Jammu, October 30
The BJP today announced that it would contest 60 Assembly seats in the state, besides having electoral understanding on a few other seats in the ongoing elections.

Addressing the media at the party headquarters, BJP’s J&K affairs in charge and former Himachal CM Shanta Kumar said following a series of meetings of the party’s state election committee over the last two days, they have finalised their recommendations for 60 seats and sent them to the party high command who will take a final decision on it.

He added that the talks were also on with “nationalist candidates” for electoral understanding on a few other seats.

The BJP’s parliamentary board is meeting in New Delhi tomorrow and is likely to give final touch to the list.

The party had contested 58 seats and had managed to win only one in the last Assembly elections. It was a huge setback to the party as it had emerged victorious on 8 Assembly seats in 1996 elections.

Referring to the Amarnath land agitation, Shanta Kumar said the BJP was contesting the elections with an aim to convert the people's power in Jammu into political power.

He said the land agitation was historic firstly because it was fought rising above the political lines and secondly it gave an outlet to the pent up anger among the people who were facing discrimination for over 60 years.

He said the land row may have been resolved, but the sentiment of bias and injustice towards Jammu is yet to be addressed.

The former Himachal chief minister said inflation, corruption and internal security would be the main issues in the Assembly elections to six states.

Flaying the Congress and its allies for their utterances on the Batla House encounter, he accused the Congress of compromising with the country's internal security for votebank politics.

Meanwhile, Sukhwant Kaur Dogra, a former IAS officer, today joined the BJP along with her supporters.

Jammu, October 30
The BJP has termed PDP’s ‘self-rule’ document as a ‘Hurriyat’s agenda’ and called the Mufti Mohammed-led party as anti-national.

“Equitable development and betterment of all the regions and sub-regions is just to mislead people of Jammu, who otherwise have understood the role and policies of the party during its role in the cancellation of the forestland allotment to the shrine board,” said state BJP president Ashok Khajuria.

He said: “Self-rule is the manifestation of the Hurriyat agenda to dissect the valley from the country.”

But the PDP leadership in Jammu is hopeful to leave its mark in the upcoming Assembly elections. “We are hopeful that the people of the Jammu region are happy with the developmental policies adopted by Mufti when he was the chief minister,” a senior PDP leader said.

He said: “The voters in Jammu are mature enough to differentiate between friends and foes.”

Srinagar, October 30
The separatist coordination committee has decided to lead the anti-election campaign in Kashmir beginning with a march to Jamia Masjid on November 6.

The committee took the decision at a meeting here yesterday, in the absence of top leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik.

While hardline APHC chairman Geelani is undergoing treatment in Delhi, moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz has been kept under house arrest since Friday last and has been prevented from addressing last Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid and the Wednesday’s meeting of Coordination Committee.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik and chairman of Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadeeth Showkat Ahmad Shah are under detention after their anti-election rally at Hajin in Bandipore district on Thursday last.

PTI adds: Two separatist leaders, including acting chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Nissar Ahmad Rather, have been arrested to thwart their anti-poll campaign in Jammu and Kashmir.

While Rather was arrested from the Hazratbal locality on the outskirts of Srinagar yesterday, senior leader of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Hakeem Abdul Rashid was picked up in uptown city today, official sources said.

A spokesman of the moderate Hurriyat said the crackdown on separatist leaders has put a question mark on the credibility of the upcoming elections.

“The mass arrest of Hurriyat leaders and activists and house arrest of others has exposed the poll process... It has become more evident that there is no place for difference of opinion in Indian democracy,” the spokesman said.

Srinagar, October 30
With the poll fever gaining momentum, the process of various leaders and workers joining other political parties ahead of the elections has started. This is influenced by the long duration between the successive phases of elections in different areas. There are three constituencies of Bandipore district going to the polls in the first phase, and two constituencies of Ganderbal district in the second, while Srinagar with eight seats goes to the polls in the last phase.

Senior NC delegate Abdul Hamid Kohsheen along with hundreds of supporters today joined the PDP here today. “His joining will add colours to the party in Srinagar”, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said. Kohsheen, who has been in the NC for 30 years, thanked the PDP president for according him a rousing welcome. Kohsheen said that he found the PDP's self-rule agenda as the best roadmap to resolve the vexed Kashmir issue taking into account the public aspirations and the acceptability of the Governments of India and Pakistan.

On the other hand, Shah Mohammad Tantrey, a prominent public figure from Poonch, joined the National Conference on Tuesday. While joining the party, Tantrey said it was a homecoming for him and assured the party patron that he would extend full support to the party’s candidate from Poonch-Haveli.

Udhampur, October 30
The National Conference has kicked off the election campaign for Reasi and Doda Assembly constituencies without formally announcing the names of the candidates for these two seats.

Two NC leaders and former ministers Khalid Najib Soharwardy and Jagjeevan Lal, who unsuccessfully contested the last election from Doda and Reasi seats, respectively, are optimistic that they will get their party’s mandate in 
this election.

These leaders have addressed series of public meetings in their respective constituencies.

Najib said development, peace, progress and well-being of the people of the state were the top priorities of the National Conference.

He promised that the NC if voted to power would usher a new era of development especially in far-flung areas of the state, open new avenues of employment for the unemployed and offer better opportunities for the growth and development of the backward and far-flung areas.

He said the Congress, the PDP and the BJP had no agenda for the development of the state.

Jagjeevan Lal said the NC after coming to power will ensure unprecedented development of Reasi in all spheres and would further ensure that the sufferings and miseries of the people of the area are minimised.

Jagjeevan Lal said the party would work towards resolving the issues like unemployment, electricity crisis, water problem etc and would take the state towards prosperity.

Jammu, October 30
National Conference (NC) leader Chowdhary Ghani has strongly condemned Choudhary Bashir Ahmed Naaz for criticising the NC leadership.

In a statement issued here today, Ghani said it was unfortunate that people like Naaz, who changed their political affiliations for personal gains, had no moral right to pass judgement about the leadership.

Naaz, who was a sitting NC MLC, parted ways with the party and had been given Congress’ mandate from Poonch Haveli going to polls on November 17.

Ghani said it was surprising that Naaz who till yesterday spared no occasion to shower accolades on the leadership suddenly started finding faults in it.

“Naaz’s political career from the BJP to the NC and to the Congress speaks volume about his character and needs no elaboration”, he said.

He said when he (Naaz) had joined the BJP he was all praise for Vajpayee, Advani and Narinder Modi and now when he joined Congress he was finding all good in Sonia Gandhi and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

He said the Gujjar community had always stood for strong secular values and should continue to support the NC.

Udhampur, October 30
Removing discrimination against the Jammu region seems to be the main poll plank in the coming assembly elections in Udhampur and Reasi districts.

Whereas the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (NPP) have already been raking up this issue to strengthen their vote bank, the Congress has also coined the slogan of "Justice For Jammu" to seek votes in these two districts.

On the one hand, Congress leaders are claiming that it was only during their government that the much-awaited recommendations of the Wazir Commission were implemented. They were now seeking an absolute majority for the party to completely remove discrimination with the Jammu region.

The Congress, which had failed to open its account in the 2002 assembly elections in Udhampur district, has realised that a pro-Jammu stand was a must in this area to counter the BJP and the JKNPP.

"Only the Congress can protect the interest of the Jammu region as this party is committed to equitable development of all regions and sub-regions of the state", senior leader R.S. Pathania claimed while addressing public meetings in the Ramnagar assembly constituency. Repeatedly pointing towards implementation of the recommendations of the Wazir Commission, he added that the Congress was committed to constituting a delimitation commission but the party could not take any decision due to lack of adequate strengthen in the Legislative Assembly.

"Give a two-thirds majority to the Congress in the coming elections and the party would remove discrimination with Jammu once and for all", he promised and cautioned the people against the malicious campaign of the BJP and the JKNPP. Pathania, who has staked claimed on the Ramnagar seat, addressed a series of meetings at Pandola, Sulan, Mansar, Basantgarh and other areas.

Addressing meetings in adjoining villages, another Congress leader Ashwani Khajuria from Udhampur told the people that only the Congress government could remove discrimination against the Jammu region. He listed various revolutionary steps taken by the Congress-led coalition regime for equitable development of the state. While admitting that successive state governments have ignored Jammu regions, he said that it was only during the past three years that adequate funds were provided to this region for development. He mentioned that new districts were created in the Jammu region during Congress rule and the Finance Commission was also constituted to allot equal funds to all regions.

Jammu, October 30
The state government has announced the constitution of a five-member committee headed by Prof Amitabh Mattoo, vice-chancellor of Jammu University, for the establishment of the State Knowledge Commission (SKC). Mattoo is also a member of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC).

As per the government notification, other members of the committee would include Prof Reyaz Punjabi, vice-chancellor of Kashmir University, Prof Sadiq Wahid, vice-chancellor of Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipura, Kashmir, B.B.

Viyas, commissioner secretary to government finance department and K.M. Wani, commissioner secretary to government higher education department.

The panel has been asked to submit its report within a period of two months.

The aim behind constituting the commission committee is to work out the modalities to establish the Jammu and Kashmir State Knowledge Commission.

“The committee has to recommend measures taken up to transform the state into a vibrant knowledge society and knowledge economy and to recommend measures to build excellence in educational system,” an official spokesman said.

It would also recommend a regulatory framework to oversee the growth of educational infrastructure in the state. It would also provide guidelines for the training and retraining of youth in consonance with the need of knowledge economy.

The NKC is a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India created with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society. It covers sectors from education to e-governance.

The various state governments have mooted the proposal to set up a knowledge commission to pro-actively initiate and adopt several key reforms and suggestions by the NKC.

Jammu, October 30
The business community on this side has demanded certain measures to ease the trade process across the Line of Control (LoC), which began after a span of 61 years.

First the community wants to do away with the barter system transaction. The traders want banking facilities and are waiting a decision on the use of currency.

Secondly, instead of just two routes — Uri-Muzzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakote — they felt the need of opening traditional trade routes of Suchetgarh-Sialkot, Nowshera-Mirpur and Pallanwala-Chamb.

For better banking facilities, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank has sought permission for reopening of its branches in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir so that traders could deposit money for the goods received from Srinagar and Poonch, which the traders in Jammu and Kashmir could get transferred later. The bank had branches in the areas across the border before 1947.

Several traders, including Azim Khan and Sudershan Gupta, said: “We would prefer transaction through currency because at times we would be losers for sending costly items to PoK in case we are asked to bank on the barter system.”

Experts said that since the cross-LOC trade is neither international nor domestic in nature despite the fact that good imported and exported are exempted from the customs duty, decision on the use of currency and introduction of banking facilities had become mandatory.

This is warranted because there were no banking relations between India and Pakistan.

Chief of Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu, Ram Sahai, said: “A trade delegation from Jammu and Kashmir may visit Muzaffarabad in the second week of next month for discussing the modalities for making the cross-LOC trade a meaningful exercise.”

For more routes, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry wrote to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to open these traditional routes.

Governor N.N. Vohra has assured us to pursue the matter with the Centre, said Ram Sahai, president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Federation of Industries chairman Annil Suri echoed similar views. These three routes are much viable from the business point of view for trading communities of both the sides, said Suri.

The PoK delegation too had evinced keen interest in opening Suchetgarh-Sialkot, Nowshera-Mirpur and Pallanwala-Chamb routes for the simple reason that Sialkot, Mirpur and Chamb were major trading centers across the divide, he said.

Another entrepreneur Pawan Gupta said: “Clarity on issues like freight charges, other taxes and restriction of 1.5 tonne on consignment was needed immediately.”

Mandi (Poonch), October 30
The state government may be spending a huge sum of money to improve healthcare facilities across the state, but it has failed to bring the desired results.

Residents have alleged that a majority of patients requiring treatment are “not” treated by doctors at the sub-district hospital (SDH) here and are either referred to the district hospital (DH), Poonch, or Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu.

A majority of the patients come from the Sawjian, Loran or Mandi areas for treatment. While some have been injured by wild animals, some suffer from cardiac, gastro problems or from infections.

“Corruption and nepotism rules the roost at the sub-district hospital. Doctors are least bothered about treating patients. Two months back we brought a patient from the Sawjian area injured by a bear. Citing his condition to be critical, the doctors asked us to shift the patient to the district hospital or to the GMCH in Jammu. Instead of shifting him to Jammu, we took the patient to the district hospital where he got one stitch and was discharged. This speaks of the inefficiency of the doctors here”, Abdul Ghani, a resident of Sawjian, said.

Rashid Ahmed of Mandi area said: “My brother was diagnosed with palpitation due to stress by doctors at the district hospital. Later he was referred to the sub-district hospital at Mandi, where doctors said he was suffering from severe cardiac disease.”

“My brother was stressed due to some tension and we shifted him to the hospital here. Doctors said he was suffering from some cardiac disease and referred him to the district hospital, Poonch, where doctors told us that there was nothing serious. This speaks of the inefficiency of doctors at the sub-district hospital”.

Though doctors at the sub-district hospital refused to comment on the issue, a doctor at the district hospital on the condition of anonymity said: “We get a lot of patients from Mandi, Sawjian and Loran areas. We have a hospital here but patients are referred to other hospitals for treatment”.

Srinagar, October 30
The first batch of 166 Haj pilgrims was accorded a sendoff by Governor N. N. Vohra at Srinagar airport today, which marked the beginning of the departure schedule of pilgrims for performing Haj this year.

The Governor enquired from the pilgrims about the facilities provided to them by the administration. The pilgrims expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the State Haj Committee and other allied agencies. The Governor individually met the pilgrims and asked them to pray for peace and prosperity of the state. Earlier, the pilgrims were extended facilities of Customs clearance, emigration and foreign exchange under one roof at Haj House, Bemina. They were taken to the airport in SRTC buses. Home Guards helped the pilgrims in carrying their baggage.

Srinagar, October 30
The Kashmir train claimed its first victim today when 17-year-old Aqeel Ahmad Sofi died after being hit by the train.

He was playing with his friends near the railway track at Baghi Mehtab-Chanapora crossing falling in the city outskirts at the time of incident.

Aqeel, a resident of Zoohama-Chadoora in Budgam district and presently living with his family at Lal Nagar, Chanapora, died on spot. A pall of gloom descended on the Sofi family when the body of Aqeel was brought to home.

According to eyewitnesses, the mishap happened when Aqeel accidentally stepped on the railway track while the train was coming from Anantnag. The accident took place at about 5:30 pm.

Jammu, October 30
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the detention order passed by the Rajouri district magistrate against one Karmat Ullah, who has been accused of aiding Hizbul Mujahideen militants as an over ground worker.

The court held: “The order of detention was issued without supplying the material to detainee. Why such material was not supplied to him, is a matter of concern when the order has the effect of detaining a person without trial.”

“It seems that the DM before issuing the detention order did not look into the aspect as to whether there had been sufficient compliance of the provisions of law,” the court further said.

The detention order revealed that in July-September 2007, a Hizbul militant, code named ‘Jannisar’, visited his house, took meal and agreed him to work with them as OGW.

The order further said in 2008, the terrorist visited his house to whom he provided food and shelter for the night. Ullah was given Rs 1.37 lakh in cash and was asked to delivery the amount to Zulfikar Zulfi of Karag village, whose brother, code named Abu Museeb, was killed by security forces in January 2008 in the Kandi area.

Srinagar, October 30
A personal security officer (PSO) of a senior police officer allegedly shot himself with his service rifle here today, official sources said.

Gowhar Nazir, PSO of superintendent of traffic police Shabir Ahmad, allegedly shot himself with his service rifle at the traffic control room at Maulana Azad road here, the sources said.

The police has registered a case and investigations are on to ascertain why the constable took such an extreme step.

According to preliminary investigations, it appears that the personal security officerwas in distress due to a failed love affair, the sources said. — PTI

Srinagar, October 30
The state Governor N.N. Vohra has ordered setting up of a Task Force (TF) for the clearance of garbage in the city where about 300 metric tonnes of the solid waste was being collected everyday from different parts of the city by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).

Residents of the Achan, where the waste was being dumped, are up in arms against the SMC for its failure to treat the waste before dumping it there.

About 50 persons, including officials of the SMC, were injured in clashes with the residents after they did not allow the corporation to dump the garbage there last week.

Thousands of tonnes of garbage remained on roads for about a week before the SMC finally dumped it at Achan despite massive protests by the residents.

Vohra, taking cognisance of the continuing reports about problems relating to the clearance of garbage in the city, issued instructions for the work on the alternate approach road, including a bridge between Dr Ali Jan Road and the Achin village.

He directed that the bridge be completed by March next year.

To ensure its completion within this time frame, it may be necessary to install a bailey bridge, as a short-term measure to enable the SMC to move solid waste trucks through the bypass road. The alternate road will also be a short cut to the garbage-dumping site.

Vohra directed the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) to undertake the development of the land-fill-site in order to treat and dispose of the solid waste scientifically. — UNI