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PM to reach out to Valley with a clutch of development plans
Board rules out foul play in entrance exam goof-up
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Students allege question papers on sale 10 days before exam
PM, Sonia urged to provide treatment to woman panch
Guv reviews yatra arrangements on Pahalgam, Baltal routes
British woman’s
murder
Mirwaiz’s arrest unlikely during PM’s
visit
I salute Army, tweets Omar
In poll mode, Modi wants workers to log on to social networking sites
Bag creates bomb scare outside Army garrison
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PM to reach out to Valley with a clutch of development plans
Srinagar, June 24 Notwithstanding the attacks by militants on the Army and the paramilitary forces in Srinagar, inflicting few casualties on them, the Prime Minister would be connecting himself directly with the “aam adami” (common man) who is looking forward to development. The violence is the handiwork of those who want to derail the progress of Kashmir and show that the Valley is still conflict-ridden. The people have seen through this game and they are waiting for development, education, progress and prosperity and that is what the Prime Minister has recognised which explains his almost yearly travel to Jammu and Kashmir. Manmohan Singh who had set the developmental agenda rolling in November 2004 when he first visited Jammu and Kashmir as the Prime Minister by announcing Rs 24,000 crore under the Prime Minister Reconstruction Plan (PMRP), along the years has been gifting one development project after another. In 2008, he inaugurated the 450-MW Baglihar power project in Ramban in Jammu region, and flagged off a train in Kashmir’. Next year, he flagged off train on the Qazigund-Baramullah stretch in the Valley. Now, he would be inaugurating the railway track passing through the south to the north of Pir Panjal, thus fulfilling a dream of the masses to travel to other parts of the world without any obstacles and fear of snow and avalanches during winters. Tuesday would be read as a red letter day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, when he would be flying to Kishtwar to lay foundation stone of the mega 850-MW power project. He is also expected to lay the foundation of two more power projects in Ladakh through remote, giving a full sense of participation to all the three regions of the state. This land, and the people here love to hear the visiting dignitaries, even when they have an off day, courtesy a shutdown call given by separatists, through the TV channels and then they analyse their own answers to what has been said and what has been left unsaid. For two years-2011 and 2012-Prime Minister did not visit the Valley, this year he is picking up the threads from where he had left in 2010. “The people here ate aware that he was enjoying the semblance of normalcy in the Valley, sitting in New Delhi, for him, the footfalls of the tourists meant more than anything else,” remarked Mohammad Shafi, a retired teacher. Sounding realistic, Shafi asked, “What more can the Prime Minister do beyond laying the foundation of a mega hydro-electric project and flagging off a train from south to the north of Pir Panjal in Kashmir, into the Valley. “With his public meeting, along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in Kishtwar on Tuesday followed by interaction with the council of ministers on the same day, he would be able to throw some light that how the Centre wants to reach out to the people of Kashmir. Their words at Kishtwar, a bowl shaped town in the Himalayas in the erstwhile Doda district in Jammu region would give some inkling as to what the next line on Kashmir is-for them Kashmir means an entire unit of three regions of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir where only an all inclusive policy would work, and work for the unity and integrity of the state. That message, if past is any guide, would be repeated in the Valley. Apart from meeting the delegations, he would be having one on one meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah preceded by a presentation by the council of ministers in the presence top bureaucrats.
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Board rules out foul play in entrance exam goof-up
Jammu, June 24 On June 22, the Board had to cancel the chemistry exam and postpone the biology exam due to the mistake by the invigilators at one of the exam centres in Srinagar. The invigilators had distributed biology question papers instead of chemistry. “We appeal to the political parties and the civil society not to play with the sentiments of the CET aspirants and their parents by terming the paper leakage a human error. There was no paper leakage. I can say with full authority that there was no possibility of foul play,” RD Sharma, chairman of JKBOPEE, told reporters at a hurriedly called press conference here. The JKBOPEE chairman also owned the responsibility of the “unfortunate incident”. He said, “We feel sorry for whatever has happened. It should not have happened. Being the head of the institution, I am sorry that it has happened during my tenure. We will take all corrective measures to ensure that such incidents are avoided in the future.” The Board chairman also dismissed the allegations by some political and social groups that the biology paper was leaked. “There was no question of leakage. The packaging people had mistakenly packed biology papers in packets containing chemistry papers. In order to maintain the credibility of the institution, we not only postponed the biology exam but also cancelled the chemistry exam which was conducted on June 22,” he said. He also clarified that the Board had outsourced the printing and packaging of the question papers. He also informed that the state government was seized of the matter and had sought a detailed report into the incident. Around 24,000 candidates are sitting for the entrance test to get into various professional courses, including MBBS, BDS, engineering, BVSc, BSc (agriculture), in government and private institutes of the state. |
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Students allege question papers on sale 10 days before exam
Srinagar, June 24 War said students from Srinagar approached him 10 days ago, saying the question papers were leaked and each question paper was being priced at Rs 24 lakh. “I advised them not take heed of such offers. But today, I got some more calls from students from Jammu, Doda and Kishtwar districts. They said the papers had been leaked. Some private coaching centres were offered the papers in exchange for a hefty amount,” War said. He said the functioning of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (JKBOPEE) had raised eyebrows in the past too when papers were allegedly sold to influential families
of south Kashmir at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. “Even last year, there were allegations of corrupt practices in BOPEE, with each paper being sold in the range of Rs 15 to 25 lakh. Even then the state government failed to order an independent probe into the matter. An interim inquiry into the matter will not solve anything because BOPEE has turned into a corrupt body,” he said. The Jammu and Kashmir Teachers’ Forum (JKTF) has also rejected the interim inquiry ordered by BOPEE and pressed for an independent probe by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “We reject the interim inquiry ordered by BOPEE. If the Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister fails to address the issue, we will launch protests because the career of 30,000 students is at stake,” said JKTF spokesperson Nissar Ahmad. |
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PM, Sonia urged to provide treatment to woman panch
Jammu, June 24 “We condemn Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Ali Mohammad Sagar, for ignoring the brave female panch of Kashmir, Zona Begum who was attacked by militants in January this year at her village Hardshiva at Sopore in Baramulla,” Anil Sharma, general secretary, AJKPC said after visiting the victim at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science in Srinagar. Sharma was accompanied by Imtiyaz Afzal Beig, provincial president of AJKPC in Kashmir and other members of the organisation. He alleged the woman panch had lost her right eye in a murderous attack on her by unidentified gunmen as she was shot from the point-blank range. “The Chief Minister and state Panchayati Raj minister had paid a visit to the injured panch in January after severe criticism from all quarters. They had promised the victim and her family that she would be provided best possible treatment that too free of cost but no financial assistance has been provided to the family,” Sharma said. He said the victim’s family had been bearing all the expenses of the treatment. “She was also promised that even if required she would also be taken out of the state for advanced treatment but no one from the state government had even bothered to meet them and ensure financial help to the victim,” the AJKPC leader said. In his statement, Beig lashed out at the government for its “shameful attitude and double standards” and questioned as to why the poor woman panch was ignored. “You (Omar) earned a lot of appreciation in India and abroad for conducting Panchayat elections but now why you are ignoring the real people like Zona,” asked Beig. The AJKPC leaders made a fervent appeal to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, to intervene into the matter to provide the best possible treatment to Zona.
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Guv reviews yatra arrangements on Pahalgam, Baltal routes
Srinagar June 24 Taking an extensive review of the arrangements to facilitate the pilgrims, the Governor asked the government departments, service providers and other agencies concerned to complete the remaining work on this axis also before June 26 so that all the arrangements and logistics are positioned well in time before the yatra begins on June 28. Reviewing the positioning of the mountain rescue teams on the track as well as the disaster management measures, the Governor emphasised the need to ensure prompt response in case of any emergent situation. For this he asked the agencies concerned to ensure greater coordination at all levels. Earlier, the Governor reviewed arrangements at Sheshnag, Chandanwari and Nunwan camps on the Pahalgam route on Friday. He inspected the arrangements at the Sheshnag and Chandanwari camps and held meetings with the concerned officers at both these camps. Later, he inspected the arrangements at the Nunwan base camp and held a high level review meeting. The Governor stressed on the camp directors and additional camp directors to maintain security, cleanliness and effective sanitation within their camp areas and asked them to maintain round the clock contact with the Shrine Board control room and with the other camps to ensure that any arising problem is resolved without any delay whatsoever. While reviewing track status, the Governor asked the CEO, Pahalgam Development Authority, to focus on the difficult stretches on the Chandanwari-Sheshnag-Panjtarni-Sangam-holy cave axis and gave directions regarding the positioning of mountain rescue teams to help the pilgrims. The Governor had an extensive inspection of Sheshnag and Nunwan base camps and reviewed the to-date status of all the arrangements and issued on the spot instructions for bringing further improvements in the facilities wherever required.
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British woman’s
murder
Srinagar, June 24 In the application filed before the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Srinagar, early this month, De Witt (43) had sought the translation of the original charge sheet into English and Hindi. He had expressed his inability to understand the original charge sheet as it has been filed by the police in Urdu, the official language of the state. “The prosecution has provided us the translated copies of the charge sheet. However, it is not the complete translation as many things, including
the seizure memo, has not been included in it,” said De Witt’s counsel Shuja-ul-Haq. The court, he said, also impressed upon the jail authorities that the Dutchman be allowed to communicate with his family. “Besides, we had also moved an application before the court asking for directions to the police to release the money seized from De Witt, which amounts to nearly 10 lakh,” Shuja said, adding that the matter has been posted for arguments on July 11. “Some sections of the media have been describing me as schizophrenic. I am not schizophrenic,” he said in the open court. Currently, De Witt is being treated at a government-run psychiatry hospital after being declared schizophrenic by doctors. Charged of murder In the charge sheet filed before the court on June 3, the police charged the Dutchman under Section 302 of the RPC for murdering Sarah Groves, who was found dead in a houseboat on the Dal Lake in Srinagar on April 6. He was arrested by the police on April 6 near Qazigund on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on the suspicion of murdering the 23-year-old tourist. He had booked a room adjacent to Groves’s and had gone missing after committing the crime, abandoning his belongings in his room. |
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Mirwaiz’s arrest unlikely during PM’s
visit
Srinagar, June 24 This became clear when the police did not oppose the judicial remand of separatist leader Mushtaq-ul-Islam today, who along with Mirwaiz and three others had been named as one of the accused in the 2010 FIR. In the case registered under FIR No (60/2010), for offences committed under Section 147 (rioting), 447 (unlawful assembly) and 143 (sedition), five separatists leaders
Mirwaiz, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, M Yaqoob Wani, Nissar Hussain Rather and Yasmeen Raja were named as accused. The FIR relates to the gutting of the Crime Branch headquarters and other government offices in a mysterious fire on September 11, 2010, on Eid when Mirwaiz had taken out a procession from the old city area to Lal
Chowk. Though the police has arrested Mushtaq-ul-Islam in the case, who was today remanded in 15-day judicial custody by a local court, it is yet to arrest others involved in the case, including
Mirwaiz. On June 21, while seeking the police remand of
Mushtaq-ul-Islam, the investigating officer had reportedly told the court that others, including
Mirwaiz, would be arrested within four days. However, the police neither opposed the judicial remand of Mushtaq-ul-Islam nor commented on the arrest of Mirwaiz and others. Sources say the government is “unlikely to arrest Mirwaiz in the 2010 case, keeping in view the VVIP (PM’s) visit. “Besides, there is also an opinion that Mirwaiz’s arrest in an old case at this stage may give him political mileage,” a source said. “It is a fake FIR registered on false and frivolous grounds. Therefore, the government does not want to arrest other persons named in the case. Since my client,
Mushtaq-ul-Islam, was already under illegal custody, so to justify his arrest, he was implicated in the case at this stage,” said advocate GN
Shaheen, who today filed a bail application on Mushtaq’s behalf.
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I salute Army, tweets Omar
Srinagar, June 24 Omar, whose relationship with the Army has been bitter over the demand for revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which the latter has strongly resisted, said he saluted the Army for the “amazing job” they have done along with the Air Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand. “Regardless of my disagreements with the Army about the AFSPA etc, I have to admire and salute
the amazing job being done by them, Air Force, ITBP,” he said. The AFSPA, which provides immunity to the armed forces operating in the region, has become a major source of discontent between Omar and the Army. Omar praised the relief and rescue efforts being conducted by the Army and other agencies in Uttarakhand where hundreds have died and thousands are still stranded after a devastating flood washed away roads and buildings. The state government had earlier this week announced a donation of Rs one crore to PM's Relief Fund for the flood victims. “The kind of operation they (Army, Air Force and ITBP) have mounted to rescue people in Uttarakhand, with no glory grabbing is something we must all salute,” Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter. About the removal of graffiti painted by the Army on a hill overlooking Srinagar city, Omar said he did ask the Army to remove it fearing a law and order disturbance. “I did NOT fear a L&O (law and order) disturbance from the writings on the mountain nor did I call them ‘disgusting’,” the Chief Minister said. The Army had painted “Ajeet Hai, Abheet Hai” on a hill inside the 15 Corps headquarters here.
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In poll mode, Modi wants workers to log on to social networking sites
Jammu, June 24 Party sources said after addressing a rally at Madhopur on June 23, Modi convened a meeting of the state office-bearers of the party to get a feedback on the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. “After formal introduction with those who were present in the meeting, Modi sought suggestions from party leaders to ensure victory on maximum number of Lok Sabha seats from the state,” sources said. He said Modi, who is known to project himself on the social media, was particular about using it as he felt it was the best means to connect with a large number of people easily. He aims to create an atmosphere against the Congress. Sources said Modi was very particular about every Lok Sabha seat where the party was in a winnable position. Modi, who was in-charge of the state unit of the party from 1996 to 2001, is well aware of its position here. During Modi’s tenure the BJP had created history by winning two Lok Sabha seats in the state.
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Bag creates bomb scare outside Army garrison
Srinagar, June 24 “A bag was found unattended near the main gate of the Corps headquarters on Monday morning by Army personnel posted on duty there,” an official said. Officials said to ascertain whether the bag contained explosives, a bomb-disposal squad was called.”
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Srinagar, June 24
Jammu, June 24
