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Grim reality at China border
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This year again state govt has ignored Accession Day: BJP
BJP leaders and activists hoist the Tricolour during Accession Day celebrations in Jammu on Friday. Tribune photo: Inderjeet Singh Sachin Pilot launches rural outreach programme in Ganderbal
Security stepped up in Valley for Eid-ul-Azha
Militant under trial sparks controversy over ’88 blasts
Soon, drug procurement corporation for state
Darbar closes in
Srinagar, heads for Jammu
Army officer found dead
Curfew relaxed
in Zanskar
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Grim reality at China border
Jammu, October 26 The 3,488-km-long LAC between India and China runs through the Himalayan states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. J&K alone has 1,600- km stretch of LAC with China. “At a time when China has been ramping up its infrastructure on the other side of the LAC, our nine or 10 strategically located posts with 1,500 personnel in the region get cut off every winter for over six months,” said a top ITBP source from Ladakh. The source, however, refused to give the exact location of the posts for obvious reasons. “Every year we stock essential supplies of food, clothing, medicines and weapons for our men in these posts during summer because from December till June they remain cut off,” he said. “Manning these posts at an altitude of 16,000 feet to 17,000 feet above sea level in spine-chilling cold where mercury plummets to as low as -50° Celsius and where oxygen is less, obviously give a real tough time to our boys,” he added. “However, these posts remain connected with us via satellite and wireless communication system,” he said, adding that in case of contingencies like evacuating sick personnel, the ITBP has to approach the IAF for providing Mi-17 chopper. ITBP men suffer from high-altitude sickness like memory loss, indigestion and breathlessness besides frost bite. The source admitted that going by the bitter experience of 1962, huge presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and incidents of Chinese transgression in Ladakh, India could not afford to turn a blind eye to the posts in Ladakh. Poor road connectivity in the entire Ladakh region vis-à-vis state-of-the-art infrastructure being raised by China on the other side should be taken up as a wake-up call by those at the helm of affairs, he said. The recent government initiative — 6.5-km-long
Z-Morh tunnel — that will ensure connectivity between Srinagar and Ladakh round the year should have come up 30 years ago. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the tunnel on October 4. “Similarly, 8.8-km-long Rohtang tunnel being built between Leh and Manali should have come up much earlier. We need to match China because going by their preparedness, the entire Ladakh region faces a threat,” he said. line of defence *
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been considering the proposal to spare at least one Mi-17 chopper for the ITBP in the Ladakh region out of the six choppers with the BSF *
At present, the ITBP has five battalions in Ladakh. One battalion has 1,300 personnel *
The Army is the second line of defence along the LAC * The pace of constructing roads, bridges and tunnels needs to be speeded up |
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This year again state govt has ignored Accession Day: BJP
Jammu, October 26 “I am not surprised over the behaviour of the government,” said Prof Hari Om, an eminent historian and former Dean of Social Sciences of Jammu University. “Those who are running the government don’t treat Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of the country so they discourage celebrating the Accession Day,” he said while quoting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s statement that Jammu and Kashmir had only acceded and not merged with the Indian Union. He said Maharaja Hari Singh, who had singed the Instrument of Accession, was forced to leave the state and those who were playing dubious roles were given important positions. A prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader, Ajay Charangoo, said the ruling National Conference had never recognised the sanctity of the accession but unfortunately, the Congress, a partner in the coalition government, was also ignoring the day. “It was the duty of the Congress party to organise official functions to mark the Accession Day but unfortunately, the party has failed to perform its duty,” he lamented. The BJP, on the other hand, said it was all due to the pressure of fundamentalist elements of the Kashmir Valley that the government was shying away from organising official functions on the Accession Day. “Successive state governments in Jammu and Kashmir have always succumbed before the fundamentalist forces of the Kashmir valley and so, every year this historic moment has been ignored,” said BJP state president Shamsher Singh Manhas. He said, “By not holding any function to celebrate this historic day, the state government in a way is challenging the very accession of this princely state with the Union of India.” No National Conference leader was ready to come on record on this issue. Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Ravinder Sharma, however, tried to downplay the issue. “We maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian Union with a special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Jammu and Kashmir merged with
the Indian Union through the Instrument of Accession,” he said.
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Sachin Pilot launches rural outreach programme in Ganderbal
Srinagar, October 26 Speaking on the occasion, Pilot said the common service centres formed a crucial part of the National e-Governance Plan which is an initiative to improve the quality of the basic governance which concerns the common man. He said one lakh CSCs across the country were providing various government services to people, including provision of birth, death, domicile, caste and income certificates, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments, computer courses, financial services, online railway and airline ticket booking. He said the flagging-off ceremony of the exhibition van of the outreach programme in Ganderbal had rolled out the Phase-I of the project in 11 states across the country and that the campaign would cover 115 CSCs in five districts of the state. “We are committed to fully supporting the e-governance initiatives of the state government and Rs 40 crore have been sanctioned for the common services centre project in the state,” he said. The Union minister announced that an extension centre of the National Institute of Electronics and IT would shortly be opened in Leh. He said it would have the capacity to train 50 students at a time and would provide employment opportunities to youth of the area. Pilot also announced a grant of Rs 7 crore for computerisation of the colleges associated with the Kashmir University Computerisation Project. He said 16 educational institutions had been identified to be connected to the National Knowledge Network (NKN) for shared learning and high quality collaborative research and e-learning. Out of these, he said, 10 had already been connected and the rest were in the process of connection. The Chief Minister said his government had taken various measures to use IT initiatives to curb chances of corruption and to make service delivery prompt. He said e-tendering and e-procurement in various government departments had upgraded the quality of service and brought more transparency in the functioning. Omar said the CSCs, also known as ‘khidmat’ centres in the state would |
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Security stepped up in Valley for Eid-ul-Azha
Srinagar, October 26 The police suspects that trouble may break out in Srinagar’s old city and major towns of the Valley after the Eid prayers. The major Eid prayers will be held at the Eidgah in old city and the Hazratbal shrine, which houses the relic of Prophet Mohammad. “There are reports that anti-national elements may try to indulge in stone throwing after the prayers but we are on alert on Eid,” said a police officer here. Separatists usually give a call for strike on October 27 every year but due to Eid, they have only given a call for “symbolic protests” after the prayers. Sources said top separatist leaders would be put under house arrest and they might not be allowed to offer the Eid prayers. The hard-line APHC chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, plans to offer prayers at the Hazratbal while moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq plans to offer the prayers at the Eidgah. JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik will offer Eid prayers at the TRC grounds tomorrow. “We will put them (separatists) under house arrest. In the past, they have been instrumental in fomenting trouble even on festivals,” said another police officer. The Kashmir valley had witnessed violence in many areas after the Eid-ul-Fitr prayers in August this year. A police van was burnt down in Srinagar on Eid and in Sopore, youths threw stones on CRPF pickets. |
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Militant under trial sparks controversy over ’88 blasts
Srinagar, October 26 Dar, popularly known as Master because of his teaching background, is lodged at the Central Jail, Srinagar, where he is undergoing trial in several militancy-related cases. “It was not Yasin Malik or Javed Mir who carried out those blasts. It is a wrong projection of history,” he told The Tribune. Dar was reacting to local newspaper reports which, he said, had projected former militants Malik and Mir as the architects of Kashmir militancy and as the men behind the blasts on July 31, 1988. Both Malik and Mir, who had led the pro-independence JKLF militant outfit in the early 1990s, are now leaders of separate factions of the political separatist group after renouncing militancy in 1994. Mir, however, refused to make any comment on Dar’s claim. Dar said “the truth” about the July 31, 1988, blasts was that they had been carried out by another set of militants who were also operating under the JKLF, which was then led by Pakistan-based Amanullah Khan. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was formed nearly two years after the first bomb blasts and Dar was among its founding members. Dar, who was born in a north Kashmir village in 1961, was first arrested in 1988 but managed to escape while he was being treated at a hospital. He was again arrested in 1993 and released six years later in 1999. After his release, he again went underground and was arrested in 2009 from north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. These days, Dar says, he is chronicling the militant history of the region in his prison cell. His new book which is tentatively titled ‘Crisis in Command’ will be the first document of Kashmir’s militant history, which began in 1988 when bomb attacks were carried out at several locations in the heart of Srinagar, to be authored by a militant leader.
The 550-page book will delve into the events surrounding the eruption of militancy in Kashmir to the militant and political scene which has emerged “till this date”. Dar named Abdul Qadir Rather, Shabir Ahmad Guru, ‘Engineer’ Arshad Kaloo, Javed Jehangir, Humayoun Azad, Mohammad Anwar Bhat and Bilal Sidiqi as the members of the militant cell which carried the blasts.
“The attacks were first planned for July 13 but then due to some problems, the attacks had to be postponed,” he said. Bilal Sidiqi, who was released from jail last year after spending 17 years in prison, said there was an FIR against him for carrying out the July 1988 blasts.
“I will not speak much on it. I will only say the FIR is registered against me. It is me who is on trial for those blasts for the past 20 years,” Sidiqi said. What Dar says |
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Soon, drug procurement corporation for state
Srinagar, October 26 If the corporation comes up, it will be the first major step towards implementing the drug policy in the state, which will streamline the procurement of equipment and medicines for government hospitals in the state. Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma said the corporation would be set up on the pattern of that in Tamil Nadu. “The corporation will be like the one which exists in Tamil Nadu to ensure transparency in the purchase of drugs and equipment for government hospitals. The corporation will work independently,” the minister said. Kashmir Health Director Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman said the drug policy, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier this year, had no sanctity without the corporation. “The drug policy has no sanctity without the drug procurement corporation. The corporation will help in streamlining quality control of drugs and other equipment before implementing the drug policy,” he said. The Cabinet approved the drug policy in January this year but before its implementation, it was essential to have a drug procurement corporation. “Once the corporation is set up, the drug policy will be implemented in the state and the drug policy will give us more powers to check the sale of spurious drugs, which is a major issue in the state,” said a senior officer. |
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Darbar closes in Srinagar, heads for Jammu
Srinagar, October 26 Though demands have been raised to abandon the practice, the government has not stopped moving the Darbar fearing socio-political backlash in the two regions of the state. “When the Darbar shifts from one capital to another every year, it is natural for people to feel that they have been left alone by their rulers. The government needs to work in a way that the Darbar practice is abandoned and simultaneously the two regions should not feel ignored,” said Tufail Ahmed, a former student of business management from Kashmir University. “The state government spends a huge amount on the annual shifting and this amount could be utilised in other developmental works,” he added. In fact, the Chief Minister had earlier this year generated a debate when he stated that Darbar move was a waste of money. “Do I think the ‘Darbar move’ is a waste of money? Yes, I do. Is there an alternative? I haven't seen a viable alternative suggested,” Omar had stated on microblogging site Twitter in April. But while the debate in the state continues over the Darbar move, noted economist and a member of the state Financial Commission Nisar Ali said a draft on detailed administrative reforms was ready. It suggested regional secretariats for Jammu and Srinagar. The noted economist said that people of both the regions have to suffer when ever the Darbar shifts from one capital to another. “People have to move from one capital to another and it has financial implications. One also has to take into the consideration the amount of inconvenience caused,” he said. Official records say the government annually spends Rs 10 crore for moving offices, records and employees to Jammu in October and then back to Srinagar in May. Around 7,000 employees move from one capital to another and the majority of them are provided government accommodation. Since the opening of Darbar, 19 Cabinet meetings, including two in Tangdhar and Machil near the Line of Control in Kupwara — were held under the chairmanship of Omar Abdullah. Nearly 120 decisions were taken by the government during the Cabinet meetings. |
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Army officer found dead
Jammu, October 26 The officer hailed from Uttar Pradesh and his family lives in Delhi, he said. A post-mortem on his body was conducted today at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu, and the report is awaited. — TNS
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Curfew relaxed
in Zanskar
Jammu, October 26 “Normalcy is returning in the town and the curfew was today relaxed from 12 noon till evening,” Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, M. Raju told The Tribune over phone. Official sources, however, said the state government had transferred the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Zanskar, Urgain Loondup, following the clashes. — TNS
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Various religious, social and political organisations today celebrated the Accession Day in at Jammu but no official function was organised to mark the merger of the state with the Indian Union. Like previous years, this time, too, the government has completely disassociated itself from celebrating this historic day.
Srinagar, October 26
The civil secretariat, housing offices of the Chief Minister, ministers and top bureaucrats, as well as the Raj Bhawan secretariat and offices of the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court and Director General of Police closed here today. These Darbar move offices will reopen on November 5 in Jammu. The 138-year-old tradition of shifting the Darbar was started by Dogra Maharajas.
