Srinagar, December 4
Senior leader of the separatist Hurriyat Conference Fazal-ul-Haq Qureshi was seriously injured when some unidentified assailants fired upon him outside a mosque in Soura locality here this evening.

He was rushed to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences where his condition is stated to be critical. A senior police officer said Qureshi was admitted with bullet injuries on his head and investigations were going on. He has been the only APHC leader who had refused security cover, the police here said.

Qureshi heads the Peoples Political Front (PPF), a constituent of the APHC, and is a senior member of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Meanwhile, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik was detained along with senior party leaders in Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Friday, where he was scheduled to address a public meeting.

Malik and Front vice-president Bashir Ahmad Bhat were taken into preventive custody by the police from different parts of Handwara, 80 km from here. Malik was stopped by the police at Kraligund when he was on way to the town to address a public meeting. Police sources Malik and six others were detained when they tried to break the police cordon and were lodged at the Chowgal police station.

Sources said the JKLF leaders were detained to prevent them from organising the public meeting as police was apprehensive that it might result in disturbance of peace in the area.

However, a JKLF spokesman condemned the police action and said the town was virtually sealed by the police since morning to prevent the party leaders from entering the town and address the public.

Jammu, December 4
A youth and a girl belonging to two faiths, who faced a stiff opposition to their relationship from their families, allegedly committed suicide at Noor village of Akhnoor subdivision late last evening. The girl’s parents had fixed her marriage with her cousin for today.

Official sources said 25-year-old Pritam Lal, a grocer, and 20-year-old Shamshad were having an affair for the past some time. However, their families were opposed to their relationship and depressed by disapproval of their relationship by their parents the duo consumed some toxic substance near a seasonal rivulet adjoining the village last evening. The parents of the girl had fixed her marriage with her cousin, who lived in Kathar village, and the marriage was to take place today, the sources added.

After the girl’s parents found the bride missing from home last evening, they along with other family members started searching for her. They found Shamshad and Pritam lying dead near the rivulet, they said.

A police party reached near the rivulet after it was informed about the incident around 10.30 pm. They were taken to the subdistrict hospital at Akhnoor, where doctors declared them brought dead, the sources said. After autopsy this morning, the last rites of the boy and girl were performed as per their respective religions, they added.

Depressed by disapproval of their relationship they committed suicide near a nullah in Noor village, SP (Rural) Mohan Lal told The Tribune. The girl’s marriage with her cousin was to be solemnised today, he added. We found some bangles and vermilion from the spot, indicating that they might have performed a symbolic marriage before taking the extreme step, he said.

The police, however, started inquest proceedings.

Jammu, December 4
The Mahila Sanrakshan Samiti’s (MSS) silent protest rally today turned vociferous as its activists today burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and shouted slogans against the failure of the coalition government to punish those responsible for the alleged custodial killing of Rajnish Sharma, a Hindu youth, in a police lockup on October 5.

Carrying placards and shouting anti-government slogans, around 300 women under the aegis of MSS took out a rally from the Raghunath Temple here to the Shalamar Chowk.

After the women staged a sit-in at the Shalamar Chowk disrupting traffic movement, political adviser to the Chief Minister Davinder Singh Rana reached the spot and tried to pacify them.

“Though he met us but we got no assurance of a CBI probe and immediate arrest of the culprits and hence our activists turned vociferous burning CM’s effigy,” MSS convener Mamta Singh told The Tribune.

The innocent youth was tortured to death in police custody but ironically neither cops had been booked nor any case registered against them, she said, adding that the government was trying to hush up the matter.

Initially, we tried to march towards the CM’s official residence but were prevented by the cops and then we came to know about his presence in the civil secretariat and hence decided to meet him at the secretariat but again we were prevented by the cops and finally we staged a sit-in at Shalamar Chowk, she said.

Jammu, December 4
As the state observes the 104th birth anniversary of Sheikh Abdullah tomorrow, a former Director-General and Special Secretary Health of the state, Dr Ali Baksh, has alleged that improper diagnosis and treatment of Sheikh Abdullah during his last days led to the death of the leader.

Dr Ali Baksh, while addressing mediapersons in Jammu today, alleged that Dr VP Gupta, the then Medical Superintendent of the SKIMS, had changed the first X-ray done on Sheikh Abdullah and this resulted into a faulty diagnosis and wrong treatment of the Sheikh, leading to his “untimely death”.

He said the chest X-ray of Sheikh Abdullah was replaced by a normal person’s X-ray and renowned physician Dr Ali Jan had later detected that it was not the original X-ray.

“I was the Director Health Services, Kashmir, at that time (1982) and Dr Ali Jan, who was the visiting physician, was misled by Dr Gupta, who changed the X-ray, leading to wrong diagnosis and ultimately the death of the Sheikh,” said Dr Ali Baksh.

He alleged that some “agency” wanted to hasten the death of Sheikh Abdullah to create an atmosphere of instability in the state.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dr Gupta said, “These allegations against me are false and aimed at tarnishing my image. No doubt, the X-ray conducted on Sheikh Abdullah was lost, but his treatment was going on at his house and not in the hospital, and doctors from Delhi were attending on him.”

He said many inquiries had been conducted by the state government and the report was with the government. “The leader died on September 8, 1982, and why Dr Ali Baksh had been silent for the past 27 years,” Dr Gupta said.

Srinagar, December 4
The 104th birth anniversary of the NC founder and former Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah will be observed with the main function at his graveyard at the Naseem Bagh here tomorrow. Senior NC leaders, including party president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, would address a function at the Naseem Bagh which would be attended by a number of NC leaders and workers.

The government is expected to unveil the much-awaited employment policy on the occasion, which had been announced earlier this year. The government during the summer session of the State Assembly here had announced that it would come out with an employment policy on this day.

Meanwhile, the PDP said today that the best way for the successors of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to pay tribute to the late leader was to continue the policies of the coalition government that ruled the state till last year.

A party spokesman on the eve of the Sheikh Abdullah’s anniversary said the NC leaders and the beneficiaries of the former Chief Minister’s political legacy had been attributing every new initiative taken by the previous government to “the dream of Baba-e-Qoum”.

It was therefore necessary for the Omar Abdullah government to build upon the progress achieved under his predecessors for the sake of his own propaganda to assume some substance. Whether it was the Indo-Pak peace initiative in 2003 or the reopening of the routes across the LoC, the NC had always described them the “dreams of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah” without ever acknowledging that the Sheikh himself or his successors had failed to realise them, the spokesman said. Similarly, Omar Abdullah and his propaganda machine have been claiming falsely that the Mughal Road construction was initiated by the late NC patriarch.

The construction of the Mughal road was too contemporary to need the clarification that the project was taken up as a national project in 2005 after decades of deliberate scheming against it. Instead of claiming credit for things that happened as part of governance and trying to mislead public, the government should ensure that the projects were implemented with speed, he said.

Jammu, December 4
The North Zone Inter-University Hockey (men) Championship today witnessed violence when Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) players allegedly assaulted and injured six dribblers of Gurukul Kangri Vishvidyalaya (GKV), Haridwar, at the Vaishnavi Dham here.

It was around 12.30 pm when the GKV players were readying their sports kits to go to the KK Hakku Hockey Stadium, where they were to play the Jammu University team at 1.30 pm in a quarterfinal match. All of a sudden, a group of 16-18 persons, including PAU players, came into their room and started assaulting them with hockey sticks, alleged Dushyant Rana, GKV team’s coach. “The PAU players were declared out of the tournament yesterday and were to go back this afternoon. Before leaving the the Vaishnavi Dham where we all were staying, they attacked us with hockey sticks and ran away,” said Mohammed Ali, an injured GKV player.

As soon as the news of the clash reached the stadium, the chief medical officer along with paramedical staff took the injured to the Government Medical College and Hospital. While goalkeeper Ashish Mishra was declared unfit and Abdul received three stitches in the face, four other players got multiple injuries.

Due to the unfit condition of GKV players, the match was not held. Finally, the Jammu University team got a walkover in the quarterfinal and it entered the league matches that is starting tomorrow.

The GKV team was the winner last year, but the unfortunate incident forced it out of the championship today. “The matter is grave and we have informed the senior officials of our university. Our director sports has immediately filed a written complaint with Jammu University and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) seeking a ban on the entry of the PAU team in future and stern action against its players,” Dushyant said.

According to sources, both teams had an old rivalry and they had clashed earlier in Ludhiana and again in Haridwar in the past two years. Even the officials conducting the championship admitted that they were aware about the rivalry between the two teams.

“We have already filed a complaint with senior police officers and asked them to locate the bus the PAU players were travelling in to go back to Ludhiana,” said Dhian Singh Bhau, Director, Sports Department, Jammu University.

Bhau said they had constituted a committee comprising officials from various universities to probe into the matter. Till the filing of the report, no one was arrested. However, the police said it was trying to arrest the accused and a message had been sent to policemen on the J&K-Punjab border barrier.

Udhampur, December 4
Residents of Kulsot village of the Panchari block in the district have to walk 4 km to fetch water for daily needs, as the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has failed to make arrangements for water supply near home. The woes of residents began after the natural water source (a spring) from which the PHE Department was supplying water to the village dried up about two months back.

A delegation of villagers led by Rajinder Singh and Prakash Chand today visited the office of Sanjiv Abrol, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of the PHE, Udhampur, in this regard. Since the official was not in the office due to some official work, the villagers apprised other junior officials about their plight.

They demanded that the PHE Department should harness another spring nearby for the purpose as was being done in the case of the dried up source of water.

The officials assured the villagers that the needful would be done. The villagers informed that they were drawing water from a nullah about 4 km away and it was an arduous and time consuming task. They found it tough to arrange water during marriages and other community functions.

Srinagar, December 4
Expressing concern over human rights violations in Kashmir, separatist Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq here today announced to take out a silent march from the party headquarters on the occasion of International Human Rights Day on December 10. He also expressed concern over the apathetic attitude of the government towards providing better facilities of “paani, bijli and sadak” despite the assurances of the Omar Abdullah government.

Addressing a Friday congregation at the Jamia Masjid here this afternoon, the APHC chairman said: “A dharna will be taken out at Pratap Park in Lal Chowk to draw the attention of the world community towards the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. This will be aimed at an end to the rights violations and an impartial inquiry into the incidents which had been taking place at the hands of security force sin the valley.

He also referred to the reports of unmarked graves and enforced disappearances that were unveiled by a human rights body - the International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights - here on Wednesday. The JKLF has already announced its decision to hold a “torch procession” on Human Rights Day to draw the attention of the global community towards the “miserable plight” of the people of Kashmir.

Srinagar, December 4
Nearly 14 persons, including four policemen, were injured as groups of youths clashed with the police outside the Jamia Masjid here today, official sources said.

The clash started at the Kawdara Chowk shortly after the Friday prayers when a group of youths chanting pro-freedom slogans tried to take out a march in support of the demand for the implementation of UN resolutions on the Kashmir issue, sources said.

As the police used batons to chase them away, protesters turned violent and resorted to stone-pelting, prompting the security personnel to fire teargas shells. Clashes soon spread to adjoining localities like Nowhatta and Gojwara and 14 persons, including four policemen, were injured. Reinforcements of the CRPF and the police had been sent to restore law and order, sources said. — PTI

Katra, December 4
Governor NN Vohra today inaugurated the state-of-the-art complexes of School of Architecture and Landscape Design and Central Library at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University at Kakriyal near Katra.

The double-storeyed complex housing the School of Architecture and Landscape Design has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3.6 crore in two years. It comprises a studio, a model room and a museum with a central courtyard and skylight facility for organising exhibitions and holding interactions. It has a capacity for 40 students.

The Governor, who is the Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) and Chancellor of SMVDU , also inaugurated a Rs 4 crore 3-storeyed central library complex at the varsity. The complex, comprising main sections like catalogue, reference, classification, circular, periodicals, book bank and digital library, also has a provision for skylight.

Vohra while interacting with VC NK Bansal and members of the faculty appreciated the design and architecture of the complexes and enquired about the facilities provided to the students.He also enquired about the research projects undertaken by the SMVDU in various subjects having local and regional relevance.

He advised the faculty of the School of Architecture and Landscape Design to explore the possibility of providing consultancy services to various agencies in the state and in the neighbouring areas as this would help generate resources and employment avenues for the students passing-out from the university.

Earlier, the Governor laid the foundation stone of the Aashirwad Complex, a five-storeyed complex, comprising 12 dormitories, which is being constructed by the SMVDSB at a cost of over Rs 7.30 crore at Katra.

During his visit, Vohra also inaugurated a 1.15- km- long upgraded circular road at Katra, connecting the bus stand with the Reasi road. The upgradation will go a long way in removing congestion and ensuring a smooth flow of traffic.

Jammu, December 4
Ever since he was jailed way back in 1973, a PoK man died of mental illness at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here last evening.

“Repeated attempts had been made to repatriate Moosa Ahmed, a resident of the Bhimber area in the PoK. He died in the hospital last evening,” official sources told The Tribune.

He was arrested in the Akhnoor sector in 1973 after he illegally entered India, the sources said, adding that after a few years of his arrest Moosa was afflicted with some mental disorder.

He remained in the Ambphalla district prison, where the jail authorities had regularly been taking him for treatment to the hospital here, but his condition kept on deteriorating, they said.

The jail authorities had even approached court with a request to repatriate him to his native place, they added.

However, the Pakistani authorities had rejected his repatriation request thrice during the past 30 years.