Jammu, August 13
Students of Annizone Pre-School, Rehari, and Army School, Akhnoor, celebrated the 64th Independence Day on their school premises here today.

The students of Annizone Pre-School held a flag march this morning followed by a kite-flying function. They hoisted the Tricolour later.

Meanwhile, at Army School, Akhnoor, the national flag was hoisted by chairman Brig SP Mehta, who was the chief guest on the occasion. The students of the senior wing spoke on the importance of Independence Day.

A cultural programme comprising a patriotic group song, Dogri dance and Rajasthani dance was also held. Principal KCS Mehta apprised the students of the importance of the Independence Day. The chief guest distributed sweets to the children. 

Srinagar, August 13
A full dress rehearsal was held at the Bakshi Stadium, which is the venue for the main Independence Day function, here today.

DGP Kuldeep Khoda, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Mehraj-ud-Din Kakroo, senior civil and police officers were present on the occasion. IGP Dilbagh Singh took a salute of the march-past and inspected the parade.

The contingents of the BSF, CRPF, ITBP, JKAP, IRPF, District Police Lines, Srinagar, Auxiliary Police Women Police, Jail Police, Fire and Emergency Services, Forest Protection and student contingents of Mansabal School participated in the parade.

The Commandant, 4th Battalion, IRPF, Zakir Hussain was leading the parade.

Full dress rehearsals in connection with the Independence Day celebrations were also held at various district headquarters, including Baramulla, Bandipora, Badgam, Ganderbal, Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam, where respective Deputy Commissioners took the salute. 

Jammu, August 13
As a mark of respect to the victims of the Leh flash floods, the state government has decided not to organise any cultural events during the Independence Day celebrations.

Confirming this, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Pawan Kotwal said, “The state has decided to conduct only patriotic events this year since a major disaster had taken place in Leh district.”

Expressing grief over the tragedy, Kotwal said, “The government has issued circulars in both Jammu and Kashmir, directing not to hold any functions this year.”

With the announcement made at the eleventh hour, students, who had been practising for long, had to change their events to patriotic themes. Some have decided to be a part of the audience only. A participant, Ankur Sharma, said, “Though we cannot perform, we can pay homage to the martyrs.”

Meanwhile, a full-dress rehearsal was held where Jammu Deputy Commissioner MK Dwivedi also took the guard of honour. With just two days left, the security had been beefed up near the venue.

Srinagar, August 13
With the relief and rescue operations in Leh in full swing, the cloudburst toll has reached 176, of whom 16 deceased are yet to be identified, while 148 persons have been evacuated by helicopters.

Confirming this, Leh Deputy Commissioner Tsering Angchuk said today said that only six bodies of foreign tourists had been found so far. Angchuk said while many foreigners returned after trekking, three were evacuated today from the Fanjila area in the Khalsi subdivision of Leh district. Those who returned included 16 tourists from Kanjia, a couple from Fotoksar and five others from Askuta.

A group of 17 Czech Republic tourists reached the town yesterday, Angchuk added. He said 10 French tourists and 11 from Switzerland returned from Stu Markhan yesterday.

An official team air-dropped edibles to those stranded in the Stu Markhan area although the number was not known yet.

Angchuk said essential services were being restored with the help of the officials and machinery from various departments, including the Public Works Department and Public Health Engineering (PHE). The potable water supply was also restored.

Meanwhile, thousands assembled at Gompa Soma to offer prayers in the monastery in view of the catastrophe that hit Leh and adjoining areas.

A police spokesman in Srinagar said the DIG, Armed, Police Camp, Leh, organised a meeting of police officers of the district to take stock of the situation, particularly the rescue and rehabilitation work undertaken by the district police.

New Delhi, August 13
Union Sports Minister MS Gill yesterday expressed grief over the loss of life and property in the flash floods in Leh and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 20 lakh for those in distress. He announced the relief from his MPLAD Funds.

“I have written to Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State, Statistics and Programme Implementation, to allow me to send this money immediately,” Gill said in a statement. — PTI 

Jammu, August 13
Panthers Party working chairman Harsh Dev Singh has expressed concern over the ‘negligence’ on the part of the Medical Education Department in taking timely and appropriate measures for the provision of staff and infrastructure in Government Dental College, Jammu, leading to its de-recognition.

Harsh Dev said the de-recognition of the institute had damaged not only the reputation of the state, but also the careers of hundreds of students studying in the institution.

He expressed dismay over the fact that the department failed to take action in spite of repeated warnings issued by the Dental Council of India for the last few years.

Squarely blaming the department for playing with the careers of the students, he said Medical Education and Youth Services Minister RS Chib owed an explanation to the people for his apathy to the issue, which had also deprived the students of Jammu of the benefits of a professional institute as no further admissions could be made henceforth. 

Jammu, August 13
Opening a fresh chapter in Dogri film-making after almost 50 years, “Maa Ni Mildi” was premiered at Apsara Theatre this morning.

After Galan Hoiyan Beetiyan in the late 60s, this is the second film in the history of Dogri films that is running at Apsara Theatre.

While Galan Hoiyan Beetiyan was based on feudalism and its mellifluous songs remain etched in the memories to date, this one is a family drama.

Amit Choudhary, who plays the lead role in Maa Ni Mildi against Ritu Mehra, has written the story, screenplay and dialogues. Going by the story plot, a girl from a rich family is deeply in love with a boy who is not so well off. Without caring for the worldly comforts, she marries him.

But their married life soon turns sour as she faces hardships and feels that her husband cares more about his mother than her. The theme is as old as the saas-bahu feuds but it tries to highlight the nuances and sublimity of relevant issues.

Former Deputy CM Mangat Ram, Relief and Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla and eminent Dogri poet Yash Sharma were also present.

“In today’s era, films are the best medium to reach out to masses but Dogri lacked this medium. It is a fresh beginning towards the bright future of Dogri film-making,” said Yash Sharma who wrote lyrics of the first Dogri film.

“We are proud of the entire unit as it made a sincere effort to promote Dogri language,” said Raman Bhalla and appealed to those who speak Dogri to watch the film.

“The film has been shot in Vijaypur- my native place, Samba and Mumbai,” said Amit Choudhary and added: “At least 20 local artistes have worked in the movie.” 

Jammu, August 13
The pilgrimage to the Buddha Amarnath shrine in Poonch district commenced today with the first batch of 1,500 pilgrims leaving from the base camp here this morning.

Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma flagged off the first batch in a motorcade of 34 vehicles comprising 27 buses and seven light motor vehicles.

Amid tight security, the devotees left the camp around 6.35 am. The pilgrimage will end on August 24, the day of Shravan Purnima. SSP, Jammu, Basant Rath, Tourism director RK Verma, state BJP president Ashok Khajuria and Bajrang Dal national convener Subhash Chander were present. Buddha Amarnath is an ancient Shiva temple, located on the confluence of Nullah Gagri and Pulsta Nadi streams in the Mandi area of Poonch. Meanwhile, Ravinder Sharma, MLC and general secretary of the PCC, has urged for conducting the yatra on the pattern of the Amarnath yatra in Kashmir to ensure better facilities for the pilgrims.

The first batch of the yatra left for Poonch today and Sharma, Swami Vishwa Aatma Nand Maharaj and representatives of political and social organisations received the yatris at Sunderbani. He appreciated the efforts of Swami Atmanand and social organisations for extending facilities to the yatris. He said the number of yatris had been rising and would further rise if arrangements were augmented. 

Srinagar, August 13
For the past many days, the family members of Showkat Ahmad Kuchchay in Humahama village of Budgam district on the road to the Srinagar airport are worried about his welfare as he worked in a remote area of the Ladakh region. Showkat, a contractor, has been in Ladakh for quite some time in connection with the construction work of a government building. After the flash floods hit Leh town on August 6, the family has not been able to contact Showkat.

He was accompanied by some labourers from here who were also working on the project but there had been no contact with them so far. “He has told us that the work is going on at a place about 150 km from Leh,” said his brother. In the absence of road connectivity, which has been affected due to heavy damage to the Srinagar-Leh highway near Leh due to the flash floods, the only hope is that the contractor would return by air. But, so far Showkat’s family had been able to contact him as the flash floods had also damaged the BSNL communication network in the region.

The family contacted the Police Control Room (PCR) set up by the authorities in the wake of the disaster. “They (PCR) responded well and assured us that they would help us in getting in touch with him,” said one of his family members.

Not only this family, hundreds of families in the Kashmir and Ladakh regions are a worried lot as the two regions are closely linked constituting the Kashmir division of the state government. The 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highway is the only surface link connecting the two regions, though only during the summer months. The traffic on the highway got blocked between the two sides due to the catastrophe when most of the people working or studying here had temporarily shifted to their native places in Ladakh in view of the continued strikes and restrictions in Kashmir. “There is hardly anybody from the Ladakh region seen around in the area, particularly after the disaster,” said a shopkeeper in the Rajbagh locality here where a number of people from Ladakh reside.

The road blockade also hampered the supply of essential commodities to the region that begin to get stocked during this time till the road remains open by mid-November every year. The highway poses greater challenges as the fragile high peak Zojila Pass at an altitude of 3529 metres from the sea level, about 107 km from here, cannot withstand the heavy pressure of heavy truckloads of essential commodities. 

Jammu, August 13
Serious differences have cropped up in the state unit of the BJP as a majority of the party leaders and senior workers have flayed their two leaders for not effectively countering the proposal of autonomy in the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the prevailing situation in Kashmir.

State president of the BJP Shamsher Singh Manhas and former minister Chaman Lal Gupta had participated in the all-party meeting in New Delhi in which the issue of granting greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir was also discussed.

In an emergent meeting held last evening, senior leaders took the party president to task for not consulting the party cadre before taking a decision to participate in the all-party meeting in Delhi. Some activists charged the party leadership with working on the directions of the ruling parties.

Sources in the BJP said the meeting, which was convened to deliberate on the issues discussed in the all-party meeting, witnessed uproar and unruly scenes as senior leaders trained their guns at Manhas and questioned his authority to take an unilateral decision to participate in the meeting in Delhi.

They said though Manhas repeatedly stated that the decision to participate in the all-party meeting was taken following the direction of the party high command, workers charged him with succumbing to the pressure from the ruling parties.

“Why all party leaders were not taken into confidence before finalising the agenda to be discussed in the all-party meeting,” asked former president of the party Nirmal Singh. He regretted that those who represented the BJP in the meeting failed to put forth the view point of the party.

“We are finding it difficult to face the public as people are asking us about our stand on greater autonomy,” said BJP MLA from Marh Choudhary Sukhnandan. He said instead of defending their decision to participate in the meeting, the party leadership should oppose the autonomy proposal.

Insiders in the BJP disclosed that Sukhnandan’s views were echoed by Jugal Kishore Sharma, another party MLA. “Instead of maintaining a silence on autonomy, you should effectively counter the proposal,” he asked party leaders, who were present in the meeting. When Chaman Lal Gupta clarified that autonomy was not discussed in the meeting, Sharma pointed towards the media reports.

In his effort to placate the enraged members, Manhas admitted that the decision to participate in the first all-party meeting, which was held in Srinagar, was wrong. He, however, assured the party workers that the party would not hesitate to take any step to oppose autonomy.

Meanwhile, as a damage control exercise, Manhas has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clear doubt about autonomy.

Srinagar, August 13
Condemning four more deaths at various places at the hands of the security forces, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has regretted the “ostrich-like attitude” of the Central government to the unfolding disaster in Kashmir.

“Even a two-day lull in killings is unfortunately taken as a reason to turn away the focus from Kashmir,” she said referring to the killings of a teenager in Trehgam, two persons in Bumai and an elderly person in Pattan today.

Pointing out that 55 killings had taken place during the past two months, Mehbooba said it was now absolutely unavoidable that the root cause of the problem was addressed without risking more lives and wasting more time. The current anarchy, she maintained, showed the government forces were unaccountable.

The PDP president said while the indiscriminate killings represented the callous face of the state set-up and indifference to human life, the government had let loose a reign of terror at all levels that was not reflected fully by any statistics.

CPM state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also criticised the killings and termed the continuing cycle of violence as most unfortunate.

Asking the government to immediately put curbs on the elements, who with their unwanted and uncalled for actions had vitiated the atmosphere further, Tarigami said, the guilty must be identified and brought to justice.

Expressing solidarity with the bereaved families Tarigami appealed to people not to get swayed by any kind of provocations and let themselves vulnerable to the ongoing unrest in the Valley. 

Jammu, August 13
The Jammu Sessions Court has held that a criminal order can be altered or reviewed only if the same is a nullity.

Principal Sessions Judge Ashok Shan made this observation while hearing the case of Manohar Singh and Sultan Mirza, who had petitioned against handcuffing while being brought to the court.

Former SSP Manohar Singh and former SHO Sultan Mirza lodged in Central Jail had moved separate applications seeking modification of an order dated July 27, 2010, on the ground that accused Nagar Singh and his son Jatinder Singh had created a ruckus during the court proceedings on the last date of hearing, and the applicants being law-abiding citizens had done nothing unlawful to bring disrepute.

Both are facing trial for swapping the weapons of offence and fudging evidence in the infamous Amandeep murder case.

The petitions stated that since nothing had been recorded by the demeanour of the petitioners, they could not be penalised for anything not attributable to them.

The judge, while dismissing the applications, observed: “The order dated July 27, 2010, was passed in the light of allegations levelled against all accused persons for their rowdy behaviour, after being satisfied that reasonable grounds exist for bringing them from jail to court and vice-versa handcuffed. So the order in question cannot be declared to be a nullity. Otherwise also, the order cannot be said to be interlocutory in nature as the same has not been passed for a specific period, but shall remain in force till the conclusion of the trial, if not set aside by a higher court.”

The judge, after taking into consideration the contents of the application moved by the prosecution to bring the accused in handcuffed for their aggressive behaviour, as noticed after the close of the proceedings on the last date of hearing, had ordered the Superintendent of the Central Jail to bring them handcuffed 
to the court.

Jammu, August 13
The state government has nominated an eminent advocate of the state high court, Rohit Kapoor, as member of the newly created Juvenile Welfare Board.

An order issued by the Jammu District Magistrate, MK Dwivedi, stated that the government vide an order number SW/JJA/14/2001 dated May 13, 2010, had constituted a Juvenile Welfare Board for each district under sub sections (1) and (2) of Section 4 of the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice Act, 1997 for exercising powers and duties conferred or imposed on such board in relation to neglected juveniles under the Act.

Accordingly, Rohit Kapoor, who has done a lot in the area and remained actively involved in the implementation of the Act, is hereby nominated as a member of the 
Juvenile Welfare Board. 

Jammu, August 13
The Stone Crusher Owners’ Association (SCOA) has accused the state government of ignoring the industry of the region. While addressing a press conference here today, Vikram Randhawa, SCOA president, alleged discrimination between the rates charged from crushers operating in Kashmir and the Jammu province by the Department of Geology and Mining.

Highlighting other issues, Randhawa said, “It’s unfortunate that the local stone crushers industry has been demoralised, as various agencies that have established illegal crushers have been approved to lay the National Highway.”

“The local stone crushers’ industry has enough potential to meet the requirements, yet it has been ignored,” he added.

He said though the association had taken up the matter with the department concerned, MP Madan Lal Sharma and the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, nothing concrete had come out so far.

The association has appealed to the state government to establish a stone-crushing zone in the province. 

New Delhi, August 13
When a cloudburst wreaked havoc in Leh last week, actress Priyanka Chopra watched with alarm for news of a stupa and a market where she had played as a child. And sure enough, they too were gone. Now, the top Bollywood actress is reaching out to people in the region in all possible ways.

“I think I was in Class IV when I was in Leh; my brother was just born. My dad was in the Army and was posted there. I stayed in Leh for a year and the memories of that place are tremendous,” Priyanka told IANS in an interview. Her face brightens as she recalls her experiences of living in Army bunkers in the cold desert region of Jammu and Kashmir. “I have amazing memories of Leh. All Army children were not living in houses, rather in bunkers in the valley and there was a stupa right on top of a hill that used to overlook our valley.

“We used to race up to the top of the stupa, that too, bare feet. But as I saw it on a TV channel, it is just a flat ground today - it is disastrous,” she said referring to the August 6 cloudburst that has left 165 dead and damaged property immensely. Priyanka (28) revisited the Valley a few years ago for the shooting of a song for movie “Waqt - The Race Against Time”. Now, she is doing whatever she can for organisations that are trying to help the affected locals in Leh, besides urging her 500,000-plus followers on social networking site Twitter to extend their support.

“There are many ways of sending resources and little things like old clothes etc. Many organisations are sending many things in bulk. I am working with them and with the hospitals too that are sending medication.

“I am in India now only for about five days; so I will try and do whatever possible,” said Priyanka, who leaves India this weekend for Brazil to shoot for an action adventure show "Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi 3” that she is hosting. Even though she stays busy, Priyanka is also doing her bit as the face of the environment campaign - NDTV Greenathon and as the newly appointed brand ambassador of Unicef.

Where does she find time? She says, “I have always been doing these things. We (film stars) take out time for endorsements, for shows, for 50 other things...why can’t we take out time for this? If you want to take out time for something, you will get the time - that’s what I strongly believe in.” — IANS

Srinagar, August 13
The authorities here said there was no immediate risk of any epidemic in the aftermath of the devastation in Leh due to its moderate weather conditions. The government has not given up its plans to overcome any eventuality though.

“There is no immediate risk of epidemics; the affected water supply has been restored to a large extent,” said Dr Shafqat H Khan, state Nodal Officer for Disaster Preparedness.

He said the Chief Engineer, Public Health Engineering, had been in the area in association with the high-level Central team that visited Leh on the second day of the disaster. The Secretary, Health and Medical Education, also visited Leh to coordinate and tackle eventualities effectively.

The high-level team comprises 12 doctors, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, health specialists, four nurses and two ambulances, Khan said.

Leh Deputy Commissioner Tsering Angchukm told The Tribune that potable water supply was restored today through the pipelines. The state government had also issued directions to the government medical college and hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar to be prepared for any kind of emergency. An “Emergency Response Plan” had also been formulated.