Srinagar, September 6
A Pakistani militant of the Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit was gunned down by the police in Sopore today while his accomplice was arrested.

The police said it had a specific input about the presence of two Jaish-e-Mohammad militants, its district commander Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi and Chota Saad, alias Umair, in the Model Town locality of Sopore. While Ishfaq is a local resident, Umair was from Pakistan, the police said.

The police said it launched an operation in the wee hours to trace the militants and nabbed Ishfaq around 10am when he was trying to escape from the cordon.

He led the police party to a hideout in the house of Shahnawaz where Umair was hiding. Umair started firing on the advancing police party. In the ensuing encounter, he was killed. Two AK-47 rifles, one grenade and ammunition were seized from the spot.

The police said both were involved in carrying out a series of grenade attacks in Sopore town, including the one on August 10 on a CRPF camp at Plaza Hotel, Sopore, in which one shopkeeper was killed. They were also involved in several grenade attacks in Srinagar. They were also behind the killing of Reshma Jan, alias Zahida, on June 16 this year, the police said.

Meanwhile, according to PTI, a boy was critically injured in a grenade explosion in a forest area of Bandipora district today, official sources said. Shahnawaz Ahmad Chitroo, a resident of Aragam, found a grenade in Hakarnar forests on the outskirts of the village and started playing with it, the sources said.

The boy got critically injured when the device exploded due to mishandling, the sources said, adding that he was rushed to hospital. Chitroo along with his friends had gone to the forest area to collect fruits and mushrooms, sources said.

Rajouri, September 6
Asserting that violation of ceasefire was one-sided, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said there was no retaliation from the Indian side.

The Chief Minister was talking to media on the sidelines of a ‘Fauji Mela’ organised by 25 Inf. Division.

Appreciating the “commendable services” rendered by the Army, the Chief Minister said role of the Army in defending the country and helping the civil administration during peace times has been laudable.

Omar praised the Army for Operation Sadhbhavan and said under the programme the Army had extended stupendous help to the civilians and the administration in developmental activities, especially upgrading basic facilities in health, education and sports sectors in remote villages.

The Chief Minister also distributed modified scooters among the differentially abled ex-servicemen besides handed over cheques of scholarships to the children of deceased Army personnel.

Earlier, the Chief Minister was received by GOC-in-C (Northern Command) Lt. Gen PC Bhardwaj and GOC, 16 Corps, Lt Gen RK Swamy. Mega events displayed in the mela included motorcycle display, horse show and sky diving by the elite Special Forces personnel from a height of 10,000 ft. Motorcycle display was performed by the Tornado team of ASC centre that holds a world records for forming a human pyramid of 181 men on 11 motor cycles. A cultural show was organised by Army personal along with schoolchildren showcasing unity and culture of the country.

Jammu, September 6
Agitations over the setting up of central university in Jammu are slowly becoming a routine affair as political parties are busy to give it a political angle and take mileage over the issue. These parties are using youngsters, who don’t even know the meaning of central university, to hold protest demonstrations and to gather people.

The All-India Janta Party Secular today held a protest outside the party office in which a large number of schoolchildren participated and raised slogans against the state and the Union governments.

When asked what actually the central university was, all children expressed ignorance over what all that means. “I don’t know what the central university is, the uncle (party president) asked us to take part in the protest so I along with my friends joined him here,” Rimple, class 6 student of a private school, said.

Party president Som Nath Dagotra said: “It is the enthusiasm of these young children who want to fight against the injustice with the Jammu region so they themselves came to take part in the agitation.”

When asked why he himself was not spreading awareness amongst the student community of the Jammu region about the central university, he was mum.

“The issue of central university should not be politicised and nobody should be allowed to take political mileage of the issue, these political parties are attracting young children to participate in the protest demonstrations which is not good for the mental growth of these kids,” a professor of Jammu University said.

He said these politicians instead of taking political mileage of the issue should educate the masses about the importance and benefits of the setting up of central university in Jammu.

Jammu, September 6
Describing the central university a prerogative of the Union government, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah today claimed that the NC had never created obstacles in establishing the institution in the region.

He, however, made it clear that the state government had no role or authority to decide about the site for setting up the varsity.

“The Union government has to take a decision about its location but at the same time we never created any roadblocks in setting up the institution in the region,” said Farooq during a convention of party’s Kissan Cell here today.

The state government had identified 4,000 kanals in Suchani in Samba district and a tubewell for the proposed varsity in Raya.

Urging the people to stay aloof from the forces trying to vitiate the atmosphere, Farooq said the agitation in Jammu over the proposed university would not help anyone.

“During the Amarnath land row our students had suffered a lot and this year too some forces inimical to peace are trying to create disturbances in the name of central varsity so as to create similar situation, he said.

He expressed regrets over politicisation of the issue and said now people from Banihal, Doda and Kishtwar districts have started demanding the proposed institution in their area.

Udhampur, September 6
For the seventh successive day, security forces continued with comprehensive search operation in area between Jungal Gali and Charai villages of Tikri but failed to trace the location from where an unknown caller was making calls from a satellite phone to the different parts of state and across the border.

Although senior police officers have termed the whole exercise as routine search operation, sources disclosed that security agencies have information that phone calls is being made from this belt to across the border and some other parts of the state.

Sources told the Tribune that after tracing the call, it was established that the caller was hiding between Charai and Jungal Gali areas. The caller has been making call in code words and keeps on changing locations.

The call was detected about a week ago and security agencies have started search operations in the area. As Jugal Gali area in the Trikuta mountain range where the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi is located, security agencies have taken serious note of the presence of some suspicious elements in this belt.

Security forces have also engaged experts to tackle the situation. Although officials are tightlipped over the operation, sources said the police has sought help from the Army to locate the caller. Besides further intensifying search operation from Jugal Gali, the authorities have also decided to launch another combing operation from Bamagh area.

Village defence committees of Bamagh area have also been put on high alert and have been asked to keep a strict vigil in their respective areas.

Srinagar, September 6
The recent devolution of power in the Northern Areas, a part of pre-1947 Jammu and Kashmir state, by the Pakistan government has elicited mixed reaction from separatists with the hardliners among them criticising it, claiming that it would dilute the status of Kashmir issue.

The Pak government had announced that the Northern Areas would be known as Gilgit-Baltistan now and would have their own Assembly. The region was earlier administered directly from Islamabad.

The reactions of separatists is a reflection on their ideological as well as practical positioning and muted response of moderates, a few of them like Abdul Gani Bhat even welcoming it, is a case in point. Most of the valley-based commentators, known for their sympathies with extremists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, have also decried the development.

Hizbul Mujahideen’s chief Syed Sallahuddin was surprisingly the first to go public with his reaction, which was sharply critical of the Pak government’s decision. “It is wrong on the part of the Pak government to tinker with the administrative set-up of the region as it would dilute our agenda that is meant for the entire erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state,” he said. He said with the empowerment of a local government in Gilgit-Baltistan, the region would become just another province of Pakistan and would not be seen as a part of “disputed” Jammu and Kashmir.

JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik, who was incidentally in Pakistan to bring his wife back to India, also seconded Salahuddin’s views and said the move would weaken the Kashmir issue in the international forum. His party stands for the independence of the state as it existed before Partition. Unlike Malik, HM and its political mentor Geelani openly espouse the cause of the state’s merger with Pakistan.

Though top hardliner leaders like Geelani are in jail, their associates have been critical of the development.

However, moderates like Bhat, who is aligned with the Hurriyat faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farroq, welcomed it and said nobody should have any quarrel with empowering of local governance. “It’s an administrative issue and should not affect our agenda,” he said. Bhat belongs to that group of leaders who believe a solution to the issue could be arrived by talks and rigid ideologies should not guide it.

Srinagar, September 6
JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik returned to Kashmir today with his Pakistani bride, Mushaal Mullick, an artiste with a repertoire of progressive and liberal work.

Malik was welcomed amidst much celebration from the local support base even as a a section of the Islamists made vicious attempts to run down Malik for his choice of wife, whose racy depiction of women has not gone down well with conservatives.

Mishaal, whose family hails from the top draw of Pakistani elite society, said she had married a “strong man” while her husband, a former militant-turned political separatist and one of the three most noted members of secessionist group, besides Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, insisted that his political struggle remained his first love. He was happy that he had managed to get his wife to Kashmir, he said, adding that that it was not easy.

Malik has been unable to bring his wife, whom he married a few months back in Pakistan, to India as he remained under house arrest during the recent agitation and was allowed only recently to go to Pakistan.

Srinagar, September 6
Her teachers rate Shazadi as an outstanding student. The girl studying in class IV speaks the Kashmiri language fluently. She wants to become a college teacher. But destiny - in the form of government rules - has already ordained that she never will.

She is not a permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir and was born to Bengali parents. Never mind that her family has lived in the valley for more than 20 years.

“She must complete her education and move out to West Bengal or any other state to fulfil her dreams,” her father, Qasim (39), said. The family has an acute sense of belonging for Kashmir. Shazadi speaks Kashmiri, Urdu and Bengali. Qasim has been running a small milk and sweetmeat shop in north Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. He has been through the worst period of his life braving the violence in the valley during the 1990s that even forced many locals to leave the valley.

His wife, Sarwari (32), has stood by her husband’s side, bearing and bringing up children and also lending a helping hand at her husband’s shop. But her daughter’s dream will never be fulfilled here.

As per permanent resident rules, no non-state subject can apply for a job in the state government or get selected for a professional course in any of the medical or engineering colleges here. IPS officer Gopal Sharma (61) served as Director General of the Jammu and Kashmir Police for over five years. An IPS officer of the 1972 batch, Sharma was allotted to the Jammu and Kashmir cadre that year and completed his entire service career here. He rose to the top job. Originally from Jaipur (Rajasthan), he retired last year and went home after a short central deputation. “Believe me, I am a nobody in Jaipur. I have to jostle in crowds for every daily requirement, which I do not mind, but finding suddenly that I am a social non-entity pains at times,” Sharma told IANS at a marriage reception here that he had come to attend.

Sharma like Shazadi and hundreds of other people who are non-state subjects, though they have a deep sense of belonging for Jammu and Kashmir, must leave when their time comes.

“It is like being thrown into a vacuum after all best years of your life have gone down serving the place,” another retired senior bureaucrat belonging to Delhi said.

But Riyaz Ahmad, a senior advocate, explained the rationale behind the rules.

“The permanent resident rules originally enforced during the autocratic Dogra Maharaja’s rule are still in force here and for valid reasons. Kashmir’s accession to India is governed by Article 370 which gives a special status to Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

“Though the permanent resident rules are not part of the Article 370, yet they are very essential to protect the peculiar ethnic and religious realities of Kashmir. These rules are a protection against demographic change and many other problems the state could face in their absence,” he said.

Rules, regulations, legal protection and regional complexities are fine, but how does Kashmir’s centuries-old tradition of hospitality and eclectic unison address problems of children like Shazadi or seniors like Gopal Sharma? — IANS

Jammu, September 6
Governor NN Vohra today stressed upon the need for taking the scouts and guides movement across the state and bringing a large number of youth under its ambit.

The Governor, who is also the patron of the J&K Bharat Scouts and Guides, was addressing the gathering after presenting the Sixth Rajya Puraskars to 111 successful scouts and guides of Jammu division at Raj Bhavan.

First Lady Usha Vohra, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah were also present on the occasion.

Vohra said the scouts and guides movement focused on self-discipline, character-building, team spirit, communal harmony, secular ethos, amity and brotherhood, which were imperative for peace, progress and prosperity of the state.

He congratulated the awardees and impressed upon them to work hard to make it to the Rashtrapati Award. Vohra also thanked Farooq for announcing a grant of Rs 20 lakh out of his MPLAD fund for the promotion of organisation’s activities.

Earlier, the Governor unfolded the scouts and guides flag. He was also presented the Scouts Patron Medal and Scarf.

Farooq felicitated the awardees and asked them to work for further strengthening the national integration and brotherhood.

Jammu, September 6
There has been a sizable increase in the number of patients suffering from colon cancer in the state. Change in lifestyle and eating habits is one of the main reasons for the spread of the deadly disease.

“The cases of colon cancer have increased in this part of the country and the main reason for it is the change in the diet habits amongst the people. Junk food culture has added to the spread of the disease,” said Ravinder Singh, head of laproscopic colon cancer surgery department of Amandeep Group of Hospitals.

He said though people above the age of 50 years constitute 90 per cent of the cases, younger generation is also falling prey to the disease.”The youngest patient I have operated upon for the disease was 13-years-old,” Ravinder Singh said.

The number of patients being diagnosed with the disease has increased in the past few years. Earlier this disease was more prevalent in developed countries like the US, but now in our country and especially in Jammu and Kashmir there has been a sudden spurt in the cases,” Singh said.

The doctor added that smoking and lifestyle-related disorders were also major contributors towards the spread of the disease. “Smoking, eating tobacco products, consuming fat-rich diet are the major factors that lead to this disease. It is categorised in five stages, but the only treatment available is surgery. With the advent of laproscopic technique, duration of surgery and healing time has decreased,” he said, adding: “Results of laproscopic surgery are excellent and in the long run, it is cost effective.”

Dr Singh: “It depends on the stage of the disease and in most of the cases post-operation survival rate of the patient is five years.”

To prevent the disease, intake of green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits should be increased, the doctor informed.

Jammu, September 6
The office of Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Vinod Kaul is tightening its leash around the Kashmiri Pandit migrants who forcibly occupied the one-room tenements at Nagrota. Due to this, 32 families have returned their keys. Earlier, 12 families had already deposited the keys. Kaul has also filed a complaint against Moti Lal, leader of the KP migrants, for allegedly instigating shed dwellers to forcibly occupy the vacant tenements.

Other leader Chand Ji Khair has already been transferred from his office, when office of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (RRC) complained of his involvement in the case. Kaul said he filed a complaint against Moti Lal to the Rural SP for above cited reason. “I will also stop the relief to those migrants who would be found guilty in this matter, and would allot houses to those who will be founded genuine.”

Moti Lal expressed his ignorance of any legal action against him by the RRC, and said he had taken the matter to Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Raman Bhalla, who has assured them of fair justice.

Chand said he was in Bangalore at the time of the above occurrence, whereas the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner falsified his statement saying that he was very much present in the camp when two of the migrants were arrested by the police.

Sunder Bani, September 6
Chunni Lal has spent half of his age in chains. It is not in some dark dungeon of a jail but in the compound of his home. Chunni Lal has been suffering this inhuman treatment at the hands of his wife and son who say he is a “lunatic” and keep him tied to “feel secure”.

Lal has spent the rainy season tied to a tree but this is not a new experience for this poor soul as he has been going through this ordeal for the past more than 25 years - irrespective of searing summers, chilly winters or storms. While neighbours doubt if he really was mentally unwell, Chunni has been languishing in inhuman conditions in the absence of proper medical and psychiatric treatment.

This is not happening in some relatively remote pocket of the state but in Thanda Pani area of Sunder Bani tehsil, 85 km from winter capital of the state.

When this correspondent visited the home of Chunni Lal during late evening hours, none of his family members were present. His address could only be guessed from his chains occasionally clanking through the darkness.

Dressed in rags, a strong, white-bearded man in his mid-fifties was tied to a tree about 50 meters away from the house amidst wild vegetation of grass, bushes and trees. In the name of company, he had a herd of cattle squatted nearby.

When asked, he enthusiastically told his name. When told that he would be photographed, he stood up and posed with his hands clasped against chest showing his chains. “They say I am mentally ill, that’s why I am in chains,” he remarked.

Neighbours, on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that he was untied on the marriage of his son about four years ago. “He did not cause any harm to anyone during the marriage ceremony,” they said, adding: “Thereupon, he was enchained again”.

When asked if he was ever taken to a psychiatric hospital for the treatment, they expressed ignorance and said they did not want to intervene in anyone’s personal affairs.