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Protests continue in Valley over anti-Islam film
Film still accessible online
15 protesters injured
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BJP condemns anti-Islam video
IC814
Kandahar hijacking case
Being framed, claims family
Ansari arrives in Kashmir
Omar presents progress report to Vice-President
Termination
of service
BJP to raise development issues in autumn session
BJP to fight for cause of West Pakistan refugees
Govt nod for setting up probe panel
10-yr jail for Lashkar commander’s aide
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Protests continue in Valley over anti-Islam film
Srinagar, September 14 In a protest held at the University of Kashmir, protesters held placards reading “Obama, we are all Osama”. Students marched through the sprawling campus to protest against the United States and Israel. Before dispersing, the protesters tore apart a US flag. Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had on Thursday called for peaceful protests against the anti-Islam film directed by an American-Israeli man. Clerics and imams urged people to protest against what they termed as a “grave aggression”. “I am ready to become a martyr for the sake of the honour of the Prophet,” Imam Sayed Ahmad, a cleric at the Jamia Masjid in the old city, said in his Friday address, condemning the film and urging followers to participate in the protests as “a duty”. A major protest later broke outside the mosque in Nowhatta where youths raised anti-America and anti-Israel slogans. At least two Israeli flags and an American flag were burnt by the protesters who later marched to the adjoining Khanyar locality where they were stopped by a contingent of police and asked to disperse. More protests erupted at the Maisuma locality and the Amira Kadal locality. A dozen lawyers, while protesting at the Srinagar city centre near Lal Chowk, denounced the United States as an aggressor against the Muslims. In south Kashmir’s Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian districts, demonstrations were held at several places where agitated youth burnt American flags. Thousands of people led by Mirwaiz Qazi Yasir, chief preacher of south Kashmir, marched in Anantnag district to protest against the film. People at Trehgam, Kralpora, Baramulla, Sopore, Palhallan and Handwara towns in north Kashmir also expressed resentment. Except for protests in Baramulla town, Palhallan and Maisuma, where protesters pelted stones at the security forces during the anti-American demonstrations, protests in other places ended peacefully. (With inputs from Amin Masoodi in north Kashmir and Suhail Shah in south Kashmir) |
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Film still accessible online
Srinagar, September 14 J&K Home Affairs Principal Secretary BR Sharma confirmed to The Tribune that the state government had asked the Union Home Ministry to block access to such videos in the state, a couple of days ago. He said, “They are working on it (to block the film).” The ruling National Conference party has strongly condemned the makers and promoters of the anti-Islam film terming them as “enemies of peace and humanity”. “We strongly and resolutely denounce this desecrating act. This offensive act has added fuel to inter-faith enmity and conflict and has badly affected the peaceful coexistence between people,” said the party spokesman.
15 protesters injured
In north Kashmir, protesters created ruckus when they mistook a film on Prophet Muhammad’s life, which was being screened by the Army at a school in the Lolab area of Kupwara district, as the controversial anti-Islam film. The police fired tear smoke canisters and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters, injuring 15 among them. An army spokesman said the film being screened at the school in Putushahi village was The Message, a 1977 film by a famous Syrian director Mustafa Akkad, which is about historical incidents surrounding the life of Islam’s seventh century prophet. “It is emerging as a well planned act by some inimical elements who tried to instigate some people,” he said. |
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BJP condemns anti-Islam video
Srinagar, September 14 “We respect all religions but one group in the US has attacked the religious sentiments….the rigid stand of the US will not be tolerated. Muslims are feeling hurt and we stand with the Muslim brothers to show solidarity,” BJP leader Ashok Khajuria told mediapersons here. He said this in the wake of widespread condemnation of the video by separatist parties, religious groups and the diktat of the Grand Mufti that Americans should leave Kashmir. Khajuria appealed to youth to shun violence and alleged that hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was being used by some parties as a “mask” to stoke trouble in the Valley. Urging locals, especially the youth, to join the mainstream, he said: “Look at Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which is underdeveloped while India is a
secular country that respects all religions.” Khajuria also pointed to problems faced by the ‘mohajirs’ (migrants). “In India, we have had Muslim Presidents but one cannot come across such examples of secularism in Pakistan,” he said. Khajuria also flayed the UPA government for the hike in diesel prices, saying the party would launch a fight against inflation. |
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IC814 Kandahar hijacking case
Jammu, September 14 While IGP, Jammu zone, Dilbag Singh due to “operational requirement” avoided divulging the location where Mehraj-ud-Din Dand, alias Javed, was arrested, the Army in a statement declared that Dand in a joint operation had been arrested in Kishtwar town, some 240 km from here. Contradictions came to fore when the SP, Kishtwar, Bhim Sen Tutti, claimed that Dand had been arrested at a joint checkpost of the Army and police on September 12 night in the Chatroo area, 41 km from district headquarters of Kishtwar. However, The Tribune had reported, quoting a top source, that Dand was actually brought from Nepal via Gorakhpur by train before being declared “arrested” near Kishtwar on September 12 night. Dand’s family in Sopore, which feigned ignorance about his alleged involvement in the hijacking, has claimed that he was a businessman settled in Nepal. “A man wanted for his involvement in militancy in Kashmir and who had gone to Pakistan five or six times and against whom a militancy-related case was registered in Sopore police station. What else was required to arrest him?” asked the IGP while talking to The Tribune. But the IGP didn’t divulge the location of his arrest, saying that the “Kishtwar police alone can answer this query.” The IGP said: “Dand hasn’t been shifted to the joint interrogation cell (JIC) as yet and at present he is in custody of the Kishtwar police. Security agencies which want to question him can do so.” The IGP, however, had nothing to say about the Army’s participation in the entire operation. But the SP, Kishtwar, Bhim Sen Tutti, said: “Dand was arrested in a joint operation of the Army and police. In fact, it was a joint naka (checkpost) of the Army and police in the Chatroo area (41 km from Kishtwar town) where this man was nabbed.” “Today, we produced him in a court, which has sent him on a four-day police remand,” added Tutti. A senior Army officer, while disclosing that Dand was apprehended from Kishtwar town, said: “He was in the process of running away when men of Military Intelligence and other Intelligence agencies spotted and identified him before overpowering him. Dand had no weapon on his person at that time.” “It was a neat and clean operation because of the fact that not a single round was fired,” he added. Describing the arrest as a “big catch”, the officer said: “The real job of the police begins now.” A defence statement issued late last night reads: “In a well-coordinated operation based on specific and reliable intelligence, major success was achieved on September 12 when a dreaded terrorist Mehraj-ud-Din of Sopore was apprehended in a joint operation by the Army and police in Kishtwar town.” The GOC, Delta Force, Maj Gen M Ramesh Babu, in a talk over the phone with The Tribune correspondent in Batote, also claimed that Dand was apprehended in a joint operation by the Army and police in Kishtwar town. |
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Being framed, claims family
Baramulla, September 14 The police had yesterday claimed to have arrested top militant commander Mehraj-ud-Din Dand from an undisclosed location on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Claiming that Mehraj-ud-Din, alias Javed, was not involved in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, Dand’s family claims that he was returning from Nepal for medical treatment in Kashmir for a serious illness when he was picked up near the Katar crossing. Javed originally hails from Sopore town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, some 50 km from Srinagar. “On September 2, Javed called me from Nepal saying that he had booked a ticket for Friday (September 7). Afterwards, he called me on Sunday (September 9) morning from somewhere near Jammu to tell me that he was on his way to Kashmir. The phone from which he had called me belonged to the driver of the vehicle he was boarding,” Dand’s brother Abdul Rashid claimed while talking to The Tribune. Rashid said when Javed did not reach home in the evening, the family felt worried. “I called back the driver’s number, who told me that Javed was picked up by some men in a Swift car. The next day, I along with some of my neighbours tried to meet the local SP, but were not successful.” “As we returned home, some unknown men, possibly from the CID, came to our house to tell us that Javed had been located in Kishtawar and had been arrested,” he claimed. Rashid claimed that his brother was innocent and was leading a “normal life” since he left militancy in the early nineties. Javed had been jailed by the J&K Police in 1993. After his release three years later, he had shifted to Nepal, where he had set up a cosmetic shop and also married a local woman. “He is innocent and is being framed. If he had been involved in the case then why wasn’t he apprehended earlier? After he settled in Nepal, he had been regularly visiting his parents in Sopore,” Rashid claimed, adding that Javed last visited Sopore towards the end of 2010 and stayed on till January 2011. Javed’s family maintains that he is “seriously ill” and has also undergone neurosurgery at a private nursing home in Nepal. “Since he was not feeling well for over two years, I had persuaded him to return so that we could treat him at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar. In fact, when he was here in 2010, he had also consulted a neurosurgeon here,” claims
Rashid. |
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Ansari arrives in Kashmir
Srinagar, September 14 The Vice-President was received by Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Legislative Council chairman Amrit Malhotra, Council of Ministers, Members of Parliament and other senior civil, police and Army officers at the Technical Airport. Ansari was flown to the BB Cantonment after which he was driven to the Raj Bhawan for his stay, where he was received by the Governor and the First Lady. Ansari will visit the tourist resort of Pahalgam tomorrow for an overnight stay. He will attend a function at the Indian Institute of Mountaineering at Pahalgam before returning to Srinagar on Sunday. Ansari is scheduled to visit the Wildlife National Park at Dachigam near Srinagar on Sunday, officials said. The Vice-President is also slated to attend the inaugural function of the three-day J&K Science Congress at the University of Kashmir on Monday. Over 800 delegates from across the country are expected to attend the meet which is aimed at maintaining an environment for objectivity and imaginative inquiry and for original
research.@
Omar presents progress report to Vice-President
Srinagar, September 14 The duo conferred on the present political scenario and restoration of peace in the state, said an official spokesman. Omar apprised Ansari of the initiatives taken by the coalition government for people’s empowerment and better governance. He also told the Vice-President about measures being taken to curb corruption and empowerment of the Panchayati Raj system. Omar Abdullah gave the report card of the Public Service Guarantee Act in the state and talked about initiatives to strengthen the State Accountability Commission. The Chief Minister said his government was trying to ensure equitable development in all the regions and sub-regions of
the state. He said they were trying their best to ensure inclusive development and welfare of the weaker sections of society, which include the Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Other Backward Classes,
Gujjar, Bakerwals and the Pahari-speaking community. The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the Union Government for extending all possible financial and logistic support to the state to be able to march on road to peace and prosperity. |
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Termination of service
Srinagar, September 14 Thousands of youths, who face the job cut, have threatened to launch a statewide agitation and an indefinite strike from September 17, if the government failed to meet their demands. The NYC volunteers were paid an honorarium for two years since 2010. They worked on a full-time basis in 14 public departments. The youth were provided employment when Kashmir witnessed unrest in summer of 2010 in which more than 120 youth were killed. The volunteers had given up their jobs and education and are feeling cheated now. “The terms of service did not allow us to work or study during the employment period. The government tricked us into employment to stop the unrest. The futile promises made to us by the government have spoilt our employment opportunities. We have no option but to raise our voices against the government, which might lead to another unrest,” said Aiejaz Ahmad, general secretary of the NYC Volunteers Delegation. Official sources said a high-level committee of the state government headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal has been mulling over a proposal for adjusting the volunteers in the State Education Department under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan schemes. The high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary was convened on September 3 which was attended by Commissioner Secretaries of the General Administration, School Education and Finance Departments. The government has not been able to arrive at a consensus about the adjustments of the volunteers. The NYC volunteers are being asked to discharge their duty in various departments even after the end of their two-year contract. The Chief Secretary said the government cannot promise jobs to them at this point. He said the NYC volunteers have to enrol themselves in various skill-oriented trainings to become eligible for technical and non-technical services. |
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BJP to raise development issues in autumn session
Srinagar, September 14 “Implementation of the 73rd and 74th Amendments is the biggest issue. Holding block development council elections will be meaningless if panchayats are not empowered... seeking these Amendments will be our priority,” BJP chief whip Ashok Khajuria said while addressing a press conference here. Even as the party is traditionally known for raking up alleged discrimination with the Jammu region in the Assembly, Khajuria said it would now also raise development issues of Kashmir. “In the past we may have neglected Kashmir but now we will also stand for the development issues of Kashmir. Kashmir has faced bad luck on account of development,” he added. Khajuria said the party wanted to strengthen its base in the Valley and that is why it had decided to raise the issues here vociferously. He also appealed to the people to “give BJP a try” while casting their votes in the scheduled 2014 Assembly actions. “The Congress has betrayed everyone in the country. You have tried everyone right from (NC founder) Sheikh Abdullah to (PDP patron) Mufti Sayeed only to be betrayed... now give BJP a try,” he said. When asked if concrete road connectivity to the holy Amarnath shrine would also be their priority, Khajuria said: “You will find out once the session starts.” He said the issue of Amendments to the RTI Act would also be taken up. On the BJP’s “silence” over the issue of human rights violations in the Valley, he said the party opposed “legitimate” violations. “We will support all issues related to development and unemployment. But our stand on political aspects and abrogation of Article 370 will remain unchanged,” Khajuria added. He avoided commenting in detail about the BJP cross-voting row that had led to expulsion of seven MLAs from the party by merely saying that “God knows best where the money went”. |
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BJP to fight for cause of West Pakistan refugees
Jammu, September 14 The West Pakistan refugees have been struggling to get their citizenship rights since 1947 in Jammu and Kashmir. The human rights cell of the BJP has brought the issue to the notice of the National Human Rights Commission, the State Human Rights Commission and the National Scheduled Caste Commission. It has decided to collect all information about the West Pakistan refugees to approach the court of law for redress of their problems. Sources in the BJP said following directions of the party national president, Nitin Gadkari, a team of the legal cell of the party comprising lawyers of the Supreme Court would be in Jammu on September 16 and 17 to visit camps of the West Pakistan refugees. “The team will visit refugee camps in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, RS Pura, Akhnoor and Rajouri district,” said a source and added that the team would meet leaders of the West Pakistan refugees. On September 17, the team will hold discussions with representatives of some social organisations to devise a strategy to adopt all means to solve decades-long grievances of the stateless refugees. The team will also discuss the issue with local legal experts to get information regarding constitutional hurdles in granting citizenship rights to the refugees - the majority of whom are Dalits. “The main task before the visiting team is to prepare a ground to start a legal battle for the refugees,” a senior BJP leader said and added that the party was mulling over to take the fight to the national level. “As the majority of the West Pakistan refugees are Dalits, we are trying to rope in all organisations of “weaker sections” across the country to highlight the plight of these helpless people,” a BJP leader said on the conditions of anonymity. He said a delegation of senior BJP leaders would soon visit the refugee camps in Jammu. A high-level delegation of Congress leaders from the state had taken up the refugees’ issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. The meeting had rekindled a ray of hope among the refugees. As the 25,262 families of the West Pakistan refugees have voting rights in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and the Congress are giving an impression that they are their well-wishers. |
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Govt nod for setting up probe panel
Jammu, September 14 Six passengers, including the pilot, were killed in the crash. The helicopter belonged to the state government and was making sorties to the Amarnath cave shrine, ferrying pilgrims. Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had visited the holy cave in the same chopper two days before the crash. The four-member committee comprises Commissioner Secretary, Tourism Department; Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad, secretary, General Administration Department (GAD); Ravi Magotra, Director, General Accounts and Treasuries; and Sufi Mohammad Yousuf, special secretary, Chief Minister’s Secretariat. It would submit its report within three months. The committee would build upon the inquiry report submitted by the then Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, and by the Director General, Civil Aviation, as the basis for their work and would cover the issues particularly highlighted in the judgment of the J&K State Consumers Disputes Redressal Commission on September 26, 2011. The GAD order stated that the committee would also inquire whether the decision regarding the operation of the helicopter services to the Amarnath yatra taken in the meeting chaired by the then Chief Minister on July 22, 2003, was respected. “The panel has also been entrusted with the task to see whether the sale proceeds of air tickets were accounted for or misappropriated. It will also see if any action was initiated against erring officials under law, besides recovery of the government money. It would try to fix responsibility for permitting the misuse of the aircraft to carry the passengers against terms and conditions of the insurance policy by using it for commercial purposes when there was no insurance cover, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer,” the order stated. a“The job of the committee is to see whether the approval of the competent authority was obtained for the operation of the
helicopter services and if the helicopter was having any technical fault beforeit had taken off,” the
order said. |
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10-yr jail for Lashkar commander’s aide
Jammu, September 14 “In default of payment of the fine, he shall undergo further imprisonment of one year,” said the Principal Sessions Judge, Udhampur.
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Srinagar, September 14
Srinagar, September 14
