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BSP alleges Cong-PDP, NC-BJP pact
Pak sepoy among 3 Jaish men held
Polling for 21 seats today
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Farooq richest among ex-CMs seeking mandate
NC seeks repoll in Doda
Advt ‘ploy to confuse’ voters
Vote for educated leaders, students told
High turnout snub to separatists
134 stranded passengers airlifted
Srinagar under security cordon
With polling due in the last phase on Wednesday, the CRPF has intensified patrolling in Srinagar to ward off anti-poll protests. Restrictions under Section 144, CrPC,
have also been in place in the summer capital. Tribune photo: Mohd Amin War
Army chief visits Siachen
Measures to tackle highway blockade
5,000 officials on poll duty
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BSP alleges Cong-PDP, NC-BJP pact
Jammu, December 23 "The BJP came to power in UP as well as the Centre by raking up the issue of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, but after forming the government put the issue on the backburner," he alleged. According to him, the BJP and the NC are trying to hoodwink the people of the state, as the "former is exploiting the Amarnath land issue to garner votes while the latter is talking of not giving even an inch of land in Kashmir". Kashyap said though the Congress and the PDP fell apart after the Amarnath land row, the two parties have an "internal agreement" for contesting the elections. He also accused the Congress of failing to curb terrorism. He warned the electorate "not to fall prey to the conspiracy of these parties". About the BSP's poll prospects, Kashyap said: "We will play a major role in the formation of the government in the state, though I cannot say as to how many seats we will win. We have adopted the social engineering formula in Jammu and Kashmir as well and the people too have started accepting the BSP as an alternative." He summed up the BSP's situation in the state by saying, "We have nothing to lose but everything to gain in the state." |
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Pak sepoy among 3 Jaish men held
Jammu, December 23 The trio had been arrested at a time when three key districts of Jammu, Samba and Srinagar had to go to polls on December 24. The Jaish men were flown to Dhaka from Karachi and then entered the Indian territory from Kolkata before reaching Jammu via train, the DGP said while addressing media persons here today. “Before they could carry out their nefarious designs, we arrested them from Hotel Samrat on December 21,” he said, adding: “The accused had booked a room under fictitious names, viz, Akhilesh Prasad, Inder Kumar and Gulshan Kumar showing themselves as residents of New Delhi. Ghulam Fareed (25) alias Gulshan Kumar of Ruperi village in Bhimber district of PoK was a sepoy in 10 Azad Kashmir Regiment and had joined the Pakistani army in 2001.” Khoda added that before joining into the army, Ghulam Fareed was a HuJI member and had undergone tactical training for in Barnala camp before joining Jaish cadre in 2007. The DGP identified the other two arrested as Mohammed Abdullah (22), alias Akhilesh Prasad, of Serian village in Haripur district of the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan; and Mohammed Imran (22), alias Inder Kumar, of Dera Nawab in Yajmaan Mandi tehsil of Bahawalpur, Punjab. The JeM men were a part of the module trained by Kandhar hijack mastermind and Jaish chief Moulana Masood Azhar's younger brother Mufti Abdul Rauf in Rawalpindi, he said. During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had to take an explosive-laden vehicle to a specific target that had to be subsequently identified and then exploded, Khoda said, adding that they were to meet a guide, who had to come from the Kashmir valley so as to provide them weapons and explosives besides giving them specific targets. “The arrested militants have also disclosed that four other JeM militants had arrived at Dhaka from Pakistan to launch terrorist strike in the state. They were also guided by ISI operatives to illegally cross over to the Indian side in two separate groups,” the DGP said. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 assault rifle, four Chinese grenades, 56 rounds of AK-56 and two pistols were recovered from the arrested militants, the DGP informed. There were reports that a consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives, could not reach the militants as the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-1A) remained closed for vehicular movement due to landslides at various places. |
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Polling for 21 seats today
Srinagar, December 23 Former Chief Minister NC patron Farooq Abdullah is among those in the fray in tomorrow’s elections from two constituencies in
Srinagar. Jammu West has the distinction of having the highest number of 34 contestants in the electoral fray. It also has the highest number of candidates contesting from any constituency in all seven phases of the Assembly elections. In Srinagar district, the eight constituencies going to the polls are
Hazratbal, Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar, Habbakadal, Amirakadal, Sonawar and
Batmaloo. Those in the Jammu region include Samba and Vijaypur in Samba district and
Nagrota, Gandhinagar, Jammu East, Jammu West, Bishnah, R. S. Pura,
Suchetgarh, Marh, Raipur-Domana, Akhnoor and Chhamb in Jammu district. |
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Farooq richest among ex-CMs seeking mandate
Srinagar, December 23 However, the fate of two former Chief Ministers - Ghulam Nabi Azad, contesting election from Bhaderwah and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed contesting from Anantnag - has already been sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) while Farooq is fighting from the Sonawar and Hazratbal constituencies, going to the polls in the seventh and last phase on December 24. Interestingly, Azad and Sayeed said they had no vehicles while Farooq owned two - Grand Vetara and Scorpio. Azad declared in his affidavit that he had no cash while Farooq declared Rs 1 lakh and Mufti Rs 60,000, shown in their affidavits, filed before their respective returning officers. All the three said they had taken no loan from any bank or government. The NC patron said he had no tax balance due while Mufti paid Rs 10,015 as the income tax and Azad claimed to have paid Rs 45,765 to the Income Tax Department during this year. Farooq said he had no information about the jewellery of his wife as she was living in London since April 1990. Sayeed said his wife owned five diamond sets worth Rs 7 lakh and 200 gm of gold worth Rs 2.12 lakh while he did not mention anything about the bank deposit of his wife. Azad, however, said his wife has Rs 23,93,000 in the Canara bank, Rs 37,39,124 in the Syndicate bank and 350 gm of gold worth Rs 4.20 lakh. Farooq said he owned land, houses and other property worth more than Rs 9 crore besides 5 kanal and 13 marlas of lease land at Gupar Road and lease land of 3 kanal and 3 malras at Sherwani road and a house at Sidhra, Jammu. Sayeed owns 2.12 kanal of agriculture land worth Rs 55 lakh besides one-third of a house worth Rs 25 lakh at Bijbehara. Azad said he was not the owner of any land but had a parental house at Hyderpora bypass and a flat at Friends Colony, New Delhi. — UNI |
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NC seeks repoll in Doda
Jammu, December 23 “If the demand for repolling is not conceded, I may move the court of law,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, Goni alleged that according to reports submitted by the returning officers the 12 polling stations recorded over 50 per cent voting in the last two hours, “which was impractical”. “The officers were allegedly thrashed by some Congress leaders,” he said and claimed that the police officer concerned refused to lodge a case against the culprits. Goni also alleged that despite carrying valid photo identity cards, many were not allowed to vote. — PTI |
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Advt ‘ploy to confuse’ voters
Jammu, December 23 It may be stated here that various newspapers today carried an advertisement wherein Balbir Singh (not Manhas), another Independent candidate from the Nagrota constituency, had announced that he was pulling out of the contest in favour of NC candidate and scion of the royal family Ajatshatru Singh without mentioning his election symbol. The advertisement conspicuously carried the photograph of Ajatshatru Singh and name of the candidate (Balbir Singh), who has appealed to his supporters to cast their votes in favour of the former. However, nowhere the election symbol of the candidate had been reflected in the advertisement. Talking to The Tribune, Manhas, who was expelled from the NC by party president Omar Abdullah on November 27, described the advertisement as a deliberate attempt to create confusion among the voters of Nagrota. “I have lodged a complaint with the returning officer conveying him my resentment that the advertisement carried no election symbol of the Independent candidate, who has pulled out of the contest,” said Manhas. The entire exercise was tantamount to a corrupt practice as picture of NC candidate Ajatshatru Singh was carried in the advertisement, he said, adding that it was unfair, immoral and a serious breach of ethics on the part of those who ‘engineered’ the idea. By resorting to such malpractices, it appeared that the NC candidate had already conceded defeat, he said. However, it came as a good omen as the entire ploy had in fact galvanised my workers and supporters, he added. Manhas said, “I am confident of romping home, but at the same time the election authorities should ensure that the election symbol of Independent candidate Balbir Singh, who has decided not to contest, must be reflected in advertisements that may appear tomorrow.” He, however, made it clear that he had no plans to take a legal recourse saying “I am fighting it out in a democratic way among the voters. People are intelligent and they can see things in the right perspective.” |
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Vote for educated leaders, students told
Jammu, December 23 Campaigning for Maninder Pal Singh Pandu and Gurdeep Singh Panday, who were active student leaders till recently, joint secretary of the organisation Sachin Bhagat said both candidates had fought for the cause of the students at Jammu University. Pandu is contesting election from the Jammu (west) constituency on the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party ticket while Panday is representing the Lok Jan Shakti Party from the Gandhi Nagar Assembly constituency. |
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High turnout snub to separatists
Jammu, December 23 As per an official estimate, 4,346 rallies and public meetings, including 700 big rallies, were held in the state since the announcement of the polls on October 19. The huge turnout has also come as a surprise to many. The polling percentage for each phase of the elections hovered around a healthy 60 per cent and in a few phases even crossed the 60 per cent mark. The turnout witnessed a big leap as compared to the 2002 polls, as around 11 lakh more voters exercised their franchise in the first six phases. The key regional players - NC and PDP - are interpreting the high turnout as people’s verdict in their favour. However, the main political parties don’t feel that the high turnout has made the separatists irrelevant. While NC president Omar Abdullah felt that the participation of the people in the poll process in large numbers did not mean that the separatists have lost ground, state Congress chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz said the separatists were opinion leaders and they may fight for their opinion. |
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134 stranded passengers airlifted
Srinagar, December 23 An official spokesman said here that 134 passengers were airlifted to and fro from Bandipora to Gurez in MI-17 planes of the Air Force today. Of these, 58 passengers were airlifted from Bandipora to Gurez, while 78 passengers were carried from Gurez to Bandipora. The 86-km-long Bandipora-Gurez road has been blocked due to accumulation of snow at the 11,672 ft high Razdhan Pass, near Bandipore. The Gurez area remains cut off from the rest |
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Srinagar under security cordon
Srinagar, December 23 The security forces enforced restrictive measures across the city, which remained largely shut and its many streets had a curfew-like situation. Tough measures, a senior police official said, were necessary to send out a stern message to anti-election protesters, besides giving a sense of confidence to voters. Many roads were barred for traffic and even pedestrians were turned away. What added to these "tough measures" were intelligence inputs of heightened movement of militants, trying hard to carry out subversive activities, and that they could use small weapons like pistols or grenades to target security personnel. Militants yesterday threw a grenade at a BSF camp in Batmaloo yesterday, which luckily did not cause any casualties. Militants also shot dead two CRPF jawans in Sopore yesterday. The coordination committee, an amalgam of several separatist groups, has also given a call for a Lal Chowk march tomorrow. Hurriyat (M) chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is under house arrest, asked people to join the march, which is among the series of such marches announced by separatists for every polling day and foiled by the authorities so far without much fuss. The Mirwaiz claimed that elections held under such huge security "could neither be genuine nor free". A police spokesman said the restrictions under Section 144, CrPC "shall be strictly enforced in case of any call for protest or march is given. This would become imperative for law and order enforcing agencies in order to prevent loss of life or property." "Militants or anti-election organisations will always want to disrupt elections. But we are fully prepared to deal with such forces," said SK Singh, DIG, Kashmir Frontier, BSF. The authorities said the movement of people from one constituency to another would not be allowed as only voters and authorised persons could move around. |
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Army chief visits Siachen
Jammu, December 23 According to defence sources, the day-long visit of the Army chief to the forward areas and the Siachen Glacier attains significance following the statement of Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani that the Pakistani armed forces were “fully prepared to give a befitting reply” to India if it thrusts war on Pakistan. During his visit to the glacier and the forward areas, the Army chief interacted with the unit commanders and senior Army officers and took stock of the situation and their level of preparedness. As per defence sources, the Army chief chaired a commander-level meeting at the Siachen base camp, where he was briefed about the operational preparedness of the troops. The chief of the Udhampur-based Northern Command also accompanied the Army chief. General Kapoor, who also visited some of the forward areas in the state along the Line of Control, interacted with the troops to increase their motivational level. According to the defence sources, the Air Force units deployed in the state have been asked to remain on ‘cockpit alert’, which means the Air Force has been asked to remain prepared for any eventuality. After the Mumbai terror attack, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army units deployed on the forward areas have been kept on high alert and the forces have increased their vigil along the international border and the Line of Control with Pakistan. “The visit of the Army chief is significant as it conveys a strong message to Pakistan to either act against terrorists or face the consequences as the external affairs minister and the minister of defence had made it clear that all options were open”, a senior Army officer told The Tribune, requesting anonymity. Meanwhile, the Army has refuted the Pakistan’s allegation that the Indian troops late last night resorted to unprovoked firing on the Pakistani positions in the Chhamb sector in which some of the Pakistani soldiers were hurt. |
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Measures to tackle highway blockade
Srinagar, December 23 Several decisions were taken in the meeting to augment facilities available between Khanabal and Jawahar Tunnel to provide food and eatables besides shelter facilities to the stranded passengers in the event of closure of the national highway. The Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department would stock 50 quintals each of rice at Qazigund and Lower Manda and 20 quintals of rice at Vessu, Nasu Badergund and Saidawara besides adequate quantity of atta, sugar and kerosene oil as standby to meet the requirements of the stranded passengers. It was also decided that the Health Department would keep sufficient medicines and make available doctors and para-medics to provide medicare to the stranded passengers. The DIG (south Kashmir) would act as nodal officer for regulating traffic on the national highway. The meeting was attended by divisional commissioner (Kashmir) Masuad Samoon, IGP (traffic), deputy commissioner (Anantnag), director health services and senior officers of the mechanical engineering and consumer affairs and public distribution departments besides special secretary, winter secretariat, Srinagar. |
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5,000 officials on poll duty
Srinagar, December 23 Official sources said 3,700 employees from different state government departments are being deployed in 682 hyper sensitive polling booths set up in Hazratbal, Zadibal, Iddgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Sonawar and Batmaloo constituencies. However, around 12 polling stations were shifted to other places, while one polling station at Nishat was set on fire and a grenade was hurled toward a polling booth at Batmaloo. The poll personnel of Hazratbal and Zadibal constituencies have been directed to report at Girls High School, Kothibagh, while those of Iddgah at SP Higher Secondary School and staff of Khanyar and Habba Kadal segments at Bakshi Stadium. Similarly, the polling staff of Amira Kadal, Sonawar and Batmaloo constituencies have been asked to report at Amar Singh College. An electorate of 5,57,279 voters, including 2,68,287 women, in these constituencies are eligible to elect their representatives. Official sources said the POs and other poll staff, drawn from state government offices, reported for poll duty yesterday. They were put up in hotels and other guest houses within the city last night. However, they along with other poll officials reported to identified places for collecting electronic voting machines (EVM) and other related material today. A majority of polling booths have been set up in school buildings. “We will be staying within the polling stations from this afternoon,” a PO said at Girls Higher Secondary School at Kothibagh, near here. The officials have also been asked to report a day before polling so that an alternative arrangement can be made in case any official does not report. Sources said 700 Urdu knowing officials from different northern states had also been deployed as micro observers, while four IAS officers from outside the state would be observers for two constituencies each. — UNI |
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Jammu, December 23
Srinagar, December 23
In view of the anti-election campaign launched by the separatist coordination committee, the authorities are taking extra care to ensure smooth polling. Since the announcement of the elections on October 19, several anti-election
programmes, chalked out by the separatists, have been thwarted by the administration. Top Hurriyat leaders continue to be under house arrest while many others have been detained to prevent anti-election protests on Fridays and the polling days. 