Jammu, October 21
Following a visit to the Baglihar power project, Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah today accused India of blocking water flow from the Chenab and also carrying out filling operations at the project site beyond the specified date in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.

Interacting with select mediapersons here on his way back to New Delhi, Shah said: "As per the treaty, India can carry out filling operations at the project site from June 21 to August 31, but this time it started on August 19 and continued with the filling till September 5 or 6. Also the water flow at the Marala headworks, the entry point to Pakistan, should not reduce from 55,000 cusecs per day, but during this period it went down to as low as 20,000 cusecs per day on various occasions."

Asked whether he was accusing India of violating the treaty, Shah said:"It is not an allegation but a fact that has been verified by us through inspection." He said during the filling period there was also a span of 30 hours when water flow was nil.

Regarding the exact period when India "blocked Chenab waters", he said they had requested India to make available the data regarding the flow of Chenab waters in this connection.

On the issue of compensation, Shah said they would first get the data regarding reduction in water flow and then decide the future course of action. "There is a mechanism for seeking compensation and we can initiate measures to mitigate the losses suffered by our people."

Whether Pakistan would approach the World Bank over the issue, he said being the first platform the matter could be resolved at the level of the two commissioners, failing which either of the commissioners could approach neutral experts.

Shah said India had some other projects in the pipeline and if the same scenario was repeated there would be complications. He stressed the need for observing the treaty in letter and in spirit while designing, carrying out filling work and operating the project.

When asked as to which areas of Pakistan had witnessed farmers' protest due to the alleged loss of water, he said various farmer bodies like the Kisan Board, cotton and rice growers had complained to him about the matter.

Meanwhile, Shah also raised the point of some welding plates put on the gates, which would be crosschecked with the officials concerned.

On the other hand, reliable sources in the Indian side said they carried out the filling work between August 20 and 31 and also ensured that 55,000 cusecs of water was released to the Marala headworks.

Regarding the post-August 31 scenario, the sources said there was scanty rain this time and it could have affected the overall discharge of the river.

The Pakistani delegation's current tour was the 109th tour of inspection since the treaty came into being in 1960.

Jammu, October 21
Even though the National Conference would go full throttle in the coming assembly poll after sustaining a debacle in 2002, its chances of doing exceedingly well in Jammu certainly look bleak in the backdrop of the Amarnath land row.

With the PDP caught in a catch-22 situation (both in the Kashmir and Jammu regions), the NC too had to undergo a litmus test in the Jammu region, especially in Hindu-dominated areas, say political pundits.

Sources in the party said: "Had the elections been conducted in March or April this year, we would have surely gained an upper hand but the Amarnath land agitation plus party president Omar Abdullah's unwarranted remarks during the UPA government's floor test have dampened the party prospects in Jammu," they said.

A party worker said before the land agitation engulfed the state there had been a strong sympathy wave in favour of the NC but the advantage did not last long and now there has been a sizeable decrease in the party's popularity graph in Jammu.

Like other outfits the NC has also kicked off its election campaign but there is no denying the fact that the agitation over land row has given an upper edge to parties like the BJP and the Panthers Party, he added.

“With the storm having blown over we have started experiencing a slight change in the mood of people in the Jammu region but the party may lose ground in Jammu, Kathua, Samba and Udhampur districts,” he said.

A political observer said with the separatists having made made a comeback in the Kashmir valley because of the land agitation, Kashmir-centric NC and PDP find themselves in the dock.

While the PDP had little base in Jammu the NC had a much better acceptability in all three regions of the state but its role in the land agitation would definitely cast a shadow on its poll prospects, he said. Party patron and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah refused to give any comment.

In 2002 the NC had won nine seats from Jammu and 19 from the Kashmir valley. In a sharp decline the party had slumped to 19 seats in the Kashmir valley in 2002 compared to 40 in 1996, nine in Jammu in 2002 compared to 14 in 1996 and one in Ladakh in 2002 compared to three in 1996.

Jammu, October 21
Ghulam Hassan Mir of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Party (JKDP), M.Y. Tarigami of the CPM, former transport minister Hakeem Mohd. Yaseen and former legislator Usman Abdul Majid have decided to hammer out an electoral understanding for contesting the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Mir and Tarigami said today that instead of a third front “we have decided to contest the election under an understanding so that we do not fight against our own candidates.”

Mir said the JKDP would contest on 25 seats, including seven in the Jammu region. Mir had been a founder member of the PDP, but after his expulsion from the party over two years ago, he floated the JKDP.

Mir said his party had been registered by the Election Commission and a letter to this effect was received by him today. He said till the party was recognised its candidates would contest as independents.

Tarigami said the CPM would field its candidates in more than 12 constituencies. In the 2002 election, the party had contested seven seats and emerged victorious on four. The party had polled 0.88 per cent of the total polled votes, he added.

Meanwhile, the Panthers Party will release the first list of its candidates on Thursday after the meeting of its Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

Party general secretary Harsh Dev Singh said: “We plan to field candidates in all 37 constituencies in the Jammu region and over 12 in the Kashmir valley. In 2002, the party had contested on 36 seats and won four. It had polled 3.83 per cent of the total polled votes.”

New Delhi, October 21
The Election Commission has not approved some of the transfers ordered by the Jammu and Kashmir government minutes before the EC announced the unprecedented seven-phase polls in the state on October 19.

The EC, however, has cleared the appointment of Kursheed Ganai as the new home secretary replacing Anil Goswami, who has been transferred as financial commissioner (Revenue), the EC sources said.

They said the EC had not cleared the transfer of deputy commissioners Gazzanfer Hussain, Mohammed Afzal Bhat and Sudershan Sharma of Anantnag, Poonch and Kishtwar, respectively.

They said the transfer of SP Leh and Poonch S.R. Samuel and Basant Kumar Rath, respectively, and additional SP of Jammu (Rural) Keshav Ram Chaurasia have been stopped.

Regarding the transfer of SP Kargil, the EC has asked the state government to provide a panel of officers after which a decision could be taken.

“The state administration said it had sent the proposal regarding transfers to the commission which would be considered tomorrow,” the sources said.

Transfers of 14 IAS and KAS officers were ordered an hour before the EC announced on Sunday that the state is going for seven-phased Assembly polls in November-December. — PTI

Jammu, October 21
Demanding that the state Assembly elections should be held in three phases and tainted officials should be removed from the poll process, scores of workers of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today staged a dharna outside the Election Commission’s office in New Delhi.

As per a press release issued here, the demonstrators led by president of the Delhi Pradesh National Panthers Party, Sanjay Sachdev, also submitted a memorandum by party chairman Prof Bhim Singh to the deputy election commissioner.

Bhim said the electoral process for two months was not a “good precedent” for the future. Maintaining that the elections could be completed in three phases, Bhim said the first phase should have included the Ladakh region and Tangdhar in Kupwara district as they were cut off from the rest of valley in November due to snowfall.

“Instead of including Poonch in the first phase of elections, the Assembly constituency of Kishtwar district should be included in the first phase,” Bhim said.

Similarly, the elections in Budgam and Kupwara (excluding Karnah) should have been held in a single phase, while elections in Rajouri and Poonch districts could be held in one go, he said.

Bhim said: “Elections in Udhampur, Jammu, Kathua, Doda and Rambhan should have been held in a single phase and elections in rural districts of old Srinagar and old Anantnag can also be held in a single phase.” He stated the district electoral officers would distribute photo identity cards to the voters who had still not received them.

Bhim also demanded that electoral photo identity cards be distributed to Jammu migrants to make them exercise their franchise frrom their respective migrant camps at Talwara, Pauni, Budhal, Udhampur and other places.

Jammu, October 21
Assocham has projected that the Indo-Pak bilateral trade would touch $9 billion in the next few years.

Releasing Assocham 's publication on 'Indo-Pak trade ties', the association's secretary- general D.S Rawat sounded optimistic that the opening of road linkages between India and Pakistan would pave the way for larger movement of trade and tourism.

He said prospects for increased two-way trade were also based on assumptions that cooperation between the two nations had been accelerated in the field of banking, freight transport and goods like tea and rice after the launch of SAFTA in January, 2006. With the opening of rail and road transport, the bilateral trade had increased to $400 million, he added.

"With SAFTA becoming operational in July, 2006, over 4,000 commodities were opened for trade compared to less than 1,000 under the India 'positive lists' maintained by Pakistan. Exports from India to Pakistan have grown at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 60 per cent and imports at a CAGR of 64 per cent for the 2002-2007 period."

Rawat said the main commodities of export to Pakistan included sugar, dyes, plastic, petroleum products and cotton while the main import items were petroleum, crude products, fruit, nuts, cotton, yarn, fabric and organic chemicals.

The publication held that the expansion and diversification of restrictions on trade through land borders and informal trade, carried out through third countries, must be stopped. It said informal trade proved costly as the product first had to be exported to some other country and then re-exported to Pakistan.

It stated that illegal trade overland across the borders was said to be more in quantum then the regular bilateral trade. The voluminous smuggling of commodities and merchandise between the two countries indicated mutually profitable economic opportunities.

The smuggled trade exports to Pakistan include industrial machinery, tyres, chemical and tea. Goods entering India in this category included edible oil, spices, dry fruit and pulses.

Srinagar, October 21
The PDP has left everybody guessing by not opening its cards on participation in the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party is meeting on October 24 and 25 to take a final decision whether to join or stay away from the poll process, PDP general secretary Nizam Uddin Bhat said today. He said no decision has been taken so far.

When asked about the absence of PDP in the all-party meet called by Governor N.N. Vohra yesterday in connection with the election arrangements, Nizam, MLC, said we did not want to send a confusing signal to the people of the state.

“How can we take part in the meetings called in connection with the holding of elections by the administration when we have not yet decided about participating in the process,” he said.

Nizam said selecting candidates for the polls would be decided only when a final decision is taken by the PAC.

The PDP leaders during their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Election Commission has opposed immediate polls and said the situation was not conducive for credible polls.

The PDP had suggested several confidence-building measures before going for polls to have larger participation of people in the democratic process.

Meanwhile, the Awami National Conference, which opted out from all past elections since 1989, will take a final decision on its participation in the ensuing Assembly elections on October 24.

A spokesman of the ANC said the party would convene a meeting on October 24.

The meeting, which would be attended by top leadership -- all central, provincial and district bodies' leaders -- would discuss in detail the ensuing polls in the state.

He said the meeting, which would be held at party headquarters here, would take a final decision on the future strategy of the party.

The ANC, which believes that Kashmir is an issue, which needs to be resolved as per the wishes of the people, has not contested any election in the state since 1989.

However, before the Amarnath land row, the ANC had expressed its willingness to participate in the Assembly polls and had in fact started campaigning in different parts of the valley. — UNI

Srinagar, October 21
Due to early snowfall and snow-covered road on the Zojila Pass, Project Beacon today decided to close the Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road for vehicular traffic from October 31.

Usually the road is closed by November 15 every year for winter months when the Zojila Pass receives heavy snowfall.

A statement issued by Project Beacon said resources deployed at various locations on the Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road would be withdrawn accordingly on the instructions of the HQ 15 Corps.

Chief engineer, Project Beacon, further stated that following the closure of the road, it would not be possible to provide assistance to the trapped passengers as well as vehicles.

He has requested private and public transporters not to ply their vehicles beyond Gagangir on the road after October 31.

Jammu, October 21
Three militants were arrested and a sleeper cell busted by police in Udhampur and Jammu districts, official sources said.

On a tip off, a police team intercepted a vehicle on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at Kud and arrested a woman militant of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) - Hamida Begum and her brother Mohmmad Ashraf last night, they said.

Hamida was on her way to Jammu from Anantnag to assist a sleeper cell to trigger a blast in Jammu city and target some prominent Hindu leaders in the city, the police said adding the cell was led by Pakistan militant Abu Naik.

Police then raided a hideout in Sunjwa area of Jammu city and arrested Hizbul militant Saleem Ahmed last night, they said.

They also recovered one Chinese pistol, one magazine, 130 rounds and some detonators. Meanwhile, a live grenade was recovered by the security forces in Ramban district, police sources said.

A bomb disposal squad along with the police and the Army rushed to the spot and defused the bomb. — Agencies

One Army jawan sustained injuries and was hospitalised, sources here said. — UNI

Jammu, October 21
Jammu University (JU) will soon add another feather in its cap — an energy institute on the lines of the Energy and Geo-science Institute, University of Utah.

The university has already chalked out a plan of the proposed institute in cooperation with Eni Corporate University, Milan; EGI; University of Utah and MPRG, University College, London.

Vice-chancellor Prof Amitabh Mattoo met the Italian delegation representing Eni and Italian Embassy here today.

The delegation included Ugo Astuto, deputy head of mission, Italian Embassy, New Delhi; Franco Conticini, GM Eni-India; Stefano Santi, Eni-India; commercial, negotiations and government affairs manager Dr Jonathan Craig; Caryl Craig and Beth Geen-Craig. Matoo also announced grant of Visiting Professorship of JU to Dr Jonathan Craig, Prof Juergen Thurow, Department of Earth Sciences, University College, London and Dr Bindra Thusu, MPRG, University College, London.

Matoo also honoured Dr Craig and presented awards to Franco Conticini for Eni India and to Stefano Santi for Eni Milan.

INSAF also expressed concern over the security of Sikhs residing in Belgium and demanded the immediate release of the detained persons.

Jammu, October 21
The district administration has prohibited bursting of high-decibel crackers to ensure a pollution-free Diwali.

Deputy commissioner Mandeep K. Bhandari said, “High-decibel crackers have been banned under Section 144. People should celebrate eco-friendly Diwali and should not burst high-volume crackers, which lead to hearing loss, high BP, heart attack and sleeping disturbances.”

He said, “Regular inspections are being carried out to check the sale of hazardous crackers in the market.”

S.P. Arya, member secretary, State Pollution Control Board, said, “We will hold awareness programmes regarding celebration of cracker-free Diwali and will sensitise people through the electronic and print media over the issue.”

He said, “For many people, only bursting crackers means Diwali, but they do not know about the ill-effects these crackers leave on our environment.”

The people here have hailed the administration’s move. “We welcome the ban on the use of crackers that produce deafening noise and pollute the atmosphere,” said Ram Chand, a resident of Muthi village.

“We should protect our environment instead of increasing air and noise pollution through mindless use of crackers,” said Janipur resident Ashok Kumar.

Srinagar, October 21
Unscheduled power cuts here have raised a grim prospect for residents who will depend heavily upon power supply to fight winter blues in the coming months.

Groups of people have protested against long power cuts in different towns of the valley but things are not much better in Srinagar either.

Barring a few areas housing bureaucrats or the elite of the city, power supply has taken a turn for the worse in areas like Nawa Kadal, Kawdara, Kawdara.

"There has been more than a six-hour power cut for the past several days. They are unannounced," Imran Ahmad, a businessman, said.

With the commissioning of the Baglihar project, people had hoped that things would improve but the situation had rather deteriorated. "The nights are darker than ever," Imran said sarcastically.

A Power Department official said they were "tuning up" infrastructure in different parts of the city and it hads caused load-shedding but there were no long-term concerns.