Srinagar, October 18
Denied leave when his wife was on sickbed, Abhimanyu, a Central Reserve Police Force head constable of a unit stationed in Srinagar, ran away last week in the darkness of night. His pleas for leave were turned down many times and his wife in ill health in a town in UP desperately needed him, his colleagues said.

Many soldiers in a situation similar to that of Abhimanyu have taken more extreme steps in the past, going to the extent of killing themselves or their superiors. Although things improve whenever there is a hue and cry after such incidents, they get back to square one in some time. His colleagues told The Tribune that soon after he "absconded", the superiors sanctioned leave to others. And cases like these are not uncommon in the CRPF.

The CRPF, entrusted with maintaining law and order in the cities of Kashmir, has been given probably the most tiring aspect of anti-insurgency drive of the government to keep vigil at roads and vital installations. And as it demands long hours of presence, norms are often bent to ensure that they are visible everywhere.

"We are not supposed to do standing duty for more than seven-eight hours at a stretch. In reality, we come at 6 every morning and stand here at times till 8 pm till the last Army or CRPF vehicle reaches its destination," a jawan, whose company is deployed in the Jawahar Nagar locality, said.

A commandant of a battalion said problems were more at battalion or company level than being endemic. The security scare is such a big issue that many officers often overstretched their men to ensure no untoward incident happened, he said.

"Our senior officers are from the police and there is often communication gap between our immediate officers and their superiors who are from the police cadres," some jawans said. One of them is facing disciplinary action as he was found sitting by his officer while he was on a standing duty on a bridge near Lal Chowk.

Jammu, October 18
Passengers on the Jammu-Delhi railway section may have to wait for relief from frequent traffic jams caused due to burden on the single Railway track laid 34 years ago.

The Railway Department was hopeful of making the second railway track between Jammu and Delhi functional in the second week of November this year, but passengers will have to wait for second track to be functional as work on the 98 km track from Madhopur to Jammu is going on.

Though construction work on the second 650 km Railway track is on to ease burden on the three-decade old single track, but work on the 98-km Madhopur-Jammu track has not been yet completed . The Jammu-Delhi railway track witnesses frequent traffic jams following pressure of the railway traffic on the single track.

“There are frequent traffic jams on this section following heavy rush of passengers to this region keeping in view the traffic inflow Railway Ministry decided to convert it into a double track route.” said an official of the Railway Department in Jammu.

Work on the second railway track got delayed due to the construction of several major bridges en route. Big rivers like Ravi, Basantsar and Ujh fall in the section and the Railways had either to construct new bridges across these rivers or use existing Rail bridges.

Passengers coming to Jammu have been demanding another track as the state witnesses huge railway traffic during Amarnath yatra and people also come in large number to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.

“Everyday there is a drama going on between the Railway station staff and passengers following delay in the arrival or departure of trains. Many times trains also get cancelled” said a Railway employee here.

Now passengers of the Jammu-Delhi railway section are hopeful the opening of the second track would ease problems caused due to frequent traffic jams, but the wait for new track is far from over yet.

Jammu, October 18
While vested interests want people of the country divided along religious lines, there are also persons ,who have been working hard to unite followers of different religions as for them, no line of separation exists.

Ghulam Mohammed at 74 years of age is a unique example of communal harmony in the state as he has been singing hymns in praise of Mata Vaishno Devi since early age of 10 years.

Ghulam Mohammed along with his partner and nephew Nasir Mohammed (55) is much sought- aftert person in the state during the Navratra festival season.

A devout Muslim Ghulam Mohammed has performed Haj twice and Umrah once, but says his religion has been an inspiration for him to spread message of universal brotherhood and never put any hurdle in his work.

“My father who was a devoted Muslim taught me how to sing hymns praising Hindu gods and goddesses” said Ghulam Mohammed, adding “I have been singing the hymns praising Mata Vaishno Devi since the age of 10 and my religion was never a constraint in my profession.” “Rather this is a mission not a profession for me.”

The duo have performed not only in all major cities of the country but also in the USA and Saudia Arabia, “we have performed in almost all big and small cities of the country” he said adding, “I have also performed in the USA and the Saudia Arabia where people appreciated not only my work but also honoured me and invited me to visit again.”

Ghulam Mohammed says he always take time from his busy schedule to offer Nimaz five times (Muslim prayers) a day, “religion teaches to unite people and not to divide and the job I am doing will help unite the people.” He said.

A resident of Pakistan Ghulam Mohammed along with his father and teacher Baba Changez din migrated to Jammu during Partition in 1947 and settled in the border area of Dansal in Jammu tehsil. “My father was also in the profession of singing hymns praising Mata Vaishno Devi and he taught me to do the same.” he said.

He says wherever he goes people respect and honour him, “my biggest achievement in my life is that people of all faiths give honour to me and receive me with love and affection.” He said, “the biggest asset of my life is the message of universal brotherhood that I am spreading and is being acknowledged by people not only of this country, but abroad too.’

Ghulam Mohammed who is father to three sons says he loved his profession so much that he brought two of his sons into the profession of singing hymns for Hindu gods and goddesses.

Ghulam Mohammed, who sings in Dogri, Punjabi, Pahari and Gojri has so far recorded 35 audio albums praising Hindu gods and goddesses and all of these get good response in the market.

“I play traditional instruments like sarangi as these find mention in Dogri culture, our culture is like a flowerbed and people of different religions are flowers with different colours in it” he said.

Srinagar, October 18
The Jammu and Kashmir government has constituted a special task force to monitor the implemention of the recommendations of the state Human Rights Commission.

An official spokesman said here that the Cabinet sub-committee had its meeting under the chairmanship of Ghulam Nabi Azad here on Tuesday.

The force, has been asked to submit its report by November-end, will be headed by an officer of the level of the director-general of police/commissioner, civil-military liaison with three members.

The meetings with district-level screening committees, headed by DC’s, to review implementations and recommendations of the state rights panel.

The task force was asked to submit its report to the Cabinet has been directed to visit different districts by November 30.