Five BJP MLAs write to Speaker: “Treat our resignations as withdrawn”

Gadkari may ask Manhas to initiate dismissal of defaulters in Assembly

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 21: Fearing dismissal under anti-defection law in the state Assembly, five of the seven BJP MLAs, accused of voting for the ruling coalition candidates in recent elections for Legislative Council, have petitioned Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to treat their resignations as “withdrawn”. Even as Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and Prof Garu Ram are still unfazed, political sources in New Delhi insist that the BJP President Nitin Gadkari was likely to ask Jammu & Kashmir head of his party to approach the Speaker for dismissal of all the seven MLAs.

Informed sources revealed to Early Times that five of the opposition BJP MLAs, namely Jagdish Raj Sapolia, Master Lal Chand, Baldev Raj Sharma, Durga Das and Bharat Bhushan, today approached Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone one after another with identical applications. The applicants have invariably requested the Speaker to treat their resignations letters as “withdrawn”.

In the wake of allegations of cross-voting against seven BJP legislators, the party high command had last week obtained resignation letters from all the eleven MLAs and initiated an inquiry into violation of the party whip by seven particular members. All the 11 MLAs of the party had subsequently handed over their resignations to General Secretary incharge J&K, O P Kohli.

According to sources, five of the BJP MLAs have written to the Speaker that the party high command had sought their resignation letters for investigation into the alleged cross-voting. They have asserted that the inquiry was underway but claimed emphatically that they had not violated the party whip and indulged in the cross-voting. In an attempt of pre-empting disqualification proceedings against them under the state anti-defection law, these MLAs have claimed that charges of cross-voting and violation of the party whip have not been proved against them.

Speaker, Mohammad Akbar Lone, confirmed to Early Times that he had received identical applications from five MLAs of BJP whose submission was that their resignation letters, which they have handed over to the party high command, may not be acted upon. According to him, five MLAs of the party have submitted that their resignation letters, as and when delivered for any action, be treated as withdrawn.

Mr Lone identified the five applicants as MLA Basohli, Jagdish Raj Sapolia, MLA Banni, Master Lal Chand, MLA Reasi, Baldev Raj Sharma, MLA Hiranagar, Durga Das and MLA Domana, Bharat Bushan. He, however, clarified that the Assembly Secretariat had not received any letter from the BJP or any of the MLAs’ resignation for any action under rules, till late tonight. Nevertheless, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta had been immediately removed as the BJP Legislature Party chief and replaced by MLA Nagrota, Jugal Kishore.

Seven MLAs, including both the Professors, have been placed under suspension and served show-cause notices on account of voting for the ruling NC-Congress coalition against huge bribes by the state government. After being interrogated by the party command on April 19^th and 20^th in New Delhi and on the basis of a report submitted by three senior party leaders, namely Jagat Prakash Nadda, O P Kohli, (national General Secretaries), and R P Singh, who had visited Jammu on April 14^th, the legislators in the dock are fearing dismissal of membership in J&K Assembly under the state’s anti-defection law.

Party’s chief whip in Assembly and MLA Jammu East Ashok Khajuria, MLA Nagrota Jugal Kishore, MLA Marh Choudhary Sukhnandan and MLA Suchetgarh Sham Choudhary, are understood to have been given a clean chit by the party high command. BJP candidate had polled only four votes of these MLAs in the election for two seats of Legislative Council on April 13^th, though chief whip Ashok Khajuria had directed all the MLAs of the party to vote for the party candidate. During the counting process, it became clear that four MLAs of BJP had voted for the Congress candidate Yashpal Khajuria and three more for the NC candidate Master Noor Hussain.

Sources said that the five MLAs had approached the Speaker after learning from New Delhi that the party chief and BJP’s head of the Parliamentary Board, Nitin Gadkari, was likey to ask J&K BJP unit President, Shamsher Singh Manhas, on Monday next to proceed against the defaulters with an exemplary disciplinary action. According to reports, Manhas would be directed to seek disqualification of the delinquent MLAs under anti-defection law in the state Assembly. All the seven suspects have been already placed under suspension in the party.

Sources revealed that at least two of these MLAs had sought legal opinion from a celebrated advocate who is understood to have advised them to take shelter under a legal provision that legitimizes defection of two-third strength of the legislators---seven in this particular case---as “split”. However, much is left to the Speaker’s discretion. Even as Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and Prof Garu Ram, had not submitted any application to the Speaker till late this evening, sources believe that the seven defectors could form a separate “split group” to protect their membership in the Assembly.

END

“

Two candidates removed from merit list,

cut off lowered from 92 to 91

to pick up Law Secretary’s son,

Suhail Hassan Tantray, for a post of

Assistant Legal Remembrancer

in Law Department!

”

 This story was published as banner lead in daily Early Times of April 15, 2011 (http://www.earlytimes.in/) [Back Issues]

PSC breaks law for Law Secretary’s son

Two IAS officers add a feather to SL Bhat’s cap as the last nail in PSC’s coffin

Their advantage: A Government that barks on corruption and nepotism but does not bite

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Apr 14: Secretary of J&K State Public Service Commission (PSC), Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, and the state government’s Law Secretary, Ghulam Hassan Tantray, are known as fast friends in bureaucratic circles but it is hard to establish that the two IAS officers were in collusion to appoint latter’s son as Assistant Legal Remembrancer (ALR) in the state Law Department by unfair means. The incontrovertible fact, however, remains that the PSC removed two particular candidates from merit shortlist of the Open Merit (OM) category, lowered the cut off from 92 to 91 marks and thus included the Law Secretary’s son among the candidates to be interviewed for final selection on April 16^th. If selected, it would be for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir bureaucracy that a Secretary to Government would be issuing the appointment orders of his own son.

Without questioning integrity and competence of the PSC Chairman and members, documentary evidence in possession of Early Times reveals how merit of the poor candidates is marred with impunity in the PSC and how ruthlessly they are slaughtered at the feet of the legatees of bureaucrats and politicians in the government of the state’s cleanest ever Chief Minister.

Law Department, headed by Ghulam Hassan Tantray, referred 15 posts of Assistant Legal Remembrancers/ Public Law Officers to PSC soon after Secretary’s son, Suhail Hassan Tantray, completed two years of practical experience at Bar last in May 2010. Posts were advertised vide Notification No: 03-PSC of 2010 dated 28-05-2010. Before Bukhari, Mr Tantray has himself served a term as Secretary of PSC.

In September 2010, Law Department amalgamated the posts of ALR, PLO and Assistant Draftsman (Translation) and made them part of J&K Legal Services (Gazetted) Service. Tantray communicated it to Bukhari vide Law Department’s No: LD(Estt)94/43-II dated 09-09-2010. PSC withdrew the vacancies of ALR/ PLO from Notification No: 03 dated 28-05-2010 and advertised the same afresh vide Notification No: 14-PSC of 2010 dated 24-09-2010. While as 8 vacancies were in OM, remaining 7 were in the reserved categories of RBA (03), SC (01), ST (02) and ALC (01). Bachelors Degree in Law with two years of actual practice at Bar was prescribed as the Essential Qualification.

As over 700 law graduates applied and not more than 45 were supposed to be called for the interview (in addition to nine higher qualification LL M candidates, who were exempted under rules), PSC conducted necessary Screening Test, after scrutiny of each candidate’s documents and testimonials, on 27-02-2011.  612 candidates appeared in the test. Result was declared vide Notification No: PSC/EXAM/11/34 dated 08-03-2011. Cut off marks, out of a total of 120 marks, were also announced separately for all categories---OM (92 marks), RBA (89), SC (82), ST (76) and ALC (85).

Figuring at Serial No: 6 of the Result Notification, Suhail Hassan Tantary (Roll No: 1200007) secured 91 marks. Since the cut off for Open Merit was 92 marks, he did not fall among the candidates to be called for interview. Sources privy to the process insist that it was done “under a strategy” as all eyes on that moment were on the Law Secretary’s son.

 To keep the door open, PSC result notification came out with a “Note”. It read: “The cut off marks in respect of all the categories are purely provisional and subject to verification of documents submitted by the candidates and consequent upon determination of eligibility in accordance with rules. Corrections/Changes, if any, shall be notified separately”.

Even as the “verification of documents and final determination of eligibility” takes place invariably at the time of the interview, unless challenged in a specific case, the PSC Secretary silently removed two particular candidates from the merit shortlist--- obviously to lower the cut off to 91 and thus include the Law Secretary’s son among the candidates to be called for the interview. Both the ill-fated candidates, namely Heena Basharat (Roll No: 1200218) and Shaista Amin (Roll No: 1200221), who figured at Serial No: 168 and 171 of the PSC result notification dated 08-03-2011, secured 92 marks in the Screening Test.

Under the notified formula of ‘three candidates for one post’, total of 24 candidates, upto cut off level of 92 marks, were supposed to be called for the interview. Since three candidates, including Heena and Shaista, had secured 92 marks, the number of candidates to be called rose to 25 instead of 24. With deletion of the last 2 candidates, namely Heena and Shaista, this number reduced to the desired level of 23. That is exactly what created room for inclusion of the Law Secretary’s son, who had secured 91 marks in the Screening Test.

 (Since the number of candidates securing 91 marks was five, all of them got a right to be called alongwith Suhail Hassan Tantray---taking the number of candidates to be called for interview for 8 vacancies of Open Merit category from 23 to 28).

A month after declaration of results and fixing the cut off for OM at 92 marks, Bukhari issued an unnumbered “Notice” to declare that interviews for the 15 posts of ALRs and PLOs would be conducted by PSC at its Jammu headquarters on 16-04-2011 and 17-04-2011. Without declaring any candidate ineligible or specifying any disqualification, the “Notice” dated 06-04-2011 suggested that the cut off in Open Merit category had been lowered from 92 to 91. Cut off for all reserved categories was left intact. Suhail Hassan Tantray, who secured 91 marks in the Screening Test, figures at Serial No: 24 among 28 candidates called for the interview in OM category.

Some of the candidates believe that the two deleted candidates had no resources to complain and agitate the injustice. Some others suspect that both the girls have been bribed out or influenced by other means to remain silent.

Insiders in both, PSC as well as Law Department, insist that the entire selection exercise is a “fixed match” and all decks have been cleared to appoint 26-year-old Suhail Tantray as Assistant Legal Remembrancer in Law Department so that he becomes the state’s Law Secretary in 12 years from now, if not inducted midway into KAS and IAS to enjoy a stint as a Director or Deputy Commissioner. The great public service!

END

Interlocution ends up as a failed intelligence operation

Abbas Ansari suspended from Hurriyat after meeting with Padgaonkar team

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 20: Having failed to meet any of the separatist leaders in the last six months, Dileep Padgaonkar-led team of New Delhi’s interlocutors today succeeded in arranging its maiden interaction with the senior Hurriyat leader Maulvi Abbas Ansari. However, Ansari realized soon that he had only burned his fingers as, within minutes of the meeting, Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq declared him as a delinquent and suspended his membership in the Hurriyat Conference.

The team of celebrated interlocutors, including academician Radha Kumar and retired bureaucrat M M Ansari, called on the cleric-politician Abbas Ansari at his Khankah-e-Sokhta residence in Safakadal area of downtown Srinagar at around 1100 hours. Informed sources revealed to Early Times that during his hour-long interaction with the interlocutors, Abbas Ansari made it clear that no solution to the vexed Kashmir problem was possible as long as the hardliners were calling the shots in Valley and Pakistan was not associated with the political process.

Ansari complained that the pro-India politicians had developed a huge vested interest in the turmoil and the successive governments, in New Delhi as well as in Srinagar, had left no stone unturned to strengthen the hardliners---an obvious reference to people like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Massarat Alam and Asiya Andrabi. He complained that New Delhi had been repeatedly making Hurriyat a laughing stock and reducing its credibility by calling it for “dialogue” without any sincerity of purpose and a roadmap. Both, NDA as well as UPA governments, according to Ansari, had only humiliated Hurriyat by defaulting on the promises made before every meeting.

Sources said that the interlocutors listened to Ansari with rapt attention while enjoying his hospitality. They sought to emphasize that current process of finding a political solution to the Kashmir problem was “different from all previous initiatives” and assured their host that the separatists’ viewpoint would be “duly accommodated” in their report to the Centre. They argued that Hurriyat’s meeting with them would be “mutually beneficial” and thus in the best interests of the Kashmiris.

Within hours, however, Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq took a serious notice of his colleague’s meeting with the interlocutors. He declared that Ansari as well as his Anjuman-e-Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen had been immediately suspended in the Hurriyat on account of the politician’s meeting with the interlocutors “in violation of the Hurriyat executive committee’s decision”. Mirwaiz said that Hurriyat’s top decision making body had decided that there would be no individual or group meetings with the Padgaonkar team.

Mirwaiz told media that the team from New Delhi had neither any mandate nor any role in deliberating on Kashmir’s political resolution. According to him, this team’s objective was “nothing but dividing the separatist leaders and breaking the Hurriyat”. He asserted that Hurriyat’s meeting with the interlocutors would be just an exercise in futility. He said that Ansari’s membership had been suspended with immediate effect, though the Hurriyat executive committee would meet soon to discuss the violation in detail and accordingly take the final decision.

In a quick reaction, spokesman of Ansari’s Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen issued a statement to clarify that the interlocutors had called on the separatist leader “without any appointment”. According to him, it was only for upholding the Muslim tradition of respecting a guest that Ansari had allowed his uninvited guests in and served them a tea. He claimed that the conversation lasted for just 20 minutes during which Ansari emphasized that there was no role for interlocution after Hurriyat’s meetings with the Prime Minister in the past. He said that Ansari made it clear to the team that Kashmir’s solution lay in nothing but “tripartite talks between Islamabad, New Delhi and the Kashmiris”.

In a related development, later in the afternoon, Padgoankar claimed at a news conference that it was Ansari who had called the interlocutors for a meeting with him at latter’s residence. He called it a “positive development” and wished all other separatist leaders to follow Ansari in resolving the Kashmiri crisis. Radha Kumar made a prompt intervention to clarify that “a number of colleagues” had played role in arranging her team’s meeting with Ansari. The interlocutors were addressing media at the conclusion of their seventh visit to Kashmir in the last six months.

Padgaonkar said that Ansari desired action from New Delhi over Hurriyat’s 4-point formula that includes releasing of all political detainees, withdrawal of bunkers and draconian laws like PSA and AFSPA and reduction of troops. According to him, Ansari was in favour of “sincere, serious and meaningful dialogue” between New Delhi and the separatist leadership.

Facing credibility crisis due to its unclear mandate, Padgaonkar-led team of interlocutors has not been able to take the Valley’s separatist leadership on board in the last six months. Its imposing company with a number of discredited political activists and pseudo-intellectuals has, in fact, reduced the team to just another failed intelligence operation in Kashmir.

END

Delhi to salvage Omar Govt from Dogra Certificate quagmire

All permanent residents being declared entitled to benefit in recruitment

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 19: Taking separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s ultimatum on withdrawal of Dogra Certificate order seriously, Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is likely to come to the rescue of Omar Abdullah-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. Authorities in the union Ministry of Home Affairs are now working on a damage control exercise. Even as a subordinate judicial court in Budgam has admitted a petition against the order and the Bar Association in Jammu is reportedly planning to challenge its jurisdiction in the High Court, MHA is likely to declare all permanent residents of the state entitled to the benefit in recruitment in all paramilitary forces.

Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that in follow up to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s threadbare discussion on Dogra Certificate issue with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and the UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, MHA had begun drafting of a notification that would declare all permanent residents of J&K state entitled to certain benefits in recruitments in CRPF, BSF and other paramilitary forces. This, according to sources, would automatically put an end to the practice of issuing ‘Dogra Certificate’ to residents of Jammu province who, until now, are the exclusive beneficiaries of the document being issued by Tehsildars (Territorial).

Following complaints of some National Panthers Party legislators in the state Legislative Assembly over “delay” in issuing the certificate, Department of Revenue had issued Government Order No: Rev (LB) 69 of 2011 Dated 25-03-2011, notifying Tehsildars as the competent authority in issuing ‘Dogra Certificate’. It was later amended on April 7^th when Government made it clear that Dogra Certificates to be issued by Tehsildars (Territorial) to residents of Jammu province would be only for the purpose of seeking certain relaxations in recruitment of staff in the central paramilitary forces.

As some right wing forces, led by Geelani in Kashmir and some opposition leaders in Jammu, for conflicting purposes, began stirring up the issue, a resident of Chadoura area challenged the order in the court of CJM Budgam. The court put the order in abeyance and issued notices to the state government. It is being widely speculated that Government itself was behind the move as its attorneys did not raise any objections. According to reports, a section of Bar in Jammu is planning to challenge jurisdiction of the CJM’s court in the High Court. Meanwhile, on April 18^th, Geelani served an ultimatum while asking the state government to completely withdraw its March 25^th order before April 30^th or else face the consequences.

Perceiving Geelani’s ultimatum as the first serious threat to six-month-long calm and a promising tourist season in the Valley, Omar Abdullah government, according to sources, decided to seek New Delhi’s help in salvaging itself from the quagmire. As of now, a sense of public outrage is absent in both Kashmir (over March 25^th order) as well as in Jammu (over the suggestion of revocation), but situation analysts have just begun drawing parallels between May 2008 and May 2011.

 “Geelani had begun the embryonic stage of 2008 Amarnath Pilgrimage row with a simple statement over the need to keep the environment on the Yatra route free of pollution”, reminded an analyst. He asserted that the octogenarian separatist hawk had the capacity of stoking the regional fires with the fuel of Dogra Certificate in one or two months---beginning of the hyper-sensitive pilgrimage season. Withdrawal of the order was perceived to be impossible as such a notification had the potential of an ignition in Jammu. The political executive from Srinagar to New Delhi seems to be unanimous over the central intervention as an order declaring all permanent resident certificate holders entitled to the recruitment benefit could offset issuance of Dogra Certificate.

END

----------------------Maulana Shaukat assassination----------------------

Srinagar conclave wants militants, Police on board in probe

Geelani, Mirwaiz among panel of 10 to liaise with UJC, J&K Police

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 18: In a significant and unprecedented development, an assembly of almost all separatist political and religious organisations in Kashmir valley today resolved to carry out a “credible and transparent investigation” into the assassination of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith (JAH) chief, Maulana Shaukat Ahmed Shah. According to a unanimously made decision, a 10-member panel, that includes Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, would conduct the investigation in coordination with United Jihad Council (UJC) in Pakistan and the state Police in Kashmir.

Sources present in the three-hour-long closed-door meeting at JAH’s Barbarshah headquarters revealed to Early Times that most of the speakers sounded to be in favour of striking a balance. They deliberated at length on the cleric’s killing in an IED blast here on April 8^th and J&K Police’s claim of breakthrough, as announced by IGP Kashmir on April 16^th, and asserted that the Police investigation should neither be endorsed nor rejected at this stage. The speakers pointed out that categorical dismissal or acceptance of the findings could prove to be an impediment in the way of reaching the truth and identifying the killers.

The all-party conclave decided that the 10-member panel, to be headed by JAH incharge President Ghulam Rasool Malik, would establish contact with the J&K Police in Srinagar as well as the alliance of Kashmiri militant outfits in Pakistan and “Azad Kashmir” for collection and verification of the facts revolving around the slain cleric and his assassination at a mosque in Maisuma.

Sources said that JAH General Secretary Abdul Rehman Bhat, JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sheikh Mohammad Hassan, Anjuman Sharyee head Aga Syed Hassan, Anjuman Ittihadul Muslimeen chief Maulana Abbas Ansari, Islamic Study Circle representative Dr Yousaf-al-Umar and Maulvi Shaukat Ahmed Keng, were also appointed as members of the panel. One or two representatives of High Court Bar Association would also be included.

While as Maulana Ghulam Rasool Malik hosted the conference on behalf of JAH, it was, among others, attended by Chairman of so-called moderate faction of Hurriyat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of JKLF, Mohammad Yasin Malik, President of Mustafa faction of Anjuman-e-Sharyee Shia’an, Aga Syed Hassan Al-Moosavi, President of Anjuman-e-Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen Maulana Abbas Ansari, Dr Yosuf-al-Umar, Maulvi Showkat Ahmad Keng, Hakim Abdur Rashid, Sayeed-ur-Rehman Shams, Dr Abdul Lateef, Mufti Yaqoob, and others.

Even as hardliner Geelani was not present, his faction of the Hurriyat was represented by his son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah. Head of right wing Jamaat-e-Islami in Jammu & Kashmir, Sheikh Ghulam Hassan, was also conspicuous by his presence.

Sources said that the speakers expressed concern over security perception of Kashmir’s separatist political and religious leaders in the light of Maulana Shaukat’s assassination. Interestingly, Police and other government agencies had made elaborate security arrangements for today’s conclave and quite a number of the guests treated Police as guards rather than “killers”---an allegation they have been facing in all mysterious killings in the state since 1989.

In sharp contrast to all previous assassinations, speakers at today’s separatist conference avoided accusations and negative references to Police and other government agencies, even as none of them did categorically endorse Police claim on the breakthrough. As already reported, Police has held an axis of radical groups and militant cadres responsible for the killing andclaimed to have arrested two of the killers. All the accused groups and individuals have dismissed the Police claim “baseless” and called it part of a vilification campaign to smear the Valley’s separatist movement.

END

Geelani serves ultimatum over Dogra Certificate

‘Revoke order by April 30th or face consequences’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 18: Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani today served ultimatum on Omar Abdullah-led coalition government and threatened to launch a mass agitation in case recent order on issuance of Dogra Certificate was not withdrawn by April 30^th.

In his key address at a seminar on “Dogra Certificate Ka Kya Jawaaz?” at his Hydeprora residence here, Geelani dismissed the state Revenue Ministry’s order dated March 25^th as a “well-conceived plot to neutralize the identity of Muslim community in Jammu and merge it with the Dogra identity”. He denigrated the coalition government as “New Delhi’s puppet” and alleged that the identity and cultural aggression in Jammu & Kashmir was “New Delhi’s brainchild”.

 “The RSS wants to divide Jammu and Kashmir on religious lines and bring home to the world that the Kashmir movement is restricted to just a section of the area and population”, Geelani asserted. He called upon the people in entire state to register their protest against the government move and convey to the world that all three regions of the state - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - were united in their fight against “India’s autocratic rule”.

Chairman of the hardline faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, Geelani made it clear the Kashmiris’ demand was total revocation of the order rather than its modifications.  “If it is not revoked till April end, we will make strategy to counter it in first week of May,” he warned. He alleged that the Indian authorities were “using brute force to suppress the ongoing peaceful liberation movement in Kashmir.

On interlocutors’ arrival in Kashmir, he said, “On one hand India talks of peace and at the same time its troops are illegally detaining innocent Kashmiris including minors under the draconian law, Public Safety Act, and lodging them in far-flung jails. They (interlocutors) have come here to delay the resolution of Kashmir issue which seems to be their basic objective.”

Commenting over the situation after the assassination of Jamait-e Ahli Hadith president, Maulana Shaukat Ahmad Shah, Geelani said: “In the last two decades, unidentified gunmen are active in Kashmir and they have killed hundreds of innocent Kashmiris. Some of these killers even managed their entry into the state Assembly”. It was obviously Geelani’s veiled reference to the founder of counter-insurgency, Kukka Parray, who got hundreds of militants eliminated by security forces till he contested 1996 Assembly elections and became an MLA for the next six years. Geelani claimed that Kashmir’s freedom struggle was completely peaceful.

“We aren’t in a position to fight with the Indian military, but we will continue our just struggle peacefully. We are politically engaged in a war with India. The only difference is that we don’t have guns or bombs in our hands,” he said. He quickly clarified that his Hurriyat had no differences with militants and both were pursuing the same goal of “winning freedom for Kashmir”,  

“We don’t oppose militant organizations as they have their own role to play. But we want to carry forward our struggle peacefully,” he added. He said that the people of Kashmir were not being allowed a space for expression “by the occupational authorities” to even peacefully raise their voice against the Indian oppression. “Since 2010, I have been confined to my house by the Indian Police,” Gilani complained.

Earlier, Dr Javed Iqbal, Abdul Hamid Zarger, Altaf Hussain Nadvi, Advocate Mohammad Shafi Reshi, Mohammad Shafi Lone besides the specially drawn activists from Jammu, namely Qazi Asgar Poonchi and Mohammad Sharief Sartaj also delivered speeches at the seminar.

END

‘Jihad business centre’ running in Srinagar Central Jail

9 cellphones, 15 SIM cards recovered; action underway against jail staff

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Apr 17: While proceeding with the investigation in Maulana Shaukat Shah’s assassination here on April 8^th, Police today conducted a major search operation in Srinagar Central Jail and discovered that a number of detained militants had been freely interacting with their outside contacts through their mobile phones. As many as nine mobile phone sets, alongwith 15 SIM cards and battery chargers, were recovered from about a dozen of the prisoners whose communication system was found operational despite presence of six signal jammers on the premises.

It was exactly at midnight last that Police in Srinagar requisitioned permission from the state Home Commissioner, B R Sharma, for conducting a raid on Srinagar Central Jail in search of “a number of mobile phones” that, according to inputs, were operational with over a dozen militants and separatists on the fortified premises. Mr Sharma completed necessary formality within minutes and faxed the document from his Jammu residence.

Around the same time, Police requested Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, Meraj Ahmed Kakroo, to provide an executive magistrate for the purpose of supervising a “raid on a house”. At 0620 hours, a thick contingent of Srinagar District Police and CRPF, headed by SSP Srinagar, Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, swooped on the jail to conduct first of its operation in the last 22 years of militancy. SP City South, Shaukat Sarwar, SP Hazratbal, Abdul Waheed Shah, SP City East, Zulfikar Hussain, besides half-a-dozen Dy SPs, were part of the operation supervised by a Tehsildar.

Informed sources, associated with the raid, revealed to Early Times that the search operation was conducted on all twelve barracks of different militant organizations. When the operation concluded at 1230 hours, as many as 9 mobile phone sets and 15 SIM cards had been recovered from about a dozen detainees of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and other guerrilla groups. Surprisingly, the telecommunication devices were found operational inspite of six signal jammers on the premises.

“Use of telecommunication equipment is completely banned in all jails. Still, jammers have been installed to prevent interaction of prisoners with their contacts outside. Just one jammer is normally sufficient to block all such communications but surprisingly all the cellphones were found to have been in use”, a middle rung official revealed. According to him, 15 SIM cards seized from the barracks belonged to the Government of India controlled BSNL besides Aircel, Tata Indicom, Airtel and other private telecommunication companies.

Sources said that Police frisked the bodies and belongings of all the 500-odd prisoners who included 11 Pakistani nationals belonging to three different Jihadi outfits. Even as the process of scanning all incoming and outgoing call detail records, text messages, internet chats and emails conducted by the seized mobile phones was still underway, sources said that a number of the devices carried GPRS facility. These included sophisticated Samsung Galaxy and i-phones from Apple which are as good as computers in handling Internet traffic.

A senior Police official said that smuggling in cellphones, SIM cards and battery chargers would not be possible without involvement of the jail staff. He said that the investigating team was preparing a detailed report that was likely to be sent to the Government on Monday.

While as IGP Prison, Mohammad Amin Anjum, did not respond to a call and Superintendent of Srinagar Central Jail, Dhinesh Sharma, was not reachable for comment, Home Commissioner, B R Sharma, said that government would take action, if any necessary, on the basis of a detailed report from Srinagar. He said that the operation was still underway and he too was heavily preoccupied with today’s Panchayat elections. Mr Sharma is also Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir.

IGP Kashmir, S M Sahai, and SSP Srinagar, Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, refused to comment, though the SSP confirmed that the raid was in connection with the investigation into Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith chief Maulana Shaukat Shah’s assassination. The cleric had died in an IED blast at a mosque in uptown Maisuma locality here on April 8^th.

Yesterday only, Police claimed to have solved the high profile politico-religious assassination. It claimed to have arrested four of the 10 persons, allegedly involved in the killing. According to Police, Pakistan-based Sout-ul-Haq and Tahreek-ul-Mujahideen chief Jameel-ur-Rehman, former TuM chief Abdul Gani Dar alias Abdullah Gazali and detained supremo of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo alias Dr Qasim, had hatched up the conspiracy of Maulana’s killing while as Sopore-based Pakistani chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Abdullah Uni, had provided three pistols and three detonators for the operation.

In a significant development today, spokespersons of all the three guerrilla groups besides Sout-ul-Haq and Faktoo’s relatives rebutted the accusation. They all invariably described the Police statement as “baseless” and claimed that it was only with the purpose of defaming the separatist movement and creating a wedge of mistrust between the groups participating in the “freedom struggle”.

Srinagar Central Jail insiders revealed to Early Times that during today’s search operation, Faktoo shouted on SSP Bukhari that he was being fabricated in baseless cases. He claimed that Gazali had never visited him at the jail or interacted with him through any other means. His relatives complained that Faktoo, who was serving a life term for allegedly ordering killing of human rights activist, H N Wanchoo, had been made a target of the “vilification campaign” just a day before a Double Bench of J&K High Court was expected to release him on parole. Once head of dreaded Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Faktoo has completed his Ph D in detention and the jail authorities have described his conduct as impressive. He is the husband of detained Dukhtaraan-e-Millat Chairperson, Asiya Andrabi.

END