Jammu, April 30
A clash between two rival factions of the National Conference left five persons injured, two of them seriously, at Camp Gole Gujral in the Marh Assembly constituency near here this morning.

According to police sources, at around 9 am supporters of sitting MLA and NC provincial president Ajay Sadhotra and one Jagjeet Singh Jagga took out sharp-edged weapons against each other to claim the credit for upgrading Government Girls High School to higher secondary level at Camp Gole Gujral. Sadhotra was to unveil the name plaque at 11 am.

However, Jagjeet Singh Jagga’s group last evening had allegedly smashed the plaque and this morning when group loyal to Sadhotra brought a new one, it led to a clash.

Police sources said Jagjeet, who had been sacked from the post of DSP for his political activities, too was sighted at the site of clash. In a broad daylight, both the warring groups used sharp-edged weapons (kirch), said a senior police officer.

Two seriously injured persons have been identified as Jagjeet Singh Jagga’s son Tarandeep Singh and Meharban Singh of Camp Gole Gujral. Three others who sustained injuries are Pawan Singh of SOS village, Paramdeep Singh and Gajender Singh, residents of Camp Gole Gujral. After getting the information a police team headed by SHO Domana police station Gian Chand Sharma reached the spot and shifted the injured to Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital. The groups tried to attack each other in the emergency ward of the hospital too. However, the police prevented them from doing so. The police has deployed a strong force at the hospital to prevent any untoward incident.

SP, Rural, Shakti Pathak said, weapons have been recovered and a case under Section 307 have been registered against the accused.

Doda, April 30
To keep things under wraps, contractors indulging in illegal axing of trees in Kishtwar and Doda districts, are allegedly hiring militants to terrorise villagers here. The contractors had been assigned the job of cutting only “marked” trees by the forest department.

The government had constituted village forest committees (VFCs) at the village-level to keep a check on the illegal cutting down of trees. The militants have allegedly warned the VFCs members from going to the forest.

Although no arrests had been made so far, the police had established the involvement of some contractors, who roped in militant commanders to threaten the villagers.

Villagers usually go to the forests to collect waste materials and other spices besides, keeping a strict vigil on the job of contractors. With the help of these militant commanders, these contractors indulged in axing “unmarked” trees.

“Initially we took them as threats from militants, but we failed to ascertain their motive. So special teams were constituted to investigate the case”, police sources said. They said investigations revealed that these threats were given on behalf of some contractors who were assigned the job of cutting marked trees.

A precious spice known as “guchies” are only available in the forest areas of Kishtwar and Doda districts. Hundreds of families earn their livelihood by collecting guchies and sell them in Jammu. These guchies are used in medicines and cost anything between Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 per kg.

Police sources disclosed that recently the self-styled divisional commander of the Laskher-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit, Mohammed Tahir Khan, pasted posters in many parts of Doda and Kishtwar districts, warning people not to collect guchies from the forest areas.

The militants directed sarpanches, chowkidars and numberdars of some villages to stop people from going to the forest. The police on investigation found that these warnings had been given on behalf of some forest contractors.

Jammu, April 30
At least four persons were killed and 32 injured in separate road accidents in different parts of this division in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday, police sources said here today.

Two persons were killed on the spot when their scooter was hit by a video coach bus on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Udhampur, about 65-km from here, last evening, they said adding the deceased have been identified as Kripal Singh and Sunny.

In another mishap, a head constable Lehar Singh was killed and four persons injured when a vehicle in which they were travelling skidded off the road and rolled down into a gorge near Pul Doda, they said.

The police rushed to the spot and brought the dead and injured to Doda and admitted them to the district hospital there. A pillion rider and a motorcyclist were injured when in an accident at Majalta in Udhampur district yesterday.

They were rushed to the military hospital at Udhampur where one Mani Ram succumbed to his injuries, while another injured Mangat Singh was brought here and admitted in Government Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

In another accident, 27 persons were injured when a passenger bus on its way from Jammu skidded off the road and fell down in a gorge at Shalimar near Kishtwar, they said.

The police rushed to the site and admitted them to district hospital at Kishtwar. — PTI

Jammu, April 30
The Bharatiya Janata party will observe a countrywide bandh on Friday, May 2, to protest against the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference here Shamsher Singh Manhas, state general secretary of the BJP, said, “Our leadership has decided to observe a nationwide bandh on May 2, to protest against the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government that has led to the steep rise in the prices of all essential commodities, including food items and vegetables.”

Adding, he said, “the objective of the BJP behind its decision to organise the bandh at national level is to make congress-led UPA control the price situation or quit the government if it is incompetent to provide two meals a day to the people.”

The BJP has appealed to all trader organisations and the people across the state to make the proposed bandh a grand success so that the Congress-led government at the Centre takes action against those indulging in black marketing and hoarding.

“The BJP believes that the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government have not only led to increase in the prices of essential commodities ranging from 50 per cent to 200 per cent but also created a situation in which the farmers and investors were committing suicide and the small shopkeepers and owners of small-scale industries were feeling the heat,” Manhas said.

Jammu, April 30
The fruit export in Jammu and Kashmir has been on a decline over the past two years owing to the challenge posed by Himachal Pradesh and lack of transportation facilities.

In 2004-05 the total export of fruits, including apples, pears, cherry and apricot touched 8.20 lakh metric tonnes, which declined to 7.59 lakh MT in 2005-06 and 6.78 lakh MT in 2006-07

Experts in the Horticulture Department said decrease in the export of fresh fruit was the result of two factors.

First Himachal Pradesh had started posing a major challenge to Kashmir fruit because apples from Himachal appear in the market much early than that of Kashmir.

Secondly, fruit exporters face problems of transportation like that of absence of direct rail link between Srinagar and Delhi or Mumbai.

Exporters from Himachal do not face such problems because even if Himachal fruit is transported in trucks these vehicles reach Delhi in eight to 10 hours whereas trucks, loaded with Kashmiri apples, take 30 hours to reach Delhi.

Official sources said once Kashmir, especially Baramulla-Sopore belt, considered to be apple bowl of the valley, is connected with the railway network, the transportation problem would be solved.

While Baramulla district is at the top with the apple production of over 5.5 lakh MT, followed by Pulwama with over two lakh MT and Anantnag district 1.86 lakh MT, Doda district in the Jammu region tops with 7,720 MT of apples followed by Poonch with 2,500 MT.

Leh and Kargil districts continue to be at the bottom of fresh fruit production. Leh produces 3,808 MT of apples and Kargil 5,44 MT.

As far as pear production is concerned Poonch district, with production of 7,020 MT is in close race with Anantnag, and Budgam. It produces more pears than Pulwama, Srinagar and Baramulla.

However, the export of dry fruits, including walnuts and almonds, has remained steady between 14,000 MT and 16,000 MT during the last five years. It was only in 1995-96 that nearly 28,000 MT of dry fruit were exported from the state.

Considerable decline was registered in 2005-2006 when only 9,200 MT of dry fruit was exported. Experts said it was on account of shortfall in the production

Srinagar, April 30
A top militant of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen outfit was killed in an encounter with the police in Sopore town of Baramulla district last night. One policeman was also injured in the gun battle.

Identified as Sajad Afghani, the militant was the ‘chief commander’ of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and was active for the last 10 years in the northern districts of Kupwara, Bandipore and Baramulla.

One AK-74 short barrel, four magazines, 150 AK rounds and six grenades were recovered from the site of encounter, the police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided one residential quarter in old sub district hospital, Sopore used by one theatre assistant Showkat Ahmad Peer. When the police party led by Sopore SHO was conducting search, the militant hurled a grenade and fired indiscriminately at the police injuring one cop, Abdul Majeed. The militant was killed in the retaliatory fire, the police said.

Elsewhere, two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were apprehended while the security forces recovered arms and ammunition during separate search operations in Kashmir valley since yesterday.

An active local trained militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, Javid Ahmad Bhat, was arrested on whose disclosures the security forces recovered 9mm pistol with magazine, six pistol rounds and one radio set I-com from Handwara area in Kupwara district.

The police arrested one militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, identified as Aijaz Ahmad Malik alias Younis along with one Shah Nawaz from Batamaloo area here. One AK-47 rifle, one magazine and 27 rounds were recovered from his possession.

The security forces recovered 20 UBGL grenades, 20 Chinese grenades, and 750 AK rounds during searches in Kalaroos area of Kupwara district yesterday. 

Jammu, April 30
Various organisations of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community have strongly denounced the relief package announced by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his two-day visit to the state last week.

Addressing a joint press conference, leaders of the Panun Kashmir, a frontline organisation of the displaced community said, “The package announced by the Prime Minister for displaced Kashmiri Hindus is misleading. This package does not address any short-term and long-term problems faced by the community,” Agnishekhar, chairman of Panun Kashmir, said. “The way the package was declared in Akhnoor caused bad feelings against Kashmiri Pandits rather than doing good. The announcements tried to pit the interests’ of displaced Kashmiri Hindus against the aggrieved and devastated border migrants, PoK refugees, and internally-displaced Hindus of Jammu,” he said.

He alleged the package announced had “trivialised the extensive religious cleansing of the community” in Kashmir. “It conveys a spirit of abdication of responsibility by the government to reverse the genocide of the Kashmiri Pandits, he said. Agnishekhar said, “By reducing the issue of genocide to merely constructing a shelter in the Kashmir valley, that too in hostile environs, the UPA government had displayed lack of vision in confronting the challenge of jihadi terrorism.”

He said as per the announced package of Rs 1,600 crore, it would be next to impossible to pay Rs 7.5 lakh per family to the displaced community. “55,000 families were forced to leave the valley and if the government decides to give Rs 7.5 lakh to everyone, the amount would still be far less from what actually is required,” he said.

He said the real issues linked to the permanent return of the community to the valley were tackling terrorism, de-communalisation of the social milieu in the valley and creating a viable political and economic dispensation for the community.

Srinagar, April 30
The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has issued a fresh notice to the inspector general of police, Kashmir range, to submit a detailed report about the killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley during the past 17 years.

The fresh notice was issued after the IGP failed to submit the report before the Human Rights Commission today.

The commission has issued the notice to police chief in Kashmir on a petition filed by Sanjay Tickoo, president of Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti last month.

The Samiti has requested the commission to direct the police to submit reports about the killings of Pandits by unidentified gunmen at Wandhama and other places.

The Samiti has alleged that despite appointing inquiry committees by the government to investigate these killings, not a single report was made public. — UNI 

Jammu, April 30
Even as the state grapples with serious issues concerning education and employment, Leh is expected to find a mark on the BPO map soon. Plans are underway to connect the district on the information technology enabled services (ITES) net.

Information technology and ITES are among the six industries identified by the government which have high potential for growth and employment. Already the basic level of outsourcing activity is being carried out in Srinagar and Jammu.

ITES is a form of outsourced service which includes medical transcription, back-office accounting, legal drafting, insurance claim, credit card etc. In many countries, firms outsource such services to third world countries as it involves low labour costs.

According to a study on the mapping of human resources and skills compiled by the confederation of indian industry (CII) earlier this year, revealed that there was huge potential in the area for medical and legal outsourcing.

Though IT and ITES industry is in the early stages of development, the CII study has cautioned that the power situation and bandwidth availability should be improved if it was to take off successfully. Over the years, mobile and internet connections have increased manifold, though tele-density continued to be low as compared to the rest of India.

Skill gap analysis carried out during the study revealed several shortcomings at the entry-level positions in ITES which were contrary to the expected competencies in the field. These included poor communication skills, poor listening abilities, no aptitude for ITES roles, lack of attention to details, poor business etiquette and lack of energy and enthusiasm.

Similarly, poor “learnability” skills, poor process orientation, lack of team management, poor communication skills, lack of personality development and poor attention to details have been listed as “skill gaps” in the IT services.

Low pass percentage - 31 per cent in matriculation and 26 per cent at the +2 level, mushrooming of private coaching classes affecting teaching quality, unemployment and poor quality of vocational training are some of the key problems.

The study also revealed that 43 per cent engineering degree holders and 65 per cent diploma holders from the state were unemployed. It was also found that only 10 per cent of arts and science students in the Kashmir valley and 20 per cent in Jammu got employment on the completion of their courses.

Srinagar, April 30
Thirtyseven officials of different departments in the Kashmir valley were suspended for remaining absent from duty, official sources have said. More than 100 officials have also been placed under suspension by the authorities during the past one month.

They said a tip-off was received that officials in the Municipal Council (MC) at Pattan in Baramulla district were not attending their duties regularly.

Later, the surprise check of MC office was conducted by tehsildar, Pattan, during which six officials, including executive officer, senior supervisor and junior assistant were found absent from duty without any proper permission.

They said the Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, later suspended all the officials, on the recommendation of the tehsildar.

An official spokesman said the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Pulwama, conducted a surprise inspection of different government departments, including chief medical officer, district TB centre, sheep husbandry, consumer affairs and public distribution and horticulture.

During the inspection 31 officials were found absent from duty who were later placed under suspension. — UNI 

Srinagar, April 30
Union Minister for Water Resources, Saifuddin Soz, has said that the Centre would carry forward its talks with its neighbouring country, Pakistan, to settle 
all issues.

Soz, who is also the state president of the Congress party, was addressing a public meeting at Khurhama in Kupwara district of North Kashmir today. The state minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Taj Mohiuddin and former JKPCC president, Ghulam Rasool Kar, were also present on the occasion.

Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s package recently announced at Jammu, Soz said its benefits would positively percolate down to the people. He pointed out that he would discuss the matter of constructing more power projects with the union power minister so that people got adequate power supply round the year.

The JKPCC president also cautioned the people against those who were out to mislead the people with their hollow slogans. He said people were now conscious enough to differentiate who could pay and who won't.

Prof Soz said that Rs 23 crore would be spent in the Command Area Development Programme to strengthen the irrigation cannals in the district. In response to the public demands the union minister assured that he would recommend a high school, hospital and a bank for the Khurhama area and announced Rs 10 lakh out of his MP LAD fund for high school. Soz also announced Rs 5 lakh for constructing a food godown. He also commissioned a BSNL Tower in the area.

Srinagar April 30
The police here today claimed to have solved a blind murder case and arrested three persons in this connection.

Giving details, SSP, Srinagar, S A Mujtaba said that the case related to the murder of Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, nursing orderly at SDH, Bemina, Srinagar, who was 
reported missing on March 19 last.

His decomposed body had been recovered from the nearby marshy land of the Hokersar area on April 17. The person had been strangulated to death by using a nylon rope.

Further investigations on the basis of technical evidence led to the arrest of two persons, Shabir Ahmad Sofi and Reyaz Ahmad Dar, picked up for questioning who spilled the beans, the SSP said.

It was revealed that the murder revolved round cheating innocent people by luring them for appointments and amassing wealth.

The deceased was believed to create hurdles in issuing fake appointment orders which could expose them at any time.

The accused in a bid to get rid of Ghulam Nabi Sheikh planned to kill him and had taken him to an isolated place to execute the plan. He had been made to take a poisonous wine and later strangulated to death, the police said. 

Jammu, April 30
A local court has extended the judicial remand of Captain Chataniya Bhatwadaker, husband of 26-year-old army officer Capt Megha Razdan, whose body was found hanging at their official residence on the city outskirts here last year.

Captain Chatanlya was produced in the court, which extended his judicial custody by more 15 days.

According to the police case that Captain Chatanya Bhatwadekar, husband of deceased Capt Mega Razdan, was arrested on charges of abetting the murder of his army officer wife. He was booked under Sections 306 (abetment) and 498-A (cruelty) of the RPC.

However, forest magistrate after the hearing directed the inspecting officer to produce the accused after completion of the remand period before the court.

The death of the lady officer had sparked a controversy last year.

A suicide note was recovered from her residence that allegedly said she was committing suicide as she was being harassed by her seniors in the Army.

Capt Megha Razdan and her husband were posted in the 113 Engineering Regiment. — UNI

Srinagar, April 30
The Jammu and Kashmir Government is formulating a special package for unemployed youth of the state, social welfare minister Abdul Gani Vakil said today.

“To tide over unemployment in the state a comprehensive package is being formulated for unemployed youth on the instructions of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad,” Vakil said addressing a public meeting at Nowpora in Baramulla district.

Vakil, who is vice-president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), claimed that without the Central government and the Congress, the state could not move forward towards the resolution of Kashmir issue.

He cautioned the people against elements who exploit them by mere sloganeering just to grab power. Without identifying the elements, he said these elements could not decide the fate of people on their own. People must assert to decide their future care for prosperity, he added.

He said the recent packages announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the state would help rehabilitate the militancy hit people. —PTI