Jammu, September 9
Despite wearing a bullet-proof vest, an Army Major lost his life while foiling an infiltration bid from across the border in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district last midnight. Two militants were also killed in the encounter, while two others managed to escape.

An open space on the side of the bullet-proof vest that Major Akash Singh of 5 Maratha Light Infantry was wearing proved fatal as a stray bullet sneaked through that space and pierced through his body. This was the 28th infiltration bid from the Pakistan side this year.

A bullet sneaked through a small opening on the side of the vest killing the 34-year-old valiant Army officer, but not before he had shot dead two militants and foiled the infiltration bid, said Brigadier General Staff 16 corps, Brig Gurdeep Singh. The Army is pressing for new design bullet-proof vests that besides covering the open spaces on the sides of the vests would be lighter as well.

A senior Army officer said new vests to prevent casualties in such a freak manner were being acquired.

The encounter took place between the LoC and the fencing in the Sunegali area, 5 km from Mendhar town, Brig Gurdeep Singh said.

This was the second Army casualty this month in cross-border firing and encounter with militants. An Army jawan was killed in Poonch district when the Pakistani troops had resorted to unprovoked firing.

Lt Col Biplab Nath, Defence PRO, said the encounter took place last midnight when three or four terrorists attempted to cross over to the Indian side during night.

He said the martyred officer was an alumni of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, and was commissioned into 5 Maratha Light Infantry on September 4, 1999. He had rendered 10 years of meritorious service.

In his distinguished career, the officer had served in the terrorist-infested areas in the state and the Northeast. He belonged to Shiv Nagar, Jammu. He is survived by his wife, four-year-old daughter Khushi and two-year-old son Manu.

Major Akash’s father is a retired Deputy Director from the state Cooperative Department. Of the five sons, he was the only one serving in the defence forces. He was cremated with full military honours in Shiv Nagar here this evening.

Jammu, September 9
A newly constructed super-speciality emergency at Government Medical College (GMC) will be operational from February next year. Minister for Technical and Medical Education RS Chib announced this during a press conference at the GMC here today.

“Steps are being taken on priority basis to make the new super-speciality emergency services at the GMC, Jammu, to be ready for public use till the end of February next year,” he said.

“The emergency will offer super-speciality in cardiology, nephrology, neurology, besides the existing faculties available at the hospital will be upgraded,” Chib said.

He said a committee of prominent citizens would be framed within the next 10 days, which would assess whether there was any improvement in the functioning of the hospital.

Chib also expressed concern over the state of affairs going on in the existing emergency ward, which he observed during his visit yesterday. “The doctors were not in proper dress code, roasters were also not prepared by the hospital administration,” he said, adding that a hospital can not afford to work like a railway station or a fish market and the medical staff must observe the decorum of the medical institutions.

Commenting upon the 4,332 vacancies of doctors and paramedical staff in the state, he said the posts would be advertised soon for the recruitment. “The GMC principal can recruit reasonable para-medical staff on contractual basis to meet the immediate requirement of the hospital,” he said.

Answering to volley of queries over swine flu by mediapersons, the minister informed that under the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry, the state government had established two surveillance centres in the state, besides proper checking of visitors at airports was going on.

Jammu, September 9
Clarifying any kind of misgiving about its stand on the issue of central university, several senior Congress leaders openly supported the establishment of central university at Jammu in a meeting of the Pardesh Congress Committee (PCC) chaired by ex-MPs and senior vice-presidents of Pardesh Congress Committee today.

Besides, it was also added that the issue has already been taken up with the central and state governments by the state leadership of the party. They urged the coalition government to take early steps in this direction to resolve the issue.

Ravinder Sharma, spokesman of the state Congress party, said they had to issue this statement so that the opposition did not misinterpret their stand and misguide people. The Congress had earlier also stated the same, but this time the issue has support of senior leaders of the state Congress, who openly favoured the Jammu as venue for the central university.

Taking a quip on the statement of the Congress, BJP spokesperson Ramesh Arora said: “Instead of puzzling everyone with different statements, the state government should rather issue an official statement to clarify this issue for once and all. But surprisingly, the coalition partner NC has already reiterated in the Assembly that the state government is yet to decide the venue between Jammu and Srinagar for the university. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah went to meet Sonia Gandhi in Delhi with his delegation to discuss this issue, which shows that there is lot of room for doubt on it. Till date, we did not get any official version on this issue.”

The Congress on the other hand washes its hand on any statement issued by the NC. It also justifies delay on the part of the state government to come clear on this issue and Omar’s efforts to convince the central government to establish two central universities, each for Jammu and Srinagar.

Srinagar, September 9
Mysterious deaths, not very uncommon in this troubled region, seem to have found an address in Shopian. A property dealer, who was associated with the Majlis-e-Mashawarat - a consultative body spearheading the agitation against the unsolved rape and murder of two women - was found dead in an orchard last evening.

The police said Mohammad Hussain Zargar (42) had gone missing on Saturday and his body was recovered from an orchard around 5.30 pm yesterday, a few hours after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addressed a large crowd at a nearby village and assured Shopian residents of justice to the family of Neelofar and Asiya Jan, two women who were allegedly raped and murdered on the night between May 29 and 30.

Learning its lessons from its bungled probe into their rape and murder, the police immediately registered a case of murder in connection with Zargar’s death. Shopian SP Shahid Mehraj said forensic experts had been called to pick clues and were waiting for the postmortem report.

Eyewitnesses said his body did not apparently carry any serious external injury marks, though there were some marks on his legs. Only a detailed medical report could make the cause of his death clear. The victim has left behind his wife and two school-going sons.

The Majlis-e-Mashawarat, which had headed 47-day strike protesting the two women’s death, had called a strike todayas a result of which the township remained closed.

Zargar was associated with the body and it was quick to raise a question on the role of official agencies. “Going by the precedence, we have reasonable doubts whether some official agency was involved in his murder,” its spokesperson Mohammad Shafi Khan said. However, he stressed that they would wait for the postmortem report and progress of the probe before coming to any conclusion.

condemned the murder PDP president Mehbooba Mufti called for “a halt to the lawlessness prevailing in the area”. In a statement issued here today, she said it was ironic that when CM Omar Abdullah was promising action against the killers of Nilofar and Asiya, criminals had responded with yet another murder.

She said the active role that Zargar had played protesting the killing of two women and his murder had added “ominous dimensions to the whole investigation drama”.

Srinagar, September 9
Militants fired a rifle grenade at Sopore police station today, injuring three security personnel and a civilian.

Police sources said two CRPF personnel from 179 Battalion Sandeep and Antool, police constable Mohammad Rafiq and a civilian, Mohammad Shafi, were hit by splinters. The grenade landed on the roof of the police station, causing some damage to the building, the police said.

The injured were rushed to a nearby sub-district hospital from where Shafi and constable Rafiq were referred to Srinagar as their condition was stated to be "critical", sources said.

Sopore police station, about 55 km from here, in Baramulla district has been attacked by militants a number of times as the area is particularly hostile to the security forces and sympathetic to militants.

Militants lobbed a grenade at the headquarters of 49 Battalion of the CRPF at Balgarden in Srinagar today. The explosive, however, went off outside the camp and did not cause harm to anybody. No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Srinagar, September 9
Asking the members of the Legislative Assembly, more so belonging to the PDP, to act as watchdogs in the disbursal of funds meant for developmental activities, PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed said today that the Right to Information (RTI) Act was a powerful tool provided it was used in the right earnest.

Speaking at a one-day workshop organised by the youth wing of the PDP on the RTI Act, the Mufti said officers had a moral authority and they should not be swayed by favours to politicians or ‘influential’ people. He added that the government should provide information to people on varying issues in the same manner as it does in the Assembly.

“I am glad that during the Budget session we got information on important issues like the occupation of land by the security forces. The government is bound to provide information on the floor of the House and same parameters need to be followed vis-à-vis the dissemination of information under the RTI Act,” said the Mufti.

The PDP patron said the government instead of setting its own agenda was following the agenda set out by the PDP. “The PDP’s agenda on issues like demilitarisation, water resources and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is being followed by the government,” he added.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat, convener of the RTI Movement, said his members intended to seize vehicles being used by under-secretaries and deputy-secretaries of various departments in the Civil Secretariat.

“We filed an RTI application with the Director, State Motor Garages, asking him to provide information about vehicles being used by under-secretaries and deputy-secretaries. In the answer, it has been stated that no such vehicle is being used, which we known is a blatant lie. Now, we have decided to confiscate the vehicles being used by these officers,” Muzaffar said.

The RTI activist expressed dismay over the hike in registration fee from Rs 5 to Rs 50 and said 90 per cent government departments were yet to designate Public Information Officers (PIOs) as per the provisions of the amended Jammu and Kashmir RTI Act, 2008.

“We moved an application under the RTI Act with the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Budgam, asking him to provide a list of persons booked for timber smuggling over the past decade. FIRs have been lodged against 18 such persons and some are likely to be arrested in the near future,” said the convener.

Some PDP leaders and RTI activists also spoke on the occasion.

Srinagar, September 9
The state government today approached the Centre for ordering a CBI probe into the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian after the Special Investigating Team (SIT) failed to make any breakthrough into the case.

A notification issued by the state government to the Department of Personnel requested for a CBI probe into the mysterious death of Neelofar (22) and Aasiya (17), whose bodies were found on May 30.

The government decision comes a day after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made his first public appearance in Shopian, 70 km south of here, yesterday and assured people of the town that the culprits would be brought to book.

The state government had informed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that it would be transferring the case to CBI, to which the court had replied that it did not have any objection but would continue to monitor the progress in the case.

The move comes despite the reluctance by the CBI to take over the investigations. “The CBI would need the cooperation of witnesses, help of general public and help of the relatives of the deceased in the case. In view of this, it will be difficult for the CBI to take over investigations. The CBI has conveyed its views to the state government,” CBI spokesman Harsh Bahal had said earlier. — PTI

Jammu, September 9
With the arrest of eight persons, including the kingpin, the police today busted a gang of cheats involved in selling spurious cement. The police also confiscated 600 bags of spurious cement and 1600 empty rucksacks of branded companies like Ambuja Cements and ACC from three trucks.

ASP (Rural) Mohan Lal said acting on tipoff a police party today raided a place in Thathar in Chinore and arrested eight persons, including the kingpin, who were filling spurious cement in empty rucksacks of branded companies.

The cheats included kingpin Samar Singh of Mahanpur in Kathua, Prem Pal and Des Raj, both of Bareilly in UP, Roshan Lal of Jasrota in Kathua, Imtiaz Ahmed of Dakki in Mendhar, Ishtiaq Ahmed of Sunderbani in Rajouri, Sham Lal of Karmanda and Raja Ram of Jasrota in Kathua.

However, three others involved in the gang, including Ajay Manhas and Sonu of Barnai, are at large.

The gang had been into the illegal trade for the past over one year.

The gang used to purchase spurious cement at a cost of Rs 190 per bag from a local cement manufacturing unit. After filling it in empty rucksacks of Ambuja Cements and ACC, the gang used to sell it for Rs 300 per bag.

The gang used to get empty rucksacks from a scrap dealer, who had also been picked up.

Spurious cement was sold in Doda and Kishtwar districts.

A case has been registered.

Srinagar, September 9
Discussions on topics “youth carrier and opportunities” and “role of police in development of society” were held in two sessions on the concluding day of the two-day conference at Kashmir University here today. The conference on “youth, media and democracy” was organised by the All-India Centre for Rural and Urban Development (AICURD) in collaboration with Elbert Stefung, Germany, and the Department of Students Welfare, Kashmir University.

Students from various colleges and university departments debated the role of police in social development at the concluding session. Syed Fayaz, Registrar of the university, presided over the prize distribution session. Karamveer Singh, Special DIG, CRPF, was the chief guest on the occasion, while HK Lohia, DIG, Kashmir, was the guest of honour.

Acknowledging the shortcomings in a democratic system, Fayaz said there were many loopholes in a democratic set up where good and genuine people did not get any opportunity to contribute to society. He, however, added that there was no alternative to democracy and we got to pluck the holes whatever to make it suit the contemporary needs.

Karamveer Singh said the police had to be more and more people friendly if it were to win the trust and confidence of the people. Lohia said “truth is the first casualty nowadays”. He asked the police to come up to the expectations of people by wining their hearts and minds. 

Jammu, September 9
The workers of the Sewa Hydro Power Project situated at the Bani area of Kathua district are on strike for the past three days, demanding the implementation of the central labour laws and provision of wages as per the law. The CPM regional committee, Jammu, has also come forward to support the agitating workers.

“The workers are demanding that they should be given wages as per the central labour laws as the company is exploiting them by paying minimum wages,” Sham Prasad Kesar, regional secretary of the party, said. He said: “We appeal to the NHPC management to intervene in the matter and redress the legal and constitution rights of the workers.”

The party has appealed to the Kathua Deputy Commissioner to intervene and direct the Labour Department to call for a tripartite meeting and resolve the issue amicably so that the worker community does not suffer and the work on the power project too does not get hampered.