Jammu, May 23
Accusing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of ''sheltering the militants'', the BJP today said there was police-militants nexus in Bhadarwa, the Chief Minister's constituency.

''The CM's own constituency has become a hotbed of militancy and terrorism with the minorities in general and the nationalist Muslims in particular being the main targets of the nexus between the local police and the militants there,'' BJP national executive member Nirmal Singh told a press conference here, disagreeing with the Chief Minister's assertions that militancy was on the decline in J and K.

The BJP leader even accused the Chief Minister of shielding Gandoh SHO Farooq Ahmed Wani, the cop who ''has a nexus with the militants and is directly responsible for the recent migration of 21 families of the Hindu minority comprising 65 members from Sawara''.

Nirmal Singh pointed out an agreement was reached between these migrated families and the state administration that the families would return to Sawara only when the said SHO would be transferred, a magisterial inquiry against him was held, installation of a CRPF post in that area, strengthening of the Village Defence Committees and supply of arms to the civilians of the area to meet the militants’ threat.

The BJP leadership also claimed that at least 50 militants were active in and around Balesa in the Bhadarwa assembly constituency.

Stating that certain Muslims helping the security forces in combating terrorism in that area were also being victimised by terrorists and the said SHO .

In one such case, Haji Umar Din of Chilli, who has been helping the Army along with his fellow villagers against the militants operating in the area, was targeted and harassed by the local police. Haji Umar Din, sarpanch of his village, now was on the militants' hit list, the BJP leader stated.

In another case, Aashique Hussain, a teacher of Malikpura whose father was eliminated by the militants, was also under a grave threat. Aashique Hussain, who was himself present at the today's press conference, said he was tortured at the joint interrogation centre (JIC) and released by the Gandoh SHO only after being deprived of the money he had at that time.

Udhampur, May 23
Normal life was thrown out of gear today as the town observed a complete shutdown in response to a call given by various Sikh organisations. The bandh call was supported by all political parties against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The strike call was given by the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Udhampur, and was supported by the BJP, the Shiv Sena and other groups.

Although a complete shutdown was observed in Jammu yesterday, Sikh organisations had announced to observe a strike today due to the visit of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in the town yesterday.

The city wore a deserted look as all shops, business establishments and educational institutions were closed. People voluntarily observed the strike and offered all support and confined themselves to their houses.

Some youths attempted to stop traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, but they were convinced by the police not to create hurdles in the movement of traffic.

Representatives of various Sikh organisations took out a procession in the city which started from Slathia Chowk, passed through different areas, before culminating in front of the office of the deputy commissioner where a memorandum was submitted to the DC.

Srinagar, May 23
More than a year after releasing his "Vision Document" on the resolution of the Kashmir issue, Sajjad Lone has mooted trifurcating the state on the basis of ethnic and religious groups in three regions.

This has come at a time when the government and some separatist organisations, mainly the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, have been harping on the Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s four-point formula. The moderate APHC at the same time has urged the Centre to evolve consensus and adopt a serious and sincere approach with the involvement of "real representatives" of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve the issue.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik on Sunday launched his "journey for freedom" to garner peoples’ support for impressing upon the Centre to "involve people in the peace process". Though Sajjad Lone has struck a new chord, he is in unison on the idea of involving Kashmiris in the ongoing peace process. Supporting the idea that if people in Jammu and Ladakh regions did not want to remain with the Kashmiris, Sajjad Lone said they should be allowed to have their way.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Sher-e-Kashmir Park on the occasion of fifth death anniversary of his father Abdul Gani Lone here yesterday. The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, of which Abdul Gani Lone was a senior executive member, had fallen to the bullets of unidentified gunmen on May 21 at Eidgah five years ago during commemorative function of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq. The Hurriyat, with Sajjad’s elder brother Bilal Lone as one of its executive members, also commemorated Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone at Eidgah on Monday.

Sajjad parted company with his brother Bilal in the wake of differences between the Hurriyat leadership during 2002 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The issues had also distanced the hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from the Hurriyat Conference, after which he constituted his Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and is also heading his faction of the APHC. Both Lone brothers now are heading each faction of the Peoples Conference. While Bilal is a senior executive of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Sajjad stayed away from either factions of the APHC after the two brothers parted company.

Sajjad, who presented his vision document "Achievable Nationhood" early last year, like JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik also had a separate meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His Vision Document seeks "unification of the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir through an arrangement of sectoral overlaps and creation of a wide range of joint institutions".

In his opinion it propounded the creation of a single Jammu and Kashmir Economic Union that would result in the formation of a boundary-less and prosperous state. It envisaged the creation of five new overlapping relationships within two power sharing structures.

CPM state secretary M Y Tarigami has decried Lone’s idea on the plea it amounted to dividing the regions into sub-regions. He added that people of Jammu and Kashmir were yet to come out of the trauma of Partition and this would further divide people on religious, communal and sectarian lines. 

Srinagar, May 23
Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has reiterated his stand on the urgency of reduction of troops and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and described these measures as fundamental for the peace process to move forward.

The PDP patron while addressing a public meeting at Kandimarg in Anantnag district of south Kashmir yesterday said the critics of the troop reduction had no political understanding of the situation and their confrontational statements could only make the matters worse. "We have to take advantage of the people’s reconciliatory mood to build on the situation," he said and added that the same could not be taken for granted and any reversal of the process would have disastrous consequences for not only the State, but the whole region.

Mufti said for the first time, cutting across the party lines, there was rare convergence of views between various political parties on the state’s ground situation and the urgency for initiating people-friendly measures.

He held that not only the Congress but even the BJP leadership had stressed the need for winning the hearts and minds of the people of this state "by restoring their dignity and esteem". The former Chief Minister urged the Centre to respond to the clarion call from the people of the state and initiate actual measures aimed at bringing dignified peace to their lives.

The former Chief Minister declared that self-rule document encompassing a comprehensive formula for the ultimate resolution of the Kashmir issue would be presented before the public soon. He said the self- rule proposal not only addresses the external and internal dimensions of the problem, but the political, constitutional, economic, social, ethnic, regional and sub-regional aspects as well. He said the self- rule formula is based on the four fundamental principles of identity, control, legitimacy and independence to formulate and implement policies.

Talwara (Reasi), May 23
When the number of dropouts was increasing rapidly among school-going children of displaced families, authorities opened an educational institute at Talwara migrants camp to impart education at their doorsteps. This school was established to stop children from dropping out. But it failed due to negligence of the administration.

Far from imparting quality education to migrants’ children, the institute lacks basic amenities like drinking water. Students have to walk 2 km for drinking water as there is no source of water nearby.

Asha Devi, a class III student, who was carrying water for her classmates, told The Tribune that it was a routine affair for her. “Everyday we have to cover a distance of 2 km on foot to get a bottle of water”, she disclosed, adding, “school management has made a roster for every student to fetch water for their classmates from Seharh Baba, which is 2 km from the school premises''.

The school is situated near the bank of the Chenab, but students have to face hardship due to unavailability of drinking water. Due to acute shortage of drinking water, the school management has to declare holiday on alternative days, especially in summer.

Expressing helplessness, headmaster of the school Parkash Singh said he had lost all hopes. “We have repeatedly taken up this matter with the authorities but of to avail”, rued the headmaster and pointed out that the issue was also brought to the notice of the deputy chief education officer during his visit to the school.

Parkash Singh, who is serving in this school since 2004, said getting adequate drinking water was really a dream for the students. “Last time it was in January 2004 when students of this school got fresh drinking water from the pipes being laid by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department'', he recalled, adding, “during the visit of a high-level team of the Union Home Ministry last month, the administration had promised to streamline water supply but nothing has been done so far”.

The Army, under its Operation Sadhbhavana, had donated two water tanks for the school, but there was no use of these tanks due to unavailability of water in the taps which have been dry for the past three years.

Contrary to the government claim, dropout cases have been increasing with every passing day. Attendance register of the school is testimony to the failure of the government to check dropout cases.