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Top Hizbul militant gunned down in Ramban Jammu IGP Dilbag Singh addresses mediapersons in Jammu on Saturday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
JKCA Scam
Employees’ march to Raj Bhawan foiled |
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Plight of Pandits:
Part IV
Sikhs welcome interlocutors’ report
No compromise on environment for boosting tourism: Omar
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah shakes hand with an IFS probationer during an interactive session in Srinagar on Saturday. A Tribune photograph
Arms, ammunition recovered in Mahore
Snatching of rifles
31 hurt as bus overturns
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Top Hizbul militant gunned down in Ramban
Jammu, May 26 “While militancy had been wiped out from Doda district last year, few militants were still active in Ramban and Kishtwar districts and efforts were on to neutralise them as well. In this connection, security forces killed Ghulam Qadir last night,” Dilbag Singh, IGP, Jammu Zone, told mediapersons here today. With the killing of Hizb commander, the number of militants active in Banihal belt of Ramban district has come down to four, he said. The hunt is on to neutralise the remaining four, who are on our radar, Singh added. He informed that Ghulam Qadir was active in the Bhimdasa-Gool area since 2006 and had been involved in the killing of three Army men. The IGP said with the killing of Ghulam Qadir, the number of militants active across the Jammu region has come down to 29. “Four of them are operating in Ramban district, seven in Kishtwar district and the remaining 18 in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. We are on the job to wipe them out and make Jammu region a militancy-free region,” he said. He attributed the success to close synergy between Ramban police and 58 Rashtriya Rifles. When asked if the remaining four militants in Ramban district en route Kashmir highway can cause harm to Amarnath pilgrims, he said the security forces would keep them away from the highway. “At least 35 to 40 companies of paratroopers will be deployed across the Jammu region and, if required, additional deployment will also be made for adequate security of the pilgrims,” he said. On the Delhi High Court blast accused, he said three militants Junaid Akram, Chota Hafikz and Shakir Husain responsible for the attack were still active in the Kishtwar area. “Few days ago, an associate of Chota Hafiz, Akhter Hussain, was killed by the security forces and we are now confident of neutralising the remaining ultras,” he said. He, however, didn’t confirm Junaid’s killing by his own associates out of some rivalry as had been reported in a section of media. RK Kichlu adds from Ramban: Hizb Commander Ghulam Qadir was killed in a night-long operation at Bachkundi village of Gool tehsil in Ramban district. The slain ultra was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh and 10 lakh on his head announced by the police and the Army, respectively. One AK-56 rifle, three magazines with 54 bullets, one ammunition pouch and one matrix sheet were recovered from the site of encounter. |
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JKCA Scam
Jammu, May 26 The Tribune had reported that the initial findings of the probe committee had revealed that an amount of more than Rs 35 crore meant for the promotion of cricket activities in Jammu and Kashmir had been
embezzled. JKCA member Arvinder Singh Micky, who is one of the members of the investigation panel said, “We have already submitted our preliminary report to JKCA coordinator
Manzoor Wazir.” Micky said the JKCA chief would be informed about other important developments in the
ongoing probe. Sources said despite concerted efforts to get back cash books, the investigation panel had not achieved any success. The cash books and other important documents were seized by the police for conducting a probe into the scam. During the course of the investigation, the JKCA probe committee had found the cash books missing from 2005 to 2007. Now, with the second phase of the probe likely to commence soon, the committee has doubled its efforts to possess the cash books from 2006 onwards to know exactly how much amount has been misused by JKCA officials. “Though, we have completed the preliminary inquiry into the probe, but the availability of the cash books is of utmost importance for the remaining phases in the investigation process,” said another member of the JKCA probe panel. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India has already provided us with the balance sheets from 2001 onwards,” he said. The multi-crore cricket scam came to the fore two months ago, after it was found that JKCA officials were running a number of parallel accounts in the Khanyar and Air Cargo branches of the J&K Bank along with the original account. The funds for promotion of cricket were diverted to the fake accounts and were subsequently siphoned off by them. Following the pressure, JKCA president Dr Farooq Abdullah constituted an in-house probe committee. |
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Employees’ march to Raj Bhawan foiled
Srinagar, May 26 Protesting employees tried to take out processions from various parts of the city, including Regal Chowk, Maulana Azad Road and Abi Guzar. The police resorted to cane-charge and took many protesting employees into preventive custody. The authorities had detained top JCC leaders on the intervening night of May 23 and 24 to foil the Raj Bhawan march and yesterday’s Secretariat gherao programme. While there were rumours that the employees had extended their strike by four days, JCC leader Khurshid Alam ruled out the same. “There is a proposal to extend the strike, but the next course of action will be decided in a meeting tomorrow,” Alam said. He also threatened to intensify the protest, if the government didn’t change its “apathetic” attitude towards them. The JCC had called for a strike after the government failed to meet their demands of arrears recommended by the sixth pay commission, enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years and the regularisation of services of daily wagers and casual workers working in various government departments.
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Plight of
Pandits:
Part IV
Jammu, May 26 If the displaced Kashmiri Pandit families “assimilated” the Dogra culture and tradition, it also brought a feeling of “competitiveness” among Jammuites who, in return, took some characteristics of this particular ethnic group. Out of a total 58,697 migrant families, 38,119 families are residing in Jammu while 19,338 migrated to Delhi and 1,240 to other states and Union Territories. The civil society in Jammu, too, admits that migration and settlement of the Kashmiri Pandits had a great impact on the culture, education and language of the Dogra society. “Whenever two ethnic groups live together and interact, there is always a process of give and take whatever the circumstances are,” noted writer and Dogri Sanstha president Lalit Magotra says. He says the Kashmiri Pandit youth are presently working in Dogri, Punjabi and Hindi plays and dramas. “They can speak good Dogri and Punjabi language. Moreover, the people in Jammu have also accepted their culture and food. Going by the present trend, there is no function in Dogra families where Kashmiri food is not served to guests,” Magotra said. The writer points out that the Kashmiri Pandits gave tough competition to the people of Jammu in education as well as employment sector. “Even before migration, only Kashmiri Pandit women were well educated in the state and they easily got jobs in educational institutions in Jammu after their displacement. It, however, had a significant impact on the mindset of Jammuites where the women too started focusing on education,” he says. Magotra observes that the elders of the community, who were born and brought up in Kashmir, have “sentimental and emotional attachment” with their ancestral land and they would like to go back. However, the younger generation have little attachment with Kashmir and if they raise hue and cry on certain issues, it could be “politically motivated”. Diabetologist Dr Jitendra Singh, who has worked a lot on the rising level of disease among the Kashmiri Pandits, believes that migration had a positive impact primarily in two fields. “Firstly, although there was some education culture in Dogra society but competitiveness was brought in by the Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. More number of youth from Jammu began to appear and become successful in competitive examinations, including civil services,” he said. Singh, who is also the state BJP’s chief spokesperson, observes that instead of pressurising them (Kashmiri Pandits) for return or offering packages, the government should concentrate on creating conducive atmosphere for peace and security of minorities living in Kashmir. “If and when such situation arises, the minorities, including Kashmiri Pandits, would themselves prefer to return to Kashmir,” he says.
Political analyst Hari Om says there are only 30-35 per cent Dogra people who originally belong to Jammu and are presently living in Jammu city, while the remaining are “displaced”, including Kashmiri Pandits, refugees from PoK, West Pakistan and Mirpur. “Jammu society has now turned into cosmopolitan city where the original Dogra people have become a minority community. The Kashmiri Pandits assimilated the Dogra culture and tradition over the years and sometimes it becomes difficult to recognise a Kashmiri Pandit as he or she can speak good and effective Dogri language. Some Kashmiri Pandits are even using ‘Sharma’ as surname with their names now-a-days,” he says. Hari Om believes though the Kashmiri Pandits intended to go back to Kashmir valley, they couldn’t think of it because the situation was not conducive for their return.
“The demand for separate homeland may appear an impossible dream. Until and unless the Government of India create facilities for good education, job opportunities and take measures to ensure security of the people there, the return of Kashmiri Pandits is not possible,” he says.
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Sikhs welcome interlocutors’ report
Srinagar, May 26 APSCC chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said the Sikh community of the state had been highlighting its problems and brought these to the notice of Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, J&K Chief Minister and Governor from time to time. He added that the community was facing economic, social and educational hardships in the state. Because of the negligent and discriminatory attitude of both the state and Central governments, there was an ever increasing crisis situation for the community. “We appreciate that now interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and MM Ansari have also mentioned the same problems in their report after meeting a delegation of the All-Parties Sikh Coordination Committee at Srinagar,” Raina stated. He hoped that some steps would be taken by the government to resolve it. Raina added that problems like state subject, development issues like education, jobs, special economical packages for agriculture and horticulture losses were being faced by the community in the state. Issues of refugees, Ladakh region, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and other had been recommended in the interlocutors’ report for a solution. “We hope that now some practical work will be done on these issues for a solution,” he said.
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No compromise on environment for boosting tourism: Omar
Srinagar, May 26 “A well-planned strategy is required to boost tourism without compromising on issues of environmental importance,” Omar told the group of 31 IFS probationers. The IFS probationers are on a study tour of the state to know about forest management measures and strategies in place to conserve forest wealth and the environment. Stating that the “aggressive” tourism marketing by Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh had “badly affected the environment there”, Omar said a balanced approach had to be put in place to develop and market tourism without affecting the environment. “We have underlined strict adherence to environment preservation and protection a pre-requisite for infrastructure development in tourist areas. Monitoring by courts has also narrowed down the chances of environment degradation due to infrastructure development,” he added. While responding to a question posed during the interaction, Omar said timber smuggling during militancy in the state had damaged the forest wealth enormously. He said the government had put in place stringent laws to curb timber smuggling and illegal felling of trees. On the conservation of the Dal Lake and the rehabilitation of Dal-dwellers, the Chief Minister said a comprehensive plan had been put in place to address both the issues.
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Arms, ammunition recovered in Mahore
Katra, May 26 Acting on a tip off, the Army and the police conducted a joint operation in the Chhaperan Nullah Hajamnagar forest of Mahore. Gourav Mahajan, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Operations), said, “The recovery was the biggest in the region in the last one year and a major success for security forces.” “With this recovery, the last hideout of Hizbul Mujahideen and the hidden cache of weapons have been busted in the region,”
he added. The recoveries included one 12 bore rifle, 101 Pika rounds, 172 AK rounds, 78 INSAS rounds, one IED circuit with battery, six rifle cylinder, 61 detonators, four INSAS magazines, three Chinese grenades, one wireless set and 45 pencil cells. However, no one has been arrested in this
connection so far.
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Snatching of rifles
Srinagar, May 26 The initial police investigations revealed that local Hizbul Mujahideen militants were involved in the incident. “We have detained six youths from the locality for questioning and have got some leads into the case,” said a police officer. “We have identified the militant group involved in the incident. A massive manhunt has been launched to trace the militants responsible for snatching of the rifles from a minority picket at Aarigam in Tral, which had been set up to guard Sikh families in the village,” he added. Sources said the police had an “advance input” about the possible attack on the minority picket in south Kashmir.
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31 hurt as bus overturns
Srinagar, May 26 The accident happened in Chermajroo village, 30 km from here, when the driver of the bus was negotiating a sharp curve.
— PTI
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In a major success, security forces claimed to have gunned down a dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” last night in the Bachkundi area of Ramban district.
Srinagar, May 26
