Jammu, February 7
Strongly condemning the latest incidents of civilian killings at Kupwara and Bandipora, the PDP today once again raked up the issue of troop reduction and revocation of special powers to security forces.

Addressing separate conventions of the party’s urban and rural units of Jammu here today, former Chief Minister and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said despite repeated assurances, even at the Prime Minister’s level, recurrence of such terrible incidents was not only uncalled for but demanded concrete action on ground to salvage the hurt public psyche and bruised dignity.

He said dealing with such incidents on case-to-case basis was going to prove inadequate in curbing the menace till the security forces continued to enjoy the impunity under the special laws imposed in the state for the past two decades.

Reiterating the party’s demand for troop reduction and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as outlined in the PDP's Self-Rule agenda, the former CM said: “The time has come, when instead of relying on the length of the gun and strength of the bullet, the government must genuinely engage with the people’s aspirations to work for lasting peace in the state.” “If political solutions are not accompanied with sincerity of purpose and concrete action, possibility of lasting peace would recede,” he said.

He called for substantive action on the reconciliatory measures, including revocation of the AFSPA, reduction of troops, rehabilitation of the victims of violence irrespective of their affiliation, improving employability avenues for the educated unemployed youth, ensuring social security for the large number of widows, orphans and destitute and putting in place a comprehensive economic development program for the state. He also sought safe passage to the youth who had gone across for armed training and are now keen to return and live normal lives, devising a rehabilitation and relaxation package for the militants who have forsworn violence.

Assar (Ramban), February 7
Even as the authorities have started work on a war footing to develop an alternative stretch on the national highway for connecting Doda and Kishtwar districts with the rest of the country, fear has gripped inhabitants of this mountainous belt that the road may sink at many other points in the near future. Geological experts have already identified some spots prone to landslide and soil erosion in the area.

Airing apprehension of massive soil erosion and sinking of the road in other areas in the coming days, residents demanded a probe to fix responsibility on officers who were assigned the job of looking into all ecological aspects before filling the reservoir of the Baglihar hydroelectric project.

Apart from 500-metre vulnerable stretch between Assar and Trugal, there are some other spots where the highway has been gradually caving in, but the authorities have yet not take any preventive measures. As water accumulated in the reservoir, the erosion of soil started. The road started sinking at Koura Pani, Gagla, Kashi and Jatthi areas on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway. “A large stretch of the highway can sink into the Chenab any time as the authorities engaged into looking after ecological aspects have not taken any preventive measures before the execution of the project”, rued Om Singh, a resident of Assar.

Pointing toward the banks of the Chenab where soil erosion has been going on unabated, Om pointed out that the geological experts had suggested massive plantation in the belt before filling the reservoir, but the authorities did not pay any attention to the suggestions. “The only aim of the government was to commission the Baglihar project, but ecological aspects were neglected”, regretted Dewakar Goswami.

While hardship of the people increased manifold due to the sinking of the road, the authorities seemed to be in a dilemma over repairing the sunk stretch. “Instead of repairing the damaged stretch, it is better to develop an alternative road as controlling soil erosion is rather an impossible task”, said a senior officer on the condition of anonymity. He disclosed that the authorities were conducting a fresh survey to develop an alternative road through the Ugana-Chamkala track.

Meanwhile, the local BJP leader and party general secretary has demanded a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court Judge into all aspects of survey, sanction, allotment of the contract and execution of the Baglihar hydroelectric project. He demanded that a stringent action be taken against all authorities who remained associated from time-to-time with the sanctioning of the project, revising cost estimates and extending completion dates for reason best known to them.

Jammu, February 7
Suspecting foul play in the death of Congress leader Ashok Kumar Sharma, whose body was recovered under mysterious circumstances at Bani in 2005, sons of the deceased, Pranav Sharma and Varun Sharma, today demanded a CBI probe into their father’s death.

Our father was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Bani on April 10, 2005, and since then we had been trying in vain to seek justice from the state government, they said while addressing mediapersons here today.

Dissatisfied with the Crime Branch’s investigations, the Sharma brothers said, “We are neither demanding a job nor any financial assistance from the government, but we want the case to be probed thoroughly.”

Though the Crime Branch had been investigating the case for the past over four years, it continued to grope in the dark. Hence we demand that the case be handed over to the CBI, they said.

“On the fateful day of March 22, 2005, our father had gone out for a morning walk, but never returned. The very next day we lodged a missing report at Bani police station, but the police remained clueless and after 19 days his body was recovered from the Sewa river in the Kot Flagot area, 13 km from Bani town, they said.

“We suspect our father was murdered, but the then SHO, who initially registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC, had described it as a suicide,” they added.

Pranav and Varun, however, suspect their father was ‘killed’ at the behest of influential people.

“Our father was a dedicated Congress leader and had a good rapport with late Rajiv Gandhi. We suspect that he might have been murdered for political gains,” they alleged. “We are ready to give some clues to the police about the death of our father, but it should guarantee our safety, as those who killed our father may also eliminate us,” they added.

It appears that the Crime Branch under some pressure had been trying to hush up the case, the Sharma brothers alleged.

SSP, crime and railways, JP Singh said the local police had described it as an accidental death and the Crime Branch took up the investigations later. But nothing new had come to light so far, he added.

No member of the Sharma family had come to us with clues, the SSP said.

Jammu, February 7
The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti may have given a call for regionwide protests on February 13, seeking the withdrawal of PSA case against Swami Dinesh Bharati, but the big question is - whether the samiti will be able to mobilise as much support as it did during the Amarnath land agitation.

Virender Gupta, president of the Jammu State Morcha (Progressive), which was once a constituent of the samiti, said: "The samiti has lost some support over the past few months. Some of its constituents have parted ways with it while it has also lost support of a few sections of the business community. This time around their protests will be restricted to dharnas and rallies. It could in no way match last year's agitation." He said the samiti failed miserably in uniting the pro-Jammu forces during the recent Assembly elections, which was a huge setback to the cause of Jammu. Apart from the morcha, a faction of the Shiv Sena has also parted ways with the samiti.

"We suffered huge losses during July-August last year on account of the land agitation and what we got in the end is an agreement most points of which are yet to be implemented. Neither cases against land protesters were withdrawn nor we, the traders, got any compensation as promised by the state administration," rued Manohar Gupta, a local trader. When asked whether he would again extend support to the samiti, he sounded non-committal.

Om Prakash, another trader, felt that it would be difficult for them to support the samiti the way they did earlier in view of the global recession.

However, Samiti spokesperson Narinder Singh claimed that the samiti continued to enjoy the support of all its constituents, including the trading community. He said they had been in touch with their supporters at the district and block levels and they would receive the support from all quarters.

When asked as to why the samiti is focusing only on the Bharati issue, he said: "The new government let off 15 separatists detained under the PSA within days of taking over the reins of the state. It should also have withdrawn the PSA case against Bharati."

He said the samiti would attain the shape of a broad-based front in the coming days to fight on the issues concerning the Jammu region like discrimination and delimitation. "We will try to build a consensus over such issues in our rally on March 15 that will be attended by over 10,000 persons," he added. The winter capital had observed a complete shutdown for 39 successive days from July 23 to August 31 in support of the land agitation and the traders had played a key role in its success.

Jammu, February 7
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today inaugurated a two-day Red Cross fair, which was attended by a large number of people and schoolchildren, at Kala Kendra here. The Red Cross Mela-cum-Raffle Draw is being organised by the Indian Red Cross Society, Jammu, in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Bank and other business organisations.

Complementing the Indian Red Cross Society for its valuable service to the needy, the Chief Minister announced a donation of Rs 1 lakh to the society and called for contributing towards the noble cause.

Interacting with mediapersons here, Omar said by organising such fairs, awareness about the Red Cross Society could be propagated and youth could be inspired to be its members. He recalled his childhood days when Late Madr-e-Meharban, Begum Abdullah, and the then Lady Governor, LK Jha, used to organise the Red Cross awareness camps and fairs to motivate people to be participants in the noble cause of helping poor and needy. “I used to visit these camps and melas with my grandmother,” he said.

Omar visited various stalls and interacted with stall holders and students. He even tried his hand on targeting boxes with a ball with large number of children gathered around him.

The Army, Air Force, CRPF, BSF, the police, various government departments and NGOs have set up their stalls in the mela. A stall of international humanitarian law has also been put up from where the people can get information about how Red Cross works with humanitarian law. A total of 12 schools are participating in the fair.

Srinagar, February 7
After the recent rain and snowfall disrupting normal life in the state, fresh western disturbances causing moderate rain and snowfall are expected for three days from Monday.

According to Aamir Ali, OSD at the office of the divisional commissioner, Kashmir, “fresh western Disturbance (WD) is approaching and it may cause light-to-moderate rainfall/snowfall at many places from Monday to Wednesday next”

Meanwhile, day and night temperatures in most parts of the Kashmir valley dipped by several degrees after the recent heavy snowfall. The famous hill resort of Pahalgam was the coldest place with a minimum of -6.8°C, a Met Department spokesman said.

He said the night temperature recorded at the hill station, which also serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, yesterday was -1.8°C.

Similarly, the minimum temperature also fell in Kupwara and Srinagar, the spokesman said, adding while Kupwara in north Kashmir witnessed a low of -4.4°C, Srinagar recorded -0.2°C. However, the night temperature in Qazigund and Kokernag areas of south Kashmir was 0.5°C and 0.6°C, respectively.

Meanwhile, MLA, Rafiabad Javed Ahmad Dar has appealed to the government to initiate measures for assessing the damage caused to the orchards in the Rafiabad area due to the recent snowfall and provide necessary compensation to those affected. A special flight scheduled for Monday has been arranged for stranded passengers from Bandipora to Dawar and Neeru in the Gurez area in north Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the bodies of four persons, including a police constable, who were buried under an avalanche in the Machhil sector of Kupwara district on Thursday, were yet to be recovered.

Jammu, February 7
Minister for Industries and Commerce Surjit Singh Slathia said today that model villages were being developed to improve rural infrastructure. He added that such villages could stem the migration of rural youth to cities by providing modern infrastructure facilities on their doorsteps.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of a model village, Nandpur Camp, the minister said the scheme envisaged reliable communication links with the construction of new roads and maintenance of inner roads, lanes and drains, improvement in overall sanitary condition of the village, apart from the development of basic facilities like school, medical centres, playgrounds, parks and a stadium. The village would also have a shopping complex, which would provide marketing facilities to the local businessmen.

Nandpur Camp would come up at a cost of Rs 2.96 crore under the Border Area Development Programme. The Rural Development Department is the executing agency for the scheme and the village will be the third model village in the Vijaypur constituency.

Jammu, February 7
A top militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) surrendered before the security forces after returning from the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) through the Line of Control in Poonch district, official sources said here today.

“Lashkar militant, identified as Mohd Khurshid (35), resident of Bigial Dara, returned to Poonch from the PoK yesterday night and offered surrender to the Army at Malti Post of Poonch Brigade,’’ the sources said.

On the disclosure of the militant, the security forces also seized dumped ammunition from nearby forests. One AK-47 rifle, two magazines and 46 rounds besides one night vision device, a camera and a jacket were seized from the hideout.

Meanwhile, a case against the militant has been registered at the Poonch police station. — UNI

Udhampur, February 7
To create awareness among general public about sanitation and conservation of environment, the Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with Government Women College, Udhampur, today organised an intercollegiate competition on skit and drama based on science on the college premises.

Mime presentation on health and hygiene by students of Government PG College for Boys was adjudged as best while girls of Women College, Udhampur, bagged second and third positions in the contest. The other participating teams were given consolation prizes.

Presentations were made by the participants on the themes based on superstitions, wildlife, polythene bags and health and hygiene for creating awareness among society.

Principal of the host college Kiran Bakshi, who was also the chief guest, called upon the students to make their relatives and neighbours aware about health, hygiene and protection of environment.