J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

‘Warring’ NC factions hold joint rally
Udhampur, September 28
As all political parties have virtually kicked off their election campaigns for the next Assembly elections, Opposition National Conference, which has a big stake in Kishtwar district, has initiated serious efforts to iron out differences between two warring factions of erstwhile Doda district.

Traffic lights needed to lighten chaos on roads
Jammu, September 28
After Tokyo, Jammu city has the distinction of having the second highest density of traffic in the world. The number of vehicles here keep on increasing with every passing day, and adding to the chaos is the lack of traffic lights in the city.

One of the damaged traffic lights in Jammu. — Tribune photo by Anand Sharma

Violent protests rock Poonch
Rajouri, September 28
Violent protests rocked the border township of Poonch after some unidentified miscreants hurled a brick on members of the Muslim community offering Friday prayers at the Jamia mosque.

Protest over excessive billing
Udhampur, September 28
Enraged over excessive billing and poor services being provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), residents of Udhampur, under the banner of the Telecommunication Consumers Committee, today staged a massive protest demonstration.

CRPF man held for killing youth
Srinagar, September 28
The police has arrested a CRPF man for gunning down a man in Pulwama district over a minor matter. People in the south Kashmir town had been agitating since the killing of Bilai Ahmed Bhat on Wednesday.

‘Warring’ NC factions hold joint rally
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service

Udhampur, September 28
As all political parties have virtually kicked off their election campaigns for the next Assembly elections, Opposition National Conference, which has a big stake in Kishtwar district, has initiated serious efforts to iron out differences between two warring factions of erstwhile Doda district.

It was all due to the efforts of the high command that both rival groups presented a united face and organised a rally in Kishtwar town. The rally was organised to felicitate Qazi Zallaludin, who has recently been appointed provincial secretary of the party. The function was organised by Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo, who is known as his rival in the party.

It was after long that NC workers jointly organised a rally, which was addressed by both the factions. In Kishtwar district, one faction of the party is led by local MLA Sajjad Kichloo, while the other group is headed by Qazi Zallaludin. In the 2002 Assembly elections, Sajjad Kichloo and Qazi Zallaludin had contested from Kishtwar and Inderwal constituencies, respectively. Qazi had lost badly in the elections, while Sajjad Kichloo had emerged victorious from the seat, which was earlier represented by his father late Bashir Ahmed Kitchloo.

After the 2002 elections, infighting between both factions intensified as Qazi had blamed Kitchloo for his defeat in the elections. As the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has gradually been making inroads into the Kishtwar area, both factions decided to iron out their differences to save their seats. Furthermore, the NC high command is also very particular about Kishtwar and Doda districts, as the party is eyeing win on maximum seats from these two districts of Jammu province in the next Assembly elections.

Sajjad Kitchloo denied any differences in the party, but he admitted that the joint rally by senior leaders would give a positive message to the party cadre. Kitchloo told the Tribune that party leaders had sorted out their differences and they vowed to work unitedly.

Traffic lights needed to lighten chaos on roads
Tejinder Singh Sodhi
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 28
After Tokyo, Jammu city has the distinction of having the second highest density of traffic in the world. The number of vehicles here keep on increasing with every passing day, and adding to the chaos is the lack of traffic lights in the city. There are no traffic lights and the traffic is controlled manually by a few police personnel.

People here blame the successive governments for failing to take any serious step to regularise the traffic by installing traffic lights.

The need to install traffic lights in Jammu city was felt way back in 1970 and at some places traffic lights were installed. But those lights had to bear the brunt of anti-government demonstrations during that period.

“There has been a manifold increase in traffic in Jammu, but its management has remained a major problem”, said Amarnath Mehra, a resident of Kachhi Chawani, Jammu. He added, “People of Jammu owe a lot to Jagmohan, who during his tenure as Governor sanctioned flyovers in the city.”

SSP (Traffic), Jammu, S.A. Watali told The Tribune, “Two years back we submitted a proposal to the state government and in response to that the road and building department sent an expert team from New Delhi for a survey. The team completed the survey, but two years have passed since then and no action has been taken.”

He said, “We are in a dire need of traffic lights in the city to regulate the heavy inflow of traffic, but as we are a law enforcing agency we can’t do it by ourselves.”

Violent protests rock Poonch
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, September 28
Violent protests rocked the border township of Poonch after some unidentified miscreants hurled a brick on members of the Muslim community offering Friday prayers at the Jamia mosque.

The brick hit Ghulam Muhammad, son of Umar Baksh, Kasalian, causing head injury to him.

Immediately after the incident, members of the Muslim community (mostly youths) took out a protest rally and shouted slogans against the district administration. They were demanding the identification of the miscreant and severe punishment to him.

“They took out a protest rally and later held a demonstration at the Krishna Park. As all this was going on, deputy commissioner J. S. Pachnanda reached the spot and tried to convince the protesters. But they refused to listen to him and instead tried to attack him”, said Aejaz Ahmed, an eyewitness.

The bodyguards of the DC fired in the air to disperse the mob. Following the firing by the security people, the mob turned violent and pelted stones on the policemen. The police also retaliated and subjected the protesters to cane charge. They also fired tear gas shells, an eyewitness said.

Officiating SSP, Poonch, Tahir Bhat told TNS that situation had been brought under control.

Protest over excessive billing

Udhampur, September 28
Enraged over excessive billing and poor services being provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), residents of Udhampur, under the banner of the Telecommunication Consumers Committee, today staged a massive protest demonstration.

The residents gheraoed the complex of TDM Rajdev, Udhampur, and stormed into his office chamber. For more than two hours they shouted slogans and demanded streamlining of the services in the district.

They circulated a bill of Rs 1,30,000 which was dispatched to a small shopkeeper. Despite repeated written complaints, BSNL authorities failed to take any step to rectify the mistakes.

It was only after the TDM’s intervention, the bills were revised and consumers paid only the actual bill. Later, the TDM told The Tribune that matter had been sorted. — TNS

CRPF man held for killing youth
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 28
The police has arrested a CRPF man for gunning down a man in Pulwama district over a minor matter. People in the south Kashmir town had been agitating since the killing of Bilai Ahmed Bhat on Wednesday.

The police registered a case of murder yesterday.

CRPF spokesperson SK Singh had earlier said the accused soldier had fired in self-defence after the locals roughed him and his colleagues and tried to snatch their guns.

However, the locals said Bhat was shot dead simply because some youngsters, including him, argued with security personnel when asked to leave.