Jammu, April 11
A multi-tier security set up has been put in place for a day-long visit of Congress president and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to Jammu tomorrow, official sources said here. Gandhi is scheduled to address a public rally organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) at the city’s Parade Ground, they told PTI.

She would also visit the biggest Kashmiri migrant camp in Purkhoo area on the outskirts of the Jammu city and address a gathering of migrants, they said.

The personnel from the CRPF and the police have been deployed in and around the Parade Ground, they said, adding the security has been beefed up at Purkhoo migrant camp.

She is also expected to visit the Jagti migrant township in Nagrota which is still under construction. These venues have been sanitised by bomb disposal squads and Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel, they said.

The security measures and other arrangements were reviewed at a meeting chaired by the Jammu divisional commissioner. AICC secretary Sanjay Bopanna, who is also in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, visited the Parade Ground and reviewed the arrangements.

This is Gandhi’s second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in the past fortnight. Her earlier visit was on March 22 to inaugurate Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden in Srinagar. — PTI

Poonch, April 11
PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said the historic Mughal Road would open up new and varied economic opportunities for the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri by increasing mobility of people and goods in the area.

Addressing a public meeting at Surankote here today, Sayeed said opening of the Mughal Road would not only drastically lessen the travel distance between Poonch-Rajouri and the Kashmir valley, but would also boost trade and tourism in the area bringing economic fortunes to the people.

“The Mughal Road would not only open up some of the historical landmarks but also spectacular virgin physical features of the area including high altitude lakes, peaks and meadows for the tourists," he said and added that Deragali, Chandimarh, Poshana, Peermarg, Peer Ki Gali, Aliabad Sarai and a number of forts are some of the attractive landmarks on the road that could add depth and substance to the area as a promising tourism destination.

Sayeed said the opening of the road for traffic hopefully next year would be a historic moment for the region as the last organized travelers on this road were the Mughals. He said resumption of cross-LoC traffic on Poonch-Rawalakote and Jhangad-Mirpur roads could open up the area to the tourists and pilgrims from not only the neighboring countries, but Central Asia and China as well.

He said the shrine of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah (RA) at Shahdra Sharief would attract huge number of pilgrims from the region given the spiritual attachment of the sub-continent's people with the shrine. "Presently most of the pilgrims who intend to pay obeisance at the shrine are unable to make it because of the long journey," he said and asked the Tourism Department to raise the necessary infrastructure in the area, well in advance, so that the prospective tourists and pilgrims get the requisite facilities.

Sayeed said adequate and modern infrastructure in railways, road communication, power, healthcare and education must be raised in the Poonch and Rajouri districts to address the sense of neglect and deprivation of the people in the area. 

Srinagar, April 11
The Pugwash conference in Islamabad had increased bitterness in the PDP and NC camps and the cause is said to be PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s meeting with the several leaders, who holds importance in Pakistan politics.

Though Omar Abdullah had met Pakistan President Pervej Musharraf on his earlier visit to Islamabad two years ago, this time around it was Mehbooba Mufti, who captured the limelight as she met co-chairman of PPP, Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime minister, Nawaz Sharief.

A PDP spokesman here yesterday questioned that if according to the NC leaders, Mehbooba advocated Indian agenda in Pakistan, then whose agenda was Omar Abdullah advancing as a union minister of state for external affairs in the then BJP government. “We don’t think he was there in the union ministry as a representative of any other neighbouring government,” he said.

The PDP spokesman said the NC leaders, who were trying to project themselves as the champions of the Kashmiri aspirations for electoral gains, were at the forefront of the anti-Kashmiri tirade while they were in power.

“Omar Abdullah, who is trying to rechristen himself as a strong backer of the political reconciliation in the region had in 2001 as the Union MOS for External Affairs not only labeled Pakistan as a fountainhead of terrorism in the region, but had also linked the Kashmir militancy with Al-Qaeda,” the spokesman said.

“And it is surprising to see the same Omar Abdullah today trying to position himself as a sympathiser of Pakistan and Kashmiris,” the spokesman said.

The NC President, no wonder, that out of frustration may even say that he was on deputation from Pakistan as union MOS of external affairs in India, the spokesperson added.

“If Omar Abdullah is going around with the fallacious half truths that Mehbooba Mufti’s meetings with Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Shariff were organised by the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, then he should also tell the people that who had arranged his meeting with Pakistan President Gen Parvez Musharraf in March 2006,” the PDP spokesman said.

The spokesman said although the PDP didn’t want to indulge in any kind of blame-game, but given the deceitful tactics of the NC leadership, the party can’t remain a mute spectator.

Jammu, April 11
The Jammu and Kashmir Government will be conducting a fresh survey to determine the number of households below poverty line (BPL) in the state.

Three seperate surveys would be undertaken by three different departments for compiling the fresh data.This is being done to guard against any instancesof house holds being left by the surveyors. During pervious surveys, there had been serveral complaints in this regard.

Survey and data compilation of PBL families in JAmmu and Kashmir had generated controversies in the past.

Earlier, it had come to light that the figures of a number of BPL families were fudged and a large quantity of ration meant for them was passed on to terrorists, particularly in border districts. 

Jammu, April 11
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give his nod for early implementation of recommendations of the four Working Groups (WG) out of a total of five such groups constituted by the PM himself.

An official spokesperson said, Azad met the Prime Minister at latter’s residence last evening and had a meeting discussingimplementation of the recommendations made by the Working Groups on Jammu and Kashmir. Azad said the recommendations should not be put on hold till the time fifth working group on centre-state relations makes its recommendations. The meeting, lasting about 90 minutes, was followed by another exhaustive one with the Union home minister Shivraj Patil on the same issue.

Azad’s meetings with Manmohan Singh and Patil were held a day after he chaired a high-level meeting with state civil and police top brass at Jammu, where these recommendations were discussed.

Recommendations on militancy-affected orphans and widows, rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, issues related with refugees of 1947 from West Pakistan and of 1947, 1965 and 1971 from PoK and compensation of land under Defence ditches and border fencing, besides enhancement of rent for land and orchards under the use of Army were discussed in the meetings.

Srinagar, April 11
The PDP has said peace and development would have been a distant dream without the desire and cooperation of the people of Kashmir and it was only because of the people’s resolve that the state was almost out of the dreadful era of violence and blood-letting.

This has significantly come to allay the assertions of its alliance partner, the Congress party and its Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had cautioned the people against some political leaders and media as enemies of progress and development in the State.

Azad while inaugurating the Bharat Nirman public information campaign in Ganderbal district yesterday cautioned people against political leaders and their pen-wielding supporters who wanted the atmosphere of violence and killings in Jammu and Kashmir to perpetuate so that they could grind their own axe. He said these people representing only 1 per cent of the population had engaged themselves full time in distorting facts and presenting a negative picture of the state.

A PDP spokesman here today said that despite being forced into deep seated feeling of isolation and alienation due to various political and historical circumstances, Kashmiris have, time and again, reiterated their confidence and trust in the democratic means. He said Kashmir and Kashmiris were inheritors of a rich and valued civilisational distinction that has been acknowledged by one and all.

“Though Kashmir was at no point of time part of the politics of discord that engulfed rest of the sub-continent in the run up to Partition, this is the only place that continues to pay a price for it,” he said and added that Kashmiris’ assertion of identity at different points of post-independence history were, unfortunately, misread by some and misdirected by others.

“Not only the administration, but the local media also played a vital role in this endeavor of hope that has now started rejuvenating Jammu and Kashmir to its traditional glory of peace, tranquility and prosperity,” the PDP spokesman said.

Srinagar, April 11
Widow of a fake encounter victim has been reduced to begging for alms, driven by a mix of brazen official apathy and family circumstances.

The government gave Taslima Bano (30) a meagre compensation of Rs 1 lakh when it was proved last year that one of the four fake encounter victims was her husband Nazir Ahmed Deka, not Pakistani militant Abu Zubair, as claimed by cops, but the promised job never came to her and money locked up in bank is useless.

Officials deposited the money in two parts in the name of her two kids, daughter Aneesa Nazir (5) and son Umed Nazir (2), and they could withdraw it only when they turn 18. Embarrassed to talk about her family's destitution, she turns silent when asked how she is running her family and then tightens her face and says, "Main bhikh mangti hoon (I beg)".

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad promised jobs to Bano and next of kin of other victims when the civil society seethed with anger over police' crime, the promise has proved hollow while Bano with the burden of feeding her two kids had to forsake her dignity and stretch her palms before strangers. With her parents-in-law dead, brothers-in-law and her own family too poor to help, begging was the only option.

"I was devastated but I had to live for my kids. I thought a job would at least ensure our survival," she says while her carefree son runs around a park.

Anantnag, the place where the four encounter victims belonged, deputy commissioner, Jaipal Singh told The Tribune that victims like Bano were entitled to jobs under SRO-43 category and there was no new job sanctioned yet by the government. The government has framed SRO-43 policies to provide jobs to militancy victims and official sources told this paper that there are hundreds of people in waiting for years. With freeze on any new post, their wait could be endless, they admitted.

The irony for Bano is that she is not a victim of militancy, but of a cold-blooded conspiracy hatched by government officials to corner some fake glory. Surprisingly, there is little anger in her words. "Who cares if I am angry? So many people are in trouble like me," she says.

Police officials, including the then Ganderbal SSP HR Parihar, accused of killing her husband and three other innocent persons in fake encounters, were arrested by the state police and they are still behind bars and facing murder trial.

Srinagar, April 11
Arjuna Awardee Mohd Amin Naik has recently been promoted to the coveted rank of Major-General in Army. He is an ideal role model for Kashmiri youth to emulate.

Born in a humble family of Dadsara village, near Tral in south Kashmir, Amin studied in Biscoe School and graduated from SP College Srinagar before joining Indian Army in the elite Engineers Regiment.

He was awarded with Sena Medal for displaying gallantry. He holds the rare honour of being an aluminous of prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi. — TNS