Jammu, May 11
A team of Jammu and Kashmir national Panthers Party leaders led by its youth wing chief Ghulam Ali Engineer visited Belicharana where the administration had allegedly burnt the houses of Gujjars.

He alleged that the houses and property worth crores were burnt to ashes by the state administration with the help of local miscreants.

The party has decided to hold a parallel enquiry by a retired judge and not by the state government committee into the incident. Engineer said 31 houses were burnt and each family lost more than Rs. 1 lakh worth of ornaments and other households items in the fire.

He alleged that 15 children fled from their houses after been harassed by the police and other departments who were out to throw out these people out of their legitimate houses. He said the JKNPP would pursue the issue vigorously with the state government and also organise a hunger strike till Gujjars got their due.

Meanwhile, the Jammu University Students and Scholars Union and the Progressive Students Association today condemned the attack on Gujjar families at Belicharana, allegedly by the police and held a demonstration in front of Fountain Plaza on the university campus. The protesters burnt an effigy of the administration and raised slogans against the state police.

The protesters burnt an effigy of the administration and raised slogans against the state police. They said the administration should immediately stop doing injustice with Gujjars of the state.

Mohammad Arif, spokesperson for Gujjar research scholars, told The Tribune that by forcibly evicting the Gujjar families and by burning their hutments, the administration has rendered them and their children without food and shelter.

The students demanded that the government should immediately rehabilitate these families and take stgrict action against the culprits.

They demanded the removal of DGP Kuldeep Khuda, SP(South) Mubasir Latifi and the suspension of other responsible police officers.

The protesters warned that if the government did not take any action immediately they would come out on the roads to show their resentment against the administration.

Srinagar, May 11
The campaigning for the Baramulla and Ladakh parliamentary constituencies going to the polls on May 13 ended today. As many as 10,54,086 voters will decide the fate of 13 contestants spread over 15 Assembly segments of the Baramulla LS constituency for which 1,470 polling stations have been set up.

In Ladakh, 1,52,391 electors will decide the fate of five contestants spread over four Assembly segments where 476 polling stations have been established.

Many national and state leaders have campaigned across the Baramulla constituency with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister for Water Resources Prof. Saifuddin Soz and former Chief Ministers, Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Prithviraj Chavan, MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office, addressing various public meetings.

Of the 13 contestants in Baramulla, two are Independents while one is a woman candidate. They include Sharief-ud-Din Shariq of the NC, Mohammad Dilawar Mir of the PDP, Ghulam Mustafa Kasana of the BSP, Mohammad Iqbal Jan of the JKNPP, and Sajjad Gani Lone of the People’s Conference.

Of the five contestants in Ladakh, three are Independents and one woman. Those in the fray are are P. Namgyal of the Congress, Ghulam Murtaza of the PDP and Asgar Ali Karbalaie, Ms. Thinless Angmo and Hassan Khan, all Independents.

Meanwhile, M. S. Soodh, district election officer (DEO), Bandipora, said a polling booth had been set up at Razdhan Top for electors of polling station of Jawdara in Gurez Assembly segment, has been set for the Parliamentary elections.

The polling station had been set up in the same building where electors of Jawdara, Gurez had earlier cast their votes during the Assembly elections in 2008.

Srinagar, May 11
As the campaign for the last phase of Lok sabha elections ended, the 50-hour bandh called by hard line APHC leader Syed Ali Geelani began across the valley this evening.

Like on the occasions of elections in the Anantnag and Srinagar constituencies in the third and fourth phases, respectively, Geelani had called for a bandh in protest against the elections in the state.

He said the elections being projected by the government as a referendum in the trouble-torn state were no solution to the Kashmir problem.

Several separatist leaders, including Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, had been put under house arrest to prevent them from leading any anti-election demonstrations. Geelani had been under house arrest for around 45 days.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the APHC (Mirwaiz) said the Hurriyat had urged the people of north Kashmir to refrain from the elections.

Srinagar, May 11
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said votes for the NC means votes for the political and economical stability of the state and strengthening secular democratic forces led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Addressing election rallies in north Kashmir, Omar told people “you have to choose between Advani and Manmohan Singh”. He added, “Advani and his BJP represents communal ideology and godfathers the PDP in the state, while the UPA under Manmohan Singh is a secular democratic alliance committed to upholding the secular characteristics of the country and ensuring equitable development irrespective of creed, caste, colour, region and religion.”

Omar said the UPA government provided unprecedented financial and logistic support to the state during its regime and the Prime Minister had promised him that he would help in a big way to make the state a model state if the UPA returned to power.

Referring to the promptness shown by his government in dealing with complaints against human rights violation, the Chief Minister said the setting up of an inquiry in the Bomai incident and its finalising report within 15 days and action against culprits was itself a record during the last 20 years. “This speaks loud and clear about our seriousness with regard to human rights violation,” he added.

Welcoming the statement of President Zardari that “India is no threat to Pakistan”, Omar said the positive thinking of Pakistan leadership vis-à-vis India would prove a catalyst in bettering the relations between the two neighbours.

He said his government would work for the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan and talks between the Central government and the separatists.

He also welcomed participation of Sajjad Lone in the elections. 

Srinagar, May 11
Governor NN Vohra has emphasised the need for evolving appropriate models of growth and development and forging effective linkages between traditional knowledge and modern technologies to establish a vibrant knowledge-based society.

He was speaking after inaugurating a three-day Convention on Knowledge Resources in India with a special reference to Jammu and Kashmir at Kashmir University here today. The convention was organised by the Allama Iqbal Library of the university. Vice-Chancellor Riyaz Punjabi presided over the inaugural session, while former Dean of Arts, Delhi University, Prof PB Mangla delivered the keynote address.

Vohra said India had remained a knowledge hub since times immemorial and also had the distinction of being the treasure house of wisdom. He said the rich repository of the holy scriptures and the intellectual and philosophical teachings of revered Sufis, and saints and institutions of higher learning had made an enormous contribution toward India being known as a knowledge guru over the centuries.

The Governor said in the contemporary world India was recognised for its large corpus of educated and trained human resource, which comprised youths. He said an enormous national challenge was to optimally exploit this reservoir of talent, connect to the old and new knowledge, and combine wisdom with information and work out appropriate solutions to challenges facing the nation.

He observed that all required steps would need to be taken to ensure that knowledge was used in an imaginative manner to protect and conserve our national wealth and resources, particularly our mountains, forests, flora and fauna, the wealth of medicinal and aromatic plants, rivers, and lakes and other sources of water.

He also referred to the state-of-the-art facilities available for students, researchers and all other information and knowledge seekers at the Allama Iqbal Library of the university.

Mangla observed in the keynote address that “we are living in a knowledge and information society, and it is knowledge that enables us to achieve growth”. 

Srinagar, May 11
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has alleged that the state government has let loose a reign of repression to stifle voices seeking justice through peaceful protests.

Addressing election rallies in Kupwara district of the Baramulla constituency, Mehbooba said registering FIRs against the residents of Bomai, Sopore, for participating in public protests against the killing of two innocent civilians of the area was a blatant display of government’s highhandedness. “The government must withdraw the FIRs immediately or be ready to face public wrath,” she said.

Expressing solidarity with Bomai residents, she said if the government did not withdraw the FIRs against the locals, the PDP would join the mass protests.

Accusing the NC-led government of persecuting the members of the hapless Gujjar community at Karinala Chak in Jammu, Mehbooba said by perpetuating brutality on the Gujjars, the government was accomplishing the unfinished dubious agenda of the Sangh Parivar set off during the Amarnath land row.

She added the NC had always exploited the Gujjar community as a lucrative vote bank and was now paying them back in kind.

Srinagar, May 11
Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said the Srinagar-Muzafarabad road would have become fully operational by now had the PDP-led government continued in office beyond 2005 and the re-opening of all other traditional cross-LoC routes would have been ensured.

Addressing an election rally on the last day of the campaign in Baramulla, the PDP patron said after the change of guard in 2005, the state government placed the cross-LoC reconciliation process on the back-burner and the present government also seemed to be having little interest in the revival of the historic process initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April 2005.

He said the economic future of the state was significantly linked to the liberty of its people to travel freely across the borders. “The removal of restrictions on travel will significantly remove the restrictions on our growth,” he said.

Mufti said in its ultimate form of the liberalisation of borders, the PDP envisioned a bus ticket to serve as a passport and visa for the people of the state to travel into any part of the erstwhile state and beyond.

He said despite the Prime Minister having convened three round table conferences on Kashmir and constituting five working groups, nothing seemed to be moving towards the implementation of the recommendations of these groups. “Such a dallying attitude only brews cynicism and alienation among the people here,” he said.

Sayeed said the political reconciliation process must be supplemented with measures that are economically beneficial to the state. “One such measure could be transfer of some mega power projects to the state as has been recommended by the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Jammu & Kashmir headed by former RBI Governor C Rangarajan.,” he added.

Jammu, May 11
Almost nearing completion as a part of expansion and modernisation plan at a cost of Rs 9 crore, the emergency block of the prestigious Government Medical College (GMC) finds going tough in the wake of the manpower crunch.

And at the receiving end were yet again patients, who pour into the GMC emergency from across the Jammu region which has 10 districts.

Official sources told The Tribune that though the expansion plan was nearing completion yet the acute shortage of manpower, including doctors, paramedical staff and nurses continue to take a heavy toll on patient care.

Requirement of manpower has been projected to the government but the posts were yet to be sanctioned, they said, adding, that on an average 500 patients visit the GMC emergency daily.

They said, to lessen the burden on GMC peripheral hospitals, including district and sub-district hospitals, should contribute their bit treating the patients in their respective districts.

However, district and sub-district hospitals waste no time in referring even those patients, who can be easily treated in their respective areas, they said.

A senior official of the health department said, patients with superficial injuries and mild diseases are referred to the GMC thereby putting extra burden on understaffed and overstretched medicos.

GMC principal Rajinder Singh has already taken up the matter with the government because without manpower expansion and modernisation of the emergency block would serve no purpose, they said.

The hospital emergency as of today has 80 beds, including 10 beds, in the emergency ward and remaining in the casualty and recovery wards.

Admitting that the hospital emergency was faced with acute dearth of manpower, the GMC principal said a proposal of 200 posts comprising of doctors, nurses and paramedics had been forwarded to the commissioner, secretary health, Atal Dulloo.

The latter had forwarded it to the planning department, which has cleared the proposal and now approval of the finance department is awaited before tabling it in front of the state cabinet, he said.

In the wake of the model code of conduct the proposal has been put on hold but after the Lok Sabha elections it would be taken up by the state Cabinet on priority, he added.

Dr Rajinder candidly admitted that in the present scenario proper patient-care in the hospital emergency continued to take a beating.

It may be recalled here that under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the GMC, Jammu, is being upgraded on the lines of AIIMS, New Delhi, at a cost of Rs 120 crore.

Jammu, May 11
The 2-km-long road from Gole Puli to Panj Pir in Ward No 31, which was dug up almost one year back for burying sewerage pipes, has not been repaired till date adding to the people’s woes

The irate residents are up in arms against the Urban Environmental Engineering Department that has taken up the road construction work and plan to stage a mass sit-in at Gole Puli chowk if ‘the administration does not address their grievance right away.’

“Keeping in view the pace of repair work, it may take another year for completion,” rued Pritam Chand and Pawan Kumar who have been running grocery and clothes shops along the road. “Our business has dwindled since the road was dug up. Our merchandise has been biting dust as customers prefer to avoid our shops.”

The road has also been causing trouble to the office-goers of at least 12 government departments, including the Directorate of Agriculture, Floriculture, Sericulture, Horticulture and Veterinary Sciences, situated along it.

“Asthmatic patients and old people have been suffering a lot. Passersby too find it difficult to commute on the potholed road. Boulders and mud in the low-lying surface of road are adding to our woes,” they complained.

“In the name of construction work on the entire stretch, only two labourers have been deputed to level the road manually. This way the road will never get macadamized even after one year. We are soon going to hold demonstrations against the construction agency,” residents of the locality said.

Assistant executive engineer Vijay Kumar declined comment on the issue.

Srinagar, May 11
A week after Romana, daughter of Dr Javaid Shabnam of Gulshan Colony, Chanapora, was crushed to death by a few boys driving a de luxe car at Parraypora, children belonging to schools run by the HELP Foundation, an NGO, carried out a sit-in at Pratap Park here.

Carrying placards reading ‘Civil Society wake up before it is too late’ and ‘Murder of morality is unacceptable’, the children demanded stern action against the culprits.

The incident occurred on May 3 when two boys rammed a car into Romana after following her for some distance. The impact of the car was so strong that the girl died on spot.

The HELP Foundation and some women held a protest at Lal Chowk here, demanding that the ‘killers’ be prosecuted.

Nighat Shafi, chairperson, HELP Foundation, says “If the government does not take stern action this time, we will come out in thousands.”

She demanded the settin up of a women cell for immediate action in such incidents.

The protesters later also carried out a march here. — TNS

Jammu, May 11
In an endeavour to bring in qualitative reforms in the examination system, Prof Varun Sahni, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Jammu University, along with a team of university officials, today paid surprise visits to the undergraduate part -III examination centres at GGM Science College and Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar.

According to the statement issued here, he took a first hand review of the conduct of the examinations in these centres. He also interacted with the overall in charges, centre superintendents and supervisory staff.

The members made certain suggestions for further transparency and efficient conduct of the examinations. The controller of examinations, who also accompanied the VC, assured to hold further interactions with them so that concrete steps could be taken to implement these suggestions at the earliest.

Jammu, May 11
Prof Dalip Singh Jamwal from Department of Mathematics, Prof. Vijay Dev Singh, Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) and Prof Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, Department of Geology, were today elected president, vice-president and general secretary, respectively, of the Jammu University Teachers Association (JUTA).

Only 244 of the 275 votes were cast in the election whereas two votes were declared as invalid.

There were two candidates in fray for the post of president and three for the post of vice-president whereas Prof. Pankaj Kumar Srivastava was the only candidate for the post of general secretary.

Prof Dalip Singh was declared elected as president with 185 votes and Prof. Vijay Dev Singh as vice-president with 113 votes

It is pertinent to mention that as no candidate had applied for the posts of joint secretary and treasurer, these remained vacant.

Leh and Kargil, May 11
Leh and Kargil may be united by a common Ladakhi heritage and shared past running into hundreds of years but the prevailing gulf between residents of the two districts could not be wider.

As the campaign in the Ladakh LS constituency ends today, you could be forgiven for thinking that both places are independent constituencies with a different set of candidates and people’s aspirations.

If the contesting candidates, three hailing from Kargil and two from Leh, mention the other district in their electioneering, it is more to polarise local voters in their favour than to unify the electorate of two districts.

A group of political workers campaigning in Kargil tells voters that they have to unite behind their candidate, a formidable one who is fighting as an Independent, as any division would ensure the victory of a contestant from Leh. “We are not negative. 

We are only reminding our voters of our number which is more than that in Leh. A man from Kargil deserves to represent Ladakh in Parliament,” Haji Nisar, one of the workers, says while locals around him nod in agreement.

He and his colleagues add that Leh has dominated Ladakh politics and prospered economically more than Kargil because of their division.

The gulf between the two districts has much to do with the fact that their majority practises different religion, Buddhism in Leh and Islam in Kargil. If politicians in Leh cutting across party lines see Ladakh’s future in separation from Jammu and Kashmir and as a Union Territory, Kargil leaders staunchly oppose it as they think their Muslim identity is served well being a part of Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are guided by developmental agenda while religion plays a bigger role in Kargil. When we asked for ST status and a hill developmental council for Ladakhis, Kargil leaders initially opposed it.

Now they have as much benefited from it as we,” S. Rinpoche, a Ladakh Union Territory Front leader, claims. While both Congress and the LUTF are promising in Leh to work for UT status for Ladakh, their rivals from Kargil vow to ensure status quo.

All candidates seem to take it for granted that they will get votes only from their region or religion. Despite alliance with the NC, Congress candidate P. Namgyal has largely concentrated upon Leh and Buddhist pockets in Kargil.

A few leaders, though, defended the voting pattern and said it was natural for voters to go for candidates living among them. “Leh and Kargil are so distant that an MP hailing from one district is very inaccessible for the residents of the other district. Voters’ preference for their candidate is natural,” Nisar says.