Srinagar, June 7
As many as eight persons, including four women, were injured as the police fired teargas shells and used batons to disperse protesters led by separatist Dukhtaran-e-Millat after they defied prohibitory orders and clashed with the security personnel here today.

The protesters led by chairperson of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of the nation) Syeda Asiya Indrabi tried to enter Eidgah in the interior city to protest against the death of two women under mysterious circumstances in Shopian, 52 km from here, on May 30, officials sources said.

The authorities had clamped prohibitory orders near Safakadal since this morning to thwart the planned march as protests and strike by the separatists against the Shopian incident continued for the seventh day today.

The roads leading to the Eidgah were sealed and residents of the adjoining areas complained that they were not allowed to move out of their houses by the police and the paramilitary personnel.

The police said law-enforcing agencies had been directed to strictly enforce the prohibitory orders as a precautionary measure.

Unable to reach the Eidgah, Dozens of Burqa-clad activists of Dukhtaran led by Asiya assembled at Jamia Masjid this afternoon after which groups of youth clashed with police and paramilitary forces.

Meanwhile, shops and business establishments remained partially open even as the family members of the two women are on a hunger strike to demand action against the culprits.

As the situation remained tense, the police and the paramilitary personnel patrolled the deserted streets of Srinagar and major towns of the valley to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, the government directed all local cable news channels to restrict their bulletins to 15 minutes daily. The decision was conveyed by the district administration at a meeting with editors, proprietors and correspondents of Srinagar-based channels.

The police has also filed an FIR against a local news agency - Current News Service - for allegedly transmitting wrong information through its SMS service.

The FIR has been registered in Kothi Bagh police station against the agency for transmitting a news item -- “Shopian tense, more than 100 protesters injured", the police said. — PTI

Jammu, June 7
Senior PDP leader Shohab Inayat Malik has said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has lost credibility after the Shopian incident and should step down immediately.

According to a statement issued here, he alleged that the NC had always played politics on the blood of Kashmiri people and could go to any extent for the sake of power.

He said during the past one week three persons, including a girl, were killed by gunmen.

The PDP leader said the government should register an FIR in the Shopian case if it was serious about finding out the truth.

Rally held

Rajouri: The local PDP unit took out a rally here on Saturday in protest against the coalition government’s “failure” to safeguard the life and dignity of citizens of the state.

Shouting slogans against the state government, about 200 PDP activists took out a rally from Gujjar Mandi to the DC Office here to condemn the alleged gang rape and killing of two women at Shopian.

The protesters holding placards “stop human rights violations” later handed over a memorandum to the district administration, seeking identification of the culprits and exemplary punishment for them.

Demanding strict action against the culprits involved in this inhuman act, PDP leader Shahzad Khan said the coalition regime was buying time to divert attention of the people from this case. 

Udhampur, June 7
Expressing their concern over repeated road accidents in Doda and Kishtwar districts, state PDP secretary Sayeed Asgar Ali, MLC, and senior party leader Thakur Balbir Singh lambasted the state government for playing with the lives of citizens.

They shifted all blame on the state government for the killings on roads and demanded action against officers of the departments concerned for their failure to keep a check on over-loading and plying of outdated passenger vehicles in the mountainous district of Kishtwar.

In a joint statement issued here today, the PDP leaders said the ill-fated mini-bus which fell into the Chenab today was outdated but it was plying due to a nexus between transporters and officers of the departments concerned.

Expressing shock over the loss of lives in the accident, the PDP leaders demanded an inquiry to find out the causes of mishaps and ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to next of kin of the deceased.

Sayed Asgar Ali said the accident had exposed the hollow slogans of the coalition government of providing best road connectivity in the far-off areas. He said the government had earlier promised to start SRTC service in this belt but nothing had been done so far.

The PDP MLC said that after the February 25 accident, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had promised to improve the condition of roads and to provide adequate passenger vehicles in this mountainous belt but the promises had remained only on paper. “The same promises were repeated after the Bhaderkot tragedy in Kishtwar on May 4 with no follow-up action”, he regretted

Expressing serious concern over the frequency of road mishaps in Kishtwar and Doda districts, Thakur Balbir Singh asked the authorities, especially the Traffic Department”, to take stringent measures to check the recurrence of such accidents.

Jammu, June 7
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that troops of the 39 Rashtriya Riffles have committed atrocities on couple in Kash Blahari village.

Senior PDP leader and party MLA from Mendhar Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan today demanded action against the culprits indulged in attacking a family. He warned to launch an agitation if authorities failed to take action against the accused.

Former minister Sardar Rafiq Hussain, who met IG, Jammu range, K Rajindra today to apprise him about the incident, said troops of the 39 RR entered the house of one Mukthiyar Ahmed and without any official order the soldiers started search in the house despite being the fact that some women were also present there.

“As Mukthiyar Ahmed opposed act of the soldiers, they fired at him with their service weapons. The troops also gave severe thrashing to Barkat Bi wife of Mukthiyar,” said MLA.

Following intervention of the PDP leader, the IG assured that the injured couple would be airlifted to Jammu for advanced treatment. He also assured that he would take up the matter with the Army authorities to take action against the guilty.

Srinagar, June 7
The Army today killed a Hizbul Mujahideen militant in an encounter in Langmarg forests of Bandipora.

Personnel of 13 RR intercepted militants and engaged them in a gunfire, killing one. They suspect that there was one more militant who managed to escape.

The Army believes the killed militant to be Abu Zahar, a Pak national, but his identity had not yet been confirmed.

“His body is still in upper reaches and his identity could be established only after we bring it down,” officials said. One Ak rifle, radio set and ammunition have been seized from the spot.

Meanwhile, militants made an abortive attempt to target a police station here with a grenade, a police spokesman said on Sunday.

Unidentified militants hurled a grenade towards Safakadal police station in downtown Sriangar last night but the explosive device fell short of the target and exploded on the roadside, the spokesman said. None was hurt in the attack.

Meanwhile, four militant hideouts were busted and a cache of arms, ammunition and explosive material seized by security forces in Poonch district, police sources said today.

The security forces busted a hideout in the Dolewali Doke area in Sabzian belt of the district today and seized two AK rifles, 2 UBGL grenades, 400 grams of RDX, 3 wireless sets, 2 IEDs rings, 98 Pika rounds, 3 Pika magazines, 70 AK rounds, 5 AK magazines, one hand grenade and one pistol magazine, the police sources said.

The troops busted another hideout in the Marhote area of Surankote Tehsil in the district and seized one AK rifle, 2 magazines, 57 rounds, 51 Pika rounds, 2 Chinese grenades and one IED remote control last night.

They also seized one satellite phone, hand grenade and one rifle from the Beri-Rakh area of Mehdhar Teshil in the district, they said, adding that another hideout was busted in Balakote and 6 kg of RDX, 4 RPG rounds, 2 UBGL grenades, 18 detonators, 180 battery cells and 3 radio sets were seized last night.

Srinagar, June 7
The National Conference overcame stiff resistance from its arch rival the Peoples Democratic Party when its candidate Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal was declared elected from the Hazratbal Assembly segment today.

Kamaal defeated PDP rival Asiya Naqash by a margin of 1,552 votes.

He polled 8,555 votes as against 7,003 votes secured by Naqash in the by-poll held on June 3, election officials said.

They said three other candidates in the fray together polled 1,814 votes, majority of which went in favour of Mufti Nizamuddin of the Save Srinagar Front (1,467).

The constituency witnessed nearly 20 per cent polling in view of ongoing tension in the Kashmir valley over the death of two women.

However, the election of Kamaal to the assembly has not changed the strength of the National Conference in the 87-member assembly which remains 28, the same the party secured in the last year’s Assembly elections. — PTI

Jammu, June 7
Residents of various localities here have threatened to launch an agitation against the Power Development Department (PDD) in protest against the unscheduled power cuts.

The residents of various areas, including Shastri Nagar, Digiana, Sanjay Nagar and many other localities, blame the PDD authorities for deliberately imposing unscheduled power cuts so as to divert the electricity supply to the industrial areas.

“They (PDD) deliberately impose electricity cuts on us to divert power to the industrial sector. Even a mild breeze gives them to cut the power supply,” said A.K. Sharma, a resident of Shastri Nagar here

The residents blame that despite paying hefty fees to the PDD for uninterrupted supply they are forced to live in the dark and bear the brunt of the ongoing heat wave in the region.

“It is enough now, we warn the PDD authorities to restore the electricity supply otherwise we would come out on the streets against the department and the state government.” said Alok Gupta, a resident of Sanjay Nagar.

Locals allege that the government has a biased approach towards the residents of Jammu as the power supply to the Kashmir valley was higher as compared to that for the Jammu region.

“The Kashmir region needs less electricity as compared to Jammu, but still Jammu gets less as compared to Kashmir,” said Anil Mahajan, a resident of Shastri Nagar.

As per official figures, the total production of electricity in the state is 1400 MW whereas the requirement is 1800 MW out of which the Jammu region gets only 500 MW with the rest going to the Kashmir valley.

The PDD had installed tamper-proof electronic meters in some of the localities and promised that the houses with these meters would get round-the-clock electricity supply. However, the residents of such areas also rue the erratic power supply.

During the two-month-long Amarnath land row agitation last year, a mob had damaged several electronic meters. However, a year has passed but the department has failed to replace most of the damaged meters.

“This is our last warning to the PDD to restore proper electric supply otherwise we would launch a mass agitation against the department,” said Mukesh Mangotra of Rampura.

Jammu, June 7
The Jammu State Morcha (P) has criticised the state government for adopting dillydally tactics in opening the central university in the Jammu province.

Speaking at a press conference here JSM (P) president Virender Gupta alleged that the state government was working on a hidden agenda to sabotage the proposal of the government of opening a central university in the Jammu province and intriguing to shift the proposed central university to the Kashmir region.

“The decision of Vice-Chancellor Abdul Wahid to open a temporary working office of the sanctioned central university at Srinagar and to start the post graduate classes in identified disciplines there from this year, unambiguously exposes the conspiracy of the state government and the Vice-Chancellor to establish the central university in Kashmir valley,” Gupta said.

The government had identified the Jammu region for the opening of central university in Jammu, whereas the Indian Institute of Management would be opened in the valley.

“About 6,000 kanal in Samba district has been identified for the central university and it is waiting clearance from the state government,: said Gupta, adding that, the his party demanded that necessary orders allocating 6,000 kanals in Samba for the construction of university campus be immediately issued and doubts in the minds of Jammuites about shifting of proposed university to the valley be cleared.

Gupta also alleged that the government of discriminatory treatment being meted to the candidates from the Jammu province in the matter of their selection in the professional institutions and reminded the present coalition government of its promise to provided fair justice to all communities and the regions of the state.

He demanded that the recommendations of the Singhal Committee, which was constituted after about three months agitation by the students and the people of the Jammu province against the state policy of admission in the professional institutions in 1998 be implemented.

Jammu, June 7
More than 1.55 lakh yatris have so far registered themselves for the Amarnath yatra, scheduled from June 15. After the fresh snowfall in the region, Governor NN Vohra, who heads the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, would conduct an aerial survey of the route on June 11 to see if the yatra can commence on June 15.

“The highest number of devotees have been registered from Delhi where more than 52, 700 have registered themselves for the yatra” said an officer of J&K Bank.

The least number of devotees have registered themselves from the south zone with only 2,700 yatris while 31, 400 pilgrims have registered themselves from Mumbai.

From Chandigarh, 31,600 pilgrims have registered themselves for the yatra, 1700 from Kashmir and 4000 from Jammu zone

The two-month-long pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high shrine will conclude on August 5.

Though BB Vyas, chief executive officer of the SASB, said though men and machinery engaged by the board to clear the Pahalgam track had reached up to Sheshnag, about 16 km short of the cave, last night’s snowfall has dampened the chances of the yatra from June 15.

A spokesman of the board said: “It snowed and rained heavily at the holy cave, Baltal and the entire track from both Pahalgam and Baltal sides almost throughout on Saturday”

According to reports, the cave periphery and areas around Sheshnag had recorded about 2 feet of snowfall while the Baltal base camp was reported to have received three inches of snowfall till yesterday afternoon.

Jammu, June 7
Srinagar’s loss of tourists owing to violence, protests and bandhs has become a gain for Bhaderwah, popularly known as mini Kashmir of the state.

Owing to its icy peaks, rivers, gardens, lakes and the journey along the gushing Chenab, this hill station, 280 km from Jammu, in Kishtwar district is witnessing a heavy rush of tourists for the first time in many years.

“There is a sudden rush of tourists. Against the capacity of 200 tourists in hotels and guest houses here, we have registered 250 tourists yesterday. So we had to request local residents to provide emergency accommodation to the tourists in their houses,” Talat Parvez, Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA) director, said.

To reach Bhaderwah, one has to turn to Batote from Patni Top hill station instead of following the Srinagar road.

Mukesh Kumar, who has come here along with his wife, from Patna said: “We had planned to visit the Srinagar valley after paying obeisance at Vaishno Devi shrine, but due to the ongoing unrest in the valley, we had to cancel our plans. Then our tour operator suggested us to visit Bhaderwah. We were awestruck when we saw Baglihar reservoir over the Chenab. I was so thrilled to feel the snow at the Mini Kailash parbat.”

Ganpat Prasad Gupta from Chhattisgarh said: “We have heard that the Jai valley, near Bhaderwah, is an excellent trekking spot. If all goes well, we can even spend night in the tents erected in the forests for the tourists.

Srinagar, June 7
The proposed ski mountaineering expedition to the Machoi glacier in Drass from June 12 will analyse concerns relating to the melting of glaciers.

Drass, the second coldest region in the world after Antartica, remains cut off from the rest of the world for seven months due to a heavy snowfall in the region. The expedition is aimed at bringing Drass on world tourism map, especially vis-à-vis ski and adventure tourism.

“We intend to impart ski training to locals at Drass. People there need to know about ski touring and ski mountaineering to attract tourists. Europe is taking advantage of such sports and we want to bring the same to Drass. We want to bring people from Europe as well as domestic tourists so that natives of Drass are able to earn their livelihood,” says Rauf Trumboo, expedition coordinator and deputy expedition leader.

The 10-day expedition would also visit the Amarnath cave if weather is favourable.

The team would include environmentalists, apart from trained skiers.

“The basic objective, apart from adventurous expedition, is to study glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate. “We will do mapping this time and visit the place again by next year and then 
find out how much glaciers are receding in Kashmir and Ladakh,” says Rauf.

This first-ever-ski-mountaineering expedition is being organised by the Srinagar District Winter Games Association (SDWGA) and sponsored by the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department.

Jammu, June 7
Vision Kashmir, an organisation of the Kashmiri Pandits, held executive committee meeting under the chairmanship of its convener Sunil Fotedar. Members of the executive committee in the meeting expressed concern over the prevailing situation.

Fotedar said, “The recent judicial probe announced by the Chief Minister in the Shopian incident has proved that the ruling combine favours a particular community and continued their bias against the exiled community. Not only this, his stoic silence on the matter of probing the destruction of our houses and property is also suspicious.”

Fotedar expressed his anger for the Congress-NC combine that they just try to win over their exiled community with their hollow slogans during the election time. He demanded judicial probe into genocide, opening of all cases under Sections 452, 302, RPC, TADA, etc., registered at various police stations of the valley and setting up of special courts and punishing those involved in the massacre of the Kashmiri Pandits.

Political adviser of the organisation Vikram Razdan reacted to separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s public outrage which make people vulnerable to the disturbed scenario and strengthen the fundamentalist and urged stern action against him under the National Safety Act in the interest of the nation.

Jammu, June 7
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) held a meeting of the Building Operation Controlling Authority and cleared 67 cases for residential houses.

According to a statement issued here, an amount of Rs 13 lakh should be charged from the applicants of these building permission cases. Twelve cases were kept pending for want of some documents and inspection of sites.

The JMC has taken initiative for clearing these cases on fast track to facilitate the construction of building activities to eliminate unauthorised constructions in absence of the valid permission.

The corporation has constituted the drive for checking of unwholesome food. A team of the health wing leaded by health officer of the corporation Dr Anwar Choudhary destroyed about two quintals unhygienic cooked food items in different areas like Bakshi Nagar, Mahespura, Shakti Nagar, Hazuri Bagh, Tallab Tillo and Mohalla Om Nagar near Revenue Complex.

Sixtyfive establishments checked included juice corners, bakery shops, meat shops, fish sale point’s fruit drinks and pickle manufacturing units. Five defaulters were challaned and seven samples of food products i.e. pickles, mustard oil, red chilly powder, fruit drinks were lifted and sent to the public analyst, Jammu, for analysis and detecting standard of purity.

Similarly, a team of municipal veterinary officer lifted 14 stray animals from Gandhi Nagar, Panama Chowk, Railway Station, Trikuta Nagar, Channi Himmat and Satwari. They imposed a fine of Rs 1,350 on the defaulters. In addition medical veterinary officer inspected meat shops at CPO Chowk, New Plot, Talab Khatikan and charged a fine of Rs 1,200 for sale of unstamped meat.

Jammu, June 7
The Doctors Joint Action Committee, Jammu, and the Doctors Association, Kashmir, have demanded integration of pay grade of postgraduate resident doctors in state medical college hospitals with that of an assistant surgeon and house surgeon.

A deputation of doctors called upon Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rathar and submitted a memorandum of demands yesterday. Charter of demands asked for placing postgraduate doctors in pay band three as done at the central level besides payment of risk allowances, peripheral and rural services allowances.

It also sought consideration of doctors for administrative posts and said after 20 years of services, senior doctors be elevated to the rank of joint secretary.

Other demands in the memorandum included renaming of assistant surgeon as medical officers and promoting them as senior medical officers and specialists, payment of allowances for any job like medico legal case and autopsy etc., promotion of doctors after every four years, 10 years and 15 years in service. It also stressed on well defined transfer policy.

It rued that a driver in the health department gets time bound grade hike after five years whereas in case of post graduate doctors hike is given after seven years and MBBS doctors after 10 years.

Leh, June 7
Budh Purnima has been celebrated in Ladakh with traditional and religious fervor. To mark the occasion, several functions were organised at Changthang, Shyam, Nubra and central Ladakh.

Monasteries, Stupa, and Leh town have been decorated with colourful Tibetan prayer flags on the occasion.

The auspicious day is celebrated as per the Tibetan lunar calendar, which is followed in Ladakh, as well as entire Himalayan region of the country.

The celebrations begun early morning with devotees visiting monasteries to pay homage to the Lord Buddha. Special sermon on Buddhism was organised at the Phyang Monastery.

To receive the blessings of Lord Buddha relic, which was brought from Singapore on Friday, a large number of devotees visited the Chamtseling Monastery, near the Peace Stupa, in Leh.

A peace march was organised by Chokigan to create awareness about the teachings of Lord Buddha and pray for world peace. The peace march started from Shey Thuba and culminated at Chokhang Vihara in Leh.

Jammu, June 7
Seven persons lost their lives whereas 59 others were injured in road mishaps in the Jammu region today.

As per police spokesman, a bus hit a man aged about 60 years on BC Road, Jammu. The deceased’s body was brought to GMC, Jammu, for identification and postmortem.

In another incident, a man dies when a car hit him at Vijaypur. His body was brought to GMC, Jammu.

A Tata Sumo on way from Srinagar to Jammu rolled down about 200 feet at Banihal resulting in death of three persons and injuries to six others. In another incident, two persons were killed while two others sustained injuries when a vehicle rolled down at Major Morh, near Uchhad Mendhar.

In another such incident, three persons injured when a tanker plying from Jammu to Srinagar collided with a CRPF bus coming from opposite direction.

Two persons injured when a truck met with an accident at Gunal, Banihal.

An accident took place between two buses at Bali Nallah Morh falling under the Udhampur police station. Twelve persons injured in the accident. All injured were admitted to district hospital, Udhampur.

Thirtyfour persons were admitted to GMC, Jammu, after they sustained injuries in different road accidents the spokesman said.