Jammu, June 4
A large number of BJP workers and leaders thronged the Jammu Airport today to receive Chaman Lal Gupta, former Union minister and veteran party leader, who had been expelled from the party for anti-party activities.

Four suspended MLAs, namely Garu Ram Bhagat, Jagdish Chander Sapolia, Durga Dass and Bharat Bhushan, besides party workers were also present to receive him.

After his expulsion from the party, Gupta returned to Jammu today, as he had been in Srinagar to attend the meetings of the Legislative Assembly. However, his supporters had decided to show their strength on his arrival here to give a message to the rival camp.

Buoyed over the direction of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to maintain status quo on the disqualification proceedings against Gupta by the acting BJP Legislature Party leader, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Gupta’s supporters said he was the real face of the BJP.

They raised slogans in Gupta’s favour saying that “their leader was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by some leaders in the party to serve the interests of the ruling party”. From the airport, Gupta was taken in a procession to his house at Gandhi Nagar.

Addressing his supporters, Gupta said he was innocent and had been victimised due to a conspiracy by a few party leaders. Amid slogan shouting by BJP workers, Gupta said he was a committed worker of the BJP and would continue to work for strengthening the nationalist forces in the state.

“Although I have been expelled from the party, the way workers received me today is a clear indication that people are still with me,” he said.

Durga Dass, BJP MLA from Hiranagar, who is among the seven MLAs suspended from the party, said a befitting reply would be given to those who had tarnished Gupta’s image.

He, along with three other MLAs, declared that they were the real face of the BJP and would work hard to expose the “black sheep” in the party.

Later talking to The Tribune, Gupta said, “As the BJP is the only party that has been staunchly opposing the secessionist policies, a deep-rooted conspiracy has been hatched to weaken the party”. 

Jammu, June 4
The newly-appointed chairman of the J&K State Board of School Education (BoSE), Dr Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, today blamed the state Education Department for the mess in the ETT colleges and institutions in the state.

Bashir said, “Yes, there are some loopholes in the existing system, but the state government is mainly responsible for either keeping a check on the functioning of the ETT colleges/institutions or disaffiliating them. We are the secondary authority having lesser powers.”

“It is the state government which issues no objection certificate (NoC) to the applicants to set up new colleges. Then the applicants apply to us for affiliation and after inspection we give them affiliation of the board. So, the mandate is with the state government and not with us,” said Bashir.

He said, “Besides conducting exams, we have constituted teams to regularly inspect these colleges,”

Bashir accepted the fact that there were a few colleges, which were defaulters, as the board had received some complaints regarding the lack of infrastructure, staff and the problem of absenteeism.

“We are trying our best, as the board has appointed a joint secretary, especially to deal with the ETT course. In two months the scenario will change, as the defaulters will have to close their institutions and then there will be no compromise,” said Bashir.

Speaking about the poor results in Class X and XII, he said the staff, including the principals of those schools which had shown poor results, would be taken to task by the department, as the Education Minister was concerned about bringing reforms in the present system.

Bashir appealed to the staff of the Education Board to perform their duties sincerely. “To bring transparency in the existing system is my first priority, and I assure the students of a fair evaluation system. I will try my best to conduct the exams well on time and declare the results within the stipulated time,” he said. 

Srinagar, June 4
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has advocated recourse to mediation and alternative dispute resolution as an option to help clear a large number of pending cases before courts and reduce the chances of appeals and revisions by the litigants.

Describing mediation and third party reference to settle disputes as an effective tool to decrease the pendency of cases, Omar underlined the role of judges in the shift from traditional methods of resolving the disputes to modern inexpensive and fast-track medium of mediation.

Addressing the inaugural session of a ‘Mediation Orientation Programme’ for judges of the Supreme Court and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court at the SKICC here today, the Chief Minister said justice, nowadays, entailed immense sacrifice of time, money and talent, besides emotionally draining the litigants.

“This is necessary to combat the problem of pendency and ensuring a speedy disposal of cases,” he said. The session was also addressed by Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice TS Thakur and Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifullah. They highlighted the importance of mediation in the settlement of litigations amicably and speedily. Justice Mansoor Ahmad presented the welcome address while Registrar General of the J&K High Court presented the vote of thanks. The annual report of the Mediation Monitoring Committee of the J&K High Court was also released on the occasion.

The Chairman of the National Legal Service Authority and a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Altamas Kabir; another judge of the Supreme Court Justice TS Thakur; Acting Chief Justice of the J&K High Court Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifullah; judge of the J&K High Court Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir; Speaker of the J&K Legislative Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone; Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather; Minister for Law and Justice Ali Mohammad Sagar; Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir were present on the occasion.

Jammu, June 4
A baby boy’s birth in remote and mountainous Doda district has sent the security forces, including the police and intelligence agencies, into a tizzy. Reason: The father of the newborn is a top militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen, who has been active for the past 11 years.

Official sources said the dreaded militant involved in murders also carried a reward of Rs 2.50 lakh on his head. Besides, three companies of the Army, one company of the CRPF and eight police pickets of the Doda police were on the hunt of this elusive terrorist, who was allegedly involved in 14 murder cases, they added.

While officials of various counter-insurgency forces and intelligence agencies are tight-lipped over the development, hospital records accessed by The Tribune stated that Shazia Bano, wife of Waseem Ahmed, a resident of Marmat, delivered a baby boy at the District Hospital, Doda, last evening.

A hospital official, who wished anonymity, said, “Shazia Bano, who was brought by her relatives, gave birth to a baby boy in the hospital labour room around 6 pm yesterday. She had a normal delivery and around 3 am this morning both mother and baby were discharged from the hospital”.

Her husband had not come to the hospital for obvious reasons because he had been underground, he said. The sources also stated that after Shazia gave birth to her second child last night, Waseem talked to her on a mobile phone, telling her not to talk to mediapersons, who had gathered on the hospital premises.

SP, Doda, Moahmmed Arif Reshu confirmed to The Tribune that Waseem was a wanted terrorist and his wife, Shazia Bano, gave birth to their second son. However, he refused to say anything further citing his busy schedule because of the ongoing panchayat poll.

The sources said, active for the past 11 years, Waseem was allegedly involved in 14 murder cases, including those of surrendered militants, security personnel and civilians. “It sounds interesting that a listed militant, badly wanted by the security forces, fathered his second child and it points towards the efficacy of intelligence agencies,” they added.

However, a senior police officer tried to downplay the development saying, “We all know that militants meet their wives and girlfriends on the upper reaches and jungles. In some cases in the past we had caught hold of such women from their hideouts”. This woman also might have met her husband in the jungle, he added.

Confirming the birth of Waseem’s second son, a local source from Doda told this correspondent over the phone that the militant now wanted to surrender so as to return to the national mainstream and start afresh as a law-abiding citizen.

Jammu, June 4
Even as the Sangh Parivar has openly supported the campaign launched by Baba Ramdev against corruption, the Left has supported the issues raised by the yoga guru, but expressed surprise over the move of the religious leaders replacing the political leadership.

“Nobody can oppose the issues raised by Ramdev,” Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and veteran parliamentarian Gurudas Dasgupta told mediapersons on the sidelines of the sixth state conference of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) here today.

He said the way religious leaders were using the political platform was mysterious. He added that it was their (religious leaders) choice to use any platform and political parties were not jealous of them.

Dasgupta said corruption had reached such a crucial point that all sections of society were bearing the brunt of the prevailing corruption in the system. “The struggle against corruption is a national struggle and it is not the job of only a few individuals. The entire nation should be united to eradicate the menace,” he said, adding that nobody could take the limelight on the issue.

When his attention was drawn towards the involvement of the right wing parties in the Ramdev’s campaign, he said, “The problem of corruption is not only affecting the Congress, but also the BJP”. He made a reference of illegal mining in the BJP-ruled Karnatka.

Asked whether the involvement of religious leaders in such a situation would ultimately lead to anarchy in the country, Dasgupta said the government was responsible for the prevailing situation and if the country plunged into crisis, the responsibility would be of the UPA government.

Terming the Congress-led UPA regime as the worst-ever corrupt government in the country, the CPI leader expressed surprise that a minister of the present dispensation was in jail. “The CWG and 2G scams were just a beginning, as many more scandals will come to the fore in the days to come,” he said.

“On June 27, we are going to convene a meeting of all trade unions of the country to devise a joint strategy to intensify the fight against corruption,” he said.

Gupta added that the representatives of the trade unions would also discuss how to make the Lok Bill effective. Earlier, while addressing a one-day convention of AITUC, Gupta criticised the NC-led government in the state. He said the present government had failed to address the basic problems of the people. 

Jammu, June 4
About 11 months after the infamous Kishtwar moral policing case, the police investigation has suggested that the girls went missing from home for some reason and not because of their being summoned to the police station after being spotted with a boy earlier in the day.

The report submitted by the DGP has found no evidence of rape and has stated that the clothes worn by the girls, when they were detained and taken to the police station, were found from their homes. The families and the supporters of the two girls have been alleging that they were picked up by the police along with a boy, were killed, and were probably also raped by the police.

While the State Human Rights Commission has fixed the date of hearing for July 25 and sought a rejoinder from the families of the missing girls, their kin say they have not received a copy of the police investigation report so far.

On the other hand, a New Delhi-based NGO, Rashtriya Sarv Meg Vansh Mahasabha, which was the complainant in the case, has admitted that it has got a copy of the report, but there is not much in it.

Adviser of the NGO Gopal Denwal said, “We have sent a copy of the report to the members of the mahasabha in Jammu for its delivery to the families of the missing girls”.

However, all members of the mahasabha, including some from outside the state, denied having copies of any the report. They did not even know the address of the families. “The families of the girls live in remote and inaccessible areas, and hence we could not reach out to them,” a member of the mahasabha told this reporter.

The inquiry report sent by the Police Department to the State Human Rights Commission, which was accessed by The Tribune, says, “The parents of the girls and their supporters were levelling allegations against the police that the girls, after they were relieved from the police station, Atholi, on July 12 last year, never returned home. The investigations into this aspect of the case so far revealed that both girls left the police station for their respective homes around 4.30 pm. Thereafter, Pardeep Kumar was also relieved from the police station by the then SHO, Farooq Ahmed Wani. Pardeep Kumar also went to his home”.

Investigations revealed that on July 12 last year, Sapna, daughter of Nand Lal, visited the Patti Quila police station, Atholi (Gulabgarh), and thereafter left with Sangeeta for her home. She was wearing a pink shirt, white-coloured slacks and jalidaar dupatta.

“The dress of Sapna during the investigation was found in the house of her father, Nand Lal, at Gulabgarh. It was seized from Nand Lal’s house as a piece of evidence in the presence of the prosecuting witness in the case. The same was produced by Nand Lal. Accordingly, a seizure-cum-identification memo has been prepared. Statements of the prosecuting witnesses have also been recorded under Section 161of the CrPC,” the police says in the report.

“However, the above facts of the investigation in the case under Section 342 of the RPC registered at the Atholi police station on the complaint of Nand Lal and Nanki Nath clearly revealed that both girls and Pardeep Kumar had returned to their homes at Gaulabgarh from the police station. Thereafter, what happened to the girls at their homes and where they went from there, the investigation was still going with regard to this aspect,” it says.

Sincere efforts are afoot to solve the case of the missing girls as well as take the investigation to its logical end, the DGP says in his report to the rights commission. 

Jammu, June 4
At least 40 persons were injured, including seven critically, when the bus they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a nearly 45-feet gorge, near Miyardi, in Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district late last evening.

The bus carrying the baratis, mostly women, was returning from Kangrdi village to Bagord village in Kalakote. Jawans of the 63 RR, who were posted near the site of the accident, launched a rescue operation and brought them out of the gorge. Later, policemen also joined the rescue operation and rushed the injured to Kalakote hospital.

However, the critically injured, namely Kanchan Sharma, Priyanka Jyoti, Pushpa Devi, Om Prakash, Koshaliya Devi, Kailash Devi and Amrik Singh, were shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital here.

Attendants of the seriously injured persons at the GMCH alleged that the bus was being driven rashly and the driver jumped out of the vehicle when the accident happened. He is absconding since then. “We had repeatedly asked the driver to slow down but he did not listen to us, as he seemed to be drunk,” injured passengers said in their statements to the police.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered at Kalakote police station and the police was investigating what caused the accident, besides launching a manhunt for the fleeing driver.

Jammu, June 4
Several senior leaders and office-bearers of the Panthers Party, led by party chief Bhim Singh, started a long march from Palanwala to Samba district, covering an area of over 200 km, to awaken the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the country regarding the need to reorganise the state.

Addressing a series of meetings on the first day of the march at Palanwala, Khour, Jourian and Akhnoor, Bhim Singh and other senior leaders called upon the people, particularly the youth, to take up the movement for the reorganisation of the state to end all forms of regional discrimination, be it pertaining to the delimitation of the constituencies, opening of the Jammu Central University, providing equitable relief to Jammu migrants, recruitment of educated unemployed youth in the Jammu region, allotment of funds to each region, and the establishment of secretariat assemblies.