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Proposed Troop Reduction
Chinese incursions in Ladakh
aggressive diplomacy: Expert
BJP’s yatra gets support on Facebook
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Cong factions to hold parallel rallies on January 30
Income Clause for Relief
Shifting of IMFA students, staff demanded
Minister reviews prices of food items
Streamlining Policing
Science Express draws enthusiastic crowd
2,344 attend Army medical camps
Lok adalat on Jan 18
1 killed, four hurt in bridge collapse
Two students killed in mishap
Gang rape
Fresh snow in Valley
Deaths During Turmoil
Police steps up security
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Proposed Troop Reduction
Srinagar, January 14 The moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in his address at a Friday congregation, welcomed Pillai’s statement. He said the Hurriyat Conference had been demanding a reduction in troops from the populated areas for a long time. This suggestion had been included in the list of proposals put forth by the party to the government for entering into a dialogue with it. “We will monitor the implementation process before taking a stand on the reduction of troops,” JKLF chairman Yasin Malik said. President of the Democratic Freedom Party Shabir Ahmad Shah said, “We have heard similar announcements in the past but the situation on the ground remained unchanged. If New Delhi is sincere and serious in its latest announcement, we will welcome such a move.” He called for a complete withdrawal of troops from the state.“Only time will decide the sincerity of India,” he added. “This should not be cosmetic and the things must be implemented on the ground,” PDP president Mehbooba Mufti told The Tribune here. She said Pillai’s statement regarding the 25 per cent reduction in troops be implemented on the ground. She added that most of the troops were deployed in the rural areas. At the same time, Mehbooba pointed out that “we had a bad experience on the implementation of the eight-point package” announced by the Central government following the visit of the all-party parliamentary delegation to the state in the wake of the turmoil last year. The announcements like the release of those arrested were not implemented and instead many more were being arrested even now, she lamented. A senior NC leader and MLA, Mustafa Kamal, said it was the beginning of the party’s demand for the restoration of autonomy. He demanded the withdrawal of all troops deployed in the state. Kamal held that the militants and the security forces had caused sufferings to people in the state over the past two decades. Kamal, who is the younger brother of NC president Farooq Abdullah, said since the proxy war launched by Pakistan was on the wane, there was need to withdraw all troops. The Army had played its role and now it was not required in view of an improvement in the situation, he said. The responsibility could be given fully to the state police, he added.
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Chinese incursions in Ladakh
aggressive diplomacy: Expert
Jammu, January 14 While India has objected to the issuing of stapled visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, the Army Chief, Gen VK Singh, has reportedly described the Chinese incursions in the Ladakh region as a problem of perception vis-à-vis the Line of Actual Control. Ashwani Sharma, a University of Jammu student, said, “China, a close ally of Pakistan, will keep resorting to such unwarranted acts of foraying into our territory and issuing stapled visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir just to embarrass India before the international community.” “Soon after the visit of US President Barack Obama last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India to boost mutual trust and cement trade and economic ties, but unfortunately China has so far failed to work in this direction when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh,” he said. Airing her views, a political analyst from University of Jammu, Prof Rekha Choudhary, said despite having trade ties with India, China was becoming explicitly aggressive diplomatically. “Not only to appease Pakistan but also to increase its negotiating power in the region, China has become diplomatically aggressive,” she said. “Both China and India have good economic ties and in the present scenario, Beijing and New Delhi cannot afford to snap trade relations. But somewhere India has failed on the diplomatic front to tackle China,” said Rekha. She also felt that one-to-one relationship between China and Pakistan was the sole reason for China to become aggressive. “There is immense pressure on China from Pakistan to counter India while the USA wants India to take on China. Though India is trying to engage China in different ways, to some extent India is lagging when it comes to tackling issues diplomatically,” she said. “Recently, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told China that India had the same pulse for Kashmir as China had for Tibet, but thereafter we could not succeed in convincing them to stop issuing stapled visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir,” she added. |
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BJP’s yatra gets support on Facebook
Jammu, January 14 The drive has been launched on the popular social networking site, Facebook, and a number of users are posting their comments in favour of the yatra. The campaign was launched after JKLF chief Yasin Malik gave a call for a march to Lal Chowk on January 26. Malik said, “We will see who will hoist the flag and whose flag it will be.” Supporting the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) for organising the yatra from Kolkata to Srinagar, some pages under the titles, Lal Chowk Jayenge Tiranga Lahrayenge; Tricolour Hoisting at Lal Chowk, Srinagar, India; Hoist Tricolour at Lal Chowk Ke Ghanta Ghar Pe, have been created on Facebook by some of its users and joined by others. A Facebook user, Aakash Singh, has commented on one of such pages, “No one can stop us from doing this......Jai Hind.” Similarly, another Facebook user Koshal Kotwal has commented, “Gr8 move guyz...PROUD 2 B AN INDIAN ...* JAI HIND*... :).” Samarium Kotwal commented, “Jai Hind, me aapke sath hu aap shru to kro”; while Manish Kumar posted his comment, “Let the Indian Flag fly high, high and high. And let the separatists and anti-Indians die, die and die. JAI HIND! JAI HIND KI SENA!”
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Cong factions to hold parallel rallies on Jan 30
Jammu, January 14 While the group loyal to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has announced that it will organise a national-level function under the banner of the Gandhi Global Family at Parade Ground here, the other faction, which owns its allegiance to PCC chief Saifud Din Soz, has decided to commemorate the martyrdom of the Mahatma in Jammu. The function to be organised by the Gandhi Global Family will be held under the leadership of Azad, Soz will preside over the official party function in which some national leaders are expected to participate. Even as members of the Azad faction have been giving wide publicity to their programme, to counter their campaign, the senior vice-president of the PCC, Dharam Pal Sharma, yesterday said Soz would preside over the official function and a senior party leader from Delhi would be the chief guest. The venue of the function would be decided soon. He asked all Congress leaders and workers to participate in the official function. As the pro-Soz faction had organised a public rally on December 28, the members of the other faction are desperately trying to show their strength. Meanwhile,the president of the Gandhi Global Family, SP Verma, has told The Tribune that thousands of workers from all over the country are expected to participate in the function. Though Verma claims their organisation is apolitical, leaders of the pro-Azad faction are working overtime to make the programme a success.
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Income Clause for Relief
Jammu January 14 According to the new order, the ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh will not be given to a militancy-affected family whose monthly income is more than Rs 5,000. Terming the order as discriminatory and inhuman, convener of the front and former MLA Mohammad Farooq Mir expressed surprise over the attitude of the government in dealing with the militancy-affected families of the Jammu region. Addressing a press conference here, Mir said hundreds of cases were pending before the authorities and the government had incorporated an income clause in the existing law to debar the genuine families from getting the compensation. “We will not accept this discriminatory policy,” warned Mir. He added that a meeting of the terrorism-affected people of the Jammu province had been called for January 30 to chalk out the future course of action. He said earlier the government used to give employment to one member of every militancy-hit family, but later it amended the law and announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to these families as one-time settlement. “Now, the authorities have incorporated a clause of income for compensation, and this is inhuman,” he said. “It is a matter of shame that our government instead of applying a healing touch, is trying to rub salt on the wounds of militancy-affected people,” he added. Speaking on the occasion, Mohammad Aslam Kohli of the Jammu Migrants Front regretted that the government had adopted different yardsticks for different people. He said the migrants belonging to the Jammu region were being denied relief on a par with their counterparts in the Kashmir valley. |
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Shifting of IMFA students, staff demanded
Jammu, January 14 According to a statement issued here, Mahajan met Additional Deputy Commissioner Sheetal Nanda in connection with the deplorable condition of the institute’s building. He said there was a possibility that the IMFA building might collapse, and added that the former Deputy Commissioner, MK Dwivedi, had inspected the building on October 26 last year. “Although he had assured that the execution of the work for the renovation of the IMFA building would be undertaken immediately, till date nothing had been done in this regard, thus causing inconvenience to students and staff of the institution,” Mahajan alleged. |
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Minister reviews prices of food items
Jammu, January 14 The minister was addressing a meeting of officers of the CAPD and Meteorology departments and traders of different organisations convened here today to review the prices of food items in the market. Akhoon said the rates of pulses, rice and other edible items in the state in comparison to other states were under control, but the rates of onion and atta needed to be checked immediately. He asked the representatives of onion traders to adopt “no loss no profit” method till its price stabilised. The minister stressed on the implementation of the rates fixed by the government from time to time in letter and in spirit. He said valuable suggestions given by participants for the control of prices would be duly considered.
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Streamlining Policing
Jammu, January 14 To meet the new challenges, it has submitted a Police Draft Act 2010 in this regard. In the light of the directions of the Supreme Court regarding reforms in policing, the state police has suggested to the government to fix the minimum tenure of the DGP, IGPs and other senior police officers. The draft Act also suggests the fixing of the selection criteria for the officers. The major change proposed under it is separation of investigation, which means a separate department for the investigation of major incidents. Besides, the police has suggested the constitution of a state security commission, a police establishment board and a police complaints authority. A senior police officer said if these suggestions got the nod of the state government, there would be a major change in the policing system. “Even people will be able to lodge their complaints against policemen at a separate cell, as they usually complain that the police does not listen to their grievances,” added the officer. Besides these recommendations, the draft Act also suggests the introduction of the Police Commissionerate in the major urban areas.
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Science Express draws enthusiastic crowd
Udhampur, January 14 The Additional District Development Commissioner (ADDC), Ram Rattan Sharma, inaugurated the exhibition. The idea of the exhibition was conceived by the Central Department of Science and Technology. It was executed by the Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad. A large number of students from various government and private institutions from the town and its periphery thronged the local railway station. Though the number was small when the train arrived, it increased by the afternoon. Rakesh Kaul and his classmates from the local Government Senior Secondary School appreciated the novel idea of showcasing the country’s achievements in the field of science and technology at their doorsteps. The highlights of the exhibition were the country’s achievement in the fields of information technology, bio-technology, space science and nanotechnology, besides short film shows on the innovations, inventions, discoveries and topical issues. “The special feature for us is the ‘Joy of Science Lab’ where we are allowed to conduct experiments on projects related to physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics,” said Tanya Sharma of Women’s Degree College, Udhampur. The science educators and communicators onboard answered numerous queries by the students about the exhibition on wheels. Udhampur Chief Education Officer, officials of the District Education Department and teachers of various schools were present on the occasion. The exhibition comprising more than 300 large format visual images, 150 video clips and multimedia exhibitions highlighting cutting edge research in science and technology will remain open for general public, particularly students, up to January 17 between 10 am and 5 pm at the railway station. Lauding the efforts of the organisers, the ADDC said the exhibition would provide an opportunity to students having a scientific bent of mind.
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2,344 attend Army medical camps
Udhampur, January 14 As many as 1,922 patients were examined and treated for different ailments by a team of Army and civilian doctors in the camp at Dariyal while 422 patients availed medical advice and treatment at Chittabas. Medicines were distributed free of cost to all patients. The huge turnout of patients, including women and children at both camps, was attributed to the wide publicity by the Army. The residents of both villages requested the Army to organise more such camps in their respective areas as they lacked medical facilities that were provided by the government. However, a special arrangement was made to ensure the availability of a woman doctor and two Army and two civilian doctors, along with the paramedical staff from
Army medical agencies examined patients. Patients were treated for malnutrition, infections
of upper respiratory tract and skin diseases and were also given advice on essential health and hygiene aspects. |
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Lok adalat on Jan 18
Udhampur, January 14 The litigants whose cases are pending in the court of Sub-Judge, Ramnagar, and want these to be settled in the lok adalat may approach the Sub-Judge, Ramnagar, to get the cases referred to the lok adalat.
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1 killed, four hurt in bridge collapse
Jammu, January 14 The police said the labourers hired by the GREF authorities were working under the bridge when it collapsed. It added that one of them, identified as Kunj Lal (40), died on the spot. The police said the four injured were rushed to a nearby hospital where their condition was said to be stable.
Naresh Sharma, SHO, Akhnoor Police Station, said, “A case has been registered and we are investigating the matter”. |
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Two students killed in mishap
Jammu, January 14 The police said the students were to appear in an examination today. It added that the dead students, identified as Vikas Narwal, a resident of the Kangri area in Sunderbani tehsil of Rajouri district, and Tarif Hussain, a resident of Katra, were going to Jammu when the gas tanker hit their motorcycle. The collision was so severe that both students died on the spot. A police party took the two to hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead. A case has been registered. — TNS |
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Gang rape
Jammu, January 14 Earlier, acting on her complaint, the police had arrested Balbir Singh. The police also seized the vehicle used in the crime. In her complaint, the girl had said that she had gone to meet her friend at Ban Talab yesterday and on her way back home, she boarded a mini-bus, which the accused took to an isolated place in Gharota and
raped her. Those arrested today were identified as Parshottam Kumar, Mohammad
Sadiq, Sukhdev Singh and Mohammad Javed, while Sohan Lal was absconding. The Gharota police has registered a case under Section 376 of the
RPC. |
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Fresh snow in Valley
Srinagar, January 14 All flights to and from Srinagar were also cancelled. The weatherman said the snowfall would continue in the next 24 hours. “There is a western disturbance over the Kashmir region due to which there has been fresh snow in various regions of the Kashmir valley since morning,” Amir Ali, coordinator of the National Disaster Management Cell, Kashmir, said. As a precautionary measure, traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only surface link between the Valley and the rest of the country, was stopped. “As there will be more snow in the next 24 hours, the highway will remain closed”,Ali said. He added all flights to and from Srinagar were also cancelled due to poor visibility. “In Gulmarg, there has been around one foot of snow so far,” he said. Road connectivity to the border towns of Keran and Tangdhar in Kupwara district was snapped as more than two feet of snow had accumulated on the Sadna Top connecting the frontier towns with the rest of the country. “The authorities are ready to deal with any eventuality in case of a prolonged closure of the national highway.We have fuel supplies for 20 days and the ration has been stored for more than three months”, said Ali. LPG dealers in Kashmir say while the supply has reduced due to the winter, the demand has increased. “There is a gap between the demand and the supply,” said Jagmohan Singh Raina of Kashmir Gas Agency.
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Deaths During Turmoil
Srinagar, January 14 In his public interest litigation (PIL), Malik named the state government, Director General of the state police, DG, CRPF, and the GOC of the Army’s Northern Command as respondents. Malik demanded that the investigations be monitored by the High Court in cases where FIRs had been registered to ensure that proper evidence was collected and the probe was taken to its logical conclusion. He suggested that the court may also give direction for the constitution of a high-level committee for suggesting ways and means to prevent such deaths and laying down norms to be followed by the armed personnel before they opened fire at demonstrators. — PTI
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Police steps up security
Srinagar, January 14 The main Republic Day function in the Valley, as per practice, is being held at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar. This is not the first time that the BJP has planned to hoist the National Flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Earlier, on Republic Day in 1992, the BJP led by senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi hoisted the National Flag here amid tight security. Though the BJP’s plan to hoist the National Flag is seen as a political move, senior police officers here are working to ensure adequate security arrangements ahead of Republic Day. — TNS
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While separatists have welcomed Union Home Secretary G.K.Pillai’s statement on the proposed reduction in troops in the state, mainstream parties are looking forward to its implementation at the ground level to restore peace and normalcy in the state.
