Akhnoor (Jammu), April 25
Thousands of people today gathered here despite scorching heat to listen to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his first ever public rally in frontier Akhnoor sector 
in Jammu.

Though not much was done to provide relief to the people from the heat as they had come from far off villages of the region to attend the rally, they waited with patience for hours to listen to the Prime Minister.

People of all ages, including women and children, had gathered in large number at the venue in Akhnoor where the Prime Minister had to come to address a public meeting.

“I have come a long way from Rajouri district to listen what the Prime Minister has for the people like us who have been suffering because of the barbered fence erected on our fields,” said (74) Nizam Din Khatana of Rajouri.

Though some school kids were seen serving water to the audience, but they could do very little as it was not enough for such a huge crowd.

“Yes, it’s very hot and no arrangement for water has been done by the authorities, at least when they knew that so many people were coming to attend the rally, they should have installed few water dispensers here,” said Sham Lal of Akhnoor.

But the heat does not seem to have played any spoil spot as people listened patiently to the speech made by local leaders before the arrival of the PM to the rally venue.

In his speech, the Prime Minister tried to apply balm to the wounds faced by the people especially the migrants living in Jammu and Akhnoor sector, however, there was something in-store for everyone in Prime Minister’s speech.

The Prime Minister made various announcements for the militancy-affected people of the state.

“I am happy as the Prime Minister announced a package for people like me whose cultivable land has been occupied by the Army because of the barbed fence. Hope what he said gets implemented on ground as well,” Nizam Din Khatana Khatana (74), who had come to attend the rally all the way from Rajouri, said.

Jammu, April 25
It would be a dream come true for the state, when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh formally commissions the 390-MW Dul Hasti power project, in Kishtwar on Saturday.

It took more than 25 years for the project to get commissioned, whose foundation was laid by former prime minister Indira Gandhi, in 1983.

At that stage the project was estimated to cost Rs 1,260 crore and was to be completed in 1994. Initially the project was assigned to the NHPC, but on account of some technical problems, the project was handed to the French Consortium in 1989.

When the consortium could not complete the project as per the schedule, it sought extension by a few months, which was granted to it.

However, the consortium engineers and managers faced two problems. One of its engineer Antonio Silva was kidnapped by militants in 1991, but was later freed on January 13, 1992. The other was that its tunnel-boring machine had got stuck.

Later, the consortium finally withdrew from the scene. The construction of civil works was entrusted to an Indian private company and the NHPC was entrusted with the task of completing it.

Akhnoor (Jammu), April 25
To showcase that everything was going on well between the Congress and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), two PDP leaders shared stage with the Congress leadership, during Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s public rally in Akhnoor today.

Senior PDP leaders - former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh - were present during the Congress rally in Akhnoor which was addressed by the Prime Minister.

Though the policies of both the coalition partners in the state government clash with each other, the presence of two senior PDP leaders in the Congress rally shows that they had decided to “project unity” for the time being.

The relation between the two alliance partners had never been better after the PDP handed over power to the Congress as per the power sharing agreement in a post poll alliance in 2002.

Though the ideology of both the parties had been entirely different, they somehow managed to sail the coalition boat amidst various pushes and pulls.

The PDP had been demanding a safe passage for the youth who had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) for arms training and were now willing to come back and join the mainstream. However, the Congress had been tightlipped over it as the matter was related to the the country’s internal security and it also did not want to infuriate the PDP leadership.

However, the relation between the two parties had come to its lowest point as the PDP leadership decided to sever ties with the Congress on the issue of reduction and relocation of troops in the valley.

Today’s presence of two senior PDP leaders in the Congress rally attains significance in wake of an “undeclared boycott” by the PDP leadership of almost all major government functions, including Cabinet meetings.

Jammu, April 25
The core group in the state unit of the BJP will be meeting here in next four days for carrying out a preliminary exercise of shortlisting party candidates for the ensuing Assembly election.

“We have not yet identified candidates who could be fielded in the election,” said BJP president Ashok Khajuria here today.

He said senior party leaders would meet shortly for making a tentative list of those party candidates who could be given the mandate for contesting the election.

Khajuria said “We plan to field party candidates in 35 to 40 constituencies.” He added “We have the potential of contesting over 50 seats, but we want to concentrate in 35 constituencies, including three from the Kashmir valley, so that we are in a position to emerge as a major political force in the state.”

As the party president if he would also contest the election he said “Yes I am ready if the election committee recommends my name and it is approved by the BJP high command.”

He said the names of Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, a former party president and Union minister of state for defence, and former president of the BJP Nirmal Singh had not been so far considered for contesting the Assembly poll because both of them had been contesting the Lok Sabha election.

Gupta said: “I have contested the Lok Sabha poll twice.

I will have no reservation if the party high command asked me to contest the Assembly poll.” He said as a disciplined soldier of the party “I will abide by the decision of the party high command.”

However, party sources said being a BJP stalwart, who has won both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Gupta’s services would be utilised in mustering voters support in various constituencies.

Gupta and Ashok Khajuria said “So far, we have not explored the possibility of forging a pre-poll alliance with any political party.” They said having some pre-poll understanding with the Congress, the PDP and the National Conference was very “bleak.” “We have to contest against these valley centric parties,” they added.

Asked if there was any possibility of an alliance with the National Bahujan Party, which was recently floated by the BSP rebels, headed by Dr Sat Pal, the BJP leaders said “We have not yet considered it.

We shall see first what shape the National Bahujan Party assumed and may prefer to go alone as we do not want to sacrifice those seats, where the BJP has potential candidates, under some electoral understanding with any other party.”

Srinagar, April 25
Chairman of the Separatist Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was today prevented by the police, while proceeding to the office of UNMOG to submit a memorandum, inviting the international community’s attention to the “940 unmarked graves” found in Uri area of north Kashmir.

The APHC had already planned the silent march on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s visit to the state.

Police sources said a procession comprising 1,100 persons led by Mirwaiz left Jamia Masjid after Friday prayers. “As there was no permission for taking out a procession from the competent authority, the protesters were asked to disperse near Ikhwan Chowk,” a police spokesman said. Some protesters instead of dispersing started pelting stones at the police, he added.

This resulted into pitched battles between the protesters and the police. Several civilians were injured in the incident. The police resorted to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators. There were also reports of protest demonstrations and stone-pelting, leading to shutdown in downtown areas.

In view of the fact that Mirwaiz had Z+ security, he was moved to safety. Later, he was escorted home safely, the police added.

Several other leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, including Shabir Shah, Bilal Lone, Moulana Abbas Ansari, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Zafar Akbar Bhat were kept under house arrest by the police since morning to prevent them from participating in the march.

Earlier in the day, Peoples’ League leaders, Seikh Abdul Aziz and Javed Ahmad Mir, were also prevented from proceeding towards Jamia Masjid, from where they were to join the demonstration.

Udhampur, April 25 
After killing its top commander Jahangir two days back, troops of the Rashtriya Riffles (RR) this morning eliminated two more dreaded militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) outfit, including one foreign mercenary, in a fierce encounter near Gool in Ramban district. Some arms and ammunition were also recovered from the site of the encounter. 

According to defence sources troops of 58 RR of 15 Sector Uniform Force had been chasing some militants for the past two days. This morning the troops trapped them near the Bhimdasa area of Gool. In a fierce encounter which lasted for more than three hours, security forces eliminated both the militants. One of the slain militant was a Pakistani national and his identity was established as Abu Anzan, a self-styled commander of the HM. He had been active in this area for the past eight years. Another slain militant was identified as Babar Baker, a resident of Arnas.

Defence sources said after the recent killings of some of their top ranking self-styled commanders, militants were on run. 

Srinagar, April 25
The Army facing likely prosecution of five of its men in a case of fake encounter, including Commanding Officer of a RR unit deployed in Kashmir earlier, has got a reprieve from the High Court when it stayed proceedings against these soldiers in a district court.

The Army had moved the High Court after the court of chief judicial magistrate first issued non-bailable warrants against these officials and then asked it last week to find whereabouts of these personnel in a week when it expressed its inability in locating them on the pretext that their unit had moved out of the valley.

The High Court stayed the proceedings on the basis that the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case of similar nature after the Army challenged the lower court’s verdict that its officials could not be exempted from prosecution in Chattisingpora fake encounter case investigated by the CBI under the provision of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

A lower court had been hearing arguments in the case of the murder of a mosque priest, Showkat Kataria, in October 2006, who was passed off as a foreign militant by security forces. The police had chargesheeted several cops, including the then Ganderbal SP H.S. Parihar and five armymen.

Though cops were arrested and remain behind bars, the accused soldiers continue to avoid prosecution as the Army has taken plea that its men could not be prosecuted without the prior sanction of the Central government as provided in the AFSPA.

The Army is fighting CBI’s prosecution against its soldiers in Chattisingpora case in the apex court after the lower courts maintained that it could not enjoy impunity as envisaged in the AFSPA as the fake encounters were a deliberate act of murder, not an operational mistake committed in the line of duty.

Surankote (Poonch), April 25
The road connecting Poonch and Surankote is in a deplorable condition and residents have alleged that the government had failed to get it repaired by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

The residents rued that four years had passed, but the road was still in a dilapidated condition and the government had failed to get it repaired.

This is after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recently asserted that his prime concern was to provide basic amenities to the people.

Angry residents said the condition of roads was worse in Potha, Seri Chauhana, Lasana, Khanetar and Seri Chauhana.

They said the road construction company, assigned the task of blacktopping the road, had only rolled one inch of blacktop, instead of three.

“If the government has not got the road connecting two important towns repaired, how will they improve road connectivity in remote villages,” Tariq Ahmed, a student, said.

Echoing similar views, Ahmed Din, a businessman who frequently travelled through the road said, “The road construction company did not put adequate layer of blacktop onto the road and instead only one inch was rolled. A few months after blacktopping, the layer eroded and created huge potholes.”

“It takes about 45 minutes to reach Poonch, but since the road is in a dilapidated condition, it takes one-and-half hour to reach there,” he added.

Commanding officer of the alleged construction company said, “The details about the road can be had from the office of the chief engineer, Project Sampark, BRO. I can not give you the details.”

Meanwhile, B.M. Sharma, deputy commissioner, Poonch, admitted that the road was in a deplorable condition. “We have taken up the matter with the BRO many times. They informed us that they were awaiting funds and have received the same recently. They will start the work from July,” Sharma said.

Hiranagar, April 25
Disenchanted with main political parties, people, particularly belonging to poor sections, in twin districts of Samba and Kathua, somehow, see an opening in recently framed the National Bahujan Party (NBP).

Having all ingredients in the form of BSP rebels and Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson, Prakash Ambedkar, the emergence of the NBP has already triggered political squabbling in the two districts.

Not only common people but political pundits say that in the upcoming Assembly polls the NBP will give the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Congress and the BJP a run for their money.

An unemployed postgraduate in chemistry, Sanjay Bhagat of Hiranagar said, “Neither the BSP nor the Congress lived up to the expectations of poor and downtrodden people and the NBP has come up at an opportune time.”

He said recent rallies of the NBP that drew large crowds amply reflected resentment of the people towards the BSP and other so-called messiahs of the poor and downtrodden people.

Yashpal, a bank employee, while echoing similar views described the Congress, the National Conference, the BSP and the BJP as birds of the same flock saying that fed up with fake assurances, people now want a change.

A retired school teacher Babu Lal of Samba, once a staunch supporter of the BSP, said the party had let the people down.

“In coming polls the BSP and the Congress would definitely face an acid test from the NBP in Kathua, Samba and Vijaypur,” he asserted.

“However, Kathua is home district of senior Congress leader and health minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Congress MP Lal Singh and minister of state for power Babu Singh. The Congress may misuse government machinery to its advantage,” he added.

A political analyst said, off to a flier with a big rally in Jammu and then party workers meet in Udhampur, the NBP would certainly make deep inroads at least in BSP and Congress vote banks in these two districts.

“Further, the NBP has been projecting itself as true follower of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and BSP founder Kanshi Ram to attract the people, which has started working,” he added.