New Delhi, January 19
As the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, reached Faridabad today as part of its plan to hoist the National Flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was learnt to have made it clear to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram here today that his government would thwart what he called the BJP’s attempt to “set Kashmir on fire”.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Omar refused to be drawn into specifics of his government’s plan on the yatra. He hoped that the BJP would do nothing to precipitate the situation in the fragile Valley. He would be in constant touch with the Union Home Minister. Omar said he had a detailed discussion with Chidambaram over the security situation.

There are indications that the yatra will be stopped just as it enters Jammu and Kashmir beyond the Madhopur water headworks on the Ravi in Punjab.

Meanwhile, BJYM president and MP Anurag Thakur told The Tribune that it would be an “anti-national” action of Omar to stop the “patriotic” journey which carried a message of national unity. Many Kashmir watchers believe that the BJP’s move has more to do with politics than nationalism and could shatter the uneasy calm which has returned to the Valley in the last few months after weeks of unrest last year left over 100 persons dead. Separatists like Yasin Malik, who incidentally enjoys considerable support in the areas near Lal Chowk, have already announced their own marches to counter the BJP’s plan.

“The BJP has no political base in Kashmir. Another round of trouble would not hurt it. In fact, it would help it consolidate the right wing votes in Jammu. The bigger the trouble, the better for it,” a Congress MLA said on condition of anonymity.

The BJP’s plan to hoist the National Flag also runs counter to the official policy of slowly “de-politicising” Lal Chowk, which is unarguably the most significant political venue in the state.

As the separatists began ruling the roost in the Valley since early 90s, it was almost impossible for the mainstream leaders to address a gathering from there even as crowds at separatists’ rallies, brimming with religious and anti-India fervour would often mount the Clock Tower at Lal Chowk and hoist Islamic and, at times, Pakistan flags.

The paramilitary forces would fly the National Flag amid tight security on August 15 and January 26, but it, too, was more of a symbolic gesture and never a state function. On August 15, 2008, the CRPF had to remove the National Flag hours before the ceremonial evening retreat following the swelling of a crowd of separatists.

“Hoisting the National Flag is nothing but giving another emotive issue to the separatists. What does the BJP want to prove,” a security official posted in Srinagar asked? The party had done it in 1991 when the then president Murali Manohar Joshi unfurled the National Flag amid unprecedented security.

“We want to give a boost to the nationalist forces in the Valley and show the separatists their place. We got 30,000 votes in Kashmir in the last elections and thousands will join us on January 26,” state BJP president Shamsher Singh Manhas said.

It is almost certain that the government is unlikely to let it happen.Srinagar is definitely going to be more tense on Republic Day this year.

Jammu, January 19
The Centre’s interlocutors today asked the BJP to reconsider its plan to hoist the National Flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day,fearing it could lead to a law and order problem in the Kashmir valley.

Talking to mediapersons here today, a member of the team, Dileep Padgaonkar, said every citizen had a right to hoist the National Flag anywhere in the country.”We do not challenge anybody’s right to hoist the flag, but if it aggravates the situation, it should be reconsidered”, he said, and hoped that the BJP would seriously consider the suggestion.

In its reaction, the party said the suggestion was unwarranted and uncalled for.

“The interlocutors have been crossing the limit.Instead of giving suggestions to us, they should confine themselves to the job assigned to them by the Union Government”,said Shamsher Singh Manhas, state president of the BJP. He was of the opinion that the interlocutors had deviated from their path.”If the interlocutors keep on making such utterances to appease separatists as well as the state government, we will have to rethink our decision to meet them again”, he warned,and added “It seems the interlocutors are here with a pre-conceived notion and trying to build public opinion on their thought”.

Menwhile,giving the details of their visit to the state, Padgaonkar said:”During our visit, we reached out to a cross-section of stakeholders in our endeavour to evolve a broad consensus on a definitive political settlement of the problem”. Noting that the people were politically mature to know exactly who is doing what, he said they yearned for the return of normalcy and were keen on a permanent political resolution of the issue.

“Our discussions enabled us to gain a deep and sharp insight into urgent and long-standing demands and grievances of the people in the Jammu province. These include a sense of disparity in the allocation of development funds between constituent units of the state and an imbalanced representation of the people of the region in political institutions and the bureaucracy”, he said. 

Jammu,January 19
After the PDP accused the NC of indulging in “match fixing” with the BJP on the issue of hoisting the National Flag at Lal Chowk on January 26, NC spokesman and former minister Ajay Sadhotra said here on Wednesday that the BJP’s old relationship with the PDP was well known to the people of the state.

In a statement issued here, Sadhotra said the people had a bitter experience of “match fixing” between the BJP and the PDP during the Amarnath land agitation and then during the last Legislative Council elections to further their vote bank politics.

“The PDP in the Kashmir valley and the BJP in Jammu, being opposition parties, in order to cover up their non-performance and failures during the last two years, have reached an understanding that the BJP will start the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra and hoist the National Flag at Lal Chowk on January 26 while the PDP will level charges against the NC,” he said.

Sadhotra said the BJP was trying to create a division in the state on communal and regional lines and vitiating the peaceful atmosphere and the PDP was supporting and facilitating the plan of the saffron party.

He added that it was unfortunate that the BJP was trying to project that the National Flag had never been hoisted in the Valley. “Ministers are moving with national flags on their cars and the National Flag is hoisted in every tehsil, district, school and government buildings,” he said. The NC spokesperson appealed to the people to be vigilant and frustrate the “evil designs” of the BJP and the PDP to create tension in the state.

Srinagar, January 19
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, today said the National Conference (NC) had always been uncomfortable with the Opposition and had developed a vested interest in perpetuating trouble and instability in the state.

She was addressing a public meeting at Anantnag as part of the party’s statewide demonstrations at all district headquarters,except Srinagar, in support of the party’s demand for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, a reduction in troops, the revocation of AFSPA, the release of political prisoners and adequate supply of essential commodities.

Mehbooba alleged that the ruling party was interested only in treating the state as a personal estate of a family and for that it had bartered away everything from people’s dignity to water resources. She said the NC government was in no position to demand a reduction in the troops or the revocation of AFSPA. “With what moral authority can the party demand a reduction in troops after it begged the Army to control the situation a few months ago”, Mehbooba asked.

Urging the Centre to show more trust in people of the state, Mehbooba said confusing signals emerging from different authorities had led the residents to the conclusion that all pronouncements about finding a lasting solution were eyewash. This impression could be highly dangerous in a regional atmosphere that had been defying all attempts at stability, she cautioned and pleaded, “Please don’t push the youth to the wall again”.

Jammu, January 19
Minister for Health, Horticulture and Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma laid the foundation stone of a causeway at Panjgrain village and inaugurated a water supply scheme at Badgal village in Akhnoor today. The causeway would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.21 crore within six months and would connect six villages with a road link on its completion.

The water supply scheme has been completed at a cost of Rs 96 lakh and will benefit over 20,000 families of Badgal Khurd and Badgal Klan villages and adjoining localities in Akhnoor district.

Addressing largely-attended public meetings at Panjgrain and Badgal, Sharma said the government was aware of the problems of the people of rural areas and making all-out efforts to resolve these in a phased manner. He said the government was working under a well-knit programme to upgrade the basic amenities in rural and far-flung areas with special focus on health, education, road connectivity, drinking water and power.

Maintaining that the development of villages was dependent on road connectivity, Sharma said more than 80 per cent of the villages in Akhnoor tehsil had been provided with road connectivity and linked with the national highway and Akhnoor town. Efforts were on to cover the remaining areas in the next couple of years, he said, adding that with the construction of the second bridge over the Chenab the road connectivity with various parts of Akhnoor and other districts like Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur would improve considerably.

Sharma said three more major bridges were under construction on the Chenab at Mera Mandrian, Jheri and Kathar. On the completion of these bridges people living across the river would be benefited and a considerable distance between Reasi and other villages and between Akhnoor and Jammu would be curtailed, he added.

Referring to the protection of land from soil erosion due to floods, Sharma said Rs 40 crore would be spent on the channelling of the Chenab from Akhnoor to Mirpur Kona. He said during monsoon every year a large chunk of agricultural land got washed away due to floods in the Chenab and the government had drawn a plan to address the problem. To overcome the scarcity of drinking water in the dry belt of Akhnoor, the minister said the government would dig deep tube wells in vulnerable areas. The PHE Department had identified the areas and the work would be executed in a phased manner keeping in view the farsighted requirements.

He said stress would be laid on the restoration of traditional water resources like bawlies, ponds, besides check dams would also be constructed to meet the water requirement for other purposes.

Jammu, January 19
The All-Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association has hailed the earnestness on the part of the Minister for Irrigation and Flood Control, Taj Mohiuddin, in the setting up of an artificial lake on the Tawi barrage.

The clarification given by the minister that the creation of the lake would not be a violation of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, asserting that the project was within the parameters of the treaty, indicated that the state government and the Minister for Irrigation and Flood Control were sincere about taking up the project and completing it in a stipulated time.

This was observed by the association at a meeting held under the chairmanship of its president, Inderjeet Khajuria, here today. The clarification given by the minister that the construction of the barrage on the Tawi to carve out the lake was well within the parameters of the Indus Water Treaty of 1964 should remove any misgivings in this regard, he said.

Khajuria urged the minister to clear doubts created by a few vested interests in the minds of island-dwellers of the Tawi that the construction of the barrage on Tawi would endanger their habitats as a result of floodwater entering villages.

The association urged the minister to clear unfounded doubts of the dwellers, and added that unauthorised occupants of lands on the Tawi banks should be exposed.

Any objection to the lake by the encroachers of the land should not be paid any heed and the work on the project should be expedited, he added.

Jammu, January 19
The Joint Forum of the Kashmiri Pandit Bodies held a demonstration on the occasion of the 21st Holocaust Day outside Raj Bhawan here today.

Protesters raised slogans against terrorism and apathetic attitude of the government against the displaced community.

All prominent leaders of the Kashmiri Pandit Organisations were present on the occasion.

While addressing the gathering, Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, president of one group of the Panun Kashmir, said the Kashmiri Pandits could not forget the facts of history and the horrors that they were subjected to in the Valley in 1989-90 and thereafter.

“It is the mission of our generation to pass on the message of our history to the next generation. On behalf of the joint forum, we appeal to people to join hands and move ahead to achieve the desired goal,” said Chrungoo.

HL Chatta, secretary, All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, said, “The KP community has been a victim of the man-made catastrophe in the Valley and mere economic or employment packages cannot pave the way for our resettlement in the Valley”.

He added, “Unless geo-political aspirations of the community are met in the Valley, there can be no possibility of return”.

Chatta said, “We support the programme of the National Flag hoisting at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on January 26”.

“Those who oppose Tricolour hoisting in the Valley under one pretext or the other should be booked under the law of the land,” he demanded.

Raising the issues of survival, DN Kissu, chairman of the Non-Camp Migrant Coordination Committee, said, “Even after 21 years of exile, the Kashmiri Pandits continue to live in a pathetic conditions in migrant camps. We appeal to the government to urgently complete work of the Jagti Township so that the needy and the deserving families are rehabilitated there”.

He said the authorities concerned should take the issue of enhancement of relief, particularly in the backdrop of the steep inflation, which had caused havoc with the life of the displaced people.

Meanwhile, the Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch also held a demonstration near the Press Club on Holocaust Day and also launched a ‘My Exile’ campaign on
the day.

Meanwhile, the Panun Kashmir led by Dr Agnishekhar and the Kashmira Vahini today held a meeting at their respective offices to commemorate Holocaust Day.

The central theme of the meeting was to remember the events of genocide and exodus that the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community went through.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Agnishekhar, convener, Panun Kashmir, said the process of genocide and exodus was set in motion for the KP community with the advent and establishment of the Islamic rule in Kashmir.

“The final impetus to this horrifying and heart-wrenching process of ethnic cleansing of the KP community from Kashmir was completed in 1989,” he said.

Dr Agnishekhar added that living in exile and the holocaust would not be allowed to go in vain, adding that, “It will inspire our young generation to uphold ideals for which our colleagues sacrificed their lives and will also serve as a source of courage for achieving the geo-political rights for the KP community”.

Vijay Bhat, president, Panun Kashmir, said the forces responsible for holocaust had devised new ways of ‘final solution’ as was done in case of the Jews.

The meeting culminated with a two-minute silence in memory of those who had been victims of holocaust all over the world.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Kashmira Vahini (KV) took place in which Dr Khema Kaul, official spokesperson of the vahini, said the holocaust, exodus and genocide had left a brutalising effect on the psyche of the KP women.

She said, “The KP women should not forget the insult and trauma which was inflicted on them during holocaust as it will serve to keep our exile consciousness intact and ultimately serve the KP community to exist for centuries to come”.

Sunita Santoshi, general secretary of the KV, appealed to the KP women worldwide to address the issues of cultural and social rejuvenation for infusing fresh life into the community.

Rama Shah, chairperson, KV, and Sudesha Kaul, chief area coordinator of KV, also spoke on the occasion.

Srinagar, January 19
United Nations special rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya arrived on a two-day visit to the state to take stock of the working conditions of human rights defenders in the state here today.

“I am here at the invitation of the Government of India to look at the issues of human rights defenders in the country,” Sekaggya told reporters before heading for a closed-door interaction with victims of alleged human rights violations.

“I will be submitting a report to the human rights council (of the UN) on the challenges faced by human rights defenders and make recommendations for implementation to improve their functioning,” she said.

Sekaggya is the second UN rapporteur to visit the state since 2008, when Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir had visited the state to assess the situation on religious freedom.

Among the people invited to meet the UN rapporteur by local organisers were Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar and Abdul Hai, relatives of Neelofar Jan and Asiya, who had allegedly drowned in May 2009 in Shopian district of Kashmir. — PTI

Jammu, January 19
The Doda police arrested a suspected overground worker and sister-in-law of Ghulam Nabi, alias Javed Qureshi, from the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here today.

Qureshi, a divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, was arrested along with his accomplice from Dehradun ahead of the passing-out parade of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on December 11 last year and handed over to the state police.

Acting on the disclosures of Qureshi, a team of the Doda police reached the GMCH today and arrested Kulsum Begum, who had come to the hospital with her husband Mohammad Iqbal for his treatment, on the charges of aiding and supplying weapons to the militants. A case under Section 352 of the RPC had been registered against her at Khellani police station, sources said.

They added that her husband was a cancer patient and had come to the hospital for radiotherapy.

A senior police officer in Doda told The Tribune over phone that after establishing Kulsum’s involvement in subversive activities, a police party was sent to Jammu last night and she was arrested today.

He added, “Kulsum had supplied weapons to the militants as she was related to Javed Qureshi, a Pakistan-trained terrorist and divisional com ander of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Doda. Qureshi was facing 14 cases, including for planting IEDs, ambushing the Army and police parties, killing a Commanding Officer of the Rashtriya Rifles and five other security personnel in the state.” With Kulsum’s arrest, the police would try to eliminate other militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen active in the region.

However, SSP, Doda, Parbhat Singh said, “I am out somewhere and not aware about the arrest of the woman.” But the local police confirmed Kulsum’s arrest. Even her husband said, “A police party picked up my wife without giving any reason.

Though Qureshi is my brother, we have not been in touch with him for a long time. We (me and my wife) have settled in Jammu about 10 years ago after leaving the Marmat area in Doda.”

Iqbal said he worked at a private hotel near the bus stand here. Residents of Marmat provided wrong information to the police that led to the arrest of my wife, he added.

Jammu, January 19
Two Pakistan aircraft today flew close to the international border between the Chicken Neck and Kanachak area near here.

However, the violation of the Indian air space couldn’t be confirmed.

“Two Pak aircraft definitely flew close to the IB, but as of now we can’t confirm whether they had violated our air space,” a senior BSF officer told The Tribune.

“The actual violation of the air space can be detected via radars only and we have requested the IAF for the purpose,” he said, adding that verification was yet to come.

The officer said the incident occurred around 1.45 pm between the Chicken Neck and RS Pura areas.

“Let the official confirmation come to us and then only a protest will be lodged,” he added.

However, Lt-Col Biplab Nath, Jammu-based Defence PRO, rubbished the reports, saying that no such incident took place. “We have enquired from the IAF and there was no such report”, he said.

However, sources in the border police said the two Pakistan aircraft in olive green with Pak emblems and “Pak Army” written on them came close to the border. They added that after hovering near the border for a few minutes, the aircraft which were not fighter planes returned.

Udhampur, January 19
An 8-year-old leopard was crushed to death, near Patnitop, on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway-IA last night.

The incident led to scare among tourists staying in and around the hill resort as this was the first time a leopard strayed into the area.

The incident came to light today when some tourists on their way to Patnitop and locals spotted the 7-feet-long dead animal on the National Highway-IA near Kasim Morh, about 2 km before Patnitop, on the Udhampur side. Officials of the Forest Department, Batote, as well as the police were informed who removed the carcass around 8 am.

The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Batote, Sajjad Mufti informed that the wild animal might have strayed into the area due to a heavy snowfall in the upper reaches during the last three weeks and could have been crushed to death by a vehicle plying on the highway at night. The area is not known have any presence of wild animals, said a former DFO of the area, SK Raina.

It seemed the drivers might not have spotted their vehicles running over it. The leopard suffered a grievous head injury and one of its eyes also got damaged. It was cremated in the presence of officials of the Forest Department.

Meanwhile, the incident has caused a scare among the tourists as well as local residents. “Since this has happened for the first time, we as well as the tourists are scared”, said Sanjeev Jasrotia of Kud near Patnitop.

Jammu, January 19
The Narwal police arrested two persons and seized 6.75 kg of charas from their possession here today.

The police said acting on a tip-off a naka was laid and a Tata Sumo vehicle was intercepted. Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Latif, both residents of Anantnag in Kashmir valley, who were travelling in the vehicle, were arrested and the narcotics seized from them.

It said a case under various sections of the NDPS Act had been registered at Narwal police station. The vehicle has been impounded.