Beleaguered Revenue Minister Bukhari assures enquiry in Roshni scam

MLAs of NC, Congress, PDP and BJP demand retrieval of fraudulently grabbed State land; ask Minister why Government is concealing names of beneficiary politicians, officials

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Jun 18: Cutting across party lines, members of almost all the mainstream political parties---National Conference, Congress, PDP and BJP---on Saturday forced Minister of Revenue Syed Basharat Bukhari to assure Legislative Assembly that the Government would order an enquiry into fraudulent transfer of State lands to unauthorised occupants under the smokescreen of so-called Roshni Act.

While responding to a high-voltage debate over the question of NC MLA and former Speaker Mubarak Gul, a beleaguered Bukhari put up resistance for some time but finally said: “I assure the House that we will order an enquiry into it (Roshni scam)”.

Earlier, in his reply to the question, Bukhari revealed that 2,29,691 Kanals and 2 Marlas of state land had been transferred to 50,157 beneficiaries as per the Roshni Act in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that in Kashmir province 19,293 Kanals of the state land had been transferred among 10,328 beneficiaries. In Jammu province 2,10,398 Kanals of state land had been transferred among 39,829 beneficiaries.

Bukhari said that an amount of Rs 77,05,65,989 had been realised as cost of the land from the beneficiaries under the law. Of this Rs 54 crore had been collected in Kashmir and Rs 24 crore in Jammu.

During the course of his supplementary questions, Gul wanted to know whether the scheme was still in operation or it had been closed down in 2007 with its last extension. He also highlighted that influential people had grabbed thousands of Kanals of State land under Roshni scheme and managed to transfer it to their name by fraudulent means. While demanding a commission of enquiry, Gul and some other legislators asked for retrieval of the lands from illegal beneficiaries and stringent action against them as also the officials involved in the scandal.

Members of almost all the political parties joined the chorus and demanded an enquiry and retrieval of the fraudulently transferred lands. BJP’s Rajiv Jasrotia alleged that huge bungling in transfer of land to beneficiaries, especially politicians and bureaucrats, had taken place. Articulating the demand of enquiry, Jasrotia reminded the House that the Government had committed to collect Rs 25,000 crore as cost of the transferred land from the beneficiaries so as to create power plants and generate uninterrupted electricity for the State. He pointed out that only a meagre amount of Rs 77 crore had been realised and the scheme’s basic purpose had been defeated. “It has proved to be a big fraud. Will the Government revoke all transfer orders and retrieve the land from the beneficiaries? Why doesn’t the Minister name the politicians and bureaucrats who have unfairly benefitted from this scheme?”, Jasrotia asked.

PDP’s MLA and former Minister Mohammad Ashraf Mir too joined the chorus and demanded constitution of a commission of enquiry. While asserting that the Government was shielding the beneficiaries and the Minister had not named them as demanded in NC MLA’s question, Mir asked why the answer about Srinagar Municipality had been given but the same concealed about Jammu Municipality.

 Replying to the allegations, the Minister admitted that Roshni scheme was introduced to generate revenue of Rs 25,000 crore for the state. “I was then working in Radio Kashmir when it was said that it will generate a revenue of Rs 25,000 crore and help the state to start new power projects in the state”, Bukhari said. He said that a PIL on this issue was under consideration of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He sought suggestions from members for churning out corrective measures.

“Mein abhi andheri mein hoon, Roshni ki taraf nahi aaya hoon”. (I am fresh with this portfolio and have not touched the Roshni scheme yet). It will take me some time to understand it and formulate necessary remedial measures”, Bukhari pleaded. However the members refused to relent. Finally the Minister obliged them with his assurance that the Government would order an enquiry into the Roshni scam.

Minister revealed that Jammu and Kashmir Land Records Management Agency, a nodal agency of revenue department had outsourced the activities of the project, modernization of land records in the state including digitization of revenue records in a phased manner.

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For word ‘BOMB’ on their bag, 2 Kashmiri girls detained at IGI Airport in New Delhi

Both MBBS students of Bangladesh college let off, putting up at J&K House for night, reaching Srinagar on Saturday morning

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, June 17: Security authorities at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Friday detained two Kashmiri girls, Huzefa Mushtaq of Kursoo Rajbagh and Naqshab Ashraf of Shaheed Gunj Srinagar, who were returning from Dhaka to Srinagar via Kolkata.

Family members of the two girls told STATE TIMES that Huzefa and Naqshab, who are MBBS students with Bangladesh Medical College Dhaka, left for India last night. Their flight took off at Dhaka airport at 9.30 pm. Traveling with five other Kashmiri female students of MBBS, Huzefa and Naqshab reached Kolkata at 11.30 p.m. and stayed at the airport for the night as they had not exit for person or luggage.

At 6.30 a.m. on Friday, all seven Kashmiri girls boarded Go Air flight at Kolkata and reached IGI Airport New Delhi around 8.30 a.m. On their landing at IGI Airport where they had to catch connecting Go Air flight for Srinagar at 3.30 p.m. Huzefa and Naqshab were detained by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as some passengers pointed out to the security that the word ‘BOMB’ was labelled on their bag.

Both the girls were subjected to thorough questioning and detained for a long time by Delhi Police, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and intelligence agencies. Five other Kashmiri girls were let off. However, they protested the manner of detention and questioning on flimsy ground and asked the officials who the fool on earth would carry a bomb with the label of ‘BOMB’ on the luggage. As Huzefa and Naqshab were not released for two hours, five Kashmiri girls refused to leave the airport. Thereupon, Huzefa and Naqshab urged them to leave for Srinagar so that their parents could learn about their detention and take up the matter with the State government.

On their arrival in Srinagar, the five girls called the parents of Huzefa and Naqshab and narrated the whole story. Huzefa’s father told STATE TIMES that he and Naqshab’s family members met SSP Airprt Srinagar Manzoor Dalal and Go Air Manager Aamir Meraj and sought their help but both expressed helplessness. They maintained till late in the night that they had no knowledge about the safety and whereabouts of their daughters who had not called any of the family members by telephone.

It was late in the night that officials of CID Cell in New Delhi called STATE TIMES and informed that both the girls had been traced. Both had gone out of the airport but returned to stay at the airport for a night in order to board Srinagar-bound Go Air flight at 5.45 a.m. Saturday.

“We went to the airport and got them back. They are now staying comfortably at J&K House Chanakyapuri. We will escort them to airport where they will be boarding Go Air flight for Srinagar at 5.45 a.m. tomorrow. We also arranged their telephonic conversation with their parents”, said a senior CID Cell official in New Delhi.

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Anantnag poised for history’s lowest turnout Assembly election

Lukewarm Congress may send Raj Babbar, Azharuddin for campaigning; Mehbooba planning first rally today

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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ANANTNAG, June 17: With just three days of campaigning left in Anantnag, where Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the by-election to become a member of Legislative Assembly, National Conference acting President Omar Abdullah broke the ice on Thursday while holding his party’s first rallies in Kehribal and Krangsu. In sharp contrast to the enthusiastic election scene in 2014, n0 political party or a contesting candidate has been able to hold a 1,000-strong rally here in the last three weeks of insipid campaigning.

In addition to winning Lok Sabha elections from South Kashmir in 2004 and 2014, both times defeating NC’s Dr Mehboob Beg who is now PDP’s chief spokesperson, Mehbooba has become MLA three times in her 20-year-long political career---from Bijbehara, Pahalgam and Wachi. She is now contesting her first Assembly election from Anantnag, vacated in January this year with the death of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Last week, Mehbooba held a whirlwind tour of 18 villages in the constituency. According to the official figures 50 to 200 people gathered at different spots on the road to listen to her. It was her first appearance for canvassing. Sources close to her revealed to STATE TIMES that Ms Mufti would hold a major rally at a local stadium on June 18th.

Not that PDP has left the field vacant. The party stalwarts---Mehbooba’s maternal uncle Sartaj Madni and Minister of R&B Abdul Rehman Veeri, whose attendance in the Assembly’s current session has been minimal---have been holding the fort. Minister of Law Abdul Haq Khan and Minister of Finance Haseeb Drabu visited twice each to boost the campaign. PDP Youth Wing president Waheed-ur-Rehman Para too has been camping here since last fortnight.

“Most of the people are busy with paddy plantation. Besides, these are the days of Ramzan when people attend their religious duties more than politics. Two militant attacks at Bijbehara and Anantnag on June 3rd and 4th have also caused some fear. That’s why we have decided to just carry on just a door-to-door campaigning. We call local representatives and men of influence and explain to them why Mehboobaji’s victory is significant not only for PDP and Islamabad but also for the whole State”, said a senior PDP leader. According to him, it was going to be a “cakewalk victory” for the Chief Minister.

Insiders though are not satisfied with the way of Mehbooba’s campaigning. They narrated how late Mufti Sayeed would maintain an amazing rapport with the workers and frequently call 62 select men to seek their opinion and keep them charged for the party activity. “Madam’s liaison with the party workers has been remarkably limited after her father’s death”, said a local PDP leader, wishing to be anonymous.

NC has entrusted the campaign to a team of leaders that includes former Minister Sakeena Itoo, Kashmir Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, MLC Dr Bashir Veeri, MLAs Altaf Kaloo and Abdul Majid Larmi besides a local leader Dr Rafeeq Kochak and the candidate Iftikhar Hassan Misgar. They too are running a “door-to-door campaign”. NC’s biggest propaganda against PDP is that it “ditched” the people who had given it mandate in 2014 to keep BJP-RSS combine away from power. NC’s leaders play it up that PDP had formed the Government in coalition with RSS-backed BJP and that it was “furthering the Hindutva outfits’ communal and divisive agenda”.

“People of Anantnag are politically mature. They know that voting for PDP is voting for BJP, RSS and VHP. Had PDP not become a bedfellow of BJP and RSS, it had no match in Anantnag”, journalist Maqbool Veeray said.

Both, NC as well as Congress, have started alleging that Chief Minister was using her official machinery to ensure her victory. In Assembly, Congress leader Nawang Rigzin Jora yesterday complained that excess cash of Ashajipora branch of J&K Bank and treasury worth Rs 58 lakh had been seized by Police. He alleged that it was part of the money to be used for buying the voters.

Government clarified that it was routine transition of excess cash from a branch to the District Treasury and that Returning Officer had examined the complaint, found it baseless and released the amount in favour of the District Treasury. Another major allegation from NC and Congress is that SSP Anantnag has kept around 1500 SPOs in civvies ready and they would be used for bogus voting in the low-turnout areas. Officials dismiss it as a routine election time allegation.

Official figures claim that just around 900 people attended Omar’s rally at Ranbirpora (Kehribal) and 800 at Krangsu. However, NC leaders insist that over 2,000 was the gathering at each place.

Even as nobody, not even the J&K stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad, would come from AICC headquarters to add some colour to the insipid campaigning, well-placed political sources revealed to this newspaper that Congress high command could depute Bollywood actor Raj Babbar and cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin to address a rally in Anantnag on the last day of campaigning on June 20th.

In the low-turnout election, Mehbooba is facing considerable threat from Hilal Ahmad Shah of Congress, who secured around 11,000 votes against late Mufti’s 16,000 in 2014.  However, factional rivalry within Congress today could prove to be a big advantage for Mehbooba.

An Azad loyalist Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, who contested on Congress ticket in 2008, is known to be canvassing against the official candidate. There are similar credible reports about District Kulgam President Inayatullah Rather, senior Congress leader one-time J&K Prime Minister Shams-ud-din’s brother, advocate Abdul Majid Khateeb, District General Secretary Ghulam Mohiuddin Rishi, MLA Mohammad Amin Bhat and some others who are overtly and covertly campaigning against their own party candidate. None of them has an issue with the candidate Hilal Shah but in their belief Shah’s victory would strengthen J&K Pradesh Congress Committee President Ghulam Ahmad Mir’s influence. To cut him to size, almost all these Azad loyalists are working silently for the PDP candidate.

Mr Azad, according to some insiders, has obliged Ms Mufti by staying away from campaigning. Some of them insisted that in exchange for that favour, Ms Mufti would appoint Azad’s favourite Dr Abdul Gani Ahangar (former Head of CVTS Department and presently Director of a hospital in Meghalaya) as Director of prestigious Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura in the next few days. “At least between Mehbooba and Azad, there’s an understanding”, said a professor of Political Science.

Officially, Congress has divided the constituency into eight zones and different leaders and legislators, including MLA Kargil Asgar Ali Karbalayi, have been allotted each zone for campaigning. On Friday, Hilal Shah himself was absent from the constituency. His activists said that he had gone to Jammu for canvassing and a meeting with the migrant Kashmiri Pandits.

There are strong indications that this would be the lowest turnout election in Anantnag---an incontrovertible evidence of the Kashmiris’ disapproval of PDP’s alliance with BJP.

END

Omar breaks the ice with first election rally in Anantnag

Lukewarm Congress may send Raj Babbar, Azharuddin for campaigning; Mehbooba planning first rally on June 18

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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ANANTNAG, June 16: With just four days of campaigning left in Anantnag, where Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the by-election to become a member of Legislative Assembly, National Conference acting President Omar Abdullah broke the ice on Thursday while holding his party’s first rallies in Kehribal and Krangsu. No political party or a contesting candidate has held a rally here since the day by-elections were announced last month.

In addition to winning the Lok Sabha elections from South Kashmir in 2004 and 2014, both times defeating NC’s Dr Mehboob Beg who is now PDP’s chief spokesperson, Mehbooba has become MLA three times in her 20-year-long political career---from Bijbehara, Pahalgam and Wachi. She is now contesting her first Assembly election from Anantnag, vacated by the death of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January this year.

Last week, Mehbooba held a whirlwind tour of 18 villages in the constituency. According to the official figures 50 to 200 people gathered at different spots on the road to listen to her. It was her first appearance for canvassing. Sources close to her revealed to STATE TIMES that Ms Mufti would hold a major rally at a local stadium on June 18th.

Not that PDP has left the field vacant. The party stalwarts, Mehbooba’s maternal uncle Sartaj Madni and Minister of R&B Abdul Rehman Veeri, whose attendance in the Assembly’s current session has been minimal, have been holding the fort. Minister of Law Abdul Haq Khan and Minister of Finance Haseeb Drabu came here twice to boost the campaign. PDP Youth Wing president Waheed-ur-Rehman Para too has been camping here since last fortnight.

“Most of the people are busy with paddy plantation. Besides, these are the days of Ramzan when people attend their religious duties more than politics. Two militant attacks at Bijbehara and Anantnag on June 3rd and 4th have also caused some fear. That’s why we have decided to just carry on our door-to-door campaigning. We call local representatives and men of influence and explain to them why Mehboobaji’s victory is significant not only for PDP and Anantnag but also for the whole State”, said a senior PDP leader. According to him, it was going to be a “cakewalk victory” for the Chief Minister.

Insiders though are not satisfied with the way of Mehbooba’s campaigning. They narrated how late Mufti Sayeed would hold an amazing rapport and call frequently 62 select men to seek their opinion and keep them charged for the party activity. “Madam’s liaison with the party workers has been remarkably limited after her father’s death”, said a local PDP leader, wishing to be anonymous.

NC has entrusted the campaign to a team of leaders which includes former Minister Sakeena Itoo, Kashmir Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, MLC Dr Bashir Veeri, MLAs Altaf Kaloo and Abdul Majid Larmi besides a local NC leader Dr Rafeeq Kochak and the candidate Iftikhar Hassan Misgar. They too are running a “door-to-door campaign”. NC’s biggest propaganda against PDP is that it “ditched” the people who had given it mandate in 2014 to keep BJP-RSS combine away from power. NC’s leaders play it up that PDP had formed the Government in coalition with RSS-backed BJP and that it was “furthering the Hindutva outfits’ communal and divisive agenda”.

“People of Anantnag are politically mature. They know that voting for PDP is voting for BJP, RSS and VHP. Had PDP not been part and parcel of BJP and RSS, it had no match in Anantnag as our candidate was a non-entity. Both, NC as well as Congress, have started alleging that Chief Minister was using her official machinery to ensure her victory. In Assembly, Congress leader Nawang Rigzin Jora today complained that excess cash of Ashajipora branch of J&K Bank and treasury worth Rs 58 lakh had been seized by Police. He alleged that it was part of the money to be used for changing the result in favour of PDP.

Government clarified that it was routine transition of excess cash from a branch to the District Treasury and that Returning Officer had examined the complaint, found it baseless and released the amount in favour of the District Treasury. Another major allegation from NC and Congress is that SSP Anantnag has kept around 1500 SPOs in civvies ready and they would be used for bogus voting in the low-turnout areas. Officials dismiss it as a routine election time allegation.

Official figures said that 900 people attended Omar’s rally at Ranbirpora (Kehribal) and 800 at Krangsu. However, NC leaders insist that over 2,000 was the gathering at each place.

Even as nobody, not even the J&K stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad, would come from AICC headquarters to add some colour to the insipid campaigning, well-placed political sources revealed to this newspaper that Congress high command could depute Bollywood actor Raj Babbar and cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin to address a rally in Anantnag on June 20th.

In the low-turnout election, Mehbooba is facing a considerable threat from Hilal Ahmad Shah of Congress, who secured around 11,000 votes against late Mufti’s 16,000 in 2014.  However, factional rivalry within Congress could prove to be the biggest advantage for Mehbooba.

 An Azad loyalist Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, who contested on Congress ticket in 2008, is known to be canvassing against the official candidate. There are similar credible reports about District Kulgam President Inayatullah Rather, senior Congress leader and brother of one-time Prime Minister of J&K Shams-ud-din, Advocate Abdul Majid Khateeb, District General Secretary Ghulam Mohiuddin Rishi, MLA Mohammad Amin Bhat and some others who are overtly and covertly campaigning against their own party candidate. None of them reportedly has an issue with the candidate Hilal Ahmad Shah. All these rebels are working silently for the PDP candidate. 

Sources said that a number of Congress bigwigs have joined hands to ensure defeat of Shah as it would come as the biggest setback for Ghulam Ahmad Mir, President JKPCC. “Hilal is Mr nobody. If he wins it will be feather in the cap of Ghulam Ahmad Mir. On the other hand, if he loses, it would be a jolt for Mir who could be forced to step down and clear the field for some other leader as JKPCC chief”, said a middle-rung Congress leader.

END

Slain PSO’s AK-47 recovered from Tanvir’s luggage at Kud

Bemina youth was on Police radar since May 23

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Jun 13: Even as his family members and neighbourers in Ibrahim Colony of Bemina maintained that he had ceased to be a militant on his release from jail in 2005, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have recovered same AK-47 rifle from Tanvir Sultan’s luggage after the shootout in a bus at Kud on Monday which had been snatched away from Constable Mohammad Sadiq Sheikh of JKAP 11th battalion (Security) when he was gunned down by an unidentified militant at Tengpora, Batmaloo, in Srinagar on May 23.

On May 23, militants had struck in a big way, killing three Police personnel in two broad daylight attacks in the summer capital. Within an hour of striking at Zadibal, where one ASI and one constable were shot dead, militants had killed Constable Sadiq, the personal security officer of a protected person of Handwara at Tengpora. They had decamped with his AK-47 rifle. Recovery of the same assault rifle from Tanvir Sultan’s luggage has prompted Police and security agencies to scan his activities afresh.

Highly placed authoritative sources, who spoke to STATE TIMES, confirmed that the same AK-47 was recovered today from Tanvir’s belongings in the Jammu-bound SRTC bus.

“We are investigating whether Tanvir himself was involved in the killing of three or one Police official on May 23 or some other militants had carried out the assassinations and subsequently passed on Constable Sadiq’s rifle to Tanvir”, said a top official. He said Police have learned that Tanvir’s cellphone was permanently switched off since May 22 evening. This is an indication that Tanvir was on the radar of Police since the killing of three Police personnel in Srinagar on May 23. This also indicates that some agency could have tracked his passage from Srinagar to Jammu and asked CRPF to intercept his bus somewhere on the highway and go for physical frisking or arrest.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that Tanvir had been found involved in two fidayeen attacks and arrested in 2002. He had been released in 2005. Previously, his elder brother Gowhar, who was a prominent commander with Hizbul Mujahideen, had got killed in an encounter with security forces. He was buried in the ‘martyrs graveyard’ of Batmaloo. Originally residents of Batmaloo, Tanvir and his family had subsequently shifted residence to Ibrahim Colony, Bemina.

Residents said that Tanvir’s father, a retired government employee, had seven sons. After Gowhar, his second son was killed in the shootout at Kud today.

Tanvir’s brothers and neighbourers refused the official version that he was an armed militant who got killed in an encounter at Kud. They claimed that after 2005, he had no connection with militants or militancy. According to them, he had undergone some treatment to his shoulder in Amritsar some time back and today he was travelling to the same hospital for follow up examination. They also claimed that when Tanvir was in Amritsar, Police had enquired about him and asked the family to produce him on his return earlier this year. When he returned, the family called the Police but were told that he was not wanted.

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J&K Congress chief confident of Hilal’s victory, says Anantnag is not a fixed match

Mehbooba kick-starts campaign with a series of road shows; seeks vote for development, governance

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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ANANTNAG, Jun 12: Unprecedented enthusiasm among the electorate that marked the Assembly elections in 2014 is altogether missing. By Saturday afternoon, Anantnag did not appear to be a constituency going to polls in 10 days. On June 22, PDP’s President, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s political successor and Lok Sabha member from South Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti will be seeking peoples’ mandate to her Chief Ministership and PDP’s coalition with BJP---the party she assailed the most in 2014. Having assumed office on April 4, two months after her father’s death on January 7, the 56-year-old maverick is supposed to be elected to Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council within six months.

In the last 20 years of her political career, Mehbooba has been returned three times as MLA and two times as a member of Lok Sabha. She has not lost an election. Six of her rivals in the fray today, including National Conference candidate Iftikhar Hassan Misgar, have just insignificant political profile. The only challenge comes from a novice Hilal Ahmad Shah who secured a surprising 11,000 votes against late Mufti’s 16,000 in 2014. He has been repeated by the Congress.

Officials as well as residents insisted that no political party has been able to hold a rally for any candidate since the elections were announced last month. Two militant strikes in Bijbehara and Anantnag on June 3 and 4, which left three BSF men and two J&K Police personnel dead, are thought to be the biggest dampener. Residents insist that there are other factors as well.

“They are holding this election with no application of mind”, said teacher Ghulam Rasool Mir at Harnag. “First they announced the elections without knowledge of the state government. In a couple of days, Chief Secretary and DGP rushed to Delhi and convinced Election Commission of India that the elections were not possible in Anantnag due to a hostile atmosphere. Election announcement was withdrawn. Suddenly, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah challenged the cancellation. Then ECI announced the election afresh. Holding election in the month of Ramzan, parallel to the Assembly’s Budget session proceedings and the season of plantation of the paddy seedlings is in no way justified. Even the date of polling had been fixed as June 19---assassination anniversary of the Mirwaiz of South Kashmir Qazi Nisar Ahmad. It was later changed to June 22”, Mir elaborated.

With most of the voters having lost their interest in the Indian elections after the bitter rivals PDP and BJP cobbled a coalition in total reversal of their 2014-slogans, Anantnag is calm and composed.  The polling being just 10 days away, Mehbooba wended her way through the constituency. She addressed motley wayside gatherings at KP Chowk, Batpora, Seepan, Mirgund, Chhee, Anchidora, Pragashpora, Anzwala, Wantarang, Kehribal, Shalpora, Rampora, Puhru, Mattan Adda, Achabal Adda, Baginder, Mirdantar, Hajidantar, Poshwara, Muniward and Takia Bal.

Until the other day, a remembrance meeting at Sarnal, residence of PDP’s chief spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beg on outskirts of Anantnag town, appeared to be the only evidence of mainstream political presence. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief and former Tourism Minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir chose the same neighbourhood for what he calls the first election rally. It was no match to the rallies of Congress and PDP witnessed here in 2014.

While speaking to STATE TIMES, Mir sought to dispel the impression that the by-election in Anantnag was a “fixed match” only to complete the formality of the Chief Minister’s election as a member of Legislative Assembly. “Even in 2014, electioneering picked up here towards the end. That time too, it was Congress that broke the ice. Today also, we alone have carried out door-to-door campaign in several areas. Next week, we are planning to hold massive rallies”, Mir asserted. He, as well as the party’s candidate, Hilal Shah, sounded confident of a victory “if the Government lets this election happen cleanly and without interventions of the official machinery”.

Mir alleged that the PDP and its Government had mobilised “entire official machinery” to influence the voters. According to them hundreds of works are currently going on in Anantnag segment in total violation of the moral code of conduct. “Seventy percent of these works are without tenders and proper allotment. JCBs and macadam engines are at work at several places even as no work is going on in other constituencies all over the Valley. But we are not complaining against it as we do not want the voters to lose this dose of special development”, Mir said.

“The voters in Anantnag are very sensitive and conscious. Even those who may like to vote for Mehboobaji’s development and governance promises would not vote for her this time as they know it will be their vote for BJP and RSS which are not acceptable to anybody in Kashmir”, Mir added. He said he and Hilal Shah were finding it far easier than in 2014 to convince the voters today with the advantage of PDP’s coalition and pre-poll alliance with RSS-backed BJP. “In 2014, it was a completely different situation. Mehbooba Ji and Mufti Sahab were seeking vote only to keep BJP and RSS away from grabbing power in J&K. Poor attendance in late Mufti’s funeral was the first evidence of the peoples’ disapproval to PDP’s  cheating with the voters and forging a coalition with BJP and RSS”, he argued.

“Yes, they have the advantage of holding the Government today. That time, voters did not know who would become Chief Minister and which would be the ruling party. Today, the Government is with them and she is the Chief Minister”, Mir added.

END

4 cops injured in month’s third militant attack in South Kashmir

Trail of blood near Qazigund indicates that one militant was also hit

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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ANANTNAG, Jun 12: In the third daredevil militant strike in South Kashmir this month, four officials of Kulgam District Police sustained injuries on Sunday in Qazigund area, close to Srinagar-Jammu highway.

Deputy Inspector General of Police in South Kashmir, Nitish Kumar, told STATE TIMES that at least two militants in ambush near Bonigam, each carrying AK-47 rifle, attacked a Tata-Sumo vehicle of Kulgam Police Station at 6.10 pm when the Police party was on way to a spot for an investigation. A head constable and three constables sustained injuries. Police retaliated and forced the militants to retreat.

DIG said that two of the critically injured personnel were evacuated and admitted to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar for treatment. He said that all the four injured were stable and out of danger late tonight.

Residents said that the militants did not straightaway attack the Police party. According to them, the militants signalled the driver to stop and attempted to snatch away the AK-47 rifles from two constables. As they met some resistance, the militants opened fire. Even as two Policemen were critically injured and the militants attempted to take away their guns, one of the injured constables put up sustained resistance. He straightaway targeted the militants who were forced to escape. One of them could be possibly injured.

SSP Kulgam Mohammad Irshad said that at least two militants, armed with AK-47 rifles, attacked the Police party when it was returning to Qazigund from a routine investigation. Head Constable Manzoor and selection grade constable Altaf sustained multiple bullet injuries. Constables Mohammad Yaqoob and Manzoor Ahmad received minor injuries as they jumped out and took positions. The militants failed to snatch away the rifles of the injured constables.

Trail of blood from the spot towards a locality indicated that one militant got hit in the encounter. SSP said that Police and security forces launched a massive search operation to arrest or eliminate the militants involved in Sunday’s guerrilla attack on the Police party.

Even as no militant outfit claimed Sunday’s guerrilla strike till late, SSP Kulgam claimed to be in possession of evidences suggesting that a group of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba militants carried out the attack on the Police party.

Earlier this month, unidentified militants attacked a BSF convoy at Bijbehara, on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on June 3. Three BSF men were killed in the ambush. Next day, on June 4, unidentified militants attacked a Police party near General Bus Stand at KP Road in Anantnag. Two Policemen, including an ASI, were killed.

END

BJP MLCs raise uproar over ban on Abhinav Gupt yatra, sit calm over Dy CM's signal

Ajatshatru says Govt is spending 100 crore a year over separatists' luxuries, has no PSOs, vehicles for MLCs

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, June 10: The ruling BJP's members in Legislative Council on Friday raised an uproar over the senior PDP leader and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar's statement that the government would not permit any pilgrimage to Abhinav Gupt caves situated on a hillock in Beerwah township of Budgam district in Central Kashmir. They, however, sat calm as soon as the senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh signalled them to stop even as he did not subsequently respond to the BJP MLC Ajatshatru Singh's allegation the state government was spending a whopping Rs 100 crore a year over the luxuries and security of the separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.

With the beginning of the Question Hour in the Upper House, BJP MLCs Romesh Arora, Ashok Khajuria, Vibodh Gupta raised a pandemonium over what they called "state's interference in the religious matters of a community under the pressure of the Kashmiri separatists". They demanded revocation of the "ban" on the proposed yatra.

A New Delhi based organization, Acharya Abhinav Gupt Sheshadri Samroh Samiti, has announced to conduct the first pilgrimage to the caves in the second week of June.

An amalgam of different organizations headed by the founder of Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shanker, the Samiti had said it will conduct the yatra to fulfil the spiritual aspiration.

However, much on the expected lines, the Samiti's plan evoked sharp reactions from the Kashmiri separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Asiya Andrabi and Nayeem Khan as they invariably dismissed it as part of religious and cultural aggression by the Hindu foundations supported by the BJP-RSS combine. Geelani referred to a ruling of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, claiming that there was no religious or historical significance to the caves in Beerwah.

The separatists as well as the militants have declared that they would not allow the yatra in any circumstances. Subsequently, the government spokesperson Naeem Akhtar made it clear that the PDP-BJP government, led by Mehbooba Mufti, would not permit the yatra. He asserted that the government had not received any application, seeking permission or security to the Abhinav Gupt pilgrimage.

Scenes of at least one Bollywood blockbuster had been filmed at the caves in 1980s.

“Banning Abhinav Gupt yatra is like banning Baba Nund Reshi,” BJP MLC Romesh Arora contended in the Upper House. He and other MLCs of BJP charged the government with "succumbing to the separatists’ pressure".

“In a secular state you cannot ban religious activities. Government should immediately revoke the ban and allow the yatra,” BJP MLC Ashok Khajuria asserted. MLC Vibodh Gupta said the Abhinav Gupt cave is a “sacred place” for Hindu’s and the government cannot disallow devotees from visiting it. “History is witness that this cave is mentioned in the religious scriptures,” Gupta said.

Deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh, who was present in the House, signalled his party colleagues to calm down and take their seats. They responded to him obediently.

Meanwhile Minister of Tourism in Farooq Abdullah's government in 1996-2002 and now BJP MLC, Ajatshatru Singh, lamented in Zero Hour that the state government was not providing necessary security and vehicles to the MLCs even as, according to him, it was spending an amount of Rs 100 crore of the taxpayers' money every year on the protection and luxuries of the separatist leaders. He claimed that a whopping amount of Rs 500 crore had been spent on the separatist leaders in the last five years.

Ajatshatru claimed that as many as 950 Policemen had been deployed for the security of the separatist leaders even as no PSOs were being provided on repeatedly made requests and requisitions of the MLCs. None of the Ministers, either of PDP or of BJP chose to respond to Ajatshatru Singh.

END

Top commander says militants have no plan to target Amarnath yatra

Warns attacks on Sainik colonies, Pandit camps, 'anti-Kashmiri' Police officials; asks people to fail Army operations with stone pelting 

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
________

SRINAGAR, June 7: Hizbul Mujahideen's top operational commander in Kashmir valley, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, has claimed in a video released by his organisation on Tuesday that the militants fighting the security forces and Police had "absolutely no plans" to target the annual Amarnath pilgrimage being conducted in the months of July and August every year.

"Some BSF officer has, of late, said that the militants were planning to target Amarnath yatra. Let it be clear to all that the militants have absolutely no such plan. Devout Hindus do come here every year to perform their religious rituals and practices. We have got nothing to do with it", Burhan says in Urdu while addressing the Kashmiris in the video of about six minutes of duration shot with a cellphone camera at one of his hideouts. He has two telescopic guns in the background on either side.

Alone in the frame, facing the camera and sporting a modestly trimmed beard, 25-year-old Burhan Wani of Tral, who has grown as an icon for the youths in South Kashmir in 2015-16, however, warns attacks on the proposed Sainik colonies, transit camps of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits besides security forces and Police.

"If the proposed Sainik colonies come up, we will definitely attack them because this is our land and we will not allow any military constructions on it. As regards the Pandits, we have no objection if they return and live in their own villages and houses. But these Israeli-type settlements would not be acceptable. We will strike on them", Burhan adds.

In the beginning of his unusual statement, Burhan calls Jammu and Kashmir Police as "our brothers" but complains that India had pitted the militants and the State Police against each other. "This is all an Indian machination that our own Police brothers are dying at our hands. But unfortunately these people don't understand. They don't budge an inch. They, in fact, continue their actions against the militants and their own people. We will strike on them in retaliation", Burhan says.

"In last year's video, we had warned the Police against striking on the militants and harassing the Kashmiri youths. But now, we won't issue any warning. We will straightaway strike on anyone helping the Indian troops", says the top wanted guerrilla commander while emphasising that the militants' "real fight" is against India.

Burhan asks the youths aspiring to join his organisation to collect complete details about the activities of the Police officers and officials in their respective areas and pass it to the militants so as to sort out the Policemen working against the militants.

"People should stay away from camps besides Police and Army officers because we can attack them anywhere, anytime. However, those loving their life should perform their duty at Police stations and camps. They should not lay nakas. They should not act against the youths or the militants. Whosoever does it, will be himself responsible for his death", Burhan goes on to warn the Police.

While urging the Police to be on the side of the militants, Burhan also implores the Kashmiris that they should herd out the security forces from their localities with stone pelting wherever the troops launch an operation. He expresses gratitude to the Kashmiris for "helping and protecting the militants and providing them support and shelter". He says that one of his colleagues, Tariq Pandit of Kareemabad Pulwama, had got some militants arrested and some hideouts exposed after he was arrested by Army. "But it does not bother us much as every Kashmiri household is our hideout".

Burhan also complains against the media with his allegation that it would report only what India dictated to it. "Recently, India in Kupwara froze all the (Internet) networking to hide some incidents and killings. We can also completely choke it as media calls the militants as terrorists. Everybody here knows that the Indian troops alone are the terrorists and we are not", says Burhan.

END

[Published in today's STATE TIMES]