Srinagar, June 20
The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of various government employees' bodies, will start another round of protests with district-wide demonstrations from tomorrow.

While the JCC had issued its new protest calendar recently, employees’ leader Farooq Trali said they would hold ‘massive’ protests across the 22 districts of the state. He said the plan of action of protests was finalised during a meeting of several employees’ leaders held here yesterday.

Trali said the meeting was chaired by JCC leader and Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) president Abdul Qayoom Wani.

After tomorrow’s protests, where the protesters would also submit memorandums at the offices of the respective Deputy Commissioners, Trali said they would attempt to take out a march towards the Raj Bhawan on June 22 after protesting at the Sher-e-Kashmir Park.

While no strike and only protests would be held tomorrow, Trali said a pen-down strike would be observed on June 22. He said the next course of action would be announced after the two-day protest programme.

After a series of protests and strikes by the employees last year, the government had reached an agreement with the JCC wherein the employees were assured that a decision on their demands would be announced by September 30. However, the JCC then resumed protests, saying the government had failed to fulfil the promises made to them.

This year too, the government had urged the employees’ leaders to resolve their issues through talks but the same had been rejected by the JCC.

The employees’ demands include release of arrears recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission, enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years, removal of pay anomalies and regularisation of daily wagers and casual workers working in various government departments.

The other JCC demands are inclusion of five years of contractual service of Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers in the service book and regularisation of education volunteers after seven years of service.

The Demands Release of arrears recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission Enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years Removal of pay anomalies and regularisation of daily wagers and casual workers working in various govt departments Inclusion of five years of contractual service of ReT teachers in the service book and regularisation of education volunteers

Srinagar, June 20
A large number of National Conference workers today staged a protest against the Peoples Democratic Party for an alleged remark against the Chief Minister during a recent Board meeting at Bandipore.

The protesters assembled in the city centre and staged a protest against the PDP legislators for what they termed was an “indecent” remark against the Chief Minister.

“The remarks against Omar sahib will not be tolerated and we have taken to the streets only after the PDP staged a protest against our senior leader Mohammad Akber Lone,” said a protester.

“Akber Lone had settled the issues during the Board meeting, but the PDP came to the streets. We will not tolerate any remark against the Chief Minister or any other party leader,” he added.

The protesters also raised slogans against the PDP leadership accusing them of cheating people with hollow slogans. The protesters later dispersed peacefully.

On Wednesday, dozens of workers of the PDP had staged a protest against Mohammad Akber Lone and accused him of abusing a senior PDP leader during a Board meeting on Tuesday.

During a district Bandipore Board meeting on Tuesday, a verbal duel took place between the two PDP leaders and the NC minister. 

Srinagar, June 20
The recent meeting of Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Farooq Ahmad Shah with the managements of ‘select private schools’ has not gone down well with the rest of the private schools in the city.

Private Schools Association member GN War told Kashmir Tribune the meeting was held between the district administration officials and a few elite private schools of the Valley.

“We don’t know what was the agenda for holding such a meeting and what was its outcome. The administration should come clean on deciding matters related to the Education Policy and all private schools should be taken on board,” War said.

The private schools have urged the state government to include the representative body of private schools in the State Advisory Board for formulating a New Education Policy.

Besides overseeing the implementation of the Right to Education Act in the state, the new Education Policy will also lay guidelines on the fee structure charged by the private schools.

War said the select schools which were present in the meeting with the Deputy Commissioner didn’t represent any private school body and they only teach 1 per cent of the Valley’s student population.

“Elite schools are not the only private schools here. The unaided private schools, where a majority of the students study, should also be consulted before any Education Policy is formulated,” he added.

Sources said the point behind holding a meeting with only a few schools last week was to inform them about various complaints received against them.

“No particular school management is being consulted. We had called only those schools against which complaints were received,” an administrative official said on the condition of anonymity. 

Srinagar, June 20
Higher Education Minister Muhammad Akbar Lone, who is caught up in a verbal duel controversy between the National Conference and the PDP after he hurled abuses on Bandipora MLA Nizammudin Bhat on Tuesday, gave a miss to today’s international seminar on Kashmir’s music and culture.

Lone was supposed to be the chief guest at Kashmir University today but he didn’t turn up.

Kashmir University Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad later informed the gathering that Lone had some official engagements due to which he would not be able to attend the function. On Tuesday, the Higher Education minister traded abuses on a PDP legislator at a district board meeting which was held in Bandipora.

Later, Lone appeared before the media abusing few more PDP legislators on camera and made personal remarks against them on Wednesday.

The minister’s verbal abuse videos have been posted online and have gone viral inviting public outrage.

This is not the first time that Lone is in the news for his abusive remarks against the opposition PDP leaders.

Earlier, during his stint as the Speaker of the state Legislative Assembly, Lone had come down heavily on PDP leaders Mehbooba Mufti, Muzzafar Hussain Beigh and Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, calling them names.

Srinagar, June 20
The Kashmir unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office at Budgam in central Kashmir.

Media in-charge of the BJP’s Kashmir unit Mohammad Altaf Thakur said the protest in Budgam was led by district president Ali Mohammad Mir.

He said the protest was held as the part of the BJP’s countrywide ‘jail bharo’ programme.

Even as the protesters did not court arrest in Budgam, Thakur said the next phase of ‘jail bharo’ would be held on a large scale in Srinagar on June 24.

He said the BJP had launched the ‘jail bharo’ programme across the country against the ‘rampant’ corruption and a series of scams that had surfaced at the Centre in the recent past. The BJP was earlier scheduled to launch its ‘jail bharo’ programme across the Valley from May 27, but the same had been postponed.

Kupwara, June 20
Officials of the Forest Department, Kehmil division, in Kupwara today seized a huge cache of banned forest herb ‘pitrees’ (aconitum roots), near a forest in TP Chowkibal. The accused managed to flee the spot leaving behind 52 kg of pitrees amounting to Rs 10 lakh in the international market.

Following a specific input, a team of forest officials rushed the spot and found three persons with the banned herb. Sensing trouble, the trio fled the spot taking advantage of the dense forests.

The officials seized about 52 kg of banned herb from the spot. “The seized herb amounts to Rs 10 lakh in the international market. We have intensified the search operation in the forest to nab the culprits. We may also seek the help of police if the accused were not nabbed at the earliest,” said an official.

Meanwhile, the police on Thursday seized a rare forest herb ‘tripeter’ at Panzgam, 20 km from Kupwara headquarters. The accused, Nazir Ahmed Mir, a resident of Zunreshi, was also arrested. According to the police, the accused was transporting the banned herb in a Sumo vehicle.

Reports said the medicinal herbs worth lakh of rupees were being collected and smuggled from forests in different parts of the district. Residents of some villages, including Doben, Kalaroos, Himli, KK Gali in Hayhama, Machil, Budhnumbal, Jummagund, Bungus, Mawar, Nowgam, said in the absence of effective monitoring of forests, smuggling of medicinal herbs like pitrees, trepati and seeds of coniferous deodar and kail (pine) have thrived in different parts of the district.

They said the smugglers were doing a lucrative trade by exporting the wild herbs. The conservator of forest north circle, Main Javid, said there was a blanket ban on the collection and trade of forest herbs and people involved in the unlawful trade would be sternly punished. “The Supreme Court has put a blanket ban on the trade of forest herbs. The forest officials are working hard to enforce the ban and whosoever found guilty will be dealt under law,” Javid said.

The Police in Kupwara district has registered six cases under Sections 379, 6 Forest Act and 26th Forest Act and seven persons have been arrested during the past five months. A large quantity of the rare medicinal herb and seeds have been seized from the accused.

Kupwara, June 20
Employees of the Urban Local Bodies in Kupwara, most of them sweepers, held a demonstration against the authorities demanding the release of their pending salaries. They were also seeking implementation of the sixth pay commission.

“The authorities have not released our salaries for the past five months. We are working round-the-clock to ensure cleanliness in the town, but authorities have ignored our services,” said Ali Mohammed, a sweeper.

“Due to non-payment of school fee, the school management last week withdrew admission of my children from the school,” another sweeper said.

“What is the point in delaying the release of our salaries when salaries of employees in other districts have been released on time,” Mohammed Shafi said.

The employees raised slogans against the government and marched through the town. They threatened to intensify protests and suspend work if their salaries were not released at the earliest. “We will be forced to intensify protests if authorities did not release our salaries before Monday. Despite several representations to the higher officials, our salaries have not been released,” said a protesting employee.

Employees also demanded implementation of the sixth pay commission. They said employees of all other departments have been brought under the ambit of pay commission, but they were deprived of its benefits. — OC

Srinagar, June 20
A two-day international seminar and lecture on Kashmiri music and culture started at Kashmir University today. The seminar is being jointly organised by the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Media Studies, Kolkata, and the KU.

The seminar started with addresses from speakers of the MKAU and KU.

Sreeradha Dutta from the MKAU said a lot of work henceforth would be done on Kashmiri classical music, also known as Sufiyana Kalam and as a result of more collaborations between the two varsities, similar events would be held in future.

KU Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmad said studies on music should be done on an extensive basis and he pinned high hopes from the seminar in terms of research papers.

The afternoon session was moderated by Sunita Dhar, ex-Dean and Head, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Delhi University, where the core topics of discussion included Kashmiri Sufiyana Kalam in my imagination, Qalinbaf tradition and popularities of rendering Kashmiri Sufiyana Kalam on Saz-i-Kashmir.

The later sessions revolved around the topics, written sources about the origin and aesthetics of Raga-Maqam, interrelations and similarities between Persian and Turkic art music and Kashmiri Sufiyana Kalam.

In the morning session, a documentary based on the life and achievements of Indian National Congress leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was shown whereas in the evening session, a documentary based on Kashmir’s Sufiyana Kalam music made by renowned actor and film-maker MK Raina was shown.

Srinagar, June 20
A first of its kind research which will study the impact of Kashmir’s two decade conflict on the Kashmiri musical culture will be conducted by Sunita Dhar, ex-Dean and head, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Delhi University.

Dhar, who is a Kashmiri and has done her Masters and PhD in music from Kashmir University, will conduct the research study in a span of two years and the project is being funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

“The broad title of study, I will be doing is the ‘Origin and development of Sufi Music in Kashmir’. My area of interest lies in the fact that Kashmir’s Sufi music has failed to make its impact outside the Valley. I am going to explore the reasons behind the same and I think violence and turmoil may be a reason,” Dhar said on the sidelines of the International Seminar and Special lectures in Kashmiri Musical Culture which was held at Kashmir University today.

Dhar said Kashmir’s Sufi music was unlike the Bollywood or Pakistani Sufi music and that most of the local music composers (known as Saz-Nawaz) were not financially well-off to spread their kind of music.

“The original Kashmiri Sufiyana music is on the brink of extinction and some of our best composers are unaware on how to expand this genre of music. The main problem is that our music has been unable to make its impact outside Kashmir,” she added.

“Both the music as well as the research studies which could have explored many facets of music got affected by the all these years of violence and turmoil. I am currently talking to a lot of ethnic music groups of the Valley whose narratives would form an integral part of my study,” Dhar said. 

Srinagar, June 20
Ahead of his scheduled Kashmir visit next week, chairman of the hardline Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Geelani today reminded Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh of the broken promises made to the people of the state. The separatist leader also called for a grand shutdown on June 25 when the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson is scheduled to flag off the Qazigund-Banihal railway link.

“As the Prime Minister is coming to Kashmir, we want to remind of the promises that were made to the people of the state. Even Union Minister P Chidambaram has admitted that promises have been broken. We also appeal to the people to observe complete and grand shutdown on June 25,” Geelani said, while addressing a press conference at his Hyderpora residence here.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), headed by Mohammad Yasin Malik, has already called for a shutdown on June 25 against the Prime Minister’s visit.

While issuing a shutdown call, Malik said the Prime Minister had done nothing vis-à-vis steps towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Rajouri, June 20
To tap talent of the youth, the Youth Development Centre, being run by the Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, based at Kalakote, under the aegis of Counter Insurgency Force (Uniform), started the training for soft toy and decorative making, today. As many as 25 girls are attending the cadre.

The aim of the cadre is to empower young girls with skills as well as a perspective to think beyond their household chores. This initiative will make them capable of earning while working at their homes. The local shopkeepers, dealing with such products were also shown the skill of the girls. With guidance taken from them, due modifications were done to the products to suit the local market.

A mela of the products, made by the participants, will be organised on June 30 to encourage the participants. Smita Swain, who is managing the cadre said it was heartening to see the enthusiasm of the participants. Most of them have basic skills on cutting and stitching. They need to be oriented towards new designs and innovate as per market requirements.

Urmila and Anita said they had got a new vision from the training and now could think of using own skills to innovate marketable products. They said with the help of the Army, they would be able to establish their own ventures in the next six to seven months. The noble venture of the unit in sustainable income generation has touched the hearts of the society inflicted by insurgency for the past so many years.