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Opposition boycotts Governor’s address
Illegal Bangladeshis nagging pain for police Shabir Shah bats for Hurriyat’s unity
Police trains other states to curb militancy
Dire need to widen national highway
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Army still occupies forts but govt denies
Pak refugees demand state citizenship
For this teenager, Jammu is a joyous world
Highway opens, snow boosts tourist arrival
Assembly Elections
Fake encounter yields fake relief
Vocational training for youth begins
Radhakrishnan new Chief Justice
Minister asks engineers to make better use of funds
Youth arrested
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Opposition boycotts Governor’s address
Jammu, January 7 National Conference members belonging to the legislative assembly and the legislative council tried to block the entrance of the Central Hall. They were protesting against the shortened duration of the budget session, the continuing human rights violations in the state, rising prices of essential commodities, growing corruption and the ever-increasing problem of unemployment. The leader of the opposition Abdul Rahim Rather sought to clarify that his party had nothing against the Governor, but it wanted to register its protest against the government. Since the Governor was to deliver and address on behalf of the government, the NC wanted to register its protest in a peaceful and democratic manner, he said. Inside the hall as the Governor accompanied by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Tara Chand and the chairman of the Legislative Council, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjoora occupied his chair, leader of the Panthers' Party in the assembly Harsh Dev Singh rose to speak, seeking dismissal of the government. He was supported by senior party leader and legislative council member, Bhim Singh, Balwant Singh Mankotia and the lone BJP member Jugal Kishore. As they tried to go near the dais, they were prevented from doing so by the marshals. Meanwhile the Governor rose to speak making the Panthers' Party members to retreat and walk out. The Panthers Party members alleged that the state government was functioning in an undemocratic manner. Besides, they alleged, it had also betrayed the public trust by going back on the common minimum programme. They alleged that the government had become corrupt and insensitive towards the common masses. Sinha chooses words with caution
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Lt-Gen SK Sinha(retd) today described the last "five years" of his government as "the era of infrastructural development" with progressive decrease in the incidents of militancy. That it was the election year address at the joint inaugural day of the budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly and Council in the Central Hall of the state legislature here today, was more than obvious with the Governor frequently referring to the last "five years" of the government, instead the usual practice of mentioning the achievements of the previous year. The address seemed to have been carefully drafted while keeping in view the sensitivities of the coalition politics. That appears to be the reason for his mentioning the name of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as many times as that of Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides frequent references to the common minimum programme between the Congress and the People's Democratic Party. While the Mufti headed the government between November, 2002 to October, 2005, Azad is heading it since November 2005. Governor Sinha said, "last one year has been truly satisfying for my government as the year witnessed lowest number of militancy-related incidents and civilian killings". He acknowledged "the excellent work done by police, para-military forces and the army with the cooperation of the people". |
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Illegal Bangladeshis nagging pain for police
Jammu, January 7 Quite often, a big number of Bangladeshis, including men, women and children, are arrested near the IB. Further, the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP), which lacks adequate infrastructure, also finds these Bangladeshi nationals a chronic pain in the neck. However, the JKP claims that with the given resources and infrastructure, it continues to fight the menace. Talking to The Tribune, director-general of police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda said, “Though the state police lacks the requisite infrastructure as far as these Bangladeshis, who try to ex-filtrate to Pakistan, are concerned, the JKP has been doing its job efficiently and professionally.” “Whenever the BSF hands over Bangladeshis to us, we take legal action under law of the land. Since the process is lengthy, it takes time,” he said, adding, “We are also devising a methodology to check their influx to the state.” “We have also taken up the matter with the Government of India and soon a proper system should be put in place,” said the DGP. “Countries sharing common borders face such problems and hence cannot have a foolproof mechanism,” he added. To a query, he responded, “Crossing the border illegally is an offence and if involvement in militant activities is established, action under law is taken.” “But most of the times the Bangladeshis try to ex-filtrate to Pakistan for economic gains,” said Khoda. “They have become a nagging problem and it has to be tackled jointly by all security and intelligence agencies,” said the DGP. He further said, “Police intelligence agencies not only keep track but also take action against agents who bring them here.” A senior BSF officer of the Jammu frontier said, “They (Bangladeshi nationals) have become a headache for us. We do our job professionally and hand them over to the local police and rest is up to them.” However, a senior Army officer of XVI Corps had a different take on the issue. He said, “The state police usually allows them to go scot free and seldom registers a case under the Foreign Nationals Act.” “Most of the times, policemen herd them into Punjab-bound buses and trains with a warning not to come back but they return again either to get killed or get arrested,” he added. “In and around the winter capital, hundreds of Bangladeshis with suspected credentials have been living in slums and pose a threat to the state,” he added. “HUJI, along with United Liberation Front of Assom (ULFA) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), has established a strong base in northeastern Bangladesh from where the ISI-backed militant outfit (HUJI) has been pushing these Bangladeshis into India through porous borders,” he said.
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Shabir Shah bats for Hurriyat’s unity
Srinagar, January 7 He blamed the mainstream political parties like the National Conference and the PDP for indulging in “exploitative politics” and misleading people at the time of elections by playing the card of the resolution of Kashmir issue. Addressing a press conference here today Shabir Shah asked both India and Pakistan to move forward in the dialogue process for finding a final solution to the issue. “Uncertainty will continue to remain there unless the basic issue is addressed,” he said and added that bilateralism had failed on the issue. He sought the involvement of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the dialogue process for an amicable solution. “We are not against the people of India,” he said. He added that Pakistan had always supported Kashmiris and “fought wars because of us”. Without identifying any of the two factions of separatist Hurriyat Conference, Shah proposed that all organisations suspend their political activities to unite the Hurriyat Conference as a joint separatist political platform. Secondly, the new joint forum would have the basis of the Hurriyat Conference constituted in 1993, which envisages the right of self-determination or meaningful tripartite talks. No unit of the forum would issue any separate political statement, Shah made it clear while elaborating on the six-point proposal. Thirdly, no solution would be acceptable under the Constitution of India and those working in PoK or Pakistan would also function as part of the Hurriyat Conference, Shah stated. The Kashmir centres in the US, Britain and Brussels, would be constituent members of the Working Committee of the Hurriyat Conference, Shah said. All the constituent organisations of the Hurriyat Conference thus constituted would close down their offices at the block and district levels and suspend their respective committees. Fifth, there would be only offices of the united Hurriyat Conference at all levels in place of the offices of different political organisations, he proposed adding that all these members would be its elected office bearers. This would apply to all the constituent units in all the three regions of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh. Finally, the central committee of the Hurriyat Conference would be constituted from the members of the central committees of the different constituent organisations, Shah stated. Referring to his “silence” over the past three years, Shah said that he had been busy in the unity efforts, “knocking everybody’s doors”, but had failed to reach any conclusion. He expressed the hope that there is a positive response at a time when the Indo-Pak dialogue process is going on and several confidence building measures have been taken. “I am not silent… I have been in touch with the people of Jammu and Kashmir from Lakhanpur to Ladakh, inclusive of Kashmir,” he said. Shah said the Government of India let down the Kashmiris in the talks process. He added that the international community would have to look at all aspects and address the basic issue. He further said that during their meetings with Pakistan leaders, they had made it clear that nothing had changed on the ground level in Jammu and Kashmir. |
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Police trains other states to curb militancy
Udhampur, January 7 Police officers of Jammu and Kashmir, who have been directly leading the anti-terrorist operations have shared their first hand experience with their counterparts from different states. With the collaboration of ministry of home affairs, the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy-a premier training institute for cops located at Udhampur, has already organised two such training programmes for senior Indian Police Services officers from other parts of the country. These two programmes have proved to be very fruitful for the police officers especially of those states, which are plagued with Naxalism or other form of Left-wing militancy. “Terrorism is not confined to Jammu and Kashmir only so it high time to devise a comprehensive strategy to deal with the menace which has been alarmingly engulfing the entire country,” suggested director of the police academy, Ram Lubhaya, who is coordinator of programmes. He told The Tribune that similar types of training for the police officers from different parts of the country would be organised in future also. Organised by the Bureau of Police Research Training and Development, themes of these training programmes were “Tactical Preparedness to Counter Terrorism”. Officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have earned lots of experience while fighting with on going terrorism in the state and the aim of such programmes were to share these experiences with counterparts of other states. Formation of the village defence committees (VDCs) and appointment of special police officers (SPOs) was a concept introduced by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and this initiated has so far yielded very positive and encouraging response. “Officers from other parts of the country were very eager to know about the concept of VDCs and SPOs as it is only through this concept police can ensure involvements locals in anti-militancy operations,” Ram Lubhaya said and added that director general of police Kuldeep Khooda, who had played dominate role in formation of VDCs, especially came to deliver a special lecture on this concept. As the officers from other parts of the country were very keen to know about this concept, DGP spoke about role of VDCs in combating terrorism. Worthwhile to mention here that VDCs have played very important role in containing militancy in Doda and in some parts of Udhampur district also. It was only after formation of VDCs, migration of the people was stopped from Doda district. Furthermore officers who had formed Special Operation Group (SoG) were also invited to deliver a lecture “how to combat terrorism in hinter lands”. Officers of the Border Security Force and the Army, presently posted in Jammu and Kashmir and directly involved in anti-terrorist operations, also shared their experiences.
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Dire need to widen national highway
Jammu, January 7 Not going too far down the memory lane the highway remained closed for over two months in 2005 and the Indian Air Force had to press its flying machines to ferry stranded people and essential commodities to valley. Though the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has plans up its sleeves to widen the depleted road besides digging a tunnel from Bani Nallah in Udhampur to Batote but the work has not been started so far. Talking to The Tribune, SSP, Traffic, National Highway, Danish Rana said, “The erstwhile Banihal Cart road was constructed some 55 years ago and since then the volume of traffic has increased manifold.” “Further rapid deforestation and recurrent blasting for two hydroelectric projects (Baglihar and Sawalakote) has triggered soil erosion. Being a mixture of sedimentary and hard rock mountains have also become fragile and consequently snowfall and rain trigger landslides and shooting stones,” he added. “Considering heavy increase in vehicles the road cannot be widened unless and until we have some other route,” he said. “Right from Patnitop to strategic Jawahar Tunnel there are several vulnerable spots like Panthial, Digdol, Kela Morh, Battery Chashma, Ramban and Bani Nallah which get blocked because of landslides and shooting stones during winters leaving thousands of people fending for themselves in biting cold,” he said. It may be mentioned here that BEACON looks after upkeep and maintenance of NHW1A. When contacted, 99 RCC Commander, Colonel Rajeev, said, “We have requisite machinery, in fact the best, to clear debris and snow during winters.” To overcome the problem of landslides and shooting stones hitting the road surface at Panthial, BEACON has installed protective wire meshes atop a hill. The most prone stretch so far has stayed calm this winter but not completely. Official sources said, “Apart from contingency funds BEACON gets Rs 78000 per annum per kilometre for maintaining the highway.” Though the coalition government has started ancient Mughal Road project worth 63 million dollars that would connect Poonch district with summer capital Srinagar but till that happens people of the state would continue to suffer.
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Army still occupies forts but govt denies
Poonch, January 7 Sources in the district administration said Moti Mahal and Baldev Mahal continue to be occupied by the Army's 93 infantry brigade posted to Poonch. They said in blatant violation of the defence minister's orders, a brigade commander resides in the Moti Mahal where once Raja Moti Singh used to live. Even though defence sources said both these historical buildings were occupied by the Army in the pre-militancy era in the state, but as per the defence minister's instructions, these buildings also need to be vacated. “The Army is carrying out liaison with the civil administration for suitable alternate arrangement for the buildings occupied by us,” said an army officer asking not to be named. “It is the duty of the state government to provide us the alternate arrangement.” However, defence sources said the Army authorities have made their mind not to vacate these forts and instead are in the process of working out a memorandum of understanding for looking after these historical buildings.” Defence spokesperson Lt-Col S.D. Goswami told The Tribune that the Army is working out an action plan and memorandum of understanding with the state government to ensure safety and security of these historical monuments. Expressing ignorance over the occupation of the twin forts by the Army, Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, B.D. Sharma said, “I am not aware of this case”. UNI adds from Jammu: The Army has vacated all the government structures, including schools and health centres, under its occupation in Jammu and Kashmir , Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha (Retd) today said. Addressing a joint gathering of state legislature on the opening day of Budget Session, he said almost all the buildings — belonging to the Education, Health and PHE departments — had been vacated in the state. |
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Pak refugees demand state citizenship
Jammu, January 7 The protesting refugees alleged that they are being treated as secondary citizens in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. “Though we were assured by the then prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah that he would address our genuine grievances and would grant us permanent citizenship of the state, but 60 years have passed since then, but no steps have been taken,” said Laha Ram Gandhi, president of the West Refugee Action Committee. Adding he said, “Our basic demand is that we should be given the citizenship of Jammu and Kashmir, right to vote in the state assembly.” They also demanded the implementation of the recommendations of the Wadhwa Committee report. |
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For this teenager, Jammu is a joyous world
Jammu, January 7 “Jammu seems to be a new world to me as in Srinagar I never saw life after 6 pm. I had to answer numerous questions of the security forces if I ever ventured outside my house in the evening,” said the teenager. Adil is jubilated to see the buzzing life and open markets in the city even after the sunsets. “I had never seen a life after sunset. In Srinagar evening means remaining confined to our houses, which meant either watching television or studying,” he said “After I reached Jammu it was for the first time in the past so many years that nobody asked me to produce my identity proof even after I ventured out till midnight,” he adds. Adil is not the only one who for the first time is witnessing the life that exists in the evening as after the outbreak of armed insurgency in the valley, people preferred to remain confined to their houses. “The students, of Kashmir valley who come out for the first time, though find new lifestyles in turmoil free areas hard to adjust, they also feel fascinated to see such lifestyle for the first time,” said Anita Kotwal a teacher at a coaching centre in Jammu. Experts say youth of the valley are the worst sufferers of the ongoing turmoil in the valley, which has left an everlasting impact on their thinking capabilities. “When at the early age a child is exposed to terror of being killed, when he sees others dying, when restrictions to venture out is imposed on him. Such type of atmosphere leaves and everlasting impact on the brain of the child,” said Aneesha Shafi, a research scholar at University of Kashmir. Adding she said, “Those who were born during the outbreak of the turmoil in the valley, they never saw an occasion when they could live a happy life and enjoy the actual meaning of life, the loss that they suffered is irreparable. So we can say that we have a lost generation in the valley.” Adil’s parents, who had accompanied him to Jammu, say that at first he used to return back home early in the evening, but now he was slowly adjusting the new lifestyle. If given a chance, Adil says, he would stay back in Jammu, rather than returning back to valley.
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Highway opens, snow boosts tourist arrival
Srinagar, January 7 Traffic officials said the traffic would continue from both sides as long as weather permitted. The snow which fell day before and yesterday was not much in quantity, but it had forced authorities to close the traffic on the state's only surface link to the rest of India. Meanwhile, overcast conditions in the Kashmir continued today and met department said the possibility of fresh rains and snow was high in coming days. If and when it snows, it in all likelihood will block the 300 km long highway. The common man has heaved a sigh of relief with the end of dry cold, though temperature remains at a low level even during the day, which had been witnessing sun till a few days back. Locals say dry conditions are a health hazard, especially for the more vulnerable like the children and elderly. Winter resort of Gulmarg, a picture-postcard hilly town clad in snow in winters, has seen a surge in tourists. The ongoing winter games and fall of fresh snow yesterday have added to the entertainment quotient for tourists and they are flocking to it. "Many foreigners are arriving for adventure sports like skiing and locals are there to enjoy snow, which will remain there for several coming weeks," Md Abid, an hotelier said. Though Srinagar witnessed very scant level of snow and whatever little amount of it fell yesterday disappeared in hours. "Snow in months of December and January remain for weeks due to low temperature in this period. I believe that we will soon have more snow here," a Met department official said. |
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Assembly Elections
Udhampur, January 7 There are number of unorganised workers in the district engaged in the industrial units as well as in the Municipal Committee and the party
has been desperately trying to woo this lot of the society. Newly appointed state president of Jammu and Kashmir Trade Union Congress Subash Sharma has asked senior Congress leader of Udhampur Shakil Shah to give a report on the conditions of the unorganised workers in the district. After getting the report a policy would be formulated to uplift them.
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Fake encounter yields fake relief
Srinagar, January 7 Noor Alam Kataria, 71, told mediapersons that he and his wife had nobody to lobby for them with the authorities. “We are extremely poor people belonging to Gujjar community. It’s been a long wait and I have lost all hopes,” he said. A joint team of the Army and police killed his son, Showkat Kataria, an imam, who was termed as a Pakistani militant. This was an apparent attempt to claim the gallantry rewards, which are linked with killings of foreign insurgents, the father said. The Imam's death along with killings of other civilians including Abdul Rehman Padroo, a carpenter, had invited all round condemnation when it became clear that anti-militant squad of the government had killed them in cold blood and claimed them to be Pakistani militants so that they cold pocket rewards. Their DNA tests nailed the lie and the guilty officials are being prosecuted by the government. Kataria said family members of other victims have been compensated by the government, but no relief has to come to him. |
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Vocational training for youth begins
Udhampur, January 7 This employment training course was organised to encourage the unemployed to adopt many self-employment schemes. Experts from the Army and civil administration educated the youth during the programme. Keeping in view the backwardness and topography of these areas, farming is the only source to generate employment in this hilly backward belt. |
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Radhakrishnan new Chief Justice
Jammu, January 7
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Minister asks engineers to make better use of funds
Jammu, January 7 Kishore was presiding over an introductory meeting of engineers and officers of Jammu division here on Sunday. He asked the engineers to make proper and better utilisation of funds under the sectors arranged by the efforts of Chief Minister from Central government. In Jammu division, 17 bridges under construction are expected to be completed by the end of this financial year. |
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Youth arrested
Jammu, January 7 The accused was identified as Ashwani Bhardwaj of Jhullaka mohalla area of Jammu, the police said. Some people had filed a complaint that an ARTO had charged money from them for getting their route permits and licenses issued, but later refused to return their money.
— PTI
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Jammu, January 7
Jammu, January 7
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