Jammu, December 25
Traffic chaos apart, the death toll on roads in the winter capital every year exceed far more than what militancy do to the people in the strife-torn state, thanks to nonchalant attitude of successive regimes, which did not deem it fit to reorganise the traffic police department.

With just 350 odd officers and other personnel, the traffic police department has been on crutches since 1982.

However, bringing its act together, the coalition government finally has plans up its sleeves to restructure the department so as to streamline chaotic traffic scenario here.

Talking to The Tribune, inspector general of traffic police, J&K, Mohammed Amin Shah said, “The proposal to reorganise the department is under active consideration of the finance department.”

“We have projected the required manpower at around 1,500 personnel, including officers, and obviously the financial implication is big, but we are hopeful that the proposal would be implemented soon,” said the IGP Traffic.

Shah said, “Jammu city has witnessed huge population explosion in the last few years but road length remains the same,” adding “dilapidated and congested roads make things worse.”

He further said, “To ensure smooth regulation of traffic and lesser road mishaps departments like Roads and Buildings, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Jammu Development Authority, Regional Transport Authority and Transport Department have to work cohesively.”

“Paradoxically, the coordination is missing despite repeated requests,” he rued.

“As far as role of traffic police department is concerned, though we are understaffed, but still my officers and personnel have been giving their best. This year, we have booked over 17,000 violators under Motor Vehicles Act so far.”

Talking to The Tribune, senior superintendent of traffic police, Jammu, Shafqat Watali said, “The strength of the traffic police department remains the same since 1982 despite the fact that population in the capital city increased manifold in the last 17 years.”

The Jammu city and its immediate suburbs have four lakh vehicles, out of which three lakh vehicles are in the capital city alone.

Watali said, “Acutely understaffed the traffic police department forwarded a proposal to the police headquarters and Chief Minister has personally intervened into the matter to reorganise the department. Considering financial implications the proposal would be implemented in three phases.”

The state High Court issues directives to the state government from time to time to improve messy traffic scenario in the capital city.

Jammu, December 25
Minister for roads and buildings Gulchain Singh Charak today inaugurated 1,200-metre long link road at Waziru Chak village in Bishnah. The road has been completed at a cost of about Rs 32.65 lakh.

Addressing the gathering, Charak said with the completion of this road, a population of ten thousand people of Deoli, Lalyana, Partapsingpora, Laswara, Poondarian and the adjoining villages will get connectivity.

He said that the present government is taking keen interest to connect every village with nearby city.

He claimed, massive infrastructure had been laid during five years period of the coalition government in the state. He said the Azad-led government is making concerted efforts to provide all basic amenities to all villages by providing road connectivity, healthcare, drinking water, educational institutions and power.

Earlier, Charak also laid foundation stone of a community hall at Channi Himmat to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 13 lakh under Captain City Development Programme (CCDP) fund.

Responding to the demands, Charak asked the R&B engineers to formulate project report for construction of rotary and maintenance of Ward No 50 and 51 roads so that locals do not face any inconvenience. He announced Rs 2 lakh for construction of community hall at Channi Himmat under CDF.

Commissioner JMC Vinod Sharma, executive engineer Div-I R&B S.P. Manhas and other senior engineers of R&B accompanied the minister.

Gharana, December 25
Plagued by massive silting and encroachment, the world-famous Gharana wetland reserve, a premier wetland situated at the Indo-Pak international border in Ranbir Singh Pura sector in Jammu, is dying a slow death.

Unchecked encroachment by the locals in the area has reduced the size of wetland to almost half of its official size of 0.75 sq kilometres.

“Officially Gharana wetland is spread on an area of 0.75 sq km but encroachment by the local farmers have reduced this wetland to less than half the size that it used to be a couple of years ago,” said Pummy Kumar, senior wildlife guard, posted at Gharana wetland for the past four years.

Environmentalists too warn that wetlands in the state are rapidly shrinking due to official apathy and rampant encroachment, endangering thousand of animals and migratory birds.

The state boasts of 16 wetlands, seven of them are in Jammu regions, experts predict that these will vanish in around three to four years if the authorities continue to neglect them.

Gharana hosted 20,000 migratory birds coming from different countries last year, but wildlife experts warn that the number of winged visitors is slowly declining.

Speaking to the Tribune, regional wildlife warden Jammu, Nasser Ahmed Kitchloo accepted that there has been a widespread encroachment in the Gharana wetland reserve and the government is taking steps to retrieve encroached land back from the locals.

“Yes, people of the area have encroached upon a large part of the wetland; we have taken steps to retrieve it. Jammu divisional commissioner and SDM of the area are also demarcating the encroached land, we will soon reclaim it,” Kitchloo said.

According to wildlife experts, shrinking wetlands have also affected the behaviour of the water birds. Cormorants, which thronged this wetland in the past, have gone down in number because of shallow water.

Pummy Kumar says, “Unlike past the winged visitors have become more sensitive. They abandon the wetland over the slightest of provocation; unlike past when even the booming hunter guns and cross border firing from both sides of the border did not scare them.”

Officials say the local resident who mostly depend on farming have turned the wetland into a disposal ground where they dump all their agricultural waste, which in turn is silting the wetland.

“The locals, who live on the banks of this wetland, put all their agricultural waste into it, they also throw soil in the wetland to convert it into a piece of land, slowly they have made huge portion of the wetland disappear and pieces of land has replaced majority of the wetland.” said Pummy Kumar.

Wildlife experts say for the past few years they have observed that the migratory birds that visit this wetland compete with each other for the space.

“As the wetland space here is shrinking due to encroachment, the birds that come here have to compete with each other for occupying space, so they fight with each other,” said Mukul Raj, a wildlife expert in Jammu, who has spend 27 years of his life researching on the behaviour of migratory birds in J&K.

Adding he said, “The wetland preservation campaign seems to be gaining popularity amongst public as well, we are ready to offer voluntary services for preservation, but the government must take initiative in such efforts.”

Jammu, December 25
Large number of locals blocked the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for four hours last night after parts of a slaughtered cow were found in a bag in Nagrota area on the outskirts of the city.

The protests started after some people kept parts of a slaughtered cow in front of the shop of local Hindu leader S Khajuria last evening, police said today. The protest was called off after intervention of police authorities, they added.

Six people have been detained for their alleged involvement in the act.

This is the second incident of cow slaughter within a week in the state. Earlier, on Eid-ul-Zuha also, an incident of cow slaughter in Kathua district had led to protest in the area and police had to fire in the air to disperse thousands of protesters. — PTI

Udhampur, December 25
As the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) of Prof Bhim Singh has been desperately trying to expand its base in newly carved Reasi district, the Congress has launched a “counter attack” in Udhampur to engage the JKNPP in its home town. Udhampur has been considered as citadel of the JKNPP while the Congress has a strong base in Reasi district.

The Congress has launched this “counter attack” only after the JKNPP has successfully roped in secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Sardari Lal Dubey, who is being projected as party candidate for Reasi seat.

Publicly, Congress leaders have taken this defection “lightly”, but internally the party is devising strategies to check JKNPP. “Sardari Lal was already hobnobbing with leaders of the BJP and the JKNPP, so we were expecting this,” Jugal Kishore, minister of rural development and MLA, Reasi, told The Tribune. He, however, admitted that “tussle” between the Congress and the JKNPP has been intensified for quite some time, especially after the latter came out of the coalition.

Sources in the Congress said the party has assigned Kishore the task to counter the JKNPP’s aggressive campaign in Reasi and Udhampur. Although another party leader and minister of state for sports Babu Singh is chairman of the District Development Board (DDB), Udhampur, yet Kishore has been running the show as being local, only he can counter JKNPP aggressive posture.

For quite some time, Kishore has addressed as many as 20 public meetings in Udhampur, Ramnagar and Chenani, in which activists of JKNPP have joined the party.

The Congress has reasons to concentrate on Udhampur as its arch rival JKNPP has consolidated its position in this district. The latter, however, has been facing challenge from the BJP, and not from the Congress here. Therefore, the JKNPP has been trying to make inroads in Reasi, which is stronghold of the Congress.

In Udhampur district, the Congress has been fighting on two different fronts.

Jammu, December 25
With the commissioning of the first phase of the Baglihar power project, the power situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also in the northern grid is bound to improve.

Once the project starts generating power to its full capacity of 900 megawatts, the long power cuts in the state may turn to be a thing of the past. With this the state has been able to exploit its water resources for electricity generation, albeit only to a limited extent.

According to rough estimates, the state has a potential to generate about 20,000 megawatt of power.

However, the state had a long-pending grievance with the Government of India over having “surrendered the state's water rights to Pakistan” under Indus Water Treaty (IWT). The treaty was signed between India and Pakistan by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Field Marshal Mohammad

Ayub Khan, the then President of Pakistan, and W.A.B. Illif of the World Bank on September 19, 1960.

Under the treaty, India and Pakistan get to share three rivers each. While India retained its rights over Satluj, Ravi and Beas, Pakistan got the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.

The Jammu and Kashmir state feels genuinely aggrieved that all the three rivers, which were flowing through its territory were surrendered to Pakistan, while all the rights over rivers flowing through Punjab were retained.

A senior minister in the government remarked, it appears it was more a treaty between Punjab and Pakistan, while Jammu and Kashmir was left out.

The J&K Assembly also passed a resolution on March 3, 2003 asking New Delhi to reconsider the IWT to safeguard the interests of the state.

The resolution stated that the IWT was discriminatory as the rights over waters of three rivers of the state -- Jhelum, Chenab and Indus -- were with Pakistan and India had to seek permission for any construction plans on these rivers.

Pakistan claimed that the Baglihar project, conceived in late 90s, was in 
contravention of the IWT provisions.

It feared that the project could lead to shortage of water for irrigation in its Punjab area. It had approached the World Bank, since it was a signatory to the IWT.

The WB declined the Pakistan plea saying, it was just a facilitator and not a guarantor of the treaty.

However, after several rounds of negotiations failed between India and Pakistan on the issue, the World Bank appointed Professor Raymond Lafitte, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, to address differences with India over the dam being built on Chenab river in 2005.

Since Prof Lafitte concluded that India did not violate the IWT, Pakistan stopped opposing it since under the terms of the 1960 treaty, the decision was final and binding on both parties.

Pakistan claims that this dam will result in a loss of 7000-8000 cusecs of water a day during the rabi season. India has assured Pakistan that the quantum of water will not be diminished in any way.

Pakistan disputes India 's contention that this is a run-of-river project and the site is unsuitable for an “ungated spillway”. The works involve the construction of a “Pondage” of 15-million cubic metre capacity (IWT allows for 'Pondage', a term meaning live storage, of only sufficient magnitude to meet fluctuations in the discharge of the turbines arising from variations in the daily and the weekly loads of the plant) and an underground power station.

Pakistan claimed the submerged gate spillways of this 429-feet high 1046-feet long dam, will allow India to increase the reservoir's storage capacity to 164,000 acre feet and the ability to stop water for about 26 days during December, January and February affecting canals taking off Marala headworks.

This project, Pakistan believes, could also lead to inundation of Bajwat area above Marala headworks due to sudden synchronised releases from Dulhasti, Baglihar and Salal reservoirs on Chenab.

So much so, Pakistan 's minister for education and former head of the ISI, Javed

Ashraf Gazi, had warned the Pakistani Senate in 2005 that the country could go to war with India on Baglihar controversy.

Srinagar, December 25
Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the police to register a case and file status report by February next year in the alleged custodial killing of a State Forest Corporation (SFC) driver by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of police in Ganderbal in January 2001.

The court gave the direction on a petition filed by one Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a resident of Rainwari, alleging that his driver son Bilal Ahmad Mir was killed by SOG, which later labelled him a Lashker -e-Toiba (LeT) militant on January 16, 2001.

Mir in the petition said he sought intervention of the court after the police refused to register an FIR and respondents, including Director General of state police declared Bilal a LeT militant.

The court directed the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the central Kashmir district of Budgam to register a case in the killing of Bilal and file a status report by February 2008.

The petition said some unknown armed persons intercepted Bilal’s official jeep at Chanapora in the uptown on January 16, 2001 and confined him and his Divisional Manager Muhammad Yousuf Gabroo in a house at Nowgam.

The armed men escaped with the jeep before releasing Bilal and Babroo.

When they rushed to Parimpora police station to lodge an FIR, they were detained and later handed over to SOG Humhama. However, next day the police informed Mir that his son’s body was kept in Ganderbal Police Station.

The police refused to register a case against the SOG for killing his son, the petition further said.

Finally, Mir approached the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) for direction to the SSP concerned to register a case.

The petition states that general secretary of SFC’s Drivers Association Abdul Majid Mir filed an application in State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) for taking cognizance of Bilal’s custodial killing by SOG after in custody.

In its report to SHRC the then SSP Budgam confirmed that Bilal was arrested by SOG on January 17, 2001.

It further said on preliminary questioning, Bilal confessed that he was a platoon commander of LeT outfit and was active in Ganderbal area.

The police report to SHRC said Bilal confessed he had kept his weapon in a hideout at Deran Ganderbal and handed over his departmental vehicle to LeT group who attacked the Srinagar Airport on January 16, 2001.

It said the SOG along with a platoon of 47 battalion of CRPF took Bilal for recovery of the weapons at Deran where they were attacked by militants.

The SOG party also retaliated and in a fierce encounter Bilal was injured and killed, the report said.

However, after considering the report, the SHRC on May 11, 2004 order reinvestigation of the case, asking the Director General of Police to constitute a special team headed by a gazetted officer to identify the SOG personnel responsible for Bilal’s death so that they could be brought to justice.

But no team was constituted to investigate the case nor any financial assistance was granted to the deceased family.

The respondents have to provide ex-gratia financial relief to the family because the deceased was an innocent civilian and was killed in custody while he was on government duty, Mir said and added as the respondents have failed to do so, therefore, the petitioner has no other alternative but to seek the intervention of the court. — UNI

Srinagar, December 25
The elimination of three Hizbul Mujahideen militants holed up inside a mosque in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir is a warning to ultras that religious places are not their safe havens, a senior police officer said today.

“Militants think that by taking refuge in mosques they are safe. We have proved that we have the wherewithal to smoke them out of even mosques without violating the sanctity of the religious place,” deputy inspector general of police, South Kashmir, H K Lohia told PTI.

Lohia, who headed the operation against the militants at Palnoo mosque, said the security forces psychological tactics to smoke the ultras out of the mosque.

“Psychologically, we knew that one cannot go without food for too long ... we also kept the communication with the militants going on the public address system to ensure that the civilians held hostage were not harmed.

As the militants had gone nearly 48 hours without food, the police lobbed tear smoke shells inside the mosque which forced them to come out,” he said.

He said the security forces had anticipated which way the militants would try to escape when they came out of the mosque and had put an ambush party ready to ensure that the ultras fell into the trap and were eliminated, he said.

Asked why the militants were not captured alive or made to surrender as they were without rations, the DIG said every possible way out was tried but to no avail.

Aware that the militants had been issued a threat by their outfit that their families would be targetted if they surrendered, we even offered a mechanism by which it would not look like a surrender but they refused, he added. — PTI

Gharana, December 25
The farmers in Gharana village of Ranbir Singh Pura sector, situated at the international border between India and Pakistan, are these days harvesting the crop of the ongoing bonhomie between the two nuclear powered nations of South Asia.

For the past four years, the residents here, the majority of whom were associated with farming, get a better crop every year as they are not restricted from venturing into their fields which fall on the border with Pakistan.

Before ceasefire restrictions were imposed, there was constant fear of being hit by a bullet coming from a Pakistani gun.

“Earlier we could not go to our fields because of the fear of being hit by Pakistani bullets, as they were looking out for any movement on our side,” said Tilak Raj, a resident of Gharana village.

Adding he said, “But ever since both the neighboring countries agreed to a ceasefire we are in a win-win situation,” said Tilak, whose house is very near to a Pakistani bunker on the other side of the international border.

Though there was not any heavy artillery shelling from other side of the border, but small arm fire was common and just a week before ceasefire in 2003, 40-year-old Brijan Chand lost his life after being hit by a Pakistani bullet.

“He was unfortunate that he could not live to see his fields becoming free for him to cultivate them again,” said Pawan Kumar.

The residents of the paddy rich area that grows one of the world famous variety of Basmati rice, who at one stage were compelled to starve as they could not go to their fields, have now become a prosperous lot as their yield brings good money for them.

“We grow the best quality of Basmati in the region, thanks to ceasefire, but earlier our situation was that despite having so much of cultivable land, we were forced to starve,” said another resident Pyare Lal.

During operation Prakram that followed after the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament and the escalating tension between the two countries the residents had to vacate the village to take shelter at safer places had waned hope of returning back to their homes.

“After we left our house we had no hope to return back as our fields were mined by the Indian Army, we thought we lost our occupation (farming) forever, but as there was no war, the tension ended and the mines were removed,” said Janak Raj, a farmer.

The residents here feel that the ongoing bonhomie should last as it is in the mutual interest of both the nations. But they also fear that they could become “sitting ducks on fire” after the ceasefire gets scrapped.

“We have always been on the receiving end, but for the past four years we are witnessing some happiness as we can now venture into the extreme corners of our fields that touch the international border and we also see people from other side of the border engaged in similar activities in their fields,” said Janak Raj.

Jammu, December 25
An internally displaced Kashmiri Pandit couple continues to shuttle from pillar to post, seeking financial help for saving its only son, who has been suffering from a rare life consuming genetic disorder.

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), the then President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Union ministry of home affairs had asked the state government to help save life of 18-year-old Vipul Koul, the only child of Ashok Koul and Usha Koul.

Vipul has been suffering from cryptoriturism, pan-hypopituratism, hypopituratism, thyroid, mental illness seizers, adunal and growth hormone deficiency.

Talking to The Tribune, Ashok Koul, a class IV employee with the Stores and Procurement Department said, “Despite assurances from health minister in presence of media on October 4 this year, no help has come to me.”

He added, “I am not asking for any undue favour. Being a government employee, the state government is under an obligation to meet medical expenditures of my family.”

Koul said, “Two months have passed since health minister assured me of a positive response. Each passing day is crucial for my son as his condition continues to deteriorate. I had been trying hard seeking an appointment with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad but an official rudely spoke to me on phone.”

He further said, “When I went to meet the Chief Minister at his official residence at Wazarat Road, his under secretary told me bluntly on my face that I have already got Rs 14 lakh and what else I need.”

Vipul needs Rs 20 lakh — an estimate prepared by the doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi — for fifth and last surgery.

The couple had already spent nearly Rs 14 lakh on four surgeries of their son and the money was sanctioned in installments by the erstwhile National Conference government.

After communiqués from the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Union home ministry to the coalition government, the special secretary to the Chief Minister had allegedly issued a letter.

The coalition government, however, had described the letter as fake and had ordered a probe as well. The letter dated July 24, 2007 stated, “Under Article 370, the state of Jammu and Kashmir is under no obligation to oblige the home ministry’s instructions.”

The SHRC in its decision on January 24, 2006, observed, “State government having already released Rs 14 lakhs in the past, besides authorising the patient to take treatment at AIIMS, can not leave him halfway and ignore the recommendations of the standing medical board of GMC, Jammu and professor and head of the Paediatrics Department, AIIMS.”

Gulmarg, December 25
Deputy Chief Minister and tourism minister Muzaffar Ahmad Beigh today said there could be a common sector of tourism for the whole pre-partition state of Jammu and Kashmir if talks between India and Pakistan succeed.

Speaking to the media in Gulmarg, he said Huja and Gilgit, both of which falls in PoK, would be as much of a part of tourism policies as Srinagar and Ladakh in the probable scenario.

Beigh, whose party PDP is a major votary of Indo-Pak peace process, said Kashmir was a major issue in the dialogue between two countries and a solution would definitely bring divided parts of this erstwhile princely state closer.

He said presence of the Army on tourist destinations was a deterrent for tourists as it gave an impression that all was not well but qualified his statement saying that it was needed to curb militancy.

“It's a vicious circle. You have militancy so you have Army. But militancy has come down and once it is under control the Army will have to move out,” he said.

Beigh said, though, visiting tourists understood that the Army was a part of the daily life in the valley, but news and visuals of their presence kept prospective tourists at a bay.

He said vested interests scuttled the government's plan to develop tourism infrastructure in line with international standards by claiming that “Kashmir was being sold.”

He had to abandon the idea of hiring an international consultant to develop skiing resort in Gulmarg so that it could compete for Olympics because of such propaganda. “Democracy is very susceptible to public pressure. That's why we are making public a stake holder in tourism industry,” he said in a candid manner.

Beigh made it clear that tourism is a key to J&K's development apart from its water resources and horticulture. “For every unit of money creating one job in an industry, it creates seven jobs in tourism,” he said.

But he added the road ahead was challenging. Tourism is a very fragile business, he said, adding that it was ironical they could not “overpublicise” to attract tourists it as it may invite retaliation from militancy, which has been a case in the past. 

Jammu, December 25
Residents of the Purkhoo Migrant Camp have demanded special employment package for the youth of the community. They said thousands of educated youth were unemployed, as they were not being provided jobs by the government.

The migrants under the leadership of MK Jogi, president Prohit Sabha Martand Mattan, made this demand before advisor to the Chief Minister on public grievances, Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, who visited the Purkhoo Migrant camp to assess the problems of Kashmiri migrants living there.

The migrants apprised the adviser that the Kashmiri youth were facing lot of hardships in getting jobs and setting up self-employment ventures. They asked for providing special employment package for the youths.

Srinagar, December 25
The Jammu and Kashmir Police today filed a chargesheet against a woman who allegedly impersonated her sister to get a government job on compassionate grounds.

The chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch was produced in a court against Ulfat, a resident of Zadibal locality here, after it was found that she joined government service fraudulently in place of her sister Shagufta, who was selected for the post, a spokesman said.

He said the department received a communication from Vigilance organisation that their office has received an anonymous complaint, alleging Shagufta was appointed as a class IV employee on compassionate grounds but her elder sister Ulfat joined the post.

Shagufta's mother Zamruda was killed in crossfiring in 1992 and the order of appointment was issued by deputy commissioner of Srinagar on November 22, 2002. — PTI