|
|
|
|
|
Unfurling of Tricolour in Srinagar
Coalition culture is here to stay, says Azad
|
|
|
|
Rehab policy for return of militants fails to deliver
Jammu, May 2 While Kashmiri militants, also called “misguided” youth, continue to pour into India via Nepal from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the state government has not been able to put in place a proper mechanism under the rehabilitation policy to ensure their legitimate return to the state.
NC wants to strengthen base in Samba, Kathua districts
Shortage of engineers hampers road projects
Cross-LoC trade remains suspended for second week
State to get Metro soon, says NC
Janglat Mandi encounter
Pathribal ruling a ‘setback for justice’: Amnesty
JKCA scam
Protesters throw stones at train
3 Vaishno Devi pilgrims die of heart attack
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Unfurling of Tricolour in Srinagar
New Delhi, May 2 National Conference MPs SD Shariq and Mehboob Baig reacted sharply after BJP youth wing leader Anurag Thakur, while opening the debate on the 2012-13 Budget proposals for the Ministry of Home, referred to the recent notice the National Human Rights Commission had issued to the J&K Government asking it to explain why BJP leaders were prevented from flying the National Flag in Srinagar last year. Flashing The Tribune report on the NHRC order in the House, Thakur, petitioner to the NHRC in this case, accused the state of denying the BJP leaders their fundamental right to unfurl the Tricolour, a charge the NC members countered vehemently, counter-accusing the Saffron brigade of “dividing the nation”. The clashes turned so ugly that the presiding officer of the House had to intervene to stop the tale of accusations and counter-accusations. Kashmir remained at the centre stage throughout the day-long debate, with the NC and the BJP both asking Home Minister P Chidambaram to make the report of the interlocutors public. The interlocutors, appointed by the government in the aftermath of the violent summer of 2010, submitted their report to the Home Ministry on October 12, 2011. “Six months have gone by since the report was submitted. We were hoping the report would be submitted in Parliament and opened for debate. There has been no result. The Home Minister should make the report public. We also demand restoration to mutually agreed-upon conditions for accession between the Centre and the state in 1952, and the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to determine the facts behind unmarked graves in the Valley,” said Mehboob Beg, NC member, from Anantnag, while participating in the vital debate, which continued well past 7.30 pm. The NC also demanded the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to restore a semblance of normalcy in the state, a demand the BJP vehemently countered. As the two sides sparred, the Congress backed the NC when its member Sandeep Dikshit started comparing the number of violent incidents the state seen during the NDA regime and the NC-led coalition now. “As against 340 incidents now, there were 1,990 in 2005. This means peace has returned to the Valley. This is due to the Centre’s policies,” he said. Dikshit went on to compare the influx of pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine during the rule of BJP-led NDA and now during the rule of the Congress-led UPA at the Centre. “The latest influx was over six lakh as against just 80,000 during the NDA regime,” he said.
Akalis slam Cong
Akali Dal MPs Harsimrat Badal, Ratan Singh Ajnala and Sher Singh Gubaya raised the issue of massacre of Sikhs at Chattisinghpora village in Kashmir and demanded answers from the Centre as to who killed the Sikhs. |
|
Coalition culture is here to stay, says Azad
Devsar (Kulgam), May 2 Addressing a public rally in this remote area of south Kashmir today, the former Chief Minister said the overall situation in the state had improved. The Congress-PDP coalition government between 2002 and 2008 had contributed a lot to the improvement in the situation, he said. “Now it is the duty of the NC and the Congress to achieve further improvement in the situation,” Azad said, adding that militancy had slowly come to an end. He, however, cautioned that it was not the only aim and stressed on expediting the developmental process, which had been stalled with the eruption of militancy two decades ago. Azad said the Congress was playing a pivotal role in the making of coalition governments in the state. It was having a coalition partnership with the National Conference for the past three years. He recalled that the Congress had allied with the National Conference since the times of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. Even when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, “came to the fore”, it had to ally with the Congress after the 2002 elections, he said. Azad said there was need for strengthening the party at the grassroots level. He said the NC and the PDP could not afford to ally with rightist parties like the BJP in Jammu or pro-Pak
parties (separatists) in Kashmir. The AICC general secretary, who served as the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister for over two and a half years in a coalition government with the PDP between 2005 and 2008, dismissed reports about fissures between the two coalition partners under the present arrangement. “We do not want frequent changes and it has been decided that Omar Abdullah would continue as Chief Minister for the full term of six years with the help of the Congress,” Azad said. “We want that there should not be any differences between the two coalition parties,”
he added.
Azadspeak
|
|
Rehab policy for return of militants fails to deliver
Jammu, May 2 The state government in consultation with the Centre had announced a rehabilitation policy in 2010 for the “misguided” youth, who had crossed over to the PoK for arms training. Subsequently, the government had selected four entry points- Poonch-Rawalakote, Uri-Muzaffarabad, Wagah in Punjab and Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, from where the “misguided” youth, cleared by various intelligence agencies, could enter the state. “Not a single misguided youth has so far entered the state from these four points,” Commissioner Secretary, Home, BR Sharma said. Sharma added that the rehabilitation policy had not been put on hold by the Ministry of Home Affairs, but certainly Pakistan’s cooperation was necessary to facilitate the return of the misguided youth. Intelligence sources said the policy would be a success with the consent of Pakistan. They said Islamabad will not allow it and want to get exposed before the international community for funding and fuelling militancy in the state. The sources said several applications, seeking the return of the misguided youth, had been moved by their families before various agencies in the state. They added that some of the names had been cleared but Pakistan would never allow them to return to Jammu and Kashmir. In the past couple of years, the state government has received over 1,000 applications, of which 67 were reviewed and approved. “Leave aside the route. We must see and verify their antecedents. Any lapse on our part to properly scrutinise their applications and antecedents may re-fuel militancy in the state,” they said. They also informed that a couple of terror outfits, particularly Hizbul Mujahideen, had set up a system in Nepal and hence the return of the “Kashmiri youth”, who were entering India via Nepal must be taken seriously. “Ever since India announced the policy, we have strong inputs that foreign mercenaries in various terror camps have been issuing diktats to the Kashmiri youth. In some of the camps Kashmiri militants have been mercilessly beaten up,” they said. Most of the Kashmiri youth had crossed over to the other side of the border in the 1990s when militancy erupted in the state. About 3,500 Kashmiri youth are still living in various parts of Pakistan and the PoK. Meanwhile, 40 Kashmiris were detained yesterday by the Sahastra Seema Bal in the Maharajganj area
of Uttar Pradesh while they were trying to enter into India through the Nepal border. On February 25, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said the rehabilitation policy does not suit Pakistan and they may sabotage it. POLICY AT A GLANCE
|
|
Minister takes stock of people’s problems
Katra, May 2 The people of the area highlighted their demands and grievances. These mainly related to safe drinking water, better road connectivity, uninterrupted electricity, filling of vacant posts, installation of poles and transformers and employment to the youth of the area. The minister exhorted the officers to work in a more organised manner to ensure better services to the people of every area of the state. He directed the officers to work on a war footing for the completion of various development projects which were being executed in Arnas and the adjoining areas. He asked the officers to use quality material in the construction works and ensure their timely completion. |
|
NC wants to strengthen base in Samba, Kathua districts
Jammu, May 2 Realising that the party will face a tough fight from its arch rival PDP in the Kashmir valley, the National Conference, as part of a well-devised strategy, has been concentrating on some particular pockets of the Jammu region where party candidates had performed well in the last Assembly elections. After a whirlwind tour of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri last week, now the party has deputed its senior minister Surjeet Singh Slathia to conduct an extensive tour of Samba and Kathua districts. Slathia will start his tour on Friday and will address a series of meetings in the remotest areas of these two districts. “The NC has strong base in all three regions of Jammu and Kashmir. We are working overtime to channel the energy of our cadre to get a majority of our own in the next Assembly elections,” Slathia told The Tribune and exuded confidence that the NC would make inroads in new areas, especially in the Jammu region. In the 2008 Assembly elections, the NC had won only one of the seven Assembly segments in Samba and Kathua districts. Although the party had won only one seat, the party candidates had performed well in the Bani, Basholi and Billawar Assembly segments. “At that time the atmosphere was entirely different due to the Amarnath land row. Some groups exploited sentiments of the people during the elections,” Slathia said and added that now the situation had changed and the real face of such parties had been exposed before the masses”. As Slathia was the lone winning NC candidate from Samba and Kathua districts in the 2008 Assembly elections, he has been assigned the job to strengthen base in this Kandi belt of the Jammu region. “Due to the good performance of our government, we have been getting an encouraging response from the people,” Slathia said. The NC is running a coalition government with the Congress in the state, but both parties have been publicly announcing that they will form the government on their own in the next Assembly elections. |
|
Shortage of engineers hampers road projects
Jammu, May 2 Sources in the Roads and Building (R&B) Department said though Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had few months back approved the employment of 350 engineers to speed up the work on pending road projects, but most of the Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) were facing a shortage of technical manpower, mainly because of the slow pace of the recruitment process. The PIUs have been established in all the districts of the state to implement the project and is headed by an Executive Engineer. There are 17 PIUs in Jammu and 12 in the Kashmir valley. “Some of the units are facing a shortage of 20 to 30 per cent manpower due to which divisions have failed to utilise funds meant for the construction of roads. The present strength of engineers is overburdened, which has affected their performance,” the sources said. The provision of manpower under this scheme is the responsibility of the respective state while the Centre only sanctions funds and provides consultation. While admitting that there was a shortage of manpower in the execution of the road projects, Chief Engineer, PMGSY, DL Sharma said the government had speed up the recruitment process of engineers. “We are filling up the vacancies. Everything is being done to streamline work and achieve targets. The situation is much better now,” Sharma said. The PMGSY was started in the state in 2000 to develop a close-knit road network in the state and to connect small habitations with metalled roads. MLAs and MLCs of the NC and the Congress from the Doda, Kishtwar and Bhaderwah districts have severely criticised the PMGSY. It has also been seen that some executing agencies and contractors in these districts leave the construction work incomplete in violation of terms of the contract. However, none of these contractors or executing agencies have been penalised by the government so far. Under the PMGSY, Jammu and Kashmir has Rs 2,658 crore worth sanctioned projects to cover 5,111 km of road length. During 2009-10, Rs 359 crore was spent on the road work and Rs 297 crore during 2010-11. During the last financial year Rs 450 crore was released to the state government in comparison to the expenditure of Rs 120 crore only. |
|
|
Cross-LoC trade remains suspended for second week
Poonch, May 2 With traders from Poonch also extending their support to their counterparts on the other side of the LoC, trade has remained suspended for the past two weeks, with no movement of trucks from either side of the border. Trade on the Poonch-Rawlakote route through Chakkan Da Bagh was suspended by PoK traders as the Pakistan government had levied heavy octroi on the import and export of goods. After the ban on the export of bananas by India, which were in high demand in the PoK, traders on this side of the LoC had also protested agaisnt the ban. Traders from both sides met at a monthly traders’ meeting at Chakkan Da Bagh recently to discuss the future course of action. As many as 121 traders from both sides took part in a meeting. At the meeting, traders agreed to continue the boycott of the cross-LoC trade under a joint banner and decided to form a joint organisation, the Indo-Pak Joint Trade Federation, so that they could raise their demands jointly on the quarters concerned. The formal shape to the federation will be given at the next meeting. Pawan Anand, president of the Cross-LoC Traders Association, said “Trade will remain suspended till the Pakistan government revokes its order on charging Rs 1,000 as tax on the import and export of a truckload of goods from the PoK. We are not ready to continue trading of chilli alone”. He said the governments should review the agreed list of 21 trade items. The trade should be based on the consumption and production on both sides and not only on the list prepared five years ago, which is irrelevant now. “We have been facing many problems. The callous attitude of both governments has aggravated the situation. The governments should agree to extend the trade list and revoke the ban on the trade items,” said Rajeev Tandon, convener, Poonch-Rawlakote Traders Association. |
|
|
State to get Metro soon, says NC
Srinagar, May 2 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has moved a proposal to start the Metro service in the twin capitals. The government plans to conduct a traffic analysis by RITES and then approach the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) for a detailed project report that will include the feasibility and financial requirements,” NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq said while addressing a gathering here. He made the statement while reacting to the charges levelled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the government had neglected Srinagar city. Terming the PDP as a “party of opportunists”, Sadiq said: “After facing failures from all quarters, the party has now started dividing the people of Srinagar. People have not forgotten how the PDP had almost shifted the Secretariat from Srinagar to Parhasora just to teach the people of Srinagar a lesson.” “Because of the PDP, the Urban Reforms Bill was not passed and as a result, the Centre stopped funds meant for developing the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu under the JNNURM,” he added. |
|
|
Janglat Mandi encounter
Srinagar, May 2 Meanwhile, Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court today adjourned the case till May 10. “We adopt all the objections filed by the SSP, Anantnag, in the case,” senior state counsel Nissar Ahmed Shah told the
High Court. The SSP, Anantnag, had last month filed its objections in response to the petition filed by Zaitoona of Kalaroos, Kupwara, who had alleged that her son Abdullah Bhat was killed in a fake encounter at Janglat Mandi, Anantnag, in March 2001 and had been dubbed as Pakistani militant Mateen Chacha. The SSP had given a clean chit to Lt Gen Bikram Singh and claimed that the encounter was genuine. The senior police officer had also objected to the re-investigation in the case, as demanded by the family. “It is impossible to identify the grave and carry out a DNA test. The deceased was a foreign militant and not Bhat, as alleged by the petitioner. Even a militant outfit had owned the responsibility for the Janglat Mandi attack,” the SSP had informed the court. The Defence Ministry had already pleaded before the court that the encounter was genuine and Bikram Singh, then a Brigadier, who headed 1 sector Rashtriya Rifles, was returning to his headquarters in an Army convoy when it was attacked at Janglat Mandi. “Bikram Singh was also injured in the gunfight, in which Mateen Chacha was killed,” the Defence Ministry claimed. It had also submitted the FIR copies and Singh’s hospital records in
the court. |
|
|
Pathribal ruling a ‘setback for justice’: Amnesty
Srinagar, May 2 “The ruling is a major setback not only for victims in the case, but also for other victims unlawfully killed by the Army or the paramilitary forces in the state,” said Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, Amnesty International’s India Researcher, in a statement. “The option of a court martial allows Army officers to avoid judgment in the court
of law.” The statement said the apex court should have taken into account the evidence provided by the CBI. “By giving the first option to the Army for a court martial, this ruling reinforces immunity from prosecution in other cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Gopalakrishnan. “Instead of upholding the universal and constitutional right to life, the Supreme Court chose to rely on emergency laws which provide excessive powers and impunity to the Army,” he added. The Jammu and Kashmir coalition of civil society termed the Supreme
Court judgment in the Pathribal case as “very disappointing”. “The Pathribal case was an opportunity for the Supreme Court to earn the respect of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately the judgment further emboldens the armed forces, which may result in further human rights violations by the armed forces and strengthen the process that has appeared to always favour perpetrators,” the spokesperson of the coalition of civil society said in a statement. “The fallout of the judgment on the people of the state would be a reaffirmation of their suspicion and distrust of the Indian state institutions.” The apex court in its verdict in the Pathribal fake encounter case yesterday said prior permission of the Central government was needed to prosecute Army officers. Chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said the Supreme Court’s decision on the Pathribal encounter has proved the Hurriyat’s stand that “it is difficult for Kashmiris to get justice under the Indian constitution”. |
|
|
Dept launches stamp show to encourage philately
Srinagar, May 2 “It is a month-long festival to encourage students to take up the hobby of stamp collection. We have selected 12 schools in the valley where the programme will be held for two days each,” Chief Post Master General, J&K Circle, John Samuel said while inaugurating the programme at Srinagar British School here. “This is a unique initiative launched by the department. This is the first time that such a month-long event on philately is being organised. The schools will also be able to form philately clubs. In each school, the exhibition will display around 5,000 stamps from India and abroad. We will also hold letter-writing competitions,” he added. During the programme, the department would release special postal covers honouring the educational institutions where the exhibition takes places by displaying the pictures of the schools. |
|
|
JKCA scam
Jammu, May 2 The court directed the police to hand over the documents to the probe committee whose functioning was badly hampered due to the seizure of documents by the police. The decision came as a huge relief to the in-house probe committee, which was asked by the JKCA president to submit its report at the earliest, but could not make any headway due to the seizure of important documents. Manzoor Wazir, JKCA Treasurer, while confirming the development said, “We were hopeful of a favourable decision and we feel much relieved now.” “The court has ordered the release of the pending salaries of JKCA employees, which were stopped immediately after unearthing of the scam,” he said. When asked about the progress made by the probe committee, Wazir said, “It is impossible to achieve many major breakthrough unless we have all the relevant documents in our possession. Now with today’s hearing we are optimistic of positive developments in the probe.” Sources said the association had requested the police to provide the original documents to the JKCA and they could keep the xerox copies of the same. Farooq has also asked the probe committee to look into the genuineness
of various working committee members, representing different affiliated clubs. The four-member panel included Sham Saroop Kalsortra of United Cricket Club, Arvinder Singh Mickee of Rehari Cricket Club, Ashraf Bhat of City Cricket Club and Ashwinder Koul of Whites Cricket Club. |
|
|
Protesters throw stones at train
Srinagar, May 2 “Some unidentified persons, who were protesting against water logging in Krankshivan village, threw stones at the moving train, injuring a civilian. Despite stone-throwing the train did not stop and reached Baramulla,” Ahmed said. The injured was identified as Mohammad Sultan Gania, a resident of Magam in Budgam. A case was later registered at the Railway police station, Baramulla, against unknown persons. “We investigating the case,” the SHO said. The Railway officials said the train plied normally after the stone-throwing incident.
— TNS |
|
|
Students hold rally on drug abuse
Srinagar, May 2 The rally was organised by a trust, the Ansaar-ul-Masakeen Educational Society. Chairperson of the trust Afiqa Ali said the rally had been organised to create awareness about the drug menace and to urge parents, teachers and other members of society to contribute their bit in making the valley drug-free. She also urged the civil society to fight other social evils in the Valley. |
|
|
3 Vaishno Devi pilgrims die of heart attack
Katra, May 2 The police added that Sabita Sahib (63) and Sahaya Bai (70), both residents of Mumbai, also suffered a heart attack en route to Vaishno Devi Shrine. All the three pilgrims were rushed to Katra Hospital, where the doctors declared them brought dead. The bodies were later handed over to the families of the pilgrims. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
