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Govt staff observe strike; 10 hurt in canecharge
Lukewarm response to strike call
BJP tries to dump anti-Muslim image
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Now NC uses spiritual leaders to woo voters
Delay in list leaves Cong candidates guessing
Regional satraps vie for political space
Separatists’ campaign a flop show in Kangan
Mehbooba to contest from Wachi
Rajouri, Poonch a neglected lot, say Panthers
Just 2 women in fray in second phase
Re-polling held in Kargil, Sonawari
Defacing of Public Property
Mission Crackdown
Late marriages ‘drive’ promiscuity in valley
Hokersar, Shalabugh play host to avian guests
Mattoo releases book on delimitation
Flowers gifted to traffic violators
Three ultras, jawan killed in encounters
JMC cell to check defacement
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Govt staff observe strike; 10 hurt in canecharge
Jammu, November 20 The employees took out a protest march starting from the Exhibition Ground here, seeking implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. The protest march was going on smoothly, until it reached the Raghunath Bazar where the police canecharged the protesting employees, leading to injuries to over 10 persons. The protesters also tried to gherao the Civil Secretariat, but the security men foiled their bid and stopped them near the city police station. According to Mohd Gafoor Dar, employee leader, their demands include implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, regularisation of temporary employees, uniform work culture and announcement of minimum wages. They were ready to hold a dialogue over the issue, he said, adding that they will decide their future course of action on November 25. Other employee leaders said they were “forced to resort to agitation” by the state administration. The strike, besides hitting work at the government offices, took a heavy toll on health services as patients bore its brunt at the OPDs of various government hospitals in the city. However, the emergency services remained unaffected. Earlier, the state administration made the efforts to persuade the employees to call off their strike. Chief secretary S.S. Kapoor held a meeting with a delegation of the employees last night and told them that they had written to the Election Commission regarding their demands and were awaiting its nod. However, the employee bodies decided to go ahead with their strike. |
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Lukewarm response to strike call
Jammu, November 20 However, routine class work was affected as students in large number were seen outside their respective departments. When asked about the strike, most of them were ignorant over the issue while others did not support it. A student of political science, Manoj, said: "it does not matter whether the new VC is local or non-local. All we need is an efficient administrator who could optimally fulfil the interests of students." Meanwhile, the Jammu University Teachers Association has denied any support to the
JURSEA. "As the search committee is already working in this regard, it would not be appropriate to meddle with its affairs," said members of the association. |
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BJP tries to dump anti-Muslim image
Jammu, November 20 This projection was an attempt to run down the Congress, which has always raised questions over BJP’s credentials as a secular party. Addressing a press conference, Syed Naseer Ahmed Gilani, national executive member of the BJP Minority Morcha, said: “The Congress, which ruled for more than 55 years did nothing but strengthened its vote bank. Where as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee constituted the Minority Development Corporation, increased Haj quota and subsidy.” “Grant of Rs 11 crore was also given to the National Urdu Council. Moreover, the party supported Abdul Kalam, a Muslim national as President of the country,” said Gilani, who is also the chairman of both State Haj Committee and Minority Welfare Council in Himachal Pradesh. State BJP president Ashok Khajuria criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying he played politics in garb of developmental activities in the state. “When the PM came to inaugurate Baglihar hydel project in Jammu a month ago, he assured people in Jammu of regular power supply. But things have worsened since then. It now appears to be a conspiracy of the Centre to shatter Jammu industry,” he lamented. He also attacked the Election Commission for not taking any action against those associations of government employees, which supported organising the political rallies. Explaining BJP’s stand over madrasas, Gilani said: “The party respects both Masjid and madrasa but oppose the separatist movement being run in some of these institutions.” Delineating party’s ideology for the welfare of women, he said the party gave free training to several female ITI trainees when it ruled in the
Centre. |
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Now NC uses spiritual leaders to woo voters
Rajouri, November 20 Spiritual leader Mian Bashir Ahmed Larvi, who holds a good influence among the Gujjar and Bakkarwal (nomads) voters, comprising one of the main chunk of the voters, urged the voters to vote for the NC for their better future. Gujjars and Bakkarwals comprise roughly 38 per cent voters in this constituency. Larvi, at a rally organised by the NC here today, said: “You consider me your pir (spiritual leader), so as your spiritual leader, I am telling you that you must vote for the National Conference. I assure you that the new government, which is going to be that of the NC, will do justice to you.” Touching the religious note, he reminded the people that it was Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah who constructed the Hazratbal shrine, where the holy relic (Mo-e-Muqaddas) was placed. Striking emotional chord with the locals, who have great love and reverence for the shrine of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah (Shahdara Sharief), Mian Sahab, as he is popularly called by his followers, said the shrine was also constructed during the NC regime. “You must elect the NC candidate (Muhammad Aslam Khan). If you elect him, we can catch him if he does something against your interest,” Mian Bashir told a gathering of about 1,000 persons. One of the Gujjars who attended the public meeting, Choudhary Nissar, told The Tribune that “Mian Sahab’s words are taken seriously by the Gujjar community. Since he asked us to vote for the NC, we will respect whatever he said, and will vote accordingly.” Clarifying that Mian Bashir was not only a spiritual or a religious leader, Farooq Abdullah said: “He (Mian Bashir) is a political leader and has been an MLA and minister in my father’s government. He is a community leader (of the Gujjar community) also.” More than a week back, Mehbooba Mufti had used the services of spiritual leader Baji Mussafar Hussain Shah to woo the voters in predominantly rural and backward constituency of Kalakote. |
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Delay in list leaves Cong candidates guessing
Jammu, November 20 Number of Congress leaders today said: “In the absence of the ticket allotment, we find it difficult to launch the pre-poll campaign.” They said: “We may lose because in most of the constituencies where polling was due under phase six and seven, other parties, including the National Conference, the Panthers Party, the PDP and the BJP, had announced their candidates.” Till today, an ex-MLA Raman Bhalla received a call from Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also a member of the election committee, informing him that he should start campaigning. Bhalla said: “I am searching for a suitable place in Gandhi Nagar where I could set up my election office.” Bhalla had won the Gandhi Nagar seat in 2002 by a margin of over 10,000 votes. Party sources said the delay in releasing the list was due to lack of consensus among some members of the election committee. They said Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saif-ud-Din Soz had different perception as far as four ticket seekers, including G.A. Mir and Peerzada Mohd. Syed, a former education minister, were concerned. Soz is said to have informed Azad that both Mir and Peerzada were potential Congress candidates who could get re-elected from Dooru and Kokernag constituencies, respectively. Senior Congress leaders said the delay was also the result of important engagements of Sonia Gandhi and external affairs minister Pranabh Mukherjee. They said: “The list may be released with next two days.” |
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Regional satraps vie for political space
Jammu, November 20 Leading the race is the BSP, which made its presence felt in the last Assembly elections by winning the Vijaypur Assembly seat. Adopting its tried and tested formula of social engineering in the strife-torn state as well, the BSP is contesting all 87 seats in the state. For instance, it has fielded a Sikh, a Brahmin, a Muslim and a Rajput from four Assembly segments of Rajouri district. Besides roping in candidates from upper castes, the party has also allotted the ticket to members of the Gujjar community. Interestingly, the BSP is not wooing prominent Gujjar leaders but is bringing common people from the Gujjar community into the party fold. Also, what is working to the advantage of the BSP is the fact that it is the only political party which has extended support to Gujjars over their opposition to the ST status to Paharis. Though the BSP has suffered a jolt with its state president Yashpal Bhagat quitting the party and joining the electoral fray as the NC candidate from Bishnah, it is hoping to widen its base in the state. The Samajwadi Party is also in the electoral arena, promising decentralisation of powers and the formation of separate regional councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh with equal political and financial powers. It has also promised political reservation to Gujjars and Bakerwals, the communities being eyed by the BSP as well. The party is contesting a number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir regions. The NCP is also contesting over 20 seats. The party has promised to set up delimitation commission, implement the Sixth Pay Commission report, empowerment of women and redressal of farmers' woes, including payment of compensation to those having suffered losses on account of landmines in the border areas. The LJP is contesting over 60 seats, promising basic amenities to all, stipend to the unemployed youth and crop insurance for the farming community. The RJD too released a list of 10 candidates last week, which included the Assembly seats like Kupwara, Pulwama, Sonawar and Shopian in the Kashmir valley. |
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Separatists’ campaign a flop show in Kangan
Kangan, November 20 Baltal area, near Sonmarg, where the land in question for transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board for yatra purposes is located, falls in the remote corner of this constituency, and resonates in the poll campaign here and elsewhere in the state. This constituency is the second in the newly-created district of Ganderbal, and has been a strong bastion of the Mian family, representing it in the elections since 1957. It enjoys the status of a bastion of Mian family like Sheikh family in the adjacent Ganderbal constituency, which, however, had been lost by Omar Abdullah to the PDP candidate in the last elections in 2002. For the past three consecutive terms, Mian Altaf Ahmad, son of the senior Mian Bashir Ahmad of the National Conference has been representing it in 1987, 1996 and 2002, which has majority Gujjar population. This time, Mian Altaf, who has held ministerial positions in the previous NC governments, is pitted against Bashir Ahmad Mir of the PDP and Ghulam Ahmad Rather of the Congress among 10 candidates, including Abdul Rashid Ganie (NPP), Ghulam Mustafa Kassana (BSP), Nazir Ahmad Raina (BJP), Shabir Ahmad Mir (ANC), Mohammad Sultan Lone (JP), Rafiq Ahmad (independent) and Mohammad Amin Sofi (independent). An electorate of 59,933 voters, including 31,386 males and 28,547 females, would decide the fate of 10 candidates in the fray in the second phase on Sunday for which 63 polling stations have been set up. “This is a far-flung area and the impact of the boycott campaign is not much”, Saleema, a resident in Chhatrgul area of Kangan constituency said. Though satisfied with the developmental activities and providing jobs to the educated youth, she is not happy with the government’s performance. Mohammad Amin in Kangan town is not happy either. “Only the rich people are benefited”, he declares and vows to “boycott” for many poor people like him could not get any remunerating jobs in the rural development sector. Abdul Rashid is not for a boycott as “that does not work”. He goes on weighing between the issues of land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board and the long wait he has been in for getting a job. |
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Mehbooba to contest from Wachi
Srinagar, November 20 The PDP is yet to announce the candidate from Tral in neighbouring Pulwama district. The other PDP candidates are Syed Bashir Ahmad (Rajpora), Mohd Khalil Bandh (Pulwama), Zahoor Ahmad Mir (Pampore), Abdul Razak Zawoora (Shopian) and Abdul Hameed Bhat Kohsheen (Habakadal). |
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Rajouri, Poonch a neglected lot, say Panthers
Jammu, November 20 Addressing public meets in Rajouri, Kalakote and Nowshera, Sharma squarely blamed the NC,
PDP, Congress and BJP for poor road connectivity, drinking water crisis, erratic power supply and lack of proper medical facilities in remote villages of these twin border districts. Previous legislators in connivance with corrupt bureaucrats in these districts misappropriated constituency development funds, stated a press release quoting Sharma. He urged the voters to see and remember relentless efforts of party chief Bhim Singh in fighting against atrocities on poor and helpless people in the state. Meanwhile, party candidate from Marh constituency Anita Thakur condemned BJP activists for resorting to
‘goondaism’. Addressing rallies in Marh, she accused the BJP activists of removing Panthers buntings besides harassing general masses. |
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Just 2 women in fray in second phase
Jammu, November 20 While three women contested the first phase of the assembly elections, only two are from the fair sex among 81 candidates for the second phase of polling. While Sheraz Begum will contest as the BSP candidate from Darhal, Mohinder Kour will fight as an Independent from Kalakote. Both seats are in Rajouri district. |
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Re-polling held in Kargil, Sonawari
Srinagar, November 20 In Poshwari-A polling station, 528 votes were polled out of 763 votes, while 446 votes were polled out of 738 votes in 61-Poshwari-B polling station. Similarly, in Kargil, re-polling was scheduled for two polling stations, Chliskote where out of 601 votes, 514 votes were cast, while in 91-Apathi polling station, where out of the total of 695 votes, 534 votes were polled. |
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Defacing of Public Property
Jammu, November 20 Taking serious cognisance of the model code of conduct violation by the Panthers Party and the BSP candidates, Ravinder Pathania and Som Raj Majotra, respectively, district election officer Mandeep Kour served notices to them. They had defaced public property with party symbols and slogans so the election authorities issued notices to them, returning officer, Kathua, D.R. Sharma said. |
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Mission Crackdown
Srinagar, November 20 A joint party of the police and security forces arrested Saleem Geelani and Abdul Qayoum from their houses early this
morning. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and about 6 other separatist leaders are still under house arrest to prevent them from addressing anti-poll rallies. About 100 other senior and second rank leaders have also been arrested during the past four months. The leaders arrested, included JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik, JKDFP chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief Asiya Andrabi, Aiyaz Akbar, both the acting chairmen of breakaway HC and Nayeem Ahmad Khan. Majority of them were detained under the Public Safety Act
(PSA). Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has given two weeks time to the state government to reply to petitions challenging the detention of two separatist leaders under the PSA. The court issued the directions to the government on a petition filed by Mian Abdul Qayoom on behalf of senior hardline Hurriyat leader Ghulam Nabi Sumji, who was arrested and booked under the PSA earlier this month. Meanwhile, the court yesterday also issued notices to the state to file objections within two weeks to the petition filed by Amina Malik, sister of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik, through her counsel Zaffar Shah. Malik was arrested under Unlawful Activities Act on October 24 for launching an anti-election campaign in Bandipora district. He was subsequently booked under PSA on October 30 and sent to a jail in Jammu. The petition has challenged Malik’s detention on legal and medical grounds. The JKLF in a statement alleged that Malik has been lodged with petty criminals in a jail in Jammu. “If any harm is done to Malik and other leaders, the responsibility will lie with the Government of India and its stooges in the state,” the statement said.
— Agencies |
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Late marriages ‘drive’ promiscuity in valley
Away from the heat of electioneering in the valley, Rukaiya Jaan is busy worrying about her future. She was 23 when her father fixed her marriage with a distant cousin, who sold fruits to make money.
But the marriage was not to be after militants active in Kupwara district threatened Rukaiya to marry one of them or not marry at all. Seven years later, the girl has abandoned the dream of matrimony, and entered an ever-growing breed of young men and women, who could not tie the knot due to various social factors and compulsions. Now, they feel, it is too late. And it indeed is, as Bashir Dabla, a senior sociologist and demographer from Kashmir, shows in his study on late marriages in the valley. He shows a drastic advancement in the marriageable ages of men and women in Kashmir. The ages have advanced by eight years for men and seven for women. Worse is that the trend is driving promiscuity in the once-conservative Kashmiri society. “The desirable age of marriage for Kashmiri women is 21 but it has gone up to 28; for men, the desirable age is 24, but the actual now is 32. Late marriages are leading to disruption of social fabric in the valley, where pre-marital sex and extra marital sex have become commonplace,” says Dabla. As many as 64.46 per cent of the 1500 respondents interviewed for the study said late marriages were fuelling pre-marital sex; 15 per cent of them admitted to a direct link between advancement in the age of marriage and increased prevalence of extra-marital sex. “These are unsavoury facts we must learn to live with,” says Asfana Sheikh (35) of Srinagar, who married three years ago. “I have seen Kashmiri society’s transition from good to worse. Dowry was never an issue here, but now it is forcing girls to remain unmarried because their parents can’t afford to pay. Suicides are routine, unemployment is huge and so is poverty.” All these factors feature as major causes of late marriages in Dabla’s research, which describes conflict and related issues as the most prominent factor behind delay in marriages. As many as 19 per cent of the respondents said they had no time to think about marriage as they remained disturbed due to frequent killings, enforced disappearances and fake encounters involving family, friends or neighbours. Another 9 per cent said their marriage was delayed due to threat from militants to marry a particular boy or girl. An overwhelming majority of women also mentioned dowry and poverty as major hindrances to marriage, and admitted to having encountered instances of pre-marital sex. The respondents corroborated increased suicide rates in the valley. In 85 per cent of the suicides reported in Kashmir, people had died after consuming rat poison; in the rest they had simply jumped into the lakes. |
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Hokersar, Shalabugh play host to avian guests
Srinagar, November 20 “According to recent estimate, three to four lakh migratory birds have landed in Hokersar and two to three lakh in Shalabugh wetland,” Mohammad Maqbool Baba, Wildlife Warden, Wetland, Kashmir division. The estimate came out in presence of Dr Asad Rafi Rahmani, director of Bombay Natural History and Society, which is the oldest organisation that deals with bird-community, said the warden. He hoped that number might rise owing to good climatic conditions but admitted that it was extremely difficult to conduct census of birds. In mid-October, flocks of migratory birds land here from far and wide particularly from Siberia, Europe, South and South East Asia. “Migratory birds arrive here from October 20 onwards and remain till February ending. This time it is inward migration and in February it would be an outward migration,” said Baba. It is an exciting scene, especially at dawn and dusk when exquisite birds of varied plumage frolic here. Among others, Common Shell Duct, a new arrival, is the centre of attraction this year. The department is expecting to carry out 'Bird-ringing' project in June next year provided they get permission from the government. “The project would enable us to know the destinations of migratory birds, from where they are coming and where they would go,” said Baba. |
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Mattoo releases book on delimitation
Jammu, November 20 Co-authored by Sant K Sharma and Dipankar Sengupta, the book has emphasised the need to hold delimitation of the Assembly seats in the state. The idea to write down a book cropped up during the Amarnath land agitation in Jammu,
said Sengupta. Giving the examples from work, he said: “The Jammu region has an area of 26,293 sq km whereas Kashmir has an area of 15, 948 sq km; total number of voters in Kashmir are 32,60,663 and 30,84,417 in Jammu; Jammu sends 37 MLAs and Kashmir sends 46.” “The criteria are population, geographical compactness, and nature of terrain, connectivity and like considerations,” he said. According to the research published in the form of the book, if all these criteria were applied, the assembly constituencies would have to be re-drawn across the state. Mattoo said: “To address the aspirations of the people of three regions, we must adopt model of promotional representation in Assembly on the pattern of some European countries.” He said in this model, the representatives are elected on the basis of vote percentage and not the one who wins the
elections. |
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Flowers gifted to traffic violators
Srinagar, November 20 The cadets greeted the violators with 'yellow' flowers as soon as the traffic authorities challaned them, said Zahid Hussain Bhat, junior under officer, NCC. This flower-presentation programme was aimed at 'giving a sense of responsibility' to violators so that they refrain from violating traffic rules in future. Twenty NCC cadets participated in the programme. The additional mobile magistrate seized 16 vehicles on account of wrong parking while 70 challans were issued during the past two days. |
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Three ultras, jawan killed in encounters
Srinagar, November 20 Two Jaish-e-Mohammad militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Daril Vilgam in the Handwara area of Kupwara district today. Those killed have been identified as Shamsher and Irfan, residents of Pakistan. A security personnel was also killed in an encounter while the kothar, where the militants had taken refuge, was gutted in the exchange of fire, the police said. A militant was killed in an encounter at Niloosa, Booniyar in Uri sector of Baramulla district today. |
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JMC cell to check defacement
Jammu, November 20 Sounding a warning to the violators, MC joint commissioner
J.S. Tandon said: “The corporation has also constituted a special cell for the purpose.”
— TNS |
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