Jammu, February 28
Violating prison norms and playing with the security of thousands, the police offered dinner to undertrial hardcore militants in a hotel inside busy bus stand here on Wednesday. This is second such instance where the police has indulged in this kind of act.

A bus full of under-trial hardcore militants accompanied by policemen and officers was halted in the Jammu bus stand last night and all the militants were offered a feast at Pamposh Muslim hotel. The under-trail militants were brought to Jammu from Srinagar to appear before the court.

The bus stand has always been an easy target for the militants. Recently they had thrown hand grenades in the stand, in which few people lost their lives. The recent breach of security has raised a matter of concern for the people of the area.

According to eyewitnesses, the handcuffed militants, who were escorted by the Jammu and Kashmir police came and had their dinner in the hotel. The waiters at the hotel also confirmed that some handcuffed men were brought by the police and were served with famous Kashmiri wazwan (meat cuisine).

“We don’t know who they were, they were handcuffed and policemen were with them, they wanted to have dinner and we offered the same to them. The policemen accompanying them paid the bill and went away,” said one of the waiters in the Pamposh Muslim hotel.

This is not for the first time when under trial hardcore militants were stopped and offered food at the hotels. Earlier in December last year, the police had halted a bus full of under-trail militants in the bus stand and had offered them lunch there. “The police themselves has broken the law, they not only risked the lives of hundred of the people, but also made those hardcore militants aware about the city itself,” said a shopkeeper in the Jammu bus stand.

The police has ordered an inquiry into the incident, said inspector general of police Jammu range S.P. Vaid.

“Last time when the incident had taken place I personally spoke to the SSP of Kupwara and an inquiry was ordered. In order to get further information on that regard you can speak to SSP of Kupwara,” Vaid said.

Srinagar, February 28
A day after High Court Bar Association held protest demonstrations against human rights violations demanding release of political prisoners, a JKLF-sponsored protest sit-in was held here today by the relatives of those detained who demanded their immediate release.

The sit-in was organised by Professor Syed Abdur Rahman Geelani’s “Committee for Release of Political Prisoners”, to protest against the continued detention of “political prisoners”.

It has also decided to hold a two-day conference to focus on the plight of Kashmiri detainees over the past more than 15 years. Several JKLF leaders also joined the family members of those detained at the peaceful sit-in here.

In order to register their protest against the continued detention, the relatives of more than 15 detained persons joined the sit-in dharna that started at about 11 a.m.

The separatist leaders Noor Mohammad Kalwal and Sheikh Abdul Rashid were among those who joined the protesting relatives and family members of the detainees.

They said many of the detained persons had completed even more than 15 years in different jails and were not being released and were being arrested under Public Safety Act (PSA).

Thousands of Kashmiris were languishing in different jails in the state and outside, the leaders alleged. “Even when a person has completed 14 years or life term in jail,” he was not being released the separatist leaders commented.

They added this was a peaceful way to register its demands for the release of all “political detainees”, adding that the Bar Association was also fighting under the law.

While protesting lawyers of the High Court Bar Association, were detained after they took out a procession here yesterday, they made similar demands. They sought whereabouts of those missing, an end to State terrorism, ensuring legal proceedings in the cases of detainees, and "return of troops".

The hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has also expressed concern over the continued human rights violations and demanded implementation of the court orders on the release of prisoners. A spokesman of the Hurriyat also expressed its concern over the invocation of Public Safety Act (PSA) invoked against its detained leaders, Massarat Aalam Bhat and Firdous Ahmad Shah.

Jammu, February 28
It is going to be a keen contest between Kavinder Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Manmohan Singh Pinka of the Congress for the post of mayor, election for which would be held on March 5.

Both, Gupta as well as Pinka have served as mayor in the same house. The term of the mayor in Jammu Municipal Corporation is for one year.

In a house of 71, the Congress and the BJP are almost evenly poised with 27 and 25 corporators, respectively. The nine independents are likely to hold key in the elections. Besides there are six National Conference, two People's Democratic Party and one each from the Bahujan Samaj Party and Shiv Sena.

Even if the Congress manages the support of both the NC as well as the PDP, it has necessarily to win over the independents as well. And the BJP, even if it manages the support of all the independents has to depend on some cross voting from other parties.

Manmohan Singh Pinka of the Congress was yesterday announced as the Congress candidate for the post of mayor. The candidature of Pinka was decided through secret ballot proposed by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was earlier authorised by corporators to nominate a candidate for the post.

The Chief Minister, however, declined to nominate the candidate and insisted that democratic process of ballot be adopted. The meeting for choosing the party candidate for the post of mayor was attended by corporators of the Congress and its associate and independent members.

Earlier, the Chief Minister asked the corporators to demonstrate unity at the time of election like they had done during the past two years. He said associate and independent members had played pivotal role in the victories and urged them to work in unison.

The Chief Minister said he was for extending the term of office of mayor from the current one year to two or three years. However, he said it might not materialise due to the lack of consensus among coalition parties. Likewise, he said, the term of the Corporation could also be extended to six years, as in the case of state Assembly.

Jammu, February 28
They saw their fellow villagers have been brutally killed by militants, as they refused to provide food and shelter to the militants who had sneaked into the Indian side of the line of control. To save themselves from the wrath of militants around 400 families living in the border district of Rajouri decided to migrate to Jammu.

Situated on the line of control between Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-occupied part of the valley, Rajouri is the first halt for infiltrators sneaking into the Indian side. Militants after crossing the line of control used our village as a hiding place for sometime, for which they used to force their entry into our houses and demanded food and shelter from us,” said Amarnath Sharma, president of the Rajouri Migrant Association.

Their refusal to provide militants with food and shelter infuriated the militants and they started killing them.

The Hindu minority of the district became the deliberate victims to the ire of the infuriated militants, who started slaughtering the community members.

“Our people were selected and targeted deliberately, the family that refused to provide food and shelter was totally wiped out by militants. We were left with no other option but to leave our villages and to migrate Jammu,” Amarnath said.

In order to save themselves from being killed, more than 400 families mostly of Hindu minority migrated to Jammu 12 years ago, but now they are fighting hard to sustain their living.

The government has totally ignored the Rajouri migrants and no compensation or relief has so far been given to the families who migrated from Rajouri to Jammu.

In the past 12 years the only help that these Rajouri migrants can get from the state government was a water and electricity connection.

But now the Rajouri migrants living in this makeshift colony on the banks of river Tawi have received a notice from the ministry of defence as the Army wants to occupy the land on which the colony stands.

“Tell me where we will go if the Army occupies this piece of land. The government has ignored us; we are not getting any sort of relief. We now cannot return to Rajouri as we fear for our lives,” said Kalu Ram, a Rajouri migrant.

Jammu, February 28
The ailing State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) has sought another loan of Rs 17.5 crore from Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited for releasing salaries of its employees, which had been withheld owing to paucity of funds, for the past four months, forcing employees to resort to indefinite strike.

Official sources said that in view of the past liability the SRTC could secure a fresh loan only after assuring the bank authorities that it would repay the amount after selling its assets.

Since the 10-day long strike had paralysed the entire fleet of trucks and buses of the SRTC the government had no other alternative but to seek bank loan for clearing the salary arrears. Already the SRTC has taken a loan of Rs 30 crore for meeting cost of establishment. Till date the total liability of the corporation has crossed Rs 100 crore which includes over Rs 35 crore provident fund. The SRTC workers union and the Transport Minister Hakim Mohd. Yaseen, gave contradictory statements on the financial health of the corporation. Yasin has said while on the one hand the government has to bear a hefty wage bill of the employees, on the other the fleet of buses and trucks, operating on various state and inter-state routes does not yield even 30 per cent of the expenditure.

However, union leaders, including chairman Shakeel Ahmed Kochey, said here today that the government and the corporation were responsible for the heavy losses. Explaining it Kochey said that out of a fleet of 650 buses and trucks, more than 70 per cent had outlived their utility needing immediate replacement. He said another factor was that the state government and the concerned agencies issued route permits to private bus and truck operators and since the private operators had better bus fleet, passengers preferred to travel in private buses.

The union chairman added that besides this number of operators had put on road a large fleet of buses illegally and no government agency carried out any check. He said that the only way for the corporation to come out of the red was to invest over Rs 100 crore on the purchase of new vehicles.

Katra, February 28
The veterinary dispensary at Katra, a project initiated under Operation Sadhbhavana by the Army, has come as a boon for thousands of poor families of ponnywallas and their animals.

Livelihood of over 15,000 families of ponywallas, majority of them are Muslims from Mahore, Arnas and other areas of Reasi district, depends upon mules and horses on which they ferry devotees.

As there was no system of de-worming and screening of these animals for fatal diseases like glanders and surra, owners of mules and ponies met Lt-Gen Narayan Mohanty, who was on the visit on the holy shrine last year. The project was thereafter conceptualised and later implemented.

“As these animals operate in close vicinity, there is always a likelihood of spread of infectious and contagious diseases in Katra. Requirement of a round the clock veterinary care for these mute creatures was always felt,” Colonel Yogesh Dogra of Uniform Force said.

There are approximately 10,000 mules and ponies engaged at Katra in ferrying devotees to the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi. These ponies are backbone of this pilgrimage, which emerged as big economy boon for the state.

This pilgrimage generates an income of about Rs 475 crore per annum. Out of this whopping amount, an income of Rs 33.15 crore is generated by these ponywallas every year.

In case of emergency, there was no arrangement for medical treatment of these ponies, which sometimes resulted in painful death of these animals.

“But the opening of a dispensary in Katra by 27 Army Dog Unit has come as a great succor to these ponies, which fall ill and sometimes sustain injuries while carrying pilgrims to and fro the shrine,” Col Dogra said.

“In the dispensary, veterinary doctors and animal healthcare facilities have been made available round the clock besides free medicines.”

Reasi, February 28
Putting at rest all rumours regarding bickering in the coalition, the Congress and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), presenting a united face, have virtually kicked-off an election campaign.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, deputy chief minister and PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig, rural development minister Jugal Kishore and minister of state Aijaz Ahmed Khan, who had won the 2002 Assembly election as an Independent candidate, addressed the rally. Not only Congress ministers, but PDP's deputy chief minister also sought the people’s support to support Ghulam Nabi Azad for the overall development and betterment of the masses.

Although it was an official function, Congress workers from remotest areas of Reasi district thronged the venue. The function turned into a political rally in which coalition partners exhibited their unity.

PDP's Muzaffar Hussain Beig praised the Chief Minister for taking revolutionary steps to mitigate woes of the residents of the violence-plagued state. “People are fortunate enough that a visionary leader like Ghulam Nabi Azad is heading a coalition here,” Beig remarked, while highlighting achievements of the present dispensation.

Apparently indicating that the coalition would enter into a pre-poll alliance, Beig cautioned the people against gimmicks of some vested interests, who had been creating hurdles in the developmental process of the state. "We need a leader like Ghulam Nabi Azad, who due to his vast political experience, can get us rid from violence and bloodshed,” the PDP leader said. “It is due to the goodwill of Azad that the Centre has been giving liberal support to our state”, he said.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his address, also reciprocated the gesture shown by Beig and said it was due to the support of coalition partners that the government had been functioning smoothly. He said his government was committed to remove disparities with any region in the state. Highlighting achievements of the coalition regime, he said during the past five years, special attentions were given to the far-flung areas.

Without naming any political party, he said backward and undeveloped areas were a result of the wrong policies propagated by the previous regimes. He cited an example of Reasi which lacked road connectivity and other infrastructure due to the wrong policies of the previous governments.

Jammu, February 28
Aiming two birds with one stone National Conference president Omar Abdullah this evening castigated the Congress and the People’s Democratic Party for what he claimed “taking credit of working group recommendations, to which the National Conference and other political parties were signatories”.

With change of guard in Pakistan Omar also expressed apprehensions that even though Indo-Pak peace process would not start from a scratch but every step has to be re-written again.

Talking to mediapersons after three-day long party working committee meeting that concluded here this evening, Omar said, “The Congress and the PDP are now trying to take political mileage out of working group recommendations passed unanimously.”

“The working groups were set up and advertised as an innovative initiative for resolving the turmoil in the state,” he said, adding “recommendations made by some of the working groups have not been implemented so far and the working group on center-state relations has not met after some preliminary discussions.”

“This delay puts a question mark on the whole exercise about which so much hype was created in the beginning,” he said. Switching over to political situation in Pakistan, he said, “Though we express satisfaction at the smooth transition to democracy that has taken place in Pakistan and hope that the new government will also take steps along with India to resume dialogue about the Kashmir issue in right earnest but the fact is that peace process has been stalled.”

On the concluding day of working committee meeting the National Conference also passed economic and political resolutions.

Jammu, February 28
The state Home Department has issued new guidelines to ministers and officers, traveling with the Chief Minister in the state aircraft so that there was no breach of security rules.

These guidelines were issued following reports that some ministers and officers, who had to travel with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in the state aircraft would proceed to the technical airport without getting their luggage and brief cases screened.

Since there were no arrangements for X-ray scanning at the technical airport, which is under the control of the Indian Air Force, these ministers and officers would invariably move to the tarmac without getting their luggage X-rayed.

The Home Department circular has requested the ministers and officers to ensure that they get their luggage checked at the Special Security Group (SSG) headquarters in Jammu or Srinagar as part of routine security drill.

Accordingly, these VIPs have been requested to send their luggage through their personal security offices to the SSG headquarters at least one and a half hours before the travel schedule so that the baggage, if found fit, could be sealed and loaded in the aircraft.

Official sources said these measures were taken in hand following receipt of reports indicating that besides the Chief Minister other top political leaders were on the hit list of militants.

Rajouri, February 28
Hailing the railway budget, the people of Poonch and Rajouri districts have said railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has realised their dream of having a rail link to these twin frontier districts.

The railway minister had announced to take up 37 surveys for new lines during the next financial year including Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch line via Akhnoor.

Residents said the railway minister has presented budget that takes care of all the sections of the society from senior women citizens, students to porters and benefits them in one way or the other.

But, they said, what make us cheer is the announcement of a new railway line to link these twin borders of Rajouri and Poonch with Jammu. “We appreciate Lalu for what he has given to us. By announcing a line he has changed our fortunes. We thank him for fulfilling our dream,” said Suneel Kumar, a shopkeeper and social activists.

“The railway line will not only link these backward districts with the rest of the country but will also give a boost to the trade here,” he added. Another resident of the neighboring Poonch district and a businessman Muhammad Sharief said the rail link will also help in cutting down the time to reach Jammu besides it will also lessen the time duration to travel between the two districts also.

“Normally it takes a day to reach Jammu from here, but once the rail line is constructed, I suppose it will just take half a day,” said Mehmood.

Srinagar, February 28
The SP will put up candidates on 51 of the 87 constituencies of the state in the upcoming elections, state unit president Sheikh Abdul Rehman told reporters here today. He claimed that mid-term polls were likely in the state as there were a lot of differences between the Congress and PDP, both coalition partners.

”The mid-term elections are also likely in Jammu and Kashmir as there are lot of differences between Congress and PDP, but they are together only to share power,” said president Sheikh Abdul Rehman.

Referring to the PDP demand for demilitarisation and withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Sheikh alleged PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was instrumental in sending troops to the state in 1990 when he was the union home minister.

He alleged that despite the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government obtaining maximum funds from the Centre for development of the state, they went down the drain. — PTI

Udhampur, February 28
To lodge protest against failure of the government to remove existing disparities between teachers of Jammu and Kashmir regions, the Consolidate Lecturers Forum, Udhampur, has decided to organise massive demonstration in support of their demands on Friday.

In a meeting of the forum, it was decided to hold demonstration before proceeding towards Jammu where a joint protest from districts would be held.

Speakers in the meeting flayed the state government for meting out step motherly treatment with Jammu region. Speakers pointed out consolidated lecturers in Kashmir province have been regularised while as in Jammu authorities have been harassing them. — TNS