Jammu, May 15
Coalition partners of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad have started differing with him on various sensitive issues to keep their vote bank intact though Assembly elections are nearly 19 months away.

Azad must have felt isolated on Saturday last when not a single Kashmir valley-based coalition partner stood beside him on the issues of granting state subject status to Hindu refugees, who migrated here from Pakistan during the partition of the country in 1947 and increasing the number of Assembly seats by 25 per cent. He had convened an all-parties meeting on May 12 to discuss these issues and solve the problems of the refugees from Pakistan

Not only the PDP of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed opposed Azad on these issues, but Congress agriculture minister Hakim Yaseen and CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also created hurdles in the matter. Tarigami took the Jammu region by surprise when he opposed the demand for citizenship rights to the refugees living here as unwanted for the past 60 years.

While the refugees from Pakistan, who settled in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and other parts of the country,were compensated by the Indian Government by allotting evacuee lands and property to them, the case of J and K, the successive Kashmir-dominated governments swept the issue of their resettlement under the carpet.

Moreover, the Kashmiri leadership apparently was not in a mood to settle the problem once and for all as they feared such a step might alter the demographic structure of the state.

The Mufti won the first Assembly election of his political career from the Ranbirsinghpura constituency, which has a large number of such refugees. Other political parties have also exploited their sentiments during elections from time to time, but paid only lip service after coming to power.

The refugees from Pakistan settled in the districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua are not entitled to vote in the Assembly elections. They are debarred from getting state government service or admission to professional institutions.

Political observers say Azad and the Mufti were not even on speaking terms and whatever the latter has to say does so through the Congress high command.

The Opposition National Conference (NC) that initially came close to Azad, now was spitting venom at him. What is unfortunate is that Azad distanced himself from the grass root level Congress activists after becoming the Chief Minister and hardly had any direct touch with them.

Governor S.K.Sinha has come to the rescue of Azad on the issue of demilitarisation of Kashmir by maintaining such a move was not possible while terrorist training camps were intact in Pakistan. On the other hand, the Mufti and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who heads the PDP, have the issue on the top of their agenda and persuaded the Centre to set up a high-level committee for this purpose. Tarigami, who was also seeking demilitarisation and greater role for the state police, was himself being protected by central para-military forces.

Jammu, May 15
Activists of various Sikh organisations here today burnt an effigy of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim and condemned the dera culture, in the wake of the yesterday's clash between men of the dera and SGPC members and workers of Sikh bodies in Punjab.

The Jammu District Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee,Sikh Intellectual Circle and Bhai Kanhaiya Jee Nishkam Sewa Society, in a jointly resolution here, condemned yesterday's incident.

These organisations also stated that the Sikhs, cutting across the boundaries of states, were deeply hurt by the ''nefarious'' activities of the dera chief.

Nishkam Sewa Society chief Mohinder Singh, addressing Sikhs on the occasion here, said Sikhs of Jammu were ready to extend help to those organisations in Punjab which were fighting against the dera culture there.

''We will never tolerate the bloodshed of our Sikh brethren as is visible in today's newspapers,'' he said.

''It is most disturbing that the Punjab Police remained mute spectator when the armed followers of the dera attacked peaceful protesters, and that too when the Punjab government is headed by Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal,'' Jammu Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee general secretary Gurdev Singh said in a separate statement here.

Udhampur, May 15
With the arrest of nine bovine smugglers, the Udhampur police has busted a gang indulging in illegally supplying animals to the Kashmir valley for slaughtering. These arrests were made by the Kud police on late Saturday night on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. Thirtynine cattle, loaded in three vehicles, were also recovered from the smugglers.

During initial interrogation, the police came to know that bovine smugglers had adopted a new modus operandi to smuggle cattle in Kashmir. Earlier, cattle were taken in trucks, but now they were smuggling animals in the guise of nomads and easily crossing police check-posts. During the past month,over 50 cattle smugglers have been arrested. — TNS