Srinagar, August 21
A delegation led by president of the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Srinagar, KN Singh, here today brought to the notice of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah the matter relating to the writing of anonymous letters by some unscrupulous elements to community members. The Chief Minister assured the delegation that his government would trace the mischievous elements involved in writing the anonymous letters and bring them to book.

The delegation also discussed various issues pertaining to the community, an official spokesman said. The Chief Minister told the delegation that he was proud of the secular credentials of the people of the Valley, who had always withstood all such onslaughts from mischievous forces when futile attempts were made to create a wedge between different communities.

He said the world recognised the secular character of the people of the Valley where people belonging to different faiths lived amicably tied with firm bonds of love and affection. He said the Valley where Sufi saints had inculcated the spirit of love and brotherhood were still being followed with reverence and respect. Therefore, Omar said, the letters written on computer and circulated by one or two mischievous person\s should not be construed as the voice of the majority.

Acknowledging the views of the Chief Minster, the members of the delegation also said their Muslim brethren in the Valley had always showered love upon them for centuries, particularity during the last two decades of turbulence. The delegation said it had apprehension that some inimical forces were involved in the conspiracy and urged the Chief Minister to bring them to book.

The Chief Minister also assured the delegation that all necessary steps would be taken by the government for their economic and social security. He said the mature approach of both communities cordially resolved one such isolated ugly incident at Tral recently. He said similarly all precautions were required to be taken by all right thinking people of all communities to thwart the ill-designs of mischievous elements, bent upon breeding hatred in the Valley, which had been living in a spiritual atmosphere for centuries. 

Srinagar, August 21
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has regretted the attempts to malign Kashmir society through “unfounded theories” of threat to the minorities saying the reports of unidentified threat letters to the Sikh community caused pain and anger throughout the Valley.

In a statement, Mehbooba said these threats were widely viewed as a part of a deliberate campaign to demonise a population that in itself, including the minorities, was facing a threat to life and an assault on dignity. She said it was painful to see national-level debates on obviously inspired reports that could create serious doubts about the intentions and character of the residents of Kashmir in the rest of the country.

Mehbooba said while Kashmir was still to come to terms with the loss of its principal minority and was waiting for their return, apprehensions being created about Sikhs were following a pattern to demonise us further.

While Kashmir had lost more than 60 youths to government bullets since June and life remaining completely out of gear, the only thing that continued to move in Kashmir was the yatra, she said. Many of the half a million yatris were provided medical assistance by local NGOs even when the hospitals here found themselves unequal to the immense emergencies, she said.

Mehbooba regretted that no media channels even mentioned this even as they lapped up unfounded and unsubstantiated threat stories with relish.

She appreciated the stand of the Sikh leaders, who categorically refused to take the bait.

Mehbooba said even the representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community had unequivocally stated that there was no truth behind the stories. 

Jammu, August 21
Anticipating criticism of the government, representatives of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress today skipped a seminar organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Forum on “Crisis in Kashmir: Causes and Remedies”. Representatives of all political parties were invited to the seminar but the ruling parties boycotted it.

Keeping in view the absence of the ruling parties’ representatives, participants in the seminar took the present government to task for its failure to control the situation. A majority of the participants alleged that the NC was responsible for all problems in the state and the party leadership was now avoiding the public. They repeatedly pointed towards the absence of the government’s representatives in the seminar and seized the opportunity to pinpoint the failures of the coalition.

Ravinder Raina, one of the organisers of the seminar, said the forum had extended invitations to the Congress and NC also but their representatives did not turn up. “It is obvious that the present government is responsible for the prevailing situation in the Valley so their representatives decided to skip the function, as they did not have the guts to face the people,” he said. He added that “by skipping the function, the NC-Congress leadership has admitted its failure in tackling the present situation in the Valley.”

The representatives of the PDP, BJP, BSP, Akali Dal, Muslim Federation, Sikh and Kashmiri Pandit organistions spoke in the seminar. Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh, who could not attend the seminar due to illness, sent a written message.

PDP representatives Sayed Asgar Ali advocated that the self-rule proposal of his party was the only viable solution for solving the problem.

He, however, made it clear that the PDP did not want to impose its solution on the people. “We want a debate and a discussion on our proposal so that wishes and aspirations of all sections of society should be incorporated while evolving a consensus,” Asgar said.

General secretary of the Muslim Federation HA Sadique stressed on the need for maintaining communal harmony and brotherhood at a time when the state was passing though a crucial phase.

Representative of the BJP Bali Bhagat blamed the successive Congress governments at the Centre for the present situation in the Valley. 

Jammu, August 21
Even as the alleged involvement of a prominent politician’s daughter kept the mediapersons on their toes throughout the day, the police today arrested seven impersonators, including two girls, who allegedly appeared on behalf of the aspirants in the Common Entrance Test (CET) for MBBS and BDS courses. However, the kingpin of the gang managed to escape.

Among these seven impersonators, one girl allegedly appeared on behalf of the politician’s daughter. All accused belong to other states and were allegedly running a racket to take various exams in place of others.

Though the police confirmed the arrest of seven impersonators, it remained tight-lipped about the involvement of the politician’s daughter in the racket. The police, however, assured a fair probe and action against whosoever found guilty.

The impersonators were caught just an hour after the examination started at two examination centres of Jammu University where the invigilators established that photographs on the admit cards carried by these candidates were not matching with the ones in the record.

Sources said the police after receiving information from the invigilators raided the examination centres and arrested the accused. On the information provided by the arrested persons, two more impersonating girls were caught at other examination centres. During investigations, a girl confessed to impersonating for a girl whose father is a politician.

“After suspicion, our invigilators checked the admit cards and official records and discovered seven impersonators. The aspirants involved in the case have been disqualified and a criminal case has been registered against them,” said Director, J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations, Prof JR Rathore.

The arrested have been identified as Lalit Kumar and Satyendra Singh, both residents of Bihar, Om Prakash and Zabar Singh, both residents of Rajasthan, Sheetal, a resident of Bhopal, and Shruti Gaur and Mubeen of Uttar Pradesh.

The kingpin, who is still at large, has been identified as Kunj Bihari, a resident of Patna in Bihar.

The original examinees were identified as Arshi Kiran, a resident of Roopnagar, Jammu, Uma Tabassum of Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, Lobesh Bharat, a resident of Mohalla Ustad, Jammu, Takshay and Sneh of New Delhi, Mohammad Sadiq of Aligarh and Rajiv Kumar of Bihar.

A case under Sections 420-B and 490 of the RPC has been registered against the accused at Nehru Market police post. “We are verifying the matter and if the name of any politician’s daughter or son comes out, action will be taken against him or her,” said SSP, Jammu, Basant Rath.

Jammu, August 21
Train services to Jammu were partially affected as the foundation of 11 pillars of a railway bridge over the Balole nullah at Bari Brahmana in Samba district washed away last midnight.

The recent rain in the region played havoc on the bridge and damaged its foundation completely. Earlier, The Tribune had published a news “Train services to Jammu may come to halt” on August 20.

Though the railway authorities had been engaged in the repair work for the last five days, they failed to save the foundation of the pillars and had no option but to stop the movement of trains on one railway track over the bridge. The bridge has its importance, as all trains come to Jammu after crossing over it from Bari Brahmana. It is just 1.5 km from the Bari Brahmana railway station towards Jammu.

After the foundation was damaged, all senior officers of the Ferozepur division of the Northern Railways, including Regional General Manager Mithliesh Chaubey, reached the spot today to take stock of the loss and decided to block one track till midnight.

“So far, we have stopped the movement of trains on one track over the bridge, as a large part of the foundation has washed away and it is unsafe to open it for trains,” said GS Singh, Divisional Traffic Manager, Jammu Tawi Railway station, adding that “earlier a speed of 20 kmph was fixed for trains while crossing it”. He said all trains come to Jammu crossing this bridge and if it did not open till tomorrow, they might have to cancel some trains or reschedule them from Pathankot or some other station.

“So far, all trains, except a train coming from Pathankot, have been reaching Jammu, but 1-PJU train coming from Pathankot was returned midway around 5 am today,” added GS Singh.

Sources said the railway bridge was built in 1971 and a number of times tenders had been floated for its repair in the last two-three years, but no one was given the contract for maintenance.

The first crack appeared on the night of August 17, when nearly a 100-feet foundation of the bridge washed away. Later the crack increased continuously and reached near the pillar numbers 2, 3 and 4, finally pillar number 9.

Jammu, August 21
The Director, Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, and veteran journalist, Balraj Puri, had a detailed discussion with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the present situation in Kashmir recently.

According to him, needs of the teenagers, who were in the forefront of the current protests, should be understood and redressed. “They should also have the freedom to demonstrate and protest, and should be dealt with by the police and the CRPF with modern techniques of crowd handling, which involves dispersing the crowd without killing and injuring anybody. Every killing should be followed by an independent inquiry,” he suggested.

Referring to political measures, Puri told the Prime Minister that Jammu and Kashmir was privileged to have more diversity than any other state of the country and, thus should be helped to be a model of unity in diversity. With this objective, Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah had agreed on the autonomy to the state and regional autonomy within the state, he said.

“This formula was agreed upon at an all-party conference convened by Sheikh Abdullah in 1968 and attended by all political parties of the Kashmir region, except for the Congress. It was also incorporated in the National Conference manifesto in 1975,” he said, adding, “The present system, which centralises all powers in the hands of the state government, should be reformed so that people at all levels are empowered and get some degree of freedom.”

Talking of Kashmiri Pandits, he said, “They comprise the most intellectual community of the state and can play an important role in enriching the unique cultural heritage of Kashmir.”

Puri said their services should be used fully. In this context, he referred to the visit of 40,000 Kashmiri Pandits at Khir Bhawani, which is their religious place of pilgrimage, this year and a warm reception extended by Muslims to them there.

“It demonstrated their potential role in the socio-cultural life of Kashmir. The Prime Minister assured Puri that the Central government was considering all suggestions seriously and was determined to resolve all problems of the people of the state,” he added.

Jammu, August 21
In a bid to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of Kishtwar district, a handwritten poster in Urdu issued by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) appeared in a mosque in Kishtwar town, about 230 km from here, yesterday.

The poster appeared to be the handiwork of sympathisers of the LeT, intelligence sources confided in The Tribune.

Being Friday and the holy month of Ramazan, Muslims visit the mosque in a big number to offer prayers. Therefore, it was a clear attempt to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere by stirring their emotions, the sources added.

Security agencies immediately removed the poster and confiscated it, they added.

They said under a signature and a seal, an appeal had been made to the people in the poster to protest the killings of Kashmiris in the Valley and get united against the security forces.

“The poster written in Urdu was immediately removed from the mosque and confiscated,” said SSP Hasib Mughal. He added that the police had taken cognisance of the matter.

The mischievous element responsible for the act could not be identified and, hence, none could be arrested, he said.

The sources said the LeT, which had been decimated in the mountainous district, had again started gaining momentum. It was on February 5 this year the banned militant outfit had announced a unilateral ceasefire in Kishtwar to deal with the informers.

In March, the Lashkar, with the help of an odd letter, which had been spotted in Sungali village of Doda, had asked the locals not to join the police.

Meanwhile, the security forces busted a hideout in Doda yesterday and seized some arms and ammunition. In a joint operation, the CRPF and the police smashed the hideout in Darankhal near Dagandhar, 20 km from Doda.

The seizures include 60 kg of explosives, 57 rounds of AK-47, two rounds of Chinese pistol, 100-metre cordex wire and eight detonators.

Jammu, August 21
Terming the National Conference (NC)-Congress government in the state as a direction-less alliance forged for the lust of power, national vice-president of the BJP Vinay Katiyar today alleged that the minorities were not safe in the Valley due to the prevailing situation in Kashmir.

Katiyar, a firebrand BJP leader who was especially deputed by the party to launch the “Save Kashmir” campaign in Jammu, blamed the weak policies of the state government for the turmoil in the Valley. He alleged that instead of tackling the situation with an iron hand, the government had been functioning on the directions of the separatist leaders like Sayed Ali Shah Geelani.

Amid reports of the circulation of pamphlets in which Sikhs living in the Kashmir valley were threatened of dire consequences by some fundamentalists, the BJP leader offered full support to the members of the minority community living in the Valley. “I appeal to the Sikhs living in the Kashmir valley not to migrate from their native places at any cost and the BJP would effectively take up their issues in and outside Parliament,” he said.

Cautioning the minorities against the designs of the fundamentalists active in the Kashmir valley, Katiyar alleged that on the one hand they had been threatening the Sikhs on the other some elements had been shedding crocodile tears to hoodwink them.

Katiyar minced no words in attacking Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for, what he alleged, succumbing to the pressure of the separatists. “A weak Chief Minister like Omar Abdullah cannot protect minorities, hence Union Home Minister P Chidambaram should personally intervene to avoid the exodus of the minorities from the Valley,” he said and warned that the BJP would not remain a mute spectator to the situation. “We have launched a nationwide campaign, which would be further intensified for the integration of the country,” he said.

Outrightly rejecting the greater autonomy demand put forth by the NC, Katiyar said this state already enjoyed powers due to Article 370 of the Constitution. “Except abusing these special powers, the ruling elite in Jammu and Kashmir has done nothing for the betterment of the people,” he said. He pointed out that those demanding more concession for the state in the form of greater autonomy were actually exploiting the sentiments of innocent people for their petty political interests.

Jammu, August 21
The Panthers Party today appealed to the people of the state to beware of some leaders of the National Conference and the Congress, who had been trying to divert everyone’s attention from the government’s failure.

In a statement issued here today, chairman of the party Bhim Singh termed the present government as “a sinking ship” and alleged that the leaders of the ruling coalition had been trying to give a communal twist to the prevailing situation in the state.

He praised the minorities, particularly the Sikh fraternity, for holding the secular bonds in the state in general, and in the Kashmir valley in particular. He said the majority in the Valley had always demonstrated its secular will which was evident from Partition. “A composite culture is an essential part of the Kashmiriyat and the Muslim fraternity has always stood for maintaining communal harmony and brotherhood at all times,” he said.

The chairman observed that the present NC-Congress alliance headed by Omar Abdullah had failed to deliver and there was no sign of governance in the state. “A few individuals and busy bodies are running a parallel administration in the Kashmir valley,” he said, adding that raising of the autonomy issue by NC leaders was another attempt to save the Chief Minister and his tainted government. “There is no taker of autonomy or self-rule in the entire state. The resolution lies in the reorganisation of the state on the basis of cultural, linguistic, geographical identities of Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu regions,” he said. 

Srinagar, August 21
An indefinite curfew was imposed in areas under 12 police stations of Srinagar city since this morning to prevent any untoward incident following the death of two persons in the continuing clashes between protesters and the security forces yesterday. Amid a shutdown in response to the separatists’ call, protests were held at different places across the Valley today.

Curfew restrictions continued for the second consecutive day in the apple rich town of Sopore in Baramulla district and Anantnag and Beijbehara towns of Anantnag district. One person was killed during the clashes with the police in the highway township of Beibehara, while another youth from Sopore succumbed to his injuries in the hospital here yesterday. According to the District Magistrate, Srinagar, areas under the jurisdiction of police stations of Batamaloo, Bemina, Qamarwari, Kralkhud, Nowhatta, Khanyar, MR Gunj, Safakadal, Rainawari, Maisuma, Shaheedgunj and Abi-guzar area of police station Kothibagh were brought under curfew restrictions today.

Elsewhere in the Valley, normal life was paralysed in response to the separatists’ bandh call against the series of killings and continued alleged human rights violations.

Protests were held at various places across the Valley today in which at least two police personnel and several civilians were injured.

A police spokesman said two constables were injured when protesters indulging in stone throwing clashed with the police at Sheikhpora, near here, in Budgam district. Those injured have been hospitalised. Some miscreants tried to block the Airport Road at Humhama but were chased away, the police said.

Protests were also held in Shopian town where protesters pelted stones at police vehicles at the bus stand. However, they were chased away by the police. There have been no reports of injuries to anyone.

Jammu, August 21
The devastating cloudburst in Leh has brought the entire student community of Ladakh, presently putting up in Jammu, together for a single cause. They have been serving the victims of the natural calamity in Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, ever since they were flown to Jammu.

Students have been doing the philanthropic work under the banner of the All-Ladakh Students Association. A group of at least 15 to 20 students is attending to patients in the orthopaedics ward round the clock.

Students attending to the patients are not related to them, but what makes for the bonding is the fact that they all are from Ladakh.

“We are assigned duty on the rotational basis. In the ward, we look after the needs of the patients. Our volunteers help them to answer nature’s call and those who cannot move from their beds, we dispose their excreta so that they don’t face any inconvenience,” said one such volunteer, Stanzin Namga, who studies Geology in University of Jammu.

Sukhwara, a labourer hailing from Nepal, got her left leg broken in the incident. In the ward no 1 of orthopaedics, it would have been very difficult for her son, Firthu Ram, to cater to the needs of his mother all alone, had there been no help from these volunteers. There are many more like Sukhwara being attended to by the volunteer students.

“Now we are here for a cause, we cannot turn our face away from the other patients. We are attending to everyone in the ward, whosoever seems to be needy,” he added.

A second year college student, Dolkar, has no relative in the hospital yet she is taking care of the sufferers. “We take their samples for regular tests and collect the reports,” she said and added, “Earlier most of the patients did not have any attendants but now almost eveny one has one or two. Yet it becomes difficult so we are here as long as they recover fully and walk out of the hospital at their own.”

Another such volunteer, Jigmat said, “Four patients have spinal injuries whereas rest of the flood victims have bone injuries and are recuperating.”

They hospital staff is very supportive given the infrastructure and manpower available at the hospital, the volunteers remarked.

Jammu, August 21
The alleged kidnapping case of a Class X girl from Nanak Nagar late last night turned out to be a case of elopement, the police claimed.

The police said a complaint was filed by the girl’s family that some persons kidnapped her when she was returning from her relative’s house in the same locality last night.

Acting on the complaint, the police started investigations and detected that the girl had actually eloped. “During the investigations we talked to a tutor of the girl who revealed that she had an affair with a boy,” said a police officer.

He added, “Following this, we identified the boy and took him to the police station. The boy admitted that they had a plan to run away.”

The police said the parents of the girl were also aware about their daughter’s affair but they did not reveal anything to the police.

Rafiq Manhas, SHO, Gandhi Nagar police station said the girl also called on the cellphone of the boy, who is at present under detention. He said, “The location of the girl has been traced and she will be brought back to the city in a short period.”

However, Rafiq did not reveal the present location of the girl, as she might further run away. Both boy and girl are minor and their names are not being published.