Jammu, August 9
The Central University Andolan Samiti (CUAS) has called upon a complete bandh on Monday on the issue of establishing central university in Jammu. It has also decided to boycott the state government’s function on August 15.

While addressing a press conference here today, Sunil Sethi, a senior advocate and spokesperson of the CUAS, said despite the government’s appeal to call-off the bandh, the samiti has decided to go ahead with its call.

He said though the samiti members had met representatives of the state government, they were given only verbal assurances for the establishment of the central varsity.

While appealing to the people to participate in the Independence Day function, Sethi said the students had been directed to celebrate Independence Day in Jammu University.

Udhampur, August 9
The Doda police is a worried lot these days as militant groups have started luring gullible teenagers and using them to executive their nefarious designs. Arrest of two minors last week in the district has given sleepless night to the higher-ups.

Although senior police officers have maintained silence over the issue, sources said during interrogation the arrested had disclosed that minors, who have joined terrorist groups, were given different assignments by their masters.

Last week, a teenager had thrown a grenade on the Radhakrishan temple at Doda when evening prayer was about to start. In another incident on August 5, security forces had arrested a minor accompanying Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant Noor Mohammed. Mohammed was killed an encounter in Marmat area.

Earlier, the police had claimed that the minor was rescued from the clutches of the HM commander, but later it was established that the child was a member of the group. The minor, whose identity has yet not disclosed by the police, had assigned the job to provide information to Noor Mohammad about the movement of security forces.

Sources said that some minors have been trained in subversive activities while as others have assigned the task to work as over ground workers to provide logistic support to the terrorist.

Mohammad Asharf (12), who was arrested in connection with the attack on the temple, is brother of an LeT militant.

This is not the first time that teenagers have been held for militancy-related incidents. Recently, two teenagers were arrested from Banihal with some sim cards they had purchased for militants.

Jammu, August 9
Reviewing state security for the Independence Day celebrations, the state police has heightened the security apparatus as there are intelligence inputs of possible terror strikes to disrupt peace in the state.

At a high-level core group meet at Nagrota today, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 16 Corps Lt Gen RK Swamy, who is also security adviser to the state government, said there was a need to be extra vigilant in the wake of chaotic situation across the border and possibility of terror strikes in the state.

Following intelligence inputs, the state police had heightened the security setup, deploying adequate strength of policemen in civvies at Parade Ground, including Mini Stadium, where the main function would be organised, official sources said.

Sources said the police had started random checking and would increase a night vigil at various entry points to the winter capital in a couple of days, adding that additional check posts would be set up in and around the city to keep a check on subversive elements.

Chandigarh, August 9
The low-cost agro-animal technologies developed by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, have found wide acceptance among farmers in Ladakh. Adoption of these technologies by farmers has not only boosted the availability of fresh food in that region but also helped in socio-economic uplift of the people there.

Stating this during the 17th Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela organised by the institute, Director Shashi Bala Singh said local farmers had been generating income amounting to several crores by selling vegetables to the Army formations deployed in that sector.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who was the chief guest at the two-day event, emphasised the need for self-reliance in the region. He advised farmers to develop their own small-scale industries keeping in view the concept of high value-low volume products. Appreciating the role of the DIHAR, he said the institute should play a lead role in boosting the agriculture sector in Ladakh.

A laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, DIHAR is one of its kind institute in the world. It was established with the mandate to develop high-altitude agro-animal technologies for sustainable fresh food production in cold arid terrain.

General Officer Commanding 14 Corps Lieut-Gen SK Singh and Minister of Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora were also present on the occasion.

RS Pura, August 9
The Nari Niketan authorities have demanded an observation home on the lines of the Juvenile Observation Home for those women who either have a criminal background or court cases pending against them. The admission of one such girl to the niketan gave rise to the issue. The niketan, otherwise, is home to 20 school and college-going girls, and eight out of these stay with their mothers due to poverty.

Bindiya (name changed), a girl from Bhaderwah, managed to escape from a group of Nepalese prostitutes in New Delhi in December 2008, after she was “sold” by her drunkard father to a pimp. From the Nari Niketan, New Delhi, she was sent to the Nari Niketan in RS Pura on May 18 this year. Her father and stepmother refused to recognise her. She, too, wanted to continue staying in the Nari Niketan, and learn some vocational course. She says, “I don’t want to go back to my home where none is concerned about me. I am not safe there, as my my stepmother killed my younger brother by poisoning his milk. I want to start earning, and then probably shift there. But until then, I want to stay here.”

But with Bindiya joining the niketan, the Nari Niketan officials are feeling discomforted. The niketan superintendent says, “Other girl inmates are passing through a tender age, and are vulnerable to a quick impression from others. The Nari Niketan at RS Pura is an exception where we provide these poor girls with food, shelter and education free of cost. We also get them married off with the help of donation money. In such an environment, we don’t want them to get to know about pimps, prostitution, domestic disputes etc., as these are not healthy for the girls. To sort out the problem, we wanted a separate home for such women, who have a disputed or criminal background, similar to a Juvenile Observation Home for young men.”

The Nari Niketan of RS Pura was in the news a couple of months ago, when four boys of the Bal Ashram, RS Pura, were given notices for teasing girl inmates of the Nari Niketan. The boys had accused the niketan superintendent of having illicit relations with some of the girl inmates.

Srinagar, August 9
The government on humanitarian grounds has decided to allow the relatives of Showkat Ali Khan of Sari-Kathi, Pera, district Bagh of PoK to carry his mortal remains to his native place Muzaffarabad.

The deceased had come to Kashmir on July 16 in Karvaan Aman bus to see his relatives at Chandilora Tangmarg in Baramulla distyrict. He was accompanied by two other relatives, Yar Mohammad Khan and Javaid Iqbal Khan of Jabrari village in Tehsil Bagh, an official spokesman said here.

Showkat Ali Khan was taken ill and rushed to SMHS hospital, Srinagar, where he died. According to doctors, the deceased was an acute diabetic patient.The relatives of the deceased here had requested the government to allow them to carry his body to PoK for the burial.

The authorities concerned on their request held a Flag meeting at Baramulla which was attended by the Army, the BSF, district authorities, the Central Custom and Excise departments besides the J&K police.

The meeting after a threadbare discussion allowed the relatives of Khan to carry his body to PoK and an ambulance was also arranged for the purpose as the Karvaan-e-Aman bus only operates on Thursday. 

Jammu, August 9
Scuffle over a trivial issue on Saturday saw a councillor of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and a contractor lodging FIRs against each other at Pir Mitha police station.

Official sources said, corporator from Ward Number 6 (Gujjar Nagar), Rashida Begum and contractor Mohammed Iqbal of Trikuta Nagar entered into a scuffle after labourer engaged by the latter to construct a drain felled some trees and plants from near the corporator’s house.

They said, Rashida had asked the contractor not to cut the trees and plants for constructing a drain near her house, but the trees were cut by labourers and a furious corporator allegedly manhandled them.

A police officer confirmed the incident saying that both parties had lodged FIRs against each other.

He said that cases under Sections 323 and 341 of the RPC have been registered against them at the police station.

However, no arrests have been made when reports last poured in.

Bani, August 9
Abdul Latif Bhat is a dejected man. His son, Ashiq Ali Bhat, is one of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant recently arrested by the Delhi police. A resident of Badyal village in Bani tehsil of Kathua district, about 280 km from Jammu, Bhat questions: “Had we been loyalists of Pakistan, we would have picked guns in 1947. Why now?” He adds: “If we are a terrorist family, why my other sons are working as carpenters? They could also have followed in the footsteps of Ashiq Ali.”

“He (Ashiq) has brought disgrace to the family and the community. He is as dead for us,” Bhat said, adding: “He should be shot if proved traitor.”

According to Bhat, Ashiq Ali ran away from home when he was in class VI. He did small jobs and subsequently lived with a Sikh couple in Jalandhar.

“He came back after 16 months, lived for another two months and then again left. After that he came to attend the marriage of his sister and again went away in 2003. Since then nothing was known about his whereabouts. We had also filed a missing persons report,” Bhat said.

However, Aashiq’s mother Haneefa Begum was inconsolable when asked about her child. “It is good that the police got him otherwise he would have killed several innocents,” put in Ashiq Ali’s elder brothers Mohammad Farooq and Nazir Ahmed.

“There was a wave of militancy in 2003. Some youth from our village got training from across the border and were killed in an encounter with the security forces,” said Amarnath, a friend of the Bhats who had worked with BRO.

He added: “In a major incident, about 200 labourers were held hostage by a group of nearly 50 militants. They damaged all the vehicles and machines used at the construction site by rolling them into the river.”

Ashiq was in an impressionable age and might have got influenced by the militant ideology, he added.

Nestled in the hills, the village has a structure of primary health centre but lacks in employees as there is only one medical assistant and almost no medicines.

“Electricity remains elusive here. It comes for 10-20 minutes a day and then remains off for days together,” villagers said, adding: “In the higher secondary and middle school, there is an acute shortage of staff and infrastructure.”

Jammu: Ashiq Bhat had figured in the intelligence network of the state police two weeks ago.

“In 2003, Bhat had gone missing but subsequently we came to know that he had crossed over to the PoK for arms training,” Kathua SSP Gareeb Dass said.” Before we came to know about his presence in a militants’ training camp in Muzaffarabad, he had been reported missing in our official records. During his stay in the PoK, Bhat got married and has a son,” the SSP said

He, however, ruled out the possibilities of Bhat’s involvement in militant attacks.

“He went missing in 2003 and entered India via Nepal in June this year. Hence, he may not have got an opportunity to carry out terror attacks in the state,” he said.

According to sources, Bhat’s parents knew about his whereabouts but kept mum.

Srinagar, August 9
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have decided against providing India Reserve Police (IRP) to Jammu and Kashmir, thus putting a temporary halt on shifting four more battalions of the CRPF from the state for fighting Left-wing extremism in other parts of the country.

After the withdrawal of five battalions (5,000 personnel) from the Kashmir valley, four more were to be moved out from the Bhaderwah, Gandoh, Poonch and Rajouri areas in the Jammu region and replaced by India Reserve Police forces to be provided by Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana, official sources said.

While Punjab and Haryana have agreed, the other two states cited law and order problems and decided against it.

The shifting of the CRPF is part of the Centre's plan to move out at least 23 battalions of the paramilitary forces and shift them to left wing extremism-affected areas outside the state.

This includes 16 battalions of the CRPF — 10 from the Kashmir valley and six from other areas--, five of BSF and two of the ITBP.

Sources in the Home Ministry said they wanted to have the CRPF battalions before August 13 so that they could undergo Army training before being shifted to the naxal-affected areas.

The battalions withdrawn in Kashmir were mainly from the counter-insurgency grid (CIG), where one-third of the para-military strength has been deployed. While three battalions were shifted from Srinagar, one each was taken out from Bandipore and Kupwara.

While Naxal-affected states were starving for a bare minimum support from the Centre, the number of paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir was too much, they said.

Senior Home Ministry officials said the CRPF deployment in the state was as per the arrangements made in the early 1990s when the militancy was at its peak.

"As militancy has come down and agitations as well similar activities have increased, it will be appropriate that the state police take over the primary role," they said. — PTI

Udhampur, August 9
A soldier of the Territorial Army (TA) was injured when a group of militants fired at him in his home in Nawapachi area of Kishtwar district and escaped from the site. With severe injuries, the soldier was airlifted to Udhampur for treatment.

Family members of the injured soldier alleged that the attack was masterminded by two overground workers (OGWs) -Ashiq Hussain and Ghulam Mohammed. Though the police has arrested Ashiq Hussain, Ghulam Mohammed has been absconding.

Leh, August 9
The Dalai Lama, who arrived in Leh today on a 20-day tip to Ladakh, was given a warm reception. Buddhist monks at various points stretching from the Leh airport to the Peace Garden, Choglamsar, welcomed the leader by playing traditional and religious instruments. Thousands of people had been standing since early morning to receive his blessings.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took the Dalai Lama to the Peace Garden from the airport through a large motorcade rally.

The Dalai enquired about the development activities in Ladakh from chief executive councillor of LAHDC Tsering Dorjey.

During his visit, the spiritual leader is expected to visit remote areas of Zangkar, Palder and Lingshed and hold religious discourse on teaching of Lord Buddha.

Later, Omar laid the foundation stone of Food Craft Institute in Leh. The Chief Minister said the coalition government was giving priority to tourism, which has a developmental potential for the three regions.

Srinagar, August 9
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked the State Academy of Art, Culture and Languages to formulate a plan and identify a site for an integrated cultural centre with all modern facilities and an auditorium in the summer capital.

The Chief Minister, who is also the president of the academy, was chairing the 17th Central Committee meeting of the academy here. He underscored the need for applying modern techniques for preserving and disseminating the state’s rich cultural ethos, literary, art and historical works. He suggested digitalisation of important books so that these could be placed on the academy’s website and the interested persons could read online. “There is also a greater scope for voice versions of rare books and poetic works, which could be preserved in DVDs and CDs,” he said.

Omar asked the academy to introduce a mobile library and said he would make available two appropriate vehicles for the said mobile library. “You can benefit people in districts, tehsils and blocks and even in villages by providing reading facilities to them on their doorsteps,” he said. The moving library could be stationed at a place for about at a week or 10 days, during which a cultural week in that area could also be organised, he added.

The Central Committee discussed various issues and took decisions regarding the publication of monographs, dictionaries, encyclopaedia, awards, celebration of cultural events, visual documentation of folklore, etc.

The meeting, among others, was attended by Khursheed Ahmad Ganai, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Sudanshu Panday, Commissioner Secretary Finance, Tanveer Jaha, Secretary Tourism, Prof Rehman Rahi, Lalit Mangotra, Hawa Khan and Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Secretary Cultural Academy.

Chandigarh, August 9
The low-cost agro-animal technologies developed by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, have found wide acceptance among farmers in Ladakh. Adoption of these technologies by farmers has not only boosted the availability of fresh food in that region but also helped in socio-economic uplift of the people there.

Stating this during the 17th Ladakhi Kisan Jawan Vigyan Mela organised by the institute, Director Shashi Bala Singh said local farmers had been generating income amounting to several crores by selling vegetables to the Army formations deployed in that sector.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who was the chief guest at the two-day event, emphasised the need for self-reliance in the region. He advised farmers to develop their own small-scale industries keeping in view the concept of high value-low volume products. Appreciating the role of the DIHAR, he said the institute should play a lead role in boosting the agriculture sector in Ladakh.

A laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, DIHAR is one of its kind institute in the world. It was established with the mandate to develop high-altitude agro-animal technologies for sustainable fresh food production in cold arid terrain.

General Officer Commanding 14 Corps Lieut-Gen SK Singh and Minister of Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora were also present on the occasion.