Jammu, December 11
Just a few hours of rainfall in the city today exposed the claims of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) of providing proper drainage system to the residents of the city.

The entire city was marred with overflowing drains and heaps of garbage were littered on the roads. Residents faced a harrowing time as overflowing drains restricted movement on the roads.

“Today’s rainfall has exposed the big claims made by our Municipal Corporation of providing better civic amenities to the residents of Jammu, but they have failed,” said Prem Nath, a shopkeeper.

Just outside the gates of the Civil Secretariat, heaps of garbage were scattered all round, emanating foul stench.

“It has become very difficult for us to walk on this road as it has become a garbage dump. The garbage from around the city has floated to this area due to the rainfall,” said an employee of the secretariat. Though the civic authorities had deployed sweepers near the secretariat area to clear the garbage, they could do very little.

The absence of a proper drainage system in the city has added to the woes of the people as water from defunct drains gushed on to the road, creating hurdles for vehicular and pedestrian movement.

“All roads have have turned into small ponds. Areas like the Indra Chowk and the Jewel Chowk are also logged with water,” said Aman Kishan, a resident of Indra Chowk. Health experts said if the garbage piled on roads was not removed, it would result in the outbreak of epidemic in the region.

“People in the area already suffer from gastro-related problems due to the consumption of contaminated water and after today’s rainfall, the contamination of water would further worsen the health scenario of the city,” said Dr Anil of SMHS hospital, Jammu.

Chairman, Health and Sanitation, JMC, Sanjay Mahey said: “Yes, this has become a problem for the city. When it rains, the city turns into garbage dump, but the JMC is not to blame. People should also take responsibility to maintain cleanliness.”

Jammu, December 11
Continuing with the police expansion programme, the Jammu and Kashmir government has started the process of raising one-woman police battalion. In addition to that, there will be five more battalions coming within two to three years.

Kuldeep Khoda, who recently took over as the Director General of Police, gave this information here today. He said the process for raising one-woman police battalion has already begun. Besides, we would increase manpower to form five more battalions in next two to three years, he added. Presently there are 26 battalions in the state and the total police strength is about 90,000. It was 30,000 in 1988 prior to the rise of militancy in the state, the DGP said.

He said that at present there were 25,000 special police officers and 5,000 more were to be added.

Asked what prompted raising of one-woman police battalion, Khoda said, “We plan to utilise the services of women constables during search operations so that people had no opportunity for alleging molestation of women. Also, in tackling women criminals and other subversive elements we need the support of women police.”

Talking on demilitarisation, the DGP evaded a direct reply but said, “I am for building pressure on the militants in order to pave way for peace to return to the state. Deployment of police and security forces has always remained vital depending on the need.”

He said, “The process of increasing the manpower and equipping the police force with latest weaponary, mobility and communication system will continue."

The police chief was quite satisfied with the response from the Union Home Ministry on the requirements related to modernisation and financial assistance.

However, senior police officers are of the view that 19 additional police and CRPF battalions were needed for withdrawing troops from Anantnag and Baramulla districts because already the police play a vital role in counter insurgency operations in Srinagar and Budgam districts.

Sending out strong message to the militants, Khoda said those who indulge in violence should realise the futility of gun and asked them to lay down their weapons for allowing peace and normalcy to return to the state.

Jammu, December 11
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said while development and creation of infrastructure across the state was his prime agenda, the rural and remote areas were his main focus.

Interacting with the people, who had come to meet him here today, the Chief Minister said development of far-flung and remote areas was high on agenda of the government, adding that scores of road projects especially in far-off and backward areas were under implementation in the state.

A number of deputations and individuals from various parts of the state called on the Chief Minister and submitted memoranda of demands. In several cases he issued instructions to the concerned authorities for redressal of the grievances relating to development needs of the people mostly pertaining to construction of roads, augmentation of water supply, setting up and upgradation of health and educational institutions.

The Chief Minister said, “To ensure timely benefits of development schemes, infrastructure development in key sectors like roads, bridges, health, education, water and power has been put on fast track.”

Rajouri, December 11
Poonch-Haveli by-election will be held tomorrow. Eight candidates, four of them independents, are in fray for the seat, which fell vacant after the death of Ghulam Muhammad Jan in September this year.

The candidates in the fray here include Aejaz Ahmed Jan of National Conference (NC), Jehangir Mir of Congress, Pradeep Kumar Sharma of the BJP and Janak Singh of the All-J&K Kissan Mazdoor party and four independent candidates -- Yashpal Sharma, Shah Muhammad Tantrey, Nissar Hussain Shah, and Iftikhar Hussain Bazmi.

As many as 96,461 persons are eligible to vote in the by-polls, state election commission sources said. Of the total voters of this assembly segment, 49,551 are male and 46,910 females.

A total of 135 polling stations will be set up out of which 42 have been declared sensitive and 28 hyper-sensitive.

Srinagar , December 11
Family members of a woman who was allegedly done to death by her husband and in-laws staged a protest today, accusing cops of taking no firm action over their complaint.

Parents and relatives of Hamida, who died under mysterious circumstances in her in-laws house in Budgam district, said her husband, a former militant, often troubled her and she had returned to him from their house on Wednesday after considerable persuasion.

"Hours after our relatives left her at their home her husband called up to say that she was seriously ill. When we reached there in the morning she was dead," her father Md Subhan Wani told media persons today.

He said they found torture and burn marks on her body and her neck was twisted, indicating the violence.

Wani said they reported the matter to the police. They took our statement and carried out the post-mortem examination, but that's all they have done so far, he said, demanding arrest of her husband Ghulam Nabi Ganai and his family members. Repeated attempts to reach Budgam SSP SAH Bukhari for comments failed.

Wani said Ganai "forcibly" married their daughter after his release from jail and it was never a happy union. She returned to them eight months after marriage as her in-laws harassed her, he said, and it was just a beginning of her misery.

Another relative said they often tried to reconcile the couple, who in between became parents of two kids, but tensions remained.

"She had been staying with us for the past one month. Our relatives cajoled her into going to her husband as all families like their married daughters to stay with her husband and children.

But we never knew that it would be the last we will see of her," Wani said. 

Srinagar, December 11
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq has urged the governments of India and Pakistan to open trade routes across the LoC and make the entire region as a “free trade zone”.

He said the matter had been taken up during the Hurriyat meetings with the leadership on both sides seeking to make the region as tax free trade zone for development of the economy of the region.

“We support a free trade zone in the region” which would help in taking our produce to the entire region including South Asia and the Central Asian region. In his address at the Jamia Market unit of the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Association here today, the Mirwaiz stressed on the need of extending the trade to the mandis outside.

The Mirwaiz expressed concern over the apathetic attitude of the government towards the burning issues of the traders’ community in Kashmir. He alleged the government deliberately ignored the problems faced by the business community in the valley.

He said the government ignored the community despite of the payment of taxes and fulfilling all other requisite formalities. Even then the traders’ community was being ignored by the authorities, the Mirwaiz alleged and said it was the responsibility of the government to fulfill the demands and come to the expectation of the community in the state. 

Khundroo (Anantnag), December 11
Four months after the devastation caused by fire in the ammunition depot creating havoc in over a dozen villages around here, the residents are yet to come out of the trauma, many of them healing their wounds and many waiting for enough resources to rehabilitate themselves.

The accidental fire in the ammunition depot here on August 11 had caused damage to the houses in at least 13 nearby villages including Khundroo, Sombran, Shangus near the tourist spot of Achchabal in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

In his early thirty’s Mohammad Rafiq Shah of this village finds himself helpless having lost his right hand in an accidental explosion that occurred in the premises of their house on September 3 last about three weeks after the fire at the depot. The explosive device had been recovered by the children of their locality and left on the verandha of the house of his brother, Ghulam Ahmad Shah.

A woman was killed and six others including Mohammad Rafiq Shah were injured in the explosion. A labourer, working hard to earn livelihood finds himself in a difficult situation as he still heals the wounds on his chopped wrist and scars on the chest. His mud house with a thatched roof is distinct from the house of his brother and others nearby.

How to make his livelihood to feed his family including wife and four minor children, he does not have an answer. He has returned home only last months after spending two and a half months at the Srinagar hospital treating himself.

His neighbours in this tiny village opposite to the Khundroo ammunition depot also continue to live in a state of shock and despair every time fearing that their tiny house may crumble down even in a mild tremor.

Many of these villagers have got compensation for the damage of their houses and the ex-gratia on the death of any member of the family. “It was really God’s Qahhar,” said a nearby villager, Ghulam Qadir, while recalling the havoc caused as a result of the fire at the depot.

“There was not a single space left without any explosive substance,” he recalls. The peasants have found it difficult to harvest their paddy crop or pluck the apple fruit in the fields around later. They fear the ploughing the land for next spring season would also be more dangerous as there may be many explosive substances beneath.

The corpse of an elderly woman, Fazi, who passed away on Friday last, had to wait for several hours before burial at the local graveyard, the residents said. She was buried several yards away from the originally identified place in the graveyard after the gravediggers found two “dangerous objects.”

These had been two leftover fuses at the site, which came to the sight of the gravedigger, Ghulam Nabi Mir. They immediately informed the local Army personnel to clear the area from the objects before anything untoward could happen.

Several other villagers at Sombran divided from the ammunition depot from a wall, are up in their arms against the differentiating approach in the disbursement of relief material. Over 200 members of the Pandit community living in this village are also unhappy with the distribution of cash relief and other material for reconstruction of their damaged houses.

“There is no relief and I am not satisfied with the measures,” lamented Sham Lal Raina, a retired government employee. The assistance hardly accounts for the exact damage caused by the fire, he adds. Two brothers, Omkar Nath and Makhan Lal are not happy with the amount of relief provided to them. They lament that their cousins, whose houses suffered the same quantum of damage, had been paid five to six times more relief. Out of 144 household in the village, at least 44 households have been crying hoarse on the irregularities and insufficient cash and relief amount paid to them. 

Srinagar, December 11
More than 7,200 Haj pilgrims have left for Jeddah ever since direct flights for the annual pilgrimage began on November 11 last, but most of the flights have been rescheduled, following cancellation due to foggy conditions at the Srinagar Airport.

Everyday one flight was scheduled for the first fortnight. Later, two flights per day were started from November 28 to December 13. Additional flights were also started to clear the backlog of pilgrims who had not been able to leave due to bad weather conditions at the airport.

With this 8,130 pilgrims, including an additional 1,500 persons provided by the Central Haj Committee (CHC) would be performing the annual pilgrimage in the holy city of 
Mecca in Saudia Arabia from Jammu and Kashmir this year.

A group of the scheduled Haj pilgrims from Reasi district in Jammu today held protest demonstrations against the State Haj Committee (SHC) for the alleged delay in their departure. A representative group of 32 pilgrims, including seven women, said they had been waiting since Sunday and had been asked to stay back. They apprehended that any further delay in their departure would keep them away from performing the Haj pilgrimage this year.

They said the SHC had not given them details about the schedule of their departure, even after they had completed all requisite formalities. However, executive officer of the SHC, Abdul Rashid Mir told The Tribune that these pilgrims were scheduled for departure on the last day of the flights, on December 13. These pilgrims had reported much ahead of the schedule and, therefore, had to wait for their flight, Mir clarified. He added that all 8,130 Haj pilgrims would leave as scheduled by December 13, so that all pilgrims reached before the start of the pilgrimage.

With two more Haj flights leaving here today, their number had reached about 7,200.

With four more flights scheduled, two each on Wednesday and Thursday, all pilgrims would reach the holy city on time, he added. 

Jammu, December 11
With continued vigil and presence of the armed and security forces there has been substantial decline in the militancy-related incidents in the Kashmir valley.

According to the details compiled by the security agencies, the number of total incidents has come down by about 70 per cent in the year 2007 as compared to 1990 when militancy erupted in the valley.

Not only has violence come down, but there has been a lot of political activity by the mainstream parties now. These include the National Conference, Congress and People's Democratic Party.

About 2,200 big and small rallies have been organised this year in different parts of the valley, where participation of the public has been very encouraging.

Against about 3,500 incidents of violence related to militancy in 1990, there were only about 1,000 incidents reported this year. This, the security experts maintain, has been possible only with the consistent anti-militant operations conducted by the local police, the paramilitary forces and the armed forces as they have maintained consistent pressure on militants who have not been allowed to have an upper hand anywhere in the valley.

However, the situation is not that rosy. The incidents of violence do take place regularly with casualties as well. In fact the number of security personnel killed during the year 2007 so far is more than that in 1990. While on 94 security personnel were killed in 1990, the number this year was 97. This is again because of presence of more security forces now than in 1990.

But in other areas the incidents have shown a substantial decline. Like the number of civilians killed which has come down by about 80 per cent. While 914 civilians were killed in 1990, only 153 persons were killed this year. The number of local policemen, belonging to the J&K Police, killed has also come down by about 50 per cent from 34 in 1990 to 17 this year.

The firing by militants and the bomb explosions caused by them, the two main benchmarks of the presence of militancy, have also come down substantially. The firing incidents have come down by about 70 per cent from 671 in 1990 to 183 in 2007. The number of bomb explosions by various means has come down by a massive 95 per cent from about one thousand in 1990 to just about fifty this year. This is the reason that the number of civilian casualties has drastically come down.

Senior officials associated with the security of the state maintained that the pressure not only needs to be maintained, but also mounted so that to consolidate the gains further. They warned, in case the situation is allowed to relax, it could help the militants to reorganise and regroup. Moreover, the officials pointed out, this cannot be done when the state is scheduled to go for elections only next year.

The security agencies are quite apprehensive about the election time. Going by the previous record in 1996 and 2002 the incidents of violence have shown alarming increase in militancy-related violence.