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Samiti puts off Jammu rally
Security up at Vaishno Devi
Infiltrations
Infiltration: Probe sought
Restore land to shrine board: Panthers
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Land row hits mail delivery
Encounter, ultras’ bid to divert attention
Militant attack condemned
Transport industry bears the brunt
Shortages stare people in the face
Day 4: Dailies fail to hit stands
Marriages being held despite curfew
Lift curfew, curb use of force: NC
Army on mission to uplift Gujjars
Baglihar Hydroelectric Project
CRPF’s ‘unlawful’ conduct hurts people
Going gets tougher for daily-wagers
Residents rue poor drainage
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Samiti puts off Jammu rally
Jammu, August 27 Addressing a press conference here today, samiti convener Lila Karan Sharma said the administration had informed that in the wake of the encounter with the militants it would not be able to spare security forces for the rally. The samiti held an emergency meeting in which it was decided to postpone the rally in the national interest. "We can sort out our differences later on. At this moment our priority should be to defeat the nefarious designs of the militants," he said, adding that the people of Jammu had always provided the second line of defence to the nation in the hour of crisis and this time too they would do the same. However, Sharma urged the administration not to delay the resolution of the Amarnath land row crisis anymore. "The government should immediately consider our demands and take a decision. If we have heeded their plea of putting off the rally they should also reciprocate our gesture," he averred. Police atrocities apart, the people of Jammu have suffered a lot in the past two months, he felt. Regarding the samiti”s threat to pull out of talks, he said though the demand for shifting some police officials was still there, they were open to talks. He said the samiti was looking forward to have the fourth round of talks with the Governor”s panel in a day or two. He ruled out that the samiti has softened its stand on the issue of restoration of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. On the issue of discrimination with Jammu on various fronts, Sharma said the samiti was only focusing on the core issue of diversion of land to the shrine board. "Those who are raising the issue of discrimination are free to float a body to fight for the cause. We have already shown them the way by spearheading this agitation," he said. |
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Security up at Vaishno Devi
Udhampur, August 27 “We have already put forces on a high alert after getting the inputs,” said DIG Udhampur-Reasi zone, Alok Puri. He said security forces have identified six possible infiltration routes towards Katra and Trikuta mountain range and all these routes have been plugged. Puri said adequate force has been deployed from Katra to the holy cave. Keeping in view the terrorist attack at Chinore in Jammu today, a high-level meeting of the senior officers of all security agencies was held today to review the security arrangements. Senior officers of the Army, paramilitary forces and the police were present in the meeting. Meanwhile, the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti, spearheading 59-day-long agitation, today suspended all scheduled protests and dharna. To render a helping hand to the security agencies to deal with terrorists, activists of Sangharsh Samiti today organised meetings in community halls. “We don’t want to give anti-national forces to take benefit from our agitation. After getting reports of suicidal attack in Jammu, we suspended all our programmes today so as to cooperate with the police to track down those ultras who have managed to sneak into this side,” a senior leader of the samiti said. The samiti was to hold a rally today at Udhampur in support of their demand which was postponed following request of the local police. |
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Infiltrations
Jammu, August 27 Over three months later another group of armed militants infiltrates from the Kanachak area close to the border in the Akhnoor sector on August 26 and a day after kills four persons in the city, besides holding hostage six others, including a woman and her four minor children. "Time has come when the BSF should seriously devise ways and means to effectively guard the 187-km-long international border," said defence sources. No doubt, Jammu is on the militants' radar in view of the coming Assembly poll and the Amarnath land row but how they manage to infiltrate from areas where the BSF has been posted remains a million dollar question, they added. They said the BSF continues to grapple with problems like a shortage of manpower and sophisticated gadgets to effectively guard the border. This doesn't mean that they should be allowed to go scot-free all the time. After all it is their responsibility to defend the border, they added. Had these three Lashkar militants succeeded in reaching the sangharsh samiti's rally at Parade Ground here today, there could have been mass killings, they said, adding that “we still have apprehensions about some more militants hiding in Jammu.” Defence sources said ever since the infiltration from the Kanachak sector on the intervening night of August 25 and 26, the BSF neither assisted the security forces in searches nor participated in today's encounter. “One fails to understand as to how militants after cutting the barbed border fence like a feeble thread gain entry into the state. In places where the border is porous in absence of the fence one can digest the 'reasoning' that militants dodged the BSF and entered the state”, they said. Interestingly, in both incidents of infiltration at Bainglad on May 9 and Kanachak on August 26, there was an exchange of fire between militants and the BSF, none sustained any casualty or injuries. At the same time intelligence sources didn't rule out the possibility of 'sources' playing their role. They said since sources on both sides of the border were usually the same they might be lending a helping hand to militants in such intrusion bids. Last year, the state witnessed 72 attempts at intrusion from across the border while there have been 48 such misadventures this year.
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Infiltration: Probe sought
Jammu, August 27 NC provincial president Ajay Sadhotra said the evil designs of Pakistan needed to be defeated by all nationalist forces of Jammu. |
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Restore land to shrine board: Panthers
Jammu, August 27 Addressing a meeting here today, Panthers Party leaders urged Governor N.N. Vohra to immediately issue the order for restoration of land to the shrine board and to check the civil and police administration from “committing atrocities on the people”. “The proposal in this regard has already been submitted by party chief Bhim Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Governor, which is acceptable to both the regions”, the leaders said. |
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Land row hits mail delivery
Jammu, August 27 According to Deepak
Budhki, postmaster general, Jammu and Kashmir circle, “We tried to run a skeleton postal service but we could not succeed because of shutdown in transport services and on account of couple of attacks on post offices.” He said we had to suspend our services when our vehicles were attacked with
stones. Budhki said had the private transporters, besides the SRTC not grounded their fleet of buses and taxis, “we would have been able to send the mail bags to other districts, including
Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and He disclosed that even the speed post service remained suspended and people were asked to collect their letters or packets from the
centre. People have been told to register their speed post letters at the same
centre. He said, “We have been able to send the mail bags by air to Srinagar where the postal services have remained operational. Other postal officials said it might take at least three months to put the services back on the rails. “We may seek assistance from the post offices in the neighbouring states in the mail sorting exercise,” an official said. “By the time the shutdown is called off, we may have to carry out sorting of several lakh letters and parcels,” another official said. |
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Encounter, ultras’ bid to divert attention
Jammu, August 27 Militants entered India through the international border at Kanachak area in Akhnoor sector on Tuesday. On a high alert, the security forces in Jammu suspect that the number of infiltrators can be much higher than those engaged (two or three) in the encounter. Major General D.L. Chowdhary, GOC of the Jammu-based Tiger Division, said, “If there is some other group of terrorists in Jammu, we would track them down.” When asked about the motive behind the terror strike, the GOC said, “They could have targeted today’s rally of the Sangharsh Samiti as it could have provided them a lucrative target to create a communal divide in the state.” Meanwhile, intelligence sources said they have specific inputs that another group of militants could try to strike somewhere in the city. “It is their (terrorists) common practice that a small group of militants say two to three engage the security forces in an encounter so they can divert the attention from their other members,” a senior police officer said requesting anonymity. He said, “We suspect that the militants were guided by somebody to this place where as the others might have taken shelter in their hideout from where they could carry out their activities in the coming days.” Security agencies had already received inputs that militants across the Line of Control were planning to take advantage of the ongoing unrest in the region. |
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Militant attack condemned
Jammu, August 27 “Some days back, Mehbooba had threatened to teach a lesson to the people of Jammu region for launching a mass movement for the restoration of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board”, Samiti spokesman Dr Narinder Singh said. Dr Singh said: “Mehbooba on record had threatened the people of Jammu of dire consequences for launching a movement against the wishes of militants and secessionists. Dr Singh blamed Mehbooba and Omar for having launched a “malicious campaign” to boost the morale of terrorists and other anti-national forces. He also alleged that today’s militant attack had exposed the direct nexus between terrorists and the PDP. “It is high time that authorities should constitute a high-level committee to probe Mehbooba’s links with terrorist organisations operating from the other side of the border. The government should take action against Mehbooba for exposing the political-militant nexus in the valley”, Dr Singh added. |
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Transport industry bears the brunt
Jammu, August 27 Although the transporters have been voluntarily extending support to the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, yet small and medium transporters are bearing the brunt of the situation, as they have to pay instalments to banks against the loan for their vehicles. “It is the height of inefficiency on part of the Centre that it has not been able to resolve the present crisis even after two months. The common man is at the receiving end whose problems multiply with each passing day”, Sham Lal, a transporter, said. Lal said: “The Centre should take a tough stand against separatists and leaders who have been adding fuel to the fire”. Meanwhile, president, J&K Motor Transporters Association, T.S. Wazir, said: “We have suffered a loss of nearly Rs 138 crore barring profits. Despite the fact that vehicles, including passenger buses, trucks and taxis etc, were off the roads for nearly two months, they are liable to pay salaries to their employees, besides other taxes”. Meanwhile, employees of the State Roads Transport Corporation (SRTC), have been on strike since August 20, which has further worsened the financial condition of the department. “The entire fleet of all 650 buses in the state is off the road and we are yet to assess the losses,” managing director, SRTC, Manzoor Ahmed Lone, said. Lone said the department got an annual return of Rs 60 crore whereas the annual expenditure of the department was Rs 95 crore. However, general secretary, J&K Petrol Tankers Owners Association, Shami Nagpal said: “We have suffered a total loss of approximately Rs 10 crore as 1,800 tankers are off the road for the past nearly two months.” “As many as 300 tankers have become targets of public fury at many places whereas two tankers were completely damaged at Samba and Kathua, respectively, whereas 70-80 drivers were thrashed by protesters in both the trouble-torn regions”, he added. |
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Shortages stare people in the face
Srinagar, August 27 Reports from the curfew-free areas in the valley said shops and other business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the road. Government offices, educational institutions and banks also remained closed in these areas for the fifth day today. Kashmir University has postponed all its examinations till August 31. Meanwhile, people in the valley continued to face an acute shortage of essential commodities due to an indefinite curfew for the past four days. However, a high-level meeting chaired by Governor N.N. Vohra has appealed to shopkeepers to open their establishments during the relaxation period so that people could purchase essential items. It has also asked the Milk Federation, working in the valley, to make milk available to people in different parts of the city. However, people from almost all parts of the valley complained about the shortage of essential items, particularly milk for kids. ''Due to curfew we could not move out of our houses to bring milk for children and purchase other essential things,'' they said. They further added that they could not store milk, bread, vegetables and other essential items after the authorities suddenly imposed curfew. Many people complained that ration depots were without ration despite the government claim that hundreds of trucks carrying essential commodities were arriving here daily from Jammu. People complained that the security forces were not allowing even milkmen, coming from outskirts of the city, to distribute. However, residents of Nowgam, Banapora, Azadbasti, Budshah Nagar and other areas in uptown Srinagar said milkman were allowed to distribute milk today. —
UNI |
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Day 4: Dailies fail to hit stands
Srinagar, August 27 It was for the fourth consecutive day today when local dailies were not circulated here. However, a few English dailies published from here are available on the Internet like other national dailies. Local private news channels have stopped airing information for the past few days after certain directions from the district administration in view of the prevailing situation in the valley. The newspapers published from Jammu and the national dailies coming from New Delhi have also been stopped for lack of means to circulate these here since Sunday when curfew was imposed. The circulation of these dailies was earlier stopped for from August 12 to August 18 after trouble started in the valley when separatists gave the “Muzaffarabad chalo” call on August 11 in which senior separatist leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz was killed, followed by the killing of over 21 persons before curfew restrictions were imposed four days ago. |
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Marriages being held despite curfew
Srinagar, August 27 The number of marriages held in rural and far-flung areas was more than 1,000 as there are less than four days left for the holy month of Ramzan to commence, when almost all social functions come to an end. However, before August 24 when an indefinite curfew was imposed, hundreds of marriages were being conducted daily in the Kashmir valley. Official sources said the deputy commissioner, Srinagar, K. Asfandyar Khan, had issued curfew passes for conducting more than 200 marriage ceremonies in different parts of the district during the past 24 hours. The curfew passes have been issued to the bridegroom, bride and their close relatives for attending the ceremonies under police protection. “The holy month is just four days away and people want to conduct marriage ceremonies before it starts,” the sources said. Generally, marriage ceremonies are not performed in Kashmir in the month of Ramzan, which starts from September 1, subject to the appearance of the moon. However, curfew, strike and the alleged economic blockade actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the people of Kashmir who are now holding marriage ceremonies in a simple manner. For the past about one month, people have been advertising in local English and Urdu dailies, informing their relatives about the cancellation of big feasts on the marriages of their sons and daughters. Because of the unpredictable situation, a majority of the people are now preparing meat in kgs instead of quintals. However, local vegetables are still in demand. Marriages are being conducted in local mosques and guests were treated with dry dates and sweets. People have appreciated the move and demanded that the same should continue in the future. —
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Lift curfew, curb use of force: NC
Srinagar, August 27 “We appeal to the administration led by Governor N.N. Vohra to lift curfew forthwith and provide relief to the people who are facing an acute shortage of essentials”, senior NC leaders and former ministers Mian Altaf Ahmad, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Mustafa Kamal and provincial president, Kashmir, Mehboob Beig, said in a joint statement here today. They said continued curfew in the valley and parts of Jammu region had caused immense problems to the people. Non-availability of essential commodities and medicines have made people’s lives miserable, the leaders added. “There is shortage of drugs and milk powder and those stranded in hospitals have no money to take their patients home,” they said and urged the government to provide free transportation to patients who had been discharged. They also demanded that the “economic blockade” be lifted immediately so that essential commodities could reach the valley. Holding the previous Congress-PDP coalition government responsible for the present scenario, the NC leaders urged the government not to use excessive force and advocated compensation to those killed in the agitation. “We stress upon security forces and the police to avoid excessive use of force and save precious lives”, they said and demanded immediate release of the arrested leaders. “The continued detention (of leaders) can spoil the moves for restoration of peace and might prolong the agitation”, they said. —
PTI |
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Army on mission to uplift Gujjars
Udhampur, August 27 Gujjars and Bakkarwals constitute a sizeable population in the state, out of which, a large population still lives below the poverty line. Defence sources said projects for the uplift of this nomadic community were started in all three regions of the state by the Northern Command, besides providing civic amenities to the people. For the first time, the Northern Command has started animal husbandry courses for unemployed youth of this community. These courses are conducted at Doda, Bhaderwah, Reasi, Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla and about 30 candidates have enrolled for these courses. To facilitate unemployed youth to get job avenues, the Army has coordinated with various banks and other financial institutions to provide loans to the candidates who have completed the courses. Defence authorities said: “Keeping in view the traditional occupation of this nomadic community, the Army has organised a de-worming camp at Ramban, while a veterinary dispensary has been established at Katra for the benefit of pony owners of the community. An infertility camp was also conducted at Pargwal in Jammu district.” The Army authorities have also initiated various steps to provide educational facilities to children of the community. A hostel has been constructed at Baghbela and a hostel with a capacity of 50 children is under construction at Reasi. Furthermore, education tours were also organised for children. |
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Baglihar Hydroelectric Project
Udhampur, August 27 About 376 families from Pul Doda and 80 families from the adjoining localities will be rendered homeless. Pul-Doda, a small town located near Doda on the banks of the Chenab, will be totally submerged by the end of this year after the reservoir is filled. As a majority of the inhabitants of Pul Doda are shopkeepers, their shops and business establishments will also be submerged, putting up a big question on their source of livelihood. Although the state government has expedited the process of evacuating and rehabilitating the affected families, people are not satisfied with the steps being taken by the authorities concerned. “Instead of taking some concrete steps, the authorities are only pressurising us to evict the place as early as possible,” Shamlal Sharma, a local resident, said. Sharma demanded that alternative land should be allotted to all displaced families. “Before asking us to vacate, the government should earmark land for all displaced families”, Sharma said, while pointing out that compensation was fixed on the basis of 2001 survey. He demanded that compensation should be given to them on the basis of the market prices. Meanwhile, for the past six days, affected families have been staging a dharna at Domial in support of their demands of adequate compensation and proper rehabilitation. The affected families are not satisfied with the steps initiated by the government for their rehabilitation. The Power Development Corporation (PDC) had already sanctioned an amount of Rs 5.8 crore for the affected families so that people can be compensated at the earliest. It is worthwhile to mention here that the authorities had announced to set up an anganwadi centre, three hospitals, toilet facilities through Sulabh International, ayurvedic dispensary, police post, food store, sale depot of ration and K oil, patwar khanas, community hall and booking office/passenger sheds at the new township before people can be shifted.
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CRPF’s ‘unlawful’ conduct hurts people
Srinagar, August 27 The conduct of the paramilitary force over the last few weeks of unrest in Kashmir has not really earned them many friends, but despite the reprimand by state officials they do not seem to have learnt any lessons. Many persons at the receiving end of CRPF's highhandedness say it is not only about their rudeness but also ignorance that make things difficult. Mediapersons have been particularly victimised despite having valid curfew passes. In Jawahar Nagar, a reporter was asked to return by a jawan, who claimed that his curfew pass was no longer valid. The soldier said the administration issued new pass everyday, which was not the case. Only intervention by an officer ensured that the journalist could reach his office. But his assurances are unlikely to calm journalists, who face similar hardship every time Srinagar suffers law and order problems. They say jawans are simply unconcerned about the law and have an itch for using force. As many as 13 journalists were beaten up on the first day of curfew here on August 24. Senior CRPF officers visited the injured mediapersons and apolgised but the conduct of their subordinates remains bad. The administration
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Going gets tougher for daily-wagers
Jammu, August 27 The labourers have been struggling hard to make both ends meet and many are forced to sleep empty stomach. In these turbulent times, daily-wagers have lost their only source of income and are not able to provide food to their family members. These include a large chunk of labourers from outside the state, auto and matador drivers. Rampal, a labourer, said: “We eat only when we earn. The continuous agitation in Jammu for the past more than a month has affected our life badly. We are rendered jobless. We don’t even have enough money to leave this place”. Another labour, Dayavanti, said: “My family is suffering because I can hardly arrange two meals a day for my eight children. Earlier I borrowed food from the neighbouring localities. Thanks to some kindhearted people who have organised free langars at different places, now we get at least one meal a day”. |
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Residents rue poor drainage
Jammu, August 27 Since the beginning of the agitation, the roads and drains have remained unattended by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC). While the refuse collectors are overflowing with garbage, waterlogging has added to the people’s woes in various localities. “There could be an outbreak of some water-borne disease if the authorities did not wake up and initiate immediate measures to clear the filth and garbage from the city,” a doctor at Government Medical College said. Ramesh Kumar of Talab Tillo area, said, “The drainage system in our area is in poor shape. Water remains stagnated in it for long and when there is rain, water spills over to the roads.” |
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