Jammu, January 30
The Jammu and Kashmir government has suggested the Centre to sanction a special police battalion in a bid to provide jobs to west Pakistanis and PoK refugees.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said he had taken up problems of refugees with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and suggested to him that a special police battalion be sanctioned for them. Replying to a debate in the legislative assembly last evening on demands for grants for departments under his head, he said the children of refugees should also be provided jobs in technical educational institutions.

The Chief Minister said compensation claims of nearly 5,000 PoK families were yet to be settled. Referring to militancy, Azad said it was wrong to assume that the menace was restricted only to Kashmir.

Thirty-five per cent of the civilians killed belonged to the Jammu division, he said.aAzad said the Prime Minister would call a meeting of all political parties before taking a final decision on recommendations of the working groups set up on Kashmir. — PTI

Udhampur, January 30
To repeat the Uttar Pradesh social engineering experiment in Jammu and Kashmir, state unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has started roping in some “upper caste” leaders to its fold with the aim to expand its base.

The party has been especially targeting upper caste leaders in only those constituencies where 
the BSP expects to perform well.

The BSP received a shot in arm when chairman of the Ramnagar Municipal Committee, Vinod Khajuria, along with his supporters joined the party and vowed to expose the misdeeds of the Panthers Party. Khajuria, a Brahmin leader from Ramnagar constituency of Udhampur district, was earlier associated with the Panthers Party of Prof Bhim Singh.

For the past two months, the Panthers Party has been trying to rope in Khajuria who remained president of the MC, Ramnagar.

During the recent visit of BSP leaders in Udhampur district, Khajuria met with senior leaders and his joining in the party was finalised.

Party leader, Khalil Ullah Qazi, who unsuccessfully contested two consecutive Assembly elections from Ramnagar constituency, was present on the occasion when Khajuria joined the party.

Qazi, while hailing Khajuria's decision to join the BSP, hoped that this decision would help the party to strengthen its base. Although Ramnagar is considered a citadel of the Panthers Party, the BSP has a strong base in this belt due to caste equations.

With the joining of a Brahmin leader in its fold, the party expects to get a good number of “upper caste” votes in the next Assembly elections from this constituency.

In his first meeting, Khajuria minced no words in attacking the Panthers Party and demanded a probe into the misappropriation of funds meant for weaker sections.

Srinagar, January 30
Several parts of Jammu and Kashmir including hill resort of Pahalgam, Kokernag and Qazigund continued to reel under intense cold wave condition, with many areas recording sub-zero temperatures.

Light snowfall lashed many parts of the Kashmir valley including Srinagar this morning for nearly an hour, the Met department said. Pahalgam, the hill resort in south Kashmir was the coldest place in the valley with minimum temperature dipping to minus 15.4 degrees, a Met department spokesman said. It also received 2.6 mm of snowfall.

He said the adjoining Kokernag tourist place recorded a minimum temperature of minus 7.5 degree while receiving 4.7 mm of snowfall.

Qazigund received 16.5 mm of snowfall and recorded a minimum temperature of minus 8.3 degrees, the spokesman said adding minimum temperature in Kupwara plummeted to minus 2.5 degrees while receiving 4.1 mm of snowfall.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 1.2 degrees Celsius, he said.

Meanwhile, traffic on the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway resumed today. The road was closed yesterday following heavy accumulation of snow near Jawahar tunnel. — PTI

Srinagar, January 30
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has pulled up five District Magistrates (DMs) and imposed a fine on them for failing to provide information to the court about the Public Safety Act (PSA) detenues, languishing in different jails in and outside the state for years.

Taking a dim view of DMs failure to obey the court orders on habeas corpus cases pending for the past one decade, Justice B.A. Kirmani held them responsible for undue delay.

The DM's had failed to reply to the court orders even after repeated reminders. Even the public prosecutors also did not attend the court proceedings regularly, thus causing unnecessary delay, which is regarded as an insult to the fundamental rights reserved for the citizens under the Constitution.

Justice Kirmani has imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on DMs and directed them to explain the reasons for not responding to the court directives.

The court also directed them to furnish details about the detenues languishing in jails for more than five years without any trail. — UNI

Srinagar, January 30
The Jammu and Kashmir Vigilance Organisation (VO) has booked four officials of the State Forest Corporation (SFC) and a contractor for causing a loss of Rs 1 crore to the corporation.

A VO spokesman said acting on an FIR registered on January 1, 2008, under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the RPC, the investigators found misappropriation of timber in compartment number 40/Neeru, Bhaderwah by officials of the SFC in connivance with a contractor during the period 2003-05.

The inquiry further revealed that during April-May, 2003, Arshad Mughal, the then divisional manager, Parvez Tassaduq Malik, the then deputy manager and Sukhraj Padha, the then supervisor in charge, all employees of the State Forest Corporation, Bhaderwah, entered into a criminal conspiracy with a contractor Shafqat Hussain Sheikh with the sole object of fraudulently and dishonestly misappropriate 22,434 cubic feet timber by abusing their official position and by manipulating records.

The verification has found that during the period 1999-2002, the contractor, Shafqat Hussain, was allotted the work of extraction and transportation of timber measuring 1,51,000 cubic feet in the same compartment.

Out of this timber, the contractor extracted 1,08,477.97 cubic feet timber and dispatched 85,491 cubic feet timber to the sale depot at Jammu. However, 552 cubic feet timber was found existing at the loading point of Thanthera, Bhaderwah, while the remaining extracted timber measuring 22,434 cubic feet was dishonestly misappropriated by the accused public servants in league with the accused contractor.

The officials in order to cover the misappropriation of timber measuring 22,434 cubic feet resorted to manipulation of the records showing therein that the timber had reached the loading point at Thanthera, Bhaderwah.

The accused as a part of criminal conspiracy in May 2003, fraudulently and dishonestly managed the filing of an application by the contractor alleging therein that the misappropriated timber had come under the debris during road widening and could not be transported and dispatched to the sale 
depot at Jammu.

Mughal, divisional manager, on the basis of factually incorrect and manipulated records prepared by Parvez Tassaduq Malik, the then deputy manager and Sukhraj Padha, the then supervisor and contractor Shafqat Hussain deliberately released the payment on June 21, 2003, on account of extraction and transportation charges despite knowing that a part of the consignment had not reached the destination.

The verification also found that Latif Sheikh, the then DM of the SFC subsequently joined the conspiracy and fraudulently abused his official position without ascertaining the facts on ground, released the full payment by squaring up the accounts of the contractor. — UNI

Udhampur, January 30
For the past three months, Shakuntala Devi, 40, along with her three children, has been running from pillar to post to trace her missing husband Karan Singh, but to no avail. The endless search for her missing husband has put Shakuntala on the brink of starvation as her economic condition is deteriorating and authorities, on the other hand, seem to be non cooperative in mitigating her woes.

Karan Singh, a jawan of the BRTF posted at Arunachal Pradesh, has been missing since November 3, 2007. A native of Basnote village of Udhampur district, Karan Singh, left his unit on the fateful day to celebrate Diwali with his family at his village. He reportedly boarded a Delhi-based train to catch another train to reach his village.

“But neither did he reach his house nor at his place of posting at Arunachal Pradesh. He reportedly disappeared midway”, narrates Shakuntala Devi, who along with her children, has approached the deputy commissioner, Udhampur, to trace her husband.

With tears streaming down her eyes, the helpless woman said, “I don't know whom should I approach. I am helpless. We are virtually at the level of begging as we don't have any source 
of income”.

Since her husband disappeared, she has approached one officer after the other to get clue about her husband. “I have repeatedly approached the Udhampur police to lodge a complaint but the officer in charge refused to even register an FIR”, she rued.

The helpless woman has demanded a CBI probe into the case and registration of an FIR at Udhampur. “How can we follow the case at Arunachal Pradesh - which is far from this place”, she said, while narrating her tale of woe.

Superintendent of police (SP) Udhampur, Anil Magotra, however, explained the technicalities for not registering the FIR in this case. “Karan Singh disappeared from Arunachal Pradesh and a missing report in this regard has been lodged with the police in Teensukhai district of Arunachal Pradesh”, Magotra told the Tribune.

According to records procured by the police, Karan Singh left his unit at 8 pm and boarded the train at 12 am.

Udhampur, deputy commissioner O.P. Kalandari assured to expedite the matter to locate the missing jawan. He assured that relief would be given to the family after the completion of some formalities.

Jammu, January 30
Blaming the National Conference for creating rowdy scenes in the Legislative Assembly and creating pandemonium, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig today said forum was meant to highlight the problems of people.

“We cannot waste precious time allotted for question hour, zero hour, debates and other important proceedings and cost the exchequer over Rs 1 crore per day without doing any business.” he said

Addressing a press conference on the Assembly premises after the Speaker adjourned the House sine die, Beig said that opposition NC had pre-planned to create unhealthy situation in the House and stall proceedings on one or the other pretext.

“They had apprehensions that discussion on Kundal Report would yield nothing against the ministers and instead expose them and former ministers of their party for the misdeeds they had committed during their tenure,” he added.

He said, “The government provided ample opportunity to the opposition to discuss Kundal Report in the House and the same was listed in the business scheduled, however, the opposition as usual stuck to its practice of exhibiting unparliamentary behaviour, raising false allegations and using foul language.”

He said there was a sustained conspiracy by the opposition against the two ministers (Qazi Mohammed Afzal and Tariq Hameed Karra) as they were emerging popular public leaders and posing considerable threat to the traditional vote bank of the National Conference.

“We will not allow opposition to succeed in their nefarious designs of resorting to character assassination against respected public representatives,” he maintained.

Beig said that before raising false allegations against the government and the council of ministers, the opposition should count the irregularities committed by them during their tenure of government.

“Coalition government would always fight corruption as it has done in the past. However, we would not allow any innocent to be made a scapegoat to false allegations,” he added.

Jammu, January 30
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today received the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Service Award for his outstanding contribution towards popularising Gandhiji’s message of truth, non-violence and service to the people.

The award was presented to Azad by Governor Lt-Gen. S.K. Sinha at a function organised to pay homage to the Father of the Nation on his 60th death anniversary. Sinha said he felt proud to present the award to the Chief Minister.

“Associated with Jammu and Kashmir for the last 60 years, I never saw anyone else working for the welfare of the people as Azad has been doing. He has kept alive the flame of Gandhian philosophy,” Sinha said. He said he had seen and heard Gandhi in person.

Sinha said though the Chief Minister belonged to a different age group, he had tremendous knowledge about the Father of the Nation and his philosophy.

Azad in his address said he felt honoured to receive the medal. He said there was an urgent need today as perhaps never before to propagate Gandhiji’s message and eradicate violence and intolerance from the society.

Rajouri, January 30
Violent protests rocked Thanamandi town today against the failure of the state government in providing electricity. The protesters alleged that electricity had not been supplied for the past 4 days. They ransacked the tehsil office after the tehsildar refused to heed to their problems.

The protesters raised slogans against the power minister, the tehsildar and the executive engineer of the Power Supply Department for making them suffer in the absence of electricity. They alleged that the tehsildar was neck-deep in corruption.

Sources said more than 300 protesters assembled at the higher secondary school and took out a demonstration under the leadership of a local councillor Nazir Ganai and marched towards the tehsil office. He said after reaching the tehsil office the protesters sought meeting with the tehsildar who allegedly refused to meet them.

Sources further said that some protesters lobbed stones on the building damaging the window panes and some furniture. He said later a deputation of prominent local leaders met the tehsildar and warned him that if power was not restored at the earliest, they would have no other option but to intensify the protests. They told him that if any untoward incident happened during the protests, the local administration would be responsible.

Meanwhile a senior officer in the Power Supply Department admitted that power supply had been disrupted in the area for the past some days. However, he said the power supply had been snapped off in the area as transmission lines had been damaged due to snowfall. The official said the line would be restored soon. “Once the transmission line goes through, we will restore the electricity,” he claimed.

Jammu, January 30
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said the decrease in violence in the state was a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi by the people.

While addressing a function organised at the Mubarak Mandi Complex in Jammu to commemorate the 60th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Azad said, “The decrease in violence in the state is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings.”

Adding he said, “Gandhi’s message that violence was to be fought with non-violence had shown the way to the people of the state, it is now established that violence will take us nowhere.” He said the participation of people on Republic Day celebrations throughout the state was an indication that violence had been defeated in the state.

The Chief Minister said Indians were proud to have a great personality like Gandhi born in their country, who influenced the entire world through his life and teachings. Adding he said, “In politics there was nobody better than him to emulate. His message of truth and non-violence is relevant today as it was during his lifetime, especially in a place like Jammu and Kashmir where violence had reigned supreme during the past two decades.”

He said it was unfortunate that a person who preached and practiced non-violence throughout his life himself became a victim of violence.

Reiterating the need that the new generation should know more about Gandhi’s philosophy, he said his government had started a state-wide debate competition for students of schools and colleges on truth and non-violence and it evoked immense response last year. Azad said more than 1 lakh students had participated in the competition throughout the state. “We have decided to make the competition an annual feature,” he said.

In his address, the Governor Lt-General S.K. Sinha (retd) said Gandhi provided political stability to the nation. He said, “There was some difference of opinion between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel and the latter was about to resign from the government. But they met Gandhi a few minutes before his assassination who advised Patel not to resign, saying it would harm both the party and the nation. The two leaders acted upon the advice and worked together thereafter.”

He said it was Gandhi who besides providing the country political stability also provided communal harmony to the nation. He said, “Throughout his life, Gandhi worked for Hindu-Muslim unity and by his martyrdom he strengthened the foundations of secularism in the country.”