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Protesters damage 2 Army vehicles
Hizbul militant on the run shot
dead
Permanent
Resident Certificate |
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Hurriyat protest foiled, Mirwaiz under house arrest
‘My son has been framed under conspiracy’
Govt’s silence on separatists’ strike criminal: BJP
Pulse polio drive today
An SMS about the pulse polio campaign
300 years of Sikh victory over Mughal forces
Inter-district Recruitment Bill
Governor felicitated
Students perform during a World Health Day function at Bright Candle High School at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu on Saturday. Photo: Inderjeet Singh
Army builds shed at Purmandal
Goods on footpaths seized
Youth found dead
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Protesters damage 2 Army vehicles
Srinagar, April 24 The police said 53 RR personnel launched a search operation in the village last night following specific information about the presence of militants. Three persons with two horses, who were entering the village around 4.30 am, were challenged by the security forces, but they tried to run away. The troops opened fire killing one of them, Ghulam Mohammad Kalas, and injuring another, while the third person was apprehended. Two horses also fell to the bullets in the incident. The villagers staged protests against the civilian’s killing and injury to another later in the morning, SSP, Shopian, Shahid Meraj told The Tribune. He said the agitated villagers damaged two vehicles of the Army, provoking the troops to open fire. Three protesters were injured in the firing. The police has registered a case and investigations were in progress, the SSP said. According to a defence spokesman, a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident. He said the troops, following intelligence inputs from the police, had launched an operation in the Chawan area in Shopian last night. A cordon was laid around 2.30 am on the outskirts of the village where suspected terrorists were likely to come. Around 4.15 am today, three persons entered the cordon from outside the village. On being challenged, they started running away, provoking troops to open fire. While one person was killed, another was injured. The third person was apprehended and handed over to the police. The spokesman added that after the incident at daybreak, a large number of local residents gathered in the area and resorted to pelting the security forces with stones. Police reinforcements were rushed to the area to bring the situation under control. Despite the efforts of the Commanding Officer of the Rashtriya Rifles unit to control the situation, and in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner and the SP, Shopian, the mob burnt two Army vehicles, which had got stuck in the muddy area. Though the troops on the ground exercised utmost restraint, any act of destroying government property would not be tolerated, the spokesman added. |
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Hizbul militant on the run shot
dead
Jammu, April 24 “We eliminated the second militant around 5 am today,” said SSP, Doda district, Parbhat Singh. The SSP informed that the slain ultra had been identified as Yawar, a resident of Gandoh area. Being a dreaded ultra, active in the Bhatyas area of the Doda district, he was involved in murders and cases of extortions, the SSP added. However, the SSP claimed that both slain militants, including the one killed last evening in the same area, belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen. The troops of 26 Rashtriya Rifles and the police participated in the operation. Both slain ultras were accomplices of self-styled Hizbul divisional commander Shahdin Khanday, alias Sabbir Shah, the oldest surviving militant of the Hizbul. The SSP said Shahdin Khanday was active in the area for the past 19 years. Two AK rifles, magazines and grenades have been recovered from the encounter site. Meanwhile, a defence spokesperson said the contact with the terrorists was established around 5.30 pm yesterday and the exchange of fire continued throughout the night. The spokesperson identified the slain ultras as Mohammed Zunga Yawar of Bhatyas, Hizbul deputy district commander, and Tanveer Ahmed Bhatt, of Tirthalu, another Hizbul tehsil commander. Both militants were senior Hizbul cadres, whose writ ran large in the Gandoh tehsil of Doda, he said, adding that ever since Tariq Hussain and Yasir Hussain were killed in December last year and the recent marginalisation of top Hizbul commander Shahdin Khandey, the two were rapidly growing in stature, indicating their growing clout in the outfit. The locals, who were regular victims of their atrocities and highhandedness, welcomed the killed of the two militants, he said. Over the past four months, four senior Hizbul militants had been killed, while Shahdin Khandey had been completely isolated, if not killed, during operations at Bari Dhok during February, he added. Similarly, the surviving militants under Ghulam Nabi, alias Gama, alias Dawood, have beaten a retreat in the surrounding forests only to be killed sooner or later, he added.
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Permanent Resident Certificate Dinesh Manhotra Tribunes News Service
Majalata, April 24 Instead of Vaday, his village has been mentioned as Babaian in the revenue map, so the officer has refused to give him the document that he wants. “How can we give documents to the resident of a village which does not exist on the revenue record?”, asked Sapna Kotwal, tehsildar of Majalta. Expressing helplessness to issue certificates, she told The Tribune that the matter had been brought to the notice of the higher authorities for rectification. “Since long, residents have been facing hardships due to clerical errors and after assuming charge I have been pursuing the case to get the mistakes rectified,” she said. Vaday village is not an isolated case, residents of five more villages namely Punara, Kadwah, Rotal, Baryalta Banj and Chord Panjiyan have been facing a similar situation. These villages have a population of more than 6,000. In 2005, when the Reservation Act under SRO 294 was issued, the six villages were included in the list of backward areas to give benefit of reservation to its residents. Interestingly, despite being declared as backward areas, these villages were wrongly mentioned in the revenue record. “What to say about taking benefit of the reservation, we are even not getting PRCs as the name of my village does not exist in the revenue record,” lamented Raj Kumar, who disparately needed a PRC certificate to apply for a government job. Due to Article 370, a PRC is required for every resident of Jammu and Kashmir to get government jobs and purchase property. As these villages do not exist in the revenue record, residents of these backward belts are not getting PRCs. “It is a glaring example of the non-serious attitude of the authorities,” pointed out RS Pathania, a social activist who has been fighting for these helpless villagers. “Three months back, the officers concerned had assured that a corrigendum in this regard would be issued within a couple of day, but no concerted action had been taken so far,” Pathania said. The agony of the villagers can be gauged from the fact that during the past five years, they have been denied all constitutional rights, including the benefits of reservation.
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Traffic police’s complaint boxes get poor response
Jammu, April 24 In August last year, the traffic police had installed 23 complaint boxes in all parts of the city, including Satwari, Bikram Chowk and Ambphalla, for feedback or complaints and for taking immediate action against the defaulters. But with the passage of time, the traffic police officers have forgotten to take action against the defaulters and the public has also stopped filing complaints. After checking these complaint boxes at ever busy Bikram Chowk and Satwari Chowk, it was observed that the boxes were lying empty. The other complaint boxes also had nothing in them. At Bikram Chowk, a traffic police constable, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Hardly anyone comes to file a complaint. The department has installed the boxes, but people are not aware of them.” He added that the department would start a campaign to make the public aware. The constable said, “When the complaint boxes were installed, the response was good. But with the passage of time, the situation has worsen. Even the officials who collected complaints from complaint boxes are neglecting duties.” It may be stated here that hardly a day passes without a major road mishap on Jammu roads and the traffic scenario has been worsening. The total population of the city at present is nearly seven lakh. Sushil Kumar, an advocate, said, “The motive behind installing complaint boxes was to get feedback about the working of the traffic police, as there is no need to write name or disclose identity while filing a complaint in these boxes. But the present situation tells an altogether different story.” However, SP, traffic, Jammu, Zahid Manhas said, “We regularly check the complaint boxes, but the public has started directly approaching the Chief Minister’s online complaint redressal cell. This is the only reason behind the failure of our efforts.” He added that the complaint boxes had been getting just two-three complaints a week.
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Hurriyat protest foiled, Mirwaiz under house arrest
Srinagar, April 24 All entry points to Pratap Park were blocked since early morning by the police to prevent the Hurriyat leaders from staging a silent protest in the park. APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq continued to be under house arrest for the second consecutive day today, a party spokesman said. Several APHC leaders were held by the police to prevent them from holding protests in Pratap Park and Lal Chowk areas. Those leading the protests included senior APHC leaders Masroor Abbas Ansari, Ghulam Mohammad Zaki and Yasmeen Raja. About 60 persons were arrested from Lal Chowk and Residency Road areas while trying to hold demonstrations, a spokesman for the APHC said. The APHC had called today’s protest against the death sentence to Mohammad Naushad from Delhi and Mohammad Ali Bhat and Mirza Nissar Hussain from Kashmir in the Lajpat Nagar blasts case of 1996. The protest was also against the alleged human rights violations, continued detention of senior Hurriyat leaders, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan and hundreds of others. Meanwhile, the APHC has condemned the killings of two civilians by unidentified gunmen in the latest incidents. Those killed included Khuda Baksh in the Keller area of Shopian district and Ashiq Hussain in the Sopore area of Baramulla district. On the one hand innocents were being targeted by the security forces and on the other innocents were being killed by unidentified gunmen, the APHC spokesman lamented.
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‘My son has been framed under conspiracy’
Tejinder Singh Sodhi Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 24 While sifting through a bundle of files to show the matriculation certificate of Mohammad Ali Bhat, a convict in the blast case, Haji Sher Ali says his son “is innocent and has been framed under a well knit conspiracy”. Asked whether he would move to a higher court to challenge the judgment of the Delhi court, he says, “You tell me who could see his innocent son to go to gallows.” Haji Sher Ali says his son, who was 28 at the time of his arrest, had “nothing to do with the blast” and was “innocent and was arrested from Nepal”. “He was in the carpet trade, which had been our family business. He was there to earn his livelihood, but was framed in a false case and arrested,” he says. Haji’s family members say they are hopeful that “one day they will get justice”, but they will have a lifelong grudge as they could not fulfil the last wish of their mother who wanted to see her son before she dies. “Her last wish was that she wanted to see her son, as since his arrest she had not met him. She died with her wish unfulfilled in year 2000,” says Arshad Hussain Bhat, younger brother of Mohammad Ali Bhat. His other family members say they are “constantly in touch with the members of the families of other convicts in the case and will move a higher court to challenge the ruling of the Delhi court”. They allege that the Delhi Police had framed all accused for “being Kashmiris”. “Another convict Mirza Nissar was only 15 years’ old when he was arrested. They all have been framed,” said Haji Sher Ali. He says since his son was arrested in 1996 they have suffered a lot, as his two younger sons were kept in illegal confinement for many days. “Now, it has become a cause of the entire Kashmir. We will fight till the end to get justice for him,” says Arhsad. His family also compares Mohammad Ali Bhat with Afzal Guru, who has been convicted for Parliament attack and facing death sentence.
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Lajpat Nagar Blast Verdict Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 24 Addressing a press conference here today, BJP Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal Gupta said, “The incompetence on the part of the coalition government has assumed an alarming proportion, so much so that certain elements have openly come out in support of terrorism.” He said the strike call given by the separatists coupled with the statements of some “mainstream” party leaders in the wake of the conviction of some terrorists by a Delhi High Court was a serious development. “The separatists and semi-separatists have been challenging the very unity of the country since long, but the failure of the government to act under the law of the land have encouraged such elements to the extent that they are now openly denouncing even the verdict of the court,” Gupta said. He added, “It is really a sad situation and the governments, both in the state and at the Centre, owe an explanation that who was responsible for all this mess.” The BJP leader said the failure of the state government to uphold the law of the land had added new dimensions to the situation. “The planned, rather calculated, designs to malign the security forces by raising the bogey of human rights violations in another attempt to demoralise them,” he said. He took exception to the statement of CM Omar Abdullah, who had stated that the blood of a particular section of people was not “so cheap”.
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Pulse polio drive today
Jammu, April 24 It is for the first time that the Directorate of Health Services and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) are using a cutting-edge technology to inform the people. BSNL has been providing free-of-cost service by circulating SMSes to its subscribers in five districts that have been selected for the second round of the special polio campaign tomorrow. The authorities have also been advertising through papers, private channels and mike announcements for which autos have been hired by the department, besides pressing into service several ambulances. “BSNL is not charging anything for disseminating information regarding the campaign. We have also approached other mobile service providers and DD, but they demanded money that was not compatible with our budget,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jammu, Sujata Sharma. The Director, Family Welfare and National Rural Health Mission, Kulbushan Pandotra, said, “Usually polio campaigns are held in January and December, but after a polio case was reported in a migrant family, the department is cautious. We don’t want to take any chance this time.” “Under the campaign funded by the WTO and aided by the Government of India, three lakh children up to the age of five years would be provided additional polio drops in these districts,” he added. |
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300 years of Sikh victory over Mughal forces Jupinderjit Singh/TNS
Jammu, April 24 Announcing this at a press conference here today, Punjab Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah said it would be one of the largest ever participation of the local Sikh community in a function outside Jammu and Kashmir. People were enthusiastic about the march as Rajouri was the birthplace of the great Sikh warrior, who avenged the martyrdom of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh by killing Mughal rulers of Sirhind. Langah and a member of the Dharam Parchar Committee, Rattan Singh, said they visited Rajouri yesterday and paid tributes to the great Sikh hero at his birthplace in Rajouri. Langah said after an interaction with TS Wazir, chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, he was satisfied with the arrangements made for the smooth travel of the large cavalcade, consisting of cars, jeeps, buses and trucks all decked up with religious fervour.
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Inter-district Recruitment Bill Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 24 As an amendment moved by party MLA Harsh Dev Singh to exclude the SCs from the purview of the Bill was incorporated, the Panthers Party has decided to launch a campaign to strengthen its base among the weaker sections. SC workers of the party organised a function here today to felicitate Harsh Dev for his fight to protect the rights of the weaker sections. Harsh Dev, while addressing the gathering, described the acceptance of the proposal mooted by him in the Bill as historical. He said the Panthers Party had again proved itself as the champion of the oppressed and deprived sections of society by moving the amendment and, thereby, assuring justice not only to the SC, but also to the people of Jammu in general. Elaborating further, Harsh Dev said the non-introduction of the amendment would have deprived the SC population of employment opportunities, as the Bill moved in its original form had only made a provision for freezing the posts within the district with no reservation for SCs outside their original district. He said the Panthers Party had not only assured due share to the SCs at the district level, but also at the divisional level.
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Governor felicitated
Jammu, April 24 A 13-member delegation of Gandhian workers, led by chairperson of the foundation Radha Bhat, called on the Governor today and presented Mahatma Gandhi Seva Medal, a souvenir and a handmade woollen shawl to him. Interacting with the delegation, the Governor remarked that preaching Gandhian teachings should not be limited to October 2 and January 30, but should be practised throughout the year for securing a sustained impact, particularly among schoolchildren. Radha briefed the Governor about the activities of the foundation across the country. She said the foundation intended to launch awareness programmes in the state. She also spoke about her meetings in the Jammu division during the past three days.
— TNS |
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World Health Day observed
Jammu, April 24 Divisional Nutrition Officer, Jammu, Sham Gopal Gupta, besides Gagan Deep and Shipra Sharma from the ISM Department delivered lectures on
the occasion. Devinder Bakshi and Jyoti Saraf from the Health Education Bureau spoke about simple and healthy living to remain free from hypertension, diabetes and heart strokes. Assistant director of the Health Education Bureau
Pankaj Kotwal was the chief guest. |
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Army builds shed at Purmandal
Jammu, April 24 Famous for a group of ancient temples, Purmandal village, 36 km from here, holds reverence for the locals. However, there was no passenger shed at Purmandal morh for the pilgrims, who boarded local buses to Purmandal. The need was also projected during previous ex-servicemen rallies conducted by the Sabre Brigade. As part of the ongoing initiatives to further the cause of Army-civil cooperation under Operation Sadbhavana, Sabre Brigade constructed the much-needed shed. The Commander, Sabre Brigade, inaugurated it today in presence of heads of all villages in the area. Earlier also, the Sabre Brigade has carried out various projects under Operation Sadbhavana to provide better amenities to the local populace in the vicinity of the military station and near the Border.— TNS |
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Goods on footpaths seized
Jammu, April 24 The drive was carried out in the areas of Rehari colony, Subash Nagar, Patoli Magotrian, Top Sherkhania, Muthi, Roop Nagar, Janipur, Bakshi Nagar and Sarwal. The team also demolished kiosks near the graveyard
at Sarwal. Meanwhile, the MC team also seized about 20 kg of polythene bags from the shopkeepers in these areas and charged Rs 6,000 as fine from 26 defaulters.
— TNS |
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Youth found dead
Jammu, April 24 The body has been sent to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for a post-mortem examination, it added. “No suicide note has been found from the spot and we have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC,” the police said. |
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