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Delhi blast brings Kishtwar, HuJI back into limelight
Police foils employees’ march
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Governor, CM for focus on employability while upgrading courses
High Security registration Plates
PDP regrets lack of progress in India-Pakistan CBMs
Damaged dividers fail to check traffic chaos in Jammu
Vitasta Triyodeshi celebrations
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Delhi blast brings Kishtwar, HuJI back into limelight
Jammu, September 8 Though it is still unclear whether the e-mail was sent by HuJI sympathisers or some youths just expressed their sentiments in favour of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the police says the mention of HuJI’s connection has put it on tenterhooks. The police had claimed in 2010 that the HuJI had been wiped out from Kishtwar district. However, overground workers and sympathisers of the militant group still remained. The police was now on its toes to locate HuJI sympathisers to prevent them from luring others into militancy. Intelligence agencies had alerted the state authorities a few months ago about the HuJI’s efforts to regroup itself and restart operations in the country, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. Kishtwar is located at the centre of Jammu and Srinagar and has people with nationalist as well as separatist sentiments. “Being a landlocked district, Kishtwar has not seen much development. As the people are mostly illiterate and poor, the HuJI lured youths into militancy and they caused much bloodshed here. We have killed several gun-totting HuJI militants, but their sympathisers are still there, who can be used anytime,” said a senior police official. Further, Kishtwar has been the favourite hiding place for militants en route Srinagar. “The domination by the Army and the police in the district is necessary to cut the vital supply route of militants as well as check the breeding of militants,” he said. The official said the police had prevented the HuJI from recruiting youths a number of times in the recent past. “A group of eight teenagers, motivated by the HuJI, was all set to cross over to the PoK a few months ago, but was intercepted in time. The HuJI has tried to send youths for arms training to the PoK several times. We have to be more alert now,” the police official said. The district has seen the killing and exploitation of women by HuJI militants. On December 21, 2008, the police arrested Sohail Ahmed, a senior militant of the outfit, who was linked to the Faizabad and Varanasi blasts in Uttar Pradesh, from Chatroo in Kishtwar. Another hardcore militant, Feroz Ahmed, who was wanted for killings, kidnappings and extortions, was killed in Kishtwar in February last year. Seven HuJI militants were arrested in Kishtwar in 2008 for killing five officers of the General Reserve Engineer Force, including Lt-Col Ajay Verma, at Watsar. The HUJI, which started its operations against the forces of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and later focused mainly on Bangladesh before spreading its activities to India, had targeted court complexes earlier also. Police sources revealed that whenever a blast took place at a court complex, the HUJI was the first suspect. Before the Delhi blast, the outfit had carried out blasts in court complexes in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Hotbed of huji militants
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Police foils employees’ march
Srinagar/Jammu, September 8 However, a large number of them were prevented from reaching the venue by stopping them at the entry points to the city, a leader of the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) said. Several leaders and others on their way to the Lal Chowk were held near the Exhibition Crossing and outside the Food and Supplies Department.They were later dispersed with a mild lathi charge and use of water cannon. The protesters had planned to converge at Pratap Park in the Lal Chowk area before marching towards the Civil Secretariat in support of their demands. Hundreds of other employees working in the Civil Secretariat also observed a sit-in for an hour this morning. A report said the employees also decided to continue the sit-in after the office hours in support of their demands. In Jammu, on the final day of the three-day statewide strike call given by the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), employees staged a protest. While senior leaders of the JCC were in Srinagar to participate in the “Secretariat Chalo” march, the second-rung leadership of various unions led the protests in Jammu. Work remained affected in all the government educational institutions and the Agriculture, Horticulture and various other departments. Thin attendance was witnessed in the Public Health Engineering and the Power Development departments. Raising slogans against the government, the JCC leaders said if the government failed to fulfil their demands at the earliest, the employees would be forced to intensify their struggle in the near future. Similar protest rallies and dharnas were held in Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah and Udhampur districts of the Jammu region. Besides arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission in two equal instalments, the employees are demanding regularisation of daily-rated workers, who have completed seven-year service after 1994, the regularisation of ad hoc and contractual employees, increasing the retirement age from 58 to 60 years and the removal of pay anomalies. |
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Tributes paid to Sheikh Abdullah
Srinagar/Jammu, September 8 Omar,who is the grandson of Sheikh Abdullah, visited the graveyard and offered prayers. A number of senior party leaders and Cabinet ministers, legislators, Advisers to the Chief Minister, MPs, prominent citizens and political activists were present on the occasion. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister highlighted the struggle and sacrifices of the late leader for the cause of the people and the state throughout his life. Omar said public welfare and progress of the state, irrespective of any consideration, was Sheikh Abdullah’s cherished goal. He said the Sher-e-Kashmir laid the edifice of “Naya Kashmir”, stood strongly for mutual amity between various sections of society, upheld the high principles of democracy, nurtured love and brotherhood and focused on the holistic development of the state. In Jammu, various functions were held to pay tributes to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The main function was held at the Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan where Minister for Labour and Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik and provincial president of the NC Rattan Lal Gupta paid floral tributes to the late leader. The speakers recalled the historic role played by Sheikh Abdullah in the development of the
state. They mentioned the ‘Land to the Taller Policy’ implemented by Sheikh Abdullah. At Poonch, local MLA Ajaz Jan and senior party workers paid tributes to the leader. Jan said Shiekh Abdullah died on September 8, 1982, while holding the chair of the Chief Minister. He described the late leader as a towering and visionary leader who nurtured a dream of peace, progress and prosperity in the state. He referred to the crucial land reforms pioneered by Sheikh Abdullah, which laid the foundation of an equitable development in the state. Those who paid tributes included district president of the party Qazi mohd Sayeed Beig, Harchran Singh Khalsa, Peer Anayat, Choudhary Gani, Bag Hussain Rathore, Abdul Ahad Bhatt, Abdul Ahad Kamrate, Ghulam Abbas, Zahoor Khan, Surjan Singh, Ravinder Bitta, Rajesh Thakur, Hazara Singh and Abdul Razak. |
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Governor, CM for focus on employability while upgrading courses
Srinagar, September 8 Addressing a university council meeting of the University of Kashmir here today, they said the top priority should be accorded to those courses, which had a higher employment potential. The Governor, who chaired the council meeting, said the universities must devote attention to arrange campus placements and upgrade their placement cells. To achieve this objective, the standard of teaching and research needed to be continuously upgraded for bringing out high-quality scholars. The Governor also laid emphasis on engendering greater linkages between the universities and the colleges and the schools so that the issue of the deficiency of a well-qualified faculty in various subjects at the college and university levels could be progressively addressed by encouraging bright students to pursue higher studies and research, particularly in respect of those subjects in which there was a shortage of
teachers. |
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High Security registration Plates
Jammu, September 8 The apex court, on August 30, had sought response of the three states on why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for their failure to implement its order on the HSRPs and licenses for vehicles. Talking to The Tribune, Transport Commissioner Syed Mohammed Fazlullah said, “We have filed a compliance report today, informing the court that the state had already floated nationwide tenders to implement tamper-proof HSRPs in the state”. “It seemed that initially, there was some communication gap between the department and the law authorities, but today, we filed the compliance report before the court informing it about the exercise initiated by us,” said Fazlullah. He added that he was camping in New Delhi to apprise the apex court of the progress made by the state in implementing the scheme. The Transport Commissioner said officials from the department had already visited other states to study the model where it had been implemented. On August 30, a Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia had asked the transport secretaries of the three states to file a reply within a week. Sources said the department had issued a countrywide tender to put in place HSRPs for nearly nine lakh vehicles in the state. The HSRPs help the police and other security agencies track vehicles either stolen or used in subversive activities. |
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PDP regrets lack of progress in India-Pakistan CBMs
Jammu, September 8 “Except announcements, nothing concrete has been done so far,” Mufti said. He stressed the need for taking a few visible steps to carry forward the process of peace and reconciliation in the region. According to a handout issued by the party, Mufti regretted that the announcements, which were made at the recently-held meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, were yet to be implemented. “No progress has been made in the CBMs announced at the recently-held summit of the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan. It was announced at the meeting that the cross-LoC movement will be further facilitated,” he said. The cross-LoC movement was still a cumbersome process, which should be simplified and the movement on both sides of the LoC should not be confined to divided families,
he added. Mufti said opening of points on the LoC was the most significant CBM since 1947, adding that the cooperation on economic, social and cultural fronts was the only way to bring the people of the subcontinent together to end the political uncertainties that had marred the growth of the region. The PDP patron said the present dispensation headed by the National Conference not only had failed to facilitate the cross-LoC trade but also had reversed the entire process. |
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Damaged dividers fail to check traffic chaos in Jammu
Jammu, September 8 However,in less than a year,almost all the dividers have been damaged and do not serve any purpose. The dividers have been either removed or dumped on the roadside in most parts of the city. At some places, these have been damaged by heavy vehicles, posing a threat to commuters. Shopkeepers near the Bikram Chowk told The Tribune that the dividers, which were installed to make separate lanes for two-wheelers, were now causing injuries to commuters. “Almost everyday, two or three motorcyclists get injured. Neither the traffic police nor the JMC maintain the broken dividers. Sometimes, the people themselves remove the damaged dividers,” said Ashish Kumar, a shopkeeper at the Bikram Chowk. The situation is almost similar on the Apsara Road and the Gole Market, where the dividers were installed almost a year ago. Earlier, the department had installed plastic boulders, which were said to be expensive. Even the IGP,Traffic, had said as compared to the dividers,the plastic boulders were expensive. Meanwhile, traffic jams and long queues of vehicles are still the order of the day here. The department had identified some accident-prone zones and painted the portions of roads with zebra lines, which have proved ineffective. A number of CCTV cameras were also installed across the city to keep a check on increasing traffic violations. A senior traffic police official also admitted the fact that the dividers had failed to serve any purpose. However, the IGP could not be contacted even after repeated attempts. |
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Parents resent fee hike by school
Jammu, September 8 A delegation of 20 parents met Chief Education Officer Natha Ram and handed over a memorandum to him, demanding immediate
action. Somnath, father of a Class VII student, said the authorities had hiked the fee mid-session by 30 per cent. “This is in complete violation of the rules, as the department has banned such practices,” said
Somnath. He added that they also showed the fee receipts to the Chief Executive Officer, who assured them of action in this
regard. |
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Vitasta Triyodeshi celebrations
Jammu, September 8 Sudesha Koul, programme coordinator of the organisation, said a large number of Kashmiri Pandits would participate
in the celebrations, besides artists from other states. Meena Kak, an eminent educationist, who was conferred with President’s Award this year, would be felicitated on the occasion. |
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