Srinagar/Jammu, August 22
A cloudburst today hit the rear side of the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, but there was no report of any casualty.

“Today in the afternoon, a cloudburst was reported to have hit the rear side of the holy cave mountain, triggering a sudden rise in the water-level of the stream flowing near the area," a police spokesman said.

Three tents were damaged in the incident, but there was no loss of life, he said, adding people were evacuated to safety.

Meanwhile,the last batch of 77 pilgrims today left from Jammu for onward journey to the cave shrine.

The yatra is set to conclude in the next two days.

The batch comprising 47 men, 29 women and a child left from the base camp of Bhagwati Nagar in two buses, officials said.

The last batch of pilgrims is expected to reach the base camps at Baltal and Nunwan in Pahalgam by the evening despite inclement weather.

Traffic was plying on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway despite rain at various places along the arterial road.With today's batch, 87,215 pilgrims from different parts of the country have left from here to the 3888 metre high cave shrine since its commencement on June 30. Around 4.55 lakh pilgrims have visited the shrine till now.

Meanwhile, Minister for Medical Education RS Chib and Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla flagged off Chhari Mubarak for Shri Baba Budda Amarnath Ji Temple at Loran Mandi in Poonch district today.

Before flagging off the yatra, a satsang was organised under chairmanship of chief mahant of Dashnami Akhara Poonch Rajguru Mahamandlashwar Swami Vishathma Nand Ji Maharaj. Swami Vishwatama Nand Ji Maharaj appealed to the people for strengthening the secularism and communal harmony among all sections of the society.

Chib, while paying respect to Lord Shiva, described Swami Vishwatama Nand Ji Maharaj as a symbol of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh unity in the twin border towns of Rajouri and Poonch. He also conveyed greetings on behalf of the Chief Minister to Swami Vishwatama Nand Ji Maharaj for promoting brotherhood among the people of the region.

Jammu, August 22
Even as the police has maintained a guarded silence over names of the influential people involved in the much-published impersonation case, the political parties have trained their guns towards a Congress minister and a senior National Conference leader, whose names have been figuring in the case.

The police arrested seven impersonators, who were allegedly appearing in the combined entrance test (CET) for the kin of a Cabinet Minister and other influential persons, from the examination centre yesterday.

Looking for an opportunity to corner the Congress, the BJP has decided to take this issue to the streets to expose “misdeeds” in the government. Besides demanding sacking of the minister, whose name has been figuring in the scandal, the BJP has decided to organise demonstration in the city tomorrow to force the authorities to take action against the influential persons.

Addressing a press conference, former state president of the BJP Nirmal Singh demanded that removal of the minister from the Cabinet was must to ensure impartial enquiry, as some higher ups have been exerting pressure on the police to hush up this scam. “Impartial inquiry is not possible without sacking the minister,” he said and regretted that name of a Congress and National Conference leader has been figured in this infamous case.

Singh demanded a CBI probe into the scandal to inquire how the wards of some politicians have managed to get admission in the medical institutions through such illegal means. He further demanded that list of the politicians, whose wards have got admissions in such institutes, should be made public.

Meanwhile, the Jammu State Morcha (JSM), while expressing shock over the incident, said, “While the brilliant students burn the midnight oil and spend their time in preparing for the entrance exams, the parents of these wards are showing them the dishonest path.”

JSM leaders asked, “What sort of doctors will these students become and how the patients will suffer under their hands is quite frightening to contemplate?” They demanded that the minister, whose name has been figuring in the scam, should immediately resign from the Cabinet and also as an MLA on moral grounds for their involvement.

“The credibility of the state government is at stake here and in case there is no action or lenient action taken against the Cabinet Minister and ex-MLC of the National Conference, then it will be proved beyond doubt that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah can only talk, but cannot provide a corruption-free administration,” said the JSM leaders.

Jammu, August 22
After remaining partially suspended for nearly 36 hours, the rail traffic on a bridge over Balole Nullah in Bari Brahmana of Samba district resumed this evening.

Earlier, the movement of trains was stopped on the bridge yesterday as the foundations of 11 pillars beneath it washed away on August 20.

The train services to Jammu was restored only after engineers of northern railways along with labourers worked the whole night ceaselessly to save the bridge and resume the movement of trains on it.

The bridge, constructed in 1971, was damaged in the recent rains, as a heavy flow of water in the nullah washed away its foundations, nearly a 100-feet portion, on August 17.

After all efforts made by the railway engineers proved futile and on the midnight of August 20 the foundations completely washed away, the authorities had to stop the rail movement over the bridge.

Divisional Traffic Manager (DTM), Jammu Tawi Railway Station, GS Singh, said, “As of now, both the railway tracks have been functioning. The traffic on the suspended railway track resumed after 4 pm today and the drivers have been directed to maintain a speed of below 20 kmph while crossing the bridge.”

He added, “The overnight repair work done by the engineers and labourers made both the tracks operational.

The repair work is still going on and it will take some more time for its complete restoration.”

On being asked about the risk involved in opening the track when the work was still on, he replied, “The repair work is going on at a full pace and special instructions have been given to the drivers, so after a thorough checkup, it has been opened for trains.”

He further stated all trains coming or leaving from Jammu would come on their scheduled time at the platforms and passengers have nothing to worry about.

To provide legal help to the Ladakh flood-hit, a group of judicial experts headed by a sitting Judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has been formed.

The scheme which has been named “A scheme for legal services to the disasters victims through legal services authorities” is headed by Justice Virinder Singh,Executive Chairman of the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA).

Justice Singh who has been visiting various flood-affected areas for the past two days told The Tribune:”We are not here to provide any financial assistance to the affected people, but our work is focused on legal aspects such as helping those who lost their relatives get the relief, to settle any property issues and to ensure that the relief is given to the affected people”.

He said the core group that was established six days after the disaster would submit its report to the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) who is a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court and would ask the legal services authorities of other states to help the flood-affected by sending relief. The group consists of eight members, including the Principal Sessions Judge of the district, besides other judicial officials and Bar members.

He said though the SLSA won’t be able to provide any relief to the victims, it would recommend to the district authorities to work on certain fields which needed to be taken care of.For the common people, the SLSA would be setting up legal aid camps and aid clinics.

Justice Singh who visited some of the camps today instructed the district administration to provide an ambulance, a doctor and the services of two nurses for the affected people.

“There are pregnant ladies, elderly people and infants living in these camps.So, they need to have round-the-clock medical facilities”,he said.

Jammu, August 22
Charging the state government with adopting a casual approach towards the hardship being faced by the cloudburst-affected people of Ladakh, the BJP today demanded that the work to distribute relief and compensation should be handed over to Army and representatives of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) as people have no faith in the state administration.

Interacting with mediapersons, national executive committee member of the BJP Dr Nirmal Singh, who along with other party leaders, had visited the affected areas of Leh, alleged the state government had failed to minimise miseries of the masses as nothing concrete had been done on grounds. “Wherever we visited, people complained about the casual approach of the authorities,” he said, regretting that elected representatives of the LAHDC were not involved in the rehabilitation work due to reasons best known to the state government.

“The affected people of Ladakh have no faith on the ministers and the administration. They are demanding that either the Army or representatives of the LAHDC should be given the responsibility of distributing relief and starting the rehabilitation process”, he said.

Singh said a large number of persons were still missing and the authorities have failed to trace these persons. “Authorities do not have an exact number of missing persons, especially the labourers, who had come from different parts of the country”, he said and pointed out that contractors who had engaged them were also unaware of the number of their family members.

Jammu, August 22
Traffic movement on strategic Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained disrupted for over an hour this morning after a road opening party (ROP) spotted a suspicious looking object resembling an IED in the Ramsu area of Ramban district.

Official sources said the ROP spotted the suspicious object lying on the roadside in a bag at KM 172, near Gangru Passi, in Ramsu this morning.

The ROP immediately stopped the traffic movement on the highway and the Army immediately requisitioned a bomb-disposal squad to the spot.

The entire area was sealed and the bomb disposal squad launched its operation to defuse the suspected IED. “We did not want to take chances in the backdrop of Buddha Amarnath Yatra and Amarnath Yatra and hence traffic movement was stopped,” said sources.

Ramban district SP Mubasir Latifi said though the suspicious looking object resembled like an IED, but there were no explosives in it. “In fact, the bag contained a nose and emission controller (silencer) of a Maruti car,” he said, adding that after half-an-hour, traffic movement was resumed on the highway.

They worked hard to see their daughters get good education and had sent one of them, Yutsu, to Jammu, a day before the flash flood stuck their village. They had told their relatives that their daughter was doing well in studies. But they were not able to celebrate her success as they got washed away in the cloudburst in their native Saboo village in Leh.

“They were happy with the success of their daughter, who studies in Jammu and wanted to have a get-together the following day, but the tragedy struck and all four members of the family were washed away, leaving their daughter, who was in Jammu, alone,” said Tashi Tundup, a relative and a neighbour of the family.

Such was the intensity of the flash flood that everything was flattened. “Yutsu fainted when she came here and was immediately taken to a hospital, from where some of her close relatives took her to their house,” said Tundup, who also lost a portion of his house, but luckily no one in his family was killed.

He said as the family was planning a get-together, their elder daughter, who was married sometime back, had also arrived in the house and got washed away on that ill-fated day.

“Four members of the family, Yutsu’s father, mother, brother and sister, died in the flash flood,” said Tundup.

Saboo village was one of the worst-affected in the region, as 14 people lost their lives and 37 houses were damaged there. “People are trying to recover from the shock, we all are concerned about Yutsu, as she lost everyone in her family. We are looking forward towards the government to come to her rescue,” said village nambardar Tsering Nurboo.

The relatives in the family said 12 year-old Yutsu was still in shock and when she came to see the rubble of her house, she cried and prayed that she, too, would have been washed away in the flood.

“For now, she is living with some of her close relatives, though she is not fully aware of the extent of the loss she suffered, but she has lost whatever she had. She will realise this in the later stage of her life,” said Nurboo.

Jammu, August 22
The 24 karat gold-foiled rakhis introduced for the first time in the market for approaching ‘rakshabandan’ festival are luring the customers here.

The cost of these rakhis starts from Rs 200 and Rs 225 each, depending on their size. The customers are getting these rakhis at an affordable price, while the jewellers are witnessing heavy sale of their products.

“Gold-foiled rakhis are attractive, durable and affordable for the common man,” said Ritu Sharma, a customer while purchasing a gold-foiled rakhi.

While talking to The Tribune, Vishal Talla, a jeweller at Lakdatta Bazar said, “Earlier, we were a bit afraid about whether the customers will like it or not. But till now, we have sold 90 per cent of our stock. The response of the customers is overwhelming.”

On the one hand, sisters are purchasing gold-foiled rakhis for their brothers, on the other hand, brothers are also purchasing gold-foiled bracelets, necklaces and earrings as return gifts for their sisters.

The cost of bracelets, necklaces and earrings ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 4,000 each. Besides, gold-foiled hairpins and hair bands were also being sold that costs Rs 300 and Rs 400 each.

Jammu, August 22
To establish the identity of Huma Tabassum, a resident of Gandhi Nagar and an aspirant of the MBBS/BDS course, who had applied to appear in the CET-2010, is still a big question before the Jammu police.

Huma is said to be the daughter of a state minister, who had allegedly hired an impersonator for the exam yesterday.

More than 24 hours have passed after the police caught seven impersonators, including two girls, from Jammu University, appearing in the CET, yet it has failed to ascertain the identity of original aspirants of the MBBS and BDS courses.

Sources said all the aspirants belong to influential families as some minister or former minister’s kith and kin were allegedly involved in this case.

They further said all the aspirants, after paying a hefty sum of money to an alleged agent Kunj Bihari of Bihar, had hired the impersonators.

However, the police still remained tight-lipped over the entire issue and said they were investigating all the aspects.

Sources said students preparing for the medical or para-medical examinations in other states had always been used for similar purposes, as they take lesser money than the impersonators in the state.

In this incident too, those who were arrested on the charges of impersonation were students of medical science. “Those arrested had taken between Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000 to appear in the CET for others. Their agent, Kunj Bihari, with the help of two more persons took them to the city and arranged separate hotels for them,” said Hilal Azhar Mahmood, in charge, Nehru Market police post.

On asking about the identity of Huma Tabassum, he replied, “We have not yet got the addresses of the original aspirants, but a case has been registered against all of them and we are trying to catch them as early as possible.”

Hilal further said during the investigations, the accused had revealed that the kingpin in this racket, Kunj Bihari, was also a student of medical science. Sheetal, an impersonator, was also a MBBS student in Madhya Pradesh, he added.

The police said Kunj Bihari seemed to be an old professional in this racket, as he planned the stay of impersonators in various hotels carefully.

An owner of one of these hotels, where four of these accused had stayed, Varun Gupta, said, “Kunj Bihari along with three others, posing as students checked-in in the evening of August 20 and demanded two air-conditioned rooms. He checked-out around 12:15 pm the next day.”

Meanwhile, the accused were produced before a local court, which sent them to nine days of police remand.

However, all seven aspirants for the MBBS and BDS courses, alleged kingpin Kunj Bihari, his accomplice Hemant and one unidentified person are still at large.

Jammu, August 22
Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, including a “district commander” surrendered before the security forces in Doda district today.

LeT district commander for Doda Ghulam Mohammad (25), alias Gulla Mangnu, alias Abu Rafia and Asif Ahmed (21), alias Abu Asif Maal, laid down their weapons before the Army officers of 10 Rashtriya Rifles, 8 Rashtriya Rifles and Jammu zone IGP Ashok Gupta here today.

“Ghulam Mohammed, an “A” category ultra, was active since 2005 in the area of Doda, Bharat and Kishtwar,” Doda SSP Prabhat Singh told The Tribune. Though he had survived many encounters with the security forces, he was not involved in any serious offences, said Singh, adding that his associate, Asif Ahmed, a native of Sazan in Doda district, had joined the outfit in 2008. Though the area from Baglihar and Phalsor has been completely cleansed of HM and LeT, 10 ultras of HM continue to operate in the remote areas of Marmat and Gandoh, Singh added.

The two militants also handed over an AK-47 rifle, three AK magazines, 90 AK rounds, two Chinese pistols (9mm) with eight rounds and one Chinese-make grenade during a function organised for this purpose in the town.

“Now, they will be rehabilitated in due course of time,” Jammu zone IG Ashok Gupta told The Tribune. The Doda SSP, however, attributed their surrender to sustained pressure by the counter-insurgency forces and at continued efforts to persuade the militants through their family members to come back to the national mainstream.

“On our request, they have come back, so now it’s our responsibility to look after them,” said the SSP. “They were the inhabitants of Doda, but they operate in the Badi Dhok area of Kishtwar district,” he said. The sources in one of the counter-insurgency forces, however, attributed surrender of the two LeT ultras to constant fear of getting eliminated in the encounters.

Jammu, August 22
Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today assured all help to the people affected by floods and said the repair of damaged embankments in the flood-prone areas had been taken up on a war footing.

The Deputy Chief Minister was interacting with the members of various deputations, including those from the flood-affected areas, which called on him to apprise about the problems being faced by them.

The deputations, which called on Tara Chand, hailed from Pargwal, Jogwan, Bardoh, Hamirpur, Udhaywala and Lalle-da-Bagh areas.

He said the government was abreast with the problems of the people who were suffering in the wake of heavy rains this summer. He said concrete steps were being taken to ensure protection of life and property of the people against the floods in the vulnerable areas.

Responding to the problems projected by the members of the deputations, the Deputy Chief Minister said a huge damage was caused to the infrastructure across the state and the government was making every effort to restore services like, power, water, besides road communication disrupted due to rains and floods.

He also issued on-the-spot orders to the departments concerned to solve the problems of their respective areas raised by the deputation members, which included the restoration of power supply, stocking of sufficient food grains.

Jammu, August 22
Even as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured protection to the Sikh community in troubled Kashmir, various Sikh organisations here attributed the unpleasant development to the forces inimical to peace in the Valley. Of late, the minority Sikh community has been receiving anonymous letters asking them to either convert to Islam or leave the Valley.

“Enemies of peace are out to vitiate communal harmony in Kashmir and we warn such elements to desist from their evil designs otherwise Kashmiri tradition of harmony and brotherhood would get tainted,” said Sudershan Singh Wazir, president of the Sikh United Forum and former president of the J&K State Gurdwara Prabandhak Board while addressing mediapersons here. Referring to anonymous letters and posters, Wazir said, they appeared to be the handiwork of some agencies hellbent upon bringing a bad name to Kashmiriyat, an embodiment of communal harmony and peaceful co-existence of all communities in the worst situation.

He called upon Muslims in the Valley to follow the tenets of Islam, which preached protection of other religions, especially minorities. Wazir assured full support to the Kashmiri Sikh Coordination Committee, asking it to form panels in Kashmir involving the majority community to foil evil designs of mischief mongers.

President of the State Youth Akali Dal Narbir Singh asked communal forces at work to desist from issuing statements, which posed a threat to the secular character of the Constitution. President of the Jammu United Secular Forum Avtar Singh Khalsa called upon the intelligentsia and progressive forces in Kashmir to come forward in exposing elements bent upon tarnishing the image of Islam and Kashmiriyat.

Chief organiser of the Bhai Kanhiya Nishkam Sewa Society Mohinder Singh said nobody was going to tolerate any move, which may put minority community to harm.

Srinagar, August 22
A delegation of the All-India Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by its president, Jaswant Singh Mann, met the hardline APHC leader, Syed Ali Geelani, at his Hyderpora residence and discussed the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley here today.

The delegation comprised members from the Valley also and included Bhagwant Singh Mann, Joginder Singh Shan, Satinder Singh and Jagmohan Singh Raina. The Sikh leaders also visited SMHS hospital and met the injured of the recent clashes in Kashmir. They also met the separatist APHC chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who had also come to the hospital to meet the injured.

All the leaders assured their support for maintaining communal harmony and stressed on the good relations between the two communities in the Valley. The delegation was assured that the leaders would continue their efforts in normalising the situation. The visiting leaders would be meeting with public dignitaries and also the Bar association to seek the help of all the concerned in an effort to restore normalcy.

Srinagar, August 22
Amid a complete shutdown in response to the separatists’ call and the curfew in parts of the Valley today, at least 10 persons were injured in clashes between protesters and the security forces here.

The curfew continued for the second consecutive day today under 12 police stations of Srinagar city, apart from Beijbehara town in south Kashmir and the Trehgam area of Kupwara district. However, the restrictions were lifted from Sopore and Anantnag towns today.

At least 10 persons were injured, six of them seriously, in the clashes which took place between the protesters and the police in the Chhana Mohallah locality in Srinagar.

The trouble started when the police while conducting a flag march was removing some “objectionable flag” hoisted in the locality. Some miscreants pelted the police heavily with stones after the flag was removed, a police spokesman said. The police cane-charged, lobbed tear-gas shells and used pump action ammunition to chase away the miscreants. Seven persons received injury on their legs and were shifted to various hospitals, the police said. The condition of all of them is reported to be stable.

Protest demonstrations were also reported from Shopian district of south Kashmir where a mob threw stones on the police vehicles at Alialpora in the town.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary SS Kapur conducted extensive tours of Kupwara and Bandipore in north Kashmir and Shopiana and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir during the past few days to review the law and order situation.

August 22
To provide legal help to the Ladakh flood-hit, a group of judicial experts headed by a sitting Judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has been formed.

The scheme which has been named “A scheme for legal services to the disasters victims through legal services authorities” is headed by Justice Virinder Singh,Executive Chairman of the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA).

Justice Singh who has been visiting various flood-affected areas for the past two days told The Tribune:”We are not here to provide any financial assistance to the affected people, but our work is focused on legal aspects such as helping those who lost their relatives get the relief, to settle any property issues and to ensure that the relief is given to the affected people”.

He said the core group that was established six days after the disaster would submit its report to the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) who is a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court and would ask the legal services authorities of other states to help the flood-affected by sending relief. The group consists of eight members, including the Principal Sessions Judge of the district, besides other judicial officials and Bar members.

He said though the SLSA won’t be able to provide any relief to the victims, it would recommend to the district authorities to work on certain fields which needed to be taken care of.For the common people, the SLSA would be setting up legal aid camps and aid clinics.

Justice Singh who visited some of the camps today instructed the district administration to provide an ambulance, a doctor and the services of two nurses for the affected people.

“There are pregnant ladies, elderly people and infants living in these camps.So, they need to have round-the-clock medical facilities”,he said.