Jammu, December 29
Even as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister PK Dhumal recently mooted a proposal of making pre-marital HIV test mandatory for wannabe couples, four years ago the state of Jammu and Kashmir, too, had a plan up its sleeves but for social stigma attached to the fatal infection.

As on December 15, 2008, there were 1,530 persons in the state infected with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) while as many as 78 persons have died due to the disease. “We too had thought about it four years ago but the test could not be made mandatory in the backdrop of social stigma attached to the infection,” said MA Wani, project director of the State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (SAPCS).

He recalled how Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu's approval to the proposal invited public outcry. After the Andhra Pradesh government passed the proposal in state Cabinet, there had been litigations in the high court wherein the latter subsequently observed that such a test could not be made compulsory in conventional Indian society.

Wani felt that framing a law for compulsory HIV test before marriage was not possible in conventional and multi-religious society wherein social taboos and discrimination with PLWHA still rule the roost.

“Rather people should be motivated to undergo the test voluntarily at our counselling centres,” he added.

“Declaring someone as a HIV positive before marriage would be a grave injustice with him or her. Instead of making such test compulsory, we should strive to remove the stigma attached to the infection,” he said.

Making it mandatory would lead to revolt in suppressed societies, he said, adding that resorting to “suppressive” measures couldn't check HIV.

While hidden epidemic continues to add to the number of the infected, the SAPCS claimed that in 2008 the AIDS graph had considerably dropped to 0.3 per cent among high-risk group (truckers, sex workers, drug addicts and STD patients) compared to last year's 0.95 per cent.

However, high court lawyer Abhinav Gupta felt that the time has come when legislations should be put in place to check spread of fatal diseases.

“Awareness in largely conventional and semi-literate society would take years to come and hence legislations should be framed to check all deadly diseases,” he said, adding: “Why HIV test alone, the government should mull legislations making tests mandatory for even life-style diseases like diabetes and hyper-tension.”

Jammu, December 29
At least six pilgrims on their way to the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi on Monday sustained injuries after being hit by a landslide near pony stand in the vicinity of the Bhawan.

A Shrine Board official from Katra said four pilgrims escaped with minor injuries while two were critically injured. The injured were shifted to the hospital.

Additional CEO of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board MK Dwivedi said seven persons included a ponywalla, a pithuwala and five pilgrims sustained injuries in the incident.

Pawan Tiwari of Ferozabad sustained a head injury and Anil Uday (10) of Delhi have been shifted to the Government Medical College, Jammu, while remaining five were hospitalised in Katra hospital, he added.

The condition of Tiwari and Uday was stated to be stable, he added.

Srinagar, December 29
At least 15 persons were injured and six vehicles damaged in clashes between supporters of various party candidates and those of the winning Congress candidate in the Dooru constituency of Anantnag district today. The police swung into action to quell the demonstrators and prevent further clashes with Congress supporters, who were rejoicing. Those injured included three police personnel, the police said.

At least six persons have been detained while tension continued to grip the area till late this evening.

Trouble started when supporters of the NC, PDP, Awami National Conference and an Independent held a demonstration to protest alleged rigging in the recently held polling in the constituency. Ghulam Ahmad Mir of the Congress has been re-elected from the constituency. Police sources said supporters of the defeated candidates raised slogans in Dooru town, protesting the election of Congress candidate from the area. Demanding re-poll in the constituency, the protesters alleged that there had been booth capturing which led to the election of the Congress candidate. While demonstrations were going on, supporters of elected Congress candidate emerged on the scene rejoicing over the victory, leading to clashes.

The police resorted to cane charging, tear gas shelling and firing in the air to maintain law and order. However, unconfirmed reports said that clashes between protesters and the police took place at three places in the area leading to injuries to more than 40 persons. The protesters also damaged six vehicles during the demonstrations and clashes.

Samba, December 29
The construction work on Government Degree College building, Samba, has been stalled midway while the college is operating from the nearby higher secondary school. The construction work has been stalled following objections by the Army which has its ammunition depot nearby.

According to reports, the college is one amongst 14 degree colleges established in the state under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan. The construction work with an amount of Rs 4 crore started on the site on December 18, 2006, and was supposed to be completed before December 17, 2007.

As of now, the ground floor of the college stands completed while the construction of the second floor has been put on hold midway.

“National Building Construction Corporation Ltd is the executing agency while the Ministry of Higher Education Jammu and Kashmir government is the state nodal agency which has been looking into work assigned to the Trimurti Constructor, Builder and Developers, New Delhi,” sources disclosed.

Students of the college said: “The functioning of the college is being affected in the absence of infrastructure and lack of teaching staff. We are managing the affairs with a limited space provided to us in a higher secondary school. We have been allotted merely four rooms for 430 students of the college.”

In the absence of infrastructure, the students complained that their study was at receiving end in the view of exams scheduled to be held in March-April.

“The college had submitted several reminders to the government requesting completion of work at the construction site. But it has not got any response from the directorate,” college sources said.

The sources told that the management faced difficulty in running classes regularly in the absence of infrastructure.

Meanwhile, principal of the college Ajit Angral said: “There is some dispute over the land at construction site and the case is in the court.”

Jammu, December 29
With the Amarnath land row emerging as the key factor, the Jammu region threw up many surprises in the recent elections, with the BJP winning 11 seats against just one seat in 2002.

The BJP dealt a big blow to the Congress, particularly in Jammu district, where it won seven out of 11 seats. In 2002 elections, the Congress had won eight seats. The BJP also won three of the five seats in Kathua district, which too witnessed violent protests during the agitation. The party emerged victorious from Reasi as well. However, the BJP faced “shock defeats” on two seats in Samba district, where four land protesters were killed, besides Bishnah, where it had fielded Kuldeep Verma’s widow Shilpi Verma.

Among the BJP’s major winners are state BJP president Ashok Khajuria (Jammu East) and former Union minister Chaman Lal Gupta (Jammu West), while former state BJP chief Nirmal Singh from Gandhi Nagar was the major loser.

Even the Congress did not fare that badly and it won 13 seats in the region against 15 last time. But the party failed to retain many of its seats. The Congress though lost ground to the BJP in Hindu-dominated areas of the region, it made inroads into the Muslim-dominated areas at the cost of the NC and Independents. The Congress won five out of the six seats in Muslim-dominated erstwhile Doda district against two last time. The party also managed to retain three seats of Gandhi Nagar, Akhnoor and Chhamb in Jammu district. The five districts of Reasi, Udhampur, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri gave the Congress one seat each.

However, what has come as a major upset for the Congress in the region is that almost all its former ministers have lost, including former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma from Jammu West. Other Congress bigwigs, who tasted defeat, include sitting MP Lal Singh from Kathua, former ministers Gulchain Singh Charak (Bishnah), Gharu Ram (Suchetgarh), Mula Ram (Raipur Domana) and Suman Lata Bhagat (RS Pura).

The NC also suffered a jolt in view of the Amarnath land row and its tally dropped from nine in 2002 to six in the region. The party failed to retain two of the three seats it won in Poonch district last time, while it was totally wiped out from Jammu district where it had one MLA in 2002. Among the NC’s major losers are its provincial president Ajay Sadhotra (Marh) and scion of royal family Ajatshatru Singh (Nagrota). The party won the maximum two seats from Rajouri district.

On the other hand, the PDP opened its account in the region, winning one seat each (Darhal and Mendhar seats) in Poonch and Rajouri districts.

The Panthers Party, too, fared well retaining three of the four seats it had in 2002. It lost the Chanani seat in Udhampur district to the Congress. Interestingly, only two Independents won from Bishnah and Kathua this time as against seven last time.

Srinagar, December 29
Omar Abdullah is to be the chief ministerial candidate of the NC that has emerged as the single largest party in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state.

This was decided at a meeting of the party leaders held under the chairmanship of patron and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah here today. Later talking to media persons, Farooq said the party had decided on the candidature of its president Omar Abdullah as its chief ministerial candidate in his place.

In his remarks, Omar said in case he becomes the Chief Minister, he would be guided by his father and party patron Farooq Abdullah. Farooq is already a sitting Rajya Sabha MP and has indicated to contribute to the politics at the national level.

After the party meeting, Omar Abdullah rushed to New Delhi to meet Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to find out possible options for alliance in the government formation.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, whose party got 21 seats, has said it had not yet approached the Congress on any possible alliance. She stated that the Congress would have to decide whether it was willing to get the support of PDP or not.

Meanwhile, leaders of other political parties having emerged victorious in the recent elections have also rushed to New Delhi to have parleys with the Congress and other respective parties on the new arrangement. They include CPM state secretary MY Tarigami, former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir of the Democratic Nationalist Party and Hakim Mohammad Yasin of the People’s Democratic Front.

Srinagar, December 29
The comprehensive margin with which Congress candidate Ghulam Ahmad Mir won from Doru seat against a clear PDP wave in south Kashmir just goes on to show that if you have worked hard and have been accessible to your constituency, then nothing else matters. Prosecuted by the CBI for his complicity in the infamous sex scandal that had sent more than a dozen high profile politicians and officials behind bars and was exploited by the Islamist as a "proof" of mainstream politicians' decadent lives, Mir spent many months in jail and his political epitaph was written by one and all.

However, his party trusted his political credentials and he came up trumps against his nearest PDP rival. “He made roads and colleges in our villages. He was always there to hear our problems,” Shabir Ahmad, a Mir supporter, said. It was clear during campaigning that his alleged lurid past did not matter much to a voter who believed nobody was above board in the murky politics of the valley.

The narrow victory of CPM candidate Yusuf Tarigami against all odds in Kulgam, where Jamaat-e-Islami workers ignored boycott call and lent support to the PDP to root out the communist ideology of atheism among them. “What people remember most is what you have done for them," he had said during his extensive campaigning. And his win proved him right.

Peerzada Sayeed's victory from Kokernag, who resigned from Ghulam Nabi Azad's Cabinet after facing charges of corruption, is also a case in point as he enjoyed a good worker image among his voters.

Victory of Independent candidate and former minister Hakeem Yasin, whose name also cropped up in the sex scandal during a court hearing but did not warrant any prosecution, from Khansahib also underlines the point. But what mattered most to his voters is that he was a doer. He is among the few politicians who do not need party support for victory, it is said.

The PDP's comprehensive victory in south Kashmir, where it won 12 out of 16 seats with comfortable margins, is also an approval of the work party patron Mufti Sayeed carried out there during his three-year tenure, observers said. The party's polarising stand along religious and regional stands may have cost it much goodwill everywhere but not in its core constituencies, where it has emerged stronger.

Jammu, December 29
Governor N.N. Vohra today expressed satisfaction over the fast improving situation and the peaceful conduct of elections in the state, but cautioned against lowering the guard in view of “invisible” threats on various fronts.

During his visit to the police headquarters here this morning, Vohra appreciated the state police and the central police forces for tackling serious disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir regions steadfastly during summer months.

The Governor referred to the volatile situation caused in the backdrop of the Amarnath land row and said the top priority was to restore order and preserve communal harmony.

“I am happy that we fully achieved our objective, thanks to the sustained efforts of the state, the district and divisional administration and above all the strong cooperation of the people”, Vohra said.

The Governor also lauded the role of the police in tackling militancy and referred to the successes it had in conjunction with the security forces and the Army in the past six months.

As a result of well-coordinated efforts, he observed that the level of militancy- related violence dropped substantially this year.

In his address, DGP Kuldeep Khuda said the elections would go down in the history in golden letters. The DGP, CID, Dr Ashok Bhan, was also present.

Jammu, December 29
The migrant Kashmiri Pandit (KP) candidates, who were fielded by the BJP from different constituencies in the valley, have returned to Jammu disappointed and disillusioned with stinging defeat.

Sad over being written off by the media as well, they complained of being “left alone and unnoticed” after the poll verdict. Down but not out, they have identified new key areas to work upon to better their chances in the next Assembly elections after a day of introspection. The impressive mandate of the BJP in Jammu has also rekindled hopes in them that their issues would be fairly addressed this time.

Moti Koul, vice-president of the BJP (Kashmir province), said: “We have been able to achieve the basic aims we had set out for. First was to become a part of democratic process in the valley. Second aim was to reassert our rights in the valley and the third to activate our own community for the voting process. Collectively, the entire exercise has buildup confidence in us.”

Taking this positive outlook forward, Koul has not ignored the pitfalls responsible for their sweeping rout either. He said: “The way our voters have come down from 1, 10,000 to 72,000 and then to 25,000, given to rejection of forms and deletion of names in voter list, the future seems bleak. We need to abolish the cumbersome process of submission of M-form and simplify it with the admissibility of ration card for inclusion of names in voter list and thereupon issuing identity cards as valid proof to cast vote in election. The second major task would be to get all the newborn registered as state subjects wherever they are in the country. These tasks would prove to be milestone for us in next election. The BJP's mandate would also be a big support for us in getting these tasks done.”

The corporate official-turned-politicians, both Parikshit Koul candidate from Amira Kadal and Sanjay Kachroo from Sonawar, are not ready to throw their hands in disgust with their very first debacle at husting. Rather they want to move on with better strategic approach.

Jammu, December 29
Even as the Congress mulls a post-poll alliance with the NC, political observers feel that it will be the best possible alliance to lead the state in the current scenario, possibly because the two have acceptability in both Jammu and Kashmir regions.

However, at the same time, they say, running the government for them will not be easy with what many term “extremist” parties like the PDP and the BJP forming a strong Opposition.

The Congress, as of now, is considering the NC an alliance partner due to various factors. First, the party will think twice before extending a hand toward the PDP in view of the bitter parting of ways with the latter in the aftermath of the Amarnath land row.

Second, the Congress is easily touching the magic figure of 44 in alliance with the NC, as it has won 17 seats while the latter has got 28 seats, making it a comfortable 45 in the 87-member House.

On the other hand, if it goes with the PDP, that has 21 seats, it will have to rope in the support of another six MLAs and that will make the coalition comparatively unstable. Third, the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections are playing heavily on the minds of Congress leaders.

Last but not the least, the state leaders will be averse to having an alliance with the PDP, though as per the buzz in political circles state Congress chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz will have no problem with the PDP. Soz will be averse to going with the NC, which he had left in 1999 on the issue of supporting the BJP at the Centre. However, former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has already hinted at his keenness of having an alliance with the NC. In such a scenario, it will be ultimately the 10 Janpath, which will be taking a call on the alliance partner.

Political observers say though the NC just managed to maintain its previous tally of 28, unlike last time the verdict now is not being seen as the one against the NC.

As far as the “deadly combination” of the PDP and the BJP in the Opposition goes, noted political analyst Prof Rekha Chowdhary says, “It would certainly be dangerous in a sense that there would be a lot of pressure on the government and that too in the opposite directions, as the PDP has its base in Kashmir, while the BJP in Jammu.”

Jammu, December 29
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party Prof Bhim Singh said today that his party would prefer to provide a “secular opposition” inside and outside the Assembly.

Bhim Singh said, “I have sent a clear massage to the people of the state and rest of the country that the Panthers Party shall play a role of an effective secular Opposition inside and outside the Assembly.”

He said, “This is what the people, who voted for us, wanted. Our decision is in respect to the will and decision of the voters, who wanted the party to represent the suppressed and oppressed people.”

Srinagar, December 29
Describing NC Chief Ministerial candidate Omar Abdullah as very young, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC), said people expected the new government to deliver.

Talking to a private news channel here today, Geelani said the political parties sought votes in the election for good governance. When asked if he would like to see Omar as the Chief Minister, Geelani said if it happened, he would be the youngest Chief Minister in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said people expected the new government to fulfil the promises made during electioneering.

Geelani, who remained under house arrest for about a month, said it was now the duty of whosoever assumed power to provide good governance. The NC, among other things, had promised to review the cases of all separatist leaders and open the gates of jails and detention centres.

The party also promised to reopen the sex racket case in which several former ministers, police and security force officers and senior bureaucrats were booked.

It also promised to provide employment to 70,000 unemployed youths in different government departments, reduce the age of recruitment in the police and class four posts from class X at present to class VIII.

The party also said it would facilitate a dialogue between the separatists and the Centre to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully once and for all. The NC also promised to reduce the price of LPG and electric tariff. — UNI