Jammu, February 25
At least 20 members of the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) were injured and about 200 were rounded up by the police at Shalamar Chowk this afternoon when the protesters tried to gherao the Civil Secretariat during the Assembly session.

Nearly 2,500 protesters from the Jammu and Kashmir regions had gathered on the Residency Road to lodge their protest against the non-acceptance of their demands. The agitating employees were demanding the release of arrears as per the Sixth Pay Commission, release of pending 5 per cent HRA and regularisation of services of all temporary, ad hoc, consolidate and contractual daily wage employees engaged after 1994 in different public departments.

Ganesh Khajuria, general secretary of the EJAC, said: “Our demands are genuine and the government will have to accept them. Let the government do whatever it can against us. We will continue our protest.” He said a few members had been admitted to the hospital and one of them had received head injuries.

A senior police officer said: “Though the protesters were repeatedly told not to go beyond the Residency road, they crossed the limits. Finally, we rounded up a few agitators.” He further said no one was injured and only mild cane charge was used to disperse them.

Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather appealed to the employees to resume their work for the welfare of the state and assured that the pending demands of the employees would be met only after the government had enough resources.

He said, “The pending arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission, which amount to Rs 4,200 crore, will be released only after the financial resources are made available.”

Jammu, February 25
“Twenty years of violence with guns and bombs has not moved a single inch of land from here to there, what would stones do?” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked people indulging in stone throwing in the valley as well as opposition leaders boycotting the Assembly over police action against the protesters.

In a high-pitched emotive reply to the Governor’s Address, Omar urged all to shun violence and take the path of development. “My heart weeps when I see poor development of my state. For God sake, let us work for the peaceful development of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Lashing out at the PDP, Omar asked it to tell him where Rs 2,500 crore worth of Central government’s grants had gone. “They ask me about development. They tell me they used money well. What my government inherited was papers with holes. And all the money I generate, earn, is going in to fill these holes,” he said hinting at corruption in the utilisation of Central funds during Mufti Mohammad’s regime.

Omar welcomed the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, and offered to facilitate it further. “We always offer to facilitate the talks. It is for us, and we will help find a solution.” Reacting to the disruption of the House on police action against stone-throwing protesters, Omar said stones were hitting the poor Kashmiris.

“Stone throwing is hitting the very source of livelihood of poor Kashmiris and not me,” said the Chief Minister. “These Kashmiris wait for tourists, but visitors turn to Himachal Pradesh and other places.”

He said, still, he was willing to adopt a soft policy towards the youths arrested for stone throwing. “I will release them tomorrow without any charge, but someone has to guarantee they won’t take law in their hands again.”

Omar took on the BJP for opposing the surrender policy for militants based in the PoK. “They don’t oppose this in Punjab,” he said.

He asked people to help the government. “We are losing over Rs 2,000 crore in transmission and distribution of electricity. Help me check this and we will have several Baglihar power projects within no time.”

The Chief Minister also sought media’s help in brining peace. “There is trouble at times in five or six police stations in the valley. Still, I hear and read news suggesting the entire valley was in turmoil.”

Jammu, February 25
Several deputations today called on Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhavan here and submitted memorandums of their demands.

A deputation led by Mufti Mohammed Bashir-ud-Din Ahmed, the Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir, called on the Governor here last evening and submitted a memorandum of demands, which included allotment of 200 kanals of land for establishing Shah Hamdan Muslim University at Srinagar and Jammu, respectively.

The Grand Mufti also discussed with the Governor various other matters relating to the achievement of peace, progress and prosperity in the state.

The deputation of the Tribal Research and Cultural Forum, led by its secretary Dr Javaid Rahi, also met the Governor here today and submitted a memorandum of demands, which included setting up of a National Tribal University in the Pir Panchal belt, establishment of Gojri Research Centre in Jammu University, inclusion of Gojri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India and raising of a Gujjar regiment in the Army.

Other demands projected by the deputation included telecast of daily news bulletins in Gojri by Doordarshan Kendras of Srinagar and Jammu, giving more coverage in regard to the tribal population and remote areas and evolving a mechanism for facilitating census of the Gujjar population during the next census in the state. The deputation included Zabeer Ahmed, Roshan Din, Arif Sajjad and Mehmood Riaz.

A deputation of the All-J&K Gaddi/Shippi Tribes Welfare Association also met the Governor and urged for giving representation to them in the state legislative council. The deputation included Liaison Officer of the Association Suril Singh Uttam and chairman of the All-J&K Gaddi Sabha, Jammu, Joginder Singh Chauhan. MLC Sheikh Ghulam Rasool also met the Governor.

Jammu, February 25
Militancy affected victims of the region yesterday called on Governor NN Vohra and apprised him of several issues confronting them as migrants. Under the banner of the Jammu Migrants Front, they gathered outside Raj Bhanvan here and protested in support of their long-pending demands.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by president of the front Mohd Aslam Kohli met the Governor. The migrants had come from Rajouri, Poonch, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar to highlight their plight. They have also been staging protest dharna in front of the divisional commissioner’s office for the past more than 300 days.

The delegation submitted a memorandum of demands to the Governor. The copy of memorandum read that they be treated on par with the Kashmiri Pandit Migrants. In consonance with the ruling of the apex court, verification of the migrants, who are devoid of relief, be conducted at the earliest so that they also start getting relief and part of the Prime Minister’s relief package be granted to the Jammu-based migrants as they also equally affected by the militancy.

The memorandum also sought compensation against movable and immovable property that they left, behind besides issuance of migrant ration cards to displaced people, free education for their children and coaching for competitive exams, reservation in government jobs and government accommodation on the pattern of one provided to Kashmiri Pandits.

Jammu, February 25
After highlighting the plight of farmers, the BJP raised the issue of zero per cent result in government schools, especially in class X exams, during Question Hour today.

The issue became a matter of serious debate when the BJP members demanded an inquiry into the matter and MLAs belonging to other parties also supported them. The BJP members criticised the government for not providing adequate infrastructure in schools.

The senior members of the BJP raised the issue in the House asking why government schools in Jammu showed such dismal results. “Whether the government has ordered any inquiry into the zero per cent results in government schools in matriculation exams, especially in Jammu city. If yes, what are the findings?” asked Ashok Khajuria, BJP MLA from Jammu East.

However, Minister for Education Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said, “The government is taking the issue seriously and within a short period an inquiry will be ordered. Earlier, BJP Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal Gupta had raised the issue of poor infrastructure in government schools. He had pointed out that the government had been opening schools due to political reasons, but not providing adequate infrastructure in them.”

Gupta said poor infrastructure could be a reason behind the poor result. Taking a cue from the minister’s reply, he pointed out that according to the government crores of rupees had been spent, but in reality a majority of government-run educational institutions lacked basic infrastructure.

The Education Minister admitted in the House that due to lack of adequate funds the government found it difficult to provide adequate accommodation and a large number of schools had been functioning from rented accommodation. Efforts were on to provide additional accommodation to such schools, he added.

Peerzada also revealed that a total of 2,676 schools in the state were running without proper infrastructure and Anantnag was the most affected district with 501 schools below the mandatory standards. However, Jammu had 93 schools running without proper infrastructure and Srinagar with 126 such schools.

The minister, however, assured the House that extra efforts would be made to provide additional accommodation to each school under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in a phased manner.

He further informed that during the last two years and the current financial year over Rs 131 crore had been spent to create infrastructure in government schools.

Srinagar, February 25
Curfew was clamped in Pattan town of north Kashmir this evening after clashes broke out between two sects of Muslims that left 20 people injured, one of them critically, and damaged nearly 25 shops.

Ghulam Hassan Mir, who was hit on the head during the clashes, was initially declared brought dead at a hospital here, but later the authorities clarified that he was in a critical condition at the SK Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura.

The clashes broke out at Baramulla’s Hyderbaig-Pattan, 27 km from here, when people belonging to a particular sect were erecting a board naming the area after Shia spiritual leader Imam Khomeni, which was objected by the other sect, official sources said.

The rival sect said they had no objection if the complex was named after the Shia spiritual leader but would not allow it to be named as Khomeni Chowk, they said.

A curfew was imposed and police reinforcements were rushed from Srinagar to the affected area. But it had little effect as members of the rival groups clashed with each other, the sources said.

Meanwhile, search operations to retrieve the bodies of any killed militants from the debris of three houses damaged in an encounter between the militants and the security forces, which were resumed for the second consecutive day today at Chinkipora in Sopore town of north Kashmir, were called off in the evening.

However, there were no reports of the recovery of any bodies or arms and ammunition. Five Army men, including a Captain, were killed in the encounter on Tuesday and the bodies of two militants were recovered yesterday. Two AK 476 rifles were also recovered from the debris.

Sources here said the search operation was prolonged as due precautions were taken to avoid any damage due to any explosives buried under the debris.

Meanwhile, residents continued protests for the second consecutive day today in Sopore, following the encounter. The police lobbed teargas shells and resorted to cane charge to disperse the protesters marching towards Chinkipora.

The residents resented the continued cordon and search operations due to which they had been forced to remain indoors for the past three consecutive days.

The police, however, prevented the protesters. Protests were also taken out from other localities of the town, including Chhana Khann locality on the opposite end of the town, which blocked all traffic and pedestrian movement towards the town.

Suspected militants kill storekeeper

Srinagar: Suspected militants today killed a storekeeper of the Food and Supplies Department in Brao Bandana in Awantipora.

According to police sources,the storekeeper, Nisar Ahmad Lone, was shot from point blank range by two suspected militants when he was coming out of a local mosque after offering prayers.

“The militants fired five rounds out of which three hit lone.He was immediately rushed to SKIMS, Srinagar, where he succumbed to his injuries,” the sources said.

Family sources said two days ago,Lone returned from Jammu and was to join duty in Pampore on March 1.They said some gunmen came to the house and asked him to give them his vehicle,but Lone refused to do so.They went away after threatening him with dire consequences.

A close relative of the slain storekeeper is PDP MLA and former minister Mohammad Khalil Band. Lone is survived by his wife and two children. The police has registered a case.

Jammu, February 25
Questioning the decision of the UPA government to resume dialogue with Pakistan at this juncture, president of the BJP Nitin Gadkari said today that there was no logic in resuming talks with a government that had lost credibility in its country.

“It is disappointing that our government has resumed talks with a Pakistani dispensation that has lost its representative character, as a majority of people in the neighbouring country has no faith in the government,” Gadkari said while addressing a rally here this afternoon.

The BJP president opposed the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan. He regretted that Pakistan continued to support terrorists, but our government was still holding talks with it. “After the Mumbai attacks the government had announced that no dialogue would be held unless Pakistan stopped abetting and supporting terrorism,” he said. Neither our neighbour had stopped felicitating militants nor wound up training camps, but our government had resumed foreign secretary-level dialogue with it.

Gadkari, while opposing the proposed surrender and rehabilitation policy for Kashmiri militants based in the PoK, vowed to take the fight to the national level. “We will not allow the Union government to welcome those who have been getting training in terrorism across the border,” he said. He asserted the BJP had enough power to dislodge the regime that tried to facilitate the nefarious designs of anti-national elements.

“Those who have killed scores of people and later crossed over to Pakistan would not be allowed to get amnesty and rehabilitation,” Gadkari said. He asked the government to first rehabilitate displaced Kashmiri Pandits in their homes before thinking about militants. “It is the result of the weak policies being propagated by the Congress-led UPA regime that anti-national forces are gaining strength with every passing day,” he said.

Dubbing recommendations of Justice Sagir Ahmed (retd) as anti-national, he said those demanding greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir were fooling people. “Such demands have been raised for political considerations, but the BJP would oppose such anti-national demands,” he said.

Assuring people of Jammu that the BJP would frustrate any evil design of pro-Pakistan and pro-secessionist forces, Gadkari ridiculed the NC for demanding greater autonomy. “Why the Jammu and Kashmir government not demanding financial autonomy?,” he asked. Instead of accelerating development activities, the successive regimes in the state had raked up such issues to hoodwink gullible masses, he added. “The state of Jammu and Kashmir is solely dependent upon the Centre, so there is a need to generate economic resources instead of raking up emotive issues,” he said.

Jammu, February 25
The joint forum of frontal Kashmiri Pandit organisations held a protest today against the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan being held in New Delhi.

According to a statement issued here, the protesters assembled outside the office of the Home Ministry (CBI complex) and raised slogans against the ‘controversial’ talks with the terrorist regime of Pakistan. The Kashmiri Pandit community consider the resumption of talks with Pakistan as meaningless since the neighbouring nation has not taken any steps to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 carnage and has been consistently aiding and abetting terrorism against India.

“The recent killings of members of the Sikh community in Peshawar are a glaring example of the support that the terrorists are receiving from Pakistan. The security scenario in the Kashmir valley has deteriorated and the government is contemplating bringing back terrorists under the garb of its infamous surrender policy,” said Ashwani Chrungoo, president of the Panun Kashmir.

The leaders of the forum said the secessionist leaders had been provided an opportunity to meet the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan before the beginning of the talks, which was abject surrender before the secessionist forces.

Jammu, February 25
Blame game on stone throwing continued in the Assembly for the fourth consecutive day as the PDP and the NC took each other on task for scoring political scores on this issue.

While the PDP blamed the ruling party with shying away from discussing important issues, the later charged the former with misleading the House by making wild allegations on the floor of the House.

After a verbal dual between PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, the opposition staged a walk out from the Assembly, shouting slogans against the government.

After three days of pandemonium, PDP members today agreed to participate in the proceeding as Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone assured half an hour discussion on the issue of the killing of an infant in the Kashmir valley. After the Question Hour, leader of opposition Mehbooba Mufti initiated debate on this issue in the Assembly.

In her 25 minutes’ address, Mehbooba repeatedly flayed the NC and alleged that the government was shying away from discussing important issues in the House to hide its misdeeds.

“The government has been hesitating to discuss deteriorating law and order situation in the Assembly,” she added. She, regretted that instead of working in a democratic manner, the present dispensation headed by the NC had been trying to become an extension of the security system by stifling the voice of people by brazenly using suppressive measures.

Targeting the NC for its failure to tackle the problem of stone throwing, she said this regime had confined the Kashmir problem only to as problem of stone throwing.

After Mehbooba completed her address, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar stood up to counter the allegations. After some verbal dual, the PDP members staged a walk out. Sagar, however, blamed the PDP leader for misleading the House by labelling wild allegations on the government. “Yesterday, the leader of the opposition has blamed the government of creating counter stone throwing forces, but today she ran away from the House when we started counter her allegations”, he said.

Udhampur, February 25
A team of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department, led by Assistant Director, Udhampur, CP Singh, conducted a surprise checking of different commercial establishments, including hotels, dhabas, factories and sweets shops, in Udhampur, Chenani, Patnitop, Kud and Tikri areas of the district today.

The team stopped a truck belonging to Jai Mata gas agency near the Chopra Shop area of Udhampur town. The truck driver failed to produce valid papers. It issued a show cause notice to the truck owner, asking him to submit his reply within five days. Notably, the checking followed the reports of misuse of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes.

The team slapped a fine totalling Rs 97,700 on owners of several establishments for violating law. It also checked the premises of some factories at Battalwalia. They were advised not to use or store high speed diesel without the permission of the District Magistrate, Udhampur.