Jammu, March 31
Due to irregular ration supply from the FCI and a defective distribution system, as many as 27,000 families registered with Department of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district are being directly affected.

The ration meant for BPL and APL families is reportedly being sold in the open market. The affected families accuse the department concerned of corruption, while the latter blames it on the FCI for inadequate supply of ration.

Most of the families allege that the local dealer at Billawar enjoys political patronage and threatens on being questioned about the availability of ration.

“During the Assembly elections, there was a free distribution of ration to the activists of a particular political party. Since then we are not getting our quota. Recently, the department started giving ration to city dwellers, but those in far-off hilly areas are denied of the same,” they alleged.

They further alleged that the officers concerned were diverting the ration to the
open market.

“Earlier, we used to get 13 kg of ration, including flour and rice, per head of the family, but now each family is getting just 35 kg. We are also not getting sugar, kerosene and domestic gas,” they complained.

Some dealers reveal that they were not given transportation charges, as a result they were selling ration on the black market.

In the light of the enormity of the problem, a local, Jitender Malhotra, sought information under the RTI Act about the supply and disbursement of ration from October 2008 to January 2009 under different categories, besides other details.

“I sought information under the RTI Act on January 30, but I am still to get a
reply,” said Malhotra.

BPL cardholders Abdul Rashid and Nazir Ahmed, both residents of Kaugh village, received their last quota of ration for the month of December on January 27.

According to tehsil supply officer, Billawar, Kurban Ahmed the department is not getting requisite supply from the FCI.

“The demand for ration supply in the area is 18,000 quintals, while the supply is just 16,000 quintals,” he said.

He added that nearly 75 per cent of transport charges incurred by dealers had been cleared so far.

Jammu, March 31
The Congress started its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections this morning from Sunderbani, where former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary and Union Minister of State in PMO Prithvi Raj Chauhan and PCC chief and Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz addressed a rally.

The NC MLAs were seen sitting with the Congress MLAs and MPs for the first time in this election. Rashpal Sharma, NC MLA from Kalkote, also addressed the rally in support for Congress candidate for the Jammu-Poonch seat Madan Lal Sharma.

The leaders also honoured newly elected MLC and party spokesperson Ravinder Sharma by holding the rally in his hometown.

People waited for the arrival of Azad for four hours since morning. Azad targeted the BJP and the TDP for creating a chasm between Jammu and Kashmir regions during the Amarnath land agitation.

But he advised people to stay away from communal forces, which wanted to push Jammu back on the path of regression. He urged people to support the Congress for its secularist and developmental policies.

He also appreciated coalition leaders saying “we have given the reins of leadership in able hands of young Chief Minister Omar Abduallah, who is well conversant with the issues of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions. Both parties will work together to ensure jobs for the youth of Jammu.”

Azad lauded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for bolstering India’s economy during global recession, when powerful nations like the USA, the UK, Japan and China had been hit badly.

He asked people to vote for the UPA once again so that the nation could face the downturn challenge under the leadership of Manmohan Singh.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi, the former Chief Minister said, “The future generation is looking toward Rahul Gandhi. We have fielded young candidates, both sitting MPs Lal Singh from Udhampur-Doda and Madan Lal for Jammu-Poonch constituencies.”

Prithviraj Chauhan urged people to vote for the UPA, reminding them of the party’s high ideologies and practices.

He said it was only under Sonia’s leadership that development was witnessed all across the country. Chauhan said Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister candidate of the Congress.

Jammu, March 31
Security has been beefed up along the LoC in the state following terrorist attack on a police academy in Lahore.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said his government was aware of the threat
from militant outfits from across the border and he was constantly reviewing the
security situation.

“We are well aware of threat posed to elections. I am reviewing the situation on a regular basis with my two security advisers in Srinagar and Jammu. We will do everything to render these attempts unsuccessful”, Omar has said.

Meanwhile, following the terrorist attack on police training school in Lahore, security forces in the state have been put on high alert, as they apprehend as Pakistan begins hounding militants, they might try to sneak into India.

“The situation across the border (Pakistan) is very volatile, and there have been two major terrorist attacks in that city in less than one month. We cannot take any risk. So we have instructions to beef up security along the LoC,” a senior BSF officer told The Tribune.

The security forces apprehend that as the Lok Sabha elections in the state would be held in summer, the chances of militants infiltrating into India would increase.

“The apprehensions of the Chief Minister are justified that militants will try to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections in the state because unlike the Assembly elections, which were held in winter, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in summer. The chances of militants infiltrating and targeting the electoral process are more in summer,” a top Army officer told The Tribune.

He said Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor had recently said more than 300 armed militants spread over 50 militant training camps were waiting to infiltrate into the Indian side. The Army guarding the LoC was on alert to foil any such attempt.

The officer said post Mumbai attack various training camps and launching pads
across the border were closed. But, he said, these camps had again started their
routine activities.

Udhampur, March 31
Even as the police higher ups have maintained a guarded silence over revelations made by one overground worker (OGW) of the LeT arrested by the security forces, sources said the nabbed suspect had disclosed that terrorist outfits had been circulating fake currency in the militancy-plagued areas of erstwhile Doda district.

The police has nabbed one Mohammad Nayeem Latif on Sunday when he was on his way to deliver assignment to some militants. The police seized an amount of Rs 12,000 from the possession of the arrested OGW.

Bhaderwah ASP SP Katoch said the person from whom the currency had been seized had claimed that he had withdrawn that money from the bank.

He, however, said the bank authorities had made it clear that fake currency was not withdrawn from the bank.

“Due to increasing pressure of the security agencies, militant groups have been facing shortage of money,” sources said, adding that extortion and other means of collecting money by the militants have been almost stopped so they have started circulating fake currency.

Sources did not ruled out the possibility of distributing fake currency among guides and other persons who allegedly had been either providing shelters to the militants or carrying their weapons from one place to other.

Leh, March 31
In support of the Tibetan cause, the Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet observed the 50th National Uprising of Tibet in Leh today.

Calling people to support the Tibetan cause, committee president Tashi Targais said it was also working for the reopening of the Ladakh-Tibet trade route, inclusion of Bhoti language in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution and a pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash via Ladakh.

He said the committee was mobilising support for the Tibet’s cause to promote peace and tranquillity in India and the neighbouring countries. Around 500 people from adjacent villages of Leh attended the function.

All Ladakh Gonpa Association president Tokdan Rinpochey, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said, “Due to a close connection with Tibet in terms of religion, culture and race, Ladakhis have been supporting the Tibetan cause since 1980’s and they protested against the crackdown on Tibetans in Lhasa last year.”

Srinagar, March 31
At least 46 girl students were injured when the ceiling of a private school collapsed at Bangla Bagh in Baramulla town this morning.

The incident took place around 11.10 am when most of the girls of Nusrat-ul-Islam High School near Islamia Park, Bangle Bagh, were on the first floor of the school.

The ceiling of the building collapsed causing injuries to them, the Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, said.

District officers rushed to the spot and rescued all injured students out of the rubble. The injured were shifted to hospital.

Twenty-six students were discharged after first aid. Twenty others were being treated in the district hospital, the police here said. An FIR has been registered.

“It was a miraculous escape for students”, the officials said, adding that only three suffered fractures in their legs. One of the students was being treated for a head injury, while the other injured were said to be out of danger, they said.

The school had been closed and was being shifted to another building so that the students did not suffer on account of studies, the officials said.

Srinagar, March 31
Senior Separatist leader and chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah was arrested by the police immediately after his release from the Central Jail here today, official sources said.

Shah, who was arrested under the Public Safety Act on August 29, was whisked away by waiting police personnel soon after he came out of jail, the sources said.

As Shah was being taken away by the police, his supporters and party activists resented the action and shouted slogans, the sources said adding that they dispersed only to re-assemble at Partap Park in the heart of the city.

Shouting anti-government slogans, activists of the DFP led by acting chairman
Mohammad Abdullah Tari tried to stage a rally but were stopped by the police,
the sources said.

When they refused to disperse, the police swung into action and took 10 of them, including Tari, into preventive custody. — PTI

Srinagar, March 31
The security forces killed a militant in Kralpora in Kupwara today. One AK rifle, four AK magazines, four hand grenades were recovered from the site of encounter.

Meanwhile, two militants killed in Kellar (Shopian) were Pakistanis and owed their
allegiance to Jaish-e-Mohammad. They have been identified as Abu Hamza and
Abdullah Pathan.

The killing of four JeM militants, who are as rabid as those of LeT, in two days in two parts of south Kashmir has raised an alarm among security personnel as JeM presence so far has been limited in the valley.

Officials say JeM has quietly widened its network and spread in south Kashmir while it was earlier confined to a few pockets in north Kashmir, except for Tral where it has been well entrenched for the past two years.

Meanwhile, the Army today launched a combing and search operation in the
Gulabgarh area of Reasi district following Sunday's encounter in which a jawan was
killed, sources said.

The combing and search operation in the Gulabgarh belt was launched after some movement of ultras was noticed there, they said.

Militants ambushed an Army patrol party in the area and killed a jawan on Sunday, they said, adding they also questioned house owner Mohammad Rasheed from whose residence they were fired upon by the ultras.

Meanwhile, the troops of the Army today seized a cache of arms and ammunition from Thanamandi in Rajouri today.

Srinagar, March 31
A number of Kashmiri separatist leaders invited to a seminar, organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits who remained in the valley during the last two decades of militancy, said today that the return of exiled Kashmiri Pandits to their motherland was the most probable way to preserve their places of worship.

The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) put up a photo exhibition of temples destroyed or desecrated during militancy in a local hotel and asked leading separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, both leaders of two Hurriyat factions, and Yaseen Malik, JKLF chairman, to speak as to how the sanctity of their religious places could be restored.

KPSS president Sanjay K Tickoo said the support of majority Muslims was essential to preserve their heritage and said the callousness of successive governments was as much responsible for their suffering as communal acts of some militants.

Geelani could not come as he was under house arrest while the Mirwaiz had taken ill, his representative said, but their spokespersons expressed their views while Malik, a hate figure for many migrant Kashmiri Pandit bodies due to the JKLF’s involvement in the killing of a number of Pandits at the outset of militancy, too shared his ideas.

As is often the case in a gathering of separatists, almost every speaker doubted if Muslims, even if militants did it, were at all involved in the desecration of temples.

Some speakers like Zahiruddin, a journalist with extreme religious and political views, said secret agents of the state could be behind it.

He claimed that the places of worships of minorities were in a much better shape in Pakistan than those of Muslims in India.

However, Yaseen Malik was a bit more candid and said it was natural that conditions of temples would worsen once their caretakers left the place.

The best way to restore the old glory of temples was that Pandits returned to the valley, he said, adding that the discord between Muslims and Pandits, who even before migration were little more than 6 per cent of Kashmir’s population, was never over religious matters.

He reasoned that Pandits should not be asked questions over political loyalty as minorities everywhere felt vulnerable.

He lashed out at Pandit bodies based outside the state and said they had exploited the pains of their community for their own political and religious ends.

“When I go to Delhi and Mumbai to voice the plight of Kashmiris, they call me rapist and terrorist. They do not want Pandits living in camps in Jammu to return as they have a vested interest,” he said.

Hurriyat leader Aiyaz Akbar, who represented Geelani, said bad people were in every
religion and they might have a hand in desecrating temples and encroaching upon
Pandit lands.

“Muslims are the most misunderstood people. We should not be judged by the deeds of our extremists,” he said.

Srinagar, March 31
Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have stressed the importance of introducing only those courses in Kashmir and Jammu Universities that are job-oriented and relevant in the emerging scenario.

They have also appreciated the efforts of the two universities for taking higher education to the distant corners of the state.

The Governor, also the Chancellor of the University of Kashmir, was addressing the University Council meeting held at Raj Bhavan here today.

He also underscored the need for utilising the services of trained faculty so that the student community was prepared to face the challenges of the present day society.

Vohra observed that while the launch of entrepreneurship development programmes was a welcome step, it was necessary that such initiatives were launched through close and active collaboration between all universities of the state, which include two agriculture universities.

Omar Abdullah, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the university, while addressing the meeting directed that facilities for business incubation be developed in the university to build entrepreneurial capacity in the students passing out.

He assured the university of all possible help in building academic infrastructure for the larger benefit of society.

He called for coordination between all universities and other institutions of higher learning in the state for sharing of resources and expertise.

The annual convocation of the University of Kashmir will be held on June 20. Prof.
Varun Sahani, Vice-chancellor, Jammu University, Prof. Anwar Alam, Vice-
chancellor, SKUAST-Kashmir and Prof. B Mishra, Vice-chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu
also attended the meeting.

Jammu, March 31
Infuriated over the death of a middle-aged man in a bloody clash between two groups over thoroughfare, people today blocked the Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch highway for nearly two hours at Muthi by placing the man’s body in the middle of the road.

Under the jurisdiction of Domana police station, two groups comprising women also had clashed over a thoroughfare in Lower Muthi last evening.

In a free-for-all situation, the warring groups attacked each other with batons and stones injuring eight persons, including five women.

The injured persons are Rattan Chand, Sanjay Raina, Kanta Devi, Ramesh Chander, Vimla Devi, Maya Devi, Rani Devi and Anuradha, all residents of Lower Muthi.

However, Rattan Chand, who sustained severe head injuries, died late last night in the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) here.

This morning, after an autopsy was conducted at the GMCH, family members of Rattan Chand and area residents blocked the Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch highway at Muthi for nearly three hours.

They placed the body of Rattan Chand in the middle of the road demanding stern action against the guilty, besides resolving the dispute over the thoroughfare.

Angry over the “gruesome murder” of Rattan Chand, the residents burnt tyres. They said they had an old dispute with sawmill owner Sanjay Raina over a thoroughfare.

They said despite an interim court order the sawmill owner had started construction work on the thoroughfare, which led to the clash.

The residents also accused the Revenue Department officials of harbouring mala fide intentions by not demarcating the piece of land to resolve the long pending dispute.

Later, officials from the Revenue Department and senior police officers arrived at Muthi and pacified the agitating people.

Besides giving an assurance to resolve the dispute, the tehsildar of the area also
promised to provide government help to the family of Rattan Chand, said a senior
police officer.

He said main accused Sanjay Raina along with seven others involved in the clash
had been arrested. A case under Section 302, RPC, had been registered against
them, he added.

He also appealed to other licensees to adhere to health standards, failing which strict action as per the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act should be initiated against the defaulters.

Jammu, March 31
The Jammu and Kashmir Khana Badosh Gujjar and Bakerwal Tehreek-e-Insaaf have alleged that officials of the Rural Development Department, Poonch, were acting on behalf of some influential people and were passing fake bills on their behalf.

Addressing a press conference, state president of the association Mohammad
Aslam Kohli alleged that a deep-rooted nexus was going on in the department in
connivance with some senior officials of the department and some powerful
persons in the area.

He alleged that various fake and bogus bills on the name of fake works, which were never undertaken, were being passed and crore of rupees were being embezzled.

He demanded that an inquiry should be conducted on the assets being accumulated by the assistant commissioner, development, and his staff.

He alleged that 80 per cent work of the PWD, Poonch, had been executed by influential and powerful persons of the area who were active in the district for procuring the works against paying illegal gratification to the PWD officers without putting the works to proper tendering.

“They do not spend money on ground but prepare false and fake bills and all this
is going on in connivance with the executive engineer, PWD, Poonch and his staff,”
Kohli said.

Jammu, March 31
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today discussed issues pertaining to the stress caused by global meltdown to handicraft sector, especially the carpet industry, in the state.

In a high-level meeting here today, the Omar deliberated upon problems haunting the carpet industry and handicrafts sector.

He felt that a comprehensive and time-bound study should be carried out involving artisans, traders and exporters to find out ways and means to reduce the effect of meltdown on the handicraft sector.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Industries and Commerce SS Salathia, Chief Secretary SS Kapur, Economic Adviser Jaleel Ahmad Khan, Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Haseeb Drabu, Financial Commissioner (Planning) SL Bhat, Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce) Anil Goswami, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Khurshid Ahmad Ganai.