New Delhi, May 6
The BJP is contemplating expelling seven of its 11 legislators, including former Leader of the Legislative Party Chaman Lal Gupta, who allegedly defied the party whip and voted for the candidates of the NC and the Congress in the state Legislative Council elections on April 16.

The Disciplinary Committee of the party was expected to meet here on May 10 and was left with no other option but to formally expel all seven legislators, who had been suspended, because of their continued defiance of the party directions, indicated senior party leaders here today.

The BJP parliamentary board met on April 20 and suspended all seven legislators and, simultaneously, issued them a show-cause notice, asking them to explain before May 7 their conduct, failing which they could be expelled from the party.

However, sources in the party admitted that while the deadline was expiring tomorrow, not even one MLA had cared to reply to the notice so far, indicating an open defiance of the party directive.

Thus, the BJP appeared reconciled to a formal split in its legislative group, with the rebel party MLAs having already made their move. Immediately after the cross-voting, all 11 MLAs had handed over their resignation letters addressed to state Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to in charge of party affairs in J&K, OP Kohli, to be given to party president Nitin Gadkari.

Soon after the party high command suspended the seven defiant MLAs, they latter wrote directly to the Speaker, withdrawing their resignations and informing him that in the event the party forwarded their resignation letters to him, these should not be taken cognisance of.

Simultaneously, the seven MLAs also wrote to the Speaker informing that Chaman Lal Gupta, suspended by the party high command, continued to be their leader, notwithstanding the party’s decision to replace him by Jugal Kishore Sharma, one of the four MLAs who abided by the party whip.

The BJP had recorded a historic victory in the last state Assembly elections, improving their tally from one to 11, thanks to the success of the Amarnath yatra and related agitations against the majority dominance of the Kashmir valley parties.

However, with this, the party seems to be back in its old state, minus veteran leaders like Chaman Lal Gupta, once the most impregnable pillar of the BJP politics in the state.

Srinagar, May 6
Hardline APHC chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani led the funeral prayers in absentia for the slain Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after Friday prayers here today while similar prayers were offered at different places across the Kashmir valley. Geelani had called for the “Ghaibana Nimaz-e-Jinaza” and appealed to all Imams of mosques, religious scholars and people to offer prayers for Osama.

Senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), a constituent of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also offered special funeral prayers for Osama after the Friday prayers in the nearby Sarai Bala locality.

Geelani, who was kept under house arrest at his Hyderpora residence yesterday, was allowed to move out of his house after the police deployment was lifted at 12.30 pm today, his spokesman, Ayaz Akbar, said. Geelani later offered the Friday prayers in the uptown locality of Batamaloo here and later led the funeral prayers for Osama. Soon after the funeral prayers people raised anti-US slogans and started pelting stones at security forces deployed in the area. However, there were no reports of any clashes following angry demonstrations.

“The call for funeral prayers in absentia for Osama bin Laden after Friday prayers evoked very little response, as people generally ignored the call,” said DIG of police, Abdul Gani Mir. He said the funeral prayers in absentia were only reported from a few places.

Mir said at Batamaloo in Srinagar, after the funeral prayers and just after Geelani had left, some miscreants pelted stones at security forces. However, there were no reports of injury to anyone, the DIG added. The special prayers were also held at Bandipora and Baramulla and Geelani visited these places. Stone pelting was reported from these places also just after he left, Mir said.

Both Geelani and Shabir Ahmad Shah addressed the Friday congregations and said Osama’s burial in sea had hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the world. Geelani had described Osama as a “martyr” who fought the US oppression in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Though the authorities here had apprehended trouble after Osama’s death, Kashmir remained peaceful.

Jammu, May 6
As the state unit of the BJP is in a shambles due to the cross-voting episode, the Congress is desperate to take benefit of the prevailing situation in the BJP. Being a partner in the coalition government headed by the NC, the Congress has been exerting pressure on the state government to announce elections to civic bodies immediately.

However, at present the BJP is not in a position to face the public as seven of its legislators are embroiled in the cross-voting controversy and have been suspended by the party leadership.

The civic body elections, which were due in February 2010, were postponed without any reason.

Although legislators of almost all political parties are unanimous on further postponing the civic body elections, Congress activists have suggested to the party leadership to take the benefit of the prevailing confusion in the BJP and announce the elections to capture the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).

“The state unit of the BJP is in disarray and its cadre is totally demoralised after the cross-voting episode. Therefore, it is an appropriate time for the party leadership to take on the BJP in Jammu city,” a senior Congress leader told The Tribune.

He added that they had been pressuring the government through their leadership to get the civic body elections announced after the completion of the panchayat elections.

“The control of the JMC is must to get the BJP wiped out from the state, as Jammu city is the stronghold of the BJP and the prevailing situation is favourable for our party,” the Congress leader said.

He added that even a few organisations of the Sangh Parviar were annoyed with the BJP over the cross-voting episode. Sources in the Congress said the party leadership had also hinted to its workers that the elections to the civic bodies would be announced soon. “Our leadership has assured that they will convince the government to announce the elections,” another Congress leader said.

He added that the party had already prepared panels of potential candidates to be fielded from various wards of the JMC.

The last JMC elections, which were held in 2005 after a gap of 26 years, had thrown a fractured mandate. As despite being in the power, the Congress could not get a majority in the JMC and the BJP had managed to maintain its dominance.

Srinagar, May 6
To avoid any mishap caused due to “mistaken identity”, residents of Pulwama have been asked by the authorities to carry lanterns or torches while moving out during nights.

“In the past there have been many instances when mishaps have occurred due to mistaken identity, so the residents have been advised to move out along with a source of light,” a senior police officer told The Tribune.

In the past many people lost their lives, as they were caught in the ambush laid by the security forces for the militants.

The officer said keeping in view the intense area domination by the security forces, particularly the Army, the District Magistrate, Pulwama, had suggested to the people to undertake the minimum essential movement during nights.

He said in case the night movement was inevitable, individuals should carry a lantern/mashal/torch with them. On being challenged, the persons should not run and instead light a torch/mashal/lantern in order to facilitate identification.

Srinagar, May 6
The police has arrested three persons and unearthed a hawala racket being run to raise and distribute money for various militancy-related activities in Kulgam district.

As per the SP, Kulgam, Mubashir Latifi, on specific information the Kulgam police and the 18th Battalion of the CRPF laid a naka and arrested three persons, namely Javaid Ahmad Shah, Nazir Ahmad Wagay and Manzoor Ahmad Lone, and recovered hawala money to the tune of Rs 3.18 lakh from their possession.

The trio used to receive the hawala money on the direction of a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Nazir Ahmad Lone, who is at present in occupied Kashmir (PoK) and is the brother of one of the arrested persons, Manzoor Ahmad Lone. A case under Section 17 of the Unlawful Act has been registered and investigation is on.

Jammu, May 6
Ravinder Sharma, member of the Legislative Council and general secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), said today that farmers of Nowshera and Sunderbani tehsils had suffered extensive losses to their vegetable and wheat crops due to the recent rain and hailstorm. He urged the government to assess the losses and provide relief to the farmers.

Sharma, who visited the area yesterday, was apprised by the farmers about damage caused to their wheat and vegetable crops due to rain and hailstorm.

The farmers alleged that seeds supplied by the government had severely been affected as compared to seeds purchased from the local market.

Sharma also reviewed the drinking water facilities and met the officials of
the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to arrange more water tankers in both tehsils.

He also reviewed the work on the water filtration plant at Beri-Pattan and Tata-Pani, commissioning of a water supply scheme at Bajora, Banigala and Sobra.

He asked the PHE officials to work dedicatedly during summer to meet the needs of drinking water in view of the hardships being faced by the people for the last three years.

He ordered them to immediately commission the completed projects and expedite the work of the ongoing projects, besides digging more tube wells, dug wells, as the area was the most affected.

Jammu, May 6
The Panun Kashmir, an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, today demanded that India should declare Pakistan as a “terrorist state” and New Delhi should refrain from acting as a surrogate nation to the USA.

“We demand that the Government of India (GoI) must declare Pakistan as a terrorist state and discontinue forthwith its dialogue with Islamabad,” Panun Kashmir chairperson Ajay Chrungoo told reporters here.

“The American call to India to show patience smacks of hypocrisy and double standards. It also smacks of a deliberate pressure being exerted on India to toe a line which is only in the American interests in the region,” he said.

“India should not act as a surrogate nation and demonstrate its resolve to exist as a sovereign state. We dismiss and disapprove of the contention of the GoI to continue dialogue with Pakistan despite the universal acknowledgement about its neck-deep involvement in the international terrorism that has gripped the whole world,” he said.

India had been the worst victim of jihadi terrorism promoted by Pakistan as an instrument of its foreign policy, Chrungoo said.

The willingness of the government to continue dialogue with Pakistan despite the global outrage caused due to the latter’s involvement in acting as a base for international terrorism would further strengthen radical jihadi forces in India, he added. — PTI

Agra Chak (RS Pura), May 6
The combine harvesters used in Punjab are in much demand by wheat farmers of the Jammu region and have made the manual harvesting a thing of the past.

Besides the less cost involved in harvesting and thrashing of the wheat crop with a combine harvester, the scarcity of farm labourers and the easy availability of these modern farming equipment are the main factors behind this sudden change in the technique of wheat harvesting here.

Earlier the labourers, especially from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were easily available in Jammu, but now the labourers demanded more wages and were hardly available. That is why the farmers here were adopting the modern harvesting technique used by their counterparts in Punjab.

The Tribune team, while touring the fields in Bishnah, RS Pura, Kathua and Samba districts in Jammu, came across a large number farmers using the combine harvesters.

“The shortage of farm labourers was affecting wheat harvesting. We adopted the latest technique so that the produce could be sold on time,” said Harbans Singh, a farmer from Agra Chak village in the RS Pura area here.

He added that, “Though the new technique of harvesting saves cost, we lose ‘toori’ (wheat straw) after using this technique, which is also used as fodder for the cattle.”

Farmers in this belt do not have much green fodder to feed their cattle. So earlier they were reluctant to use this technique, as by using combine harvesters the wheat straw got wasted.

There is another major reason for the delay in use of this technique, as the farmers here do not have large agriculture land. Balbir, another farmer of Dablehar village, said, “The combine harvester owners have their camp offices in different rural areas and are easily approachable. So most of the farmers are harvesting their crop with combine harvesters.”

Harbans Singh, an owner of a combine harvester, who had come here from Sangrur in Punjab, said, “We charge Rs 800 per acre for wheat harvesting, but the traditional method of harvesting the wheat crop costs three times more than the cost of using combine harvester”. The farm labourers charge Rs 2,400-Rs 2,700 per acre for wheat harvesting with the traditional method.