Jammu, August 1
With the Amarnath land row agitation gaining unprecedented support in the winter capital, the people are adopting novel ways to lodge their protest on the issue.

A group of protesters yesterday brought along a JCB machine to Satwari and after digging a pit buried an effigy of NC president Omar Abdullah to vent their ire against his remarks on the Amarnath land row during the UPA government's trust vote.

The protesters at the Akhnoor road found a new way to block road. They chopped off a eucalyptus tree on the roadside to block traffic to Akhnoor as a part of their protest.

Agitators in neighbouring Samba district got their heads tonsured, demanding the restoration of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and handing back of the yatra arrangements to the board. Women and children are also hitting the streets at night to register their protest by beating utensils.

"It is a wake-up call for the state government that doesn't heed the demands of the people of Jammu and is busy appeasing the Kashmiris," said Rama Sharma, a housewife. The protesters are also expressing their anger by smashing the electronic meters installed by the Power Department outside commercial establishments and houses. In this case, they are flaying the discrimination with Jammu in terms of power supply.

The agitators in Virpur village took out a procession that had a tableau in an open-roof vehicle. A man dressed as Lord Shiva attracted a large number of people all along the way. Similarly, a traders' organisation last evening took out a peace rally which saw the participants holding candles and the Tricolour in their hands to protest over the land row. 

Jammu, August 1
Governor N.N. Vohra said today that he proposed to reconstitute the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board by including eminent persons of Jammu as its members. The Governor said this during a four-hour interaction with prominent citizens here today.

He also proposed to establish an advisory committee to suggest ways and means for ensuring a smooth yatra every year. Vohra sought their help in normalising the situation which had caused enormous economic loss and inconvenience to the masses.

The Governor said: "Due to the prevailing situation the arrival of pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi and the Amarnathji shrine had declined significantly." He rejected the "misconception" that the role and responsibility of the Amarnath Shrine Board had been diluted. "The role and responsibility of the board has not been diluted and the management of the annual yatra will continue to be among its duties."

"The state government will not meddle in the affairs of the board", he said, adding that the safety, security and better facilities for the pilgrims shall not be compromised under any circumstances.

The Governor invited representatives from Jammu to see for themselves the temporary facilities created by the shrine board at Baltal.

Referring to the talks with the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti last evening, Vohra said he had tried to clear its misgivings on many issues relating to the board and the land. 

Jammu, August 1
The All-India Mahila Morcha of the BJP today criticised the NHRC and other human rights organisations for adopting a “lacklustre attitude” for the “atrocities being committed” on the people of Jammu.

This was stated by president of the All-India Mahila Morcha, Kiran Maheshwari, while interacting with mediapersons in Jammu today. Maheshwari arrived here as part of a two-member delegation of the mahila morcha. She is accompanied by Sangeeta Dev Singh, MP from Delhi. Earlier, the team held meetings with women at various localities.

Maheshwari said: “We would take up the issue with the National Women Commission and will try to rope in the support of all women parliamentarians”.

Alleging “bias” on part of the human right commissions, she said: “On minor issues in Kashmir, human right commissions make such a hue and cry.

But this time, they have turned a blind eye towards Jammu”.

Adding she said, “I am grieved to see the condition of the people here who are subjected to administration's apathy for not listening to their demands that have a religion-based issue of land transfer”.

Maheshwari also blamed the UPA and the former state government for playing religion-based politics for vote bank politics.

“It is a political manoeuvring by the UPA government from the Centre to safeguard its vote bank and for the purpose, it is banking on the issue by creating a religious furore in Jammu”, Maheshwari said.

On being asked to comment on her meeting with Mehbooba Mufti, she said: “I met Mehbooba at the Jammu airport and her statement on the issue was highly irresponsible”, Kiran Maheshwari said adding, “Mehbooba said the people would have to bear for what they are doing here”.

Jammu, August 1
At a meeting convened here by social activist Balraj Puri, 70 prominent citizens of Jammu appealed to the people to unitedly fight for their common cause and maintain communal harmony whatever be the provocation.

The meeting was presided over by Balbir Singh, president, Social Awareness Front. In his introductory remarks Puri dealt with the causes of the discontent in Jammu. Overcentralised system, he added, was the basic cause of regional tension. He suggested a federal and decentralised system to reconcile interests and aspirations of all ethnic and religious communities. The way, the state government bungled on the issue of land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, he said, first created a massive mass upsurge in Kashmir, followed by similar turmoil in Jammu.

Death of Kuldip Dogra and the manner in which his dead body was manhandled and dishonoured by the police further enraged the sentiments of people and resulted in a situation which had gone beyond the control of any political party, he added. 

Udhampur, August 1
Timely intervention by some elderly people of Chenani helped defuse tension which erupted after some miscreants allegedly shouted anti-national slogans. Tension flared up in Chenani when some bandh supporters entered into a verbal dual with the local people. It was alleged that some youths shouted anti-national slogans while opposing the bandh call given by Hindu groups.

The rumour of shouting anti-national slogans spread like wildfire and a large number of people came out on the roads. Some elderly people immediately convened a meeting of both the communities.

Though allegations and counter-allegations were witnessed at the meeting, both the communities ultimately decided to work for strengthening harmony.

Shops in the Lal Chowk area, the commercial hub of the summer capital, were largely closed and protesters clashed with the police in downtown area and Maisuma, which is also the address of Hilal War, the arrested president of the People's Political Party.

However, many shops across the city were open and offices remained functional. Transport vehicles were also on the road and there was not much inconvenience to the common man. The complete shutdown that Kashmir witnesses too often was not to be seen today. "We have seen a long stretch of strike recently and the organisation that had given the call was not known to many persons," Ashfaq, a shopkeeper in the Jawahar Nagar area said.

Ex-DSP's son shot Tribune News Service Srinagar, August 1 Unidentified persons shot dead Syed Mubarik Ahmad (35) in Batmaloo last night. Son of a former DSP, Syed Abdul Gani, Ahmad was rushed to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, the city's premier hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Other and more prominent separatist groups were also not very sympathetic towards today's strike call.

The police fired tear shells at people pelting stones. "There are no reports of any injury," a police official said.

Hilal War was arrested after a grenade attack on a group of migrant workers and pilgrims killed six persons and injured over 24. War had been targeting outsiders, especially menial workers, for some time and accused them of things ranging from AIDS to eloping with Kashmiri women and working as secret agents of government agencies.

Though the police has no evidence to link him with the grenade attack, it believes his vitriolic utterances gave militants fodder. 

Jammu, August 1
Even as people in Jammu have been wondering about mysterious disappearance of “surplus” power in the backdrop of the ongoing shutdown over the land row, the Power Development Department (PDD) is a harried lot trying to meet the severe crisis.

These days anonymous messages on cellphones have been 'alerting' people of Jammu about the mysterious disappearance of 140 MW surplus power which, they claimed, was available due to no commercial activity in the wake of the continued shutdown across Jammu. But the fact is that whatever infrastructure is left with the PDD after a major fire in the Gladni Grid on July 2 has been overburdened. If the Gladni grid fire has so far resulted in a whopping loss of nearly Rs 3,000 crore to the industrial sector in Jammu, the PDD also appears to be neck-deep in trouble.

Official sources said that the prolonged strikes had overburdened the infrastructure left with the PDD after the Gladni Grid fire. "Had normal life been the order of the day, we would have been surely in a much comfortable position," said a senior PDD official. People have been confined to their homes because of strikes and hence there is more electricity consumption than what it could have been under normal conditions, he added. When asked about 'surplus' power, the official rubbished the claims describing them as rumours being spread by certain anti-social elements, who want to widen the gap between the Kashmir valley and the Jammu region.

"After the fire in the Gladni Grid we are faced with a severe crisis and we are pooling power from the Udhampur, Burn and Hiranagar grids. The protracted strikes have not only worsened the power scenario but the remaining infrastructure too is overloaded," he said. He advised people in Jammu to use electricity judiciously till restoration of the Gladni Grid.

Jammu, August 1
Even as the National Conference (NC) has been pondering over damage-control exercise in the backdrop of party president Omar Abdullah’s ‘fiery’ speech during the UPA government’s trust vote on July 22, Jammu-based party leaders feel like walking on razor’s edge.

During the floor test Omar had said the land (forestland which was diverted and then cancelled to the SASB) belonged to Kashmiris, who fought for it and would die for it till the end. The NC’s stand over the land transfer row had already seen exit of two Jammu leaders via Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal (retd) and Jammu cantonment board president Choudhary Shamsher Singh.

If these two party leaders parted ways after Abdullah reportedly had demanded cancellation of the land diversion order from erstwhile coalition government, then other Jammu-based leaders felt that Omar’s speech has put them in the dock, said a senior party leader on the basis of anonymity.

“Definitely there was no need for Omar to speak on the land transfer issue. Not only it was out of proportion but also it was not required,” he said.

When the People’s Democratic Party had kicked up the controversy, the NC was nowhere in the picture, he said adding that in fact we were at the third spot after the Congress. Being a party, which has a better acceptability in all three regions of the state, we had been proceeding cautiously but Omar’s utterances in the Lok Sabha had put Jammu-based leaders in a tight spot, he said.

“In Hindu majority areas, the party leaders have started feeling neglected but we at an opportune time will try and clarify to the people of Jammu”, he said.

Srinagar, August 1
After missing two deadlines-- April 15 and June 30, the Srinagar International Airport is expected to be made operational in less than a month, with Air India scheduled to operate the first overseas commercial flight from here to Dubai.

"The work on the airport will be completed within a month. Direct flights will be started to the Gulf in the beginning," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters after reviewing the progress of work here today.

More overseas flights would be added later on depending on the demand.

The minister also said that an instrument landing system (ILS) would be installed at the airport here, once the IAF that administers the facility gave its nod.

Patel said Jammu and Kashmir had seen the biggest increase in air traffic growth in terms of percentage over the past three or four years.

"Growth of air traffic has been more in Jammu and Kashmir compared to the rest of the country. The state is already on priority for improving the infrastructure and we will do whatever is required," he said.

He said Rs 250 crore had been sanctioned for modernising the Jammu airport while Rs 112 crore had been sanctioned for expansion of the one at Leh.

Plans were also afoot to operationalise an abandoned air strip at Kishtwar.

The minister said he would take up with the Prime Minister and the Home Ministry the issue of starting helicopter services to connect remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir. — PTI

Srinagar, August 1
The cool climes of Kashmir, which have always attracted people sweltering in the plains, are not really cool these days. The temperature is hovering around 35°C and the rise in humidity has sent people looking for covers, literally.

The weather department said the maximum temperature since the past few days was close to 35°C, way above the average temperature. The maximum temperature recorded in Srinagar was 33.7°C today which was four degrees more than the normal temperature.

Met officials said such temperatures were not unusual at this time of the year but what had added to the people's discomfort was the soaring temperature.

“Kashmir normally receives rain if the mercury remains high for two-three days. It has not rained for weeks and the weather is heating up”, an official said.

The rising temperature has not only added to the bitterness of locals, but they believe that it was an indication that Kashmir was no longer the same paradise. “Deforestation and callousness of the government leading to shrinking and pollution of water bodies like the Dal Lake and Wullar have already marred Kashmir's beauty. It's not good for the valley”, Munir Ahmed, a student, said.

The recent protests and unrest in the Kashmir valley have also affected the tourism business. Very few people can be seen on the roads, which were once crowded with tourists before the land transfer controversy. “You can’t enjoy yourself outside in the day. It’s not much better than Ludhiana”, Sarbjit Singh, who has come here with friends, said.

Meanwhile, tourism officials said tourists were heading to cooler destinations like Pahalgam, Sonmarg and Gulmarg. The Met officials said July and August were usually the warmest months in the valley and a spell of rain would bring relief to the people.

Srinagar, August 1
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front president Yasin Malik alleged today that the government was fanning the agitation in Jammu and exploiting the situation to harass Kashmiris.

Addressing a press conference, Malik said violent mobs were attacking Kashmiri drivers and vehicles everyday and the government was a mute spectator. He said hundreds of tonnes of apples in Sopore mandi was rotting as the blockade on traffic movement, especially vehicles bound for Kashmir, continues in Jammu. "Communal elements have been given a free run by the state. It is a ploy to hit Kashmiri livelihood," he said.

Some leaders of the Fruit Growers Association also joined Malik who demanded that they be allowed to transport their fruits to Muzaffarabad if the Jammu-Srinagar highway remains closed. "The Indian and Pakistan governments have already said that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road would be opened soon for trade across the border. This is the right time to do so," he said.

When asked how it was possible for the local fruit growers to ply vehicles on the road to Muzaffarabad without the two governments' decision, he said the state government was capable in reaching the fruit cargo to mandis across India in a day if it willed. "They are deliberately hurting us," he said.

Malik alleged that Panun Kashmiri, an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, was playing communal card over the land transfer issue and it wanted to divide Jammu and Kashmir state on communal lines.

Srinagar, August 1
The state government has notified the schedule for holding the second general election for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has extended the date for issuance of electronic photo identity cards (EPICs) from July 28 to August 9, 2008, in the state.

According to a notification, the date for making nomination is August 4 and the last date for nomination is August 11. The scrutiny would take place on August 12 and last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers is August 14.The polling will be held on August 30. The date for counting is September 5, while the process of election will be completed on September 10, 2008. — UNI