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Shopian, other south Kashmir
areas remain under curfew
Separatists protest Shopian killings
Gulzar opens Ladakh film fest, Omar fails to make it
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Newly formed Kargil council to meet on
SIT to hold probe into former militant’s death
Jammu Rape Case
CM seeks sponsorship for training IAS aspirants
Rana cautions people against BJP
BJP to generate nationwide debate on Article 370
BJP workers celebrate as Modi anointed PM candidate
Panthers Party slams govt for curtailing Assembly session
Wetlands in Valley brought
under J&K Wildlife Act
Experts roll up sleeves to solve Katra’s drinking water woes
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Shopian, other south Kashmir
areas remain under curfew
Anantnag, September 13 After the Friday prayers, clashes broke out in villages on the peripheries of the main towns of
south Kashmir. Chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for peaceful protests after the Friday congregational prayers against the killing of five persons allegedly in CRPF firing, in the Gagran area of Shopian district in south Kashmir. Police and CRPF personnel in full riot gear were deployed in strength. “The forces had erected barricades at the main entry and exit points in all major towns,” a source said. “Attempts of protests after the Friday prayers were foiled,” the source said. However, people in the peripheral villages of Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama towns assembled after the Friday prayers and held protests. “In the Gagran area, anti-India sloganeering was witnessed, giving way to widespread clashes in the area,” a source said. “Stone-throwing by youths was retaliated by teargas shells and aerial firing by security forces,” the source said. In Kulgam district, clashes and pro-freedom protests were reported from the Khodweni and Redwini areas. Curfew was today extended to Bijbehara town of Anantnag district and Awantipora, Tral and other major towns of Pulwama district. The authorities had reimposed curfew in parts of south Kashmir on Wednesday evening after the death of a 27-year-old school
bus driver allegedly in CRPF firing. On September 7, CRPF personnel of 14th Battalion had allegedly killed four persons, including three civilians and an alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operative. People, including some mainstream politicians, have maintained that the fourth slain person, whom the police dubbed as a Lashkar operative, was a non-local
labourer. CRPF yet to get orders to vacate camp The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is yet to receive any formal directive from the state government for vacating the Gagran camp in Shopian. The Cabinet, which was chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday, directed the Director General of Police, Ashok Prasad, to replace the CRPF personnel at the Gagran Camp with a contingent of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police. Sources said it would take some time to replace the CRPF personnel as the authorities had to first provide them alternate accommodation. |
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Separatists protest Shopian killings
Srinagar, September 13 Separatist leaders, including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik, led the protests in the city here. The police has said it suspects one of the four persons killed last week was a militant, while the others were civilians. Protesters marched from the local Maisuma locality, which houses the JKLF headquarters, towards the centre of the city but were intercepted by policemen, who fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters. “This protest is against the killings, against the criminal silence of the international community,” said Malik, who along with several other JKLF leaders, was later detained by the police. People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti along with several senior party leaders also held a demonstration in the city and marched to Regal Chowk, near the city centre, where they were stopped by the police. The PDP president while addressing party workers said Kashmir had been turned into a “killing field”. Another demonstration was held at Jamia Masjid in the old city where several leaders of the moderate Hurriyat faction, including Javaid Ahmad Mir, led a protest rally. Geelani has called for a two-day shutdown from Saturday against the Shopian killings. |
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Gulzar opens Ladakh film fest, Omar fails to make it
Leh, September 13 Urban Development Minister Nawang Rigzin
Jora, Leh Chief Executive Councillor Rigzin Spalbar and Abdali, Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, were present along with LIFF jury chair Aparna
Sen, patrons, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj, filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra, and National Award-winning Marathi actress Usha Jadhav among others. “Our Chief Minister was supposed to be here in the morning, but he couldn’t come because the collateral damage from the concert
(Zubin Mehta’s recent concert) still preoccupies him. There is curfew in a few districts,” Jora said in his keynote address. The opening ceremony was held at the Sindhu Sanskriti Auditorium, nestled between barren mountains in the virgin beauty of
Leh. The otherwise quiet environment was bustling with police officers, film enthusiasts, festival patrons, guests and government
officials. Gulzar, whose works will be showcased in a retrospective curated by filmmaker Vishal
Bhardwaj, was in awe of the destination, and said he hoped that the “highest altitude film festival” also serves movies which are of “high standards”. He said he was happy to be “in such a beautiful destination in such a beautiful valley and among such beautiful people”. His directorial venture, “Mere
Apne”, is due to be screened at the fest, and Gulzar said he was as nervous about its screening as he was when the movie was first due for release. The LIFF was launched in 2012. The three-day festival is likely to screen around 120 short films, feature films and documentaries. A major highlight of the festival is the green carpet premiere of international documentary filmmaker Teri McLuhan’s “Frontier Gandhi”. — IANS Celebrating cinema
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Newly formed Kargil council to meet on
Srinagar, September 13 As per the notification here the meeting will be held
on Monday. However, prior to the September 16 meeting, the Deputy Commissioner, who is also the election authority, has called for the oath ceremony of the elected representatives at the conference hall, Baroo in Kargil at 4 pm on Sunday. The Deputy Commissioner also functions as the Chief Executive Officer of the LAHDC, while the elected representatives choose one of the members as its Chief Executive Councillor. The third Kargil council will be formed by the Congress. This was decided at the coordination committee meeting of the coalition partners Congress and NC here yesterday. The first two councils were headed by the National Conference. It is, however, not clear whether the four nominated members will have the voting powers, as advocated by the NC. The move is being opposed by the Congress. The stalemate over the formation of the Kargil council ended yesterday after a series of meetings between the two coalition partners, headed by Pradesh Congress Committee President Saifuddin Soz since last week. Though, the elections were held on August 22 there has been a long delay in the formation of the council due to the fractured mandate. Both the Congress and the National Conference fought the elections independently and failed to get a clear majority. The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 10 elected members, four short of a clear majority, followed closely by the NC with eight representatives. The remaining
eight seats were won by independents. The names of the elected members to the LAHDC, Kargil, were made
public after the completion of the election process on September 2. |
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SIT to hold probe into former militant’s death
Srinagar, September 13 Most parts of north Kashmir remained shut today to protest his death. The SIT would be headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Farooq Ahmed and probe the circumstances that led to Sofi’s death. “We have constituted a SIT which will probe into the death (of Sofi),” Superintendent of Police (SP), Baramulla, Zubair Ahmed Khan told The Tribune. “The SIT will find out the actual cause of his death,” the Baramulla SP said. Sofi’s body was yesterday found lying in a pool of blood on the road at Nowpora in Wagoora village, 45 km from Srinagar. Sofi’s family suspects that he was murdered and his body was later dumped at Nowpora. “We suspect that he might have been killed by some agency for his separatist ideology,” alleged one of his relatives. “There were torture marks on his body and it looked a cold-blooded murder.” His postmortem was conducted yesterday at District Hospital, Baramulla. Doctors at the hospital said the exact cause of his death would be known once they get the report. “The deceased had received injuries on his head. The specimens were sent to the Srinagar Forensic Laboratory. Once we get the report, the exact cause of his (Sofi's) death will be ascertained,” said a medical official at the hospital. |
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Jammu Rape Case
Jammu, September 13 Sharma, however, has been called for regular questioning by the police in the case. He along with watchman Angad Kumar were first detained by the police for questioning on September 4, when the case of
sexual exploitation came to the fore. While Angad and Surjeet Kumar, former watchman at the home, were further remanded for a period of five days by a local court here today, the police did not seek the custody of Sharma. The police had earlier claimed that they had arrested the director. But a police officer today said they had not found any strong evidence against him. “We don’t have strong evidence against the director. But investigation is going on. As and when we will get evidence
against him, he will be formally arrested,” a police officer said. He, however, said the director, apart from two other accused in the case are being regularly quizzed by the police. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Superintendent of Police (SP), Jammu south, Rajeshwar Singh, is probing the case. |
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CM seeks sponsorship for training IAS aspirants
Srinagar, September 13 “You should support all the successful candidates of the preliminary examination of the IAS and help them to receive further necessary training, if they are willing, in the reputed and recognised institutes outside the state, so that they can prepare in a better way for the final examination,” Omar told the IMPARD. J&K youth are second to none. They can prove their mettle at the national and international stage if provided with an opportunity, Omar said during the 12th meeting of the executive council of J&K IMPARD here today. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, Principal Secretary Planning B R Sharma, Director General IMPARD B B Vyas, Commissioner Secretary Rural Development Farooq Ahmad Peer, Secretary General Administration Department M A Bukhari and other senior officers. Earlier, Vyas presented the resume of the functioning of the institute and referred to the new initiatives taken to upgrade and improve the performance of the organisation. The Director General of the institute said as many as 250 annual programmes were conducted at the institute, which include foundation training for the Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) qualifiers, capacity building for panchayat members and refresher courses for in service officers. He said the IMPARD is presently providing training to 80 KAS aspirants each at its Srinagar and Jammu centre. Vyas said facilities like computerisation and digitalisation of library, video conferencing, infrastructure development and biometric attendance system were put in place at the two centres. The officer added that 14 new positions have been notified to give strength to the faculty of the institute. |
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Rana cautions people against BJP
Jammu, September 13 Rana wile referring to the developments taking place within the BJP, said: “Earlier the party used to implement its agenda clandestinely and now they are openly preaching what they stand for.” He vowed that the NC will not allow the machinations of the communal parties like the BJP or the disruptive PDP to succeed in dividing the people of the state. “We will stand like a rock and foil all their (BJP) attempts to disturb peace,” Rana said while addressing a public rally in the Nagrota Assembly constituency of Jammu. The senior NC leader said the BJP has started “parroting” the slogans of minorities and religion in danger, which is its time tested “anthem” ahead of the elections. “There is no danger, either to the religion or to the minorities. The slogan is just a hoax, which BJP is playing up to brighten its electoral fortunes,” Rana said. Highlighting the composite culture of Jammu and Kashmir, Rana said both the Hindus and the Muslims have been living in harmony, as per the pluralistic ethos of the state. “If there is any problem, it is in the minds of communal forces that see the situation through tinted prism,” he said. He warned the “saffron brigade” not to test the patience of the peace loving people by creating “fear psychosis”. “The BJP and the PDP have a vested interest in putting Jammu and Kashmir on a boil. Discord between various sections of the society serves the interests of these two parties, which have been working for a common cause to polarise the situation in order to derive political mileage,” he said. “BJP became a willing tool at the hands of other interested elements and when passions flared up its central leaders plunged into the murkier waters to prolong the tension as part of larger game plan,” Rana said while pointing to the Kishtwar riots. He related simultaneous reaction over the incidents by Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley’s “impromptu visit” to Jammu as part of the game-plan to “vitiate the situation” and garner maximum political advantage from the disturbed condition in a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir. Rana, meanwhile, also laid foundation stone of the common facility centre at Nagrota. |
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BJP to generate nationwide debate on Article 370
Jammu, September 13 The BJP has announced to involve the leaders of all political parties in the debate to present a “real” picture before the nation. The displaced Kashmiri Pandits every year observe September 14 as Martyrs' Day to remember their exodus from the Valley. Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna observed that the Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was the real cause of militancy and insurgency in the state. He was addressing a function, organised here today by the Sanjeevani Sharda Kendra, an organisation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Khanna alleged that the ruling elites in Jammu and Kashmir had “abused” the special status to deprive the people of their constitutional rights. He announced that the BJP and other nationalist organisations had started a nationwide debate on the Article 370 to educate the countrymen about the misuse of the special status. Reiterating the resolve of his party to solve the problems of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Khanna said the BJP had taken up their issues a number of times in Parliament. |
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BJP workers celebrate as Modi anointed PM candidate
Jammu, September 13 A number of BJP workers who had gathered at the party headquarters celebrated by beating dhols, soon after the announcement at New Delhi. They marched on to the streets around the party headquarters at Kachi Chawni and raised slogans in favour of Narendra Modi. A large number of women BJP workers also joined the celebrations. |
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Panthers Party slams govt for curtailing Assembly session
Jammu, September 13 In a statement issued here today, Harsh Dev said by shortening the duration of the Assembly session to seven sittings, the state government had tried to fulfil a constitutional formality. He said discussions on issues of public importance appeared to be the least concern of the coalition government which had only tried to comply with the mandate of Section 53 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, which provided that “six months shall not intervene between the last sitting of one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session”. He pointed out that the said session was summoned because a gap of six months between two sessions would have amounted to constitutional violation and resulted in a constitutional crisis. Reminding the state government of the broad consensus achieved at a meeting of presiding officers of various legislatures at the national level, Singh said it was agreed that legislatures should sit for at least 100 days in one calendar year. He regretted that J&K provided the most glaring example of dishonour of the said decisions as the legislature sittings in one calendar year didn’t exceed 30 to 35 days. |
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Wetlands in Valley brought
under J&K Wildlife Act
Srinagar, September 13 The Fushkoori, Mainbugh, Krunchoo and Chatlam wetlands are home to hundreds of migratory birds and their conservation will now be the onus of the State Wildlife Department. The Department will now have complete control over the protection and management of the wetlands, their conservation and tackling the issues of land encroachment and poaching. Earlier, a house committee set up by the Legislative Assembly and chaired by CPI(M) state general secretary Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami had instructed the Revenue Department to demarcate the total land to be taken over by the Wildlife Department for the conservation purposes. The Revenue Department demarcated around 1,400 kanals of wetland and handed it to the Wildlife Department. Pertinently, local villagers led by the Wildlife Conservation Fund (WCF), an international NGO, had initiated an awareness drive last year to conserve the wetlands and stop the bird poaching, to preserve at least 25 species of migratory birds that make these marshes their abode during the summers. Assistant commissioner Revenue Department, Shah Faesal, while handing over the possession of the land to Wildlife Warden (Wetlands), Kashmir, Maqbool Baba, said the district administration will work hand in glove with the Wildlife Department to conserve these eco-sensitive areas. Nadeem Qadri, an environmentalist and chief WCF, said the move will go a long way in the conservation of Valley’s flora and fauna. Qadri said he was optimistic that these four wetlands will become the models for the wetland conservation in the state. The project was also supported by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) under the Rapid Action Project. “The event marks the culmination of an epic struggle launched by the WCF in 2011, when Qadri first spoke of the importance of conservation of wetlands in Kashmir and their scientific management. However, I hope that this will not be the only event of this kind, but it will be the harbinger of many such events in future,” WTI chief adviser, policy and project implementation, Jagdish Kishwan said.
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Experts roll up sleeves to solve Katra’s drinking water woes
Jammu, September 13 The team has been given a time frame of one month by the government to prepare the comprehensive document, which will be presented before the Union government for funding. “Experts are already on the job to prepare vision document,” said Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Sharma. The minister disclosed that a plan would be formulated to meet the drinking water requirement of Katra up to 2040. “Every aspect, including the increasing number of devotees with every passing year, would be taken into consideration,” he said. “At present, we are facing a shortfall of nearly 4 lakh gallons of drinking water every day in Katra town,” Chief Engineer, PHE, K K Gupta said while admitting that it was not possible to meet the current requirement from the existing sources in Katra and adjoining areas, including Reasi. “To identify new resources, we decided to prepare the vision document,” he said. Giving reasons for preparing the vision document when work on another big scheme was already going on, Gupta said the “much publicised” Rs 47.42-crore water supply scheme for Katra, which was sanctioned by the Central government on the recommendations of the special task force in 2011, was not going to solve the problem. “Hopefully the scheme is likely to be completed by the end of the current financial year but the problem will not be fully solved. So, we have to look at other viable options”, he said. Sources said that due to non-availability of water resources in Katra and adjoining localities, technical experts had made it clear that except lifting water from the Chenab river, there was no other way of meeting the drinking water requirement of the holy town. Vision document
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Curfew continued in all major south Kashmir towns today and restrictions were extended to Anantnag district as well.
Several protests were held after the Friday congregational prayers in the city to protest against the killing of five persons in Shopian in south Kashmir over the past week.
Separatist leaders, including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin
Malik, led the protests in the city here.
Noted lyricist, writer and filmmaker Gulzar lit the ceremonial lamp to open the second edition of the Ladakh International Film Festival
(LIFF).
