Srinagar, October 24
Violent clashes continued for the second consecutive day today and normal life was affected across the Kashmir valley in response to the separatists’ call for a general strike on the occasion of United Nations foundation day.

There were massive protests in the valley. Demonstrators sought implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir and later clashed with the police.

At least 10 persons were injured in the clashes at Maisuma in the central Lal Chowk area while eight others were injured in Sopore town of north Kashmir and four in Beijbehara.

(According to UNI, NDTV cameraman Tariq Ahmad was also injured in a clash at Maisuma today. He was hit by a stone after which he was admitted to a hospital.)

All the shops and business establishments remained closed across the valley and transport was off the roads. Educational institutions and banks were closed and there was thin attendance in the government offices. Private vehicles and autorickshaws were plying in some areas.

Other major towns of the valley including Baramulla, Sopore, Bandipore, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Anantnag, Pulwama and Budgam also observed a complete shutdown.

However, a police spokesman said the situation by and large remained peaceful in the valley barring a few stone-pelting incidents in Chinkral Mohalla, Rajouri Kadal, Nowhatta in Srinagar, Sopore and Khawaja Bagh in Baramulla.

It was for the second consecutive day that the Maisuma area witnessed protest demonstrations. Protests were held against the arrest of JKLF chairman and other senior leaders of separatist coordination Committee yesterday, a day after they led an anti-election rally at Hajan in Bandipore district.

Today’s bandh call was given by the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani, who is undergoing treatment in Delhi. In a statement, he said Kashmiris have been demanding implementation of the UN resolution for the past six decades.

Udhampur, October 24
Close on the heels of busting a gang involved in the blackmarketing of ration meant for BPL families, the Kishtwar police has detected another scandal of large-scale misappropriation of food items supplied in government schools to provide mid-day meals to the students.

Two government school teachers, Riyaz Ahmed and Imtiyaz Ahmed, and a shopkeeper, Farooq Ahmed, have been arrested and some more officers are likely to be arrested in this regard.

After the ration meant for the mid-day meal scheme was recovered from a private shop in the Chatroo tehsil, the police summoned the chief education officer (CEO), zonal education officer (ZEO) and the tehsil supply officer (TSO) of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) department to provide details about the total ration being supplied in the schools of Chatroo tehsil.

“Initial investigation revealed that it is a big scandal and there is large-scale misappropriation of ration meant for students”, SSP, Kishtwar, Dr Hasim Mugal, told The Tribune.

Mugal admitted that the two teachers were arrested for their alleged involvement in selling government ration in a shop in the Chatroo area.

However, he did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of some officials of the CAPD department in the scam.

Sources said with the alleged connivance of some officials of the CAPD department, the teachers allegedly sold the ration in the market. Following complaints by the locals, the police conducted a surprise raid in a shop in the Maliknadh area of Chatroo tehsil and recovered some bags of rice. Each bag carried 50 kg rice.

On questioning, shopkeeper Farooq Ahmed revealed that the bags were sold to him by teachers Riyaz Ahmed and Imtiyaz Ahmed. Farooq said he purchased each bag at the cost of Rs 500. The police also recovered eight similar bags which were kept near the school.

Jammu, October 24
The Amarnath land row will certainly influence the outcome in the Assembly elections that were kicked off today.

A day ahead of the start of the poll process, the issue again hogged the limelight with the BJP roping in Shilpi Verma, widow of a land protester, and making it clear it that the land row would definitely be one of their electoral issues. "We have fought the agitation as a constituent of the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti and the land row will, therefore, be our poll plank," said R.P. Singh, the co-in charge of the party's J&K affairs.

What has further polarised the electorate is the fact that the land controversy also brought to the fore the issue of "discrimination with the Jammu" region. Though the issue had been raised time and again in the past too, the land row generated a feeling among the people in the region that "why we are always taken for granted". It's a different matter though that the land row didn't concern the people of Jammu alone. In view of these factors, the "Kashmir-based" parties like the National Conference and the PDP may suffer losses in the region.

Interestingly, the BJP alone cannot reap all benefits over the issue. There are other players too. One of them is the Panthers Party, which also supported the agitation. Then there are outfits like the Jammu State Morcha (Progressive) which talks of the separate statehood for Jammu. Besides, the land row has given birth to various pro-Jammu outfits some of which will also contest the elections.

Jammu, October 24
The Jammu State Morcha (P) today declared the list of 9 candidates who would contest the state Assembly elections from different constituencies of Jammu region.

Announcing the names of the candidates, JSM (P) president Prof Virender Gupta urged the people of the Jammu region to vote and support the party as it had stood for the uplift of the people of Jammu.

“We call upon the people of the Jammu region to fully support the Morcha in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Ours is the only party that understands the sentiments of the people of Jammu”, Gupta said.

The selected candidates are Prof Virender Gupta from the Jammu west constituency, Anil Gour from the Gandhi Nagar seat, Balwinder Singh Jamwal from the Nagrota constituency, Digvijay Singh Jamwal from the Vijaypur constituency, Shiv Ratan Singh from the Suchetgarh constituency, Jitender Bhagat from R.S. Pura, Varinder Mangota from Bishnah, Jia Lal Bhagat from Chenani and Surat Singh Sumbaria from the Ramnagar Assembly constituency.

Gupta said the list of other candidates would be declared soon.

Jammu, October 24
The Jammu and Kashmir Akhil Bharatiya Gujjar Maha Sabha today released its charter of demands and proposed that whichever party would incorporate it in their manifesto, would get the organisation’s support in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The charter states for setting up of an inquiry commission inclusive of members from their community, to identify swindling in the funds aimed at the welfare of tribal communities and a commission to ensure timely and optimum utilisation of such funds.

The charter has also asked for political reservation for the community for political empowerment, besides permanent settlement of migratory Gujjars and Bakarwals.

The charter further underlined the importance for approval of the Reservation Act, 2008, by the next Assembly within six months.

Organisation president Eshfaq-ul-Rehman Poswal in a statement said the organisation was making all out efforts to ensure full participation of the Gujjar community in the elections.

Poswal also expressed hope that all political parties would give a mandate to the candidates belonging to their community for contesting the elections. He said the Gujjar Maha Sabha had chalked out a detailed program of visiting different constituencies from October 25 onwards.

Jammu, October 24
With the onset of the winter season, the unscheduled power cuts are back to haunt Jammu residents.

“Already we are facing problems due to erratic functioning of our transformer and now the unscheduled and prolonged electric cuts have worsened the situation in our area,” averred Santosh Khjauria of Talab Tillo area.

Neenu Raina, a collegiate, said, “Examinations are nearing but studies suffer on account of unscheduled power cuts.”

Muthi resident Sonia Sharma said, “There have been frequent power cuts for the past several days. We were hoping that with the completion of the Baglihar project, we would receive 24-hour power supply but our assessment proved wrong. Instead of improving the situation, the things have got worsened.”

Susheela Jamwal, a resident of Shakti Nagar, said: “The Power Development Department (PDD) has failed to restore the regular power supply in the Jammu province.”

“Due to unscheduled power cuts, my business suffers a lot. I sell electronic goods and my whole work depends on power supply,” said Amit Verma, a businessman.

Jammu, October 24
Jammu wears a festive look these days ahead of the festival of lights - Diwali. The entire city has been illuminated with lights and a fair-like atmosphere prevails.

People seem to be overjoyed as they would be celebrating Diwali after the success of the land row agitation.

Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Nai Basti, said: “This year's Diwali would be more special and it would not only symbolise the victory of good over evil but also the return of land to the shrine board”.

Meanwhile, the administration has earmarked two places in the city for putting up stalls for selling firecrackers wherein all proper safety and emergency arrangements have been made to avoid any untoward incident.

“Fire tenders have also been kept ready in Gandhi Nagar and Parade where firecrackers are being sold. Medical teams have also been kept on standby to deal with any emergency”, an officer of the district administration said.

Elaborate security arrangements have also been made for the 
celebrations.

“We can not take any chance with the security arrangements. The militants who had entered the city after the Kanachak infiltration have not been brought down so far. So we won’t take any chance”, a senior police officer said.

The officer said: “Given the fact that the elections are round the corner, we would be deploying an extra number of police personnel in the sensitive areas”.

Jammu, October 24
The authorities today kicked off the repair work on the Tawi bridge, which connects two parts of the city. The work though slowed down traffic to a large extent.

There were long queues of vehicles, as out of the four lanes two were closed for traffic and the traffic cops also faced a tough time managing the situation. Traffic movement at Vikram Chowk and Dogra Chowk, located on either side of the bridge, was affected several times during the day.

According to PWD sources, the bridge had developed snags especially in extension joints which needed immediate repair. As a result, the ride had become bumpy for heavy vehicles.

The repair work would take nearly 25 days to finish. The work has been outsourced to a Faridabad-based private company, which has expertise in the field, at a cost of nearly Rs 17 lakh.

Sources said ignoring the flaw for a long could cost dear in the future. Thus, the department took decision in public interest to rectify it at the earliest.

A senior traffic police official said the department had pressed in extra manpower to manage traffic besides diverting routes for vehicles to avoid jams. He said heavy vehicles would be diverted to the bridge at the Gujjar Nagar area.