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Justice Gandhi to submit riots report within a month
Kargil council poll: Only woman candidate focuses on girl education
PDP’s Kulsoom Bee, the only woman candidate in Kargil council elections. Tribune photo: Amin War |
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Need for minority commission in state
Entrepreneur incubation centre to come up at Kashmir varsity
soon
Two families flee to Pakistan
School education board headless for five months
Hizb claim leaves many questions
Omar leaves public gathering in huff
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurates the Degree College building at Bijbehara in Anantnag district on Saturday. With him is Higher Education Minister Akbar Lone. Tribune photo: Amin War
Pak fires on Indian posts in Poonch
Geelani opposes Zubin Mehta concert at Dal Lake
Pilot project of solar heating for buildings in Ladakh soon
Grand Mufti has ‘nothing to say’
J&K Bank bags ‘Best Private Sector Bank’ award
Educational clerical staff holds meeting
Arms, ammunition seized from hideout in Gool
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Justice Gandhi to submit riots report within a month
Srinagar, August 24 Justice Gandhi, who will head the one-man judicial commission of inquiry, has been directed to inquire into the circumstances which led to the violence in Kishtwar and surrounding areas on Eid-ul-Fitr on August 9. The commission was directed to submit its report within one month. Justice Gandhi had served as Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge between 1995 and 2006. The commission was appointed 14 days after the incident and 11 days after the government announced a judicial inquiry into the Kishtwar riots on August 12, which had raised many questions. Three persons were killed and scores injured during the violence in Kishtwar on August 9, in which property worth crores, including shops, business establishments and houses, was destroyed. The government order stated that the commission of inquiry was mandated to inquire into the circumstances which led to the violence and arson and the consequent loss of life and property in the district. The commission would inquire into administrative lapses, if any, while handling the situation and fix the responsibility of persons involved in acts of violence, arson and loss of life and property. MA
Bukhari, Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department, said the commission would submit its report to the government within one month from the date of issue of the notification. No probe by Divisional Commissioner The government has rescinded its previous order about a probe into the Kishtwar violence by the Divisional Commissioner, who was appointed as the inquiry officer on August 9. “Consequent upon the appointment of Justice RC Gandhi as the commission of inquiry, the government order dated August 9 regarding the appointment of Shantmanu, Jammu Divisional Commissioner, as the inquiry officer is rescinded with immediate effect,” the government said in its order. |
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Kargil council poll: Only woman candidate focuses on girl education
Kargil, August 24 Two other candidates in the fray are Niaz Ali Khan of the Congress and
an Independent, Mohammad Hussain. This farthest constituency of Silmo in the Batalik area of Kargil district, about 70 km from the district headquarters, is close to the Line of Control, which survived heavy cross-border shelling during the 1999 Kargil war. “So far, there has been no woman representative in the field,” Kulsoom says, adding that she has resolved to come to the expectations of the women in the area. Kulsoom said, “Those (politicians) in the field had failed to solve the problems of women.” “My focus is on girl education as there are restrictions on that because
they are part of a conservative society.” Girls, she lamented, were not being encouraged to go for government jobs after receiving education up to a certain level. A matriculate, Kulsoom is not able to articulate freely in any other language. She hopes that
other women learn from her and do something for their uplift. “The women in particular are being ignored and it is the duty of the women in general and educated girls in particular to rise to the occasion and work for their education and empowerment,” she says. During her election campaign for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections, polling for which was held on August 22, Kulsoom had her focus on women voters in particular. The leaders of two main parties, Congress and National Conference, did not attend to their issues, she said and held that the PDP had the vision to “uplift the women”. “I have seen women neglected and wish to be
their voice so that they are not ignored in any way,” she said. Belonging to a
farmer's family, it was her education in the remote village which roused the desire
in her to work for the downtrodden community of her area. Her desire to progress has helped her son get a job in the Indian Air Force. Of the four children, her elder daughter is a graduate while two others are in school.
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Need for minority commission in state
Jammu, August 24 Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in the country, which doesn’t have a minority commission. At the national level, the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM) adheres to the United Nations declaration of December 18, 1992, which says that states shall protect the existence of the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity. Talking to The Tribune over phone, NCM chairman Wajahat Habibullah said Central laws don’t have the jurisdiction in J&K till they are passed by the state legislature, which is hindering the applicability of the National Commission for Minorities to the state. “Former NCM chairman Tahir Mehmood was working on it. I took up the matter with the state government. I raised the issue with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Ali Mohammad
Sagar. But first, the state has to act and bring a law,” the NCM chairman said. In J&K, people from different ethnic and religious minorities live in different parts and the status of minorities changes from district to district. In the Kashmir region, Hindus are a minority and in the Jammu region, Muslims are a minority. But in some districts of the Jammu region, Hindus are a minority. “All these issues could be addressed and the NCM could give its suggestions,” Habibullah said, adding, “In Kargil district, Buddhists are in minority and in Leh district, Muslims are in minority. All these issues could be addressed when the state has its own minority commission.” The NCW chairman has been in favour of giving the minority status to the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, which had to flee their homes in the Kashmir valley in late 1980s and early 1990s after militancy broke out in the state. This can’t be, however, done till the state government acts and brings a minority commission in the state.
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Entrepreneur incubation centre to come up at Kashmir varsity
soon
Srinagar, August 24 The companies are likely to flow in their experts to train Valley youth for starting their own ventures. The visit of All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi to the University of Kashmir last year had instilled hopes of big corporate and techie jobs and entrepreneurial ventures in Valley youth. This year, besides placement of youth in reputed companies outside the state, the focus has now shifted to setting up of own ventures. Director, Centre for Planning and Career Development, Shabir Ahmad Bhat told The Tribune that talks were currently going on with two leading companies, ONGC and Bajaj Group. “After the successful phase of jobs generation under the Udaan project during which 1,800 youth were provided jobs outside the state, we are now focusing on youth developing their own businesses in the Valley,” Bhat said. He said a proposal had been made and the incubation centre would start functioning soon. As per the Economic
Survey conducted during 2011-2012, 6.01 lakh unemployed youth from the state registered themselves with the district employment exchanges. Of these, 3,21,562
youth were from the Valley and 2,80,285 from Jammu. The Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Policy for Youth, which was the flagship initiative of the state government in tackling unemployment, only benefited 1.5 lakh youth in four years. The fast-track employment
programme, which was recently initiated by the state government, also failed to tackle the unemployment issue. Economy experts and even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently said entrepreneurship was the way forward. “There are no government jobs and the private sector is in its nascent stage here. The only solution would be for the youth to set up their own ventures in various sectors which would create jobs and improve the economy as well,” said Saad
Tasleem, subject expert on economics at the University of Kashmir.
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Two families flee to Pakistan
Srinagar, August 24 Both families are from Bandipora district in north Kashmir. While one family has reached Pakistan, the other is in Nepal on way to Pakistan, said a senior police official on the condition of anonymity. The police official said Shafkat Ali Khan of Turkpora village of Bandipora, along with his Pakistani wife and three children, was in Nepal en route to Pakistan. Mohammad Ramzan of Bandipora district had fled to Pakistan with his wife and two children, the official said. The police had no idea how Ramzan and his family had fled. The fleeing of the former militants is a reminder of the hardships they face on their return to Kashmir and highlights the government’s failure to help them settle down here. The former militants had destroyed their Pakistani passports and returned home under the state government’s rehabilitation policy. Shafkat, alias Asgar, had crossed the Line of Control in 1994 when he was 14 years old. “I had not gone to Pakistan to pick arms, but wanted to see Pakistan. I was fascinated by what I had heard about that land,” he told The Tribune last month at his one-room house on a mountainous slope in the sleepy north Kashmir village of Turkpora, 60 kilometres from Srinagar. He had crossed the highly militarised line with a group of would-be Hizbul Mujahideen militants. Once across the border, he was told to wait. “I was young and they told me that I could not be launched (back into Kashmir as a militant),” he had said. It gave him ample time to tour Pakistan. He made contact with his relatives there, who had settled in that country many years ago. They gave Shafkat shelter and helped him continue his studies. He soon began managing the work of local wedding singer Shakil Awan and later worked for singer Aksar Abbasi, earning a lot of money. In 1998, still a teenager, he married Farhat of Abbotabad. The couple returned to Kashmir in June last year with their three children, two sons and a daughter. At their one-room house, which was actually a shop, his wife led a poor and depressed life. “I do not want to live here,” she had said. “I cry during the day and during the night. I only keep crying. I want to go back home,” she had said. Many members of rehabilitated families said they wanted to go to Pakistan. “We put the lives of our families and the future of our children in danger. Our children cannot get admission to schools here,” a former militant living in the city had said. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had designed the policy, said earlier this year that over 1,000 families had applied for return and rehabilitation.
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School education board headless for five months
Srinagar, August 24 “The selection committee is to be constituted by the School Education Minister. But no formal orders have been issued in this direction. Shiekh Bashir Ahmad, who was the chairman, resigned in April,” a source said. Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Teacher’s Forum (JKTF) Qayum Wani said the absence of the Board chairman was taking a toll on the examination schedules in the state, especially on Class VIII, X and XII. “This is a cause for concern as the work is hampered regularly when the highest authority (of the rank of chairman) is not available. There is a regular delay in the conduct of examinations, declaration of results and students are the inevitable sufferers. The teachers have taken a strong note of this and we appeal to Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who oversees the Education Department, to help fill up the vacancy,” said Abdul Qayum Wani, chairman of the JKTF. Wani said besides the post of the chairman, at least 17 posts of the rank of deputy secretary in the Board were lying vacant. “We suggest that the state government should select officials from the School Education Department for filling the vacancies and not let the work disrupt any further. The Board conducts important examinations throughout the year and has a pivotal role in the school education sector,” he said. Meanwhile, official spokesperson for the School Board Shaukat Usman said the posts of the deputy secretary would be filled on the basis of inter-departmental promotions. “No separate notifications would be issued by the Board for filling up the posts. As for the chairman’s post, the constitution of a selection panel is required,” Usman said.
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Hizb claim leaves many questions
Srinagar, August 24 The attack on August 6, in which five soldiers were killed, was blamed on the Pakistani army. It was followed by a series of ceasefire violations along the
LoC, leaving in tatters the biggest confidence-building measure. The claim was made by Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander Syed Salahuddin during a telephonic interview with a local news agency. He claimed the attack in Poonch was carried out by his group’s border squad. The claim left a number of unanswered questions due to the time gap between the attack and the claim and also because
it absolved the Pakistani army, which has been blamed by India for the attack. “If India blames the Pakistani army for the killing of five soldiers in the Poonch sector, let me make it clear that the Hizbul Mujahideen’s border squad killed them under a specific strategy,” Salahuddin said. He made the claim on August 23, more than a fortnight after the attack was carried out, which was unusual for militant groups in Kashmir, which followed the pattern of claiming responsibility within hours of an attack. The claim exonerated Pakistan, including its army, of any wrongdoing and eased pressure off the Congress-led UPA government, which had come under severe pressure from opposition parties to snap the dialogue process with Pakistan. The August 6 attack on the post in the Poonch sector had led to a series of firefights and artillery duels on the LoC between India and Pakistan, endangering the decade-long ceasefire which had been one of the biggest confidence-building measures between the two
neighbours.
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Omar leaves public gathering in huff
Anantnag, August 24 Omar was on a day-long visit to the Bijbehara area of
Anantnag, where he laid the foundation stones of a satellite fruit market and a trauma hospital. After this, he reached Adar village to address a public gathering. The public address system developed a fault soon after a local NC leader's speech. Visibly furious at the technical snag, Omar left the dais, shook hands with some persons in the crowd and drove away after a brief interaction with
mediapersons. Upset over the incident, NC workers raised anti-administration slogans and smashed the public address system of the Information Department. They blamed Anantnag Deputy Development Commissioner Dr Farooq Lone for the mismanagement. Mediapersons covering the event were manhandled and the camera of a photojournalist smashed. “I was doing my duty when NC workers attacked me, snatched my camera and smashed it. They manhandled me and other mediapersons who confronted the mob,” said Arif
Wani, a local photojournalist. The mob threw stones on police personnel and other government employees as well. Anantnag Senior Superintendent of Police RK Jalla said an FIR was lodged against the miscreants. The Chief Mimister was accompanied by NC provincial president Nasir Aslam
Wani, Higher Education Minister Akbar Lone and Horticulture Minister Raman
Bhalla, who left with him.
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Pak fires on Indian posts in Poonch
Jammu, August 24 “Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire again this morning around 7 am when they opened
unprovoked fire using small arms and automatic weapons on Indian forward posts in the Poonch sector,” said defence spokesperson Col RK Palta. “Our troops retaliated effectively and strongly with weapons of similar calibre. There was no casualty or injury to our troops,” he added. He said the exchange of fire continued till 7:40 am. Intelligence sources said Pakistani troops started firing around 6:15 am and intermittent firing continued till 8:30 am. Pakistani troops mostly targeted posts in the Shahpur area, the sources said. This time, they did not open fire on forward villages and targeted only Indian posts, they said. There have been over 80 ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops since January 1. While Defence Minister AK Antony had given liberty to the Army to deal with truce violations on the LoC, Army Chief General Bikram Singh had told formation commanders to be aggressive. On January 8, Pakistani troops brutally killed two Indian soldiers, Lance Naiks Hemraj Singh and Sudhakar Singh of the 13 Rajputana Rifles, in the Balnoi area of the Poonch sector along the border.
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Geelani opposes Zubin Mehta concert at Dal Lake
Srinagar, August 24 Mehta, Indian-Parsi conductor of the Western classical music, is scheduled to perform in Srinagar on September 7. The musical event would be held at the Shalimar Garden on the banks of the Dal Lake. “Any sort of international activity related to politics, diplomacy, culture or sports will have an adverse effect on the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir and incidents of human rights violations may go into the backdrop,” Geelani said in a statement. He said he wished that Germany should play a “responsible role and stay away from any such move that may affect the noble cause of the people in Kashmir”. The hardline leader referred to the 1983 cricket match between India and West Indies, saying the people of Kashmir had opposed the international event in the city. “We oppose and we have similar reservations with regards to the cultural programme proposed to be organised on September 7,” Geelani said. Geelani said it was not suitable for a European Union country to organise a cultural programme before a select gathering for their entertainment and “ignore the sufferings of the inmates of this beautiful jail”.
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Pilot project of solar heating for buildings in Ladakh soon
Leh, August 24 Germany will introduce solar technologies in space heating at buildings of both districts for the implementation of the proposed project. The ministry has formed a project implementation committee (PIC) with Joint Secretary Alok Srivastava as chairman and project advisory committees (PACs) with LAHDC chief executive councillors as chairmen. Jigmat Takpa, project director, Ladakh Renewal Energy Development Agency, who is a member of the PIC and convener of PACs, said, “The proposed pilot project is the first of its kind in the country in the field of solar heating in buildings. Germany is replicating solar technologies which have been successful in Argentina where climatic conditions are almost similar to Ladakh.” He said the first round of a joint meeting of the PIC and a PAC was recently held in Leh discuss the contract and other responsibilities of the project partner. Takpa added that the memorandum of understanding would be signed during the next meeting to be held in Leh in the first week of September.
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Grand Mufti has ‘nothing to say’
Srinagar, August 24 “It is up to the people whether they want to welcome (the event) or not,” the Grand Mufti said. He said he would not give his opinion about the event. The Grand Mufti was himself involved in a controversy last month when he was ‘caught’ on video listening to a ghazal at a function to commemorate the work of a local poet. The Mufti said he did not have all the details about the internationally famed music maestro or the event on which he could base his comment. “However, music has been forbidden in Islam,” he said. The event is expected to be a ‘VVIP’ affair and may be broadcast live across several countries. Mehta’s performance will give international representation to Kashmir and also help the government in its efforts to attract high-end tourists to the region.
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J&K Bank bags ‘Best Private Sector Bank’ award
Srinagar, August 24 SS Sehgal, bank’s president and zonal head, received the award on behalf of the bank at the ceremony. The award was jointly presented by Kaushal Sampat, president and CEO Dun & Bradstreet, India; M Damodaran, chairman, Excellence Enablers Private Limited; R Gopalan, former secretary, Ministry of Finance; and RK Sharma, COO, PC Jewellers. “The award recognises the bank’s growth and resilience, its credentials and sound fundamentals. It is the recognition of the bank’s longstanding commitment of reaching out to people living in rural regions, hard-to-access locations and backward areas. It is the acknowledgement of the bank’s success in financial inclusion, which is being pursued as a mission,” the statement said.
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She speaks only in the local dialect, Purkhu or Ladakhi, but aspires to work for education,
empowerment and granting rights to women, as she believes that women
of this border district are being neglected by the state.
Anantnag, August 24
Srinagar, August 24
