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Samiti feels let down by pro-Jammu parties
Phase - II
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Mufti: Azad failed to implement my policies
Mehbooba too takes Azad to task
Sister’s dilemma — to fight Farooq or not
NC promises degree colleges at Kalakote, Sunderbani
CPI to contest five seats
Jamwal takes BJP to task
Doda migrants sans voting rights
Here faith unites all
Helpdesk set up at Samba
Congress, NC ignored
region, says Bhim Singh
Decline in infiltration across LoC: Army
Order cutting disability pension quashed
Expedite VC’s appointment
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Samiti feels let down by pro-Jammu parties
Jammu, November 21 The samiti had plans of launching a sustained campaign to create awareness among the people vis-ŕ-vis role of the
PDP, NC and Congress during the land agitation so as to see pro-Jammu outfits calling the shots in the Assembly elections. However, dejected by poor response to our appeals from various pro-Jammu and regional outfits to evolve a consensus and jointly contest elections for the cause of Jammu, we distanced ourselves from the polls, said samiti sources. “The samiti had earnestly appealed to pro-Jammu parties to put up candidates in the fray after arriving at a consensus. Paradoxically, it didn't happen and now parties are contesting against each other at the cost of Jammu and its people,” said a samiti member on the condition of anonymity. “It seems everyone wants to be there in higher echelons of power. Though we are quietly watching the unfortunate developments but a lot of thinking is also going on to come out with some consensus as to how to approach the people,” he added. Sources said the samiti had stiffly opposed the BJP’s mandate to Shilpi Verma, wife of deceased Kuldeep Verma, from the Bishnah constituency as former legislator Ashwani Sharma had actively participated in the land agitation. “We persuade the BJP not to give mandate to Shilpi but ironically the party didn’t consider our request,” the sources said. While parties failed to come under one umbrella and samiti’s initiative fizzling out rapidly, we have almost distanced away from the elections so as to keep intact faith of the people and samiti’s credibility, they said. It may be stated here that the Samiti that enjoyed support of 35 different organisations had been labeled as BJP’s brainchild. Denying any sort of soft corner for the saffron brigade, samiti spokesperson Narinder Singh said, being a non-political conglomerate of over 35
organisations, which never had plans to contest elections, samiti’s core committee decided that it would not support any party or individuals. But he maintained that samiti’s units in different districts have been creating awareness among the people. As far as implementation of agreement reached between the government and samiti was concerned, he said that as of now the government looked fairly serious and hence there was no need to revive the agitation. |
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Phase - II
Srinagar, November 21 The constituencies are Kangan, Ganderbal in Kashmir while Nowshera, Darhal, Rajouri and Kalakote fall in Rajouri district of the Jammu region. An electorate of 4,93,878 would decide the fate of 81 candidates in the fray in these constituencies. The total number of polling stations in the six constituencies is 530. Candidates in Ganderbal and Kangan are making last-minute efforts to woo the voters as the land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board that engulfed the state for over five months has been on the top of the agenda there. NC president Omar Abdullah is among the candidates from Ganderbal. Campaigning for party candidate Qazi Mohammad Afzal, a former forest minister, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has been holding public meetings, rallies and road shows in the two constituencies of Kangan and Ganderbal over the past several days. There are 10 candidates in Ganderbal, 12 in Kangan, 12 in Darhal, 23 in Rajouri, 13 in Kalakote and 11 in
Nowshera. |
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Mufti: Azad failed to implement my policies
Rajouri, November 21 He said Azad not only betrayed the coalition partner but also deceived his own party, as he was more concerned about implementing his personal agenda rather than executing policies of the Congress. “When he became the chief minister in November 2005, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote him a letter directing him to follow policies and programmes of his predecessor,” Mufti claimed but hastened to add that instead of following directions of his own party, Azad started implementing his own agenda. Addressing public meetings at Kotranka and Sungli in support of party candidates Choudhary Zulfikar and Mumtaz Kousar, Mufti said his government had formulated comprehensive plans for the overall development of these neglected areas but his successor failed the continue the process of uplift of far-flung areas. “On the very first day after becoming the chief minister, Azad tried to create wedge between the Congress and PDP to fulfil the hidden agenda of the National Conference,” he said adding it was all due to the negative approach of Azad that situation took an ugly turn and the state witnessed communal polarisation after the Amarnath land controversy. |
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Mehbooba too takes Azad to task
Srinagar, November 21 She said: “Azad sahib called S.K. Sinha as nationalist yesterday. Sinha is the person who gave full protocol to terrorist like Dayanand Pandey.” Pandey is accused of having his hands in the Malegaon blasts. “We want investigation at the highest level to find out whether there is any nexus between Kashmiri politicians and Hindu terrorist Dayanand Pandey,” Mehbooba said at a press conference today. The Congress should take a serious note of such attributions as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been very bold towards Hindu extremists. |
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Sister’s dilemma — to fight Farooq or not
Srinagar , November 21 At the heart of the matter is the dilemma, which
Khalida, the president of the Awami National Conference (ANC) and wife of former state chief minister
G.M. Shah, is facing despite her firmness to challenge the NC on 70 out of 87 Assembly segments in the state. Strangely, she has yet not been able to make up her mind on whether to contest from Srinagar’s Sonawar segment, where the NC plans to field Farooq Abdullah. While for NC, Farooq is a natural choice for the seat, which has traditionally remained with the party, for ANC, Khalida is the best bet if Farooq is to be challenged at all. But the sister, it seems, needs more preparation time before she can decide what to do. “I have yet not decided whether to contest from
Sonawar. I have the whole state to choose from. What is certain as of now is that I will fight these elections. The constituency will be worked out later,” Khalida told The Tribune today, adding that she would not hesitate to take on Farooq if that’s what “karma” destines. “When one has to fight, one has to fight,” said the ANC chief, who is in the electoral fray after a 26-year hiatus. The goings will certainly be tough both for Khalida and her candidates, fighting the NC on 70 out of 87 segments. But at the highest stake will be Khalida’s reputation - which explains why she is still calculating on which constituency will work best for her. Though there are speculations that she will fight Farooq in
Sonawar, history explains why this decision won’t be an easy one to make. Since the constituency was carved out on April 27, 1995, it has remained with NC. In 2002, it went to NC’s Mohammad Yaseen Shah who defeated his nearest PDP rival with a margin of 1705 votes. Prior to that in 1996, Ghulam Bhawan of NC was returned from here. This time too, Farooq will be fight from here considering it is a safe NC haven - a fact the ANC is aware of. Poll observers meanwhile say both the parties are waiting for each other to take the first call. Neither the NC nor the ANC has yet formally announced their candidates from Sonawar - which is evolving as a major segment in these elections. Elsewhere in the state, the ANC has not long to decide who to field. Even in
Ganderbal, where NC chief Omar Abdullah is fighting to restore family
honour, the ANC has fielded Nazir Ahmad Lone. Confident of decent faring this time, Khalida says, “We are contesting after 26 years because we believe the situation has gone out of hand. Except the
Kashmiris, everyone else is staking a claim on Kashmir. We are for tripartite resolution of the Kashmir issue, employment and recall of troops from civilian areas. No amount of self rule or autonomy will help us resolve Kashmir.” No wonder the ANC has termed its manifesto “People’s Document” to counter NC’s Vision Document and PDP’s Self Rule document. The former begins with a history of GM Shah who, it hails as a “man who didn’t compromise for power.” Shah broke away from NC in 1984 to form NC
(Khalida). The party was rechristened ANC. |
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NC promises degree colleges at Kalakote, Sunderbani
Rajouri, November 21 Addressing public meetings at Dhangri and Nowshera in support of party candidates Rachpal Singh and R. S. Sharma, Farooq said the coalition government which came into power in 2002 failed to address importance issues. "In the name of development the Congress-PDP government has given unemployment, corruption, financial mismanagement, poverty, bad roads, dry taps, poor healthcare and crippled the education system," said the NC patron. Expressing concern over the plight of border migrants of Rajouri and Poonch districts, Farooq said the NC would ensure that they were treated at par with migrants from Kashmir. He promised the NC government would hold elections to all panchayats and help them discharge their functions as envisaged in the Panchayati Raj Act. The NC would restructure the education system and make it more employment-oriented He also promised degree colleges at Kalakote and
Sunderbani. |
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CPI to contest five seats
Jammu, November 21 Earlier, Dogra was to contest from Kishtwar but the plan was dropped to wage a fight against the mighty, though in a symbolic manner, as the party is contesting only five seats. Kamal Dev said the party would highlight unemployment, corruption and education reforms during the elections. Apart from Dogra, the other four CPI candidates are Vimal Singh Manhas (Doda) and Subhash Chander (Nagrota) from the Jammu region and Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh (Shopiyan) and Ghulam Nabi Yatto (Rajpura) from the Kashmir valley. |
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Jamwal takes BJP to task
Jammu, November 21 Addressing a press conference here today, Jamwal said as if dropping the demand for abrogating Article 370 was not enough to appease a particular section of the Kashmiri Sunni Muslims, the BJP had embarked upon demolition of temples in Gujarat, exposing exposed its real anti-Hindu face. |
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Doda migrants sans voting rights
Jammu, November 21 Ever since 1990, when these families fled from Doda due to militant threats, they have not been given right to cast their ballots in the new temporary locations. Doda migrants in Belicharana pocket of Jammu city are living in pathetic conditions. Poor sanitation, tiny houses, irregular supply of power and water and constant threat of being uprooted by the police and the district administration have made their lives miserable. Moreover, these people are deprived of their voting right. Kaushal, who has run from pillar to post to get the voting right for his community, laments: “The scuffle in our leaders and successive governments’ nonchalance in according us permanent shelter is one of the reasons that our demand for voting right is not materialising”. Hazra Begum, whose husband was killed at gunpoint before her eyes, was saved from the agony of acute penury when the government gave her monetary help and a government job to her son as ex-gratia compensation. But this has not solved all her problems as she complains, “My family is expanding further as my children are getting married. However, we can not do any construction work here due to the judicial stay imposed on us.” About the stay, president of the Zila Doda Migrant Welfare Committee Kaushal Sharma said: “Many Doda migrants had started selling their portions to outsiders at a hefty cost, so the district administration laid down restrictions on outsiders to build houses here, and even the dwellers are not allowed to do any construction here.” |
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Make sadhvi’s narco test reports public: Katiyar
Jammu, November 21 Speaking here today, he said: “Let her be exposed if she is guilty and punish her accordingly.” “The Congress has launched a campaign to defame the saints in the society and the Army under the name of ATS Mumbai,” alleged Katiyar in reference to the Malegaon blast investigations and said, “If ATS has full evidence in the investigations then why so far they have not been made public and the issue is lingering on.” He accused the Congress of initiating and spreading terrorism in the region. Speaking here today, he said: “The seeds of terrorism were sown by the Congress in 1977 when Delhi-Lucknow plane was hijacked. Its patronage to late Bhindrawale and LTTE, the separatist organisation in Sri Lanka, who later turned hostile towards it, prove its inclination toward terrorism. “The Congress is also responsible for bending before the separatist group. But if the BJP comes to power, we will deal with terrorism stringently. And our first task would be to hang Afzal Guru,” he said. He also laid stress that it was because the BJP created environment and gave moral support to the agitation of Amarnath row from outside that it carried on successfully and united people of the region. Talking of BJP’s agenda, he said: “We will bring peace and prosperity in Jammu by creating more job opportunities and making judicious finance allocation for the district keeping its area and population in consideration.” Meanwhile, BJP stalwarts and Bollywood stars would be addressing party rallies and holding road shows in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir during the assembly polls. The party has drawn a schedule for L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Narender Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Shatrugan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Smriti Irani and Novjot Singh Sidhu to address people in different towns and cities of the state during ongoing electioneering, said R.P. Singh, BJP’s deputy in charge. |
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Malegaon case echoes in state
Jammu, November 21 Facing its toughest-ever challenge in the form of elections, the PDP has trained its guns on Omar, releasing a photograph in which he is seen with Pandey. The PDP move is being dubbed as a strategy to corner Omar in his constituency on the eve of polling. The reason - if media reports are to be believed - is that senior Congress leader and former Deputy CM Mangat Ram Sharma is also seen in the same photograph, but the PDP chose to attack only Omar. Similarly, Pandey's website - www.sarvagyapeeth.com - also has his photographs with various other dignitaries but nobody has raised any question about it. However, the PDP has denied that it is playing politics over the issue. Senior PDP leader Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari said: "The presence of Mangat Ram Sharma or any other leader is insignificant. Sharma might have gone to seek Pandey's blessings. But, the presence of Omar Abdullah, who talks of Islam and Kashmir, in that function does matter. It is a question of the party which claims to stand for Kashmiri Muslims." Earlier, reacting strongly to the charge, Omar said he would quit politics if found having links with Pandey. "The allegations against me are baseless. I had gone to the Durga Nath temple to attend the inaugural function as my father was not present in the state. I was invited to the function where senior Congress leader Mangat Ram Sharma was also present," said Omar in Srinagar yesterday. Omar is pitted against PDP leader Qazi Mohammad Afzal, who was the forest minister when 800 kanals of land was allotted to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, triggering a major row in the state. Afzal was at the receiving end of the protesters' ire in the valley in view of his role in the entire controversy. PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had last week charged former J&K Governor S.K. Sinha (retd) of hosting Pandey in 2007. Reacting sharply to the charge, the BJP claimed Sinha was being targeted as he espoused the cause of Amarnath pilgrims. Former Congress CM Ghulam Nabi Azad had also pooh-poohed the PDP charge, terming Sinha as a nationalist. Political observers feel that the PDP move is a well-thought strategy to turn the tables on Omar Abdullah at a time when his rallies are drawing huge crowds at Abdullahs' traditional
hometurf, Ganderbal. |
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Here faith unites all
Each one of them follows a different ideology and pursues a different path in politics. But when it’s about “Shahdara Sharief” - faith unites all politicians. Irrespective of alliances, they all come to the mausoleum of Sufi seer Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah to seek his blessings for success at the
hustings.
In fact, it is said all political roads in Jammu and Kashmir begin here -very much the same way as all political campaign in Punjab starts and ends at the Golden Temple. Situated about 30 km from Rajouri town, “Shahdara Sharief” attracts not only politicians that are contesting this constituency, but others too. Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was here last night, said: “When I came here in 1999, I had promised to bring development to the area if I was voted to power. Later that year in July I conceptualised the PDP (one of the main aspirants for forming the next government) here. My prayers were answered and I became the Chief Minister of the state from 2002 to 2005 with the blessings of Baba”. His daughter and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is often seen coming here and party sources say that she prays here to seek such powers that will help her party "persuade the Government of India to initiate an unconditional dialogue with Kashmiris for resolution of the Kashmir problem". Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told The Tribune that neither he nor his son Omar had been able to visit the “Ziarat” (pilgrimage associated with venerated figures in Islam) of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah yet, but would do so at the earliest possible occasion, possibly before the polling in the state is over. As the legend goes, the “pir” who was born in a Syed Family at Saidian Rawalpindi village (now in Pakistan) made this place his abode preaching communal harmony and universal brotherhood. Over a period of time, this shrine has grown into symbol of communal harmony as Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs visit this place in large numbers and seek blessings in the belief that their prayers are always answered with the blessing of the Baba” Gulab Singh, a general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh during his exploits of Kashmir, was blessed to become the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir by the “pir” in the 19th century. As a mark of respect Gulab Singh got this shrine constructed, run by Auqaf now. This constituency goes to the polls on November 23. The other three assembly segments in Rajouri district going to the polls on Sunday include Darhal, Kalakote and Nowshera. Against 337 polling stations in 2002 in Rajouri district, 388 have been set up this time for 353,457 voters, including 170,928 women. Eightyone of these polling stations have been declared hyper-sensitive. |
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Helpdesk set up at Samba
Jammu, November 21 Meanwhile, Governor N.N. Vohra reviewed security and poll arrangements at Kathua and Samba districts, going to the polls
on December 13 and December 24, respectively. Addressing senior officers of the civil administration, police, central police forces and the Army, he observed that a conducive and stable environment was necessary for smooth electioneering and canvassing by various political parties and the contestants. Vohra urged the officers to maintain complete impartiality during the elections and stressed that the government employees must strictly adhere to the model code of conduct. He also took stock of other issues, including supply of essential commodities. |
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Congress, NC ignored
region, says Bhim Singh
Jammu, November 21 Bhim Singh, who addressed a series of public meetings in in the region today, urged voters to defeat all those parties who have ignored the region. “People should unite to defeat the Congress-NC-PDP alliance to save the Dogras from the brutalities of the ruling parties,” he said. |
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Decline in infiltration across LoC: Army
Jammu, November 21 They said the recent snowfall and rain in the border belts in Jammu and Kashmir could be one reason. Secondly, the Army and other security agencies have intensified their anti-insurgency operations in the border areas that had forced number of militant groups to be on the move. These operations were ordered to ensure that the militants did not regroup with the purpose of disturbing the ongoing poll process. A senior Army officer said as a result of these operations, the militants were seen moving from one spot to the other in order to escape elimination by the troops. Though so far the troops have not been successful in accounting for militants, the gun-toting youths were unable to settle down. Thirdly, the establishment in Islamabad and the agencies supporting the militants had by design decided to suspend aiding militants, who had been brought on the launching pads across Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara, Keran, Tangdhar and Machel, to cross into the state. The aim was to convey to the US government that whatever incidents took place in the state were the machinations of local youths, and Pakistan had no hand in cross-border terrorism. The recent incident-free heavy polling in 10 Assembly constituencies had amazed the government agencies because they had fears that the militants may kick up violence. |
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Order cutting disability pension quashed
Jammu, November 21 The petitioner, who retired on February 28, 1997, was to be subjected to medical examination by the Resurvey Medical Board. Accordingly, he was found to be suffering from 70 per cent permanent disability for two years. The period of assessment of war injury pension at the rate of 30 per cent was to expire on December 3, 2004. Counsel for the Union of India argued that the petitioner was entitled to 30 per cent war injury pension.
— OC |
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Expedite VC’s appointment
Jammu, November 21 Rahul, president of the association, urged Governor N.N. Vohra to appointment the new VC on merit and with immediate effect. |
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