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THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
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J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R    E D I T I O N

Centre-State Relations
Jammu, Ladakh parties reject Working Group’s report
Jammu, December 24
The recommendations of the Working Group on Centre-State Relations, headed by Justice (retd) Sagir Ahmed have virtually created a regional divide as Jammu and Ladakh-based political parties have outrightly rejected the report while the valley-centric parties have by and large hailed the suggestions.

Inconclusive, says PDP
Srinagar, December 24
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said her party did not disagree with the working group’s report , but criticised it for being inconclusive.

Foundation for four roads laid
Jammu,December 24
In continuation of a massive development programme launched to upgrade the social infrastructure in the erstwhile Doda district, Minister for Roads and Buildings G. M. Saroori, on the last leg of his six-day tour, laid the foundation stone for four roads, including Mehar-Neera, Dalwas Sawal, Parnote-Thalwa and Chandrog-Gagwal in Ramban district involving a cost of Rs 10.47 crore.


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EARLIER STORIES

Need for well-researched books, says Vohra
Jammu, December 24
To make the coming generations aware of rich history, composite cultural heritage and other glorious facets of the state, Governor NN Vohra today stressed upon the need for well-researched books.

Christmas
Governor, CM greet people
Jammu, December 24
Governor N. N. Vohra has extended greetings to people on Christmas. In a message, the Governor said Jesus Christ preached love, compassion and brotherhood, and added his teachings were more relevant now than before.

Submission of report raises eyebrows
Jammu, December 24
The submission of the report of the Prime Minister’s Working Group to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah instead of Dr Manmohan Singh, who formed the group, has raised eyebrows here.

Focus to be on scientific investigation
Jammu, December 24
The year 2009 saw a shift in terrorist activities as for the first time in the past 21 years of armed insurgency, the state witnessed less than 500 militancy-related incidents. The arrival of 2010, the trouble-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir hopes, would bring peace and prosperity by ending 21 years of armed insurgency in the region.

Supersession of bank board
Tribunal orders status quo
Jammu, December 24
The J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu, directed the Registrar, J&K Co-operative Societies, Jammu, and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Citizens’ Co-operative Bank Ltd, to maintain the status quo with regard to the supersession of the Board of Directors of the bank as ordered by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Jammu, by an order dated December 21, 2009 while serving notices on the contesting respondents, who opposed the grant of ad interim relief by filing a caveat.
St Mary’s Garrison Church illuminated for Christmas in Jammu
St Mary’s Garrison Church illuminated for Christmas in Jammu. Photo: Inderjeet Singh

Meritorious students get scholarship
Jammu, December 24
Minister for Social Welfare, Sakina Itoo, today distributed scholarship among the meritorious students from the minority communities. An official press release said the ministry had distributed 45 lakh among 200 students in last few months.

Disaster Management
Doctors to get specialised training
Jammu, December 24
Doctors and other technocrats will soon be dispatched to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),Delhi, for getting specialised training to deal with natural calamities and disaster management.

NCC prepares for R-Day
Nagrota, December 24
A contingent of 92 NCC cadets, including 32 girl cadets of Jammu and Kashmir, have been selected to represent the state in the Republic Day NCC Camp at New Delhi. The cadets will leave for Delhi on December 29. To view the preparations, Brig Anil Gupta today visited the NCC Camp here.
NCC cadets get training at a camp in Nagrota on Thursday. Photo: Inderjeet Singh

‘Wattan-Ki-Sair’ flagged off
Jammu, December 24
As part of an civic action programme, “Wattan-Ki-Sair”, Director-General of Police, J&K, Kuldeep Khoda today flagged off a group of students drawn from various parts of the valley, at Balidan Sitambh here this morning.

31 bovine recovered
Jammu, December 24
The Ramban police yesterday claimed to have recovered 31 bovine and arrested five persons,including drivers of four trucks allegedly involved in smuggling these to the Kashmir valley.

16 injured in bus mishap
Jammu, December 24
As many as 16 persons, including nine women, were injured when a bus plying on the Rajouri-Bauvli route overturned, near Fatehpur village, here yesterday.






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Centre-State Relations
Jammu, Ladakh parties reject Working Group’s report
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
The recommendations of the Working Group on Centre-State Relations, headed by Justice (retd) Sagir Ahmed have virtually created a regional divide as Jammu and Ladakh-based political parties have outrightly rejected the report while the valley-centric parties have by and large hailed the suggestions.

The National Conference (NC) has termed the recommendations as a vindication of the party’s stand and asserted that the autonomy document prepared by it was the only solution of the Kashmir problem. In an informal chat with mediapersons, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather has termed the recommendations as a vindication of their stand.

Keeping in view its support base in all three regions, the Congress reacted cautiously. “It is unwise to react on the recommendations before going through the full context of the report”, spokesman of the PCC Ravinder Sharma told The Tribune. He, however, assured national interests would be safeguarded.

Chairman of the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) and former Lok Sabha member Thupsang Chewang, who was one of the members of the Working Group, questioned the authority of Justice Sagir Ahmed in submitting the recommendations. “Without holding a final meeting of all members of the group, how Justice Sagir Ahmed can submit the report”? he questioned and warned that such irresponsible acts to appease the separatists would prove disastrous. “We would oppose this report tooth and nail”, Chewang told The Tribune over phone.

Rejecting the recommendations, the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir termed these as unrealistic, prejudiced, biased and anti- tribal. Haji Shamsher Ali Boken, state president of the J&K Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Forum said the recommendations were manipulated and were against the wishes of the tribals of the state who constituted more than 25 per cent population.

Dubbing the recommendations as one-sided, discriminatory and communally- biased, the state BJP has warned that such suggestions would force the people of Jammu and Ladakh to demand separation from the Kashmir valley.

"Justice Saghir seems to have acted more under the influence of the UPA and National Conference led-coalition government in preparing the report", state BJP president Ashok Khajuria said and pointed out that the report had been submitted without taking members into confidence.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) has termed the report as rubbish, outdated, stinking and anti-people and managed at the behest of the National Conference to justify its manifesto. JKNPP chairman Bhim Singh while rejecting the report appealed to all parties, intellectuals, students and youth to oppose it. The Jammu State Morcha (Progressive) has strongly condemned the report and termed it as biased against the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions.

Ex-convener of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) Leela Karan Sharma, while dubbing the report as a fraud on the Constitution, exhorted the people of Jammu and Ladakh to come on the streets and launch a mass movement.

Inconclusive, says PDP
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 24
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said her party did not disagree with the working group’s report , but criticised it for being inconclusive.

She further criticised the manner in which the report was presented to the state government instead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had appointed the jurist as the head of one of several working groups constituted by him. Mehbooba said at a press conference here that the impression that the report supported autonomy formula proposed by the National Conference (NC) and rejected her party’s self-rule proposal was erroneous. She said the report called for examining autonomy in the line with the Kashmir accord and had many things that her party had called for, including doing away with the appointment of the Governor by the central government and the use of Article 356 to invoke Governor’s rule.

“ The PDP has been saying that we should have an elected Governor and the state should not be subjected to Article 356. We had conveyed it to the working group,” she said. Autonomy dealt with internal aspects of the Kashmir problem while the PDP’s self-rule took stock of both internal and external issues, she said.

She said her party never gave its self-rule document to the Justice as his mandate was confined to Centre-state relations while the self-rule proposal had several external dimensions, including greater political synergy with occupied Kashmir. She said PDP’s representatives had a few meetings with the working group which were inconclusive. “We believed we will have more meetings so the presentation of the report was a surprise,” she said.

CPI(M) leader and MLA MY Tarigami, who was also a member of the group, also expressed similar sentiments and said the report was prepared in haste.

Mehbooba wondered why the report was handed over to Omar Abdullah when Dr Manmohan Singh had constituted the group. PDP leaders said it was a political move and the NC was trying to gain mileage from it. She said the group had maintained silence over renegotiation of water treaties with the Centre, one of her party’s demands and it was not good.

Tarigami also criticised the way the report was presented. “It was discussed and decided when we met last time to have threadbare discussions on proposals put forth by the members of the group. Then only, some consensus could have been evolved, which could have formed the basis for recommendations,” Tarigami said.

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Foundation for four roads laid
Tribune News Service

Jammu,December 24
In continuation of a massive development programme launched to upgrade the social infrastructure in the erstwhile Doda district, Minister for Roads and Buildings G. M. Saroori, on the last leg of his six-day tour, laid the foundation stone for four roads, including Mehar-Neera, Dalwas Sawal, Parnote-Thalwa and Chandrog-Gagwal in Ramban district involving a cost of Rs 10.47 crore.

Taken up under NABARD, the proposed roads are projected to benefit 50,000 people living in 23 villages of the area. The minister also inaugurated the Kawbagh link road completed at a cost of Rs 44 lakh. MLA, Ramban, Ashok Kumar, MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta, and senior engineers accompanied the minister.

Addressing a gathering after lying the foundation of the roads, Saroori said a massive plan had been devised to connect all inaccessible villages, particularly in the hill areas. He said no development was possible without proper road connectivity and added that the number of roads coming up under various schemes like NABARD, Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Central Road Fund (CRF) would have far-reaching impact on the socio-economic condition of the people of the three mountainous districts.

The minister said road projects delayed due to procedural formalities were being taken up on fast track after clearance, including that from the Forest Department. He asked engineers and officers of the Forest and Revenue Departments to conduct a joint survey of such roads to ensure early clearance for execution of work. Saroori also instructed deputy commissioners to expedite payment of compensation to land owners whose land had been acquired for construction of roads.

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Need for well-researched books, says Vohra
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
To make the coming generations aware of rich history, composite cultural heritage and other glorious facets of the state, Governor NN Vohra today stressed upon the need for well-researched books.

He was speaking at a function where he released a book, “Mystic land of half moon, Ladakh” ,this evening. The book has been authored by Dr Ashok Jerath.

The Governor said various chairs had been set up in the universities of the state which must sponsor writing of such books by reputed historians and writers. He suggested that the universities should also take up research projects through senior students and scholars for producing authentic materials.

Referring to the tourism sector, the Governor observed that there was an imperative need for producing informative materials aimed at tourists.

On the occasion, Prof Lalit Magotra presented a review of all the 14 chapters of the book running into 161 pages. He said the book vividly depicts the enchanting natural beauty, geography, people, culture, monasteries, festivals, food habits and architecture of Ladakh region with graphic details. He complimented the author for writing a well-documented book about Ladakh and its people.

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Christmas
Governor, CM greet people
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
Governor N. N. Vohra has extended greetings to people on Christmas. In a message, the Governor said Jesus Christ preached love, compassion and brotherhood, and added his teachings were more relevant now than before.

The Governor hoped that such auspicious occasions would help further cement the bonds of communal harmony, brotherhood, amity, secularism and high traditions of pluralistic ethos for which Jammu and Kashmir was known for centuries.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also felicitated the people on the eve of Christmas and described it as an appropriate occasion for the mankind to remember the lesson of peace, love, brotherhood and non-violence.

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Submission of report raises eyebrows
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
The submission of the report of the Prime Minister’s Working Group to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah instead of Dr Manmohan Singh, who formed the group, has raised eyebrows here.

While parties and state analysts questioned the wisdom behind the move with the local media claiming the group had lost favour with the Prime Minister’s Office and that the timing of the submission of the report suited the National Conference the most, a member of the Working group said the chairman could not submit the report to the Prime Minister because of his ill-health.

“He is bed-ridden in Lucknow due to which he couldn’t move to Delhi to submit the report to the Prime Minister. Hence, he authorised his secretary, Ajit Kumar, to submit the report to the Chief Minister,” the member said.

He said the Chief Minister would submit the report to Dr Manmohan Singh in a few days.“It would have been a breach of the protocol if the secretary had submitted the report to the Prime Minister,” the member maintained. The Prime Minister had formed five working groups in May, 2006, after the second roundtable conference on the Kashmir issue to study various aspects.

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Focus to be on scientific investigation
Tejinder Singh Sodhi
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
The year 2009 saw a shift in terrorist activities as for the first time in the past 21 years of armed insurgency, the state witnessed less than 500 militancy-related incidents. The arrival of 2010, the trouble-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir hopes, would bring peace and prosperity by ending 21 years of armed insurgency in the region.

The state police is hopeful of curbing terrorist activities next year through modernisation, better training, field tactics and intelligence gathering .

The state police is working hard to make the police personnel, computer-savvy as they plan to link each and every police station in the state.“We would focus more on scientific investigation, synergy and coordination between all the forces to target the militant commanders as it gives better result and severe blow to the terror outfits,” says Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Kuldeep Khoda.

With the help of field intelligence and killing of militant commanders, the security forces have been able to keep a check on terror activities. 2009 has been a year of achievements for the security forces. “It was due to better coordination and synergy that there was remarkable decline in the civilian casualties.There was all-time low terrorism related violence, minimum casualties of the police and highest killing of terrorist commanders,” Khoda said.

Maintaining that the number of terrorists operative in the state were around 700, he said terrorism was abetted, calibrated and controlled by the ISI as the infiltrators got arms, ammunition and funding from across the border.

Till the end of November this year, the security forces eliminated 235 terrorists in the state out of which 50 to 60 were commanders. Thirteen militants also laid down weapons in front of the security forces. The situation is slowly but steadily improving as seven battalions of the CRPF and 10 battalions of the BSF were relocated besides two divisions of the Army comprising 30,000 men moving out of the state.

In the Jammu region, there has been no terrorism related incident in the past one year, the last being a militant attack in the Chinore area in August 2008.However, infiltration attempts were made wherein 80 terrorists were gunned down.

The police this year had to see lots of ups and downs as an officer of the rank of SSP was arrested in connection with the Amandeep murder case. “Our aim is to provide clean and professional police and we have been taking remedial measures for the same,” Khoda said.

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Supersession of bank board
Tribunal orders status quo
Legal Correspondent

Jammu, December 24
The J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu, directed the Registrar, J&K Co-operative Societies, Jammu, and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Citizens’ Co-operative Bank Ltd, to maintain the status quo with regard to the supersession of the Board of Directors of the bank as ordered by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Jammu, by an order dated December 21, 2009 while serving notices on the contesting respondents, who opposed the grant of ad interim relief by filing a caveat.

The Board of Directors of the Citizens Co-operative Bank Ltd, Jammu, had challenged the impugned order dated December 21, 2009 passed by the Registrar, J&K Co-operative Societies, Jammu, on the ground that the entire proceedings were initiated by him under Section 67 of the J&K Co-operative Societies Act, 1989 with mala fide approach at the behest and at the instance of vested interests as similar proceedings stood already held and nothing concrete was found against the working, business and management of the Bank.

Counsel for the Board of Directors of the bank further contended that the tone and tenor of the show cause notice virtually manifested the mind of the Registrar having taken the decision of superseding the board and the issuance of show cause notice was merely a formality and the impugned order was in sheer violation of the principles of natural justice. The Board of Directors sought the setting aside of the order, dated December 21, 2009, with the annulment and revision of the proceedings conducted by the Registrar.

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Meritorious students get scholarship
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
Minister for Social Welfare, Sakina Itoo, today distributed scholarship among the meritorious students from the minority communities. An official press release said the ministry had distributed 45 lakh among 200 students in last few months.

The Minister said in the release that to facilitate the students with regard to the scholarship and to provide them the assistance, a full-fledged minority section has been created in the Directorate Office. The objective behind this is to provide assistance and necessary support to the students under a single window.

In the coming days we are going to involve the district offices to provide the necessary assistance to the students at Tehsil level. The objective of this scheme is to encourage the parents from the minority communities to send their children to colleges, lighten their financial burden and to sustain their financial burden.

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Disaster Management
Doctors to get specialised training
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
Doctors and other technocrats will soon be dispatched to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),Delhi, for getting specialised training to deal with natural calamities and disaster management.

Health Minister Sham Lal said this at the valedictory function of a three-day-long workshop on “Integrating Hospitals Safe from Disasters” here yesterday.

The minister said the state happened to be in the seismic zones IV and V that involved comparatively higher damage risk in the wake of any eventuality.

He urged the organisers to hold more such workshops and educate more professionals about disaster management.

Over 100 delegates participated. They included doctors, police officers, engineers, officers from the fire and emergency services, Civil Defence, the Red Cross Society, NGOs and civil administration.

Speaking on the occasion, experts from different fields advocated that the new construction of hospital building must conform to earthquake and other disaster- resistant technologies. They also stressed for establishing mobile hospitals to deal with the disaster-like situations. 

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NCC prepares for R-Day
Tribune News Service

Nagrota, December 24
A contingent of 92 NCC cadets, including 32 girl cadets of Jammu and Kashmir, have been selected to represent the state in the Republic Day NCC Camp at New Delhi. The cadets will leave for Delhi on December 29. To view the preparations, Brig Anil Gupta today visited the NCC Camp here.

Colonel Malook Singh, Group Commander, NCC Group, Jammu said, “In addition to drill competitions, the cadets will also take part in various cultural and national integration related events.”

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31 bovine recovered
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
The Ramban police yesterday claimed to have recovered 31 bovine and arrested five persons,including drivers of four trucks allegedly involved in smuggling these to the Kashmir valley.

Giving the details, a police officer said acting on a tip-off, a party intercepted the trucks in Ramban.

The accused were identified as Nassir Hussain, son of Mohd Abdullah, a resident of Mehalpur Simbal; Gafoor Ahmed, son of Bashir Ahmed Khan, a resident of Kachwan Kukernag; Manzoor Ahmed, son of Kabir Bhat, a resident of Bankoot Banihal; Abdul Rashid, son of Mohd. Sharief Gujjar, a resident of Kasi Patta and Balkar Singh, son of Ajit Singh, a resident of Amritsar.

A case under Section 188 of of the RPC was registered against the accused.

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16 injured in bus mishap
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
As many as 16 persons, including nine women, were injured when a bus plying on the Rajouri-Bauvli route overturned, near Fatehpur village, here yesterday.

The police said the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve.

A police official said the injured were taken to District Hospital, Rajouri, from where one of the injured was referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu. 

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‘Wattan-Ki-Sair’ flagged off
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 24
As part of an civic action programme, “Wattan-Ki-Sair”, Director-General of Police, J&K, Kuldeep Khoda today flagged off a group of students drawn from various parts of the valley, at Balidan Sitambh here this morning.

The students will visit Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Amritsar during the tour.

Addressing the function, Khoda said the 60 students were from different educational institutes of remote areas of districts Kupwara, Baramula, Bandipore and Ganderbal. The group was accompanied by an SP, an inspector, an ASI and a medical assistant.

Khoda said the students would visit various historical places, including Parliament House, Red Fort, Qutab Minar, Ziarat-e-Nizam-u-Din, Museum, Zoo, Appu Ghar, Rajghat, India Gate, Pargati Maidan, Connaught Place, Metro Ride, Delhi University, Jamia Masjid, Common Wealth Stadium sites, Lotus Temple and Birla Temple from December 25 to January 1.
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