Srinagar, July 23
The Kulgam gang-rape case took a new turn when the husband and the mother-in-law of the woman claimed before the police that she suffered from mental illness and was at her home in south Kashmir on the day she alleged she was sexually abused.

The statement of the members of the woman’s family is contrary to her allegations that she was picked up by two Army men on July 19 and allegedly gang-raped before being let off on July 21.

In her statement to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) yesterday, Amina Bi, mother-in-law of the alleged victim, said her daughter-in-law went missing on July 20 morning and not on the evening of July 19.

“She had gone to a spring at 7 am on Wednesday (July 20) and did not return till late in the evening. We sent people in different directions, but she could not be found. She returned home the next day,” Amina told the SIT officials.

Amina said she asked her daughter-in-law about her overnight absence, but the latter did not say anything. “She started beating her chest and I thought she is having some pain. We took her to the Manzgam hospital, where she told the doctor that she had been raped,” she said.

The police has also claimed that the preliminary medical examination of the woman did not show any marks of violence or resistance on any part of the body.

Meanwhile, normal life was disrupted in the Kashmir Valley today in response to a strike call by hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in protest against the alleged rape of the woman in Kulgam district and the arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai in the US.

Senior separatist leaders, including Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Bilal Ghani Lone and Shabir Ahmad Shah, had been kept under house arrest to prevent any untoward incident.

Shops and business establishments were closed and public transport was off the roads. However, private vehicles plied normally on the outskirts of the capital city.

The inter-district bus services were badly hit and the roads connecting various district headquarters wore a deserted look. The attendance in government offices remained thin due to the non-availability of the transport services.

The strike call was also given in protest against the alleged attack on Geelani’s life in Verinag and the arrest of Qurat-ul-Ain in Sopore on the charges of having links with militants.

However, Geelani rejected the statements of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the GOC, 15 Corps, Lt-Gen SA Hasnain, over the alleged Kulgam rape case.

Referring to Lt-Gen Hasnain’s remarks, Geelani said the Army was trying to shield those involved in the crime.

Meanwhile, Kulgam continued to be tense even today as protests were held in various parts of the district.

Jammu, July 23
The Samba police yesterday arrested a medical practitioner and his accomplice for duping investors of Rs 50 crore. “Acting upon a complaint, we initiated a probe into the scandal and found that some persons have been duping people by promising them 20 per cent return per month on their investments,” SSP, Samba, Israr Khan said.

The police arrested Dr Arvind Kumar Bhagat of Ramgarh in Samba district and his associate Rakesh Edwin from Punjab.

Dr Arvind, who runs a nursing home, had launched a company “Unipay to You” on September 20, 2009, promising 20 per cent return in a month, the SSP said.

However, till November 2010 he had only paid the promised return on gold bonds to the initial members to win the confidence of others, Khan said. He added that by doing so he till November 2010 had a membership of 1,200 persons.

The SSP said the doctor’s wife, Dr Nirmala Bhagat, and his father Booty Ram were also suspected to be involved in the scandal.

During preliminary questioning, Dr Bhagat claimed that he had also become a member of the company, which was owned by James, a Sri Lankan, who at present lived in Malaysia, the SSP said. “For the past some time we were receiving such complaints, but we had never thought that it would be of such a magnitude,” said the SSP, adding that so far the doctor and his network had duped the people of Rs 50 crore.

The investigations also revealed that 12 to 13 persons were involved in the scam, which had its roots in Punjab, Delhi and Bangalore, the SSP said.

The doctor and his associate have been arrested and a case under Sections 420, 466 and 468 of the RPC has been registered against them.

Meanwhile, a Samba court today rejected the bail application moved by the two accused. Giving details, SDPO, Bari-Brahmana, Master Popsy said the court rejected the bail applications of the accused on the grounds that the bail could not be granted to them at this stage of investigation.

Jammu, July 23
Rajya Sabha member and chairman of the Kashmir Committee Ram Jethmalani said today that the three interlocutors on Kashmir appointed by the Centre had failed to bring even a section of separatists on board.

Jethmalani said the Kashmir Committee was the first panel that broke the stalemate and some separatists held talks with it.

Replying to questions of mediapersons after meeting with a cross-section of society, Jethmalani, who is heading the three-member Kashmir Committee, said, “We have made a significant contribution towards the solution of the six-decade-old Kashmir problem by involving different sections of society in the dialogue process.”

Asked about the relevance of the Kashmir Committee after the appointment of the interlocutors by the Union government, Jethmalani said, “The official panel has its own assignment and we have been doing our own job since 2000.”

“As far as our activities are concerned, our biggest achievement is that we have struck friendship with a section of the Hurriyat Conference through our conviction,” he said, adding that, “I have not heard of any significant success on part of the official panel appointed by the Centre.”

“We are very hopeful that the dialogue process will continue with all the sections of society, including the separatists, to resolve the Kashmir issue,” he said and observed that “politically-engineered” separatism was creating differences in the state.

Emphasising the need for establishing lasting and sustainable peace in the region, the noted lawyer said the Kashmir Committee had drafted an agenda for peace in South Asia. “India and Pakistan should solve all issues to establish peace in the region and sign a no-war pact,” he said. During his talks with the leaders of Pakistan and people of the Valley, there was a consensus that peace was in the interest of all, he added.

Asked about the performance of the coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah, Jethmalani said Jammu and Kashmir had become a police state and there were allegations of discrimination against the Jammu and Ladakh regions.

Jethmalani, who earlier participated in a seminar organised by the Bar Association of Jammu, said, “We have received reports of discrimination against Jammu and these must be addressed.”

He along with former diplomat VK Grover and rights activist Madhu Kishwar met lawyers, social groups, leaders of the Congress, BJP and the PDP in Jammu and held detailed discussions to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Baramulla, July 23
Once known as the hotbed of militancy in the Kashmir valley, Baramulla district is now a relatively peaceful area.

Talking to The Tribune, GOC of the Baramulla-based Dagger Division of the Army, Maj-Gen Bipin Rawat said, “I can say there are no active resident militants in Baramulla. Those who are there are lying low or have formed sleeper cells. Today, they have realised that the security forces have an upper hand.”

He said the Army’s strategy to snap the local support to the militants and win the hearts and minds of the people with the “Heart is my weapon” doctrine was paying a rich dividend.

“The Army is mixing with the people and the local population now trusts it. When the locals stop supporting the militants, they have no option but to take refuge in the forests,” Maj-Gen Rawat said.

He said the other means to snap the local support to the militants was by “picking up overground workers” of the militants and keeping them under observation to extract information from them.

“To avoid collateral damage, we have restructured our strategy. If we have to prolong an operation, we do it. We ask the locals to help the people who have been evacuated from their houses and this move has been successful,” he said.

Maj-Gen Rawat added that, “Even if someone becomes a victim of collateral damage, the Army ensures that he is compensated properly by the district administration.”

Maj-Gen Rawat, who took over the command of the Dagger Division recently, said his priority would be to make people feel that the Army was there for them.

“Besides fighting the militants in the hinterland, my primary duty is not only to safeguard the LoC to check infiltration, but also to maintain the sanctity of the LoC,” the GOC said.

He said the militant training camps were still intact across the LoC. “Most of the credit goes to the human force, which remains active throughout to thwart infiltration attempts. So far, we have foiled one infiltration bid this year,” Maj-Gen Rawat said.

Jammu, July 23
Though the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has been repeatedly requesting the physically weak persons not to trek to the cave shrine, staunch devotees of Lord Shiva are not ready to follow the advisory, resulting in the increase in the death toll with each passing day.

Since June 29 about 85 persons have died en route the cave shrine, the sources said. Doctors say the pilgrims, mostly elderly, die due to pulmonary-cardiac arrest.

With an overwhelming response to the yatra, the number of yatris this year has crossed 5.25 lakh, breaking all the previous records. However, the increase in the number of deaths is troubling the shrine board.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone, RK Goyal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SASB, said many pilgrims ignored the health advisories and ended up paying with their lives. “This is an arduous pilgrimage and only healthy people should undertake it. But people ignore our advisories,” Goyal said.

“As the shrine board cannot turn away pilgrims, we have made every possible arrangement for them at the base camps. If someone feels any health problem, he or she can immediately get some treatment,” a shrine board official said.

Even cardiologists had advised the pilgrims to undergo a thorough medical check-up and had asked the elderly and sick pilgrims to avoid the yatra. “It is not possible for the authorities concerned to conduct the medical check-up of every pilgrim and hence the pilgrims should themselves get it done. If someone feels any heart-related problem, he or she should immediately come down,” said Dr Sushil Sharma, a cardiologist at the Government Medical College and Hospital, here.

He added that, “This is a tough terrain and oxygen supply is also less. If the board has been issuing advisories to the pilgrims, they should follow it and the ascent should be slow.”

Dr Sushil said the pilgrims, both young and old, should start some physical workout a few days before embarking on the yatra.

Kardoh (Bani), July 23
Although traffic on the 89-km Bani-Basholi road has been restored, fear still grips about 50,000 residents of Bani tehsil, which remained cut off from the rest of the state for 22 days due to the snapping of the only road link last month.

The only road link between Bani and the rest of the state was snapped after a portion of the Bani-Basholi road caved in in the Kardoh area on June 9 following heavy rain.

“Soil erosion and the sinking of the road are still going on. We have apprehension that the road will be blocked again in case of heavy rain,” Ganesh Raina, a Bani shopkeeper told The Tribune.“For 22 days, we faced a lot of hardships due to the blockade of the only road link and hence there is need to develop an alternative road to avoid such a situation in the future,” he added. The Bani area is also connected with Bhadarwah, but the track is a fair weather road and only small vehicles are allowed to ply due to its deplorable condition.

Abdul Aziz, a local resident, pointed out that the authorities had cleared the road for the “time being”, but it was not a permanent measure because that particular part of the road could cave in again due to its fragile condition. “There is need to realign the track to skip that particular part of the road,” Aziz demanded. He added that, “The work on the widening of the road is going on and it is an appropriate time to conduct the re-alignment of the road to avoid the recurrence of the blockade.” “For the time being, the stretch, which caved in on June 9, is stable, but we are keeping a strict vigil to ensure the smooth movement of traffic on the road,” the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Bani, Rajinder Sharma, told The Tribune.

“Fortunately, landslides have stopped,” Sharma said. However, he admitted that machines for clearing the road in case of any eventuality had been stationed on sensitive spots on the Bani-Basholi road. The SDM said the authorities concerned were earlier considering conducting the re-alignment of the road, but a clearance from the Forest Department was necessary for it. “Dozers have been pressed into service from Kardoh to Bani to clear the road in case of a landslide or the erosion of rocks,” Sharma said.

Bhadarwah, July 23
The Department of Roads and Buildings (R&B), Bhadarwah, has provided important drawings of three bridges to be constructed on the inter-state Bhadarwah-Chamba road to the construction company concerned after The Tribune highlighted the issue in its July 22 edition.

It was reported that the R&B officials had failed to provide these drawings to the company concerned despite several reminders though the work started on this important inter-state road in April, 2010.

The subsequent delay threatened the timely completion of this Rs 72 crore project in 2013.

The company officials confirmed that the drawings in question had finally reached them. Though XEN, R&B, Bhadarwah, Madan Lal had maintained that the drawings would be made available to the company within a week, the same was made available immediately after the matter was reported in the columns of this newspaper.

This 23-feet wide all-weather road is important for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh as besides considerably reducing the distance, it is set to unleash a new chapter of development in the so far backward areas along the road in both states.

As per the experts, bridges and culverts are constructed on a road on priority.

Jammu, July 23
A joint forum of Kashmiri Pandit organisations today expressed concern over the reported participation of a number of intellectuals, human rights activists, liberal secularists and some other activists in the ISI-sponsored seminars in the US.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Virender Raina, spokesperson for the forum, said it was unfortunate that such nefarious activities had been going on for the last so many years in the US, the UK and Belgium.

“The purpose of all these seminars and conferences has all along been to corner India on the Kashmir issue,” Raina added.

The methodology adopted in these conferences had been to unleash a disinformation campaign and mislead the people and opinion-makers, particularly in Europe and America, about the actual situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said. He added that the government should now take proactive measures and act tough with the elements, who were found involved in the nexus.

Raina said the ISI had been pumping millions of dollars in the anti-India campaign at an international level. The US action to arrest Ghulam Nabi Fai exposed the “ISI-sponsored international conspiracy on Kashmir”, he added.

Raina regretted that some so-called intellectuals and opinion-makers had participated in these seminars. “It is intriguing how people connected with the government affairs keep participating in such anti-India campaigns and activities,” he added.

“Papers and resolutions passed in these conferences have always advocated the anti-India line like independence of Kashmir,” he said. He added that these leading intellectuals of India had been part of the anti-India resolution drafting committees in these seminars.

The Kashmiri Pandits had been the victims of the disinformation campaign launched on Kashmir over the last two decades by this ‘caucus on Kashmir’ backed by the ISI, Raina said.

AN Vaishnavi and HL Chatta, president and general secretary of the ASKPC, respectively; Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, president of the Panun Kashmir; and DN Kissu, chairman of the NCMCC, were also present on the occasion.