Jammu, July 10
In protest against alleged attack on the drivers belonging to the Hindu community in the Kashmir valley and at Surankote, the All-J&K Oil Tankers Association today launched an indefinite strike, putting a halt to its 1,800 oil tankers.

The association demanded safety to the drivers and adequate compensation for the injured and damaged tankers.

Talking to The Tribune, association president Anan Sharma said, in the last three days, the drivers belonging to the Hindu community were attacked in Tangdhar, Chowkibal and Surankote areas. “Not only they were attacked but 16 tankers were also damaged,” he said.

The drivers were beaten up, Sharma said, adding that one of the drivers sustained 13 stitches on his head while arms and legs of two others were fractured in attacks.

“Hence drivers today went on an indefinite strike and refused to lift supplies from three oil depots in Jammu,” he added.

We demand protection to the drivers, tankers and compensation for the loss, said Sharma making it clear that if the demands were not fulfilled, the supplies would remain affected in the entire state from Lakhanpur to Leh.

He said, divisional commissioner Jammu Sudhanshu Pandey had assured us to convene a meeting tomorrow morning besides promising to bear medical expenditure of the injured drivers.

Pandey has also sought list of the injured drivers and damaged tankers and has assured to take up the matter with his Kashmir counterpart and IGP Kashmir.

Sharma, however, made it clear that unless tanker drivers were provided security, supplies in the entire state shall remain affected.

It may be recalled here that the association in the wake of the Amarnath land transfer issue had suspended oil supply to the Kashmir valley for six days. And then on the intervention of the Azad government, it resumed the supply on July 6.

Meanwhile, hundreds of lawyers protesting against the revocation of land transfer order today staged a sit-in on a road leading to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

They shouted slogans against the Governor, who is the chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. Lawyers demanded that the land order be restored in favour of the shrine board.

Jammu, July 10
In a shocking incident, a woman was confined to a dingy room, measuring one square metre, for the past nine years by her own family members.

The incident came to light when the police raided a house in the Darugarian locality in a posh Residence Road area here and rescued 41-year-old Madhu Malhotra from her confinement.

The police took the move following complaints by locals and the director of a NGO SoS village that looks after the destitute children.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mallah said, “Some people informed me that every time they passed that particular street, a lady used to ask for food and water from a small ventilator type window of a house.”

“Even the door of the room was kept locked from outside, the passerby had informed,” he added.

The director said, “I along with some of my office bearer went to that area and after enquiring from the neighbours came to know that the lady had been confined to a dingy room by own sister for the past nine years. We then informed the police.”

According to Mallah, at first the police was reluctant to interfere but after pressure from the locals, it opened the room and rescued the lady, who was then shifted to Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital in Ambphallah.

“The room in which Madhu was confined was like a living hell, the area of the room was not more than one square metre, where she could barely move,” Mallah said.

He said, “What was more disturbing was the fact for the past four years she was not allowed to step out that room and was using the room for all daily activities.”

Police source said Madhu was married in Pathankot to Sandeep Malhotra 13 years ago and had a son from the marriage, however, her husband abandoned her following which she had come back to live with her parents.

Meanwhile, hospital sources said the condition of Madhu was “pathetic” as she had developed some mental disorder due to her years of confinement in a small room.

Jammu, July 10
The state wing of the BJP has accused the Congress, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party for working in tandem to mislead the people of the state to consolidate their vote bank in Kashmir.

Addressing a joint press conference, senior BJP leaders including party’s state president Ashok Khajuria, Chaman Lal Gupta and national executive member Nirmal Singh blamed the Kashmir-based parties and the Congress for misleading the sentiments of the common masses.

“These outfits are one as far as their politics and ultimate political goal is concerned. It can be seen from the fact that the PDP and the NC have publicly declared that they would support the Congress on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal,” said Ashok Khajuria.

Speaking on the recent land transfer controversy, he said, “The revocation of land transfer order was an attempt to please the separatists who want to eliminate India’s religious symbols,”

Khajuria said, “The events of the past few days have reiterated the national impression that the Congress-led Central government and Congress-led government in Jammu and Kashmir (which fell on July 7) willingly succumbed to the separatists’ pressure to hurt sentiments of Indians in order to stay in power in the state.” They said the people of the Jammu province were been discriminated.

“It not necessary to list the instances of discrimination against the people of Jammu, they have been reduced to a nothing for all practical purposes and Kashmir has established its stranglehold over the state’s political and economic institutions, including the vital civil secretariat, Legislative Assembly, Revenue Department, police, recruitment agencies, financial, technical and professional institutions,” Khajuria said.

He said the Jammu region was oppressed during the past 60 years by the successive “Kashmir-dominated” governments.

The BJP leader said the party would extent unflinching support to the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti which is committed to taking the ongoing agitation to a logical conclusion so that the shrine board gets back the land.

Udhampur, July 10
Three days after the resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Chief Minister of the State, Congress workers have started aggressive damage control exercise.

This campaign was started today from Gandoh, native place of Ghulam Nabi Azad, where a meeting of Congress workers was held to express their solidarity with Azad.

Congress workers endorsed the "bold" decision taken by Azad to relinquish office of the Chief Minister and vowed to expose fundamentalist forces in the State in general and Doda district in particular. Party workers minced no words in attacking the PDP for its backstabbing and betrayal.

They conveyed their displeasure on the withdrawal of support from the PDP at the time when the term of the government was completing and assembly elections were just three month away.

It was stated at the meeting that the coalition partners of the Congress party with a preplan has withdrawn the support from the Congress-led government with the fear of losing field in the coming elections, as with the dedication and hard working of Azad the people of the state has witnessed for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir allround development in the state.

At this meeting the main target of Congress workers was the PDP and one after another speakers lambasted Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti for betraying Azad.

They described Azad's tenure as Chief Minister witnessed creation of new eight districts, several tehsils, degree colleges, universities, upgradation of hospitals, opening of new schools and spread of road network etc.

Udhampur, July 10
Leaders and workers, who recently resigned from the PDP over the Amarnath land transfer issue today joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and vowed to strengthen the nationalist forces in the Jammu region.

In a function chaired by senior BJP leader Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, leaders including former PDP district president, zonal presidents, block presidents and student wing leaders announced to join the party.

Prof Gupta said ongoing agitation against the land revocation order would be taken to the logical conclusion.

He made it clear that the BJP has been supporting the stir spearheaded by the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti. He further said the party would support all programmes of the samiti to intensify the agitation.

The leader said people from every nook and corner came on streets to express their anger. “This agitation refreshes in our minds the mass movement which was launched in early 50s for the total integration of Jammu and Kashmir with rest of the country,” he said.

Former PDP district president Surinder Singh said only the BJP can protect interests of nationalist forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Surinder Singh charged the party leadership with propagating pro-militant, communal and secessionist agenda.

Defending his decision to join the BJP, he said that in the present circumstances mainstream parties like the Congress and the National Conference were bowed before the secessionists and fundamentalist forces of Kashmir.

“For restoring our dignity and honour we have to fight jointly the discriminatory policies of Kashmiri rulers,” he said.

“Instead of protecting interests of the all groups, PDP leadership is furthering communal and secessionist agenda,” alleged Surinder Singh and pointed out that the PDP leadership had been playing in the hands of anti-national elements.

Surinder Singh, who had joined the PDP just after its formation, said the Mufti-led party had been hijacked by some fundamentalist forces and there was no democracy in the party.

Udhampur, July 10
As normalcy has returned to almost all parts of Jammu province, politicians started shifting blames on each other for the weeklong violence and destruction which ultimately led to the fall of the government which was headed by first-ever Chief Minister from Jammu region.

Keeping in view the forthcoming assembly elections, all political parties have started campaigns to exploit the present situation to consolidate their vote bank.

Congress leaders, who were defensive before resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad, have started playing pro-Jammu card to counter propaganda of the BJP and the Panthers Party in the Jammu region.

"It was all due to the agitation launched by the BJP and other organisations that the first Chief Minister from Jammu region was forced to resign. We will take this issue before the people of Jammu and exposed those forces that were responsible for the whole episode", a senior Congress leader said and alleged that there was undeclared alliance of the BJP and the PDP to dislodge the Congress Chief Minister.

"In Kashmir it was Islamic fundamentalists joined by the PDP and the National Conference who spread hatred on land row while in Jammu it was the BJP and its sister organisations which exploited the religious sentiments of the people,” regretted a senior Congress leader and hoped that this vicious atmosphere would not continue for long.

"People of Jammu will not spare the BJP and the Panthers Party for dislodging the government headed by a Chief Minister from this region", he said and revealed that the party would play this card in the coming elections.

The opposition blamed the government for not tackling the situation properly while as Congress leaders regretted that parties like the PDP and the BJP exploited religious sentiments of the people for petty political gains.

"It was all due to the wrong policy of the Congress leadership that people of Jammu province were on roads and launched an agitation", said Pawan Gupta, state secretary of the BJP."

First time in the history such a mass movement was launched in Jammu province", he pointed out and it was peoples' anger against their own elected representatives who succumbed to the pressure of fundamentalist forces in the Kashmir valley.

Udhampur, July 10
Even as the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti has suspended its on going bandh for one week, Baridars --- the erstwhile priests of Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine --- have stepped up their agitation seeking redressal of their long-pending demands.

Comprising more than 800 families, these priests used to get some share from the offering of Mata Vaishno Devi cave before the formation of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

Since the board took over in 1987, the authorities stopped giving share to these families from the offering of the shrine.

Baridars took out a procession in Katra town and shouted slogans in support of their demands. They demanded that adequate compensation should be given to priests, who were shunted out from the religious activities of the shrine after the formation of the shrine board.

Highlighting the problems, Sher Singh, leader of the Baridar Union, regretted that despite repeated appeals to the authorities their demands have not been accepted. He warned to take extreme steps if their demands were not fulfilled.

The priests also appealed to the chairman of the shrine board to consider their demands sympathetically and solve their problems as early as possible.

Jammu, July 10
Even though stress has been taking its toll on the health of people, an upward increase has been witnessed in the number of schizophrenic patients in the city.

While schizophrenia still remains a mystery for psychiatrists across the globe, every week on an average, 10 to 15 schizophrenic patients visit the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital here.

Renowned psychiatrist and senior faculty member at the hospital, Dr J.R. Thappa, while talking to The Tribune said, “Around 10 to 15 schizophrenic patients come to the hospital every week, which clearly indicates that mental disorders among people across Jammu region have been increasing rapidly.”

Attributing the root cause to stress, Dr Thappa said schizophrenia was a chronic, severe brain disabling disorder, which was a mystery and a topic of debate among psychiatrists across the world.

Dr Thappa said, “Four admissions every day, including two of schizophrenic patients, conveys that there has been a constant rise in mental disorders,” he added.

On an average, around 150 patients daily visit the hospital seeking diagnosis, he said. If one-third of schizophrenic patients recover fast, another one-third comparatively do well to anti-psychotic medicines, but the remaining lot has to take drugs for their entire life, he said.

Talking about biological factors, he said, it had been proved that imbalances in chemicals in the brain like dopamine, 5HT, Gaba, nor epinephrine, epinephrine, and serotonin started malfunctioning in such patients. “However, what causes the malfunctioning still remains a puzzle,” he added.

Official sources at the hospital admitted that there had been several instances where schizophrenic patients were not cured of the fatal disease.

They said 10 to 15 patients also reported recurring symptoms. Much to the dismay of psychiatrists, symptoms continued to recur among patients, they said.

Srinagar, July 10
Head constable Md Irfan was killed in a grenade attack in a frontier town of Handwara while a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) survived a similar attack in Bemina yesterday.

Police officials said Irfan, who hailed from Uri, was on patrol duty with his team in Kralgund area when suspected militants hurled a grenade at the police party.

Irfan suffered the maximum brunt of the explosion and was declared dead at the district hospital in Handwara. Another cop in the team, Muzaffar Ahmad, suffered injuries but his condition was said to be stable, the police said.

In another attack, Farooq Zargar, SDPO of Mahraj Gunj, escaped unhurt as he was in a bulletproof vehicle.

Local officials said Zargar was travelling through the locality, which saw violence during the 9-day long strike in the valley over the land transfer issue, when militants threw a grenade at his vehicle.

It exploded but caused no damage, they said. Culprits in both the cases have not been identified yet.

Srinagar, July 10
Governor N.N. Vohra today reviewed the overall security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir and expressed satisfaction over the fast improving law and order situation.

A Raj Bhawan spokesperson said top state officials including chief secretary S.S. Kapur, DGP Kuldip Khoda briefed Vohra on the prevailing situation and all aspects affecting peace and normalcy in the state.

The spokesperson said the governor was likely to take such security review meetings on regular basis.

Meanwhile, the state government has asked all administrative secretaries not to issue orders concerning policy decisions and transfers and postings of officers unless shown to the chief secretary.

Orders, if any, issued in this behalf with effect from July 7, 2008 shall be submitted to the chief secretary for perusal, an official said.

The government has also posted Zaffar Ahmad Bhat, special secretary in the Chief Minister's secretariat as special secretary to the governor.

The draw was carried out in front of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Mehboob Iqbal, member Central Haj Committee, Abdul Rashid Mir, and officers concerned.