Jammu, April 13
Following an assurance of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to seriously consider their demands, the agitating employees of the Civil Secretariat called off their strike this evening and decided to resume their duties from Thursday.

Addressing mediapersons at the residence of Devender Singh Rana, political secretary of the Chief Minister, the leaders of the Secretariat Employees Union - Nazir Ahmad Mir, Abdul Mazid, Roop Ahmad Bhat, Ghulam Mehandi and Subhash Kaul - said they would resume their duties from April 15.

The leaders said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in an interview with mediapersons at Raj Bhawan during the oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court, had assured to mobilise resources for the payment of Sixth Pay Commission arrears and evolve a consensus on enhancing the retirement age from 58 to 60 years.

Omar had also said as far as Dearness Allowance (DA) of the state employees was concerned, the Cabinet subcommittee had already taken a decision on it.

The Chief Minister said the Sixth Pay Commission arrears would be given to the employees soon after the mobilisation of resources. “We will prepare a road map within two-three months to settle the issue of arrears,” the Chief Minister said.

“After the assurance of the Chief Minister, we convened a meeting of our committee to discuss the situation,” Mir said. He added: “It was ultimately decided to call off the strike to give the government a chance to accept our demands.”

Meanwhile, the government today claimed that the essential services, including health, water and power supply functioned normally in the state today, while about 643 employees attended their duties in the Civil Secretariat and the State Legislature Complex.

As per an official spokesperson, all areas in the state received normal water and power supply, while routine work in the hospitals went on smoothly, with 80 to 100 per cent attendance in the associated hospital of Government Medical College, Jammu.

Meanwhile, the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) and the J&K Employees Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) have been also talking to their Kashmir counterparts to devise a strategy.

Jammu, April 13
Terming statement given by Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pawan Kotwal as fake and to befool the higher ups, the striking employees today threatened to further intensify their strike and also warned the government not to give such statements.

While addressing mediapersons yesterday evening, the Divisional Commissioner had said there was 80 per cent attendance in the government departments, including the hospitals and the situation was improving with every passing day.

A faction of striking employees, who have been avoiding their arrests, today met The Tribune, on condition of anonymity, to tell their future course of action. They said, “How can it be possible that 80 per cent employees have resumed their duties. And if it is right, then why the government is arresting the other employees?”

Subhash Chander, a senior leader, said, “The government can smoothly run if such a number of employees have resumed their duties, then what is the fun of addressing press conferences or to ask students of private nursing colleges to work in hospitals.”

Chander further added that the officers were trying to save their skins and nothing else. Even the ministers are putting pressure on bureaucrats to give such kind of statements, which have no ground value.”

“The officers or bureaucrats can befool their higher ups only and not the public or mediapersons,” said Sushil Sudan, another employee leader of the J&K Employees Joint Consultative Committee (JCC).

“Even if we go by the daily reports being submitted by the CID, then there is huge difference between the divisional Commissioner’s report and the CID,” the sources added.

However, Pawan Kotwal said, “At this moment we can’t say all is well, but the situation is improving.” The sources revealed that the Civil Secretariat Employees (non-gazetted) Union today also held a meeting to intensify their agitation.

Srinagar, April 13
With a deadlock between striking employees and the state government continuing, normal functioning in government offices remained adversely affected for the 11th consecutive day today across the valley.

However, the government claimed that OPDs in major hospitals here had started functioning since yesterday.

According to a spokesman of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), which is spearheading the agitation, most of the educational institutions in the valley functioned normally today though attendance in some of the schools was thin due to a strike called by the Hurriyat Conference. The JCC had yesterday announced that from today, the teachers would provide voluntary services to teach the students between 8.30 a.m and 12.30 p.m. “We being a part of the society found it our responsibility to come to the expectations of the students”, said a senior member of the JCC, and added that the decision had been taken as the students were the worst sufferers.

Meanwhile, work in many other offices, including the Food and Supplies Department, was badly affected as hundreds of trucks carrying foodgrains could not unload the essential commodities.

Sources in the JCC said though the government, which had offered talks with the striking employees, had not come out with a formal invitation so far, there were indications of a “positive response” from the government since yesterday.

Srinagar, April 13
The city today witnessed pitched battles between the police and protesters during a day-long strike, a call for which was given by separatists.

Nearly 18 persons, including three police personnel, were injured in Srinagar and other parts of the valley as the youth threw stones on police and CRPF personnel.

The strike call was given by the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, against the conviction of six Kashmiris by a Delhi court in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast in which 13 persons were killed. In a statement here, Geelani said:“The strike was to protest against the conviction of six Kashmiris”.

In the Maisuma locality, near Lal Chowk, agitating youths threw stones on the police which resorted to a cane charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob.

In Sopore, youths pelted the police with stones when they were prevented from holding a procession,said a senior police officer.

Schools, colleges and business establishments remained closed and vehicles also did not ply across the valley.

Meanwhile, activists of a women’s outfit, Mass Movement, today staged a protest in the city against the conviction of its chairperson, Farida Behanji, by the Delhi court in the Lajpat Nagar blast.

“ The police is closely monitoring the situation to stop anti-social elements from creating a law and order problem and adequate number of security personnel have been deployed”, said Javaid Riyaz, SSP, Srinagar.

Meanwhile,tension gripped Sopore when a 14-year-old boy drowned when he fell into the Jehlum while being chased by the security forces during the protest. He was identified as Zubair Ahmad of Jamia Qadeem.

After hearing the news of his death, people took to the streets and gave a tough time to security forces.

Suchetgarh (Indo-Pak Border), April 13
The otherwise desolate place on the Indo-Pak border came alive today with the reverberations of a three-day Baisakhi mela organised close to the border for the first time.

Aimed at encouraging border tourism, the festival has been jointly organised by the Directorate of Tourism, Jammu, Tourism Trade Organisations and non- government stakeholders in tourism, pilgrimage and heritage of Jammu .

Reciprocating the sentiment with equal strength of emotions, a large number of villagers and tourists from far away thronged the mela to make it a success.

“It is a great idea that has clicked. We had always heard of cross-firing and bloodshed at the J&K borders lining Pakistan, but we had never dreamt that the painful dividing line would ever witness a day of fun and frolic,” Ranjodh, a tourist from Punjab, said.

Ranjodh added she could also witness the Pakistan side of the border and was very excited.

“The other side too must have heard our music today. They must have known that we are celebrating,” she said.

BSF men, otherwise doing hard duty manning the border, were seen sharing lighter moments when they manned snacks bar and greeted visitors with smile.

Prof RS Chib, Minister for Medical Education, Youth Services and Sport, opened the three-day mela. Speaking on the occasion, Prof Chib said to attract more tourists in the border area, the government had formulated a project to develop Suchetgarh Border Post as a tourist destination under the Border Tourism Development Programme. He said the project would be completed in a phased manner and Rs 5 crore would be spent in the first phase.

The project includes development of a park over 150 kanals, entry gate, tourist facilitation centre, landscaping and development of a terrace garden with fountains, development of walkway to oversee international border, watch tower, war memorial with photo gallery of war heroes of the area, construction of amphitheatre and necessary tourism related infrastructure.

Chib said besides upgrading the RS Pura-Suchetgarh road, heritage sites, including ancient Shiv temple and Dargah of Baba Budan Ali Shah, Radha Krishan Temple and old railway station, RS Pura and Raghunathji Temple and Ziarat Peer Baba at Suchetgarh would also be renovated.

Jammu, April 13
Rich tributes were paid to martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre throughout the Jammu region today.

A function was held at Shedhi Sthal at Ambphalla in which a large number of people turned up to pay tributes.Speakers recalled the atrocities of the then British Government on innocent citizens who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh at that time.

Students from different schools also attended the function and took a pledge to work for the unity and integrity of the country.

A function was also held at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk to pay tributes to the martyrs.

All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretaries Capt Parveen Dabbar summarised the history of the freedom movement, especially the role of the Congress since its foundation in 1885.

Jammu, April 13
Mediapersons visiting the house of Sunanda Pushkar, ‘fiancee’ of Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, in Channi Himmat here were attacked by her father, Col PN Dass (retd), today.

Colonel Dass first abused them and then threw bricks at them. Some of the mediapersons standing near the gate escaped miraculously.

The journalists had gone to his house after reports that Sunanda had some share in the IPL’s Kochi team for his version on the controversy. They rang the door bell and were requesting family members to give their views when the ex-army officer started abusing and then throwing bricks on them.

When The Tribune team tried to click a photograph of the house of Sunanda, her father shouted from inside: “Who is there, I will show you my power.” After visiting the locality, the team observed that Colonel Dass did not have much social relations as “no one was interested” in giving any details about the family.

A neighbour said they had seen Sunanda here last year, but after that she did not come to the town.

Sunanda’s family shifted here in 1990 after their house was attacked by militants at Bommai in Sopore.

Jammu, April 13
BJP spokesperson Ramesh Arora today met employees’ leaders, including Pardeep Kumar and Ram Kumar, who have been arrested under Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA). Interacting with the BJP leader, the arrested employees explained their demands and disclosed oppressive measures adopted by the government to crush their strike.

Arora assured all possible support to the arrested leaders and appealed to the government to negotiate with them, instead of giving false assurances to the striking employees.

Arora expressed shock over the situation that a few arrested leaders were being harassed by different agencies. The BJP spokesman strongly condemned the adamant attitude adopted by the government on this issue. He also warned that oppressive measures being pursued by the authorities to crush the employees’ strike, would prove counter-productive.

Arora assured the employees’ leaders to extend all possible help and had constituted a team of advocates under his supervision to give free legal assistance. Arora also assured to take up the matter with the party leadership at the state and the Centre so that the employees were not harassed unnecessary.

He also appealed to the the employees’ leaders to soften their stand and try to adopt a path of negotiation, keeping in view the difficulties of people.

Jammu, April 13
Governor NN Vohra has extended warm greetings and good wishes to the people on the occasion of Baisakhi.

In a message, he said the day had a special significance for the Sikh community as Khalsa Panth was born on this day. He added that the day also marks the beginning of the New Year in the Indian Calendar.

The Governor said that in various parts of the country, particularly in the northern states, Baisakhi signified the commencement of the harvesting season, when farmers reap the fruit of their hard work. The Governor prayed for peace, harmony, brotherhood, progress and prosperity in the state.

Jammu, April 13
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today underscored need for decongestion of city roads and scientific management of traffic under a well thought comprehensive strategy.

“Close coordination between various departments is required in this connection,” he said, stressing for regular sharing of measures by Roads and Buildings (R&B) and Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) for traffic management and construction of arteries and links.

Chairing a high-level meeting to take appraisal of various concept plans prepared by ERA regarding traffic movement on major roads in the two cities, Chief Minister emphasised on development of parking lots and construction of feasible arteries and flyovers to deal with the problem of traffic jams.

Omar highlighted the need for constructing multi-storied parking places in the twin cities and directed the concerned department to formulate viable proposals for roping in private investors in this field. “You should identify the feasible areas within the cities and strive for building multi-storied parking lots on PPP mode,” he told the Housing Department, adding that there was a dire need for such facilities in the city limits.

The Chief Minister directed for constitution of a Committee, comprising of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Commissioner/Secretary, Planning and Development and Commissioner/Secretary, PWD to examine the dimension of the problem of traffic congestion in the two capital cities to find out appropriate and befitting solution.

Speaking in the meeting, political adviser to the Chief Minister Devender Singh Rana underlined the need for constructing alternate roads and dovetailing the existing communication facilities to manage the traffic movement and avoid jamming of traffic on main chowks.

Chief Secretary SS Kapur said besides evolving engineering solutions other measures for improving traffic movement in the capital cities is needed to be examined thoroughly. He said the committee constituted should also study the non-engineering aspects and come up with a sound proposal to deal with all issues relating to the decongestion of the city roads.

Jammu, April 13
The Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, Aftab Hussain Saikia, today took over as the new Chief Justice of J&K High Court. Governor NN Vohra administered the oath of office to the new Chief Justice at the Jammu Raj Bhawan.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the Deputy Chief Minister, High Court judges, members of the Council of Ministers, judges from subordinate judiciary and members of the Bar Association were present on the occasion.

Born on April 7, 1949 at Dampur village under the Hajo police station in the Kamrup district, Saikia obtained BSc degree with distinction from Cotton College, Guwahati, in 1969 and LLB and LLM from Guwahati University in the year 1974 and 1982, respectively.

He was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh on August 9, 1974, and since then practised in Civil, Criminal, Constitutional services and allied matters for 26 years in the Gauhati High Court and other outlying Benches in the North East, including the subordinate courts.

He was made a permanent member of the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi. He was designated as senior advocate on June 3, 1999. He was appointed as permanent judge of the Gauhati High Court on November 15, 2000, and stationed at principal seat at Guwahati. He was judge, Administrative Department, the Gauhati High Court and executive chairman, the Assam State Legal Services Authority. He was elevated as Chief Justice, the High Court of Sikkim, on March 7, 2009.

Jammu, April 13
To pay homage to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the liberation of Rajouri, the Ace of Spades Division and the civil administration jointly celebrated Rajouri Day at the Gujjar Chowk War Memorial in Rajouri today.

The ceremony included prayers and wreath laying in honour of the brave martyrs. The General Officer Commanding of the Division, Maj-Gen Om Parkash, and various eminent dignitaries paid homage to the martyrs.

The chief guest, in his address, highlighted the importance of the day and exhorted a similar display of patriotism towards the nation even today. He stressed on the Army’s commitment towards creating long-lasting peace in the state. The chief guest informed the congregation regarding various ongoing projects by the Army through “Sadbhvana” in Rajouri and adjoining areas.

He assured that the Army along with the civil administration would continue to strive for the development of the area. The chief guest also highlighted that this year a recruitment rally had been clubbed along with this historic day, especially to make this day even more memorable and prolific.