|
|
Muharram
AICC Foundation Day
Education Dept protecting illegal institutes: NSF
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Buddhists from Ladakh hold protest
Some respite from cold in state
Jawan hurt in firing by ultras
10 B’desh nationals arrested crossing border
State for tougher policy for telecom operators
Govt firm on holding early panchayat poll, says Sagar
Total bandh in Jammu against working group’s report
Bandh largely peaceful amid tight security
Career-oriented courses for rural women
Pampore Gas Turbine to supply power soon
Overflowing sewerage water enter govt houses
Join dialogue process, Sagar asks separatists
Rs 6 crore being spent to preserve Dal Lake: Dy CM
|
|
Processions, sporadic clashes in valley
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, December 28
However, the police had to use batons to break up a large procession near Lal Chowk, as mourners tried to defy a ban. Official sources said the police rounded up close to 40 persons for violating the ban imposed under Section 144 of CrPC. But the police heaved a sigh of relief as things went off peacefully in Shias’ strongholds of Zadibal and tens of thousands of people came out to mourn the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain. The frenzied mourner whipped and cut themselves with knives as they cried and shouted passionate slogans. JKLF leader Yasin Malik also joined the procession. The police had barricaded Lal Chowk from both sides to stop any procession from approaching the area. Most of the shops in this commercial hub were open. There were also protests in Gojwara demanding that the administration lift the ban on processions through the city, something which was banned when militancy gripped the state, as it often resulted in clashes between Shia mourners and Sunnis, who are in the majority. Large processions were also taken out in Budgam, which has substantial Shia population.
|
|
Anti-Soz lobby skips official function
Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 28 Chavan, who is in charge of the Jammu and Kashmir affairs of the party, while addressing the gathering, made it clear that indiscipline would not be tolerated and the party would not hesitate to take strict action against those found involved in anti-party activities. In an obvious reference towards the activities of the anti-Soz lobby led by Deputy CM Tara Chand and PCC vice-president Abdul Gani Vakil, the AICC general secretary asserted that “the party is more important than individuals and those thinking that they are bigger than the party will face the consequences”. In connection with the 125th foundation day of the Congress, a function was organised by the Pradesh Congress Committee. PCC chief Saifuddin Soz, Cabinet ministers Sham Lal Sharma, RS Chib and Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and other leaders were present at the function. However, a group of Congress leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister for Buildings and Roads (R&B) GM Saroori, skipped the main function and organised a similar programme at Banihal. “It was not a parallel function. We had already planned to organise the foundation day function in the remotest areas to spread the message of the party in this belt,” Tara Chand said. He said the function was organised on the directions of the party high command. Sources in the Congress said Chavan had taken serious note of the decision of senior party leaders to skip the function and hinted at action against them.
|
|
Education Dept protecting illegal institutes: NSF
Jammu, December 28 Demanding the immediate removal of Minister of State for Higher Education Manohar Lal and Director Colleges ND Wani, president of the NSF Vikas Sharma said, “The participation of the minister and the Director Colleges in a recent function organised by a blacklisted and unauthorised institution during the IT festival at Government College for Women (GCW), Parade, is highly objectionable.” Sharma also questioned the felicitating of the management of the banned institute, a franchisee of Punjab Technical University, by the minister and the director. “The government has filed objections in the court of law against the institution after notifying the same as one among the long list of 148 institutions that have been declared unauthorised by the state government,” Sharma said. “Students earning professional degrees from the authorised institutions work hard for good marks after going through a rigorous admission process. However, students of the unauthorised institutions are being admitted without any prerequisites and are been awarded high marks in lieu of money,” he alleged. “The participation of government functionaries in the functions of unauthorised institutes give a wrong message in society,” he said. He added that awarding prizes to such unauthorised institutions and sharing dais with its management by ministers and senior officials exposed the unholy nexus between them. “The NSF will not hesitate to go into the court of law if the matter was not looked into by the government properly,” he said. |
|
Buddhists from Ladakh hold protest
Jammu, December 28 Targis, while addressing the protesters, said people of Ladakh had been facing discrimination for decades together. He pointed out that their language had not been included in the 8th Schedule. “This language is being spoken from Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh and is the oldest language, but has not been included in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. At the same time a number of other languages, which are spoken by far less population, have been included in the 8th Schedule,” he said. Targis further said it was total injustice with and discrimination against people of Ladakh. He said the route to Kailash Mansarovar needed to be reopened through Ladakh for the benefit of the yatris and the Central government should use all its channels to press China to vacate Tibet. He regretted that people of Ladakh had been protesting to draw the attention of the government towards their demands. Repeated claims of ending discrimination against Ladakh were made by the successive governments in the state as well as at the Centre, but no effective steps had been taken to fulfil our demands. Targis said it was due to a weak foreign policy of the Central government that China had started interfering in our internal matters. “It was the Congress government in 1962, which had surrendered 42,000 sq km of our land to China and now again it is again a Congress-led government at the Centre that has adopted complete silence over China’s interference in our matters,” he added. Ladakh Students Union president Tsering Norfil, women wing president of the association Tsewang Dolma, Ladakh Kalyan Sangh convener Dr Anil Kumar, advocate Tashi Raftan and student leader Rinchen Daba also addressed the protesters. |
|
Some respite from cold in state
Srinagar, December 28 The day temperature shot up to 11.3°C in Srinagar as against 7.2°C recorded yesterday bringing relief to residents, the Met office here said. Similarly, the night temperature was minus 2.6°C in the city as against minus 3.7°C recorded yesterday. However, the frontier Ladakh region continued to shiver with the minimum temperature dipping to minus 15.2°C in Kargil and minus 14°C in Leh districts. The day and night temperatures in other places also showed an upward trend with Kupwara recording a high of 12.6°C as against 6.2°C yesterday. The night temperature in north Kashmir district was only minus 2.5°C as against minus 4.1°C yesterday. Qazigund, Kokernag and Pahalgam in south Kashmir also recorded a high of 11.1°C, 9.6°C and 8.8°C today as against 4.7°C, 6.2°C and 6.2°C yesterday. In Jammu the day temperature recorded today was 19.7°C while the city recorded 18.5°C yesterday. Katra recorded a high of 17.1°C followed by Bhaderwah (16)
Banihal (15.1) and Batote (14°C). The highest night temperature in Jammu was recorded in Katra with 5.5°C followed by Jammu (5.3), Botate (3.4), Banihal
(-2.0) and Bhaderwah (-0.2°C). — PTI |
|
Jawan hurt in firing by ultras
Jammu, December 28 Police sources said, the ROP of 16 RR along with special operation group (SOG), was passing through the Sawani area near Bafliaz village, in its routine affair, when Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT) militants from the higher ridges fired on the patrol party, injuring jawan Sarabjeet Singh. The bullet pierced through his foot and he was taken to a nearby Army hospital. Army men returned fire and the firing lasted for more than 90 minutes. However, the militants managed to escape into dense forests. Abu Suhaib, a Pakistan national and LeT commander operating in that area, was suspected to be behind the attack, defence sources said. |
||
|
10 B’desh nationals arrested crossing border
Jammu, December 28 He said these persons had been residing in India and their further interrogation could reveal the reason behind their attempt to cross over to Pakistan. However, no senior BSF official was ready to comment on the incident. |
||
|
State for tougher policy for telecom operators
New Delhi, December 28 A delegation of the state government comprising Chief Secretary SS Kapoor and DGP Kuldeep Khoda had a detailed discussion with officials of the Home Ministry and the Department of Telecom recently. During the meeting, chaired by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai, the state maintained that it did not have any issues over the ban on pre-paid connections and they wanted the telecom operators to behave in a disciplined manner. A case was put forward whereby a telecom company had issued several pre-paid SIM cards to an individual on a single working day without any verification, official sources said. The state government felt that mere imposition of a financial penalty was not helping the security agencies and that a law needed to be formulated under which stringent action could be taken against erring officials, besides imposing a financial burden on the telecom operators, the sources said. The Department of Telecommunication had imposed a penalty of Rs 7.38 crore on the six service providers operating in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to November 2009. State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked the Centre to work out a plan as quickly as possible as ban on pre-paid mobile has affected 38 lakh customers, who comprise 60 per cent of total clientele in the state. Among the suggestions made by the central security agencies and the state Government is that the telecom operators should not issue a single pre-paid connection to any customer until or unless the customer provided reference of a post-paid number or BSNL land line. Earlier this month, the representatives of cellular service operators were asked by the government to travel to the state for having discussions with the officials there for fine-tuning the procedures of pre-paid service to customers. The CEOs of various telecom companies, who had come to attend a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Pillai, were told in categorical terms that government had no objection in starting the services if a foolproof verification process was ensured by them, the sources said. Amid security concerns, the Centre had in October banned pre-paid mobile phone connections in the state, sparking widespread protests. —
PTI |
||
|
Govt firm on holding early panchayat poll, says Sagar
Srinagar, December 28 Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating a model village at Kilam in Kulgam district yesterday, Sagar said the elections would help people of rural and far-flung areas to have a participatory role in the implementation and execution of various welfare schemes. Sagar said the coalition government was working hard and closely monitoring the implementation of various developmental and welfare schemes initiated for people. He also asked the people to come forward and provide effective feedback about the status and implementation of the schemes, saying by doing so they would exhibit a participatory role that formed the basis of any democratic set up. Referring to the recently announced employment package, the minister said it was a historic step having no parallel in the annals of the recent history, adding that the opponents were trying to work against the interests of the youth. On the recent peace initiatives, he said the time was not far when the vexed problem of Kashmir would be resolved and the government under the leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would facilitate a dialogue. |
||
|
Total bandh in Jammu against working group’s report
Jammu, December 28 The bandh was called against the report of the working group headed by Justice Sagir Ahmed (retd) on the Centre-State relations. A group of Panthers Party activists were rounded up by the police for ‘forcing’ the shopkeepers to close their shops. Since morning, Panthers Party workers were moving from one market to another to enforce the bandh. At some places, bandh supporters scuffled with cops. A procession was also taken out by the protesters in which senior Panthers Party leaders participated. In the evening, while interacting with mediapersons, Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh claimed that the bandh was complete in Jammu, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Samba, Kathua, Ramnagar and other areas like Poonch, Vijaypur, Reasi and Ramban. He expressed gratitude to people for their total support and solidarity with the cause of the people of Jammu and Ladakh in particular and that the state in general by participating in the Bandh. Bhim Singh thanked specially the Bar Association, Jammu, Shiv Sena, Jammu, State Morcha, SOS, Dogra Party, Janta Party, Panun Kashmir, Jammu Muslim Front and other social and political groups for their support. Meanwhile, Virender Gupta and Anil Gour, president and vice-president of the Jammu State Morcha (Progressive), also thanked people of the Jammu region for their support to the bandh against the report of the fifth working group. |
||
|
Bandh largely peaceful amid tight security
Jammu, December 28 This morning, a large number of protesters told shopkeepers to close their shops. The city wore a deserted look and security personnel, including CRPF and home guards, were deployed in the city to tackle any untoward incident. A few shops at the bus stand and railway station remained open despite the bandh call. “The authorities have ordered to deal with the elements who may try to disrupt the flow of traffic,” Ram Kumar Sharma, a police official, said. Security was beefed up across the city, including Dogra Chowk, Vikram Chowk, Jewel Chowk, Amphala Chowk, Purani Mandi Chowk, Parade Chowk and Gandhi Nagar. Earlier, whenever the city had observed bandh, protesters disrupt traffic traffic around the Main Tawi Bridge, Gujjar Nagar Bridge and Bypass Bridge, which cuts the link of old city with other areas, due to which commuters face problems. Every year, lakhs of devotees from across the country visit the Vaishno Devi shrine and they have to pass through Jammu. However, due to the efforts of security personnel the visitors didn’t face any harassment. Jammu IG Ashok Gupta said, “We always use same forces and techniques to deal with protesters, but generally the protesters make the situation worse.” |
||
|
Career-oriented courses for rural women
Anantnag, December 28 The state government is providing all assistance to these institutes, to enable students to combine their creativity with the latest technology. Rajinder Singh Chib, Minister for Medical Education, said the courses were aimed at providing an opportunity for girls to learn. “We are committed to providing education to all, and girls have every right to receive education, as well. That’s why we have introduced such courses, which are associated with computers. We know that our girls can do better work, so we have created special wings for them,” Chib added. Students said these career-oriented courses would help them become more self-reliant. “This course will help us immensely. For example, if we are unable to find a suitable job after completing this course, we can start our own business and become self-dependent as people always say that girls are dependent on others, but it is not so,” said Masooda Jan, a student. “It is not necessary for a woman to take up a job. With this, a woman can bring up her children in a better way, too. She can teach good morals and values to her child, and rear it as a cultured and well-behaved child,” said Rehana Qadir, another student. —
ANI |
||
|
Pampore Gas Turbine to supply power soon
Jammu, December 28 “Gas Turbine, Pampore, would be made operational within a week time to add more than 75 MW to the existing valley’s hydropower generation for proving scheduled power supply to the consumers during winter months,” Minister of State for Power Shabir Ahmed Khan said while taking stock of the power generation and distribution in the Kashmir valley. He also asked the Power Department officers to take measures in order to provide uninterrupted power supply to Shia-dominated areas during Muharram. —
PTI |
||
|
Overflowing sewerage water enter govt houses
Jammu, December 28 The stagnant sewerage water emitted stink in the whole block and made hellish situation for the residents. These quarter, which starts from block-A to block-Y, are for darbar move employees, and are maintained by the Estates Department. The residents of these quarters have expressed resentment over the callous attitude of the Estates Department towards the poor repair and maintenance of these houses. Expressing resentment against the department, the residents alleged that despite their complaints to the Director Estates nothing had been done so far. Parveen Akhtar of Block-M said: “Sewerage water entered the entire house. Stink spread in the house, making life impossible for us.” Residents alleged that every year the Estates Departments got funds from the government for renovation, but conditions had not improved. Pointing towards blocked drains and scattered garbage in the building complex, the residents said sweepers of the Estates Department had failed to maintain sanitation here as they worked once in a week. |
||
|
Join dialogue process, Sagar asks separatists
Srinagar, December 28 “Numerous graveyards have come up across the state over the past 20 years and people don’t want to see more of these now. I urge Syed Ali Shah Geelani and all other separatist leaders to be part of the dialogue process to help restore peace in the state,” Sagar said. “It is time to heal the wounds the people have suffered over the years,” Sagar said yesterday, addressing a public gathering after inaugurating a model village at Kilam in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, 80 km from here. Referring to the shelved visit of moderate hurriyat conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to Pakistan, he said the separatist leaders should join the dialogue process instead of embarking on Pakistan visit. “No purpose will be served by raising emotive slogans,” he said. On long pending panchayat elections in the state, Sagar said the government would hold pancyayat polls early to ensure the decentralisation of power at grass-roots level. —
PTI |
||
|
Rs 6 crore being spent to preserve Dal Lake: Dy CM
Srinagar, December 28 During his inspection of various development works here, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said around Rs 2 crore would be spent on drugging and dweeding works while Rs 4 crore would be incurred on tow-walling and fencing works near four shore. Chand directed the authorities concerned to speed up the Dal development works and also asked for immediate
disposal of debris and weed extracted from the water body. — PTI |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Amidst tight security arrangements in place and apprehensions of violence, Ashura-e-Muharram processions passed off with sporadic clashes in some places.
Jammu, December 28
Jammu, December 28
