Jammu, September 29
Attributing the resurgence of separatists' voice in the Kashmir valley to the 'economic blockade' enforced on Kashmiris during the Amarnath land agitation, NC president Omar Abdullah felt that the Election Commission (EC) and New Delhi should talk to the people and assess the ground situation before taking the final decision on holding the Assembly elections.

Responding to media queries here today, Omar said though there had been turbulent phases during the early 90s in the state never before an economic embargo was enforced on the Kashmir valley.

If the economic blockade had not been enforced and if Kashmir-bound vehicles had not been attacked with petrol bombs, Kashmiris would not have taken to the streets, he said.

These unpleasant developments in the state saw the rise of separatists, he added.

On impending elections, Omar said it looked that New Delhi wanted to hold elections in November but “we feel that as of now the situation is not conducive.”

On trans-LoC trade, he remarked: "It was the only fortunate outcome of the present turmoil (Amarnath land agitation) but we say that there should be clarity on the list of merchandise to be traded and it shouldn't be a symbolic gesture."

Earlier, addressing party workers Omar lashed out at the PDP, Congress and other parties for pitting communities against each other under the garb of land agitation.

After Independence the state witnessed such a major agitation and paradoxically some parties indulged in divisive politics talking about status of a separate state to Jammu forgetting that Hindus, Muslims and people from other religions lived in this region, he added.

Omar also castigated the Hurriyat Conference for stirring up the emotions of people in the valley.

Apart from the PDP and the Hurriyat, he also held the Congress responsible for pushing the state into turmoil. The Congress diverted the land to the shrine board and then revoked the land diversion order without anticipating its backlash but subsequently conceded its defeat, Omar said.

Again blowing the trumpet of greater autonomy, Omar said if voted to power his party would decentralise powers and strengthen panchayats. He also promised to set up a judicial commission headed by a Supreme Court judge so as to probe the allegations of discrimination with the three regions.

Omar made it clear that the party would not enter into any sort of alliance in the upcoming poll.

Srinagar, September 29
Continuing with their offensive against militants, the security forces today gunned down two more ultras in two encounters in the valley. With this at least 12 of them have been killed in the past four days, most of them falling victims to the Army and police offensive in forest areas connecting Kangan in central Kashmir to Bandipora in north.

Kupwara SSP Uttam Chand told The Tribune that a joint operation of 28 RR and police killed one militant at Gogul.

A huge stretch of forest skirts through north Kashmir to the central one. The security forces have launched a major offensive on getting reports that a contingent of militants is moving there.

Another militant was killed in an encounter in Awantipora in south Kashmir today. Personnel of 42 RR of the Army have also suffered injuries, official sources said, but details have not come yet. CRPF personnel from 180 and 185 battalions also joined the encounter and search operations were under way for more militants there.

"Neither the militants' identity nor the organisation he belongs to is clear yet as they move in a bunch drawn from different Pakistan-based groups," Uttam Chand said after the Kupwara encounter. Most of the deceased militants are believed to be fresh infiltrators as their background is not clear.

At least seven militants have been killed in the forest area close to Kangan where the Army has used helicopters to drop paratroopers to hunt for ultras in dense and hostile forest topography. A jawan had lost his life two days back.

This is the biggest fight in many months but it was on the cards as a large number of militants had infiltrated and were consolidating their positions during the recent unrest in the valley.

Udhampur, September 29
At least seven persons were killed and 25 wounded, some of them critically, when a passenger bus skidded off the road near Pranu on the Jammu-Bhadarwah road in Doda district this morning.

The injured have been shifted to Jammu Medical College for treatment where the condition of three of them was reportedly critical.

The ill-fated bus, which left Bhadarwah early this morning, was on its way to Jammu when it met with an accident around 6.30 a.m.

Sources said a video coach of a private transport company skidded off the road and fell into the Malni stream a few kilometers ahead of Pranu, killing six persons on the spot and wounding many others. One of the injured later succumbed to his injuries while on the way to hospital. (According to UNI, the accident occurred when the bus driver suffered cardiac arrest and lost control over the vehicle).

The police reached the spot and launched a rescue operation to retrieve the bodies from the bus.

Hemant Kumar Lohia, DIG, Doda-Ramban range, told the Tribune said that injured were immediately shifted to Jammu for treatment. This was the second big road accident in Doda district during the past 15 days. Some days ago, 24 persons their lives when a bus fell into the Chenab near Thathari. The administration has failed to recover the bodies of the Thathari accident victims.

JAMMU: Three persons, including a woman and her son, were killed and one was seriously injured when three cars collided with a truck near Supwal on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in Samba district on Monday. Police sources said the car collided with a speeding truck at Supwal, killing three persons on the spot and injuries to one. Police parties rushed to the spot and shifted the victims to a local hospital where three of them were declared brought dead.

The injured was referred to the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu. The deceased were identified as Vaishno Devi (57), her son Amit Mahajan (29) and driver Deepak Kumar while, the injured was identified as Chaman Lal. All of them were residents of Choudhary Hari Singh Nagar, Amritsar. A hunt has been launched to nab the absconding driver. 

Jammu, September 29
Even as the possibility of delimitation prior to the Assembly elections seems bleak, the key political players in the Jammu region have gone all out to raise the issue of delimitation of constituencies to "put an end to Kashmiri dominance" in state politics.

The BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) are in the forefront, seeking delimitation prior to the poll.

While the BJP has already announced that it would contest the forthcoming Assembly poll on the plank of "political power for the Jammu region", the latter has launched a signature campaign to muster public support on the issue.

State BJP vice-president and spokesman Hari Om said: "Governor N.N. Vohra could invoke Section 92 of the state's Constitution and appoint a delimitation commission for carrying out the exercise," which could be completed in 30-40 days. He said post-elections the BJP would raise the issue inside and outside the Assembly.

He lamented that those getting elected to the Assembly from Jammu till now had failed to voice the people's grievances on the floor of the House. "We will make it sure that Jammu's voice is heard loud and clear in the Assembly," he said.

Both BJP and the JKNPP also allege irregularities in the preparation of fresh electoral rolls to "benefit Kashmir".

Hari Om said the number of voters in the Jammu region was more in the last Assembly elections. "How could the number of voters decrease in Jammu and increase in Kashmir over the past six years?" he asked. He demanded that the delimitation exercise should be conducted on the basis of electoral rolls prepared in 2002.

JKNPP leader Harsh Dev Singh also recently raised the issue of "deletion of nearly 1 lakh voters in Jammu district". According to him, in 2002 elections Jammu had 31 lakh voters and Kashmir 28.84 lakh voters. However, six years on the number of voters should have gone up, but the election authorities deleted 94,000 voters from Jammu alone, he said. "How is it possible that voters in Jammu have gone down in the past six years?" he asked.

He said the authenticity of data needed to be re-verified before the election authorities compile the final figures.

Jammu: “Gross violation” of traffic norms continues in and around Jammu.

Be it playing high-pitched music or competing on road for passengers, drivers do not think twice about the lives of innocent passengers.

The drivers of mini-buses and Matadors compete on the road for passengers, violating the ‘speed limit’, thus risking the lives of not only their passengers but also pedestrians and two-wheeler riders.

Sangeeta Mangotra, a postgraduate student of Jammu University, says all this

“happens under the nose of the traffic police which seldom is seen regulating traffic.”

“The drivers play music at such a high pitch that it not only irritates the passengers but increases blood pressure also.” said Dr Gurpreet Singh, a local resident.

The drivers of these passenger vehicles don’t respect the ‘zebra crossings’ and even don’t lower the speed at sharp curves.

Officers of the Traffic Police Department rue the government’s apathy for not paying any heed to their pleas for more staff.

The department is understaffed as no new recruitment has been done in the past many years.

“ Traffic in Jammu has increased manifold but the government has not bothered to conduct new recruitment for the department,” said a senior traffic police officer.

“ Though we conduct surprise checks and challan the violators, we are not in a position to regulate the entire traffic in Jammu due to staff shortage,” he added.

Srinagar, September 29
Governor N.N. Vohra has described Jammu and Kashmir as a glowing model of unity in diversity, where the people of different faiths and cultures had lived in harmony for centuries.

Interacting with senior officers of the Higher Command Course, led by Maj-Gen G. S. Malhi, at Raj Bhawan here last evening, the Governor dwelt on the developments that had contributed to the recent disturbances in the two regions of the state, an official spokesman said.

The Governor emphasized the need for strengthening the cherished values of secularism, the cornerstone of Indian nationhood, and said that fair, honest and responsive governance and opportunities for growth and employment were essential for sustaining normalcy and removing alienation among the people.

The Governor answered the questions on various aspects of the prevailing situation in the state. He gave an overview of the internal security situation and expressed optimism that peace and normalcy would soon be restored in Jammu and Kashmir.

On a specific question about the role of media, the Governor said the electronic and print media played a pivotal role in building public opinion. He hoped that the media would discharge its responsibilities objectively to help forge brotherhood and amity among various segments of society.

In all 70 officers - 58 from the Army, 10 from the IAF and two from the Indian Navy- had a 90-minute interaction with the Governor. They are the nominated officers for the prestigious course having put in 21 to 25 years of service. 

Jammu, September 29
With no roads, potable water, crumbling health and education infrastructure, Nai Basti - a border village in Marh Block of the district and home to refugees of 1965 - presents a picture of utter neglect.

The road that connects the village to the nearby Gajansoo town is in bad shape. More so, villagers have alleged that staff at the sole government dispensary mostly played truant and no medicines were being made available to them.

Though the public health engineering department (PHE) provide a single tap connection for the supply of drinking water, the irony is that water has never been supplied. This has forced villagers to install hand pumps to meet their daily requirements, a villager, Parmanand said.

There is a single teacher at the anganwadi school where children of the village and its surrounding areas are taught up to Class V. In the absence of a middle and high school in the village, around 150 children walk all the way to Gajansoo, which is about 3 km from the village, for further studies.

While dairy is the main source of income for the villagers who rear around 700 buffaloes and cows, there is no veterinary hospital in the village and in case of serious ailment to these animals, villagers get a private doctor from Belicharana, 7 km from the village.

A few years ago, villagers were provided 13 pump sets on subsidised rates for irrigating their agriculture land, but they are lying defunct since a long time, due to damaged electric poles and wires.

Ajay Sadhotra, former MLA Marh constituency, held the previous Congress-PDP coalition government responsible for the pathetic condition of roads in the village.

Deputy commissioner Dr Mandeep K. Bhandari said he would ensure implementation of development programmes meant for border villages in Nai Basti.

Meanwhile, block development officer (BDO), Gurmeet Kaur, refused to comment.

Srinagar, September 29
With the exodus of migrant labourers from the valley following the agitation for right to self determination by separatists, the daily wages of unskilled labourers have skyrocketed for the past few months, in some cases they have gone up even by 100 per cent.

“An average labourer would charge between Rs 130 and Rs 150 per day before the exodus of non-Kashmiri labourers began from the valley. Today, they charge nothing less than Rs 250 per day,” contractor Nissar Ahmad Dar said.

The labour market is facing a severe crunch as the demand for unskilled workforce has gone up with the onset of the paddy and fruit harvesting season in the valley.

Dar said he was not in a position to match the wages given by farm owners to the labourers.

The two-month-long agitation in the valley followed by curfew spread over 15 days led to non-Kashmiri labourers leaving the region for other places as they could not get any work here.

Those who stayed back in the valley have doubled their rates due to high demand.

The situation has become piquant as an unskilled labourer today demands wages between Rs 220 to Rs 300 per day while doctors and engineers working on contractual terms with the state government are paid around Rs 260 a day.

The development works started under the aegis of Economic Reconstruction Agency, set up by the Prime Minister, have also been delayed due to shortage of the daily labourers.

“There is a shortage of labour and rise in ground water table in certain areas before time has hampered the work on drainage projects,” an agency official said.

Even works on several bridges and flyovers, including the ones on Pantha Chowk-Parimpora bypass here, have been stalled due to non-availability of labourers. — PTI 

Jammu, September 29
Boys’ outshone girls in the medical stream, while they lost to them in the engineering stream as results of the CET for MBBS, BDS, BVSc and BE courses were declared today.

The exams for the said courses were held on September 13 and 14.

Jan Mohammad Suhail from Kashmir secured 204 marks out of the net aggregate 225 and claimed the first position in the medical stream in open merit. He got selected for MBBS. Topper from Jammu region, Shwait Sharma claimed the fourth position by securing 201 marks in the medical stream.

Among girls, Nidhi Sharma from Jammu topped with 198 marks and got selected for the MBBS.

In BDS, Shabir Ahmed Ganayee from Kashmir topped with 183 marks, while Rayees Ahmed Malik topped from Jammu. He secured 177marks and attained 12th position in the state.

Rachna Sharma from Jammu topped among girls with 176 marks.

In BVSc, Muiez Bashir from Kashmir topped in open merit by securing 177 marks, while Muneet Kapoor of Jammu got the third position.

In engineering, Sobiya from Kashmir topped with 171 marks, while Sahil Sharma from Jammu attained the second rank with 168 marks. 

Jammu, September 29
Like every year the state government would mobilise all its resources to display the grandeur of the state during the nine-day-long Navratra festival beginning here tomorrow.

Addressing mediapersons here, divisional commissioner Sudhanshu Pandey said: “The Directorate of Tourism has been making efforts to make the festival a grand success”.

Pandey said Katra town already wore a festive look. He said a competition would be organised during the festival to encourage the best-decorated hotel, restaurant, food station and dhaba to maintain the quality of food and service.

The government had planned to set up CCTV cameras at various locations from Katra to the holy bhawan so as to keep a constant vigil, he said.

Pandey said a national-level devotional song competition would be held every day at 8.30 pm at the Yog Ashram Grounds in Katra and the winner on the final day of the festival would be given gold coins worth Rs 1 lakh to be arranged by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.