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PM urged to reject Working Group recommendations
Rajnish’s Custodial Death
Jammu lawyers to strike work today
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Cyber crime a major challenge: IGP
Cop goes missing
Students celebrate New Year on varsity campus
1 held for funding militant activities
Mark-sheet Tampering
Sporadic clashes in valley, 7 hurt
PDD daily wage staff block road
Lathi charge on PDD daily wage staff condemned
PM’s Job Package
Couple found dead in hotel room
5 docs test positive for swine flu
Initiate talks with Pak: Mirwaiz to Centre
Yasin Malik detained
Leh coldest
at -18°C
Stress on expansion of Hangul’s habitat in Dachigam
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PM urged to reject Working Group recommendations
Jammu, January 1 In a statement issued here, Panthers Party legislators, including Harsh Dev Singh, Balwant Singh Mankotia and Yashpal Kundal, during the meeting with the Prime Minister said the recommendations of the Working Group were biased and discriminatory. Harsh Dev and other legislators condemned the recommendations for rejecting the Jammu-based issues that were raised during the course of deliberations of the said group. It was pointed out that the major issues of Jammu, including delimitation, allotment of equitable number of Assembly and Parliamentary seats to various regions of the state, equitable share of allotment of funds for developmental works, equal opportunities of employment, due share in social sectors, including health, road connectivity, tourism promotion, accountability and transparency in government functioning and issues of migrants of the Jammu region, were ignored and disregarded at the time of the finalisation of the report. The legislators while describing the report as farcical and preposterous called upon the Prime Minister to reject the same in the larger interests of the people of the state. They further demanded an inquiry into the finalisation of the report without seeking the opinion of the members and without holding any consultations with the members nominated to the group by the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the Panthers Party has questioned the locus standi of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in submitting the report of the Working Group on Centre-state relations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a press release issued here yesterday, Harsh Dev Singh, chief spokesperson for the party, said equally intriguing was the silence on the part of the chairman of the Working Group, Justice Sagir Ahmed (retd), over the issue. He said the Working Group having been duly constituted by the Prime Minister to aid and advice him with regard to the Central-state and other related issues, including intra-state, regional and sub-regional issues, was supposed to convey its findings and deliberations directly to the Prime Minister. He said the donning of the role of a middleman by Omar, who was himself a party to the issues defined in the terms of reference of the Working Group, was unjustified and highly preposterous. “What was most intriguing, however, was the conspicuous absence of the chairman of the Working Group from the entire scene, despite a stormy situation created in the wake of publication of the said report,” he said. He said not a single statement had come from Sagir about the report and its presentation to the Chief Minister by the secretary of the group and the reasons for its non-submission by him to the Prime Minister. Harsh, who was in New Delhi, along with party legislators, urged the Prime Minister, who had allowed time to Omar on the report, to convene a meeting of all members of the Working Group so that the true nature of deliberations could be brought to his notice.
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MSS threatens complete shutdown
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 1 The MSS decided to stage protest demonstrations outside the residences of Jammu ministers and MLAs, observe hunger strikes and a complete shutdown in Jammu in the coming few days. The MSS has also decided to reach out to common people through mobile messages (SMS) and e-mails to make them aware of the state government’s criminal silence over the killing of Rajnish in the police custody, Priya Sethi, samiti’s core committee member, told mediapersons here today. “After staging a series of protests, hunger strikes and a complete shutdown, the MSS will submit a memorandum to the Governor,” Priya said. The MSS had been protesting against the killing of Rajnish from the past two months, demanding CBI inquiry and arrest of culprits, including guilty police officers, under Section 302, RPC, she said. She said, “We organised protest rallies, launched signature campaigns and took out torch rallies so as to see that justice was delivered to the bereaved family. Even memorandums were submitted to a number of ministers hailing from Jammu, requesting to interfere and seek action against the erring police officers from Srinagar and Jammu.” “Unfortunately nothing was done by the state government to ensure that justice was delivered,” she said.
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Jammu lawyers to strike work today
Jammu, January 1 “The Jammu Bar Association has decided to suspend work in all courts here tomorrow in protest against the Working Group’s report headed by Justice Sagir Ahmed (retd),” Bar Association of Jammu secretary Rajesh Thappa said. “In protest against the report, we have also decided to take out a protest rally from the court complex to the City Chowk, near civil secretariat, where copies of the report would be burnt,” he added. The Jammu Bar Association had unanimously decided to take up the issue with the President and the Prime Minister, he said, adding a memorandum to this effect would be submitted to them shortly. Meanwhile, a general house meeting of the Bar Association, Jammu, was held yesterday under the chairmanship of Sunil Sethi, president of the association, to discuss the situation having arisen after the submission of the Working Group’s Report. It was unanimously resolved that the said report was anti-Jammu and anti-national and was a big fraud on the rights and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Ladakh. The association called upon the nationalistic forces to join hands to protest against the recommendations of the committee which had been rejected by the people of Jammu and Ladakh. The association further decided to send request to all political parties, NGOs and common people to assemble at the City Chowk on January 2 to hold a protest rally. |
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Cyber crime a major challenge: IGP
Jammu, January 1 IGP, Jammu Zone, Ashok Gupta said this while interacting with mediapersons after releasing a book on cyber crime and IT Act written by SP MY Kichloo. Gupta said cyber crime was emerging as a challenge and the book provided an in depth knowledge for the analysis of cyber crimes and how to practically deal with them in the state. DIG (police), Jammu Kathua range, Farooq Khan, said, “This is one of the new menace for which there is very little exposure, experience and little knowledge amongst the police.” He said, “A few people are aware about the laws. Even investigating officers of the police have a little knowledge about cyber crime.” “There are online banking related crime, crimes related to insurance companies and even the crime at ATMs where duplicate cards are made using cloning techniques,” Farooq Khan said. To keep a check on the cyber cafés, the DIG said guidelines had already been issued to the cyber café operators in the city to keep a close vigil and follow certain norms to check this menace. Speaking about the use of Internet in cyber terrorism, Kichloo said, “Terrorists are using this as a very effective tool, as recently a journalist was caught who was working with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI by supplying them the information about the vital installations in the state.” He said the journalist had given his email id and password to his handlers in Pakistan and he used to store the vital information in the drafts folder of his id, which was accessed by the handlers to take out the vital information. The IG said the book would help the force in containing the menace of cyber crime and terrorism, by providing vital information about the nature of crimes and various act that are implemented to deal with such crimes. |
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Cop goes missing
Jammu, January 1 An officer of the police station, GRP, Jammu, said he was last seen at the Taxi stand at the Jammu railway station and a missing report had been filed in the police station, GRP, Jammu. In another incident, during a routine checking, the police recovered 10 animals from a truck driven by Shah Nawaz of Bakhta. Three persons were arrested in this regard. A case has been registered. Meanwhile, Jyoti Honda of Durga Nagar, Bantalab, Shashi Kumar of Nanak Nagar, Jammu, Ritu of Bathore, Vandana Devi of Pukhrani, Akhnoor, Rajinder Kumar of Jyotipuram and Prinka Sharma of Sunderbani were admitted to the GMC, Jammu, after they had consumed poison. |
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Students celebrate New Year on varsity campus
Jammu, January 1 There was hustle and bustle of students on the campus. Students were seen in large numbers, enjoying the day and extending New Year greetings to each other. Some students were seen preparing for approaching examinations. Besides university students, outsiders were also seen in large numbers. A huge rush of students as well as of outsiders was witnessed in the cafeteria and at coffee shops. Talking to The Tribune, a group of students said, “We have decided in advance to celebrate the first day of the New Year by spending the whole day together.” |
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1 held for funding militant activities
Srinagar, January 1 Parvaiz, an associate of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, had Rs 2 lakh of such with him when the police picked him up. It believed that he might have passed on Rs 20 lakh to top LeT commanders in the north Kashmir. DIG HK Lohia said use of cross-border trade as a conduit for passing money to militants was one of the angles they were looking into but added that it was not conformed yet. Parvaiz of Baramulla had passed on over Rs 20 lakh to top LeT commanders namely Abdullah Uni and Chota Salahuddin, who have orchestrated several terror strikes in Sopore in the past few weeks, including killing of four CRPF personnel on December 29. The police said the accused was in touch with top LeT operatives across the border who would guide him. “Initial investigations revealed that some of the money had also gone to Sopore for organising stone pelting. Investigation also revealed the names of a few more persons who are funding militants. More arrests are likely in this regard,” a police spokesperson said. There has been a few cases where traders here would overprice their commodities sent to the PoK in cross-border trades and they would use over and above money to fund militants.
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Interaction programme held
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 1 Dr Sandeep Sharma, a lecturer, said, “shielding” of the accused involved in the marks tampering case was damaging the image of the university. Sanjeev Gupta, a student of the Law Department, said the university authorities were trying to hush up the case as senior officers of the university were involved in this case. Ameena Rajput, PhD student, and Kiran, MPhil student, have appealed to the Vice-Chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor to hold an inquiry and take strict action against the culprits. Vikas Sharma, president of the NSF, also addressed the gathering and accused the Vice-Chancellor of not taking interest in the problems being faced by students.
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Sporadic clashes in valley, 7 hurt
Srinagar, January 1 The trouble started shortly after Friday prayers when youths, chanting pro-freedom slogans, took to the streets and hurled stones at the police and paramilitary personnel in the town, 55 km from here, official sources said. The police initially used batons to disperse them but as it proved ineffective, they fired teargas shells to restore law and order and even arrested two youths. At least seven persons were injured and several private vehicles were damaged in the clashes which spread to adjoining areas, the sources said, adding that one of the injured, identified as Ghulam Jeelani Wani, who was hit by a teargas shell in the head was brought to Srinagar for treatment and his condition was stated to be “critical”. The clashes, which brought normal activities to a halt with shopkeepers pulling down the shutters and all modes of transport going off the roads were still on when last reports came in, the sources said. Groups of youths also indulged in stone-pelting on the police in Sopore town, 52 km from here, after Friday prayers, but no one was hurt in the subsequent clashes, sources said, adding that the situation was brought under control by the police who used batons to disperse the youth protesting the alleged highhandedness of the CRPF in the aftermath of the recent militant attack which left four jawans dead. —
PTI |
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PDD daily wage staff block road
Jammu, January 1 The employees took out a protest rally from the office of the Development Commissioner (power), Janipur, and were proceeding towards the High Court, where the police stopped them. The employees sat on the road and protested there for several hours. Around 7,000 employees of the Power Department have been demanding regularisation of the services of daily wage staff who have completed seven years of service and release of pending wages for the past 40 months. The government representatives, who held negotiations with the daily wage employees, had agreed to look into their demands, but the protesting employees say that no measures have been taken to fulfil their demands. |
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Lathi charge on PDD daily wage staff condemned
Jammu, January 1 BJP state president Ashok Khajuria has strongly condemned the police action and pointed out that every one in a democracy has right to agitate in a democratic way for the fulfilment of his genuine demands and these PDD employees did not commit any crime by demanding their pending
salaries. Khajuria asked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as to why the employees of different departments were forced to come on roads and agitate for what they deserve and were deprived of. He said the government had enough funds for providing all luxuries of life to ministers and bureaucrats, but for employees, it had just one excuse of “Paucity of Funds”. He asked the government to concede the demands of the PDD and employees of other departments at the
earliest. CPM state secretary and MLA Kulgam MY Tarigami has appealed the government to expedite the process of regularisation of services of daily wage employees and casual labourers in different departments, especially in the
PDD. He said the government should stand by its commitment made earlier, where it was announced that a Cabinet Sub-Committee would look into the matter and frame modalities for regularisation of casual labourers and contingency paid workers. Referring to use of force on the agitating casual labourers and need-based workers of the PDD at Jammu, Tarigami said these workers had been working despite all odds, but left without wages for longer periods. He said use of force and suppressive tactics were not a solution for the issues concerning these workers. |
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Kashmiri youth hail Omar’s decision
Sunaina Kaul Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 1 After a long wait, series of protests and hunger strikes last year, the state government had finally notified the recruitment rules of special drive for Kashmiri migrants. The government had given a New Year gift for the displaced Kashmiri people in the form of approving 3,000 posts in the Departments of Education, Social Welfare, Relief Organisation, Engineering, Finance, Tourism, Health and Revenue in Kashmir division. The Chief Minister had referred 3,000 posts to the Service Selection Board for the appointment of displaced unemployed youth to these posts on fast track. Welcoming the decision of the government, Ajay Pandita, a college student, expressed hope that recruitment for remaining 3,000 posts would be simultaneously announced by the government. BK Bhat, vice-president of the Youth All-India Kashmiri Samaj, said, “It is a positive step but the government should implement it on grounds, instead of announcing it on papers only. It should also announce the remaining 3,000 jobs immediately”. The Youth All-India Kashmiri Samaj had been agitating against the state government for the past 14 months for the demand of implementation of PM’s employment package. “After this announcement, we may defer our agitation for some time and will work according to the government’s action,” Bhat added. Haling government’s decision, Kuldeep Pandita, convenor of the JK Thinkers Forum, said, “This will go a long way in arresting the alienation of the displayed minorities from Kashmir’s mainstream”. He has demanded that the government should identify vacancies in other departments for the remaining 3,000 posts and gazetted posts should also be made available for the displaced community. However, both groups of the Panun Kashmir did not expressed happiness over the government’s move.
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Couple found dead in hotel room
Srinagar, January 1 The room was apparently sealed from outside, providing no outlet for the poisonous gas which killed them in sleep. The police said they had initiated legal proceedings and were investigating if the hotel authorities was guilty of negligence in their death. |
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5 docs test positive for swine flu
Srinagar, January 1
It raises questions about the measures taken by the administration to protect its doctors from contracting the virus while treating patients. A few doctors had already been confirmed to have contracted the disease in the past few weeks but this is the first time when so many doctors of a top institution were tested positive. With this, the total number of swine flu victims in the state had reached 106 with over 45, though exact number was not available, hailing from Kashmir. |
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Initiate talks with Pak: Mirwaiz to Centre
Srinagar, January 1 Addressing Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here today, the Mirwaiz lamented that even after a lapse of nearly seven decades, no concrete steps had been taken for an everlasting solution to the Kashmir issue. “The New Year (2010) has begun but there seems to be no progress on Kashmir resolution,” he said. He blamed the Centre for adopting a traditional hard stance on the issue. Despite the internal challenges before the Pakistan government, its Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had offered to his counterpart, Manmohan Singh to hold direct talks to ease the tension and resolve
Kashmir, the Mirwaiz said. He asked the Centre to respond positively to the fresh offer of talks and start the dialogue without any further delay. He said that the talks between India, Pakistan and the Kashmir leadership was necessary for resolving the issue, adding that the APHC had already put forth its suggestions to the Centre. The Mirwaiz also expressed satisfaction over the contact at the non-governmental level between civil society on the two sides to ease the tension between the two neighbouring countries. |
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Yasin Malik detained
Srinagar, January 1
He was later set free and returned here in the evening. Malik and several other JKLF leaders were stopped by the police at Awantipora, national highway township about 30 km south of here. They were prevented from proceeding to Tral, while other leaders were stopped outside the Tral township. However, some of the leaders, including Sheikh Abdul Rashid, had reached the township and addressed the Friday congregation. The JKLF leaders, while addressing the Friday congregation at the revered shrine at Tral, expressed concern over the preventive measures taken on the first day of New Year. —
TNS |
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Leh coldest
at -18°C
Srinagar, January 1 There was no improvement in the weather in rest of the valley as Srinagar recorded -4.6°C today as against -4°C yesterday. The mercury also registered a fall by few notches in Qazigund, Kupwara and Kokernag recording a low of -5.5°C, -5°C and -3.5°C today. The Jammu region also registered a fall in night temperature with Katra recording the highest at 5.8°C, followed by Banihal (4.8), Batote (4.7), Jammu (4.5) and Bhaderwah (1.0). —
PTI |
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Stress on expansion of Hangul’s habitat in Dachigam
Srinagar, January 1 The study “Conservation status of Hangul in Kashmir” points out that no direct or indirect evidence of its presence was found in alpine meadows of upper Dachigam. Reports suggest that Hangul used to range in summer up to altitude of about 3,000 m in Dagwan, Nagberan and Marsar to upper Dachigam. “In due course of time, these areas have been occupied by livestock, nomads and graziers, resulting in the disappearance of Hangul, with the exception of few strays,” the study stated. The study is conducted by K. Ahmad, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir, JA Khan, Wildlife Society of India, S Sathyakumar and Q Qureshi, Wildlife Institute of India. The study stressed on expansion of range and habitat of Hangul to alpine meadows in upper Dachigam so that this ideal summer habitat are recuperated and used by Hangul in summer as used to be in the past. Declining population trend, low sex ratio and fawn to female ratio and a large scale biotic interferences in its habitats are some of the major issues concerning long-term conservation and survival of Hangul. Excessive livestock grazing in its erstwhile summer habitat, grass cutting, fuel and firewood collection and poaching are are also responsible for Hangul habitat degradation and decline in number. |
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Jammu, January 1
