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Finally, state to enact RTI on central pattern
Delimitation bill dies before birth
Geelani’s conditions for unity
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Azad rekindles hopes of little girl
Every fourth person in state ‘illegally’ occupies govt land
Snow, rain hit normal life in Doda, Udhampur
Morcha activists burn minister’s effigy
Terrorists threaten locals against surrender: Army
Award for Masoodi
No power supply for days
Probe causes of militancy: Panun Kashmir
4 jawans booked for molestation
Attack on Dogra
Lone seeks CBI probe into father’s killing
Oppn terms govt replies as bundle of lies
78.82 lakh spent
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Finally, state to enact RTI on central pattern
Jammu, January 11 Disclosing this here today, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said his government wanted to have total transparency in its functioning. This has put to rest the long-drawn controversy about the state proposing to bring in a weak act without any teeth. The issue had become quite controversial after the Governor, Lt-Gen SK Sinha(retd) had returned the bill to the government. Ultimately the Governor had signed the bill on January 4. The state had been criticised for enacting an act that was very weak and could hardly serve any purpose. Addressing the seventh conference of departmental vigilance officers organised by the State Vigilance Organisation here today, Azad said the government had decided to replicate the central government's Right to Information Act as it had strong teeth and would help make the state government more accountable and transparent. He said the fight against corruption would continue with strong commitment, notwithstanding the fact that the state would go to elections this year. "Some people feel that the assembly elections being round the corner, the government might go slow on its war against corruption", Azad said while adding, "I want to see J&K as number one transparent, accountable and honest state across the country". The Chief Minister said there was no question of going back and made it clear that crusade against corruption would remain the prime agenda of his government. He said taking on corruption in Jammu and Kashmir was one of the main reasons for him to return to the state after being in national politics for three decades. Azad also gave away mementos, certificates and cash prizes to officials and individuals for helping the government in its war against corruption. Shyam Bijyal and Imam Din, Assistant Commissioner Development, Kathua and Ramban, respectively were given mementos and certificates while Altaf Hussain Teli, a contractor from Kulangam, Handwara and Mohammad Saleem Malla of Sangaldan, Gool received Rs 51,000 cash award and certificate each. SP Ashok Kumar and DSP Ghulam Mohiuddin Andrabi of the Vigilance Organisation were given CM's Vigilance Medal for their contribution to drive against corruption. Addressing the conference, Chief Secretary B. R. Kundal laid stress on system change and greater involvement of people for effectively fighting corruption. He said there was need for more focus on prevention of the menace while dealing with the challenge. |
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Delimitation bill dies before birth
Jammu, January 11 Yesterday, senior Congress leader and Health Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma had held an assurance to the state legislature that his party will try to reach a consensus with its alliance partner, the PDP for bringing in an amendment to the state constitution (J&K is the only state in the country to have its own constitution) that could pave the way for the setting up of the delimitation commission. The demand for setting up of the commission has consistently been raised by the Panthers Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The two parties are of the opinion that the setting up of the commission was necessary for removing the discrimination with the Jammu region. Since it is the Congress which has maximum stakes in the region, its leader Sharma assured the house of the proposed bill. However, the PDP is learnt to have disagreed with the idea, thus ruling out any possibility of the amendment to the constitution hence setting up of the commission. Interestingly, the PDP has been finding common cause with its arch rival, the National Conference, on the issue, since both are apprehensive that the new delimitation commission might recommend equitable number of assembly seats for both the regions. Currently Jammu has 37 against 46 of the Kashmir region, despite Jammu having large area and maximum number of voters. |
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Geelani’s conditions for unity
Srinagar, January 11 The five-point conditions set by the Geelani faction said that there should be no violation of the Hurriyat Constitution of 1993 by any of the party to enter into any bilateral dialogue with the Government of India. The moderate faction has been holding talks with the Centre, which stand snapped quite for some time now, while Geelani has been describing these talks as a futile exercise. Secondly, the Geelani faction in its five point pre-conditions wants a written assurance that formulae like four-point programme of Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf, pre-1953 position or United States of Kashmir should not be talked about. The talks on such types of issues hampered the basic Kashmir issue, a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference here said. The meeting of the Hurriyat’s decision-making body held here yesterday under the chairmanship of acting chairman, Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi, said all the parties adhered to the centrality of the UN resolutions and to trilateral dialogue under the UN supervision. The decision-making body, Shoora also sought a written assurance from the parties that no short cuts were created at any time. According to a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference, the Shoora also wanted all the constituent parties that that they do not support proxy candidates in any elections and instead join door-to-door anti-election campaign. Commenting upon the pre-conditions, a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference Ayaz Akbar told The Tribune that it wanted an everlasting unity and ensure it before any such move was taken, like "we want an everlasting solution" to the Kashmir problem. The 1993 Constitution of the APHC has only two options, adherence to the UN resolutions and tripartite talks under the UN supervision, he said. The six-point unity move was floated by senior separatist leader, Shabir Ahmad Shah, here on Monday while the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq accepting the proposals had asked all the like-minded organisations to join. Some of the leaders formerly having been associated with the Hurriyat Conference constituted in 19993, have accepted the move and are joining the moderate APHC. They include Shabir Shah of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Sheikh Abdul Aziz of the Peoples League and Azam Inquillabi of the
Mahaz-e-Azadi. However, Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference held a meeting of the central decision-making body here yesterday to discuss the issue of unity efforts proposed by Shabir Shah. Both Geelani and Shah had earlier been associated with the Hurriyat Conference. While Shah had to leave the APHC in the wake of his meeting with a visiting foreign diplomat here in violation of the APHC norms in 1995, Geelani opted out after differences over the issue of covert support extended by an APHC constituent to some candidates in the 2002 Assembly elections. |
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Azad rekindles hopes of little girl
Srinagar, January 11 On June 15 last year the fairly looking little girl was returning home from school to join her family on the wedding of her maternal uncle when a Tata-407 passenger bus knocked her down and dragged for several yards on the metallic road at Brein, Nishat. The grievously injured Bazila was rushed to hospital where her both legs had to be amputated to save her life. Ever since, the ill-fated family was living in desperation as doctors had told the parents that it would require several lakhs to make Bazila walk again. The family could not afford the expenses. The case for the monetary assistance to meet the expenses on Bazila’s treatment was under process in the Chief Minister’s office and Azad had desired to see the baby during his next visit to Srinagar. Her father, Nazir Ahmad Dar, met the Chief Minister along with his daughter here yesterday and apprised him about their plight. Shamim Azad was also present. She was moved by the pathetic condition of the child and gave lot of affection and love to her. Moved by the tragedy that had struck little Bazila at the tender age, the Chief Minister assured all possible assistance. He was informed that the treatment would cost Rs 13 lakhs in two phases. The second phase of treatment would start when the girl reaches the age of 12. Beyond the financial assistance that the government would provide him, the Chief Minister assured the hapless father, a retired employee of Centaur Hotel here, that he would sponsor Bazila’s full treatment in the years to come, irrespective of where he would be located and whatever position holding. In many months since the tragedy struck the family, the Chief Minister’s assuring words brought smiles on the face of Nazir Ahmad and little Bazila who started dreaming of walking down to her school and playing childhood games with her friends again. After the meeting with the Chief Minister, Nazir Ahmad felt as if all his wishes had been granted by Almighty. He said he was now hopeful that his daughter would be able to walk again and live a normal life. He thanked Azad for the sympathetic and caring gesture towards his unfortunate child. |
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Every fourth person in state ‘illegally’ occupies govt land
Jammu, January 11 The total population of the state is over 1 crore. So far, the government has given ownership rights worth about Rs 25,000 lakh. The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly had passed the Roshni Bill on February 9, last year, aimed at giving ownership rights to 16.60 lakh kanals of state land under the occupation of farmers on nominal charges. This was claimed to be part of the pro-farmer land reforms in the state. Khan revealed these figures in the state legislative council in reply to a question by a member Amrit Malhotra. He said, “About 25.53 lakh applications have been received under various categories all over the state from the occupants of the state land for ownership rights. New Roshni Scheme included 22.83 lakh applications under agriculture, 20,424 under residential, 6,194 commercial and 282 under institutional categories.” The minister said “The conferring ownership rights under the Roshni scheme is under process and about 59,160 beneficiaries have been conferred rights under various categories till date, which includes 50,344 under agriculture, 7,205 under residential, 1,579 under commercial and 32 under institutional categories.” |
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2 killed, 47 hurt in road accident
Udhampur, January 11 The deceased have been identified as Hari Ram, 51, son of Hans Raj of Charai-Mutal, Katra and Mohan Singh, 25, of Mandh, Udhampur. According to the police, Nand Lal, driver of the ill-fated bus, bearing registration number 5895-JK02AC, lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve at Jullian Nullah near Nandi Tunnel, about 32 km from Udhampur. The vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge. One person- Hari Ram- died on the spot while majority of passengers in the bus received injuries. Some of the seriously injured here shifted to the Government Medical, Jammu, for advanced treatement where one passenger- Mohan Singh- succumbed to his injuries in the evening. The bus was on the way to Jammu from Udhampur and was over-loaded. |
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Snow, rain hit normal life in Doda, Udhampur
Udhampur, January 11 Bhaderwah experienced fresh snowfall on Friday which forced the people to remain inside their houses .Today was the coldest day of the winter in Bhaderwah whereas upper reaches of Bhaderwah experienced 2 to 3 ft of snow today. The Bhaderwah-Doda road remained closed for the second consecutive day and the authorities seemed to be helpless to face the hostile weather. Similar are conditions at Kishtwar where miseries of the residents have been compounded due to power failure. |
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Morcha activists burn minister’s effigy
Udhampur, January 11 They also demanded sacking of the Finance Minister from the Council of Ministers for, what BJYM activists alleged, raising anti-national demand. Although the protest was against Tariq Hamid Karra, the BJYM seized the opportunity to corner the Congress party for not taking action against the Finance Minister. "The Congress which claims to be the nationalist party failed to take action against Karra despite being the fact that the minister has openly raised
anti-national demand", said Subash Sharma, BJYM leader and chided Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for protecting his "anti-national" minister. BJYM activists also shouted slogans against leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for supporting Karra on this issue. Earlier, BJYM activists took out a rally which started from the main bazars of the town and passed through different areas which culminated at Dabbar where the procession turned into a rally. Activists minced no words in attacking the Congress for "shielding" anti-national minister just to remain in power. Speakers said for the past five years the Congress has been supporting anti-national policies being propagated by the PDP just for lust of power. |
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Terrorists threaten locals against surrender: Army
Reasi, January 11 These terrorists are frustrated lot these days as large number of local militants has come forward to shun the path of violence and bloodshed. It is also believed that fresh recruitment, from this belt, has also stopped. To discourage the increasing number of surrenders, foreigners active in Mahore and Ghulabgarh area of Reasi districts have warned that all surrendered militants would be killed by the security forces in the name of “fake encounters.” "We are encouraging the local misguided youth to join the main-stream and live a peaceful lives with their family members,” General Officer Commanding (GoC) Uniform Force, Maj Gen PC Panjikar told the Tribune. “To discredit the forces and to discourage the surrender policy, foreigners, active in this area, have launch a malicious campaign that all those who lay down their arms would be killed by the force,” Maj Gen said but hastened to add that the Army has assured the people that any local militant who would come forward to live peaceful life would be properly rehabilitated. Although a large number of local militants have so far surrendered before the security yet the Army has sought cooperation of the elders to counter this false campaign to further encourage remaining active militants to lay down their arms. “As far as the local militants, we are trying our best to bring all of them back to the mainstream,” the GoC said but made it clear that all foreigners active in this side of Pir Panchal would be dealt with iron hand. Apart from rehabilitating the local youth the Army has also assured to provide security to all surrendered militants. A prominent Gujjar leader and member of the Gujjar-Bakerwal Advisory Board, told The Tribune that majority of the local militants have been desperately trying to join the mainstream. |
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Award for Masoodi
Srinagar, January 11 Instituted by India International Friendship Society (IIFS), the awards were given, on the sidelines of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, at a glitteringfunction of NRIs and People of Indian Origin (PIO) in New Delhi on Wednesday. Assam Governor Lt-Gen Ajay Singh, presented the awards. Among others who were present on the occasion included Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Oscar Fernandes, former Union Minister, Dr Bhishm Narayan Singh and Canadian Minister. |
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No power supply for days
Rajouri, January 11 The residents also charged that the Power Development Department also enforced severe curtailments. They said it had become difficult for them to survive the severe cold since power remains missing from days together. “There would be no problem for us if the department resorts to scheduled power cuts, but the department imposes severe power cuts ranging from 12-15 hours”, said Nissar Ahmed, a resident. “Since Wednesday, there has been no power in our area and no one from the department is interested in restoring it”, he added. He also urged the concerned department to impose the scheduled power cuts so that people did not suffer. Technical officer, M&RE Division, Rajouri, Muhammad Maqbool Naik told The Tribune that PDD resorts to power curtailments only when there was overloading of the system. Naik termed the allegations of disrupted power in Koteranka as baseless. |
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Probe causes of militancy: Panun Kashmir
Jammu, January 11 Senior National Conference leader Dr Mustafa Kamal had pointed a finger at former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who was the Union home minister in the V. P. Singh government, when militancy erupted in the state. Agnishekhar said it would be in the interest of the state and the nation to set up a commission that could identify the people responsible for the insurgency in the state. He said the Panun Kashmir fully supported the NC demand for probing the genesis of militancy in Kashmir that led to exodus of about 3 lakh people from their ancestral homeland. |
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4 jawans booked for molestation
Rajouri, January 11 Police sources said a case of molestation had been registered against four Army jawans for molesting two female members at Saranu village on Rajouri-Kalakote road in the wee hours today. They said four accused Army personnel were posted with the 20 Rastriya Rifles based at Argi. The police sources said the jawans entered the house of Balbir Kumar and Satpaul, sons of Tej Ram, at 1 am. They asked the family to prepare tea to which they obliged, and after taking the tea, the former dragged the male members outside the house on gunpoint, the sources said. The sources further said after dragging the male members outside the house, the jawans allegedly started molesting the sister of Satpaul and his cousin, who had come to meet the family. After they tried to rape the women, the later raised the alarm and the male member not caring about their lives entered the house and tried to resist the army men for doing the act, the sources added. |
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Attack on Dogra
Jammu, January 11 No work was performed in any of the court in the region as the entire advocate fraternity and the judiciary staff observed a complete strike. Giving details of the protest, B. S.
Salathia, president of the Jammu Bar Council told The Tribune “If a deputy advocate general of the state was not safe then who could take the responsibility of the safety of a common man?” Adding that he said: “Dorga was first attacked 10 days ago, but he was not provided any security. We have declared two-day strike in protest of the
attack.” Salathia also informed that various bar councils of the state had also come forward in support of the strike call given by Jammu Bar Council. So far, the police has arrested one person in this connection. |
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Lone seeks CBI probe into father’s killing
Jammu, January 11 Dr Ghulam Nabi was the minister of state for education in PDP-led coalition government. Some unidentified men killed him in his drawing room under mysterious circumstances on October 18, 2005. Lone said: “My father was not killed by militants. A deep-rooted conspiracy was hatched to kill him,” he said adding that “More than two years have passed, but the enquiry report has not come yet.” He said, “I will resign from the House if government fails to hand over the case to CBI for an impartial probe.” “Though government framed an enquiry committee appointing a bureaucrat as its head, but impartial probe will not be possible,” he added. |
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Oppn terms govt replies as bundle of lies
Jammu, January 11 Legislators from the National Conference and the Congress too asked the alliance to wake up to the problem of people whose properties and lands have been occupied by armed and paramilitary forces in the state. During question hour Panthers Party legislator said, “Agricultural lands of border migrants in Jammu division have been occupied by the Army for laying mines but they still crave for compensation despite the fact that Government of India release funds, which never reach them.” Reacting sharply to the reply of minister of state for revenue Aijaz Ahmed Khan, State Morcha legislator Ashwani Sharma said, “The BSF has acquired border areas for fencing but the government has plainly refused to admit the fact.” |
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78.82 lakh spent
Jammu, January 11 The government had spent Rs 46.65 lakh on chopper fuel during 2006-2007, and during the past nine months, the expenses had been to the tune of Rs 32.17 lakh.
— OC |
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