Srinagar, September 10
The PDP today accused the NC-Congress coalition government of "confusing" the people on the issue of location of the proposed central university, which has created a rift in the state.

People from both Jammu and the Kashmir Valley have been demanding the proposed institution be set up in their regions.

"The attitude of the state government on the location of the proposed university is divisive. It created confusion by announcing two universities instead of one and then did not follow it up with the central government," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said addressing a workers’ convention in Doda, 150 km from here.

The Centre had announced 14 central universities in different states of the country, including one in Jammu and Kashmir, but the state government pleaded for two varsities, one each for the Jammu and Kashmir regions.

The state government is yet to get a response from the Centre in this regard.

Supporting the demand for setting up of the university in regions like Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri and the Kashmir valley, Mehbooba argued that these areas had suffered due to hostile climatic and topographical conditions and educational facilities there were not adequate. "It was, therefore, necessary that all these areas were given preferential opportunities for the students there to pursue higher education," she said. — PTI

Udhampur, September 10
The PDP has kickstarted an aggressive campaign to educate people about its self-rule proposal. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti today started this campaign from Doda and addressed a seminar on this topic organised by the local unit of the party.

She made it clear that solution to the Kashmir problem was possible only by addressing alienation of the people. She was of the view that the successive governments in New Delhi never took politicians of Jammu and Kashmir seriously as the NC, which dominated the political scene since 1947, had repeatedly sold out public interests for the lust of power.

She said f Delhi should keep in mind that the transfer of power from one political group to another was not the solution to this problem. “This problem can be solved only by addressing alienation of the people”, she said, adding that the self-rule proposal was aimed at solving both internal and external dimensions of the problem.

Udhampur, September 10
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti received minor injuries when her vehicle skidded off the road today after developing a technical snag at Jajjar Kotli, near Udhampur, on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

Mehbooba Mufti along with other senior leaders of the party was returning from Doda after participating in a seminar on self-rule.

According to eyewitnesses, the Ambassador car (9733-JK02JA) in which Mehbooba Mufti was travelling developed a technical snag. As the driver lost control of the vehicle it skidded off the road. She received injures in her teeth.

The car belongs to the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir police. She was immediately shifted to the Government Medical Hospital by the security staff and PDP leaders. 

Srinagar, September 10
Behind the repeated claims of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to bring culprits of the Shopian tragedy to book lies the abject failure of the special investigation team(SIT), filled with handpicked officials, in throwing any light on this rape-and-murder mystery.

If and when the CBI takes up the case, it would have to began from the scratch with almost all vital evidence lost for good and the SIT, which probed the case for well over three months, having nothing substantial to pass on to it.

For reasons ranging from lack of cooperation of the victims’ relatives to overall public hostility, the CBI had earlier expressed its reluctance in taking up the case when the government first said in the Assembly last month that it would transfer the investigation from the SIT to the CBI.

However, a CBI spokesperson told The Tribune today that the agency was bound to abide by the decision of the central government. He, however, emphasised that cooperation from the victims’ family and public at large was must for investigation, something that even the SIT did not receive much.

Despite claims that the SIT had investigating officer of repute and eminence, official sources said a number of state police officers have a more distinguished track record in solving serious crimes than some of those picked for the job. “We are not talking about personal qualities but professional acumen which the SIT lacked,” an official said.

The only line of investigation the SIT followed was the likely involvement of police and CRPF personnel in the rape and murder of Nilofar Jan and Asiya Jan, something driven more by expedience and public sentiments than any serious material evidence. It collected the blood samples of a number of security personnel and that is all about it.

The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Barin Ghosh, which is monitoring the investigation, castigated investigators a number of times and rued that all evidence seemed to have lost and the SIT had not done “what was required of it”.

The subsequent tampering of vaginal samples of the victims also remains as a much a mystery as the victims’ murder. Even here, the SIT could not reach anywhere near the accused even though only a few persons, mostly doctors, involved with the forensic process were the suspects.

Srinagar, September 10
Hardline Hurriyat faction chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani said here today that he was not opposed to dialogue but it should be aimed at solving the Kashmir issue, as envisaged by the UN resolutions, which have been rejected by India long back.

Released last evening after 95 days of detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA), Geelani said the Army should withdraw from the chunks of land it had occupied in Kashmir. He said his amalgam would announce fresh protests programme after the Eid festivities.

Geelani was put under preventing custody by the government as his calls for strikes and protests in the wake of the Shopian tragedy threatened to derail normal life. The High Court quashed his detention under the PSA, facilitating his release last evening.

Geelani called for complete withdrawal of the security forces and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.

"If there are only 500 to 600 militants active in the state, as per official figures, then there is no justification for the presence of over eight lakh troops in the state," said Geelani

Referring to the rape and murder of two women in Shopian district on May 30, the Hurriyat chairman said the brutal and heinous act was condemnable.

"The handing over of the case to the CBI is a delaying tactics by the government. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first dismissed the incident as a case of drowning but as the people built the pressure he ordered a probe by a one-man commission which then rubbed salt on the wounds of the victims families by raising suspicion on the character of the family members," Geelani said and termed the CM's apology on August 15 as nothing but an "eyewash.

Jammu, September 10
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (MC) has decided to intensify its ongoing anti-adulteration drive ahead of the festival season. All seven food inspectors of the corporation have been instructed to keep a vigil on shopkeepers who used to sell adulterated food items, particularly ‘khoya’ during festivals.

The food inspectors were given the instructions today at a meeting held on the MC premises under the supervision of Satish Kumar Sharma, chairman, Public Health and Sanitation Committee.

Talking to The Tribune, Sharma said, “In order to provide a healthy atmosphere during the forthcoming festivals of Eid-ul Fitr, Navratras, Dashera, Diwali and Eid-ul-Zuha, I have directed the health officers and the food inspectors not to be lenient towards persons dealing in milk, curd, cheese, sweets and khoya/mava.”

The MC had lifted five samples of different food articles from Hari Market and the bus stand, and out of which two samples had been found to be adulterated and unfit for human consumption.

Sharma instructed the MC staff to deal strictly with all those found involved in adulteration cases. He laid stress on checking khoya that was being imported from Punjab and other states and. He warned the staff that stern action would be initiated against officials found conniving with shopkeepers selling contaminated food items.

Sharma also asked Dr Anwar Choudhary, MC health officer, to withdraw the licences of shopkeepers found selling adulterated food items.

Jammu, September 10
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (MC) today removed encroachments from footpaths, pavements and parts of roads under its ongoing anti-encroachment drive.

According to a press note issued here, the Chief Enforcement Officer along with field staff and policemen carried out the drive in the areas of Purani Mandi, Raj Tilak Road, Mohalla Pharian, Parade, Moti Bazar, Rani Park, Kachi Chawani and Exchange Road.

The team removed materials found placed by shopkeepers, vendors on footpaths, pavements and part of roads. Three truckloads of material, including steel drums, cans, buckets, grain containers, baskets, frames, garments, glasses, pillows, footwear, blankets, juice machine, signboards and umbrellas were seized.

Meanwhile, Mubarak Singh, Municipal Commissioner, Jammu, today instructed his subordinate officers to ensure that the road from the Jammu Airport to the bus stand was made garbage free.

According to a statement issued here, the commissioner undertook an extensive tour of various parts of the city to take stock of the ongoing works being executed by the UEED. He also visited Top-Sher Khania, Roop Nagar and Durga Nagar areas and checked the ongoing construction works there. 

Jammu, September 10
The Vichar Kranti Manch International (VKMI) today appealed to the Education Department and the Board of School Education to introduce moral and ethical values as compulsory subject upto 12th standard in schools.

General secretary of the VKMI Ram Rattan Sharma said they had adopted various educational institutions for imparting moral education. He said seminars and workshops were being held regularly in these institutions.

Sharma said moral education was imperative for eradicating social evils from society. — TNS

Jammu, September 10
The consultant doctors of Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS) continued with their protest for the second consecutive day today. The doctors are protesting under the banner of the ASCOMS Medical Teachers Association.

The protesting doctors have been demanding the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report. They have also been demanding a time-bound release of salaries and payment of DA, besides other allowances on a par with the Central government employees.

A delegation of the association had earlier called upon the director, principal, trustees and the administration of the college and hospital.

Meanwhile, the OPD services in the hospital remained paralysed as the consultant doctors were not available. Also, no surgeries were conducted. However, emergency services, ICU and CCU wards worked normally.

The association has threatened to go on an indefinite strike from September 16 in case its demands were not fulfilled.

Jammu, September 10
The police arrested three persons, including a government ration depot dealer, and seized 45 bags of wheat from a shop in Badyala Chak village of Akhnoor subdivision, near here, today.

Official sources said, acting on a tip-off, a police team from Akhnoor led by SHO Gian Chand Sharma raided a shop in Badyala Chak early this morning and seized 45 bags of wheat each weighing 65 kg to 70 kg. The Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department had supplied the wheat at a subsidised rate to the ration dealer for above poverty line (APL) families, but the ration dealer was selling it in the open market.

The sources said ration dealer Kartar Singh, who is also the numberdar of Nadiwala village, had been running the ration depot since 1974 at Nadiwala. Last night, Kartar Singh dispatched the consignment in a load carrier to a shopkeeper, Tarsem Lal, of Badyala Chak village, they added. The vehicle was driven by Ashwani Kumar of Badyala Chak.

However, to save his skin, the shopkeeper claimed to be innocent saying he had no idea that the wheat belonged to the CAPD Department

All three accused have been arrested and a case under sections 3/7, 409 of the Essential Commodities Act has been registered at Akhnoor police station. The sources estimated the cost of the seized wheat at Rs 36,000 in the open market.

A CAPD official said the department had no knowledge about the wrong-doings of the ration dealer. “But now his licence has been cancelled and departmental action will also be initiated against him,” he added.

Rajouri, September 10
A day after the Army gunned down two infiltrators in the Sona Gali area of Mendhar and seized two pamphlets in a coded form from their possession, the Army authorities have reportedly sent the pamphlets to defence experts in Delhi for breaking the codes.

A Major and two Pakistani infiltrators of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed, while an injured militant managed to escape to the PoK. The troops of 5 Maratha Light Infantry thwarted an intrusion bid in the Sona Gali area in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district on the night of September 8.

The Army had seized two pamphlets in a coded form believed to be carrying the identity and contacts as also the names of militant training camps in the PoK.

Army sources said one of the slain militants had been codenamed ‘CBZ’ and the other ‘CBF’ in the pamphlets. Their route had been coded as ‘aadmi, pani, vakat and bijli’, sources said. “Following the seizure of the pamphlets, the authorities have rushed the same to the defence experts in Delhi for breaking the codes”.

Leh, September 10
With fresh reports of incursion in the Ladakh region, a local councillor has reiterated that Chinese troops frequently intrude into the Indian territory and even threaten Indian shepherds.

“Last year when shepherds from 5-6 villages were grazing cattle in our winter pasture area ...the Chinese troops troubled them. They (Chinese troops) pressurised the villagers to leave the place,” Nawang Norboo, councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) representing the Nyoma block, said in Demchok village. Norboo said Beijing seemed to have beefed up the troops along the border.

“One change we witnessed during the past one year is that when we asked the villagers about their interaction with the Chinese troops, they told us that earlier they had an interaction with the Chinese Border Police but for the first time they saw troops of the People’s Liberation Army in the area,” he added.

Official sources have said the Chinese troops entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory near Mount Gya, which is recognised as the International Border by India and China, and painted the word 'China' in Cantonese on the boulders and rocks there with red spray paint. The incursions were reported from the area generally referred in the Chumar sector east of Leh. — ANI