Srinagar, June 15
With a number of Indians contracting swine flu, the government is deploying more medical teams equipped with required medicines and other resources at important entry points to the state.

Dr Muzaffar Ahmad, director, health, told The Tribune that medical teams had been deployed at Lakhanpur, the entry point to the state via road, while similar teams were already in place at all airports. “We are screening all foreigners and Indians landing here from abroad. We have a team of six doctors and six paramedics at Srinagar’s international airport,” he said. Medical teams were also in place at the domestic airports of Jammu and Leh.

As the danger of the virus has increased in the country over the past few days, medical teams would also be deployed at the Jawahar tunnel, which connects the Jammu region with Kashmir.

About the availability of required medicines and adequate number of isolated wards, he said they had ample stock of medicines and a proper plan was in place for any emergency.

Jammu: Dr Muzaffar Ahmad said since May 29 passengers were being screened at all three airports for swine flu. Isolation wards had also been set up in all major hospitals.

“We have screened more than 3000 cases till date,” he added.

About Amarnath pilgrims, he said, elaborate arrangements had been made at Baltal, where a 50-bedded hospital equipped with ultra-modern facilities had been set up for the purpose. He, however, felt that there was no need to create panic.

The Health Department had set up a screening centre to check pilgrims for any strain of H1N1 virus at Qazigund and isolation wards at Sonamarg and Pahalgam to quarantine suspected people.

Srinagar, June 15
Over 10,000 Amarnath pilgrims arrived at the Baltal base camp, 100 km from here, today for pilgrimage further to the shrine cave in the upper reaches of south Kashmir tomorrow.

Since fresh rain hit the upper reaches of the valley and areas around the holy cave today, the authorities were yet to decide over allowing the movement of the pilgrims to the holy cave from Baltal tomorrow. Since the 14-km-long trek from Baltal on the Srinagar-Leh axis to the Amaranth shrine was slippery due to intermittent rain, the authorities were taking every precaution to ensure the safety and security of the pilgrims. There are weather forecasts of rain during the next two days also.

In view of bad weather conditions leading to a heavy accumulation of snow along the two routes leading to the cave shrine during the recent weeks, the yatra this year, earlier scheduled to begin from June 7, was rescheduled for tomorrow. Since bad weather conditions prevailed, the yatra had been scheduled via the Baltal axis only from tomorrow. A decision to allow the movement on 48-km-long trek from Chandanwari (Pahalgam) to the cave, which is under thick snow, would be taken on June 22, a spokesman for Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board had stated.

Meanwhile, Minister for Health, Horticulture and Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma today visited the Baltal base camp and reviewed yatra arrangements at a meeting. Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal (Yatra Officer), Iftikhar Hussain, Director Health Services, Kashmir, Muzaffar Ahmed, SASB officials, police and other officers were present in the meeting.

The minister also inspected the health care facilities at the camp and asked doctors to provide every assistance to the needy. He went around all makeshift wards and units and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements.

He instructed the forest and CA&PD officials to ensure the required quantity of firewood and essentials in the camp. He also directed the security agencies to ensure that no yatri was overcharged and harassed.

Jammu: The Amarnath yatra had to be stopped twice at Kud and Rambanas due to inclement weather even as the first batch of 900 pilgrims was flagged off by Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora here this morning.

Amid heavy security arrangements, 900 pilgrims, including 229 women and 64 children, who chanted “Bam Bam Bhole” and “Har Har Mahadev”, left the base camp in a convoy of 18 buses and 12 light motor vehicles at 5 am. The convoy eventually 
crossed the strategic Jawahar Tunnel by 5 pm.

However, IGP (Jammu) K Rajendra said a group of unregistered pilgrims were stopped near Nashri in Ramban.

“A group of unregistered yatris, who left on their own to undertake the pilgrimage, was spotted at Nashri and had to be stopped, which resulted in the stoppage of the movement of the convoy of 900 pilgrims that left Jammu this morning,” Rajendra told The Tribune.

He said: “Sangam en route to the cave shrine received fresh snowfall last night and I think inclement weather may play spoilsport again.” A team of doctors and paramedic staff also accompanied the pilgrims. A large number of security personnel have been deployed from the gateway to the state - Lakhanpur to Jawahar tunnel — in the Jammu region and en route base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal.

Srinagar, June 15
Asking the youth to become agents of change in society, Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, Prof Reyaz Punjabi said today that people should boycott marriage parties and functions where there was much pomp and show.

“Youths are the agents of change and it is they who have to change society. As such the youths have to stand up against extravagant marriages. They should motivate their families to go for austere marriages. Once it is done, society would follow suit,” said Reyaz.

He was speaking at a seminar “Austerity in marriages: Role of Youth” organised by the National Service Scheme (NSS) wing of the university in collaboration with the Hamsafar Marriage Counselling Centre, Srinagar.

Terming nikkah as an important aspect of the institution of marriage, the Vice-Chancellor said austere marriages were performed in the past. He added that this practice needed to be revived so that a lot of money being spent on marriages was saved.

“Over the years, people have been indulging in pomp and show in marriages. They have added to cuisines and other formalities related to marriages and this has added to wasteful expenditure,” he said.

Mufti Nazir Ahmad, vice-rector, Darul Aloom Raheemiyah, Bandipora, said scholars, media and academia had an important role to play in motivating masses to go for simple and austere marriages.

Registrar of the university, S. Fayaz, chairman of the Humsafar Marriage Counselling Centre, Fayaz Ahmad Zaroo and coordinator of the NSS, Kashmir University, Dr Mohammad Iqbal Hakeem also shared their views.

Srinagar, June 15
The business community in the valley today staged rallies demanding action in the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian as the strike in that township over the incident entered its16th day today.

Hundreds of traders staged peaceful demonstrations at all district headquarters, including this city, in the afternoon, demanding severe punishment for those involved in the Shopian incident, official sources said.

A rally was taken out by traders from Budshah Chowk to Regal Chowk and a protest was also held at Jamia Masjid, sources said.A similar protest would be held by transporters tomorrow, followed by the “peaceful protest” by women on Wednesday

The demonstration was on a call given by hardline separatists as part of a week-long stir to protest the incident.. The hardline APHC has called for a protest demonstration on Thursday against the continued detention of its chairman, Syed Ali Geelani. There would be “march to Baramulla” on Friday and a complete shutdown on Saturday, a spokesman for the APHC said here .

Protest demonstrations were also held by the leaders and workers of the moderate APHC in downtown areas against the Shopian incident and the continued house arrest of its chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The protest was also held against the detention under Public Safety Act (PSA) against several leaders, human rights violations and alleged excesses by the security forces on the people of the valley.

In Shopian, 52 km from here, the strike against the death of two women entered its 16th day today with shops, businesses, government offices, banks and courts being closed and transport off the roads.

The recently formed Shopian Coordination Committee (SCC), which is spearheading the agitation in the town, has extended the stir till Friday.

The two women, Asiya (17) and her sister-in-law Neelofar (22), were found dead in Shopian on May 30.

Srinagar, June 15
At least 50 activists of a Kashmiri Pandits' organisation were briefly detained today after they staged a march, demanding speedy implementation of the employment package announced by the Prime Minister for the community last year.

Official sources said members of Youth All-India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS), an organisation of Jammu-based migrant Pandits, reached the main gate of the state secretariat and tried to stage a sit-in in support of their demand for implementation of the package.

The protesters, including some women and children, were briefly detained as they refused to disperse on their own.

"We plan to see Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and ministers. We want to request the authorities concerned that the Prime Minister's employment package should be implemented in letter and in spirit since it shall in no way be a burden on the state exchequer," general secretary of the group J L Pandita told PTI

"The march was to highlight the problems of youth, who are the worst sufferers after the migration of the community in the wake of eruption of militancy in the valley." The package was announced by Prime Monister Manmohan Singh in June, 2008, on the eve of inaugurating Akhnoor bridge, he claimed. — PTI 

Srinagar, June 15
The PDP has decided to launch a grass-roots level campaign in Kashmir and Jammu regions from Saturday for the revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and demilitarisation of civilian areas.

The campaign would be kicked off by party president Mehbooba Mufti in Kashmir and senior vice-president Rangeel Singh in Jammu, a party spokesman said here today. He added that these two measures would mark the first crucial steps for the resolution of the Kashmir problem as envisaged in its self rule agenda.

The spokesman said the programme to highlight the need to revoke the AFSPA and shift the security forces from civilian areas would continue till the objectives were achieved. He said the programme would be peaceful and conducted within the democratic and constitutional space.

He said atrocities like incidents of Shopian, Bumai, Khaigam and others were not isolated incidents of human rights violations. Administrative actions would be futile and a judicial scrutiny impossible in the presence of laws like the AFSPA, he added.

Giving details of the programme, the spokesman said Mehbooba would be holding district-level meetings from June 20 at Ganderbal, Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Shopian and Kulgam. Senior party leaders Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Mohammad Dilawar Mir, Peer Mohd Hussain, Abdul Rehman Veer, Aga Mehmood, Abdul Rashid Kabuli and others would also attend the meetings. Similarly, in Jammu region party meetings would be held at Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri, Darhal, Thanamandi, Poonch, Mendhar and Surankote.

Udhampur, June 15
The Udhampur police has picked up some suspects from Himchal Pradesh in connection with the general post office robbery. A gang of burglars had looted Rs 524,967 from the main chest of the post office on May 29.

Though senior police officers refused to divulge details about the arrests made from Himachal Pradesh, sources said a police team headed by ASP Bhupinder Singh had gone to Himachal Pradesh and it picked up more than 12 suspects for questioning in the case. Surinder Gupta, SSP, Udhampur, refused to give details about the suspects rounded up. “We have picked up some suspects, but disclosing their identities would hamper the investigations in the case,” he said, adding “it is premature to say which gang was involved in the robbery”.

The sources said during preliminary investigation the police found some evidences, which helped it establish the identities of the robbers involved in the May 29 robbery case.

As reported earlier, during preliminary investigations the involvement of a professional gang of robbers from outside the state was established. The Udhampur police had been in touch with the Punjab Police.

The sources said the police team returned to Udhampur along with the suspects this afternoon.

Jammu, June 15
A sweeper Munir Ahmed Wani (55), a native of Srinagar putting up in Bhagwati Nagar, was killed on Monday morning after he was attacked by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) employee Harjeet Singh of Bakshi Nagar with a sharp-edged weapon following heated arguments over garbage near Rajinder Singh Park, official sources said.

A murder case has been registered against the accused who is at large. — TNS

Jammu, June 15
Suraj Prakash, aged around 45, was found brutally murdered inside his shop in the Karangi area of Akhnoor this morning.

Official sources said Suraj had been running a business of poultry products at Karangi. SHO, Akhnoor police station, Gian Chand Sharma confirmed the incident.

Sharma said Suraj was sighted around 9.30 pm yesterday, but he did not return home. However, his family found him dead inside the shop this morning. His body bore deep stab wounds. It was a clear case of murder, he added.

A case has been registered and the police has picked up a few suspects.