Udhampur, August 5
At least, eight persons were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a mini-bus they were travelling in fell into a nullah near Bhaderwah in Doda district today.

As per official information, the ill-fated vehicle (JK 06/801) was on its way to Bhaderwah from Bhalla when the driver of the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve near Sania Attasa, Bhalla. The vehicle skidded off the road and fell into the Neeru Nullah. The mishap occurred around 10.45 am.

On receiving the information, a police party rushed to the spot and started a rescue operation. All occupants of the vehicle were extricated and rushed to District Hospital, Doda, where eight persons were declared brought dead. The injured were shifted from Primary Health Centre (PHC), Bhalla, to District Hospital, Doda.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families. A girl in her teens identified as Kajal is reportedly missing. A search was on in the nullah till the filing of the report to trace her. The condition of the injured was stable till reports last came in. A case was registered in this regard at Bhaderwah police station.

Jammu, August 5
On narrow and badly congested roads of Jammu, passenger buses and mini-buses with tag lines like “superfast”, “expressfast” and “bulletfast” can be found everywhere.

It is also common to see such slogans written on the rear of buses and matadors. The provocative slogans exhort the driver coming from behind to chase or catch up with the speed of the same vehicle.

The paradox is that this is happening under the nose of the traffic police.

In the hill state, it is estimated that more lives have ben lost on roads due to accidents than lives snuffed out in militant violence. However, measures undertaken by the authorities to check road accidents seem to be cosmetic in nature.

At the site of an accident in RS Pura today, an irate mob alleged that broad buses usually run at top speed with headlights on and word “superfast” written on them. Residents allege that some months ago they complained to the tehsildar and a few buses were impounded and the erring drivers fined, but again the things were back to square one.

“Headlights are turned on in the case of emergency. But on the Jammu-RS Pura road, most passenger vehicles run with their lights on to overtake each other,” said Shiv Raj, a resident of Miran Sahib.

The mob alleged there was no stop line for the drivers. “They will never move the buses from a bus stop till another bus or matador of the same route comes from behind. It will prompt the driver reaching later to overtake the bus so that he could board as many passengers as possible from the next stop,” they said.

“In the mad race for boarding passengers, drivers never care for the safety of commuters,” they said.

“Three years back, it was made mandatory that the drivers and their helpers will have to don uniforms with badges but no one is following the rules.

“In view of traffic mismanagement, lives of commuters are at stake. Traffic cops are as irresponsible as the erring drivers, the local administration is indifferent and the common man is the one who has to suffer,” they added.

Udhampur, August 5
District Development Commissioner (DDC), Udhampur, Baseer Ahmed Khan has stressed on the expeditious completion of the ongoing work to widen the Dhar Road to tackel the increasing traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

The DDC gave the instruction in a meeting called to review the progress of shifting of utilities by the Department of Public Health Engineering, EM&RE, PWD and GREF, which are involved in widening of the road from Domail to Slathia Chowk.

Additional District Development Commissioner RR Sharma, Chief Planning Officer HH Dutt, Assistant Commissioner, Revenue, Gurvinderjeet Singh, Executive Engineers of the PHE, PWD, EM&RE, representatives of the GREF and others were present in the meeting.

Various issues pertaining to different departments, including shifting of PHE pipes, High Tension and Low Power Tension electric lines, construction of boundary wall of Deputy Commissioner’s Office and court complex, shifting of the War Memorial, existing workshops near Domail Chowk, were reviewed in detail. Similarly, the DDC instructed the Executive Engineer PHE and M&RE to shift utilities related to their respective departments within a fortnight.

The DDC exhorted the executing agencies to work in a coordination to get the utilities shifted within scheduled period, thereby paving way to complete widening of the road within the stipulated time by the GREF whose authorities were specially asked to expedite the pace of execution of widening work in such a manner that it is to be completed without any further delay.

He also directed the tehsildar, Udhampur, to prepare the layout plan of the identified alternate sites of shifting of existing workshops from Domail Chowk in consultation with Executive Engineer, PWD for its submission to government for approval.

Jammu, August 5
Gurha Slathian - a small village in the Purmandal block of Samba district - surfaces prominently on the literary and cultural canvas of the state, yet it remains literally non-existent for the successive state governments.

The village, with a population of more than 10,000 people and spread over an area of approximately 150 acres, had produced three Sahitya Akademi awardees and a Lalit Kala Akademi award winning artist so far.

The collective feat of the village, however, could not impress upon the successive governments. The village of littérateurs remains without a library, one of the long-pending demands of the villagers.

Among other distinguished writers of the village, revolutionary poet Keri Singh Madhukar received the coveted Sahitya Akademi award in 1977 for his anthology of poems, “Mein Melay Ra Jaanu”. Subsequently, Ram Lal Sharma, another noted poet received the same honour for his poetic work, “Rattu Da Chanan” in the late 80s.

Way back in 1991, noted Dogri writer Mohan Singh got the award for a Dogri drama, “Apni Dafli Apna Raag”, a political satire whereas Vidya Rattan Khajuria won the Lalit Kala Akademi award in sculpture-making.

“If we marginalise a progressive poet like Madhukar, who wrote extensively for the social and economic equality in his poetry, the void would be clearly visible in the Dogri literature. Isn’t it a paradox, his village doesn’t have a library?” Mohan Singh, who started writing under the tutelage of Madhukar, said .

“Many more distinguished writers and artists are making their mark at the state-level, yet they don’t have any encouragement from the government’s side,” he said and added, “The village has a literacy rate of 50 per cent whereas unemployment is widespread.”

“There is not even a community hall, where villagers could gather under a single roof. Besides, the infrastructure, especially an approach road, as well as basic amenities continue to elude people in our village. At the health centre there is no regular staff,” he cited the burning problems confronting the villager, adding, “People have long been demanding that a separate tehsil be created including other underdeveloped villages in the periphery of Gurha-Slathian.”

He said the village was a part of the Purmandal block but the block development office operates from Bari Brahamana. “This is the reason why there is a very little or negligible development in our village that has two panchayats,” he added.

Udhampur, August 5
Forever in Operations Division organised a summer camp for kids of the Harka Bahadur area of Kargil district to impart tips on personality development.

Besides various activities were conducted by the army to boost their adventure spirit in terms of providing experience of living in tents.

An Army spokesperson said the basic aim of the camp was to provide an opportunity to kids to interact directly with the Army while also imbibing qualities of discipline and team spirit considered essential for any individual aspiring to do well in society.

The campers were divided into senior and junior groups.The latter included kids in the 8-13 age group while the seniors were between 14-16. The main events were small arms firing, camping in the open and a volleyball match against the team of an army unit, picnic, games and screening of selected movies. It concluded with a campfire.

The camp turned out a huge success as acknowledged by the local population. They hoped such an event could help the kids imbibe a spirit of brotherhood amongst the kids in addition to enhancing their self-confidence through activities organised during the camp. It also helped provide a constructive interface between the army and the locals. The parents of the participants expressed gratitude to the army as they felt the camp could go a long way in preventing the kids from wasting their time moving around aimlessly during the summer vacation by channelising their energies in learning something constructive.

Jammu, August 5
Rotary Club and Innerwheel Club will have monthly meetings from now onwards. This was decided at a joint meeting of the two clubs here today.

According to the president of the Rotary Club, Jammu Tawi, Dr Dushyant Choudhary, the joint meeting was aimed at promoting the idea of Rotarians working in tandem with the Innerwheel Club members in carrying out the club-related and social activities.

But she could not make it to the shrine due to disruption in helicopter services caused by bad weather. So, she headed for Ransoo, the base camp of the Shiv Khori temple. She walked 4.5 km to reach there. Sources close to the veteran actress said she would visit Mata Vaishno Devi on return from Shiv Khori.

Srinagar, August 5
One person was killed and six others were injured in police firing near Government Degree College in Pulwama today.

He was identified as Shabir Ahmad Malik, the police said, and added the injured were shifted to hospital. Shabir was shifted to SMHS Hospital here where the doctors declared him brought dead. The incident took place after the baton charge and teargas shells failed to disperse the demonstrators numbering over 1500, the police said.

Meanwhile, demonstrations amid the curfew continued at various places across the Valley for the seventh consecutive day today.

One person, who was injured in overnight clashes in the Habbakadal area , succumbed to his injuries in the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) this morning.He was identified as Ghulam Nabi Badyari. His death led to protests in the area. A youth, Mohammad Yaqoob, was killed and another injured in the Bemina area here last night.

Demonstrations and clashes with the police at Hyderpora on the airport road here resulted in injuries to several persons. The police used batons and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the demonstrators.

Protests were also reported from the Pampore and Kakapora areas here along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and the road to Pulwama district.

In North Kashmir, angry demonstrators damaged an office of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) in Baramulla district. Protests were also held in the apple rich town of Sopore in Baramulla district.

Jammu, August 5
The Panun Kashmir today expressed concern over the implications of the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley.

According to a statement issued here, Panun Kashmir’s convener Dr Agnishekhar urged upon the Central government to intervene in the state affairs as to control the situation in the Valley.

He said the Central government should not downplay the geo-political aspiration of the displaced Kashmiri Hindus, people of Jammu and Ladakh anymore.

“The world community should know that unlike the separatists and jihadi forces of Kashmir, the seven lakh displaced Kashmiri Pandits demand creation of a union territory inside the Valley”, said the convener.

He added it’s also imperative that the demand of people of Jammu for separate statehood and union terroritory for the people of Ladakh be acknowledged and taken into serious consideration when any solution of the Kashmir issue is going to be worked out.

“Thus, the reorganisation of the J-K state will pave way for tiding over the problem permanently,” said the convener.

Jammu, August 5
Justice J.P. Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court , in an important ruling, today quashed an order passed by the Director, School Education, Jammu, wherein petitioners, while serving as general line teachers in a school, were ordered to be transferred on the basis of a complaint, holding that the record produced by state counsel revealed that except the complaint, there was no other material justifying the transfers.

However, the court granted liberty to the respondents” to enquire into the complaint or otherwise and satisfy themselves about its merit before passing such orders as warranted under law and in the interest of administration”.

Mohd Ibrahim and others had challenged their transfers and said these were illegal and unjustified as these had been made on the basis of a complaint.

“It is true that the employer has the prerogative to consider and decide the place of posting of its employees to run its administration and a bona fide exercise in this regard may not be open to question. However, where the transfer is ordered merely on a complaint basis, it may not be justified and warranted unless the complaint had been examined or otherwise found prima facie justified”,ruled the high court.

“Transfer being an incidence of service may not be interfered with by the courts unless, however, it was found arbitrary, mala fide or against law.That is a settled position in law”, held the judge.

The court while allowing the writ petition observed that “looking at the nature of allegations made in the complaint against three petitioners and finding that the Director, School Education, Jammu, had issued the transfer order without getting the complaint verified for prima facie satisfaction about its merit, the order which is stigmatic in nature needs to be quashed for violation of principles of natural justice and being otherwise arbitrary as it does not appear to have been issued for smooth functioning of the school”.

Udhampur, August 5
A meeting held at the headquarters of the White Knight Corps at Nagrota today reviewed the security situation in the Jammu region in light of the impending Independence day celebrations and intensified attempts of infiltration recently by various terrorist groups.

Security Advisor Lieutenant-General Rameshwar Roy complimented the security forces, intelligence agencies and civil administration for coordination and efficiently handling the internal security situation in the Jammu region. He, however, emphasised on the need to be more vigilant in view of the possibility of terrorists attempting to disrupt the existing peace in the region, especially on account of the impending Independence day.

While reviewing the situation, the Security Advisor reiterated that the downward slide in terrorism was attributed to the high degree of cohesiveness amongst all the security agencies in the state. He said the zero tolerance for human right violations by security forces must continue to be ensured at all costs with emphasis on conduct of joint operations. All areas must be appropriately sanitised in view of the ensuing Amarnath Yatra, he added.

General Officer Commanding 16 Corps and Security Advisor Lieutenant General Rameshwar Roy chaired the meeting in which senior Civil, Police, PMF and Army officers, including Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Commissioner SB, Joint Director, IB, IG Police, Jammu, IG CRPF, IG BSF and other officials. General Officers Commanding of various formations affiliated to 16 Corps were also present.

Jammu, August 5
The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) today organised a farewell function in honour of its Commissioner Mubarak Singh, who has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner, Samba.

Joint Commissioner (Administration) Babu Ram highlighted achievements and contributions made by the Commissioner in the corporation. Babu Ram added a number of projects were undertaken for the welfare of the people during his one-and-a-half year tenure. He praised the Commissioner for his innovative ideas to make Jammu really clean and green. Other senior officers also hailed the work done by the Commissioner during his tenure.

Extending gratitude to all employees, the Commissioner said achievements could have been possible only due to the sincere efforts and dedication of the staff during his term. However, as per the government order, Commissioner Mubarak Singh would continue to hold the additional charge of JMC till new commissioner would join the corporation.

Srinagar, August 5
These days residents are glued to their televisions, not only in Srinagar, but also in other parts of the Kashmir valley, in the absence of daily local and national newspapers. Though all local newspapers are published here, with some intermittent exceptions, restrictions on the movement of people has hampered their distribution. For some, the access to the Internet helps go through the newspapers on websites. It helps them to keep in touch with the outside world by e-mail services.

Local and national media channels in the urban areas, with the exception of some channels that have been banned here, and radio in the rural areas help people get in touch with the happenings in the Valley and outside.

The local distributors had stopped the delivery of newspapers since last Saturday, as the supply of national newspapers didn’t come from outside the Valley. Thus, it is for the sixth consecutive day today that no national dailies were circulated here.

The newspapers that had reached the airport on July 30 were either dumped there or inside the shops of various distributors here. The distributors had earlier also stopped the supply to the Valley between July 7 and 14 last month.

“As and soon as the situation improves and we are able to move around, we will resume the supply of newspapers,” said Farooq Ahmad, one of the distributors.

“We spend the day without going through the newspapers and are now getting used to it,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a resident of downtown Srinagar. “There are no local English or Urdu dailies available in the morning and no national English dailies in the evenings,” he adds.

Farooq Ahmad, another resident of Nowahatta in downtown, said residents could not get local dailies this morning. Most of the areas of downtown, which have been reeling under restrictions for about two months now, continue to remain without the newspapers in the wake of the ongoing violence.

“We cannot send our newspapers to any part of the Valley outside Srinagar city due to the continued restrictions”, said Morifat Qadiri, Editor of an Urdu daily, Afaaq, adding that the newspapers were circulated only in parts of the summer capital. This is the plight of about 20 local English and Urdu dailies, which are mostly visible on the newsstands, though more than 200 dailies, weeklies and monthlies are published here.

Srinagar, August 5
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has welcomed the move to seek intervention of Syed Ali Geelani in restoring peace and to solve the present crises in Kashmir, and also reiterated its demand of release of all political detainees and youths rounded up recently.

In a statement released here today, Mehbooba Mufti said by propagating the policy of force and coercion, the state government had imprisoned a large number of political leaders and young boys only to cover up its own failure. She said it was time that the political influence of other leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has been under house arrest, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Khan, Zafar Ahmed Mir be utilised and all of them should provide free space to make their contribution in making peace. Similarly, a large number of youths, who have been arrested on “flimsy ground” and framed in criminal cases, should be immediately set free to create an atmosphere conducive for further political process, she said.

Mehbooba hoped the release of various leaders and advice of Syeed Ali Geelani for peace was utilised as an opportunity for the large and bolder initiatives. She said the PDP had been stressing on the involvement of all political parties and leaders to find the solution of the problems of state and had been constantly cautioning against compartulisation of political parties. She said all citizens and political parties of the state have to contribute the exercise and there should be no discrimination or division among them.