The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt mulls incentives for border residents May treat border firing victims on par with victims of militancy Dinesh Manhotra/TNS Jammu, November 1 The state government is likely to treat victims of cross-border firing on a par with victims of militancy-related incidents. A proposal in this regard has already been prepared and will be placed before the Cabinet for approval. “We have prepared a comprehensive proposal to treat cross-border firing victims on a par with victims of militancy to do justice with those who have been bearing the brunt of the unprovoked firing as well as shelling from across the border,” Minister of Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla told The Tribune. He disclosed that the proposal would be discussed in the Cabinet before the final decision. The next Cabinet meeting would be held after the opening of Darbar in Jammu. Sources said that besides providing government jobs to the victims of cross-border firing, the government had also proposed a number of other incentives for those who have been living along the border. “There is also a proposal to insure life, property, cattle and crops of border residents,” a source said, adding that those living within a distance of 8 km from the border are likely to be brought under the purview of this rehabilitation scheme. The state’s boundary comprises 293-km-long international border, 776-km Line of Control (LoC), 121-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) with Pakistan and 1,600-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. Although Bhalla refused to divulge details about the proposal made by his ministry, he said all demands of the border residents had been incorporated in the comprehensive proposal. The government was aware of the problems being faced by the border inhabitants, he added. The Congress has been demanding compensation for cross-border firing victims as ceasefire violation by Pakistan has become a routine of late. Congress Lok Sabha member Madan Lal Sharma and other leaders from border areas have launched an aggressive campaign in support of the demands of border residents. Congress leaders are mounting pressure on their party ministers to get the prepared proposal approved in the Cabinet so that it could be forwarded to the Union Government. “I don’t think there is much financial implication involved in treating border firing victims on a par with victims of militancy,” Madan Lal Sharma said, adding that it was the duty of the Congress ministers to get the proposal approved. Pakistan had targeted the civilian population with heavy weapons near the LoC in the Uri sector of Baramullah district in Kashmir on October 16 killing three civilians, including a woman. Other Proposals In addition to providing government jobs to the victims of cross-border firing, there is also a proposal to insure life, property, cattle and crops of border residents Those living within a distance of 8 km from the border are likely to be brought under the purview of the new rehabilitation scheme
	Over 300 ReT teacher posts vacant in Jammu division Bismah Malik Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 At a time when the unemployment in the state is increasing, the government is yet to fill the posts lying vacant in various government schools in Jammu division. Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, out of 311 Rehbar-e-Taleem teacher (ReT) posts, which were created in various newly sanctioned primary and upper primary schools of Jammu division in the past two years, only nine posts have been filled. As per the report of the School Education Department, during 2011-12, seven ReT teachers have been engaged in various primary schools of Jammu district and two have been recruited for primary schools of Udhampur district. A total of 107 new primary schools had been sanctioned. As for the newly established primary schools in Reasi, Ramban, Kishtwar and Rajouri districts, none of the posts for ReT teachers have been filled. The state government has not achieved its target of filling 161 posts in 196 various upper primary schools, which were upgraded during 2011-2012 under the SSA, the report mentions. The report says that the engagement of ReT teachers in various upper primary schools of Jammu division has been withheld as the Education Department is awaiting the instructions from the General Administration Department (GAD). These are regarding the recruitment of three subject-specific ReT teachers in each school as per the directive of the State Project Director, SSA, Yasha Mudgal. Mudgal, on the other hand, said they had already notified the number of new posts, the backlog of other vacant posts to the state Directorate of School Education and the new norms for the recruitment. “The engagement of the teachers is the onus of the School Education Department,” she said. “It is true that there has been a time lapse of one year in engaging the ReT teachers in various government schools of the state but the GAD has not cleared the new rules under which the engagements are to be made, due to which the targets could not be achieved,” an official in the Directorate of School Education, Jammu, told the Tribune.
	Delina health centre without facilities Lone doctor caters to medical needs of 20,000 residents Amin Masoodi Baramulla, November 1 Residents of Delina, which is 7 km from Baramulla town, and many of its adjoining areas are facing problems due to the lack of proper healthcare facilities at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the village. The centre has a single doctor to cater to the medical needs of a population of over 20,000 people. “The PHC witnesses a huge rush of patients everyday but there is a lone doctor who examines the patients. We requested the authorities many a times to post at least two more doctors there but they turned a deaf ear to our pleas,” said Ghulam Mohammad, a Delina native. Locals said the doctor attends patients for only 10 days in a month as he is often put on duty at other hospitals in the district. “The doctor attends patients for only ten days and so many are forced to visit the district hospital in Baramulla for their treatment,” said a local. The locals said despite a new building, the PHC was running from a rented building for the past six years. Since the PHC is without a dental and a gynecology unit, patients with related problems have to visit the Baramulla district hospital for treatment. The centre is visited by residents of many adjoining villages such as Qazipora, Ghat, Malik and Mir Mohalla. An employee in the health centre said at least 80 to 100 patients visited the PHC everyday and that the new building for the PHC had been completed in June 2010 at a cost of over Rs 70 lakh but it had not been put to use. Locals said the foundation stone of the building was laid in 2006 by the then deputy chief minister, Muzafar Hussain Beigh. Baramulla Chief Medical Officer Dr Mohd Younis said, “The new building for the PHC will be thrown open for the locals on November 6. The building has an adequate space and the centre will be provided with latest X-ray machines and other necessary equipment.”
	A first in country: Srinagar gets evening parcel service Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 Srinagar today became the first Indian city to get evening parcel service while the Department of Posts (DoP), J&K circle, has witnessed more that 100 per cent increase in the parcel business. Chief Postmaster General, J&K circle, John Samuel launched the evening parcel service at the General Post Office (GPO) complex here. Addressing a press conference later, Samuel said: “While this service is available at many foreign countries, Srinagar is the first city where this service has been launched. Parcels will now be delivered to the people through the post office mail vehicles up to 8 pm on all the working days.” Stating that the Valley and Ladakh region had witnessed more than 100 per cent increase in the parcel business this year, he said the department received 10 to 12 tonnes of parcels on a daily basis as compared to about five tonnes earlier. Samuel said the delivery of the parcels in the evening would particularly benefit the business community. “We have also started home collection of parcels from the customers. The service will be available free of cost within Srinagar. Besides, parcel booking centres will be established at Lal Chowk and Karan Nagar post offices apart from the Srinagar GPO,” he added. The DoP intends to start the service in Jammu also later this month. Meanwhile, Samuel also announced that the department was offering a special discount of seven and eight per cent on 24 carat Swiss-made gold coins for the general public and defence personnel, respectively. He said the discount was being offered in view of the festive season and would continue till the year-end.
	In 2 yrs, state hasn’t referred any graft case to CBI Witnesses in Srinagar sex scandal might have turned hostile under political influence: CBI Arteev Sharma Tribune news service Jammu, November 1 The state government has not referred even a single corruption case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the premier investigating police agency in the country, in the past two years, despite the fact that Jammu and Kashmir holds the dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state in India. It also raises a question mark on the credibility of the state government vis-a-vis its oft-repeated statements on curbing corruption in the state. The last time the state government approached the CBI was for an investigation into an impersonation case in which the name of former Minister for Roads and Buildings GM Saroori’s daughter figured in 2010. The state government had also vehemently opposed the demand for a CBI probe into the death of National Conference activist Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah, who had died in custody after he was handed over to the Crime Branch of the state police at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s official residence due to corruption charges against him last year. “We have registered 11 corruption cases, including six trap cases, against the Central government departments and charge-sheet has been presented in all the cases, and we have disposed of 22 cases this year so far. The state government departments don’t come under our purview and we have received no case from the state government in the last two years,” the Superintendent of Police, CBI, J&K, Armaan Deep Singh, told reporters here. The SP claimed that they had been able to register cases against senior defence officers, BRO officials and other Central government employees but they could not take suo moto notice of any corruption case at the state level. “We have been facing problems in getting corruption cases from the state government. Until and unless the state government refers a case to the CBI, it cannot hold inquiry into the case. However, our focus has always remained on the quality of investigation rather than on the quantity of cases,” Singh said. He said there was only a single trap case last year but they had been successful in registering six trap cases of corruption against Central government employees this year so far. On the “U-turn” made by witnesses in the much-hyped Srinagar sex scandal that resulted in a clean chit to the accused, which included two former ministers and a senior bureaucrat, the CBI officer said the witnesses might have turned hostile due to “political influence” as high-profile people were involved in the case. “There is every possibility that the witnesses could have turned hostile due to political influence. Something definitely happened as unlike western countries, there is no policy in our country to provide protection to witnesses,” Singh said, adding that there was a need to plug the loopholes in the legal set-up. A special CBI court had recently acquitted two former J&K ministers and a senior bureaucrat, who were booked on the charge of “procuring, inducing or taking a person for the sake of prostitution” six years back.
	Olive holds promise for Valley North-Western Himalayan belt can beat Mediterranean region in olive production, say experts M Aamir Khan Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 The successful harvesting of the world's oldest cultivated crop, olive, which is usually grown in the Mediterranean region has brought cheer to scientists in Kashmir. After managing to get a comparatively better per hectare production of olives here, they feel that the north-western Himalayan belt can become the top olive fruit and oil producer of the world. "We grew 25 varieties of olives out of which we have recommended six for cultivation. Countries like Spain, Italy and Egypt are among the top producers of olive. While the productivity is the highest in Egypt which produces 4.75 tonne olives per hectare, we managed to produce 5 tonne olives per hectare," said Prof Nazeer Ahmad, Director, Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH). He said olives were considered to be the oldest cultivated crop in the world while olive oil was the “healthiest oil among all the edible oils”. The olives have been grown on the premises of the CITH, which is located at Rangreth on the outskirts of the city. Nazeer said the north-western Himalayan region of the country had the potential of becoming the largest producer of olives if farmers and entrepreneurs, besides the government, came forward. He said olives could become one of the largest cultivated fruits of Kashmir like apples, almonds and walnuts. While olive is a perennial crop, in which the production increases with each passing year, he said each plant would produce 25 kg olives annually in the next 10 to 12 years. Each hectare would result in the production of olive oil worth Rs 15.62 lakh annually against Rs 1.5 lakh as the cost of cultivation, he said. CITH scientist Shiv Lal said the climatic conditions between June and November were perfect for the cultivation of olives in the dry land areas of Kashmir. The CITH uses intensive production technology for higher production of crops.
	MoD completes arguments in Janglat Mandi case Matter posted for rebuttal by the petitioner’s counsel today Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 The state government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today completed their arguments in the alleged 2001 fake encounter case, in which Army Chief General Bikram Singh (then a Brigadier commanding the Rashtriya Rifles in south Kashmir) was injured. The case has been posted for rebuttal of arguments on November 2, when the court is expected to conclude the arguments. Seeking dismissal of the petition, the state government, represented by Advocate General M Ishaq Qadri, today submitted that the 2001 Janglat Mandi encounter was not fake. The Army maintained that the petition was part of a conspiracy to malign the image of General Bikram Singh. The High Court is hearing a petition filed by family members of a civilian, Abdullah Bhat, alleging that the encounter at Janglat Mandi, Anantnag, on March 1, 2001, was not genuine. The case was listed today before the single Bench of Justice Hasnain Masoodi, wherein the Advocate General and Army counsels Karnail Singh Wazir and KS Johal put forth their arguments. Quoting from a police report which had been adopted by the state government as part of its objections to the petition, the Advocate General submitted that the Janglat Mandi incident was not fake but a genuine one. He said the person killed in the encounter was indeed Mateen Chacha, a foreign militant, and not Abdullah Bhat (70), as is being claimed in the petition. In their arguments, the Army counsels maintained that the present petition was a part of a conspiracy to malign the image of General Bikram Singh and stall his appointment as Army Chief. They submitted that a petition of a similar nature had already been dismissed by the Supreme Court. After both the parties completed their arguments, the High Court posted the matter on Friday for rebuttal of the arguments by advocate Zaffar Qureshi, the counsel representing Bhat’s family. Case recall The petition, seeking reinvestigation into the 2001 Janglat Mandi encounter case, was filed by Zytoona Begum in October 2011. In her petition, she had alleged that the Army had killed her son Abdullah Bhat (who was then 60 years old) in cold blood and passed him as foreign militant commander Mohidin Rabbani, alias Mateen Chacha. However, the Defence Ministry maintains that Army Chief General Bikram Singh, who was then a brigadier and commanded 1 Sector, Rashtriya Rifles, was returning to his headquarters when the Army convoy was attacked at Janglat Mandi in Anantnag town. The ministry maintains that a militant, posing as a beggar, opened fire on the convoy. In the attack, Colonel J P Janu and rifleman Ganesh Kumar were killed, and General Bikram Singh and another officer were injured. Later, an identity card belonging to Mateen Chacha was recovered from the possession of the militant, said the Army.
	HC judgment on ‘talaq’ raises eyebrows in Kashmir Valley’s Grand Mufti calls for a meeting of religious scholars to discuss the verdict Ishfaq Tantry Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 The judgment by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on the “validity and absoluteness” of talaq (divorce) has sent Islamic clerics and religious scholars in the Kashmir valley into a tizzy. They have now called for a meeting to discuss the judgment threadbare. The high court while interpreting the Islamic Sharia law had ruled on April 30 that a husband’s power to pronounce talaq was “not absolute”. The court had held that divorce was the last resort and could be administered only after the husband had exhausted other options. The Grand Mufti (chief cleric) of Kashmir, Mufti Bashir-ud-Din, has decided to convene a meeting of prominent religious scholars to discuss the judgment and its ramifications on Muslim marriages and divorces. The cleric has urged the people to not react over the judgment till a decision is taken by scholars. “It is a very delicate issue which involves the court and the Islamic Sharia law. Before commenting on the judgment, I have called for a meeting of religious scholars and Ulema to discuss the matter,” Mufti Bashir-ud-Din told The Tribune. He said he had requested for an authentic copy of the judgment, adding that he could not rely on media reports alone and needed to read the judgment himself before reacting over the issue. The Grand Mufti said the Islamic Sharia law was clear and prudent as far as the rights of a husband and a wife and divorce matters were concerned. Meanwhile, city-based organisation Islamic Dawah Centre, which runs an Islamic marriage counselling centre in Srinagar, in its statement, has said that the high court verdict is “not fully in compliance with the well established principles and commandments” of the Islamic Sharia. “It will create more problems rather than solving them and will create a very unhealthy atmosphere of disputes and disturbances in the Muslim community,” the statement read. “It is deplorable that attempts are being made to bring the holy Quran and Sunnah to reconcile with the feminist views by saying that pronounced talaq of a husband will only be applicable if the husband has a valid reason or a genuine cause of pronounced divorce,” it said. The judgment was delivered in a divorce case involving Mohammad Naseem Bhat and Bilquees Akhter. Bilquees had had initially come up with an application in the trial court seeking maintenance. However, the husband had resisted the application on the grounds that he had divorced her and was not under any obligation to pay maintenance allowance. The trial court had ordered a monthly maintenance to the woman, which was set aside by a review court. Subsequently, the review court order had been challenged before the high court, which upheld the earlier trial court order. Court verdict The high court in its judgment on April 30 had ruled that a husband’s power to pronounce talaq (divorce) was “not absolute”, observing that it was the last resort which could be administered only after he had exhausted the other options While interpreting the Islamic Sharia law, the court held that a husband could not wriggle out of his obligations under marriage, including the one to maintain his wife, after claiming to have divorced her The court held that it was only after the husband had proved that he had exhausted all the options of reconciliation that the talaq would become valid and the marriage between the parties would stand dissolved. The court said the husband should have a valid reason and a genuine cause to pronounce talaq on his wife in the presence of two witnesses.
	1 dead, 10 hurt in road accidents Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 One person died and 10 other sustained injures in different road accidents across the Valley. The police said a Matador bearing registration number JK03/3783 turned turtle near Rakhi Mohra, Chambgund, in south Kashmir, resulting in the on-the-spot death of a passenger Abdul Rashid Naik, a resident of Khloora, Kulgam. “All the injured were shifted to a hospital for treatment,” the police said. The body of the deceased was handed over to his family members for the last rites. The police has registered a case in this regard. Meanwhile, a motorcycle bearing registration number JK09/3256 hit and injured a 55-year-old Taja Begum, a resident of Kondbal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. The accident took place near Hanfia School Kondbal in Ganderbal district. “The injured was shifted to a hospital for treatment,” the police said.
	Clash leaves 10 injured in Kulgam Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 1 Ten people, including two children, were injured after two sects of a community clashed last night in the Redweni Ghat area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir. The clash was over a long-standing bone of contention over the use of loudspeakers by one of the sects in the local mosque. “Things got out of hand when that sect installed more loudspeakers across the neighbourhood and people from the other sect objected to it, saying that they had a patient in their house,” a source said. Sources said the argument turned violent within a few minutes with both the parties attacking each other. Two of the injured are said to be in a critical state. The police cordoned off the area and imposed Section 144 to control the situation. “Timely intervention of the police controlled the situation. Things could have been worse given the anger among the two groups,” said Kulgam Deputy Superintendent of Police Shabbir Ahmad. He said at least twelve people, including people from both the groups, had been arrested. Cases have been registered in this regard. “The situation in the village is under control. Senior civil and police officers are in constant touch with people of the village and are monitoring the situation,” said a police spokesman in Srinagar.