabinet meetings in protest against the Chief Minister's refusal to even acknowledge the letter from PDP legislature party leader Abdul Aziz Zargar, in which he had requested Azad to convene a special meeting of the Cabinet for a discussion on the demand for reduction in troops in the state.

The PDP ministers, however, attended a meeting of the state committee on disaster management for evolving a strategy to tackle problems kicked up by heavy snow and rain. The PDP ministers had explained that they attended the meeting, where all members of the council of ministers were present along with senior functionaries of the Army, the police and civil administration, because the issue pertained to serious problems being faced by people.

Answering a question whether the PDP ministers will attend the next Cabinet meeting, senior party leaders told this correspondent today, "The matter will be discussed at a meeting of the political affairs committee of the PDP which may meet in Srinagar on March 28 provided Mufti Mohommed Sayeed returns from Delhi by that date." They said in case the Mufti was stuck in Delhi "he and party chief Mehbooba Mufti will have the final say in the matter."

Official sources said one main agenda regarding posting senior officers of the civil and police administration to the recently created eight districts was to be discussed. The sources said the matter could not be taken up for discussion at the last two meetings because of the absence of the PDP ministers and the Chief Minister was keen to get the posting orders cleared by the Cabinet.

The sources said in case the PDP ministers again boycotted the meeting it would indicate that the conflict between the Congress and the PDP was yet to be resolved.

They said if the differences had been resolved, the PDP leadership might no longer insist on a separate discussion in the Cabinet on its demand for a cut in the strength of the troops because the issue had already been sorted out in the talks the Mufti and his senior party colleagues had held in Delhi with the Prime Minister and other functionaries of the AICC.

Jammu, March 26
The National Conference (NC) has sought a report from its Poonch district unit regarding the allegations that one of its MLAs, Javed Rana, had fanned communal clashes in Mendhar which remained under curfew for the third day on Monday.

The town witnessed communal clashes last week on the issue of ownership of a piece of land on which a group of Muslims had started constructing a madrasa.

The Army and the CRPF are patrolling the streets of the town to prevent violence.

Some selected telephone connections were restored today. The telephone exchange was shut by the authorities as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, the provincial president of the NC, Ajay Sadhotra, told media persons here that he had sought a report from the Poonch unit chief of the party into the allegations that the Javed Rana was instrumental in fanning communal violence.

Sadhotra, however, denied that any NC activist was behind the trouble. He claimed that Rana had helped defuse the situation, but the BJP was trying to implicate him in the incident.

He said the party will hold a public meeting here on March 29 to expose the failure of the Congress-PDP coalition government. Party chief Omar Abdullah will address the meeting.

He accused the government of having failed to provide relief to the farmers whose crops had been destroyed due to unseasonal snowfall, hail and rain.

The farmers were awaiting compensation, but the government has not even ordered assessment of the crop loss.

He said ration was not available in many remote areas as the road links were snapped.

Jammu, March 26
The General Zorawar Singh auditorium complex, built at a cost of about Rs.30 crore in Jammu University, will be inaugurated on March 28 by Governor S.K.Sinha.

A week-long cultural programme has been organised in which santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma, Rabbi Shergill, qawwali experts Wadali brothers and vocal artist Zila Khan will participate.

The auditorium is the biggest in any of the university in the region with a seating capacity of over 1500. The Prime Minister had provided a special grant for the construction of the auditorium which has been named after the great Dogra soldier who extended the territories of Jammu and Kashmir up to Tibet and China.

Care has been taken to depict all three regions of the state, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, in the complex which has the potential of becoming an attraction for tourists and researchers. The auditorium complex, with its unique museum and art gallery, is an attempt to showcase and celebrate the rich heritage. S.D.S Charak's wall paintings of Jammu region section have found a prominent place in a gallery of miniatures.

The university has also taken a lead in establishing the art gallery of contemporary paintings in the complex with a view to generating interest in art and to encourage the artistic atmosphere. A rich collection of paintings of Amitave Das, Shamshad Hussain, Jogen Choudhury, Pranam Singh and Harsh Vardhan Sharma has been displayed in a separate hall of the complex.

To generate a sense of belonging among the Ladakhis, the art gallery is named after Lotsava Rinchen bzangpo (c. 958-1055 A.D.), a great scholar and translator, who was responsible for the foundation of 108 monasteries (Gompas) throughout Ladakh, western Tibet and Lahul Spiti (Himachal Pradesh). He played a vital role in laying a firm foundation for Buddhism in the Ladakh region and is known as the “Father of Buddhist Culture in Ladakh”. The monasteries (Gompas) built by Rinchen bzangpo are renowned for their architecture, which includes rich wood carvings and fine wall paintings. The idea of dedicating this gallery to Lotsava Rinchen bzangpo is to propagate his vision towards arts. Hence the purpose of the gallery is preservation, dissemination and research, which makes it distinct from other art galleries of the country.

Srinagar, March 26
Ailing firebrand Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was today operated upon at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital where he had been admitted following deterioration in his health condition due to kidney malignancy.

Breakaway Hurriyat Conference spokesman Ayaz Akbar said here that a team of medicos, led by Dr Hemant B Tondgaonkar, performed the kidney surgery on Geelani.

''The operation has been successful,'' he said, quoting Altaf Ahmed Shah,son-in-law of the hardliner.

The doctors started the procedure of removing the mass on the kidney, which had been badly damaged by cancer, at 9 am and the entire operation lasted five hours, he added.

However, the doctors have said the next 48 hours were crucial for the ailing leader and he has been put under strict observation in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the spokesman said acting chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi and Muslim League leader Masarat Alam Bhat would leave for Mumbai on March 28 to enquire about the health condition of Geelani following the operation. — UNI

Srinagar, March 26
A leopard was killed by a group of people, mostly women, in a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramula district, official sources said today.

The incident occurred at Darmhama in Bandipora in the district yesterday when a leopard ventured into the village from a nearby forest to hunt domestic animals, the sources said.

With leopards having killed dozens of domestic animals in the past, the villages on sighting the wild cat killed it using stones and axes, the sources said, adding that two of the women were injured in the incident. — PTI