Srinagar, October 1
Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda here recently sanctioned scholarships in favour of 57 schoolgoing children of deceased police personnel who laid down their lives for restoring normalcy in the state and protected public property and human lives. These scholarships were sanctioned during the monthly meeting of Police Parivar Fund, held at Police Headquarters under the chairmanship of the DGP.

Addressing the meeting, Khoda said it was the prime responsibility of the Police Organisation to take care of the wards of the colleagues who have sacrificed their lives to uphold the tradition of bravery of the J&K police. He said the department had taken several steps to provide financial assistance to these wards so that they do not feel themselves deprived. He said besides providing scholarships, free education was provided to them in Police Public Schools established at Jammu, Srinagar and some other districts in the state. He disclosed that the department was considering some more welfare schemes for the families of police martyrs, serving and retired police personnel.

Giving details, the DGP said over Rs 1.51 lakh had been sanctioned in favour of 45 children of martyred police personnel and 12 children of police personnel who have died due to natural deaths. The scholarships had been sanctioned for the academic year 2009-10.

Khoda said the scholarships had been sanctioned out of the Central Police Welfare Fund in favour of the students studying in various educational institutions in different classes. He said the fund had been created for promoting quality education among the wards of police personnel. He further said efforts were on to provide better education facilities to the wards of police personnel.

The scholarships sanctioned among the wards, whose parents have sacrificed their lives while fighting militancy include Shahid Ali, Rafia Jan, Junaid, Rayees Ahmed, Nusrat Fatima, Rifat Fatima, Sunil Singh, Balbir Singh, Renu Devi, Nasir Hussain, Rahie Hussain, Roonaq Hussain, Nasreena, Nadeem, Junaid Manzoor, Ulfat, Sakshi Panditha, Ashvani, Sheetal, Jamshid, Jehangir Ahmed, Anil Kumar, Rohini Sharma, Mujarib Khan, Tabasum, Mukarib Khan, Shomia Anjum, Homia, Fozia, Reehana Kaunsar, Suliman Khan, Imran, Arfana, Rokhsana, Mukhtar Ahmed, Neelofar Jan, Sajad Ahmed, Rauf-ul-Hassan, Sohib Hassan and Raheena Chowdhery.

The scholarships sanctioned in favour of wards of police personnel who died due to natural or accidental deaths while in service include Abid Khaliq, Ummayat Khaliq, Razik Khaliq, Syed Asif Ahmed, Shugfata Bano, Wakir Ahmed Shah, Sainia Kaunsar, Adil Gani, Badil Gani, Imran Khan, Saimaia Akhtar and Ishan Khan. 

Jammu, October 1
Welcome (to) Model village Beoli, reads a huge billboard at the entrance of a small village, nearly 15 km from Doda. It is only two years ago that economic development picked up in Beoli that stood witness to widespread bloodshed in the past. However, leaving behind its past, the village has moved on and is an example of rural development in the state.

Doda was the first district in Jammu region that was influenced by separatist ideology after armed struggle started in the Kashmir Valley. Underdevelopment and unemployed in the mountainous villages of the district, where landholdings are very small and road connectivity is still very poor and limited, provided ideal ground to propagandists of militant ideology to influence youth.

However, things seem to be changing for better, slowly but steadily. During the past two years, the Department of Rural Development has spent Rs 1.20 crore on the development process. The village has got a building for rural information centre, a shopping complex, a community hall, some ponds and concrete pathways, besides solar lights. Officials in the local administration say two villages in every block have been developed as model villages.

The villagers are now waiting for computers and staff at the information centre, besides formation of panchayat, which was long dissolved, so that the infrastructure that has come up in the village could be made operational as per their requirement.

The road project having a length of 14.40 km aimed at connecting Beoli with Koti under phase VI of the Pradhanmantri Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has been abandoned half way. The construction work under the project at a cost of Rs 793.96 lakh, started on June 20, 2009. Villagers who lost their land to the road project have not been compensated so far whereas debris piled up on agricultural land along the road has not been cleared so far. The villagers grumble the response of work executing agency.

In this settlement of approximately 200 homes, every third family suffered during militancy. Many youths joined militant groups and died in encounters with security forces. Those who abjured militant cadres died mysterious deaths. There are also a few youths, who left for armed training with militants but never came back. Their families do not know about their whereabouts and whether they are still alive or dead.

At the superficial level, the militant ideology seems almost extinct in Beoli. The families that lost their members fighting security personnel do not hesitate in socialising with the families whose members are serving in the security forces.

One of the three sons of Ghulam Kadir Bhat, former sarpanch of the village, Bashir Ahmed, alias Bitta, was a HM militant. Bitta, according to his mother Sakina, died on LoC near Kupwara. He shot dead by security forces while he was crossing over to Pakistan along with a group of youths.

Sakina’s another son is serving in the CRPF and the third one is running a grocery shop in the village.

“Had he asked for my permission, I would have never let him go,” says Sakina in a poignant voice and continues, “Those were the days when boys everywhere had gone crazy. They were seized by the idea that everything will change for better”.

“It was a frenzy, that phase is over,” sums up a villager, Hamid Ullah Bhat, who works as a labourer at a construction site of a mosque. His son, Mohd Irfan Bhat, was a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant. He died in an encounter with security forces in 2005. On of his son is in college while the other is in school.

Forty-year-old Shaina’s husband Hamid Ullah was a militant of Hijbul Mujahideen outfit. Security forces killed him in an encounter in 1996. Since then she is living with his father Ghulam Ali in a two-storeyed kuccha house perched on the fringe of a mountain.

Ghulam Ali cites economic deprivation as main reason that compelled his son-in-law to join militancy, a problem that Hamid’s family continues to face even after his death.

The first son of Hamid and Shaina, Imtiyaz Ahmed, is a school dropout and works as a labourer in Doda town. Other two, Nasira Bano and Zafar Hussain, study in class X and VII, respectively.

“My husband was the first who gained martyrdom in the area,” says Rehana Begum, widow of slain militant Ghulam Nabi. After his death, she continues to live with her mother-in-law, Faza Begum in a kuccha house.

She was in class XI when she got married. “At the time of our marriage, my husband was a militant. Earlier, he worked in the health and forest departments on an ad hoc basis,” says Rehana, who is an anganwari worker.

In the same village, many widows of slain militants got remarried. They either abandoned their children or left them at their maternal homes.

Meanwhile, the families of deceased militants have been seeking compensation from the government for a long time now, but all their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Srinagar, October 1
The brief Assembly session, which began yesterday and conclude on October 11 after having eight working days, is different in many ways from the previous two sessions held in the new Legislature Complex here. This session is being held under a unique political and security scenario prevailing in the state, particularly in the Kashmir Valley.

On the political front, the coalition government has been facing criticism from opposition parties, both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, on the issue of 109 killings in the four-month-long turmoil in Kashmir and the alleged discrimination to Jammu region on development front.

The PDP had been staying away from most of the meetings by the ruling coalition and had only attended the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister in New Delhi last month.

Having attended the session on the first day, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at the government for its alleged failure in ending the ongoing killings and restore normalcy in the Valley. As the leader of the main opposition party with 21 members in the 87-member House, she announced to boycott the rest of the session and led a walkout by all party MLAs on Thursday morning.

Out of 21 MLAs, two from Jammu region could not reach on time, while senior leader Sartaj Madni, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, had to stay on.

There was no “hungama” as per practice on the very first day in the House, as the PDP preferred to only restrict itself like all other parties to the obituary references to a former leader, and those killed in the recent turmoil in Kashmir and victims of Ladakh disaster. All other leaders, including the Chief Minister, restricted their address to the obituary references and condolences, except for an independent MLA, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who tried to corner the government making a political speech out of obituary references.

Unlike the past two sessions, no “untoward” incident took place in the House as the members from both the treasury and opposition benches were in a pensive mood over the recent killings in the Valley. The complex has a history of “untoward” incidents on the first days.

Earlier, the Congress-PDP coalition government led by Ghulam Nabi Azad witnessed the first day in the House as its last day when the Chief Minister announced his decision to resign after PDP’s withdrawal of support on July 7, 2008. The opening day in the House on July 27 2009 with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at the head of NC-Congress coalition government witnessed a historic scene when Mehbooba Mufti wrenched the Speaker’s mike. Only a day after, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig made a startling revelation about the alleged involvement of Omar Abdullah in the 2006 sex scandal.

Secondly, on the security front, the ongoing session has been equally tough and smooth for the police personnel guarding the Assembly complex located between the two other vital installations, Civil Secretariat and the high court. It has been tough for men in uniform to ensure no movement of civilian traffic amid curfew restrictions, particularly around the timing of movement of legislators and ministers on their way to and fro the Assembly complex.

The location of the new complex has eased the traffic problem on the main road leading via Jehangir Chowk to Budshah Chowk, which was usually being closed to traffic due to security reasons.

Jammu, October 1
Coinciding with the International Day of Older Persons on October 1, Kashmiri Pandits are planning to set up an old age home here. The plan has been mooted by a number of NRIs who find their roots linked to Kashmir.

Hari Kaul, a Canada-based Kashmiri Pandit and founder member of the Kashmir Medical Emergency Care Trust (KMECT), said there was a need to have a home for senior citizens whose younger generations have moved out to other states and countries for better prospects. The proposed home would help maintain physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of each individual member, he said.

Kaul said the institution would also provide a space for community interaction, besides a secured living.

He said requisite formalities were being chalked out to register the project as a trust. “We have already started working on the project with an appeal to the KP global community members to put forth their suggestions so as to rehabilitate the underprivileged, helpless, sick and old aged people with honour, respect, love and affection.

Kaul said, “We intend to provide this service absolutely free of cost. Initially, senior citizens’ home will function from a rented building for the first three years. This will be the second project supported and funded by the Kashmir Pandit global community. The KMECT is already providing medical facilities to those community members who meet any medical emergency and cannot afford high medical bills”.

Kamal Hak, spokesman, Panun Kashmir, said a group of women had also organised itself under the banner of Kashmira Vahini and was working on setting up a multipurpose old age home here.

Over the past four months of turmoil, the central Lal Chowk had been the centre of activity and remained in news. Earlier this year, it had been in the news for good reasons of refurbishing as the authorities launched a beautification project to attract tourists to this historic spot at the heart of the summer capital. Under the new project, the Clock Tower, like the open space in the area, was given a different red brick colour over the previous white outlook. But, the fresh looking tower became the victim of public anger on the Eid-ul-Fitr day, much before the project was given final touches.

A huge public rally from Eidgah marched towards the Lal Chowk to register protest against the recent series of killings. Some angry demonstrators managed to climb the length of the tower, damaging (see picture) the delicate brick walls and network on its sides.

Jammu, October 1
Cracked and moisturised walls, broken glasses of doors and windows and bushes developed on walls, this is the present condition of the Institute of Music and Fine Arts (IMFA), which is affiliated to the University of Jammu.

While talking to The Tribune, a group of parents alleged that the institute posed threat to lives of students as the building was in a dilapidated condition and could lead to an untoward incident anytime.

Expressing resentment against the institute authorities, Rajiv Mahajan, a parent, appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to provide financial aid for repairing the institute’s building.

According to sources, students of the institute had a narrow escape when a slab of the roof of one of the classroom fell recently.

The sources added that in a similar way, a portion of the roof of the Graphics Department fell in April, after which the secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Language, Zafar Iqbal Manhas, allocated Rs 5 lakh for carrying out the repair works.

Abhinaya Khemmu, principal of the institute, said the institute had constituted committees to supervise the repair work.

She claimed that on immediate basis, the institution had carried out minor repair works in a phased manner by utilising funds allocated by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Language.

“We are going to clear bushes developed on the walls and are replacing blocked pipes in the institute,” said the principal.

“The funds allocated to us are insufficient and we need more funds for doing repair works in the entire building. We have consulted the Roads and Building Department, which has made an estimation of around Rs 50 lakh for the repair works,” she said.

While accepting that the building poses threat to students, she said, “Though the risk is there, it is not that much as the government has not declared the building as unsafe till date”.