Jammu, January 4
NC president and Chief Minister-designate Omar Abdullah today staked claim to form the government in the state after meeting Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here this evening.

An NC delegation headed by Omar met the Governor and handed him a letter, stating that the party had the required numbers to form the government. The delegation comprised NC Jammu Province President Ajay Sadhotra, senior NC leader Abdul Rahim Rather, MLC Devinder Singh Rana, and former minister Surjeet Singh Salathia.

Rana said the Governor had invited Omar to form the government. On the name of ministers to be sworn in tomorrow, Rana said Omar would hand over the list of ministers to the Governor either late in the night or tomorrow morning. Prior to it the Congress passed a resolution supporting the National Conference in the formation of the government.

Meanwhile, former CM Dr Farooq Abdullah has been elected working president of the National Conference.

Earlier, Omar Abdullah was unanimously elected leader of the National Conference Legislature Party.

In a meeting at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan, NC patron Farooq Abdullah proposed Omar Abdullah’s name which was unanimously seconded by the remaining 25 MLAs of the party.

Though the NC secured 28 seats in the Assembly elections, effectively it has 27 since Farooq Abdullah contested from Hazratbal and Sonawar, and won both seats.

The NC emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the recent elections.

Jammu, January 4
Chief Minister-designate Omar Abdullah, accompanied by his wife Payal, was accorded a warm welcome by NC supporters here today.

The NC activists started pouring out on the streets since morning, holding aloft the party’s red flag. Groups of NC activists, dancing to the beats of ‘dhol’, dotted the main road right from the airport to Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan, the party headquarters on Residency Road. The entire stretch from the airport to the party office was "painted red" with his huge posters, party flags and buntings.

A tight security cordon was thrown around the new Chief Minister as soon as his cavalcade started moving towards the party office. However, security didn't deter many from shaking hands with their leader and garlanding him. Omar and Payal waved towards the party supporters and greeted them.

"He has rekindled hopes of a better tomorrow in many hearts. With his modern outlook, he would certainly give the state a new direction," said Ranjit Singh, a young NC supporter. 

Srinagar, January 4
Close on the heels of formation of the National Conference-Congress coalition government in the state, Gujjars of the state have warned coalition partners of serious ramifications if senior Congress and Gujjar leader Chaudhary Mohammad Aslam is not appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister.

As the news about former speaker of the state Assembly Tara Chand is going to be Omar Abdullah’s deputy is making rounds, the warning from Gujjars may upset the plan of action for the new government. A memorandum signed by leading members of the Gujjar community has already been faxed to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and NC patron Farooq Abdullah.

The memorandum has been sent under the banner of Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Forum (JKGBJF). Talking about contents of memorandum, Haji Shamsheer Ali Bokan, president, JKGBF, said Aslam had been elected to the state Assembly for the sixth time. “It would be humiliating for Gujjars if he is ignored with respect to the post of the Deputy CM,” says Bokan.

Jammu, January 4
The Congress chose veteran Gujjar leader and former state Congress chief Choudhar Mohd Aslam as its legislative party leader.

The Congress legislators met at the party headquarters at Shahidi Chowk. Union Minister for Water Resources and state Congress chief Saif-ud-Din Soz presided over the meeting. The newly elected Congress MLAs unanimously decided to leave the decision to the party high command who named Aslam as the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader. Aslam won the Surankote Assembly seat. He was first elected to the Assembly in 1967.

Union Minister of state in PMO Prithvi Raj Chavan, senior Congress leaders Vyalar Ravi and Janardhan Dwivedi were also present in the meeting.

State Congress spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said after the meeting Prof Soz and Choudhary Mohd Aslam met Governor NN Vohra and handed him over the Congress’ letter of support to the National Conference-led government headed by Omar Abdullah.

He said the Congress also has the support of Gulmarg MLA Ghulam Hassan Mir, Khansahib MLA Hakim Mohammad Yasin and Kulgam MLA MY Tarigami.

The Congress has 17 MLAs in the 87-member House.

Jammu, January 4
Senior BJP leader and Jammu West MLA Chaman Lal Gupta was today elected leader of the legislative party in the House.

Chaman Lal Gupta was unanimously elected leader after an hour-long discussion between state party leaders and 11 elected MLAs during a meeting here.

Nagrota MLA Jugal Kishore was elected deputy leader of the party. Kishore was the lone BJP legislator in the last Assembly.

The meeting was attended by national general secretary of the BJP Thapar Chand Gehlot, former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and in charge of J&K affairs Shanta Kumar along with RP Singh and Manohar Lal.

Shanta Kumar attributed the victory of the party in the recent elections to full faith and confidence reposed in the party by the people of the region. He said the party would highlight problems of the region in the House. 

Srinagar, January 4
At least 35 passengers were injured, some of them seriously, when a bus in which they were travelling met with an accident in South Kashmir district of Pulwama today, official sources said.

A bus en route to Tral turned turtle at Dobiwan Tral about 35 km from here in south Kashmir resulting in injuries to more than 35 passengers. The injured were admitted to the hospital. However, seriously wounded were rushed to the SMHS and the SKIMS at Soura. — UNI

Jammu, January 4
While the Chief Minister-designate Omar Abdullah is scheduled to take oath in an official function at Zorawar Singh Auditorium tomorrow, the entire Jammu University campus has been turned into a fortress, restricting free movement of students and hostel boarders.

Since morning the entire campus of Jammu University (JU) was dotted with security personnel to ensure secure visit of expected VVIPs, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Governor NN Vohra, former CMs Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Students and scholars, especially the boarders of the Vivekananda Hostel and Nehru Hall, while speaking to The Tribune said: "The entrance gate towards the Bahu Fort road was closed till 10:30 am and it was opened only after earnest pleadings with the security personnel deputed at the gate.”

They said the hostel mess was closed for some days so they had to go outside for meals and other purposes. “These are exam days and our friends keep on visiting hostel to consult on certain topics but they were denied entry into campus,” they said.

The students who have been preparing for semester examinations, besides preparing for IAS, KAS and other competitive exams, at the central library had to go back disappointed as they were reportedly denied entry into the campus.

Rakesh Chib, a student activist, said: "The university has turned into a hub for political activities. Last month, a marriage function was held on the campus. At that time also liberty of students was curtailed as several VVIPs were guests to the marriage ceremony.”

"Such functions should be held outside the campus to retain the sanctity for academic and cultural activities,” he said and added that the oath-taking ceremony could be held at secretariat or Raj Bhawan.

Meanwhile, teaching and non-teaching staff putting up in the residential quarters of the university rued that they were made subject to unsolicited enquiries at the main gate.

However, the university authorities were tightlipped over the issue and declined to comment.

Srinagar January 4
Breaking a long spell of dry freezing wintry conditions, the Kashmir valley has been having rain and snow since last evening, bringing down the day temperature here.

According to the Meteorological Department, rain and snow were recorded across the valley and mountains. Sringar recorded 6.2 mm of rainfall and snow while Pahalgam recorded 14.6 mm of rainfall and snow.

Kupwara recorded the highest rainfall of 19.2 mm since yesterday. The Meteorological Department has forecast rain and snow at several places during the next 24 hours, followed by clear weather.

Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway recorded 2.2 mm of rainfall and snow. No disruption in traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been reported.

The tourist spots of Pahalgam, Sonmarg and Gulmarg witnessed a heavy snowfall, reports said. Efforts are on to attract more more tourists, especially at the scenic spot of Gulmarg, which has been host to the two National Winter Games during the past 11 years. It has been the centre of attraction for lovers of winter games. 

Jammu, January 4
The Jammu University Research Scholars Executive Association (JURSEA) has threatened self-immolation by its activists if the decision curtailing the upper age limit for candidates appearing in the Public Service Commission (PSC) examination was not revoked within 10 days.

Addressing a press conference, president, association, Vikas Sharma said, “PSC has reduced upper age limit for the candidates of general category from 37 to 35 which is against the interest of a particular section.”

He said if the decision was not taken back, 13 candidates would immolate self in front of the media.

He said the PSC was deliberately bent upon to “harm a particular section of society, which is in majority not only in Jammu but also in Kashmir.”

Criticising the decision of the PSC, Sharma said it was discrimination with general category candidates only. Sharma requested the Chief Minister-designate Omar Abdullah to implement his statement in which he highlighted that he was worried about the aspirants, who are getting overage and cannot seek employment.

Srinagar, January 4
The state unit of the CPM has asked the UPA government to sever ties with Israel in view of the attacks on Gaza strip describing these as the “blackest face of state terror”.

In a statement here today, state secretary of the CPM Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the attempts by Israel to remove the democratically elected Hamas government by force were completely unjustified. The blockade of Gaza by Israel was an inhuman act, which deprived the suffering Palestinian people even of essential supplies in life-saving drugs and food.

Expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine, Tarigami demanded immediate and firm intervention by the UN to end outrageous Israeli aggression in Gaza. Without doing so, the UN would not be able to retain its relevance and credibility, he said. Already over 400 persons have lost their lives in Gaza, he added.

Mendhar (Poonch), January 4
Bhatti Dhar area in Mendhar, where the security forces are engaged in encounter with the militants for the fifth day, may just turn out to be another Hill Kaka.

The militants few years back had turned Hill Kaka area of Surankote in border district Poonch into a liberated zone, had built fortification, and were imparting arms training to misguide youth for inducting into militancy. During the Operation Sarpvanash in Hill Kaka area here in 2003, it had taken the Army 10 days to smash the militant bases in the area.

Army sources revealed that the operation started on December 23 after the Army started a cordon and search operation in Bain forest area of Bhatti Dhar area of Mendhar following a specific information about the presence of militants in the dense forest area spread over about 4 sq km.

After spotting the militants on January 1, the security forces entered into a gun battle with the militants and since then the encounter is going on in the forest area that lies just few km from Darana along the Line of Control (LoC). Four militants, one policeman and two soldiers have died in the more than 50-hour long encounter.

The bodies of the killed militants have not been recovered so far. The deceased Army personnel have been identified as Subedar Rakesh Kumar and Naik AP Singh of the Rashtriya Rifles. Special Police Officer (SPO) Naresh Kumar has lost his life yesterday.

The Army sources said it might take the security forces another few days to sanitise the area. They said the fact that the encounter had entered its fifth day indicates that the militants had enough arms and ammunition, food and water with them to sustain themselves in this densely forested and dry area.

Police sources said dreaded militants Abu Dawood, divisional commander of the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Abu Qari, district commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) among other four or five militants are trapped in the seized area. The sources said Bain forest of Bhatti Dhar might be one of the largest dumping grounds of arms and ammunition used by the militants since it lies just close to LoC in Mendhar sector.

Meanwhile, the sources said the Army had rushed about 200 para commandos from Udhampur to assist about 2,000 troops of the 39 RR (based in Chattral area) and 37 RR (based at Mendhar) involved in the operation. Sixty SOG men were also assisting the Army in the operation.

PTI adds from Jammu: Meanwhile, the police has arrested Muzaffar Shah, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (retd) from Bhati Dhar, for helping the militants in taking shelter in the area, sources said. During preliminary interrogation, he revealed that the militants used caves for making solid bunkers over the past four years and large number of ultras from different groups have taken shelter there.

There was no immediate report of any casualty or damage to property, officials said. The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindukush region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border with latitude 36.5 north and longtitude of 70.8 east. — PTI

Jammu, January 4
Even after announcing their support to the Congress-National Conference ruling alliance, the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Party (JKDP), headed by Ghulam Hassan Mir and the Peoples’ Democratic Forum, led by Hakeem Mohammad Yasin have decided not to wind-up their organisations. Ghulam Hassan Mir today said, “I am part of the alliance, but I shall keep the JKDP alive.” He said, “I am with the Congress but I have no intention of joining it. During the time I was the founder member of the PDP we had forged an alliance with the Congress for the purpose of forming the government in the state.”

Yasin said “at present there is no move to merge the Peoples’ Democratic Forum with the Congress,” adding that “I have decided to support the ruling alliance.” Asked whether he was keen in getting a berth in the Cabinet the former Transport Minister said, “it is up to the leadership of the Congress and the National Conference.” CPM leader and member, Assembly, MY Tarigami said “I have decided to support the Congress-National Conference government in the interest of peace and progress of the state and for the betterment of the people.”

Inside reports said for Hakim Yasin and Ghulam Hassan Mir the guiding force behind their support for the Congress-NC alliance has been their rift with the PDP patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Mir had been a founder member of the PDP and when the Mufti took over as the Chief Minister in November 2002, Mir was inducted in the Cabinet. As a close associate of the Mufti, Mir had been nominated to the committee that was entrusted with the task of framing the self-rule document. However, Mir felt himself sidelined when the PDP leadership did not recommend his name for induction in the Cabinet when Ghulam Nabi Azad was sworn in as the Chief Minister in November 2005. As the differences between Mir and the Muftis sharpened, Mir was expelled from the party. He floated his JKDP to fight against the family rule. But he could not succeed in his mission because he was the lone JKDP man to get elected to the Assembly.

Hakim Yasin has remained a bitter critic of the Muftis when he was the Transport Minister in the Cabinet headed by Ghulam Nabi Azad. In their aim of settling political scores with the Muftis both Mir and Yasin will attend the Congress legislature party meeting here today.