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Cabinet expansion spurs voices of dissent
Kashmiri Pandits feel let down
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APHC Mirwaiz faction for complete shutdown today
Purpose of Shopian probe defeated: Justice Jan
Neelofar’s husband may file defamation case
Shopian bandh continues
Over 1,000 vehicles stranded
CAG takes Northern Command to task
Probe into firing by MLA's PSO
Pak ultra shot dead
Medicos seek inclusion in Pay Band III
Vohra pays obeisance at Amarnath shrine
Soz action angers NC, Cong
MLA gives away cheques to widows
Khajuria flays Miliband’s remarks
Central varsity for Jammu sought
Financial package sought
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Plan to attack Baglihar project, reveal Pak ultras
Srinagar, July 12 This was disclosed by two Pakistan-trained Lashkar-e-Toiba militants arrested by the Army in the Shamshabari Range forests in Kupwara district in north Kashmir. They were told that a task would be given to them after linking up with other LeT militants. Talking to reporters in Kupwara today, they identified themselves as Mohammad Shafaqat and Mohammad Adnan, both residents of Chinchawatni tehsil in Sahiwal district of Punjab in Pakistan. “I have worked for at least 10 days in the tunnel before I crossed over to this side”, Shafakat said, adding thatr the tunnel must have been completed by now. After completing their training in a camp near Muzaffarabad in POK, they infiltrated through the Lipa valley to carry out attacks on security forces. They had been told that Kashmiri Muslims were not being allowed to practise their religion. However, on their arrival and after interacting with locals in the upper reaches, they realised that they had been misguided by their mentors in Pakistan as all religious activities were taking place freely in India, a Defence spokesman said. The two apprehended militants have undergone three-month training in handling of arms, ammunition and grenades. They were asked to carry out ‘fidayeen’ attacks on Indian Army camps should their mission fail. Two AK-47 rifles, one pistol, seven magazines, ammunition, grenades, GPS, two radio sets, water bottles and other material had been seized from them. |
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Cabinet expansion spurs voices of dissent
Srinagar/Udhampur, July 12 Sources informed two other slots, one each by the Congress and the NC, had been kept in abeyance due to “political pressures” and were expected to be filled within a couple of months. After the oath ceremony, differences within the party ranks started coming to the fore. Senior Congress leader and former PCC chief Choudhary Mohammad Aslam was the first to revolt against the party leadership for his exclusion from the Cabinet, prompting him to resign from the CLP leadership in the State Assembly. Workers and supporters of two NC legislators, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan from Handwara and Mir Saifullah from Kupwara, staged demonstrations here today. They threatened to quit in case Mir was not inducted forthwith. Other left over contenders included Farooq Abdullah’s younger brother Mustafa Kamaal (NC), representing Hazratbal in Srinagar, and Hakeem Mohammad Yasin of the Peoples
Democratic Forum. Former PDP minister Ghulam Hassan Mir after quitting the party and re-elected from Tangmarg was, however, inducted into the Cabinet yesterday. All members except for RS Chib (Congress MLC) have been taken from the Legislative Assembly. Even as senior leaders of both the NC and the Congress are working overtime to placate legislators, who are annoyed after being denied ministerial berths, supporters of these MLAs are “pressurising” them to take step. Veteran Congress leader and four times MLA Choudhary Mohammad Aslam and legislator from Kishtwar Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo have shown anger against the decision of their leadership to exclude them from the list of the council ministers. Supporters of MLA, Bhaderwah, Mohammad Sharief Niaz and MLA, Doda, Abdul Majid Wani termed it as the “wrong decision” of the Congress high command to ignore “deserving” candidates and giving priority
to “defectors”. An emergent meeting of Congress workers was held at Gandoh, the home town of Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, in which party activists expressed anguish against the high command and termed the exclusion of Mohammad Sharief Niaz from the Council of Ministers as “humiliation to the people of the hilly area”. Similarly, supporters of Doda MLA Abdul Majid Wani are sulking over the denial of ministerial berth to
their leader. Wani, who is in Srinagar, is expected to reach Doda on Monday to meet his supporters to chalk out the future course of action. |
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Kashmiri Pandits feel let down
Jammu, July 12 Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman, Panun Kashmir, says it was pointless to harbour any expectations from theNC government as it is difficult for this party to shift its stand from communal paradigm to secular. “The very move to ignore the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community has exposed the veracity of tall claims the NC has been making about KP, feels HL Chatta, general secretary, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference “Veterern NC leader Farooq Abdullah has been shouting hoarse from every possible public podium that his government will give due representation to KP, by inducting at least one member. But now when it came to Cabinet expansion, his party has again played with the interests of the minority community by ignoring it altogether. People will never forgive him for his dual character.” Chand Ji Khair, president, Vipasta Samaj Seva, says the previous government of Mufti Sayeed was better for KP as it had inducted Raman Mattoo, MLA from Habba Kadal, into the ministry but “the NC has crashed all our hopes.” |
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APHC Mirwaiz faction for complete shutdown today
Srinagar, July 12 The Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz faction, has called for a march to Lal Chowk and a complete shutdown in the valley tomorrow. The Mirwaiz, who had called for the march, has been kept under house arrest since last Thursday and, therefore, could not attend the Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid. Several other separatist leaders have either been arrested or kept under house arrest to thwart the march to Lal Chowk. Restrictions under Section 144 are already in force in Srinagar for the past several months, and would not allow any march towards Lal Chowk, officials here said. Police and CRPF personnel have been deployed in large numbers all across the city to thwart any attempts of the separatist to hold a march to Lal
Chowk. Meanwhile, Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have paid rich tributes to the martyrs of 1931. The Governor recalled the sacrifices of the martyrs and observed that their martyrdom paved the way for achieving the cherished objective of self-governance in the true spirit of democracy. The Chief Minister in his message has reminded the people of great sacrifices the martyrs have rendered to free the state from the clutches of autocracy and suppression. He highlighted the role of martyrs in paving the way for independence from the totalitarian regime and ushering the state in an era of democracy and self-respect. |
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Purpose of Shopian probe defeated: Justice Jan
New Delhi, July 12 “I feel sorry. If the culprit was apprehended then of course it would have been a complete success. You cannot create evidence. You have to wait. The commission does compel anyone to depose,” Jan told PTI in a telephonic interview. He was answering a question whether the purpose of the commission was defeated as the prime culprits were yet to be identified. He also chose to distance himself from some annexures in his report, questioning the behaviour of the brother and husband of Neelofar -one of the victims, which generated controversy in the valley. “That is not my report...Unfortunately...what has happened is that the investigating team, our police investigating team have also prepared their investigating report which I did not accept, which I did not take on record, which I did not include in the main report,” he said when asked about some portions of his report which generated anger in the valley. When asked specifically why he submitted those annexures if these were not part of his report, Jan tried to defend himself, saying that”...that is all right annexures were there but I have not incorporated anything in the report. You see, if somebody puts up an application before the court, the court keeps the application on the file. We don’t clear off the application. The fact is that we have not taken anything from the report.” The bodies of Neelofer (22) and her sister-in-law Asiya (17) were recovered from a stream on May 30 after they went missing from their orchards in Shopian town the previous evening, sparking off massive protest by locals who suspected the hand of armed force personnel in their alleged rape and murder. The state government ordered a judicial enquiry headed by retired High Court Judge Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan into the matter. “You see there are a number of other annexures with the report...Investigating authority has submitted a list of 60 witnesses examined by them. Along with that report, which is his report, saying that investigations on these lines could be conducted. I had nothing further to do with the investigations. I did not adopt the report,” he further clarified. When asked why he did not leave a note of dissent in his report, Justice Jan said it was a one-man commission so there was no question of
any dissent. He also said the prime culprits could not be nailed because initially evidence was “destroyed” which could be attributed to “negligence” of the investigating police officers. “Evidence was not collected when it was available, when it could have been detected then ultimately the evidence is destroyed. It can be attributed to negligence also,” he said.
— PTI |
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Neelofar’s husband may file defamation case
Srinagar, July 12 Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar, husband of Neelofar and brother of Asiya, the two women allegedly raped and murdered in Shopian on May 30, said today he would file a defamation case against Justice Muzaffar Jan (Retd) for his remarks on his personal life. “The commission should produce the persons who provided wrong information about my personal life. If it fails to produce the persons, I will be left with no option but to file a defamation case against the commission”, Shakeel said today. About the commmission’s recommendation that he should be interrogated for his possible involvement in planning and executing the incident, Shakeel said: “All my family members, including myself, are ready to undergo interrogation if it helps to identify the culprits”. Neelofar’s father, Syed Abdul Hai, said it was shocking that the Commission has defamed the people of Shopian in general and the family of the victims in particular. “The report says Shakeel and Neelofar had eloped and married in April-May, 2007, but their son is two years and two months old”, Hai said, strongly denying the allegations against
Shakeel. — PTI |
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Shopian bandh continues
Srinagar, July 12 The Majlis-e-Mushawarat, spearheading the agitation since the bodies of two women were recovered on May 30, has decided to continue the stir unless those found guilty were punished. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rahim Rather making the report public here on Friday had stated that the government accepted the recommendations and the necessary follow up action had been “duly initiated”. He had also appealed the people of Shopian to call off the strike and restore normal life after the commission’s report. Meanwhile, the opposition PDP said today that rather than providing some solace to the bereaved family, the report of the commission caused much pain to the people of Kashmir in general and the bereaved family in particular. A party spokesperson accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of maligning the character of the deceased to make his point in Delhi. The spokesperson alleged that the investigation by the commission was more about assassinating the character of the family members of the victims than trying to identify the accused. |
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Landslides block Jammu-Srinagar highway
Udhampur, July 12 Due to disruption of traffic, departure of the fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims was delayed from Jammu for more than six hours. Though blockade was removed around 5.30 am, the highway witnessed unprecedented jam. Cavalcade of Amarnath pilgrims, which left Jammu at 11 this morning, also trapped in the jam at many places due to disturbance in the movement of vehicular traffic. SSP, Traffic, National Highway, Alok Kumar said due to heavy land sliding, traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was blocked at Samroli, Seeri, Dhar Road and Karole Bridge, near Ramban. “As these spots experienced heavy land sliding, we stopped movement of traffic from both ends at midnight,” Alok Kumar said, adding that around 2.30 am some light vehicles were allowed to proceed further after some portion of the blockade was removed. Beacon and some private agencies were pressed into service to clear the road. Around 2.30 pm, the highway was cleared and traffic was open. |
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CAG takes Northern Command to task
Jammu, July 12 The Union audit report said the Udhampur-based Northern Command headquarters issued a tender enquiry in August 2007 for procurement of field stretchers (light weight) for use by medical units. The procurement was sanctioned under the special financial powers of the Army commander. Five vendors responded and offered samples for technical evaluation but none of the stretchers met the required specification of “maximum 4 kg weight”. German stretcher (UT2000) offered by three firms had a weight of 7.8 kg. The specification was, therefore, amended to 8 kg and three firms offering the German stretchers qualified. Finally, 163 stretchers were purchased at a total cost of Rs 73.33 lakh. A board of officers in March 2008, during inspection of the consignment received from the firm, observed various deviations from the contracted specification. As there was no provision to hold intravenous fluid bottles, the stretcher could not be converted to a field hospital bed. The stretcher was unsuitable for casualty evacuation as it could not float in water and helicopter evacuation facilities were unsuitable and there was no provision for fitting of wheels. Despite these discrepancies, the board accepted the stretchers under instructions from the Northern Command headquarters to avoid lapse of funds. The technical evaluation and selection of the stretchers offered by the vendors were not done correctly, resulting in procurement of stretchers that could not fulfil the requirement of casualty evacuation. The Army commander continued misuse and irregularity in exercising of special financial powers for non-operational purposes, despite disclosure of such irregularities in report no 7 of 2002 and CA 4 of 2008 of the comptroller and auditor general of India. Neither the Ministry, nor its integrated finance with whose concurrence such purchases were made took any effective measures to curb such misuses. The spokesman of the Northern Command said they would come out with an answer only after going through the report as it would reach to them through a proper channel. In another blatant misuse of financial powers, the Northern Command in January 2005 procured three trailers of 50-tonne capacity for a corps under the command in Ladakh sector. However, the prime movers for these trailers were not procured on the basis of an observation of Master General of Ordnance branch of the Army Headquarters that if both prime mover and trailer were combined; the cost would be higher and would fall under capital procurement. Since capital procurements were not permissible under the special powers, the trailers were procured without prime movers. Apart from this irregularity in purchase, the trailers of increased capacity, 50 tonne instead of 30 tonne, were purchased, though these were intended for use in the hilly terrain of Ladakh Sector. The Engineers’ Branch of the Northern Command in April 2007 observed that the requirement projected by the Corps was for trailers integrated with prime movers and that the trailers procured were not suitable for the intended use, as their turning radius was higher. Thus, the trailers purchased by exercising the special financial powers intended for procurement of equipment required for immediate operational deployment, remained without use since their purchase in January 2005. The Northern Command, in September 2008, stated that the trailers had been issued to an Engineer Regiment for suitable modification and use with available prime movers. |
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Probe into firing by MLA's PSO
Srinagar, July 12 The trouble started when residents of Pahalgam were agitating against the extension of golf course into the adjacent patch of land used for grazing of cattle. The villagers staged a dharna in the main market while shops and business establishments were closed. However, an official spokesman said the police succeeded in protecting PDP MLA Rafi Ahmad Mir when furious mob attacked his hotel. The protesters were raising slogans against him and his party. According to the police, the MLA’s PSO fired from his official weapon when he realised that violent mob was advancing towards them. The mob ransacked and pelted stones on the hotel. “The mob also used unparliamentary language against PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was incidentally also in Pahalgam since last night. However, the security accompanying the Mufti did not allow advancement of the mob towards him,” the police said. The grievance of the mob was construction of a golf course during the PDP-led government that they had resisted, as use of land was for welfare and other activities of the local people. However, the PDP spokesman denied the official claim saying that the move of the NC-led coalition government was to divert the attention from the “attack on the NC fort” by party workers, who had resented the way of allotting berths in the Cabinet expansion. |
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Pak ultra shot dead
Srinagar, July 12 Zuhar Bhai was killed in a fierce encounter lasting several hours at Kramhoora forest in Handwara, officials said today. The encounter took place after a joint party of the police and the Army launched a search operation following information about the presence of ultras in the forest area. An AK assault rifle, four magazines with 60 rounds, a wireless set, a mobile phone and a “fake” identity card were seized from the possession of the slain militant, they said. In another operation, security forces during vehicle checking arrested a suspected militant along with a hand grenade at Beehama chowk in Ganderbal district today. Identified as Mudasir Ahmad Bhat of Ontibavan locality of Srinagar, they said the suspect was taken away for questioning. The police assisted by the Rashtriya Rifles seized four AK magazines with 120 rounds of ammunition from a field at Sutharan-Khag, the officials said. — PTI JAMMU (TNS): A recoilless gun shell and a landmine were seized from two places in Samba. A police spokesman said residents of Nichla village informed the police about some unidentified item lying in a well following which a police team went there and seized a live RCL shell from the well. Later, it was handed over to the Army for defusing. In another incident, the security forces seized a landmine from a farm in Baingaller village, which was later defused. |
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Medicos seek inclusion in Pay Band III
Jammu, July 12 Addressing mediapersons here today, convener of the DJAC Dr Satyainder Singh said representatives of various associations of medicos called upon the Chief Minister, the Finance Minister and the Health Minister in Srinagar on July 9 and briefed them about their issues. He said the demands included placement of doctors in Pay-Band III with a higher grade as recommended by the SL Bhat Committee; integration of salary of postgraduates of Government Medical College (both Jammu and Srinagar) with that of assistant surgeon and time-bound promotion of doctors along with other demands listed in the charter of demands. “It is an irony that topmost surgeons and doctors were considered on a par with class-IV employees of the department in the Sadar e-Riyasat Ordinance (SRO) 93,” he said. He lamented that discrimination was meted out to the doctors of the same category under different institutions. He also alleged anomalies in the SRO 93, maintaining that it did not augurs well with the criteria of assistant surgeons being paid quite lowly vis-a-vis recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. “The CM, the Finance Minister and the Health Minister have assured us to take up the issue in the upcoming Cabinet meet,” he said. |
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Vohra pays obeisance at Amarnath shrine
Srinagar, July 12 No batch of yatris, however, had been allowed from Jammu to the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps early morning today in view of the blockages of the national highway at Samroli and Seri. However, the yatra would resume as soon as the highway is cleared. |
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Announcing Portfolios
Srinagar, July 12 Soz had announced that Aizaz Ahmed Khan will be the new Minister of State for Home, besides keeping other portfolios of Haj and Auqaaf and Fisheries (as independent charge) and Law and Parliamentary, rural development as a Minister of State. This was followed by vociferous protests against Soz's action by senior NC leaders to the Congress high command on the ground that the former union minister was trying to become an extra-constitutional authority in the state. The NC leaders said it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to announce the portfolios.
— PTI |
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MLA gives away cheques to widows
Udhampur, July 12 The Tehsil Social Welfare Officer, Udhampur, widows and local people were present on the occasion. Mankotia said a number of schemes of the Social Welfare Department for the uplift of poor were in operation. He called upon people to come forward and take the maximum benefit out of these schemes. He also urged the officers of the department to visit every nook and corner of the district and make people aware about these schemes. Officers of the Social Welfare Department also had an interactive session with people about various state and centrally sponsored schemes like the National Old Age Pension (NOAP), National Family Benefit Schemes (NFBS), Apni Beti Apna Dhan Scheme, scholarships for students belonging to poor and weaker sections, besides schemes for physically challenged etc. |
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Khajuria flays Miliband’s remarks
Jammu, July 12 He said: “This type of stand amounts to interference in the sovereignty of a country. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had committed a historical blunder by referring the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to the UNO. The British government should take care of its own affairs and not poke its nose into others’ affairs. Khajuria said, while signing the Shimla Agreement, this mistake was corrected when a declaration was signed by both countries that it was a bilateral issue and would be resolved without intervention of any third force. Parliament has already passed a resolution specifying the dispute between India and Pakistan in 1994 when it was specifically said: “The dispute between India and Pakistan is only dispute with regard to the PoK that India wants back.” He said the BJP was committed to the resolution of Parliament and appeal the Centre to take effective steps to get the resolution implemented. |
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Central varsity for Jammu sought
Jammu, July 12 President of the association Vikas Sharma said a proposal for establishing the central university in Jammu was presented before the government a few years ago but nothing had been done so far. Sharma demanded that scholars of Jammu University should be treated on a par with the Central University and scholarship amount should be enhanced up to Rs 15,000 and Rs 12,000 for PhD and MPhil scholars, respectively. — TNS |
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Financial package sought
Jammu, July 12 Addressing a workers’ rally at Brahman Sabha today, state president of the NMC Subash Shastri said a lump sump amount of Rs 8,000 crore should be provided exclusively for the purpose. He appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to intervene into the matter to ensure that all anomalies in the SRO-93 were removed. |
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