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State forgets its Kargil martyr
Vikram Batra’s twin keen on
TA
Central Varsity
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The dilapidated memorial to Karam Chand at Chak Drabka that needs immediate repairs. Photo by writer
Despite tenements, Kashmiri Pandits live in pvt houses
Ban on inter-district recruitments draws ire
Deputy CM reviews development works
Rejection of PDP resolutions ‘sign of NC intolerance’
Supply officer suspended
Congress leaders work to ‘please’ Kashmiri leaders
Five Amarnath pilgrims die
Don’t hold talks with Delhi: Hizbul to separatists
Minister for pro-people forestry
SIT to submit report to Shopian court
Peace Activist’s Death
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State forgets its Kargil martyr
Jammu, July 26 They say that it was ironic that the state, where the Kargil war took place, did not organise a single function to pay homage to the martyrs. Parents of Major Ajay Singh Jasrotia, who laid down his life while fighting the enemy in the mountains of Kargil, watched television with moist eyes as news channels broadcasted the programme related to the Kargil war. “The government has forgotten the supreme sacrifice that was made by my son and hundreds like him while safeguarding the boundaries of the nation, it is an irony that while the entire nation is celebrating the Kargil victory the state where this all happened did not even organised a single programme to pay homage to the martyrs,” said Veena Jasrotia mother of Kargil martyr Ajay Singh Jasrotia. “What I could not do in 40 years of my service, he did it in only three years of his service,” said father of Ajay, Arjun Singh Jasrotia. As per the family of Ajay, he had the fascination of joining the Army from his childhood, “It was his childhood dream to join the Army as his great grandfather, grandfather and I had served in the Army,” Arjun Singh said. He said, “He sacrificed his life while saving the life of his six subordinates in Drass Sector. He managed to save five of them and while trying to save the sixth he was hit by a splinter and seriously injured, he was bleeding profusely but he refused to retreat and continued to fight, later he succumbed to his injuries.” Ajay Singh Jasrotia was awarded Sena medal posthumously for showing exemplary courage. He said the country had forgotten the lessons learned from the 1962 war with China, “That time too the nation was in deep slumber that the Himalayas won’t be crossed, but China crossed and attacked us, they should not have left the Kargil heights vacant as we can never trust Pakistan,” said Arjun Singh. Meanwhile, residents of the Sainik colony in Jammu today organised a function to pay homage to the martyrs of the Kargil. The residents paid floral tributes to the martyrs. The function was also attended by some
of the ex-servicemen who had fought the Kargil war. |
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Vikram Batra’s twin keen on TA Drass (JK) July 26 Twenty four-year-old Vikram had laid down his life while recapturing the strategic 5140-point in the Tiger hill stretch from the Pakistani troops during the Kargil war in 1999. “I want to enter the armed forces through Territorial Army (TA). This would be my way of paying tribute to my brother,” Vishal, who works with the ICICI, said on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Kargil Operation Vijay.@@“Vikram completed his mission successfully before laying down his life. I miss him. But I am proud of him. He has made the family proud,” said Vishal who had appeared twice in exams for the armed forces but could not qualify. Pakistani forces had taken positions in bunkers at a height of 17,000 feet on Peak 5140, the highest point on the Tololing Ridge and one of the most arduous and crucial in the Drass region.@@Lt Batra and Capt Sanjeev Jamwal were ordered to recapture the peak on the night of June 19, 1999, about five weeks after the Kargil war began, said Commanding officer 13 Jammu and Kashmir rifles Col Gurpreet Singh after paying tributes at the war memorial here today. According to Col Singh, the operation was too dangerous to be carried out during the day. Aware of the enemy’s vantage point, Lt Batra --- who was later promoted to Captain on the battlefield --- decided to attack the enemy from the rear.@@In the morning of June 20, 1999 Vikram and his troops captured 5140-point, which finally lead to the decisive fall of Tiger Hill and to India's eventual victory. “Vikram and his men assaulted the enemy,’ Col Singh said, adding that the camp was routed and many Pakistani soldiers killed.@@All his men made it alive but Vikram, who led a brilliant operation in one of India’s toughest campaigns in mountain warfare, “died in a sniper shot,” he said. During the war he became the face of the young Indian soldier who fought ferociously and died fearlessly. His code name was Sher Shah.@@Vikram, who hailed from Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, was awarded Param Vir Chakra. — PTI
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Panel serves ultimatum on Omar
BJYM takes out protest march Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 26 While addressing a press conference here, Mohinder Pal Pandu, spokesperson of the committee, warned that if the central university was not established in Jammu the activists of the committee would come on roads from July 29. He said the committee might give a call for complete Jammu bandh in coming days. He said the activists of the committee held a meeting with transporters, business community, intellectuals, students and political organisations yesterday, which have extended their support to the committee. The activists of the CUJAC said if government wanted to set up two central universities in the state, the committee would welcome that step but it should first set up the central university in Jammu and then another in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the ABVP has demanded removal of Abdul Wahid, Vice-Chancellor, central university and appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor for the university from the Jammu region. The Progressive Students Association (PSA) has demanded two central universities for the state. According to the statement issued here today, the activists of the party said the state government should set up one central university and one IIM each in Jammu and Kashmir provinces, in order to order to expand the higher education in the state. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said today that the state would have two Central universities and the government would approach the Centre to provide one Central university for Jammu and one for Kashmir division. Tara Chand, who today held meeting with the legislators, representatives of various social, political, business and trade associations, prominent citizens and academicians, said the government would approach the union government for allocation of two Central universities for the state. The meeting urged that the state government should take up with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry that two institutes, one IIIT and another IIM, be allocated to the state, one to be located in the Jammu province and another to be located in the Kashmir province. It was decided that the Jammu province MLAs would discuss the issue with CM Omar Abdullah at Srinagar next week. A protest march was taken out today by the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Mocha (BJYM ) led by its state unit president Pawan Khajuria against the government move to shift the proposed central university from Jammu to Kashmir. The protest culminated at Pt. Prem Nath Dogra Chowk where an effigy of the coalition government was torched. The protesters raised slogans against the coalition government for giving step-motherly treatment to the Jammu region. Khajuria said that the NC-Congress government should realise that any discrimination against Jammu would not be tolerated. He said when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had publicly announced that the Centre would establish a central university in Jammu and an IIM in Kashmir why the state government was trying to set up the university in the Kashmir valley. Rejecting CM Omar Abdullah’s assertion as a mere eyewash that he would persuade the Centre to set up two central Universities, one in the Kashmir valley and the other in the Jammu region, Khajuria asked the C M to establish two IIMs as well, one in Jammu and the other for Kashmir.
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Hero for some, villain for others
Kathua, July 26 Just like Robin Hood, Karam Chand too is remembered both as a hero and as a villain. The people of his own community deem him as a hero and miss him the most whereas others consider him a ‘notorious thief’ and hate him like anything. According to most of his contemporaries, Karam Chand was a ‘brave bandit’. “Before committing any robbery, he would first summon the rich in advance and warn them about his future action,” they maintain. “Not a single burglary occurred in entire Kathua when he was alive and active. After his death, the Perna community scattered and started committing burglaries in and around the villages,” said Dev Choudhary of Kathua city. The Perna community has constructed Karam Chand’s memorial to preserve his remembrance. The memorial stands on a roadside at Chak Drabka in a dilapidated condition. “He might be a criminal for the police and his acts legal, he was never morally wrong. He targeted exploiters. He never hurt any poor,” said a Perna youth. “Those who hate him generally view him negatively. They term him a crook, wicked and what not,” he said. “They don’t recognise what good he did. He would give financial assistance to any parents who could not afford to marry off their daughter,” he added. “He died in a police encounter after one of his accomplices betrayed him and became an informer of the police,” Karam Chand’s contemporary said. They added, “He was an athlete par excellence and would jump from any height and leap any distance or hop any wall.” “We don’t see anything heroic about this man. He was an outlawed, a thug, a robber, a thief. Even if he helped some poor out of generosity, it does not absolve him of wrongs, said residents living near the memorial. They added, “He was not a patriot or a revolutionary or a mass leader.” Om Parkash, son of Karam Chand, who lives in Sanjma village and is a community leader, said, “My father is a forgotten hero now. Even those whom he served have forgotten him.” “After I was put behind the bars, no one took care of the memorial and it is in a dilapidated condition. I was implicated and had to spend seven years behind the bars. I was released on February 24 this year,” he said. “Earlier, we used to organise wrestling competitions and host community lunches every year five days after Diwali. Soon we will renovate the memorial and restart all activities in his remembrance.” |
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Despite tenements, Kashmiri Pandits live in pvt houses
Jammu, July 26 This has created resentment among those migrants who are staying in rented accommodation. When the matter was brought to the notice of Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Vinod
Kaul, he said he was aware of the situation and had, therefore, not allowed these occupants to shift to the next logical stage, two-room tenements
(TRT) built in Nagrota. As the TRTs in Nagrota have already been given and the rest 4,218 houses in Jagti will be given by September this year, these undeserving occupants will be left
out. Nagrota Migrant Resident Association president Moti Lal Dhar said people, who already had houses or built new ones after shifting to camp, never gave possession to the state government, which had direct bearing on those migrants who had to live in the rented accommodation because of lack of houses in the camp. These locked houses, too, are in a pathetic condition because of overgrown grass and shrubs around
them. Kaul said similar such cases were reported from various other camps also such as
Purkhu, Mishriwala and Muthi. “We always get verification done through the CID team for such cases before giving possession of
TRTs. This is the reason that out of total 496 applications for new TRT in
Nagrota, possession was given to 320, leaving 100 families who already had houses. When these people did not get accommodation they created a lot of ruckus, but I did not budge,” added
Kaul. He said in Muthi also he turned down 165 applications (already owning houses) out of total 500 for TRTs
. Kaul said under the Prime Minister Reconstruction Programme, construction of flats and tenements for the migrants settled was taken up in two phases at various places here . As per the estimates, Rs 228.16 crore would be spent on the building works while allied works would comprise construction of drainage, schools, community halls, parks and a water supply system. In these new allotments, no allotment would be made to those who already had houses. |
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Ban on inter-district recruitments draws ire
Udhampur, July 26 While as the mainstream political parties are yet to clear this stand on this issue, a joint meeting of the social and religious organisations of weaker sections was held today in which it was decided to launch a mass movement against this ban. Educated unemployed SCs and STs were taking benefits of the inter-district recruitments. As the population of the SCs is almost negligible in the valley, educated unemployed youth of this section used to apply for posts reserved for weaker sections in different areas. “The Government has decided to ban inter-districts recruitment only to debar SCs from getting recruitments in the valley,” RK Kalsotra, state president of the All-India Confederation of SC/ST/OBCs Organisations, said. He said they had decided to bring all organisations on one platform to take this fight to the logical conclusion. Keeping in view the demand of some MLAs to ban inter-district recruitment, the state government had recommended this issue to the Select Committee of the legislatures. The Select Committee has recommended ban on the inter-district recruitment despite being the fact that the SC and ST organisations have been opposing such move. The SC organisations are also very critical of the role played by Congress MLA from Ramban Ashok Kumar who is also member of this committee. “It is unfortunate that despite being a member of the SC community the Congress MLA signed the anti-weaker sections recommendations of the committee,” regretted Kalsotra. |
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Deputy CM reviews development works
Jammu, July 26 He asked the departments to develop the city keeping in view the needs of the people as well as the future requirements so that haphazard town planning does not choke the city lanes, which are already reeling with heavy pressure due to increasing population and migration. Tara Chand impressed upon the regional heads of different departments to put coordinated efforts to ensure that the schemes were implemented on the ground. He said most of the work of dilapidated roads of Trikuta Nagar, Channi Himmat and its adjoining areas were completed, adding that remaining blacktop work would be completed by September. For this purpose, the government has sanctioned Rs 30 crore each for the Jammu and the Srinagar regions. In order to regulate the traffic on city roads, he asked the National Building Construction Committee (NBCC) and the Eco-Reconstruction Agency (ERA)
authorities to dig only that portion of road where sewerage pipes were laid without disturbing the rest part of the road. To deal with water scarcity in old Jammu city, the Sitlee Water Treatment Plant has already been inaugurated by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, which will be completed at a cost of Rs 63.10 crore. With this inauguration of Phase - II & III, the drinking water supply in old Jammu city is increased. Regarding shortage of drinking water in Jammu west, he asked the PHE to improve the drinking water scenario within week time. For the convenience of general masses, he said complaint cells had been set up in the PHE, PDD and Divisional Commissioner’s office, Jammu. |
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Rejection of PDP resolutions ‘sign of NC intolerance’
Srinagar, July 26 Among the resolutions proposed by the PDP were revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, rolling back of several clauses of the state Constitution, election of sadr-e-riyasat (state’s equivalent of president), use of currencies of India as well as Pakistan, a proposal better known as dual currency, and compensation by New Delhi for exploiting the state’s water resources. Mohammad Ramzan, secretary, Legislative Assembly, said the resolutions had been disallowed as these were not within the parameters of the rules covering the business of the House. The two resolutions accepted for discussion by the Assembly are forming of a Lolab development authority and another concerns the promotion of Kashmiri language. “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah says he wants the specials powers given to security forces revoked. But his government has rejected our resolutions in this regard. It is a show of double standards,” she said. The NC, on the other hand, accused the PDP of acting out of political expedience. “When the party shared power with the Congress between 2002 and 2008, it did nothing substantive to push through the issue as they were more concerned about being in the government.. It is nothing but hypocrisy,” a party leader said. |
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Supply officer suspended
Srinagar, July 26 He said the government would set up a checking and monitoring cell at Lower Munda where the quality of the foodgrains would be checked and no pilferage of foodgrains be allowed from this check post to the food godowns of the valley. He made a surprise inspection today at various food godowns and sale outlets in south Kashmir. Director Mehraj Din Keenu and other senior officers accompanied Akhoon as he visited food godown of the Food Corporation of India at Mir Bazar and took stock of the stocking position of essential commodities. He said there was no dearth of foodgrains in the warehouse. As many as 68,000 quintals of rice, 6,000 quintals of wheat and 24,00 quintals of sugar were available in the
store. Akhoon impressed upon the authorities concerned to ensure time-bound supply and stocking of foodgrains in remote and the hilly areas of the state, especially areas like
Gurez, Karnah, Keran, Padder, Warwan and other such areas which only remain open for few months due to heavy snow. He said any lapse in this regard from the authorities would not be tolerated and directed them that each ration-card holder should get his ration from his nearest sale outlet before 15th of every month. |
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Congress leaders work to ‘please’ Kashmiri leaders
Jammu, July 26 About the Kashmir problem, Shanta Kumar said this problem was born in the days when India got Iindependence, but it was still unresolved and getting complex with the passing years due to a faulty policies of the successive Congress governments at the Centre. The Congress leaders at New Delhi always worked to please the Kashmiri leaders and did not dare to take a firm decision in this regard. Expressing concern over the skyrocketing prices, he said the common man was finding it difficult to support his family. He said poverty and unemployment were also the reasons for taking the youth towards militancy and anti-social activities. He charged the Union government with compromising the national interests while making the arms deal with the US. |
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Five Amarnath pilgrims die
Srinagar, July 26 A sadhu identified as Dhaman, a resident of Bihar, died of cardiac arrest at the Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam, 100 km from here, this morning, the sources said. The sadhu had returned to the base camp last evening after paying obeisance at the cave shrine. A CRPF official identified as VRS Dass, who was hit by a stone at Sangam top on the 16-km Baltal route on July 23 while returning after offering prayers at the 3,880-m-high cave shrine, succumbed to injuries at Soura Medical Institute last night. Two elderly persons, 80-year-old Balwant Rao of Maharashtra and sadhu Dass (70) of Utter Pradesh died at the cave shrine and Sheshnag respectively, last evening. The cause of their deaths are yet to be ascertained. Vijay Kumar of Karnataka died of heart attack at Baltal after paying obeisance at the shrine yesterday. Over 3.50 lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the cave shrine so far. While 2,25,909 pilgrims took the shortest Baltal route, as many as 1,26,027 preferred the traditional Pahalgam route, to reach the cave.
— PTI |
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Don’t hold talks with Delhi: Hizbul to separatists
Srinagar, July 26 “I appeal the moderate Hurriyat leadership that they should not affect or stigmatise the international status of Kashmir issue and tripartite nature of the problem, which is the most important (by entering into dialogue with New Delhi),” supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Sallahuddin said in an interview to a leading English daily. He claimed moderate separatists, especially the
Mirwaiz, did many rounds of talks with New Delhi but ultimately he publicly said the Centre was “neither serious nor sincere” on the
issue. Salahuddin, who is based in PoK, said the talks only strengthen the position of New Delhi at international level.
— PTI |
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Minister for pro-people forestry
Jammu, July 26 Addressing officers of the Forest and Allied Departments, faculty members and students at a function organised by the Social Forestry Department to mark the 60th vanmahotsava at Government Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry College, RS Pura, Altaf said the Forest Department had a significant role to play in view of the environmental threats that the world was facing today like climate change and global warming. On the one hand the department had to meet the national objective of having 33 per cent of total area under forest cover, on the other it had to meet the growing demands of timber, fuelwood and fodder. |
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SIT to submit report to Shopian court
Srinagar, July 26 The court has asked the public prosecutor to file objections on Tuesday so that arguments could begin either on Tuesday or next day. The accused moved the district court after the Supreme Court pulled up the High Court for ordering their arrest, considered a prerogative of investigating agencies, and set aside its order that the accused could not move a lower court for any relief. The lawyers for the accused said there was nothing in file against their clients. SIT sources said the interrogation of four cops has not revealed anything significant and they were still far from identifying the suspects.
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Peace Activist’s Death
Jammu, July 26 “For the past 16 days we have been sitting on a relay hunger strike and the civil administration is paying no heed to our demands. Till date, not a single official from the administration has come to enquire why we are sitting on strike,” said Hoshiar Singh’s son Vicky Singh. He said on Tuesday they would hold a protest march in the city and would keep the district shut for till 12 noon. “This would be a token strike and if the government pays no heed to our demand of conducting a thorough probe into the killing we would intensify our agitation,” he said, adding various trade, political, social organisations were with them and had expressed their solidarity for their cause.
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Taxi owners seek dues
Udhampur, July 26 |
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Army kills militant in Kupwara
Srinagar, July 26 The Army had laid an ambush after noticing suspicious movement of militants. The troops challenged them to surrender but the miltants opened fire. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed who is yet to be identified. One AK rifle, two AK magazines, 18 rounds of ammunition, two hand grenades and one radio set were seized from the encounter spot.
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Results declared
Jammu, July 26 The total passing per cent as per the Controller Examination, University of Jammu, was 69 per cent where as 31 per cent students either failed to qualify the examination or got reappear in the examination. |
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