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Education, health to get a boost in state: Omar
Amid talk of empowerment, J&K panches cry for security
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Cong out to appease separatists: BJP, BSP
High Court quashes PSA detention of four persons
on the frontline
Hospitals, schools sans heating as temperatures plunge
Rural Ministry wants state to conduct survey of job card-holders
Congress also responsible for plight of panches: BSP
Rs 7,000-crore package formulated for refugees
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Education, health to get a boost in state: Omar
Jammu, November 10 “Within the next six to eight months, you will see a huge programme on the ground regarding the expansion of health and educational institutions,” Omar said while addressing a public meeting at Trungal village in Doda district after inaugurating the Rs 15-crore suspension bridge over the Chenab. The Chief Minister said the road communication to link remote areas with highways was a priority with the government. “My government has flagged this aspect as one of the most important concerns in the state’s development policy. It is as a result of this policy that the state has witnessed remarkable improvement and upgradation in the road communication sector during the last about five years,” he said. The Chief Minister said the economic uplift of remote areas and employment generation for youth largely depended on the status of connectivity and road communication. Recognising the link between communication facilities and development of remote areas, the government had decided to implement the roads and bridges development programme on a large scale in the state, he said. The Chief Minister also stressed the need for utilising water bodies as a means of transport. He said the water body in Trungal could be utilised as a means of transport as was being done with Jhelum river, Dal Lake and Nageen Lake. He would ask the tourism and other departments concerned to explore similar possibility here. The Chief Minister said bridges were needed in the area to have a link with cut-off parts. The government would take up the task of constructing bridges to improve connectivity and development, he promised. CM SPEAK
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Amid talk of empowerment, J&K panches cry for security
Srinagar, November 10 After the militant attacks on panches and sarpanches earlier this year, nearly three dozen panchayat members had applied for security cover. “We understand that it is not possible for the government to provide security to all of us and we also told our members not to press for security. Around 30 members who had real security issues applied for security with the police. But nothing has been
done by the government so far,” said All J&K Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) spokesman Ghulam Hassan Panzoo. “We have been cheated on all accounts, including on providing security. This shows the government's seriousness towards empowering the panchayats in the state.” Since 2011, when the panchayat elections were held in Kashmir, gunmen have killed six panchayat members in the Valley. Three among them were killed this year. Due to the killings earlier this year, over 800 panchayat members had quit publicly. The government claimed that only 17 panchayat members had resigned across the state. The AJKPC spokesman said the government comes up with statements when there were attacks on panchayat members or any of them was killed. The panchayat elections in J&K were held after a gap of over 30 years. More than 80 per cent turnout was recorded in the polls and over 33,000 panches and sarpanches were elected across the state. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Monga, who is also the Member Legislative Council, and was elected from the panchayat quota said their party had taken up the issue of security of panchayat members with the Union Government. “But, frankly speaking, it is not possible to provide security to each panchayat member in the state,” the Congress leader said, adding that the party will leave no stone unturned in empowering the panchayats. A senior police officer in Srinagar said the panchayat members had been advised by the police not
to venture out in militancy infested areas during the night. “The individual security to the panchayat members is not possible. But we have taken measures to ensure their safety,” he said. “We have also issued do’s and don’ts to the panchayat members in many parts of the Valley,”
he added. Attacks in 2013
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Cong out to appease separatists: BJP, BSP
Jammu, November 10 While the BJP has charged the Congress with appeasing anti-national forces for “petty political interests”, the BSP has termed the decision as an attempt to “legitimise anti-national activities of Hurriyat leaders”. “To reap political benefit, the Congress can go to any extent. Allowing Hurriyat leaders to meet Sartaz Aziz is another glaring example of appeasing anti-national forces,” said BJP state president Jugal Kishore Sharma. He asserted that the state unit of the BJP would expose the Congress for allegedly giving a free hand to separatist leaders of the Kashmir valley to preach secessionism and spew venom against India. “The meeting of Hurriyat leaders with Pakistani leaders would boost the morale of terrorists,” he said. The BJP leader regretted that instead of warning Pakistan against interfering in the internal affairs of India, the Union government was “encouraging” the neighbouring country to accomplish its nefarious designs. Questioning the credentials of Hurriyat leaders, BSP state president Tulsi Dass Langeh said the Union government was unnecessary giving importance to separatist leaders. “There is no issue like the Kashmir problem. Some forces which have been minting money in the name of the Kashmir problem want to keep this issue alive,” Langeh said. “The common masses
of Kashmir are not with Hurriyat leaders,” he said, adding that the meeting was not in the nation’s interest. Convener of the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) Varinder Gupta warned that the meeting between Hurriyat leaders and Sartaz Aziz would encourage terrorism in J&K. “This is
the result of the weak policies of the Union government that Pakistani officers dared to extend an invitation to those leaders who have been openly preaching secessionism,” Gupta said. |
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High Court quashes PSA detention of four persons
Srinagar, November 10 A Single Bench of Justice Mohammd Yaqoob Mir has quashed the detention under the Pubic Safety Act (PSA) of Abdul Gani Mir (41) of Damhal Hanjipora after allowing his habeas corpus petition. The PSA was slapped on Mir on September 25, 2006, however, it was not executed till 2008. Subsequent, the High Court stayed the detention order after Mir petitioned it. While quashing Mir’s PSA detention order, Justice Mir observed: “The order does not sustain in view of the facts of the case and law laid down by the Supreme Court.” “When authorities have not executed the order of detention for two years that would suggest that the detainee has not acted in any manner which would warrant preventive detention,” Justice Mir observed while quashing the orders of the PSA detention. In another case, the High Court also quashed the detention orders of Umar Sidiq Hakeem of Malaknag, Anantnag. Hakeem (28) was booked under the PSA on June 20, 2013. It was alleged by the authorities that his activities were pre-judicial to the security of the state and maintenance of public order. The court also quashed detention orders under the PSA against Khusheed Ahmad Lone of Matan Chowk, Anantnag, and Mohammad Younis Bhat of Hardpora, Kokernag. In another case, a Single Bench of Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps, in accordance with law, for deporting a Pakistan detainee, Saifullah, a resident of Gujrawala. Saifullah, 34, was detained under the PSA on June 26, 2013, for six months at Srinagar Central Jail or till the arrangements of his deportation from the state to his native country. “Period of sentence is already over. The authorities are duty-bound to deport the detainee to his native country,” the Bench said, adding, “Respondents are directed to take all necessary steps within the period of detention prescribed in the order.” |
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Leh shivers at below freezing point
Srinagar, November 10 In Kargil in the Ladakh region, the minimum temperature fell to - 6.0°C, the official said. Ladakh, whose main town is located 400 km north-east of Srinagar city, remains cut-off from the Kashmir valley and the rest of the state for most part of the winter due to the accumulation of snow at Zojila. The cold spell also hit the resorts and towns in the Valley as the mercury plunged several degrees below the freezing point. The mercury slipped to a low of 0°C in Srinagar city, marking the coldest night of the city in the season so far. The minimum temperature was two degrees below normal. The weather department forecast said the mercury was likely to plunge further in the city on Sunday night and may go below the freezing point. In north Kashmir’s Gulmarg resort, the mercury plummeted to a low of - 5.5°C, the official said. The Gulmarg resort received a spell of intermittent snowfall last week. In south Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort, the mercury overnight dropped to - 4.6°C, the official said. Qazigund town of south Kashmir and Kupwara town of north Kashmir saw the minimum temperature slipping a degree below the freezing point, the official said. |
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Valley’s second Tulip Garden to remain open the year round
Srinagar, November 10 “As the tulips bloom for only a month, we are trying to make the new garden which is coming up in Anantnag an all-weather one by cultivating different varieties of flowers like hyacinth and daffodils,” said in charge of Tulip Garden Javed Ahmad Shah. He said the fencing work at the garden, spread over 471 kanals, would start in March and it was likely to be thrown open in the spring of 2015. Floriculture Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed on Friday had said the Centre had already sanctioned Rs 22 crore for the development of Tulip Garden in Anantnag. Shah said the garden was being set up in south Kashmir due to favourable weather conditions in the area and also to boost the inflow of tourists there. Even though south Kashmir had got good tourist spots like Achabal, Verinag and Kokernag, tourists did not visit these areas in large numbers. “Once the Tulip Garden is set up, the entire south Kashmir will be majorly brought on the tourism map. We are hopeful that it will become as popular as Srinagar’s Tulip Garden and attract visitors all year long,” Shah added. The summer capital’s Tulip Garden this year attracted over 1.5 lakh visitors even though it remained open for just a month from March-end onwards. The garden has been credited with having extended the tourist season in the Valley given that the prime season usually started by April-end. Tourism to blossom
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on the frontline
The official whose ranking in the US administration’s hierarchy has not been disclosed by the news agencies that quoted him as saying: “I think if there is something that both countries (India and Pakistan) would want us to play (on Kashmir)…. It is something that we would be open to discussing and exploring; but we are not getting in the middle of this. This is for two of them to figure it out.” There is absolutely nothing new in such an offer. It is as old as the date when Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir in 1947. The only difference is that India today stands much stronger than it did in the 1940s or 1950s, when the Kashmir issue was propelled to the United Nations’ agenda. Actually, the American words are little different, but the essence of the content remains the same. Those who know Kashmir and the dynamics of Pakistan’s desperation in dragging the US into the Kashmir problem see nothing new in it. Pakistan itself is bleeding because terrorism is at its peak there. The only objective of Pakistan is that it wants to keep alive the issue at the international level in the hope that it would help it cover up its failures on the domestic front. This problem exists primarily because of Pakistan, and if the US has to play any role, it should do so by stopping the multi-billion dollar military aid to the country which is the “epicentre of terrorism”. Even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had mocked at those who said that “Kashmir is an integral part of India” on the floor of the legislative Assembly on October 6, 2010, too has been buffeted by the ground reality and recently declared in no uncertain terms that “Jammu and Kashmir is part of India”. Absolving himself of the charge that he had ever said that accession of Jammu and Kashmir was “conditional”, the Chief Minister further clarified that he had never questioned the accession. This is food for thought for the American official, Pakistan and the separatists that the elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir are not willing to listen to the antiquated sermons. Before looking towards the US for intervention, Kashmiri separatists need to do some self-introspection. Have they ever thought of transcending their small thinking, confined to parts of the Valley and to a particular sect? They are not even aware of the geography of Jammu and Kashmir. For them, the geographical boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir never go beyond the Valley, and their vision never travels beyond shutdowns and protest marches to one place or the other. Their role in inciting trouble was never in doubt. At the same time, Pakistan’s role should be scanned thoroughly in shifting the focus from its role of arming, training terrorists and sending them to Jammu and Kashmir to India-bashing. That terrorist training camps operate in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a well-known fact. Pakistan cannot hide that reality. The US should see that reality first. Pakistan is daydreaming, so are separatists.
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Hospitals, schools sans heating as temperatures plunge
Srinagar, November 10 Management officials at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital said there were strict orders from the state government to not make the central heating system at the hospital and Government Medical College-affiliated hospitals operational before November 15. Principals and headmasters of government schools in Kashmir have also been given clear instructions to not use heating gadgets (electric and coal stoves) in schools before November 15. “This has been the routine in the Valley for many years now. Due to limited funds and resources for supplying fuel, the heating arrangements in a majority of the public institutions are made available post November 15,” a source said. Director, Meteorological Department, Snow Lotus said the winter has set in early this year and that the first 10 days of November had been colder than the last year. “The temperatures have turned sub-zero in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other high-altitude areas of the Valley while Srinagar, too, has become extremely cold. In the Ladakh region as well, the day temperatures have remained below normal which points to an extreme winter this year,” Lotus said. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Ali Mohammad Sagar told The Tribune that the non-availability of heating systems at schools and hospitals especially was a concern under extremely cold temperatures. “The matter will be taken up with the heads of departments of various public institutions and the heating arrangements will be made available soon. This year, I agree the arrangements should have been ready early on,” Sagar said. |
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Rural Ministry wants state to conduct survey of job card-holders
Jammu, November 10 “The survey will elicit information on the seasonal demand for labour from each job card-holder in the gram panchayat. Expert institutions may be empanelled separately in the state to finalise the framework and methodology for the pilots for the baseline survey. Once the methodology is finalised, these institutions will train teams from each district to conduct the surveys”, the Ministry said in a statement. The Ministry stated that the State Rural Development Secretary and the District Programme Coordinators (DPCs) would ensure that the assessment of the Labour Budget and demand for work on the basis of the household survey should be done once in every five years. It made it clear that the Annual Labour Budgets for 2014-15 will be approved only when it is formulated on the basis of a survey of job card-holders. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) said the projects to be taken up as part of the Labour Budget should emerge from an integrated plan for local development with focus on natural resource management, especially on a micro-watershed basis, so that sustainable livelihoods were created. “In large village panchayats, consultations may be held with different stakeholders like self-help groups, small and marginal farmers, watershed committees and agricultural labourers so that their needs will be identified and prioritised. Special efforts should be taken to include the priorities suggested by the SCs and the STs. This could be facilitated by either the Cluster Facilitation Teams or a Task Force set up for the purpose, consisting of elected members of the village panchayat officials, experts, representatives of the civil society and community-based organisations as well as representatives of stakeholders,” the MoRD statement said. The Ministry suggested that the Cluster Facilitation Team/Task Force would, in partnership with the elected panchayat, prepare the development plan by matching the prioritised needs with the resources available. Those elements of the development plan which could be taken up would be noted separately as a shelf of projects to be included in the Labour Budget. |
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Congress also responsible for plight of panches: BSP
Jammu, November 10 Addressing a series of public meetings in the Nagrota Assembly segment, state president of the BSP Tulsi Dass Langeh regretted that instead of strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state, both Congress and National Conference were trying to befool the people. “The Congress is equally responsible for denying powers to the panchayats because the party is a part of the government and Omar Abdullah-led coalition government is surviving all due to the Congress support,” he said. He warned that the BSP would expose the double standards of the Congress before the people.
— TNS |
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Rs 7,000-crore package formulated for refugees
Jammu, November 10 Khan conveyed this to a delegation of refugees, who demanded quota in government jobs and
professional colleges, compensation against land deficiency as per the market value, conferring of ownership rights/tenancy rights on land allotted to the Chamb refugees and disposal of pending applications for compensation. The minister told the delegation that the issues had been brought to the notice of the state Congress chief Saifuddin Soz and it has been decided that a comprehensive package shall be prepared and submitted to the Centre with
the approval of the state Cabinet. Soz had called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and had requested a financial package which would help in the rehabilitation of the displaced persons and address their long-pending demand. The Congress had promised the refugees that it would get a Central package for their rehabilitation in the Jammu region. — PTI |
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There is no promise in the air. It’s only a rehash of tired American ideas stretching back decades that the United States is open to exploring any role on Kashmir. Many in the Valley have started jumping over this idea without reading the condition that an unnamed US official has put in “exploring the role” for his country in resolving the Kashmir issue provided both India and Pakistan should agree to such a proposition floated by Pakistan.