Sunjwan (Jammu),February 26
The first batch of 429 cops, including 60 policewomen, trained to deal with stone-throwers in the Kashmir valley, passed out of the Armed Police Training Centre here today.

Taking a salute from the specialised contingent, DGP Kuldeep Khoda said the police was not well equipped to deal with the riots earlier, especially with the stone-throwers in the Valley, where more than 100 persons were killed and 3,000 policemen were injured.

He said, “First time ever, we have trained 5,000 jawans in the use of non-lethal weapons to minimise killings and injuries while dealing with mobs. The first batch has successfully passed out.”

To see the performance of the jawans, a mock exercise was carried out in a simulated situation similar to the last year’s turmoil in the Valley, where protesters, both men and women, shouting slogans threw stones at the police party, which successfully dodged them and no one was injured.

Wearing special lightweight body protective gears, the police nabbed the stone-throwers in a few minutes.

Joza Akhtar, a constable from Srinagar, who completed the refresher course, said, “Last year, I had to face a number of difficulties while dealing with the mobs in the Valley. But now after the refresher course, we will surely be able to deal with the protesters if the similar situation arises this year”.

MA Manhas, in charge of the training centre, said, “The cops were trained about the use of pump action guns, anti-riot guns, gas guns and multi-barrel launchers. Besides, they were also trained on throwing stain grenades and air smoke grenades”. 

Udhampur, February 26
Even as the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway-1A was reopened to traffic today, the administration and the district police jointly arranged relief for the passengers stranded since last night.

It was a bitter experience for the occupants of thousands of stranded vehicles, as they had to spend almost the whole night on the highway. Interestingly, MLA, Ramban, Ashok Kumar, who was on his way to Ramban from Jammu, was held up for about 6 hours at Patnitop. “I reached Patnitop around 9.30 am today but got caught up in the jam. It is good that the government authorities took initiative to provide relief to the stranded passengers,” he told The Tribune over phone from Patnitop.

As part of the relief measures by the official teams at Chenani, Kud and Patnitop, the stranded passengers were provided tea, biscuits and medicare free of cost. The Chief Medical Officer, Udhampur, informed that the health team distributed medicines to 140 passengers free of cost. Ambulances along with doctors and paramedical staff with sufficient medicines were kept ready for stranded passengers to meet any emergency. DIG, Udhampur-Reasi Range, Jagjeet Kumar and Deputy Commissioner Baseer Ahmed Khan supervised the relief measures.

Though the highway was reopened this morning after it was closed last evening, the traffic moved at a snail’s pace due to a large number of vehicles caught in the traffic jam since last night, informed SP, Ramban, Anil Magotra. The vehicular traffic was allowed on Friday morning but the highway had to be closed again in the evening due to a fresh snowfall in the area around the Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop. Due to this, a large number of commercial and private vehicles moving towards the Valley and Jammu were not allowed to move on by the traffic authorities manning the highway. The step was taken to prevent any mishap that might occur due to the hazardous road conditions caused by the bad weather.

Besides the snowfall, places like Udhampur, through which the highway passes, also received hail and rain. The strong cold winds sweeping the entire region made it all the more difficult for the stranded passengers to spend the night on the highway.

Jammu, February 26
A day after two alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants along with their spouses and seven minor children returned to India after spending 10 years in the PoK, the police has not found their involvement in any subversive activities. Consequently, the alleged ultras and their wives will now face a lesser stringent trial for illegally crossing into the state.

Shaukat Hussain (30), and Shaukat Hussain (29), both natives of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district, along with their spouses Iqbal Bibi (27), and Zaida Parveen (28), respectively, and their seven minor children were nabbed by the Army at the LoC in the Poonch sector yesterday.

“We haven’t yet received any application from their parents or relatives seeking amnesty to them under the rehabilitation policy, but one thing has been established beyond doubt that they were militants, who had crossed over to the PoK in 2001 to undergo arms training,” Poonch Deputy Commissioner KL Khajuria told The Tribune.

“Ashkoor Wani, SSP, Poonch, told me that since both ultras remained in the PoK for a long time (10 years) and were apprehended as soon as they returned with their families, they did not indulge in any subversive activity,” he said, adding that as a result they would be booked for illegally crossing into the state.

Rajesh Kumar, DIG, Rajouri-Poonch range, said, “Since they were reported missing and had joined militancy, action under law was being initiated against them”. “After the Army apprehended them at the LoC and handed them to us, they are being subjected to a thorough questioning,” he added.

The DIG said the parents of the ultras had to move applications if they wanted to seek amnesty for them under the rehabilitation policy. Right now they were in the custody of the Poonch police, he added.

Asked about their seven minor children, the DIG said being a standard procedure in such cases, the children would be given to their relatives. Last year, the Omar Abdullah government had announced a rehabilitation policy for misguided youths in the Valley to give them an opportunity to start their lives afresh as law-abiding citizens.

Srinagar, February 26
The Centre’s interlocutors said today said that they would submit their intial report to the government on the Kashmir issue next month irrespective of whether separatists give their opinion or not.

“If we do not get inputs from the separatists, we will go ahead and submit the report (to the Centre) nevertheless,” head of the three-member interlocutors team, Dileep Padgaonkar, told reporters at the end of their fifth visit to the state.

The interlocutors had sent letters to all separatist outfits, including both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, asking them to give their inputs on the resolution of the Kashmir issue so that they could be incorporated in the final report to the Centre.

“We have spared no effort to reach out to the separatists. We have stretched the limits of courtesy to reach out to them but their response so far has been negative,” Padgaonkar said. He said the team would leave it to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to judge whether the stand taken by the separatists on not meeting them was right.

In response to a question about the fate of the Kashmir Committee headed by former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, Padgaonkar said the initiative was non-official and its recommendations were not binding on the government. “This team is official and so far our recommendations have been accepted and now these are to be implemented,” Padgaonkar, who was also a member of the Jethmalani-led committee, said. He said it was for the separatists to explain their refusal to meet the interlocutors as the team had the backing of the government, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Padgaonkar said Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmad Shah had responded to the letter sent to him by the team saying “such talks would be relevant and significant when draconian laws are repealed, political prisoners and youth are released, the withdrawal of troops begins and persons involved in human rights violations are brought to book”.

“We urge Shah to embark on an engagement with us so that the very first point on the agenda could be the issues he had listed in his letter,” he said. Padgaonkar added that the team would be submitting its initial report to the Centre next month which would contain the recommendations and broad contours for resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Srinagar, February 26
Former Chief Minister and patron of PDP Mufti Mohammed Sayeed today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold a Round Table for a viable solution to the Kashmir issue.

The Mufti said the Centre needed to announce some confidence building measures and hold a Round Table involving representatives of the separatist parties. While addressing a public rally in Srinagar, the Mufti gave a four-point formula to reduce the trust deficit among the people of Kashmir.

“Of late a commonality has emerged between our party and the Hurriyat Conference over the measures required to create a congenial atmosphere for the resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he said. “The government must end police repression in the state and release all political prisoners, youths and students arrested as part of the crackdown by the state. Security forces in civilian areas should be reduced and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) revoked. The withdrawal of the Disturbed Areas Act should be followed by a Round Table by the Prime Minister to set the actual resolution process rolling. Both separatist and mainstream parties should be part of that initiative,” the Mufti said.

He added that he was hopeful that after the demand for the release of prisoners and the revocation of “draconian laws” was met, the separatists could not spurn the offer of dialogue. Attacking the National Conference-led coalition government in the state, the Mufti said the government had virtually wasted the gains made between years 2002 and 2008 by again turning Kashmir “into a cage for its own people”.

He asked the government to be a part of the solution rather than becoming an impediment and part of the problem by “unleashing terror on people, arresting innocents, denying civil liberties and pushing the state into another cycle of disturbances”. “They are creating fear psychosis by targeting youth to prevent an imaginary June scenario of a doomsday” he said.

“I am not into the business of toppling governments or grabbing power, but I will use my each breath to extricate Kashmir from the abyss of neglect, conflict and misery,” he said.

Udhampur, February 26
DIG, Udhampur-Reasi Range, Jagjit Kumar distributed uniforms and shoes among 32 students of Government Middle School, Jakhani in the district today.

The goodwill gesture was part of a civic action plan of the police to reach out to the public under the community policing programme. The beneficiary students belonged to socially and economically weaker sections.

Interacting with the beneficiaries, the DIG said the all-round development of students and society depended upon the quality of education. He urged the teachers to perform their duty with a missionary zeal and dedication.

He reiterated the commitment of the police to provide relief to all sections of society, especially the underprivileged.

Jammu, February 26
The CBI has booked two top officials of BSNL and the owner of a Ghaziabad-based private telecom company for alleged irregularities in the purchase of portable linemen testers, official sources said here today.

They added that an FIR had been registered against a deputy general manager (DGM) and a divisional engineer (DE) of BSNL for causing losses to the government exchequer by purchasing testers at 20 times the original cost. The CBI has also booked a Ghaziabad-based private company, Sain Telemetics, which had supplied testers. The BSNL officials have been identified as Kunj Bihari Sharma, at present DGM (mobiles), Udhampur, who was posted as Telecom District Manager (TDM), BSNL, Udhampur, at the time of purchases, and Jasbir Singh, DE, at present posted in the office of the TDM, Udhampur.

A senior CBI official said the original cost of one tester was Rs 1,700, which was shown in the records as Rs 24,900 per piece. However, the official did not reveal the exact number of testers purchased and the year of purchase. Radhe Shyam, DSP, CBI, who was heading the investigation, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. — TNS

Jammu, February 26
The Institute of Genetics at University of Jammu is all set to provide a special gene identity card for just Rs 500, which will be the cheapest in the country. The card will have all details of the person’s DNA profile. The trials of the DNA testing, gene mapping and preparing the gene blueprint of an individual conducted in the institute has already become popular with persons suspecting gene defects.

The identity card facility is now open to all. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the new building and the state-of-art laboratory of the institute on the university campus today, which is deemed it to be on a par with the European standards.

The price of the card will include the cost of the complete testing of an individual for his DNA profile and it will provide ready data about his genes. Prof Subash Gupta, head of the Institute of Genetics, said people of the state won’t have to go to expensive hospitals and laboratories in New Delhi or other parts of the world. “Already, we have a huge rush of people from the Valley and other parts and with the opening of the institute their money will be saved”.

Prof Gupta said the state was already a part of the Central government’s initiative for setting up a gene data bank and the institute would go a long way in realising that goal.

The state has a diverse gene pool. The genes of one region are so diverse, that diseases found in one region are totally absent in other region. The gene mapping also helps in knowing the origin of a race, like the residents of Ladakh are supposed to be of the Aryan race.

Prof Gupta said the genes would reveal the cause of a disease and would help families in controlling the transmission of diseases to the next generation.

Jammu, February 26
Taking a serious note of the controversy over the appointment of the secretary of the Legislative Council, Bhim Singh, chairman of the National Panthers Party, has urged Governor NN Vohra to take appropriate action to save the state from a constitutional crisis. In a statement issued here yesterday, Bhim Singh accused the state government of violating rules.

He said the state Cabinet’s decision to appoint the secretary of the Legislative Council was totally against the mandate of the state Constitution. He said the Rules 7 and 12 clearly indicated that the chairman of the Legislative Council and in his absence, the Deputy Chairman or anybody else, by promotion from within the staff was competent to fill the post.

He said there had been no chairman of the Legislatve Council for several years because of the conflict between the NC and the Congress. He added that the government had also issued instructions to the bank operating the accounts of the Legislative Council not to entertain any cheque on behalf of the council if it is signed by the secretary promoted by the Deputy Chairman. “The Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council are meeting on February 28. In case the Legislative Council is prohibited from drawing money from the bank, its functions will automatically stop. A constitutional crisis has been created because of the authoritarian and unconstitutional stand taken by the Chief Minister,” he alleged.

Jammu, February 26
Demanding a minority status, the Shiromani Akali Dal National (Jammu and Kashmir) sought reservation for Sikh youths of the state in government jobs and professional educational institutions.

While speaking at a press conference here today, Gurdev Singh, president of the organisation, said the Sikhs were a minority community in the state and sought reservation on the lines of quota granted to religious minorities by the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He demanded that two Assembly seats in Jammu and one in Kashmir be reserved for the
community.

Gurdev Singh criticised the government for not taking care of the PoK refugees, who had migrated to this part of the state in the aftermath of Partition. “Our people lost their kith and kin, besides property, but were never compensated by the government,” he said.

He added, “The Sikhs in the state continue to be economically, politically and socially backward.”

“A majority of refugee families are living in slums and underdeveloped colonies devoid of benefits guaranteed under Articles 14, 29 and 30 of the Constitution,” he said.

Supporting his contention, he quoted from the recommendations of the Rangnath Mishra and the Sachchar committees, besides the Supreme Court’s ruling on the reservation issue. “Many states have given reservation to religious minorities, excluding those in the creamy layer,” he said and appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to give similar reservation to the Sikhs.

Those who attended the press conference included Dayal Singh Wazir, Prof Amrik Singh and Tarlok Singh.

Jammu, February 26
The Trans-India Territorial Army cycle expedition team of 157 Infantry Battalion, known as the Jammu Terriers, was flagged in by Major Gen TPS Waraich, General Officer Commanding of the Tiger Division, here today.

The seven-member team, including a junior commissioned officer and six other ranks, started their journey from Jammu on January 3 and returned after successfully completing the journey. During the 52-day expedition, the cyclists covered 3,000 km over four states, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

The theme of the expedition was to spread awareness among people about the drying of wetlands and the shrinking of wildlife sanctuaries. The team also highlighted the significance of the war memorials and the world heritage sites. The GOC interacted with the cyclists and lauded their efforts to make the expedition a success.

While interacting with mediapersons, he said, “The expedition has not only strengthened the spirit of adventure and challenge among all ranks but also contributed towards the development of leadership, planning, teamwork and navigation skills among the participants”. 

Jammu, February 26
A member of a village defence committee (VDC) sustained critical injuries in a brief gunfight between VDC members and suspected militants in a forest near Khawas village of Budhal tehsil in Rajouri district this evening.

“Raaz Mohammed, a VDC member from Khawas village near Keri, was critically injured in a gunfight between VDC members and suspected militants,” Additional SP, Rajouri district, Mohammed Shabir told The Tribune over phone.

Confirming the incident, an Army spokesperson said an alert had been sounded and the Army had laid a cordon around the jungle, where the VDC member was injured. “We are also getting conflicting reports that a VDC member was injured due to old rivalry or in firing by militants, he added.

Official sources said around 4.30 pm today, the VDC members of Khawas village noticed a group of four to five suspected militants roaming around near the village. Sensing trouble, they opened fire on the suspected militants and in the brief exchange of fire one VDC member was injured, they added.