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Shopian killings: Valley shuts down again
PDP rejects police version of Shopian killings
Too early to comment on charges against Mir: Soz
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Afzal Guru continues to be eulogised
PoK civil society groups urge India, Pak to avoid tension on LoC
Missing jawan’s family wants government help
Rape case: Doctor held for abortion
Work on roads in Reasi district delayed
State doesn’t have vital data on environment, says report
Governor mourns 12 deaths in Reasi accident
Honour killing accused will be punished: Surjewala
BJP to take out five-day ‘Refugee Adhikar Yatra’ from October 2
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Shopian killings: Valley shuts down again
Srinagar, September 21 Today was the fifth Kashmir-wide bandh since September 7 when four persons were allegedly killed by the CRPF troopers in Shopian district. The police said three of the four youths were civilians, it suspected that the fourth persons was a militant. The shutdown today had been by hardline faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani, who has threatened an escalation in protests. Markets across the region and in the city here remained closed in response to the shutdown while work was suspended at schools, colleges and universities. Transport services on intra and inter district routes also remained affected by the shutdown while private cars and cabs were plying on several routes in the city. In Lal Chowk, the commercial nerve center of the city, all markets and shops remained closed in wake of the shutdown. There were reports of sporadic protests in the old city here and in Baramulla and Bandipora. Geelani, who called for the shutdown, has asked for “continuity in struggle” against the “forcible occupation and killings” as a “necessity”. Talking to mediapersons yesterday, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir zone, Abdul Gani Mir alleged that the fourth person was a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Abdullah Harooon, a Pakistani national. He said his identity had been confirmed through many sources. Shopian, 60 km south of the city, has remained under curfew since the four killings and a subsequent killing of a fifth youth on September 11 at the same spot. The district has remained under curfew for 15 consecutive days. |
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PDP rejects police version of Shopian killings
Srinagar, September 21 PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the statement of Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, amounted to a clean chit to the CRPF even before any investigation had taken place. “As in earlier atrocities of similar nature, the police has acted as a judge, jury and the prosecutor; burying another tragedy under unrelated and un-established accusations against the victims,” she said in a statement. Mehbooba said very few people in Kashmir expect justice from the present government, but police statement in the Shopian case has taken brazenness and insensitivity to an unprecedented low level. “It seems the police has tried to justify the killing of youth, for one of them having been arrested under PSA, and two others having some distant relatives connected with militancy,” she said. "After huge public outcry, the FIR into the incident was lodged after 12 days and the police came out with its version of facts within a day only thus eliminating any possibility of further investigation. Though, over few days, the National Conference leaders have been making demands that the Centre should take action against the CRPF, but it is their government which gave the CRPF clean chit,” the PDP president said. On Friday, IGP Kashmir, Abdul Gani Mir had claimed that one of the persons killed in Shopian on September 7 was a Lashker-e-Toiba militant. “Every bit of evidence has substantiated that (he is Abdullah Haroon) and it has been confirmed by our sources in various places and also identified by various persons," the IGP had claimed. |
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Too early to comment on charges against Mir: Soz
Srinagar, September 21 “Let him (Mir) make his own defence…it is a (media) report. How far it is correct, let us see,” Soz said in reply to a question at a press conference held at the party headquarters here today. “There is an allegation which had appeared in a newspaper,” Soz said, adding that law would take its own course. He added that it was not like it had been proved in a court of law. Soz said former Army Chief General VK Singh was involved in a controversy before and after his retirement. The Agriculture Minister, who heads the Democratic Nationalist Party, is an ally of the Congress in the coalition government in the state. The National Conference (NC) maintains that it was not for the party to ask Mir to resign, as he did not belong to it. Meanwhile, Independent MLA from Langate Abdul Rasheed Sheikh has demanded a CBI probe into the allegations that the former Army Chief had tried to destabilise the Jammu and Kashmir Government. “The probe should be either conducted by the CBI or some other credible agency that the former Army Chief had given money to Ghulam Hassan Mir to encourage and engineer the public uprising during the 2010 agitation and Singh had also given a huge amount of money to some NGOs for his personal vested interests,” the Langate MLA said in his statement. |
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Afzal Guru continues to be eulogised
Srinagar, September 21 The music album titled, ‘Tribute to Afzal’, was released in the city today at a function organised by the people behind ‘Haqeeqat-e- Kashmir’, a parallel concert which was held in Srinagar on the day when Mehta was performing at Shalimar Garden in the city on September 7. While releasing the copies of the music album, Dr Altaf Hussain, a civil society member and one of the organisers of Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir, termed songs and poetry as a powerful medium of resistance, saying Kashmiris need to resurrect it. He said cultural resistance assumed importance, as according to him, bullets and stones alone could not work in ending subjugation of nations. On the other hand, in his book, ‘Last Message’, which was released earlier this week in Srinagar, Afzal says only armed militancy can end the “subjugation” of nations. Afzal has eulogised “jihad” and justified armed violence in Kashmir by extensively quoting from the Koran and shown his support to many radical Islamist organistions such as the Taliban and its leader, Mullah Umar, who are fighting America in Afghanistan. The album, which is available online and also in a compact disc, has 15 songs, all penned, composed and sung by “young and upcoming poets and artists”, hailing from different parts of Kashmir. “Initially, we had planned only eight songs for the album, but the response was so overwhelming that we were literally forced to incorporate more resistance songs which went viral in Kashmir during recent times,” said Khurram Parvez, a civil society activist and spokesperson for Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir, the group behind the music album. The album also contains a ‘Naat’ (an exalted form of religious poetry), which was written and sung by a youth from south Kashmir, Shujaat-ul-Islam, who was killed along with other two youths allegedly by security forces during the summer unrest in 2010. The album has numerous other songs, in Kashmiri and Urdu, wherein Afzal's execution has been eulogised. A couplet taken from one of the songs is “Tum Afzal Thay Jab Maqtal Pohanchay, Maqbool Huay Jab Shaheed Huay (You were Afzal when you reached the place of execution, but you became famous afterwards)”. |
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PoK civil society groups urge India, Pak to avoid tension on LoC
Jammu, September 21 “Instead trading bullets on disputed Kashmir region, India and Pakistan should boost Intra-Kashmir trade and people-to-people contact, so that the divided region can prosper economically and historical relations among local divided populations could be strengthened,” they said in a statement issued from PoK on World Peace Day. The International Day of Peace was observed in PoK with the pledge for “collaborative focus” on worldwide peace to encourage all of humanity to work in cooperation for this goal. According to the statement, candles were lit in the memory of deaths of civilians in the different parts of the world, including victims of Kashmir imbroglio. “To highlight the significance of the day, seminars, walks, rallies and other special activities and celebrations were organised by the Press for Peace
(PFP), a local campaign group which struggles for promotion of peace and tolerance in the region,” the statement added. It said the PFP Bagh chapter arranged a walk to mark the day. A large number of people, including journalists, lawyers and school children took part in the walk. The participants were holding different banners and placards inscribed with pro-peace slogans. The peace walk culminated into a rally where office- bearers of local civil society organisations delivered speeches about need of peace and tolerance in the society. The speakers also emphasised upon urgent need of resolution of the Kashmir conflict according to wishes of the people. They also called upon India and Pakistan to reduce their defence budget and allocate their resources for social and economic development of the poverty-ridden public. They supported truce on the
LoC, terming that post-ceasefire hostilities had damaged their education, health and livelihood, therefore, India and Pakistan must give peace a chance. They also appreciated the United Nations for coining the theme of ‘Education for Peace’ for this year world peace celebrations. |
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Missing jawan’s family wants government help
Jammu, September 21 Ranjeet was posted with 8 JAKLI (Siachen) unit in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh and has been reported missing since January 1. Smelling foul in his disappearance, the family demanded a thorough probe into the matter. They also levelled serious allegations against the Commanding Officer of the unit “We demand that our son should return home safely,” Kamla Devi, mother of the missing jawan, told reporters here. “We have been moving from pillar to the post to know the whereabouts of our son, but the Army officers and concerned officials have failed to trace out him. They have only been making lame excuses,” she said. Kamla Devi said her son had been missing since January 1 and alleged that the officers of the unit were not cooperating with them. “On November 22 last year, Ranjeet had come home on a month-long leave to attend his sister’s marriage, but he got a phone call eight days later on November 30 from his unit directing him to resume his duty immediately. He, however, left home on December 24 and resumed the duty on December 28,” said Naresh Kumar, Ranjeet’s elder brother. “On January 1, he made phone calls to all his loved ones to greet them on New Year and on the same day he went missing. He didn’t respond to repeated phones calls thereafter,” he added. Naresh alleged that the unit officers didn’t bother to trace out his brother. “Ranjeet was posted at Commanding Officer’s residence and he should know where the missing jawan was. We request the state government to take up the matter with the Ministry of Defence, so that necessary measures are taken to trace out Ranjeet,” Kumar said. |
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Rape case: Doctor held for abortion
Jammu, September 21 Dr Raj Sharma, owner of the Aastha Nursing Home at Ambphalla, was arrested last evening for aborting the pregnancy of one of the five victims at her clinic way back in 1997-98, police said. “The abortion was carried out at the nursing home in 1997-98 and in this we have arrested the woman doctor,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jammu, Atul Goel said. The SSP, however, said no other evidence has come to the fore, which can hint at other girls from the Rotary Innerwheel Home brought to the Aastha Nursing Home for aborting their pregnancy. Dr Sharma has been booked under section 315 RPC (abortion) and section 201 RPC (destroying evidence) and has been kept in custody of the Trikuta Nagar police station. “So far five persons, including the owner of the nursing home, have been arrested in the case,” Goel said. Meanwhile, a senior police officer said the possibility of aborting pregnancy of other girls at the nursing home cannot be ruled out. “I fail to understand why the nursing home has not been sealed so far,” the officer added. “The hapless girls, who are mentally challenged and orphan, were sexually exploited for years and only one was brought to this nursing home in 1997-98. It’s just a tip of the iceberg,” he added. The police sources said Girdhari Lal Koul, 72, Principal of the Children’s Home had brought the girl to the nursing home at Ambphalla for aborting her pregnancy. Apparently the management of the Home, including its secretary Rajinder Kapoor, had colluded with the nursing home, they added. Koul and Kapoor are among the five arrested so far in the case. Following complaints against the Rotary Inner Wheel Home, in the outskirts of the city here, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Ajeet Kumar Sahu had formed a probe panel that established five mentally challenged girls were sexually assaulted by the officials of the Home and even by the outsiders. Two watchmen at the Home have already divulged to the interrogators that five girls were sexually exploited. |
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Work on roads in Reasi district delayed
Katra, September 21 The Chief Engineer has also been asked to submit a final report on the Katra-Reasi road-link within the next four days. The DC has also directed Mehta to deposit a sum of Rs 45 crore due as compensation for the land acquired for the construction of the road and has been asked as to why the same shall not be recovered under criminal proceedings. The amount has to be paid for the land and utilities acquired for the construction of the road. During a meeting with the representatives of the BRO today, after some youth blocked the NH1C at the Sula Park here in protest against the failure of the agency to initiate the construction work, the DC asked Station House Officer, Reasi, Rakesh Akram to lodge an FIR against Mehta if he fails to appear before the District Magistrate and initiate the construction by September 26. Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi, Mohammad Sharief Chouhan, Officer Commanding, BRO, Major Rahul Pandit, were present in the meeting among others. Official sources said the DC in a fax to the Chief Engineer gave him four days time to initiate the work on the road, failing which criminal proceedings and an FIR will be registered against him, by name. Mehta, meanwhile, informed the DC that a meeting would be convened later in the evening to resolve the issue. “If the magistrate directs removal of public nuisance by way of construction or any action on part of executing agency, which involves financial implications, funds shall be no constraint to comply the orders of the magistrate and the agency was duty-bound to arrange the funds and implement the executive order of the magistrate,” Choudhary informed the Chief Engineer, while citing the Supreme Court judgement in Municipal Committee Ratlam case. In the present case, the BRO has sufficient funds. But files are held up at the technical level, which attracts more serious action. The matter has also been raised at the Chief Secretary and the Union Home Secretary level, who directed the BRO to expedite the work on both the vital roads immediately. Keeping in view the pathetic condition of the road, Choudhary, in a recent meeting held under the Divisional Commissioner, offered to take up the road at his level if the same was transferred to state government. A number of accidents have already been reported on the road manned by the BRO and criminal proceedings against the Officer Commanding, 114 BRO Sector, in charge of Reasi-Mahore, over the issue are already under way in the court of Additional District Magistrate Tilak Raj Shastri. The officer in his compliance report has reportedly mentioned that the blacktopping and construction was held up at the level of the Chief Engineer. |
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State doesn’t have vital data on environment, says report
Jammu, September 21 “The data on air quality is missing and the authorities concerned have not introduced a system of environmental management of the industrial estates/houses in the state. Environment planning has not taken root in the state, therefore there is no central databank and environment planning in place in the state,” the report said. The report also observed that the soil data of the state and the soil map was deficient, which requires serious action by the state government. It also said the soil data would be of use in identifying the cropping pattern and for maximum utilisation of shrinking land resources in the agriculture sector. “Regarding the industrial profile of the state, there is no sizeable industrial activity in the Kashmir valley. Most of the industrial units are concentrated in Jammu province being the rail head of the state and raw material downloading at Jammu is easy, less cumbersome and comparatively cheap,” the report claims. The policy states that mineral extraction and utilisation of natural resources was a concern and no firm policy statement has been put in place. Further, the draft mineral policy did not include the environmental impact of utilisation and extraction of natural resources in the state. “Despite the National Mineral Policy, the Department of Geology and Mining has no environmental wing. Neither is there any provision for such action. Limestone, gypsum, granite, sapphires, coal, marble,
magnesite, slates, white hiatizite, bunite, lignite, borax are some of the natural resources which are identified by the policy and require proper management and conservation safeguards as laid down in various environmental laws and rules,” the report states. The report also claimed that the transport infrastructure was not up to the mark. It stated that one of the major constraints of the state was its hilly and mountainous topography which was proving a restraint in the work of new road infrastructure. |
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Governor mourns 12 deaths in Reasi accident
Srinagar, September 21 The Governor has conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. Twelve persons were killed and 14 others injured when a minibus rolled down into a gorge in Reasi yesterday. |
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Honour killing accused will be punished: Surjewala
Srinagar, September 21 The minister, who is in Srinagar as a special representative of the All India Congress Committee for tomorrow’s Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee meeting, told the reporters that in a “pro-active action” by the police, a case was registered on the basis of a complaint made by the concerned Station House Officer. “No complaint had been made by the locals in connection with the killing of the young boy and girl on Wednesday,” he said.
Surjewala added that the young boy and the girl had left their homes on Tuesday and both were killed by their own parents and relatives the next day. The bodies of the deceased were recovered by the police in a swift action before these could be consigned by the accused, he said. A number of relatives of both the youth, including their parents, were arrested and sent on police remand, the Minister said. He insisted that action would be taken and punishment given to those found guilty.
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BJP to take out five-day ‘Refugee Adhikar Yatra’ from October 2
Jammu, September 21 Under the programme, the party has decided to take out a five-day ‘Refugee Adhikar Yatra’ from October 2 to 6 in three districts of the Jammu region. The party has also roped in about half-a-dozen national leaders for the scheduled Yatra. “The significance of the BJP’s Refugee Adhikar Yatra can be judged from the fact that about half a dozen national leaders will join it alongwith state president Jugal Kishore Sharma, State in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, Legislative Party leader Ashok Khajuria, party MLAs Sham Choudhary and Sukhnandan Kumar,” Rajiv Jasrotia, BJP state general secretary told reporters here today. Jasrotia, who is the overall in charge of the yatra, said it will start on October 2 from Keerian Gandyal village in Kathua district and after passing through about 50 villages housing the population of refugees and covering three districts of the Jammu province, including Kathua, Samba and RS Pura in Jammu it will culminate outside the Jammu Press Club on October 6. About the party’s aim to organise the yatra, Jasrotia said the Jammu province has 10 to 12 lakh refugees who were living in almost border areas on Kathua to Poonch. They include refugees from West Pakistan, PoJK refugees and those of 1965 and 1971, he said, adding that refugees from West Pakistan had been deprived of citizenship rights, the right to education, the right to employment in the government sector and the right to vote for the state assembly. “Similarly, refugees from PoK have not been adequately compensated for the properties left in the Pakistan occupied areas of the state. Besides 24 seats which had been kept reserved for PoJK refugees have not been filled so far. The ownership rights of the evacuee properties in their possession have not been granted. Refugees of the 1965 and 1971 wars have also not been compensated for their properties. All these categories of refugees have been agitating for decades for their genuine rights but unfortunately no one has cared to work for delivering justice to them,” he said. He claimed the BJP had been continuously raising the voice of these refugees and even taken up their issues in the parliament as well as the state assembly from time to time. “Our party has even adopted a resolution seeking grant of rights to them. The successive state governments in the state after 1947 only provided only lip service to these refugees but did not take any constitutional initiative to recommend to the Centre for grant of rights,” he alleged. |
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A shutdown was observed today across the Valley to protest against the killings of five men earlier this month.
Various civil society groups in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) today urged India and Pakistan to avoid tension on the Line of Control and promote intra-Kashmir trade and human contacts.
“Instead trading bullets on disputed Kashmir region, India and Pakistan should boost Intra-Kashmir trade and people-to-people contact, so that the divided region can prosper economically and historical relations among local divided populations could be
strengthened.”
