Udhampur, June 14
Although the authorities are maintaining a guarded silence over the gruesome killing of GREF officers near Kishtwar yesterday, it is widely believed that “ransom” was the main reason behind the incident.

Sources said militant outfits active in Chatroo belt of Kishtwar district used to charge “commission” from contractors engaged by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) under Project BEACON for the construction of the Anantnag-Kishtwar road.

Contractors engaged in these militancy-infested areas had to pay huge ransom to the ultras for their safety and for the smooth construction in their projects, the sources added.

After taking charge as the Commanding Officer of this vital project, deceased Lt-Colonel Ajay Kumar Verma had stopped the practise and gave instructions to contractors not to pay ransom to the militants.

Sources further said militants used to enroll fake labourers and charge money from the authorities. Ajay stopped this system which earned him the wrath of militants.

“For quite sometime, Ajay was receiving threatening calls from militant outfits”, sources said, adding that police authorities had failed to provide adequate security to the GREF officers despite the fact that the area was the operational centre of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI).

Sources said supreme commander of the HuJI, Bashir Ahmed, used to charge commission from authorities engaged in construction work in the area.

After he was killed by security officers, other militant outfits followed his footsteps and started the practise again.

Meanwhile, construction work on the Kishtwar-Anantnag road had been suspended, following the killing of GREF officers.

Udhampur, June 14
To pacify the agitating Sikh organisations, the National Conference today forced its leader Madhu Verma to resign from the post of district president of the women wing of the party.

Verma had allegedly passed some remarks against Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while protesting against the price hike at Udhampur.

Besides forcing the party leader to resign, a team of the senior leaders of the National Conference today visited the local gurdwara and apologised before the sangat on behalf of the party.

Her remarks against the Prime Minister have sparked protests in Udhampur and adjoining localities. Various Sikh organisations have launched agitation on this issue.

As Sikh organisations threatened to intensify the stir, former chief minister and NC patron Dr Farooq Abdullah today deputed senior vice-president of the party Harbans Singh to pacify the agitating members of Sikh community.

Harbans Singh this afternoon visited dak banglow of Udhampur and summoned Madhu Verma to clarify her position. During the meeting, she tendered her resignation to the team and apologised for her remarks.

Talking to The Tribune, Harbans Singh said Dr Abdullah has taken serious view of the ongoing agitation launched by the members of the Sikh community.

Kathua, June 14
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked the state police to build reputation as a people-friendly force by doing selfless service for the masses.

Azad said this while speaking at the passing out parade of the 21st BRTC batch at the Police Training School in Kathua today. The passing out parade comprised 1,081 cadets recruited for various IRP Battalions.

“People have reposed great faith in the state police in view of its contribution in saving the lives and property of people when militants were active in the past,” Azad said.

He also paid tributes to officers and jawans who laid their lives while fighting militancy in the state.

Azad asked the passed out recruits to assume their new responsibility with a sense of commitment to serve the people and live up to people’s expectations.

“You should keep in mind your responsibilities and be true to the commitment you have made while taking oath. The greatest danger facing the nation is from those who intend to divide people on communal lines,” he said.

DGP Kuldeep Khoda while speaking on the occasion highlighted that role of the state police in maintaining peace.

On the modernisation of the state police, Khoda said, “Many initiatives had been taken to strengthen the ranks which include special training and equipping the jawans with the latest arms and ammunition. Various measures have been taken for the welfare of in-service and retired police personnel.”

Later, Azad distributed prizes among the cadets who had exhibited excellent performance during the training.

Javed Ahmed Shah, Riyaz Ahmed and Javed Ahmed were declared first, second and third all-round best cadets, respectively.

Javed Ahmed Shah was given on-the-spot out-of-turn promotion for bagging the first position in the all-round best category, while the two runners-up were given certificates and cash prizes.

Jammu, June 14
Attributing a surge in casteism to politics, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said, “It has become a shortcut to success in politics, as a party resorting to communalism or casteism doesn’t need any programme to present before the people. Such parties thrive on their communal or casteist agenda.”

He said, “Casteism is like cancer” for any developing state. The Chief Minister was addressing a function organised by the All-India Confederation of SC/ST/OBC Organisations today to felicitate former chief secretary and revenue minister B.R. Kundal on his induction into the state Cabinet.

Azad said while the state has overcome the menace of communalism to a large extent, the evil of casteism has reached its zenith now.

He gave a clarion call to the state’s people to demolish the walls of discrimination and wipe out injustice from the society.

Azad claimed that the Congress-led coalition government has given unprecedented representation to the SCs and STs in the government.

Azad said the state had a huge population of the SCs, STs and OBCs, but till now they were not given due representation in the society as well as politics.

“The Congress, however, has made all efforts to provide fair representation to these sections of the society. We have three ST and two SC ministers, apart from an SC speaker and two SC board chairpersons. All this when the Cabinet’s strength has been reduced from 50 to 24 and we are running a coalition government,” he added.

The Chief Minister said Ladakh too has been given due representation in the government with two ministers coming from Leh and Kargil.

He said he paid special attention to the minorities, SCs/STs/OBCs while making appointments to various posts.

“Having worked in the Muslim minority states for over 30 years I understand the sentiments of minorities. As I’m heading a Muslim majority state I work with same zeal for Sikhs and Pandits here,” he added.

The Chief Minister admitted that his government could not do much for the OBCs while assuring that their grievances too would be looked into sympathetically.

He said the state was already dealing with so many problems, including militancy, and it will take time to set things right.

Earlier, Azad handed over a copy of the amendment brought about in SRO 294 to confederation chairman R.K. Kasotra.

Kasotra demanded that the STs and the OBCs be given more representation in the upper house. He sought setting up of a special advisory board for Gaddi tribes on the lines of the ones established for Gujjars and Bakarwals in the state. He also handed over a memorandum to demands to Azad.

Jammu, June 14
Claiming that the party was on a victory move from Karnatka to Kashmir in the country, the BJP today urged its youth wing to address the major problems confronting the nation.

"The country is beset with major problems like terrorism, price rise and farmer suicides and the BJP, especially its youth, has to play a major role in addressing these burning issues," said BJP national general secretary Anant Kumar.

He was addressing the first session of a two-day national executive council of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha (BJYM) here.

Accusing Congress-led UPA government of failing to tackle the issues, he said this was one of the reasons that people rejected Congress party in the recent polls.

He said that the bugle had already been sounded and in another three to six months people were likely to witness more changes on political scene from Kashmir to other parts of India with victory for the BJP.

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Kumar said very wrong signals were going across with People's Democratic Party (PDP), the junior partner in the coalition government, pleading for using Pakistani currency in the state, while its another major partner (Congress) was helplessly watching the situation. — PTI

Bani (Kathua), June 14
Despite having magnificent slopes, thick forests, green meadows, waterfalls, springs of natural water and gushing streams, the natural beauty of this bordering district remains out of reach for tourists due to the apathetic attitude of state government.

Majority of these must-visit areas lack basic tourism infrastructure. Located at a height of 4,200 feet above sea level, Bani town is a small-glaciated valley, it is also known as mini Kashmir of Kathua district.

“Though Bani is the base camp of trackers for Bhaderwah and Chamba, but still the town lacks basic tourism infrastructure,” says Sham Lal, a resident of Bani. He said, “This place if developed could become the paradise for tourists.”

Engulfed by mountains, Bani has a distinct type of climate where it experiences severe winter and moist summers and people from the nearby areas who cannot afford to visit the Kashmir valley, come here to escape the scorching summers.

But the residents here rue government’s apathy towards developing this place as a tourist resort; otherwise they say that this place would have given the valley of Kashmir a run for its money.

“If developed this place would have attracted lot many tourists, but the failure of the successive state governments of erecting infrastructure here has kept us behind,” says Ajay Kumar, also a resident of Bani.

At a distance of seven km from Bani is another beautiful small town known as Panyalag. Situated on the top of hills, the town is dotted with steep waterfalls, widespread patches of forests, gushing streams and green meadows, but the town lacks infrastructure that could bring it on the tourism map.

The road connectivity to the town is poor and the people have to walk for hours to reach the town.

“You just forget modern infrastructure here; the government has failed to provide us with basic infrastructure many of the areas in our town are still traversed by foot as the road connectivity is the worst here,” says Sudhir Kumar, a resident of Panyalag.

Another beautiful place in Kathua district is Banjal village, situated within 10 km from Bani. Because of the variety of flowers, the village is also known as “garden of natural flowers.”

Jammu, June 14
The police today claimed to have solved a murder case of a young woman and her two-year-old baby with the arrest of her husband and three others in Poonch district of the state.

Poonch SSP Jagjeet Kumar said one Mohammad Rafiq and three others were arrested. He had confessed that he along with three others strangulated his wife Safia Begum (35) and their child Mohammad Saleem on March 18.

The SSP said Rafiq killed his wife for allegedly having an illicit relationship with some other person.

He said the police recovered dead bodies of the woman and child from Suran river under suspicious circumstances on March 19, which were later identified as Safia Begum and her baby belonging to Khetan Draba village in Surankote Tehsil of the border district.

During the course of investigation, the brother of the deceased alleged that the duo was murdered and her family had filed a complaint at Surankote police station, the SSP said.

The post-mortem reports also suggested that the deaths were on account of strangulation and not by drowning as believed earlier, he said. — PTI

He said the compensation being paid to the landowners whose lands, houses and orchards were acquired by the government for various development works in Bhalessa area were being paid after 14 per cent as tax had been deducted to be paid to the government.

Jammu, June 14
In yet another jolt to the militant outfits operative in the state, security forces today arrested three militants from the Balhar area in Ramgarh sector of Samba district near international border this morning and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition and Pakistani currency from their possession.

According to defence sources, the joint operation to nab militants was carried out by the Border Security Force and the Army.

The arrested militants have been identified as Aslam Aijaz, Abdul Latif and Fayaz Ahmed, all residents of the Banhial area of Ramban district.

“On a specific information about the movement of these militants a joint seize was laid down by the Army and the BSF and the three militants were arrested, PRO of the Ministry of Defence Lt-Col S.D. Goswami told The Tribune.

All the three arrested militants fall in the age group of 20 to 22 years and belong to the Hizbul Mujahidin outfit.

“Four pistols, two Pakistani and two-India made, 67 rounds of ammunition, five magazines and one digital Quran has been recovered from the militants. Besides, an amount of Rs 12,806 in Pakistani currency has been recovered from the arrested militants,” Goswami said.

Jammu, June 14
The Police Housing Corporation has been assigned scores of major civil projects in the state. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has involved the corporation in the execution of several multi-crore projects in order to promote work culture in the three state agencies - the JKPCC, PWD and R&B.

Senior officials in the corporation today said, “The corporation has been assigned the task of constructing a Rs 26 crore museum building in Srinagar, Rs 10 crore complex for Enterpreneur Development Institute and mini secretariats at the district headquarters in Samba, Ganderbal and Ramban. These three projects would cost over Rs 82 crore.

The officials said construction work on hospital buildings was in full progress at Uri, Tangdhar, Kangan, Ganderbal, Banihal and Mendhar.

They claimed that the corporation was given these and other civil projects after the Chief Minister was satisfied with the quality of the construction being carried out.

“We have been able to complete some of the projects within the stipulated time,” the officials added.

Rajouri, June 14
An Indian woman who left her husband and home at Qasba village on the Line of Control (LoC) to elope with her paramour to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) returned along with her minor child after crossing the fences along the LoC from the Kerni sector in Poonch last night.

Her paramour didn’t return from PoK. Nageena Bi (30), a mother of four and wife of Muhammad Afzal of Qasba village, along with her minor child had traversed to PoK by crossing fencing from a forward area at Qasba village on March 28.

Her lover Muhammad Bashir (24) belonged to the same village. It is said that Nageena returned because her lover ditched her.

After getting the information about her return, a police team from Poonch rushed to the spot and arrested her.

During preliminary questioning, Nageena has divulged that her lover Bashir took her to his maternal uncle Rashid Ahmed’s house at Mang Pathri village in PoK, said one of the investigating officers.

After getting suspicious about the nationality, the Pakistani police summoned the lovers but the duo managed to fool them.

After this incident, the couple developed some differences and they had brawls on a regular basis.

“Her lover reportedly told Nageena to return to India if she didn’t want to live with him. She in a fit of anger took her baby and returned back to her village after crossing the LoC last night,” the investigator said.

The Poonch police has registered a case against the woman for illegally crossing over to PoK.

Jammu, June 14
A group of women journalists, freelance writers and students of journalism has come together to form the Women’s Writers Forum in Kashmir following a two-day consultation at the University of Kashmir on June 4-5.

The forum is dedicated to contributing for the betterment of society by highlighting perspectives from the ground.

It will as a collective address concerns of women writers for honing their skills to write stories on diverse issues, to find space in regional and national media and to encourage new writers in the field.

The consultation was initiated by the Charkha Development Communication Network, a Delhi-based NGO which connects issues of the poor and marginalised in rural India to the media.

In J&K, Charkha's work through Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowships since 2003 has led to an understanding of the region and particularly the media.

Charkha's aim is to highlight the developmental concerns of marginalised sections of Kashmiri society, particularly in rural areas, and in particular to draw out perspectives on women on these issues through their writings.

Through the forum, Charkha will access stories on a continuous basis from Kashmir on developmental issues for placement in the mainstream media through its trilingual feature service in Hindi, English and Urdu.

The consultation was inaugurated by Mohammad Sayeed Malik, senior journalist in Kashmir and associated with Charkha for a number of years.

The 15 founder members of the forum plan to stay linked to Charkha for inputs into their work and for accessing the national media.

The Consumer Affairs Department and the police have intensified their drives to curb black marketing. — PTI