Srinagar, June 23
In the uproar following the Shopian rape and murders, two separate brutal killings of women by militants in the state have gone unnoticed.

While the first case was that of 17-year-old Nigeen Awan which took place barely a few km away from the place in Shopian of south Kashmir, the second took place at Sopore where 45-year-old women Rashma Jan was shot dead because her daughter and son-in-law worked with the police force.

But these barbaric deaths have gone noticed. The police said it was because of the fear as these gruesome killings were undertaken by the militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, armed wing of the Jamaat-e-Islamia.

Awan was allegedly killed by Latif Theuuda and Riaz of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit at her residence on the intervening night of June 2-3 because she had spurned advances by the former.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the police alleged that Latif pumped over a dozen bullets into her at her residence in Dohnado in Shopian district and instructed that no one to take her to hospital.

The young girl died in front of her family members and villagers after struggling for 45 minutes. Ironically, in the FIR registered in Keller police station, the police has quoted unnamed eye witnesses who refused to come on record because of the fear of gun, except her father Sharief Ahmed Awan, who told the police that he was “instructed” by the duo to bury the body and not to make any hue and cry.

While Jamaat cadres in the Shopian district spread the word that Awan was working for the police, senior officials brushed aside the charge saying that the victim had not even attained the age of 18 years, which is mandatory for working as Special Police Officer.

Another killing by a Hizbul Mujahideen militant was that of Rashma Jan (45) on June 16 at Sopore in north Kashmir. This area is a Jamaat-e-Islamia stronghold and Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani also hails from here.

Jan, working as an employee of UCO Bank, met her death when terrorists barged into her house at Sopore on June 16 and fired indiscriminately. She died on her way to the hospital as she had received bullets in her head and chest.

She was allegedly killed by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Basharat, who had nurtured a grudge against her because she had a fight with his mother over marriage of her daughter.

The daughter - Shameema, a police constable - was married off to a policeman and at present posted in Baramulla.

Neither leaders of the ruling coalition nor the PDP are willing to comment about the two incidents and are even refraining from saying on record that culprits need to be brought to book. — PTI

Jammu, June 23
Controversy marred the one-day seminar on national security organised by Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation in the Jammu University Auditorium today. The varsity authorities cancelled the post lunch session in which RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, besides president of the Ladakh Union Territory Morcha leader Thupstan Chewnag were scheduled to speak.

However, the seminar interrupted by power failures went on as scheduled despite the cancellation orders. People braved suffocation and heat as the air conditioning system in the auditorium was not working.

Tarun Vijay, convener of the foundation and anchor of the function, announced from the podium several times that the move of the state government to disrupt the seminar by discontinuing power supply and threatening to close the auditorium to prevent leaders from speaking won’t work. He along with other speakers termed it as an attack on democracy and interrupting a peaceful function.

The university authorities, however, defended the move to cancel the post lunch session. Registrar GS Sambyal reasoned that the organisers had not disclosed that the function had a political agenda. “The university auditorium is for everyone to use. There is no bar on politicians from taking part in social functions or debates, but a function with a political agenda can’t be allowed.”

He insisted that the organisers did not include the names of political leaders in the invitation cards.

Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee reportedly died under mysterious circumstances this day in a jail in the state. He was jailed for questioning the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir. He ran a campaign in support of his slogan “Ek vidhan, ek pradhan, ek nishan” (One constitution, one Prime Minister, one national emblem).

The invitation cards of the seminar circulated to the media mentioned the subject as “Security of the northern frontiers and national integration” and a convention on “Nationalism and the legacy of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee” with a special reference to Jammu and Kashmir. It also mentioned the names of the RSS chief and the BJP president as the main speakers.

Jammu, June 23
Expressing concern over an unstable Pakistan, BJP president Rajnath Singh today felt that the terrorism-ridden neighbour should take help from India to deal with the situation.

He also felt that in the backdrop of a “shackled” Islamabad, Indo-Pak dialogue held no relevance. Responding to media queries here this evening after attending a function organised to commemorate ‘Balidan Diwas’ of Jansangh founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Rajnath asked Pakistan to initiate tough measures to tackle terrorism.

“On January 6, 2004, the then President, Parvez Musharraf, had given a commitment that terrorists won’t be allowed to use the land of Pakistan but it still has to walk its talk,” he said.

We would like to see that the culprits responsible for the Mumbai terror attack were also brought to the book, he said. However, being our neighbour we would want to see peace getting restored in the terrorism-ravaged country, he said. India should also help Pakistan in its endeavour, he added.

When asked whether he had been suggesting sending peace-keeping force in the militancy ravaged country, Rajnath Singh said assistance in any form could be given to restore peace in Pakistan.

He said the international community had a misconception that Kashmir issue was responsible for the estranged relations between the two countries. “Not Kashmir issue but fundamentalists within Pakistan were responsible for the strained relations,” he said.

On party’s salvage operation to rejuvenate party cadres in the wake of dismal show in recent Lok Sabha polls, he said, he along with party leader LK Advani would visit various states to encourage party workers.

He, however, refused that the BJP was a divided house on party’s ‘Hindutva’ formula after the general elections.

“Firstly, there was nothing like soft Hindutva and hard Hindutva. Hindutva is Hindutva wherein all sections of society, irrespective of religious affiliations, live in total harmony,” he said.

Srinagar, June 23
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has sought the support of the Union government for the conservation of forests, wetlands, lakes and rivers.

He sought Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh’s help in getting the rehabilitation and resettlement project of the Dal lake approved by the Centre and its integration with the main Dal restoration scheme.

The Chief Minister also sought Jairam’s cooperation and support for getting through various projects relating to water bodies development, pollution control, environment safeguarding and the restoration of forests at the Central level.

Ramesh, according to an official spokesman, assured the Chief Minister that he would champion the protection and conservation of Dal and other water bodies in all fora at the Central level. He said he would also take up the matter of sanctioning about Rs 1,100 crore project for the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers by the Centre government. “I would also take up this issue with the 13th Finance Commission so that funds are earmarked for the state to go ahead with the implementation of the mega Dal project covering all its aspects,” he added.

Minister for Forests and Environment Mian Altaf Ahmad said Jammu and Kashmir was a unique state for its peculiarity of utilising over 95 per cent timber in the construction of houses. He added that the forests here had to bear greater pressure on this count.

Altaf said the government was giving priority to restore the depleted forest cover and encourage afforestation even outside the forest areas involving a larger public participation.

Srinagar, June 23
Separatist Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who was under house arrest at his Nigeen residence for the past 23 days, has announced to visit Shopian tomorrow. The Mirwaiz was kept under house arrest since the Shopian incident came to surface on May 30.

A spokesman for the APHC said the restrictions had been lifted from his house here today and the Mirwaiz would visit Shopian tomorrow to console the family of the victims.

The incident had led to the continued protests and shutdowns across the valley for eight days. A complete shutdown is continuing for the past 24 days in Shopian town following the incident even as a judicial inquiry is probing the incident.

Meanwhile, the APHC chairman had a meeting with visiting British First Secretary Jasper Thorenten, who called on him at his residence here today. The Mirwaiz put forth his point of view over the Kashmir issue, violation of human rights, particularly the recent incident, including Shopian with the visiting dignitary.

Srinagar, June 23
Neelofar Jan (22) and Aasiya Jan (17) were most likely raped and murdered at a place other than the spots where their bodies were found on May 30, the interim report of the Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan commission says.

Commission sources admit that the inconclusive post-mortem and forensic reports would not be of much help in a court of law if the police manages to nab the accused. It has ruled out exhuming the victims’ bodies. The one-man commission counted out this possibility after taking advice from forensic experts, including Dr Fareeda Noor, who heads the Forensic Department of Government Medical College, Srinagar. “There is no chance of getting DNA sampling of the rape and murder suspects from the women’s bodies now,” a senior official said.

Exhuming of the dead bodies may shed light on the cause of death as even this is not conclusive in medical reports, but sources said the injury marks on Aasiya’s body, including a two- inch-wide and three-inch-long deep cut on her head inflicted probably by a sharp-edge weapon, is a definite pointer to murder. With scientific evidence almost missing, circumstantial evidence and recovery of murder weapon would be most crucial to prove the crime if police nabs the accused.

When asked how the commission arrived at the decision that both women were raped and murdered at some other place, the sources said they had taken into account the statements of Neelofar’s husband, Shaqil Ahmad Ahangar, and others that they had gone to those spots, where the bodies were eventually discovered, during their search for them on May 29 night but found nothing. The improbability of raping and murdering two women in an open area which is not far from population and adjacent to a bridge used for traffic, besides the position of the bodies when spotted, were also factored into the commission’s decision.

The commission has also cited reports of the Geology and Mining Department, which records data of the stream, near which the bodies were found, to debunk the police claims that they drowned. The water is nowhere above three feet in the stream, the reports say.

Jammu, June 23
Thousands of students likely to be affected as the UGC has declared that Sikkim, Manipal, Global Open University, Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) and others are operating illegally in the state.

The UGC, apex body regulating universities, has issued an advisory for parents and students on distance education by private universities. The UGC has issued this advisory through a notice available on its website www.ugc.ac.in <<http://www.ugc.ac.in>>.

It informs that some of the state private universities have affiliated colleges and started off-campus centre(s) beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their state in violation of the UGC (establishment of and maintenance of standards in private universities) Regulations, 2003 and against the judgment in case of Prof Yash Pal and others vs state of Chhattisgarh and others.

The notice further mentioned that some of these universities were running these centres on franchising basis, which was also not allowed.

It is for the information of the public at large and the student community in particular that as per the information available with the UGC as on date, there are 39 private universities established by the Acts of the Legislatures of different states.

Some of the universities that are mentioned in said list of 39 universities include Sikkim- Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences, the Global Open University, Nagaland, Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), C-1/103, Indira Nagar.

The UGC through the said notice has also informed that the private universities cannot affiliate an institution/college. They cannot establish off-campus centre(s) beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the state concerned. However, they can establish off-campus centre(s) within the state concerned after their existence of five years and with prior approval of the UGC. So far, the UGC has not approved any off campus centre(s) of any private university.

Srinagar, June 23
Emphasising the need to bring the security forces under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, noted academician Prof SM Afzal Qadri said yesterday that RTI movement should try to make a difference in this regard.

“Security force agencies have not been accounted for their actions and it is here I would like RTI movement to play their role. At the same time it should be ensured that exploitation does not take place vis-à-vis RTI. People would take use of RTI and resort to practices thus leading to harassment of the officials,” said Prof Qadri, former HoD of Law Department at the University of Kashmir.

He was speaking at a day-long workshop ‘Right to Information and role of educationists’ organised by RTI movement and ActionAid.

Referring to the recent Shopian incident, the former HoD said the government didn’t deem it fit to file an FIR in this case. “Going by developments like these it is very difficult to get RTI going and this is the biggest challenge for people involved in this movement,” he said.

Prof Qadri said RTI movement should carry out awareness campaign in educational institutions so that students question teachers about their performance vis-à-vis delivery of lectures.

Carren Jodha Fischer, working as consultant for Rafiabad Development Authority said it was very difficult to get work done under the government setup in Kashmir, as bureaucrats don’t allow things to move in a systematic manner.

“RTI activists have been doing tremendous job in India regarding the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). I wish and believe that jobs on similar pattern would be carried out by RTI people here,” says Fischer.

DIG Bashir Ahmad Malla (ret) said during his tenure at the Vigilance Department he found that no action was taken against people involved in malpractices and embezzlements.

Jammu, June 23
High drama was witnessed in a local hospital today over newly born twins found abandoned a week ago, as many childless people reached there only to be confronted by the father of the babies. Fayaaz Hussain, father of the babies, said he had abandoned them due to poverty, but later realised he was wrong in doing so.

Meanwhile, the case was further complicated as the state did not have any adoption law.

It is quite ironical that six days ago the twin baby boys were abandoned by their parents due to poverty just after their birth in Shri Maharaja Ghulab Singh (SMGS) hospital.

Today, three couples were willing to adopt the babies, besides a government organisation, Child Line, Jammu, eager to take care of them. But none of them succeeded.

“The address of the parents of the babies was traced and their father was summoned. We cannot force him to carry the children. A number of issue-less couples and some organisations are willing to adopt the babies. Now, it’s his (father’s) choice to whom to hand over the babies,” said the officer in charge of police post at the SMGS Hospital, Asha Koul.

“The babies have developed symptoms of jaundice and need medical care for at least three days,” she added.

Fayaaz, however, said: “I already have two sons. As I have a meagre income, I cannot afford to bring up two more. But I am in a dilemma as I cannot abandon them also.”

Th coordinator of the Jammu chapter of Child Line, OP Gupta, said: “Whenever such a case comes to light, we take the responsibility of the abandoned child. Its natural justice, as the biological parents of such children can take possession of their children anytime without confronting the foster parents.”

Gupta was dismayed as they were denied the custody of the babies after their father came to the hospital this morning.

Willing to adopt the babies, Harvinder Singh along with his mother and wife came to the hospital police post. Harvinder said: “I came in the morning to be the first to adopt the babies. Religion does not bar me from adopting them, as I regard relations of love above blood relations.”

By the time this report was filed, people had been waiting for Hussain to hand over the custody of the babies to them when he mysteriously disappeared from the hospital.

According to senior advocate Sheikh Shakeel, “there is no law or rule in the state for adoptions. What happens in the absence of such rules is that parents without children approach the SHO concerned, who has the custody of the abandoned child, and produce a letter of authority or supurdnama duly signed by the judicial magistrate concerned and take possession of the child.”

“If the natural parents come again to claim the custody of the child, the foster parents have no right to keep the child with them,” he added.

Udhampur, June 23
Failure of the state government to implement the Supreme Court directions forced dwellers of the Talwara migrant camp to adopt warpath as hundreds of displaced people today marched towards the office of the deputy commissioner, Reasi. They have been demanding relief on a par with the displaced Kashmiri people.

Though for the past one month displaced people have been agitating to get adequate relief, the authorities did not take their stir seriously. A large number of migrants led by chairman of the Migrant Action Committee Balwan Singh took out a procession from Zero Chowk, Talwara, and started a march towards Reasi town.

Some cops deployed at Talwara tried to stop them but of no avail. Shouting slogans against the authorities, the migrants trooped towards Reasi and reached in front of the deputy commissioner’s office.

Addressing the protesters, Balwan Singh regretted that with much publicity the state government had announced a package for migrants of Talwara camp on November 2008. Instead of implementing the package, the authorities have failed to ensure even smooth supply of ration to the displaced families.

He regretted that except for tall promises the authorities concerned had done nothing to solve their problems.

He reiterated the demand that the migrants camping at Talwara and adjoining localities should be given relief on a par with the Kashmiri migrants.

The migrants pointed out that due to some political pressure undeserving families had been included in the list of the migrants, while as genuine displaced people had been singled out.

They said relief to the displaced families had been stopped without any reason and a majority of the camp dwellers were on the verge of starvation, but the relief commissioner and his officers were not interested in mitigating their miseries.

They demanded that all genuine migrants should be included in the list and they should be given relief.

Srinagar, June 23
Over 3,000 persons attended Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s first open public durbar at Bandipore, 57 km from here, today.

The first public durbar by any Chief Minister in the past three decades was attended by Omar’s ministerial colleagues, Chief Secretary S. S. Kapur, DGP Kuldeep Khoda and other senior officers.

Omar Abdullah gave on-the-spot directions for redressal of various grievances and ordered for accommodating development demands presented by various deputations and individuals in the district and state plans. The Chief Minister said such darbars would be a permanent feature to bridge the gap between administration and the public

Earlier, the Chief Minister surprised everyone when he reached Bandipora by road. Instead of using a helicopter, Omar chose to travel by road to know various public needs by interacting with people en route. He talked to various people at Safapora, Hajjan, Ajas, Manasbal, Ganderbal, Borus and Gratbal.

Srinagar, June 23
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah had an aerial survey of the two tracks leading to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath via Baltal and the traditional route from Pahalgam today. The NC president also visited the holy cave and interacted with pilgrims and officials to have an overview of the arrangements in place for the yatris. Most pilgrims appreciated the arrangements made by the shrine board.

The Union Minister, who arrived here yesterday, visited the Amarnath shrine via the Baltal route early this morning. The minister also had detailed discussions with officials to have an overview of the facilities available for the pilgrims.

Jammu, June 23
The police has registered an FIR against the doctor who allegedly spread the rumour that he was suffering from swine flu. The rumour had caused panic among the health authorities and doctors at Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, as they remained on their toes for hours together yesterday.

Police sources confirmed that an FIR had been registered under Section 505, RPC, at the city police station on a complaint by district health officer Dr Dushant Kumar Gupta last evening.

The accused physician, Dr Yash Pal Gupta, however, contradicted the charges saying he was suffering from a seasonal flu and was keen to know preparatory measures put in place by the health authorities to meet any exigency in case of swine flu.

The police said no action had been taken against Gupta so far as it was investigating the matter.