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Separatists revive Lal Chowk march call
10 cops among 15 hurt in Srinagar clashes
Protesters throw stones at the security forces during a demonstration against the killing of a youth in Srinagar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Mohd Amin War
AIR Kargil starts news broadcast in local dialect
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BJP for poll on schedule
Time not ripe, says PDP
Residents: Give Jammu its due political share
Govt out to implicate staff: Samiti
Kranti Dal for delimitation
Delimitation first, poll later, pleads Jammu body
Baglihar Project
Poonch-Rawalkote bus from today
Teachers not paid salary for 5 months
Hail-hit farmers seek relief
Soldier, Jaish ultra killed in encounters
Woollens out in Kashmir
Appointment of 64 SPOs cancelled
Vohra directs round-the-year cleaning of Dal
Auto drivers take passengers for a ride
Rotary parks in a shambles
Amarnath Land Row
‘Make Mughal road motorable by Eid’
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Separatists revive Lal Chowk march call
Srinagar, September 7 The Coordination committee, an amalgam of separatist, trading and religious bodies, today met at the house of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and came out with a detailed programme for the period up to October 6. Geelani called for a bandh tomorrow in protest against the Election Commission's meeting in New Delhi regarding the J&K poll and alleged atrocities of the security forces. It is clear that separatists, especially Geelani and his confederates, have thrown the gauntlet again at the government, which had responded with tough measures to stop their previous march to Lal Chowk on August 25 after maintaining the policy on non-interference for their three rallies, which were getting viciously anti-India in nature. Geelani said he did not want major protests during the holy month of Ramzan. The government is unlikely to give the separatists any more rope and the police would certainly respond with strict measures to stop this rally, a senior official said. The administration had clamped a curfew on August 24 and it continued till Ramzan started eight days later. The separatists have fixed all Fridays falling prior to it for protests after afternoon namaz in mosques. The pro-Pakistan leader said shops would be open on Friday till 12.30 pm and then people would march to mosques for protests. On September 26, which would be last Friday before Eid, leading separatist leaders like Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yaseen Malik would head for major mosques to gal vanise their supporters for the Lal Chowk march. They have asked people to observe a shutdown on September 20 as well. "Our demand is azadi and we would continue with our agitation till it is achieved," Geelani said at his residence where he has been under arrest. Most of the separatist leaders, apart from the three leading ones, are either in jail or on the run. |
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10 cops among 15 hurt in Srinagar clashes
Srinagar, September 7 According to PTI, 15 people, including 10 policemen were in the clashes. Scores of youths came out on roads and clashed with police and CRPF personnel but were beaten back with force. The police said in a statement that the valley remained by and large peaceful apart from Srinagar. Group of agitators also attacked 166 CRPF Battalion bunkers with stones after which security personnel used tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Shops in the Nowhata area remained closed and traffic in the area was also off the road., A group of people indulged in stone throwing on police and CRPF personnel near the Shiraz Cinema chowk, but they were dispersed. It being a Sunday and coupled with protests, business establishments were by and large closed and traffic was thin. The weekly Sunday market was also confined to small parts in Lal Chowk. "There are so many reasons. It is raining which has come as a dampener. Many shopkeepers were also apprehensive of laying open their wares due to tension," Mohammad Jan, a shopkeeper, said. The police said it had exercised maximum restraint and it was unfortunate that a man died yesterday after being hit by a rubber bullet. |
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AIR Kargil starts news broadcast in local dialect
Jammu, September 7 The station, which falls in the enemy firing range, has further enhanced the broadcast of local variation programmes in Balti and Sheena dialects, also spoken on the other side of the border. An official of the News Services Division of AIR here said since the area remained cut off most of the times during hostile weather conditions, the people of Kargil belt relied mostly on radio for any information. “It was with this objective to introduce news bulletins in the local dialect,” the official explained. He said news bulletins, each of five minute duration, are being aired at 7.30 pm and 10 pm daily. The bulletins, apart from countering the disinformation campaign will also provide information about the government schemes and employment avenues to the youth, the official said. |
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BJP for poll on schedule
Jammu, September 7 This was stated by BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in Jammu to discuss the party's strategy for the elections, here today. Jaitley said: “The BJP wants the election to be held on time. We feel that there should be no delay in the restoration of a democratic government.” Jaitley said: “Though we want that a delimitation commission should be constituted, we don't want it at the cost of deferring the Assembly elections.” He said his party would give its suggestion to hold the elections in the state as scheduled during the all-national and regional party meet called by the Election Commission in New Delhi on September 8. The state was scheduled to go for the Assembly elections later this year as the coalition government was about to complete its tenure in November. However, Governor N.N. Vohra had to dissolve the Assembly after its coalition partner, the PDP withdrew its support, following the Amarnath land row. Jaitley said his party favoured the elections so that “normalcy returns in the entire region”. “The political process will also change the situation in the valley”, he said. He said the 63-day-long agitation in Jammu over the land row was a catalyst that made people protest against the “discrimination” they had suffered for the past 60 years under Kashmiri leadership. “It was the Congress at the Centre and Ghulam Nabi Azad in the state which surrendered to the demands of the separatists who spread the propaganda that land given to the shrine board will be used for establishing Hindu settlements,” he said. Jaitley said nationalist forces had emerged a winner as land was given back for use to the shrine board. Taking a dig at the Congress-led UPA government, Jaitley said: “The three supporters of the government - the SP, the RJD and the JLP - are openly supporting terrorist outfits like SIMI and the government is unable to act.” Jaitley said: “The UPA government is soft towards terrorists and separatists. They not only abrogated laws like POTA but made the nation vulnerable to terrorist attacks.” |
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Time not ripe, says PDP
Srinagar, September 7 The PDP passed a resolution after a meeting of its senior leaders which warned the government that "pushing the state into elections could prove counter-productive" as a feeling of alienation and disillusionment reigns supreme in the state. The party said New Delhi must address the just concerns and aspirations of the people and put in place concrete confidence-building measures before they are asked to participate in the election process. Many believe that the PDP's stand has a lot to do with worries among its leaders about their grim prospects if elections were to be held soon. The PDP is being seen as a major culprit behind the impasse and violence that has engulfed the state, especially Kashmir, in the past two months. Its embrace of ultra Kashmir nationalism and virtual support of Hurriyat's separatist cries after the land-transfer fiasco have not done much to repair its credibility among the masses. The PDP s resolution said the government would have to revert to the 'healing touch' policy practiced by its patron Mufti Sayeed's reign between 2002 and 05. People's sense of freedom has to be restored by liberating them from the mentality of siege and oppression, it said. "The government must in a time-bound manner implement the recommendations of the Prime Minister's working groups, including rehabilitation of all victims of violence, revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and reduction of troops. The cross-LoC routes, including Srinagar-Muzafarabad, Poonch-Rawalakote, Kargil-Skardu and Suchetgarh-Sialkote roads must be immediately opened for free movement of goods and people," it said. |
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Residents: Give Jammu its due political share
Jammu, September 7 Upping the ante against what they say “Kashmir’s hegemony over Jammu”, the youth have appealed to Governor N.N. Vohra to exercise his powers and frame the delimitation commission and proportionately increase Assembly constituencies across the Jammu region so as to check regional imbalances. Talking to The Tribune, Rakesh Kumar, a Jammu University student said: “The time has come when people should stand up for their fundamental rights.” For how long would we be deprived of our legitimate right under the garb of Article 370, Rakesh said. However, Shreya Sharma, another student, opined that it would not be an easy task for the people of Jammu to get Assembly constituencies as per their population, area and topography. “Kashmir-centric political outfits would never let this happen. In the last budget session held in January this year, politicians from Kashmir cutting across party affiliations had joined hands, to defeat a private member’s Bill moved by the Panthers Party”, Shreya said. Even though former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad created four new administrative units each in Jammu and Kashmir regions, the latter still has 46 Assembly constituencies compared to 37 of the Jammu region, despite Jammu having a bigger area and population compared to the valley, Shreya added. City resident Ghulam Mohammed said: “In the 2002 elections, the Congress had included framing of the delimitation commission in its election manifesto, which saw it grabbing 15 seats from the Jammu region. However, after coming to power, the Congress played second fiddle to Kashmir-centric parties, putting its promise under the carpet”. It may be recalled that the coalition government had also included framing of the delimitation commission in its common minimum programme. But it could not be constituted because Kashmir-based parties like the PDP, National Conference, CPI (M) and PDF, had not supported Azad. However, political pundits say even though the Governor had powers, delimiting Assembly constituencies would not be a cakewalk for him. A two-third majority is required in the legislative Assembly for the purpose, which perhaps would never happen, they added. It may be stated here that Jammu has an area of 26,000 sq km with 30 lakh voters, excluding Pak refugees, while Kashmir has 15,000 sq km of area with 28 lakh voters. |
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Govt out to implicate staff: Samiti
Jammu, September 7 Samiti spokesman Narinder Singh said: “Instead of taking action against those involved in communal riots in Kishtwar and
Poonch, the state government has been harassing and victimising Hindu employees to appease the fundamentalist and separatist elements.” He said the samiti has expressed its anguish over the indifferent attitude of the authorities towards releasing compensation for the traders, businessmen, transporters and those related with the hotel and tourism industry. |
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Kranti Dal for delimitation
Jammu, September 7 The Dal joined the chorus with the Jammu and Kashmir Nationals Panthers Party by demanding reconstitution of Assembly constituencies in the state as per the recommendations of the delimitation commission. Its president Vikram Singh appealed all the political parties, the Central government and the Election Commission of India to fulfill the long-pending demand and aspiration of people of the state for holding free and fair elections. He said if the genuine demand of people was not implemented then they would be forced to launch an agitation. |
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Delimitation first, poll later, pleads Jammu body
Jammu, September 7 Addressing mediapersons here today, JWAM president Sunil Dimple said, in a memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy, we demanded that there should be no elections till a delimitation commission was constituted and its recommendations implemented. “Furthermore, the Assembly elections can’t be held for at least a year because of the disturbed law and order scenario,” he said and blamed the Hurriyat Conference, the JKLF and the PDP for the disturbance. However, the JWAM president made it clear that holding elections without delimiting the assembly constituencies would serve no purpose and discrimination with Jammu region would continue. Submitting a slew of demands to the CEC, he also requested the apex authority to de-recognise and debar the PDP from contesting coming
elections. “The PDP is responsible for putting the state on fire and hence we strongly urge Gopalaswamy to debar Mehbooba Mufti’s party from participating in the elections,” he added. |
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Baglihar
Project
Srinagar, September 7 The recommendation to this effect was made by the Planning Commission of India and accepted by the Union Finance Ministry, an official spokesman said here today. Apart from the release of the loan by the Centre, the State Power Development Corporation has also mobilised the matching loan component of Rs 530 crore from various financial institutions and banks to meet the cost escalation of this project, he said. The Centre had earlier also granted a Special Plan Assistance of Rs 630 crore for the project. — PTI |
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Poonch-Rawalkote bus from today
Rajouri, September 7 More than 240 persons from Poonch as well as Rawalkote in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are likely to cross sides in tommorrow's crossing. Earlier, the bus service was suspended due to curfew imposition by the district authorities in Poonch, following communal clashes over the Amarnath land row. Muhammad Afzal, deputy commissioner, Poonch, said: “Since thousands of people come to see off and receive their relatives and acquaintances on the day of crossing, the district administration had to suspend the bus service as curfew was imposed on the previous scheduled date of crossing. The trans-LoC bus service will resume from tomorrow”. Sources said there were more than 6,000 applicants who wished to travel through this service to meet their families. “As the frequency of the bus service has also been increased, more people will be able to meet their relatives. It will also likely cut down the time taken between applying and travelling, which previously was a time-consuming process,” sources said. Meanwhile, the Central high-level team which was scheduled to visit Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch today, where a land customs station is being constructed for facilitating trade through the Poonch-Rawalkote route, couldn’t reach due to bad weather. “The team which was to fly to Poonch from Srinagar to inspect the custom clearance facilities for the incoming and outgoing goods, warehouses for the goods, parking facilities for vehicles and other support services for running a land customs station, couldn't travel to here, due to poor visibility in the Pir Panjal area. They are most likely visit Poonch tomorrow”, a district administration source claimed.
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Teachers not paid salary for 5 months
Jammu, September 7 In a press statement issued here yesterday, teachers claimed their salaries were intentionally withheld by the
department. They have also mentioned that under the Rehbar-e-Taleem Scheme, more than 9,000 primary teachers had been appointed by the state government in 2003 and their salaries were being drawn from the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan. While criticising the functioning of the department, teachers said despite all efforts, they had not been paid salaries from April to August. The leaders of the Regularised ReT Teachers Forum have urged upon the government to make arrangements for timely disbursement of
their salaries. The leaders said ReT teachers played a dominant role in streamlining the functioning of defunct schools in far-flung areas. The leaders also demanded that teachers, who had completed five years in service, be regularised along with salary enhancement, promotion benefits and release of pending salary without any
further delay. |
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Hail-hit farmers seek relief
Udhampur, September 7 This was stated in a meeting of the Youth Congress, held under the chairmanship of general secretary of the PYC, R.S. Pathania. The farmers apprised Pathania that 90 per cent of the crops, viz., maize and paddy were damaged due to the hailstorm. The farmers informed that areas like Basantgarh, Dudu, Khaned, Lodhra, Panara, Pathwar, Jansal, Palnu, Sundla and other villages of the Ramnagar and Majalta tehsils were the worst-affected. They also urged the Governor that adequate compensation be given to the affected families at the earliest. He also demanded restoration of disrupted power, water and telephone facilities. |
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Soldier, Jaish ultra killed in encounters
Udhampur, September 7 DIG Doda-Ramban range Hemant Kumar Lohia said the Army and the police were on a joint search operation in the area when militants, reportedly hiding on the top of the hill, fired indiscriminately at the search party, killing one soldier, identified as Surya Babu, and injuring two others. The security personnel returned the fire. The gun battle between militants and security forces were going on till filing of this report. The injured were shifted to the Army Hospital Udhampur and their conditions were stated to be stable. According to sources, a joint operation was launched following intelligence inputs about the presence of some militants in Banihal areas. The militants were equipped with sophisticated weapons. There was no information on number of militants, their outfit and if there were any casualties on their side. PTI adds from Srinagar: Acting on a tip off, the police assisted by the Army and CRPF cordoned off Warpora mohalla Ibrahim in Sopore town, 60 kms from here, this morning and engaged the militants holed up there in a gun battle, a police spokesman said. In the fierce exchange of fire, a Jaish-e-Mohammad divisional commander Barakutallah Ansari alias Hyder, a resident of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), was killed while four Army personnel were injured, he said. Hyder was formerly chief commander of Al-Badr outfit and had defected recently to the JeM, the spokesman said adding he was acting as a coordinator between different militant outfits. Hyder was wanted in several cases of murders and subversive acts in north Kashmir, he said.
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Woollens out in Kashmir
Srinagar, September 7 People were seen moving around in sweaters and jackets and some were evening keeping a ‘kangri’, a basket carrying burning wood and coals, which is a otherwise a common sight in November. The minimum temperature was 13.7°C in Srinagar today. — TNS |
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Appointment of 64 SPOs cancelled
Udhampur, September 7 The then SSP Udhampur Ashqoor Wani, who was transferred just two days back, appointed the SPOs without taking an approval from the director general of police. A day after the transfer of the SSP, DIG Alok Puri cancelled all these appointments, as according to Although the authorities were tight lipped over whole episode, sources said the police higher ups have taken a serious note of these controversial appointments and asked the DIG to prepare a detail report about these recruitments. It is believed that these controversial appointments were the main reason for the premature transfer of Wani from the post of SSP Udhampur. Wani was appointed as SSP Jammu just four months back. The process for recruiting SPOs involve a government order following which a board headed by the DIG is constituted for the recruitment. The newly appointed SPOs were not informed earlier. They got to know about the cancellation of their appointments only when they reached the District Police Lines in Udhampur on Saturday for the joining report. According to sources, Wani carried out the recruitment of SPOs in his office for filling up vacant posts on July 16 and 23, 2008 when the agitation on the Amarnath land row was on its peak. They were called to the SSP office on August 3 but due to the strike, their orders were confirmed on August 7 followed by issuance of an official order number ES-12877-83 on August 20. Sources further said without taking confirmation from the higher ups, the SSP ordered release of police uniform, blankets and shoes to all the fresh recruits. |
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Vohra directs round-the-year cleaning of Dal
Srinagar, September 7 The Governor reviewed the pace of the Dal Conservation Project and directed the functionaries concerned to expedite the procurement of de-weeding machines, costing Rs 30 crore, for augmenting the cleaning operations, an official spokesman said today. The lake conservation project is being supported by the Union ministry of environment and forests with a financial outlay of about Rs 300 crore. The de-weeding, de-silting and pollution control in the lake forms an important part of the project under the National Lakes Conservation Programme. So far, Rs 118 crore has been spent on the project, the spokesman added. The officials informed the Governor that three sewage treatment plants had been established at Hazratbal, Habbak and Laam, besides the construction of the settling basins for stopping silt at catchment areas. Taken up in 2005, the Dal Development and Conservation Project is slated to be completed by 2010, the spokesman said. The Governor favoured a sustained campaign for enhancing awareness on the issue. Later, the Governor visited the Rakh-e-Arth in the Budgam district and reviewed progress on the development of 375 hectares of land acquired for the resettlement of the Dal dwellers. — PTI |
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Auto drivers take passengers for a ride
Jammu, September 7 And commuters, especially outsiders, become an easy prey at places like airport, railway station and bus stand. “The ‘who cares’ attitude among the auto drivers is endorsed by the traffic cops who hardly bother to check fare meters in the vehicles,” says local resident Tilak Raj. “Most of the times, they charge Rs 25 from one auto stop to the other but there are few such stands on the main roads. Otherwise when one has to commute on other roads, the fare charges vary from driver to driver,” he adds. “I had to shell out Rs 70 to reach Rampura in Shastri Nagar from the railway station,” said a commuter. Surprisingly, the stretch between the station and Rampura is not more than two km. Regional transport officer F.C. Bhagat, when contacted, said, “As per the laid norms, auto rickshaws plying on roads for commercial purpose are strictly required to have fare meters,” adding, “at the time of clearance from the RTO, it is made sure that the passenger three wheeler has to have a fare meter.” Speaking over the recently revised fares of auto rickshaws, Bhagat said, “For the distance of first one km they are entitled to charge Rs 11 while for the rest of distance, auto rickshaw drivers can charge Rs 9 per km.” Parminder Singh, SSP Traffic, said they had launched a drive to track down errant auto rickshaw drivers but due to the two-month-long agitation, the drive got affected. He said, “In a recent development, divisional commissioner, Sudhanshu Pandey has directed the department to supervise prepaid auto rickshaw facilities at the railway station, bus stand and airport besides other significant public places to check overcharging by auto rickshaw drivers.” |
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Rotary parks in a shambles
Jammu, September 7 Rotary parks, such as Indira Chowk, Bikram Chowk, Panama Chowk and Satwari Chowk, have remained unattended during the past two months. Paras Ram Poonchi, trade union leader, Municipal Corporation Employees Union, said: “No funds were allocated by the corporation for upkeep and maintenance of these rotary and other municipal parks.” “The MC has outsourced rotary parks to some private business houses for their maintenance against the display of their company advertisements on these parks, while the gardeners of the corporation take care of maintaining other parks,” he added. Arun Kumar, a resident of Rani Park, said: “This park is an assembling place for elderly and children of this area. The park is filled with polythene bags and waste paper. The MC could not ensure proper maintenance during the past two months.” Kuldeep Kumar, a morning walker at the Canal Road, said: “The branches of bushy evergreen trees on the canal side of the pathway have grown wild at certain points and stretch towards the pathway which causes great inconvenience. No pruning has been carried out during the past two months by the PWD authorities who maintain this pathway.” Meanwhile, J.S. Tondon, joint commissioner, JMC, said: “The MC incurred a monthly expenditure of Rs 2 lakh for maintenance of these parks. It also started a plantation drive but they could not continue because of the shutdown. However, they are soon going to restart it.” |
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Amarnath Land Row
Jammu, September 7 Conceived under NDA government’s ‘Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna’ in 2004, the project had to be completed by September, 2009, at a cost of Rs 120 crore on the lines of the AIIMS. GMC administrator Rakesh Khajuria said: “The agitation over the Amarnath land row has delivered a setback to the project being executed by Sources told The Tribune that owing to the agitation in Jammu, 70 per cent of the skilled labourers had left for Himachal and Punjab. Though the pace of work has now started picking up, the possibility of meeting the given deadline looks bleak. They said the agitation had brought the construction work to a halt for the past over two months, forcing skilled and unskilled labourers to migrate to neighbouring states. A senior official of the Health and Medical Education Department said its completion by September, 2009, appeared to be a Herculean task. After its completion Jammu can boast of 15 super-specialties, six in the multi-storeyed structure near Resham Ghar that would include urology, neurology, neuro-surgery, nephrology, cardiology and cardio-thoracic surgery and the remaining nine of gastro-enterology, surgical gastro-enterology, medical oncology, surgical oncology, endocrinology and metabolic diseases, clinical hematology, pulmonary medicine, plastic surgery and paediatric surgery in the existing block of the medical college.
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‘Make Mughal road motorable by Eid’
Srinagar, September 7 Vohra today visited the project site at Dubjan in Shopian district and reviewed the progress on this vital 84-kilometer road in which work is progressing simultaneously from Bafliaz in Poonch and Shopian in the valley. Vohra was given a detailed briefing about the progress on the road project, which is likely to be commissioned in December, 2010. As many as 34 kilometers of the road has been completed from the Poonch side and 39 km from the Shopian side while work on the remaining 10.5 km is progressing. |
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Srinagar, September 7
Jammu, September 7
