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Congress leaders from Jammu press for firm action against Pak
Political parties jointly reach out to border residents
India, Pak must show magnanimity, says Mufti
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Cong in poll mode, holds public rallies in Valley
BJP to gherao secretariat over rights of West Pak refugees
Over 50% injured in 2010 unrest were youth: Study
Durbar Move: A burden on state exchequer
Traffic restrictions on Oct 25
Employees to chalk out agitation plan on Oct 29
Govt sanctions Rs 1,484 lakh grant to agricultural varsities
Governor prorogues both Houses
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Congress leaders from Jammu press for firm action against Pak
Jammu, October 22 During their meeting with Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, the Congress delegation told the minister that patience of the common man was running out because Pakistan had been sending terrorists to the Indian side while also intensifying shelling. The delegation demanded that it was high time Pakistan was taught a lesson. With the Congress facing flak for its failure to fulfil its promise of creating safer zones for border inhabitants, the party delegation apprised the Home Minister of the hardships faced by people living in the firing range on the international border and the Line of Control. The BJP and coalition partner National Conference recently criticised the Congress for not fulfilling its promise of providing alternative shelters to people living on the border. The Congress delegation also submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister highlighting the hardships being faced by the border residents. The delegation urged Shinde to take necessary and firm measures to deal with the situation. “We urge you to consider grant of relief and a rehabilitation package immediately, besides providing alternative places of shelter in safer zones to the border residents in their respective districts and grant of special concessions and reservations in Central and state services on the pattern of backward areas to the residents of border the belt in the state,” the Congress leaders told the Union Minister. The delegation included Madan Lal Sharma, an MP, and Ravinder Sharma, a legislator. |
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Political parties jointly reach out to border residents
Jammu, October 22 The Abdullian sector in RS Pura along the international border has been witnessing shelling from Pakistan for the past few days. Leaders of the National Conference, Congress and BJP assured full support to the people living in the border areas. They asked the people not to migrate from their villages or else their problems would escalate, they cautioned. From the NC, provincial president Devender Singh Rana and Taranjeet Singh Tony listened to the grievances of the people. Suchetgarh MLA (BJP) Sham Choudhary and senior Congress leader Darshan Raina were also present on the occasion. Interacting with the people, Rana expressed serious concern over the unabated border. He reiterated his party’s demand to the Centre for prevailing upon Pakistan to bring a halt to the unwarranted situation that had a potential of jeopardising peace. War was no solution to problems, he said. Referring to the problems being faced by the border residents, the NC provincial president said the trauma they were undergoing could neither be felt in New Delhi nor in Islamabad. Therefore, he said the only alternative was to engage Pakistan in a substantive dialogue to defuse the situation. Urging the people not to get panicky, Rana hoped that the border dwellers would brave this temporary phase with the same spirit they had been demonstrating over decades. He lauded their valour for being the frontline soldiers of the nation and said the entire state was with them at this hour of crisis. “It is not a time to play politics as the catastrophe has befallen the compatriots irrespective of their race, religion of political affiliation,” said
Rana. The BJP and Congress leaders also expressed solidarity with the border dwellers, saying the people of the state were concerned about their wellbeing and safety. |
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India, Pak must show magnanimity, says Mufti
Jammu, October 22 “Instead of resorting to blame game or jingoism, the political leadership of the two countries must hold a dialogue for resolving their disputes, including ceasefire violations through peaceful, undisrupted and sustainable negotiations,” said Mufti, while addressing a meeting of senior leaders of the party in which a resolution on the prevailing situation on the LoC and the international border was passed. Mufti said both New Delhi and Islamabad must talk in order to avoid the dangerous consequences of any escalation of confrontation. “Peace between the two countries is crucial for stability, progress and economic prosperity of the region. Both the countries must snub the elements that raise senseless and dangerous war hysteria,” he said and reminded that every war between India and Pakistan was followed by a dialogue, so there was no reason to allow escalation of skirmishes on the borders.
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Cong in poll mode, holds public rallies in Valley
Srinagar, October 22 President of the JKPCC Saifuddin Soz, accompanied by Minister of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Shamlal Sharma, Minister for Tourism GA Mir, and Minister of Revenue Aijaz Ahmad Khan, along with MLCs Bashir Ahmad Magrey and Ghulam Nabi Monga, held public meetings in south Kashmir today. Rallies were also held at Redwani in the Homeshalibugh constituency of Kulgam district and Mattan in Anantnag district. Addressing the meetings, Soz said, “People of the state want to express their support to the party and many social and political activists will come forward to join the fold in the coming days.” “The induction of new members is aimed at strengthening the party at different levels,” said a senior Congress leader. He said not only senior leaders or bureaucrats but also a number of youngsters were joining the party in different parts of the state. The senior leaders who joined the Congress here and in Jammu in the last two days include former minister Ghulam Hassan Geelani, former NC leader Aslam Goni, former vice-president of J&K Bank Tafazul Hussain and former Director of Information in the J&K Government Farooq Renzu. Waseem Shalla, who had been associated with the ruling National Conference, also joined the party. A number of young leaders have joined the Congress in the past few years. It had a major boost with the visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, during which he interacted with the students at the University of Kashmir. At the same time, the Congress has been organising public meetings in different parts of the Valley, where it has representation only on three seats out of 46 constituencies. Even when the Congress is the main coalition partner of the ruling National Conference, there is no final decision on any pre-poll alliance during the elections next year. On the other hand, the Congress has been focusing on strengthening the party at the grass-roots level across the Valley. |
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BJP to gherao secretariat over rights of West Pak refugees
Jammu, October 22 The decision to gherao the secretariat was taken in a recent meeting of office-bearers of the party held under the leadership of Rajya Sabha member and in charge of J&K BJP Avinash Rai
Khanna. Sources said party leaders present in the meeting were of the view that Congress leaders had done nothing to solve the problems of West Pakistan refugees despite being part of the ruling government. For the last two years, the Congress has repeatedly promised citizenship rights to these refugees but nothing concrete has been done so far. It is all due to the non-cooperative attitude of the Kashmir-centric parties like the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) that the Congress has failed to fulfil its commitment to the West Pakistan refugees and the BJP wants to cash in on the helplessness of Congress leaders, said a source. “It is high time we targeted the Congress on the issue because the party is in power at the Centre as well as the state,” a senior BJP leader present in the meeting told The Tribune. He said West Pakistan refugees were the deciding factor for the
Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat so BJP would make all efforts to woo these “stateless” voters, who have the right to cast vote only in the Lok Sabha elections. According to a rough estimate, West Pakistani refugees have nearly one lakh votes in the
Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency and about 30,000 votes in the Udhampur-Doda segment. Due to the “apathetic attitude” of both the Congress and the
BJP, West Pakistan refugees had fielded their own candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections for the
Jammu-Poonch seat. Denied citizenship At the time of Partition in 1947, refugees from West Pakistan had entered J&K with the hope that in secular democratic India they would be given all rights. However, even after more than six decades, the refugees do not have voting rights for the J&K Legislative Assembly, citizenship right, ration cards and permanent resident certificates. Hence, they cannot apply for government jobs or purchase land in J&K |
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Over 50% injured in 2010 unrest were youth: Study
Srinagar, October 22 During this time, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), the only tertiary care medical centre of the region, received 630 patients who suffered injuries in violence. Of this, 393 were admitted during May to September 2010, the five-month timeframe of widespread street demonstrations in the region when more than 120 civilians were killed in the police and paramilitary firing. “The study shows that mostly young people were injured during the violence. The majority of the victims were males who were involved in street protests. Many of the affected were students,” suggests the study titled ‘Profile and outcome of violence-related injuries of patients during civilian unrest’. The study found that injuries were predominant among the younger population and 204 out of 393 patients admitted to hospitals belonged to the age group of 13-24 years. Over 120 civilians, a bulk of them teenagers, were killed in the police and paramilitary firing during the five-month agitation in the Kashmir region, which was triggered by the death of a teenager who was hit in the head by a tear smoke shell. The estimated number of the injured is several thousands. The study also suggested that 157 out of 393 patients admitted to the hospitals were suffering from head injuries. Syed Amin Tabish, Rauf A Wani, Mushtaq Ahmad, Natasha Thakur, GH Yatoo and Shadab Nabi Wani of the department of accident and emergency, general surgery and hospital administration, SKIMS hospital, are part of the team. “Complications from head injuries are the single biggest cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who manage to reach hospital alive,” the study, published in June this year, indicates. The study also suggests that among the 393 patients admitted to SKIMS during the period, 300 or 76.33 per cent were literate and out of 300 literate patients, 125 patients were high school students. |
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Durbar Move: A burden on state exchequer
Srinagar, October 22 An official report with the Estates Department stated that the budget allocated for the accommodation facilities of the moving employees was Rs 23.31 crore and that the same amount was expended for the 2012-13 plan period. The civil secretariat in the summer capital here will close down on October 26 and will open in the winter capital city of Jammu on November 4. The employees will be accommodated in 3,199 residential units owned by the Estates Department in Jammu. The department has also hired the Tourism Reception Centre, Jammu, few private hotels and guest houses for providing suitable accommodation to the secretariat employees. The government, as per the report, has also initiated the process of acquiring 100 kanals of land from the Jammu Development Authority to build the necessary accommodation facility for the moving employees. The Estates Department possesses 4,502 residential units across the state and it hires 361 residential set ups, including hotels, private guest houses and huts for accommodating the employees, the report mentioned. While 84 per cent of the accommodation, as per a government order, is offered to the employees who move along with the civil secretariat, seven per cent of the accommodation is meant for the government employees posted outside the division of their respective residences. One per cent is reserved for the Central Government employees and three per cent is kept for the judicial employees. Besides, a five per cent of discretionary quota has been placed with the Minister of Estates for the provision of accommodating people other than government employees, which includes freedom fighters, ex-legislators and media persons. The bi-annual Durbar Move has come under severe criticism, as social activists and civil society members across the state believe that the unnecessary expenditure could be utilised for better alternatives. “The concept of Durbar Move is essentially derived from the imperial rule in the state before 1947, when the King used to move his court (Durbar) between the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu to hear the subjects (citizens). It is high time the government shuns the idea and help save the state’s economy,” Srinagar-based social activist Mirza Idrees Beigh said. Housing woes
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Traffic restrictions on Oct 25
Srinagar, October 22 An official said restrictions had been imposed to facilitate the movement of the Durbar Move employees and official records
to Jammu. The Durbar Move offices, along with the Governor’s Secretariat, are scheduled to reopen in Jammu on November 4.
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Employees to chalk out agitation plan on Oct 29
Srinagar, October 22 “A JCC meeting will be convened on October 29 where leaders from all regions of the state
will participate and chalk out the future course of action,” said JCC leader Farooq Trali, who along with other employee leaders had been
released recently. The government had detained several employee leaders after the JCC decided to go ahead with its five-day stir from October 1 despite the government warning. The JCC leaders were released ahead of Eid. Trali said employees would be “forced” to announce another protest programme in case the government continued to “ignore” their demands. While talks between the government and the JCC had ended in a deadlock last month, the employees have been staging frequent protests and strikes for over two years now. The issue of the stir of the employees had also resonated in the recently concluded autumn session of the state legislature where the government had said it was open to a dialogue. 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. 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. |
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Govt sanctions Rs 1,484 lakh grant to agricultural varsities
Jammu, October 22 Sources said the Drawing and Disbursing Officers of both the universities had been directed to observe all codal formalities while incurring expenditure in accordance with the instructions . Both the universities were informed that the austerity measures in vogue in terms of the government order of 2009 will continue to remain in force for 2013-14 also. The universities concerned are advised to submit the utilisation certificate of both the third and fourth instalment in time under each unit of appropriation/detailed head. Meanwhile, as per the data available, the total budget estimates for SKUAST-Jammu for 2013-14 was Rs 5,240 lakh. The GIA released by the Finance Department was Rs 3,930 lakh, whereas the amount to the tune of Rs 1,309.98 lakh was already released by the Administration Department. Further, an amount to the tune of Rs 436.66 lakh has recently been released in favour of SKUAST-Jammu under the fourth instalment. Similarly, the budget estimates for SKUAST-Kashmir for 2013-14 was Rs 12,570 lakh and the Finance Department had released Rs 9,427.50 lakh. An amount to the tune Rs 3,142.50 lakh was already released by the Administration Department, whereas under the fourth instalment, the department has released Rs 1,047.50 lakh.The sources said a team of experts from both SKUAST and the Department of Horticulture had been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the unexplored fruit crops. Once identified, the process of their multiplication and popularisation will be taken up by the Horticulture Department. |
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Governor prorogues both Houses
Srinagar, October 22 Vohra, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon him, had prorogued the State Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, a spokesperson said. The brief autumn session of the State Legislature began here on September 30. After seven working days, the state Assembly was adjourned sine die by Speaker Mubarak Gul on October 9. The State Legislative Council was adjourned by Chairperson Amrit Malhotra on October 10.
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As miseries of border inhabitants are increasing with every passing day due to unprovoked shelling from across the border, Congress leaders from the Jammu region today demanded firm action.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde being greeted by a security personnel in the Samba sector of Jammu on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
The study, under which a sample of patients admitted to the region’s leading medical health centres was taken, also found that most of the victims had suffered head injuries.