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Protesters torch police van at Samba
Jammu mayor lambasts Azad
12 BJP leaders among 700 detained
Hurriyat leader’s house ransacked
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Official apathy caused power grid fire
PDP: We stopped his Hindutva agenda
Jaish militant killed in Pulwama
Amarnath Land Row Ransacked office of the Sales Tax and Excise Commissioner’s office on the Lakhanpur barrier in Jammu on Friday. — Tribune photo by Anand Sharma
Protest firestorm engulfs more areas
Vohra’s advice to Army: Win battle of hearts
Guv, Azad greet people
Hurriyat leaders refrained from reaching Hazratbal
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Protesters torch police van at Samba
Jammu, July 4 While the militant sustained serious injuries, three policemen also suffered injuries in the incident. In Kathua district, the protesters pelted stones at the residence of Hiranagar MLA Girdhari Lal and the PRO office of Power Minister Babu Singh. They also targeted the hoardings of the Congress leaders. The agitators also vent their ire on the inauguration plaques of projects opened by the Congress ministers. In Jammu, agitators clashed with the police in areas like Nagrota, Ban Talab, Bari Brahmana, Paloura and Gangyal. Members of displaced Kashmiri community in Nagrota blocked the Jammu-Srinagar highway and resorted to stone pelting. They also damaged some vehicles during the protest. The police fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters. Bari Brahmana and Gangyal also witnessed vociferous protests. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s yesterday statement that the people in Jammu should have celebrated the decision of the government taking over the arrangements of Amarnath Yatra didn’t go down well with the protesters, as they expressed their anger against the CM by burning his effigies. Azad, in a press conference last evening, had termed his government “more capable” than the Amarnath Shrine Board for making arrangements for the yatra. |
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Jammu mayor lambasts Azad
Jammu, July 4 While defending the government’s move of rescinding the forest land transfer order, Azad had described the decision as a “win-win” situation for the people of Jammu. Addressing mediapersons here today, Gupta said the Chief Minister has made an irresponsible statement and should desist from making such comments. Gupta also accused health and medical education minister Mangat Ram Sharma and minister for higher education Gulchain Singh Charak of being the real “culprits” of the present turmoil in
Jammu region. |
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12 BJP leaders among 700 detained
Jammu, July 4 Besides this, nearly 12 leaders of the BJP and different Hindu organisations had also been arrested. Official sources said, “In four days of rioting, nearly 700 persons, including some mischievous elements besides, BJP leaders have been taken into custody.” As the district jail, Ambphalla, was already crowded, the arrested persons had been lodged in Kot Bhalwal prison on the city’s outskirts. “We apprehended around 270 miscreants from different places. About 185 were arrested yesterday,” a senior police officer said. The police officer said the arrested persons had not only violated curfew restrictions with impunity, but also tried to flare up the already tense situation in the city. Around 100 persons were arrested and subsequently lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail yesterday, he added. “After getting strict instructions from DGP Kuldeep Khoda, we started arresting people who were creating hurdles in the restoration of law and order,” he said. The police official added that Section 144 had been imposed to improve the law and order situation. The police in the past four days has arrested nearly 12 BJP leaders. Former state BJP president Dr Nirmal Singh, party spokesperson Ramesh Arora, Chander Mohan Gupta, senior leader Baldev Singh, Vikram Randhawa, BJP corporators Shubh Chander Verma, Sheela Handoo, Vipin Shastri and state BJP vice-president Chander Prakash Ganga have been lodged in Ambphalla and Kot Bhalwal jails. Meanwhile, National Conference provincial president Ajay Sadhotra has asked the state government to release innocent persons so as to instill confidence among the people. |
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Hurriyat leader’s house ransacked
Jammu, July 4 Agitated protesters ransacked his house and manhandled Devraj. The protesters also stopped Devraj from making any press statements. The police reached the spot and dispersed the agitating mob. Devraj was later taken into custody. However, after the police left, angry protesters again barged into Devraj’s house and damaged the furniture. |
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Official apathy caused power grid fire
Jammu, July 4 Going by the intensity of the damage caused, power minister Babu Singh today apologised for the hardships caused to the people. He has sought almost a month’s time to bring the mother grid back on rails. Official sources said, “We had reminded the government that the grid might collapse anytime due to overloading and worn-out machinery, but no one took the matter seriously.” They said the government had turned a blind eye to their repeated requests to augment the power grid. Not going too far down the memory lane, former power minister Nawang Rigzin Jora had admitted to The Tribune that the grid needed a major revamp. Jora had said that he was fully aware of the problem and in fact the government had initiated the process of augmenting the grid. Sources in the power development board (PDD) divulged that a 133.33 MVA transformer had suffered extensive damage after the grid caught fire due to overloading. They said it would at least take 15 days for engineers to resume normal power supplies to the affected districts. R.K. Saili, chief engineer, PDD systems and operations said, “A team of engineers from the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) will soon arrive and assess the internal damage.” |
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PDP: We stopped his Hindutva agenda
Srinagar, July 4 The PDP spokesman said the party would continue channeling the genuine aspirations of the people along civil and democratic lines irrespective of the hurt it causes to persons like the former Governor. He said Gen Sinha was upset with party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the latter had proved a stumbling block in his scheme to communalise the situation in the state and implement his Sayeed, the spokesman pointed out, had questioned the attempts at commercialising the holy pilgrimage for the benefit of the board officials hazarding in the process the new atmosphere of reconciliation that had been ushered into the state. Unfortunately, Azad facilitated the agenda of the former Governor, with consequences that now threaten the entire political and social fabric of The spokesman said Mufti had advised a realistic timeframe for the Amarnath yatra that would neither risk the life and comfort of pilgrims nor fiddle with its basic character-that of a journey of faith. But in their lust for money the former Governor and his aides ignored all sane advice including even that from the holy men. Other grouse for Gen Sinha had been that of raising the political problems facing the state like troop reduction, rehabilitation of families of slain militants, cross border movement, relations with Pakistan, human rights concerns and the like by the former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The change in the idiom of the State Government and its leadership struck a blow to Gen Sinha's ideological camp which had for six decades tried to give Kashmiris a bad name and successfully tamed their chief ministers, the PDP spokesman said. He added that Mufti proved a hard nut for them but unfortunately Azad trashed all these genuine issues as hollow slogans. The former Governor, in an interview reportedly the other day had said that thousands of acres of land were diverted by the state government for various purposes including the railways and Reliance. Only 100 acres of land diverted to the SASB had become an issue by the people who wanted to exploit communal sentiments by making false allegations. The former Governor also blamed the PDP, a major party, which had supported the diversion of land, for joining the movement for the sake of electoral gains. “If its is a victory, it is a victory of secessionist forces , fundamentalists and anti-national forces and defeat of the silent majority of the moderate Muslims in Kashmir who cannot open their mouth for fear of terrorist attacks. I maintain that the clash is not between Hindus and Muslims as such. It’s not a communal divide,” Sinha was quoted as saying. |
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Jaish militant killed in Pulwama
Srinagar, July 4 Another militant, who was hurt in the police firing, managed to flee from the orchards where they were hiding, the police said. SSP Pulwama Ali Mohammad said they launched an operation in the area in between Barpora village and Wagahama after receiving some specific input. The militants hiding there fired upon them and in the ensuing gunbattle one militant was killed. One AK-47 rifle and two magazines were recovered from the militant. The police also arrested three suspected militants, Irfan, Ishaq, and Tasveer, from near a stadium in Pulwama. On their disclosure two hand grenades, magazines, a detonator and Rs 1.10 lakh were recovered from a nearby tin shed. Security personnel had yesterday killed two Pakistani militants of the LeT. The slain militants included Abu Atif, the operational commander of the outfit in the valley. |
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Amarnath Land Row
Lakhanpur, July 4 More than 2,000 trucks, loaded with perishable and imperishable items, are left stranded in Lakhanpur for the past three to four days even after paying toll tax. The stranded drivers alleged that the officers at the toll post at the entry of the state did not allow them to enter the state, but they allow the entry of the vehicles that belong to J&K. “Last night they allowed more than 200 trucks with J&K numbers to pass through without even taking entry tax from them and when we protested we were manhandled by the police personnel,” said Keval Krishan, a trucker from Gurdaspur. They said majority of the trucks were loaded with perishable items and if they did not reach their destination in time, the items would perish. “I came loaded with vegetables and for the last three days, my truck has been stranded here,” said Preetam Singh, a truck driver from Ludhaina. The drivers said they were starving as the hotels and dhabas in the area were forced to shut down. Whatever we were carrying have exhausted, said a driver. The Lakhanpur toll post came under a direct attack by the angry mob yesterday. A single officer of the Sales Tax and Excise Department has been looking after all the jobs. “I am doing the job manually as protesters damaged the post. The entire staff is scared of the attack,” said the officer. He said, “Our first priority is to allow the passage of passenger vehicles; I would try to clear the commercial vehicles by midnight.” The stranded truckers said if they were not allowed to enter the state they would be left with no other option but to leave their trucks there and return back to their native places.
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Protest firestorm engulfs more areas
Lakhanpur, July 4 Angry protesters burnt the effigy of the state government and targeted and damaged the vehicles that pass on the national highway. The situation has become worst in Kathua. People, defying curfew orders, in huge numbers came on roads to lodge their protest against the land revocation order. Yesterday, the angry protesters damaged the toll post in Lakhanpur and attacked and ransacked office of the sales tax and excise commissioner. At various places on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway, the protesters stopped the vehicles and broke their windowpanes. “It is an attack on our religious sentiments and we won't give up until and unless the government restores back the snatched
land back to the Hindu community,” said Harvir Kumar, a resident of
Lakhnapur. |
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Vohra’s advice to Army: Win battle of hearts
Srinagar, July 4 The Governor was interacting with Lieutenant General Mukesh Sabharwal, GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, at the Raj Bhavan. Lt-Gen Sabharwal gave a detailed briefing to him on the obtaining pattern and extent of cross-LoC infiltration and the manner in which his echelons were dealing with the situation. He gave the Governor his assessment of the overall existing and emerging situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Vohra conveyed appreciation of civic action being undertaken by the Army in the border and remote areas to supplement various services to the civilian population. He particularly referred to the Army's endeavours towards spreading education through its Goodwill Public Schools and organizing free medical camps to provide valuable relief to the people residing in the far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir. An official spokesman said Vohra stressed the importance of continuing efforts for winning over the hearts and minds of the people who have suffered immensely during the past about two decades of militancy. He also reiterated the imperative of ensuring against any avoidable inconvenience or damage to interests of the people at large when the security forces were carrying out anti-militant operations, most of which were in difficult
circumstances. |
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Guv, Azad greet people
Srinagar, July 4 He said the Guru's message of selfless service for the mankind based on the values of righteousness, truth and love was more relevant today when the world was faced with grave challenges emanating from growing incidences of violence and intolerance. The Chief Minister in his message said every religion taught about amity, harmony, peace and impressed upon the people to follow them. He hoped that people imbibed Guru’s teachings. |
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Hurriyat leaders refrained from reaching Hazratbal
Srinagar, July 4 SAS Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were put under house arrest yesterday evening. Geelani had given a call to people to assemble and offer a joint thanksgiving prayer over the revocation of land transfer order. Other Hurriyat leaders including Ashraf Sahrai and Shabir Shah addressed the gathering and, a party leader said. Some persons, including Shabir Shah, were injured when the police used tear shells to restrain the crowd. |
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Lakhanpur, July 4
Srinagar, July 4
