Srinagar, August 13
A Muslim cleric was arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in Baramulla district of for his alleged role in deadly riots two months back, sparking off violent protests which left 20 persons, including 15 policemen, injured.

Mufti Aijaz, a former Imam of Bait-ul-Mukaram Masjid, was arrested by the police last evening in connection with the agitation which had left four persons dead and scores of others injured in the town, 55 km from here, official sources said today.

They said the cleric was booked under the PSA for allegedly inciting people to stage protests after a woman accused policemen of misbehaving with her at a police station on June 29.

Following the arrest of the cleric, groups of agitated people took to the streets and indulged in stone pelting, prompting the police to fire tear gas shells and use batons.

In the ensuing clashes which continued for several hours, 20 persons, including, 15 policemen were injured, the sources said, adding that constable Mohammad Ramzan, who suffered a head injury, was shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment.

Policemen were deployed in strength in sensitive areas, including Main Chowk, today to maintain law and order, the sources said. — PTI

Srinagar, August 13
Blaming the DGP for using the police force as a tool to cover up things, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today alleged that there was a total suppression since the coalition government took over. She said the separatists, employees, unemployed and even opposition party members were being harassed by the police at the behest of the ruling NC. Mehbooba said her party workers were being harassed since it favoured demilitarisation and revocation of the AFSPA.

“They do not want opposition and instead want to push us to the wall and look at all others as separatists,” she said. Mehbooba referred to the attack by unidentified gunmen on party’s former candidate Yasir Reshi in the Sumbal area of north Kashmir, who escaped unhurt on Tuesday night. Four policemen had been arrested in this case,” she said, adding that they had “directions from the top”. Mehbooba also referred to the Shopian case where the police was trying to cover up things from the day one. The latest reports of fudging in the samples of the two killed Shopian women had also been effected on the directions from the “top-level of DGP”, she said.

Jammu, August 13
Students along with activists of the Central University Andolan Samiti gheraoed Abdul Gani Mailk, Minister for Higher Education, inside Government Gandhi Memorial Science College today.

Malik was here to attend a high-level meeting.

Despite heavy deployment of the police force in the college, when the minister entered into the college, the CUAS activists along with the students raised slogans against him and demanded immediate establishment of the central university in Jammu.

However, during the scuffle between the police and the protesters, eight students, who are also members of the CUAS, were arrested. Those arrested are Pushwinder Singh, Ranjeet Sharma, Sunil Sharma, Sumit, Vikrant, Ashish, Arvind and Ajay Sharma.

However, the agitating students boycotted their classes and staged protest demonstrations inside their college campuses and later they staged protest demonstration outside Science College and MAM College.

Meanwhile, another scuffle between the activists of CUAS and the activists of the Central University Joint Action Committee took place at the main gate of Jammu University. Finally, the police controlled the activists of both organisations.

Jammu, August 13
The blood samples of five more persons having symptoms of suspected swine flu were airlifted today to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi, taking the total number to 27 since July 10.

While 30,000 pilgrims from across the country and abroad continue to throng Katra town daily and hundreds of schools opened after the summer break, Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma claimed the state had drawn battle lines to fight the flu.

“The Union government has delivered a consignment of 10,000 tablets of Tamiflu, 10,000 three-layered masks, 1,000 personal protective equipment and 500 N95 masks,” he said.

Giving details of the arrangements, Sharma said the Government Medical College, Jammu, Government Medical College, Srinagar, and the SKIMS, Soura, had been notified for the purpose of attending suspected swine flu cases under one nodal officer in the state.

But realising the gravity of the situation, two nodal officers for Kashmir and Jammu were nominated and similarly the stocks of medicines were bifurcated, the minister added.

“To keep a check on the virus, we have also decided to shift the isolation ward and the OPD for suspected patients to Yatri Niwas, the base camp for Amarnath pilgrims on the banks of the Tawi,” he said.

Similarly, a 30-bedded nursing home at Sanad Nagar in Srinagar had been identified, he added.

While blood samples would be collected from 9 am to 1.30 pm, OPDs would function round-the-clock, Sharma said.

Responding to queries, the minister admitted that school-going children being a soft target, the education authorities had issued an advisory to the schools across the state. Teams of health officials would be formed at the block level to visit schools and examine children with suspected swine flu symptoms, he added.

Regarding daily arrivals of 30,000 pilgrims in Katra, Sharma said, “It’s also a major threat area for us and hence adequate arrangements in consonance with Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board would be put in place, probably by Saturday.”

The state had already deputed surveillance teams at Jammu, Srinagar and Leh airports and now Lakhanpur and the Jammu Railway Station would also be covered, he added.

However, the minister felt that there was no need to panic saying, “Though it’s contagious, it is curable. The need is to spread awareness among people about precautions.”

Rajouri, August 13
The Poonch district administration has put in place all “precautionary measures” against swine flu. Rattan Lal Balm, District Development Commissioner, said this at an officers meeting presided over by him in Poonch today.

Among others, Syed Anwar Hussain Shah, Additional District Development Commissioner, Chief Medical Officer, Superintendent of District Hospital and other sectoral officers attended the meeting.

Balm said the screening mechanism for passengers coming to Poonch district from various parts of the country had been made functional. The CMO informed that isolation wards having beds and other available medicare had been earmarked in each district hospital, subdistrict hospitals at Poonch, Mandi, Surankote and Mendhar.

He further informed the meeting that all possible efforts were being made to educate people about the precautionary measures against swine flu.

Rajouri, August 13
The state government has given 15 kg of rice as monthly ration to above poverty line (APL) families who are even having more than 10 members.

However, the ration for the APL families for a month is 35 kg, of which a family gets 20 kg of wheat, 15 of kg rice, besides each member of a family gets 7 kg of sugar.

If one goes by the state government’s Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department’s (CAPDs) scale of distribution of subsidised ration among the APL families, each member of a 10-member family gets 1.5 kg of rice per month.

Residents of far-flung areas, including Buddhal, Thannamandi, Manjakote and Darhal areas here, in this border district, who largely depend on the government-supplied ration due to poverty, rued that the government by following this scale of distribution had made mockery of the public distribution system.

They said some of the families had more than 10 members so the quota of ration given by the government could not last for even a week for each member.

Sources in the district administration said as per the directions of the director, CAPD, Jammu, each APL family, irrespective of the number of family members, is to get 35 kg ration per month.

Earlier, the director, CAPD, Jammu, had sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner here. The letter said: “The Centre is allotting foodgrain to the state under the targeted-public distribution system at the scale of 35 kg of foodgrain per family per month as per the number of families in the state conveyed to them by the state Planning and Statistical Department in 2000.”

Srinagar, August 13
A full-dress rehearsal was held at Bakshi Stadium here today ahead of the Independence Day celebrations.

DGP Kuldeep Khuda hoisted the national flag and took salute at the march past presented by the columns of the JKP, JKAP, BSF, CRPF, ITBP, IRP, Fire and Emergency Services, Auxiliary Police, Women Police, NCC and school children. A cultural programme was presented by artists and a daredevil show was displayed by the police.

Srinagar, August 13
Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma today visited the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar, and interacted with the striking doctors. Prof AH Zargar, Director, SKIMS, was also present on the occasion.

The minister heard the doctors patiently and assured them that their genuine issues would be resolved within four to five weeks. He appealed to them to call off the strike so that people were relieved from difficulties and inconvenience, an official spokesman said.

Dr Zargar told The Tribune that Sharma had a two-hour long meeting with the representatives of the doctors to sort out the issues. He hoped that the doctors would take up the issue in the general body meeting tomorrow and called off the strike to mitigate the sufferings of the patients.

Meanwhile, resident doctors continued their strike for the fourth consecutive day today demanding the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations. Three patients had died in the institute since yesterday, Dr Zargar said.

He said 101 patients had been admitted to the SKIMS in the last 24 hours. Senior doctors were taking care of the patients, he added.

Udhampur, August 13
The decision of Minister of Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik to invite Congress and NC workers to a meeting of the District Development Board, Kishtwar, has been snowballing into a political issue as the PDP has taken serious note of politicisation of official functions.

Malik is chairman of the District Development Board, Kishtwar. During his maiden visit , the minister convened a meeting of the board to discuss developmental activities with public representatives. Some Congress and NC workers also managed to enter the meeting.

Interestingly, PDP MLC from Kishtwar Sayeed Asgar Ali, who was in the town at the time of the meeting, was not informed. PDP workers alleged that their leaders were deliberately not invited to the meeting to turn this official function as a political gathering of workers of the coalition partners.

“Instead of inviting representatives from all political groups, the visiting minister invited Congress and NC workers,” Asgar Ali said and warned that the PDP would not accept such attempts of the government.

Meanwhile, a meeting of PDP workers took strong note of , what they called, dictatorial action of the minister to ignore their MLC.

Srinagar, August 13
An unusually long spell of hot conditions has left local population and tourists reeling in Kashmir. The maximum temperature in Srinagar touched 34.9°C and combined with rather high humidity at 68 degrees, many parts of the valley are as hot these days as Indian plains.

TK Jotsi, Assistant Director of the Met Bureau, blamed weeks of continuing high temperature on subdued monsoons. Some have termed the present conditions as “unprecedented” as the valley often receives rains after some days of heat. “I do not recall sun beating down so sharply as today,” Shabir Ahmad, a young professional, said.

The maximum temperature in the summer capital has been two to four degrees above normal for the past many days and it soared five degrees above normal today. The impact of heat is being felt everywhere, including in the Assembly hall, which does not have any air conditioner as its makers believed it was not required in the temperate summers of Kashmir. “The Assembly complex is imposing and an architectural marvel. I wish they had installed ACs as well,” senior PDP leader Iftikar Ansari said recently in the Assembly.

The maximum temperature in Jammu was 35.7°C today, within a degree of Srinagar even as many people from Jammu were still coming here in search of relief from hot weather and left disappointed. “I brought my family here so we could spend some days in pleasant weather. We are regretting now as our residence in Jammu has an AC at least,” a government official posted here told The Tribune.

Jotsi said he expected relief in a couple of days as monsoons were expected to revive. “It’s a revival that is long coming”.