Udhampur, November 2
Taking a lead from other political parties, provincial unit of the National Conference today launched its election campaign in the Jammu region.

The party organised a public meeting at Reasi town in which leaders highlighted issues relating to the next Assembly elections.

President of the party Omar Abdullah has already started election campaign in Kashmir as all senior leaders of the party have been touring different areas of the valley explaining to people “misdeeds” of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Interestingly, in the valley, NC’s campaign is confined to corner the PDP while in the Jammu region, the party leadership minced no words in attacking Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Congress.

The NC leadership in Jammu is very much aware that real fight in this side of Pir Panchal would be with the Congress so the party should adopt aggressive posture in exposing failure of Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition regime. The NC leaders also tried to highlight differences among coalition partners.

Provincial president of the NC Ajay Sadhotra came down heavily on the Congress regime for its failure to fulfil its commitments to the people of the state. Sadhotra ridiculed Congress’ claim that the demand of the people of Reasi had been fulfilled with the grant of district status to the area.

He pointed out that district status had been granted to Reasi, but the district administration was yet not functional.

He said during the past five years the coalition regime had done nothing to ameliorate the lot of the masses. “Except raking up emotive issues, the regime has done nothing concrete to mitigate miseries of the masses.”

The leaders attacked Azad for succumbing to the pressure tactics of the PDP. They said owing to an on-going tug-of-war among coalition partners, developmental had come to a standstill.

Rajouri, November 2
It may sound ridiculous, but it is true. The Crime Investigation Department (CID)
has asked it officials here to verify the involvement of an 18-month-old baby boy in any militancy or criminal activity for allowing him to accompany his mother on Haj. CID officials carried out the verification within a few days and gave the baby a
clean chit.

The verification report which followed the visit by local CID officials to the house of Muhammad Hussain, father of the baby Rahim Qudrat of Sawani, near here, who is to accompany its mother Shamim Begum on Haj, has been reportedly submitted to the CID headquarters in Jammu.

Interestingly, the baby boy's verification was sought by the CID headquarters, even after his mother's verification was already done and she was cleared.

CID officials said they had to follow the directions of the higher officials, but they also pointed out that the exercise was a wastage of time.

"How can an 18-month-old boy join any militant outfit or get involved in any criminal activity when he doesn't even know how to speak properly ?" asked a local CID official not wanting to be named.

The baby boy was also subjected to police verification,which again gave him a clean chit. Official sources said Shamim Begum had applied for Haj and wanted to take her son along with her.

"After verifying the credentials, security and intelligence agencies cleared Shamim and her son. They were asked to deposit the money for the pilgrimage", the sources added. She deposited the requisite money with the DC's office.

Despite repeated efforts, the officer concerned at the CID headquarters at Jammu couldn't be contacted.