Srinagar, May 25
The family members of President Pratibha Patil had a close shave today when an IAF helicopter carrying them to tourist resort Pahalgam had to make an emergency landing in a village, about 20 km from the scenic town in Anantnag district.

Official sources said a MI-17 chopper of the IAF developed a snag and made an emergency landing in a village. It had the President's husband Devi Singh Sekhawat, her son and daughter apart from two other officials on board, and no harm was caused to anybody, they said.

Another chopper carrying the President, which was ahead of the one carrying her family, safely landed in Pahalgam. The aircraft was replaced and the family members joined her later in Pahalgam. What exactly caused the forced landing is not known and the reasons for it are being looked into, said the civil officials. The Army spokesperson could not be reached for comments.

Pehalgam Development Authority’s head Abdul Rashid Parry told The Tribune that the President and her family spent a few hours in the resort and had a meal. “They flew for Srinagar in a few hours,” he said.

She was scheduled to arrive at Baderwah in Doda district today where she was to join Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for the inauguration of a university campus, but her visit was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions, officials said.

“We decided to get back to Srinagar after our attempts to fly to Doda were thwarted by the hostile weather,” they said.

Patil and her family spent the last night in Gulmarg, a world famous ski resort, and bad weather first intervened in her programmes today morning when she had to undertake road journey to Srinagar instead of air travel.

Last night rains in the valley and continued foul weather conditions, especially in upper reaches like Gulmarg, made it impossible for the aircraft to take off. Security officials had to sanitise the 62-km road stretch between Gulmarg and Srinagar for her road journey.

The President and her family had a stopover in Pehalgam before they were to leave for Baderwah. On a five-day visit here in her maiden trip to Jammu and Kashmir after becoming President, she is scheduled to visit the Dachigam National Park in Srinagar tomorrow. 

Samba, May 25
To combat armed insurgents, children in the militancy-infested state are being trained on disaster management and the art of self-defence, during armed encounters between militants and security forces.

Civilians have always been targeted by terrorists and the recent encounter in Samba proved to be an eye-opener for security forces.

Taking a cue from the Samba incident, the authorities and civil defence committees have started training children on disaster management, while teaching them the art of self-defence during armed encounters between militants and security forces.

“We are teaching children as how to be wary of militants as there is little distinction between a militant and a civilian,” an officer in the civil defence said.

Armed with simple arms and elementary training, local villagers along with the civil defence committees have been conducting mock drills in schools around Jammu.

“It is better to be prepared to deal with any eventuality, rather than wait for others to come to your rescue.

In the past we have seen that many people lost their lives just because they were not equipped to save themselves,” Pawan Kumar, a resident of Samba said.

The initiative to train local students was taken after a major encounter took place between militants and the Army in Samba in which militants managed to take civilians along with children as hostage and many people died in the ensuing encounter.

“The encounter in Samba was an eye-opener. Our aim of training children is to make them aware that if any such incidents happen again, they should help people before help from other quarters arrive,” an official of the civil defence said.

The local population in Samba feels in view of the recent spurt in the militancy-related cases in the state, lessons on disaster management would help children to
save their lives and the lives of others.

“If children are taught lessons on disaster management, it will help the new generation learn methods of saving their lives as well as other peoples’,” a top police officer said.

He added, “If children are taught how to deal with such situations it could help prevent major disasters.”

Jammu, May 25
Close on the heels of the Samba encounter, a six-member Parliamentary sub-committee on border-fencing and floodlight today met A.K. Surolia, IG, BSF, Jammu Frontier and visited border areas in Suchetgarh in the R.S. Pura sector.

Official sources said the team headed by Mohan Singh went to the BSF Jammu headquarters and met IG A.K. Surolia.

Surolia briefed the Parliamentary sub-committee about modernisation plans of the BSF, moving the fence by 100 meters close to the international border (IB) and upgrade of security at the 187-km-long IB.

The team later visited the Nawapind area in R.S. Pura sector and reviewed the BSF’s modernisation work.

After visiting the IB, the team comprising M. Rajmohan Reddy, Viran Singh, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, Raju Vanriyan and Vincent left for Pathankot, later in the evening.

It may be recalled that A.K. Mitra, DG, BSF, after an infiltration bid in Bainglad area of Samba sector on May 9 had said that besides, posting 1,000 more troops, the entire 187-km-long IB would be strengthened by sophisticated surveillance equipments.

The Infiltration bid was followed by Samba encounter with Pak militants on May 11, resulting in the death of six innocent persons, including two soldiers and a senior photojournalist.

Sources divulged that apart from the Samba attack on May 11, the Union government had been approached by the state government to look into the grievances of villagers, whose agricultural fields were fenced out due to unplanned border-fencing.

Following this, the UPA government had asked the BSF to restore fenced out fields to the poor farmers. Sources said the BSF had decided to move the fence 100 meters towards the zero line so as to retrieve the fenced out land.

Pindi Camp, Pindi Chadkan, Kaku-De-Kothe, Rakh, Chanana, Pindi Kadwal, Changiya, Jabowal, Trewa, Kotla Camp and Chak Gorian are some of the villages in Bishnah tehsil where farmers have been facing the problem for over a decade now.

In Kotla Camp and Chak Gorian villages some of the farmers have lost their entire fields to border-fencing.

After incurring crores of rupees on border-fencing and depriving farmers of their livelihood, relocating it at the cost of public ex-chequer shows poor planning by people at the helm of affairs, the sources added.

Jammu, May 25
“Before I close my eyes forever, I want to see my daughters for the last time, and I do hope that the ongoing dialogue process between India and Pakistan would help to fulfill my last desire,” says 104-year-old Ishar Singh, whose family got divided during the Partition.

Ishar Singh, now a resident of Jammu, had a happy family living in Pakistan before the Partition, but the line of separation that drew between the two nations, divided his family forever.

A retired transporter, he was in the Indian side of the border when two nations emerged from a single country and his wife along with seven children --- four sons and three daughters --- were left in the Pakistani side of the border.

“I tried to locate them and get them back but all my efforts turned futile, as now they had become the citizens of Pakistan,” says Ishar Singh.

His family in Pakistan converted to Islam and his sons immigrated to the United States where he got a chance to meet them many years later. His three daughters still live in Faislabad in Pakistan.

After 28 years of struggle, Ishar Singh got a chance to visit Lahore in 1975 where he met his daughters. As many as 33 years have passed since, but because of visa restrictions he could not visit them again.

“We lost so many people and so many families were separated by the Partition. For the past six decades I haven’t been able to sleep comfortably as I still remember and miss my family,” says a shattered Ishar Singh.

“We are unable to meet as it has been difficulty to get visas; the Indian government too has not been giving us visas to meet each other,” he adds.

Singh, who has five children from his second wife, is always surrounded by the family members, but he feels that somehow his family picture was not complete.

Not only Singh himself but also his daughters in Pakistan have been struggling hard to meet their father. Every time they apply for a visa, their request has been turned down.

“They too want to meet their father. They tried hard to get visas but whenever they applied, they were refused,” says Satwant Kaur, daughter-in-law of Ishar Singh.

Though the high-level dialogue process between the two nations is over and the next round scheduled in July, the improving relations between the two nations has given a reason for people like Ishar Singh to stay alive.

Jammu, May 25
Pay Rs 10 and subject yourself to beggars, stench, mosquitoes and tadpoles in stagnant fungus-laden water at the famous “Bagh-e-Bahu garden” situated on the banks of the Tawi river here.

Though the coalition government made tall claims of “developing” tourist destinations in Jammu and had carved out a separate tourism directorate for the purpose, tourists visiting the Bagh-e-Bahu garden seem to have a nightmarish experience.

Several tourists throng the extensively terraced garden developed around the ancient Bahu fort but return with a sense of remorse.

Varun Munde, a tourist from Maharashtra, who had come along with his family said, “After paying Rs 200 for 20 people to gain entry into the park, small children perhaps from adjacent areas kept haunting us seeking alms.”

The only thing the kids loved was the underground aquarium.

Not only this, the eatery being run by the Tourism Development Corporation charges exorbitantly. Against the market rate of Rs 15, they charge Rs 36 each for a masala dosa, said Munde’s wife Tripti.

A newly married couple was apparently irritated by a swarm of mosquitoes hovering over their heads at the lawns of the garden.

The stench emanating from the stagnant fungus-laden water of fountains altogether made things worse for the visitors.

“The Bagh-e-Bahu has the subcontinent's largest underground aquarium which is drawing a large number of tourists ever since it was opened to the people,” an official of the tourism department said.

A Fisheries Department official said, “No doubt the aquarium constructed at a cost of over Rs 4 crore has become a centre of attraction for tourists, but the tourism department should make Bagh-e-Bahu, a real garden free from all ills.”

Elucidating about the aquarium, he said, “It comprises 24 aquarium caves, including 13 small caves for holding freshwater fishes, two large caves for holding marine water fishes and nine medium-sized aquariums for holding marine and fresh water fishes.”

Equipped with ultramodern equipments, a public gallery, museum, laboratory and a multimedia conference hall, the aquarium's entrance resembles a fish’s mouth and the exit resembles its tail.

It has 400 varieties of freshwater and marine fish, he added.

Though the park has a dancing musical fountain worth lakhs of rupees, unhygienic conditions along with inadequate arrangements might keep away tourists from visiting the garden.

Jammu, May 25
Several mainstream political parties — the PDP, the Congress and the National Conference — and the two factions of the BSP have kept the party doors open for those, who on finding themselves being sidelined in their parent organisation are ready to quit.

Similarly, there is fear in the mainstream parties, particularly the Congress, that if stern steps were taken against its leaders, then they might quit the party.

Not only the leaders of the state unit of the Congress but even the party high command fear that if they become too strict, the Mayawati-headed BSP may win the disenchanted Congressmen to its side.

The Congress sources said it was the result of these fears that PCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz adopted to go slow while examining the reply given by Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma, who was served a show-cause notice after he levelled serious allegations against Assembly speaker Tara Chand and former PCC chief Peerzada Mohd Syed. Though Sharma was asked to send his reply within one week, he gave his reply to Soz after a gap of over 20 days.

Dr Satpal, president of the National Bahujan Party, today says, “Yes our doors for the likeminded people are open. We are being approached by a number of political activists belonging to other parties.” Asked whether he has been able to rope in some influential politician from other parties, he says “wait and watch.”

During the last three months it has been almost an era of ‘aaya ram gaya ram’ in Jammu and Kashmir where the political activists belonging to the PDP, the Congress and the National Conference have crossed from one side to the other.

The Jammu Kashmir Democratic Party, headed by Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is an MLA and a former minister, is trying to strengthen his party base by wooing disgruntled political activists belonging to the Congress, the NC and the PDP. 

Srinagar, May 25
Uttar Pradesh has expressed its interest to buy cocoon from the state.

UP's textile minister Jagdesh Singh Rai expressed willingness to purchase cocoon from the state during a meeting with state agriculture and sericulture minister Abdul Aziz Zargar, official sources said.

Jagdesh was of the view to adopt a mechanism in the north-western states so that the prices of cocoon were maintained round the season, besides, providing marketing support to farmers at the time of distress sales, the sources added.

However, Zargar asked the UP minister to send a team of officers to discuss the issue in detail and frame the modality of the deal. Zargar said the matter needed to be discussed with the Central government and the Parliamentary team visiting the state shortly.

Zargar said the interests of small and marginal farmers would be taken care of at every level, while adopting unified price strategy in the north-western states. He along with UP textile minister inspected the sericulture museum established at the Directorate of Sericulture, Tulsibagh.

Giving the detail of achievements of the department, director, Sericulture, Mohammad Ashraf Khan said the production of the cocoon had reached to 800 metric tonnes in the state, generating an income of Rs 5 crore to the farmers.

For providing market support to farmers at the rate of Rs 10 per kg, a proposal of Rs 80 lakh has also been sent to the Central government for approval. — PTI

Doda, May 25
Even as the BJP is desperately trying to rope in some prominent Muslim leaders of Doda district to expand its base, the PDP has also realised the importance of minority Hindu voters to win elections in this mountainous belt.

The party has launched an aggressive campaign to woo Hindus voters of Jammu region in general and mountainous districts in particular.

Buoyed over the joining of Yashpal Sharma of Poonch into the party fold, the PDP leadership in now trying to rope in some prominent Hindu leaders of Reasi and Doda district to further consolidate its position in these areas. Recently the PDP organised two important meetings - at Kishtwar and Reasi - to remove the “misconception” created by BJP about the party.

Although the Jammu-based political parties - the BJP and the Panthers Party - have been trying to label the PDP as a “pro-secessionist group,” the latter on the other hand has come forward to counter this “vicious" campaign.” The PDP leaders have been specially concentrating on minority-dominated pockets to remove the “misconception”.

The PDP’s efforts have yielded some encouraging results with BJP general secretary from Kishtwar and prominent SC leader, Hans Raj Bhagat, leaving his party and joining the PDP.

Bhagat’s decision of joining the PDP has been considered auspicious as he has a strong following among weaker sections and can woo other BJP workers to follow the same line.

Recently in a public meeting held at Sarkoot village, Bhagat joined the PDP in the presence of party secretary Asgar Ali, who has already announced to contest elections from the Kishtwar Assembly seat.

With Doda district being divided into three districts, the PDP is concentrating more on the Kishtwar and Banihal seats, with former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti frequently visiting these two areas.

As minority Hindu voters constitute 40 per cent of the total electoral in Kishtwar, the PDP is desperately trying to woo them. Kishtwar is considered as the bastion of the NC with party MLA Sajjad Kichloo having a strong following among minorities here.

Asgar Ali said with Bhagat joining the PDP, the party would be strengthened in Kishtwar.

Jammu, May 25
Upholding the judgment of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the Supreme Court has dismissed the special leave petition filed by Mohd Hussain & Others and held that the order passed by the tehsildar/assistant custodian dispossessing Kesar Bi of her land was not legal.

Kesar Bi after a long drawn civil litigation started on August 25, 1970, moved to Custodian General on March 7, 1986, under Section 8 of the Evacuees (Administration of Property) Act for restoration of possession of land. She stated that the tehsildar/assistant custodian, Mendhar on the basis of a depopulation scheme, treating the land as evacuee property, dispossessed her and mutated it in favour of appellants.

Before the custodian, she contended that the assistant custodian did not have the jurisdiction to dispossess her while treating the property as evacuee property. She stated before the custodian that she approached the civil court for a declaration that the property belongs to her and the civil court had disposed of that case directing her to approach the custodian under the Act.

The custodian found that the property in question was never declared as evacuee property and no notification was issued to that effect under the provisions of the Act and rules.

Aggrieved by the order of the custodian, a revision petition was filed before the custodian general. The revision petition was allowed and the
order of custodian was set aside.

Appellants took up the matter before the J&K special tribunal, by filing an appeal. The tribunal allowed the appeal against which the matter was taken before the High Court. The single judge found no infirmity in the order of the tribunal and dismissed the writ petition.

The Division Bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Hakim Imtiaz Hussain, while dismissing letters patent appeal observed, “Section 6 of the Act specifically say the custodian may, from time to time, notify, either by publication in J&K Govt Gazette or in such other manner, as may be prescribed, declare evacuee properties, which have been vested in him under this Act.”

“No order has been produced before us to establish that the property was declared as evacuee property and no notification was produced before us. In such circumstances, we find that the order passed by the tehsildar/assistant custodian, dispossessing the 7th respondent, was not legal,” it further said.