Kashmir ‘shrine believers’ challenge radical Islamists from heart of Srinagar

’85-90 pc Valley Muslims have reverence for saints and shrines’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Mar 23: Wittingly or unwittingly timed on “Yaum-e-Pakistan”, a conglomerate of Muslim religious outfits today organized its show of strength at Batmaloo, heart of the congested Capital city. Unfazed by an armed attack on its prominent functionary, Pir Jalal-ud-din, Muttahida Ulema-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat w-al-Jamaat (MUASWJ) sought a thorough investigation into all guerrilla strikes on ‘believers of saints and shrines’.

Close on the heels of two mysterious shootouts at Sarai Bala and Batmaloo, MUASWJ organized a march of its followers in vicinity of the revered shrine of Batmaloo Sahab. Most prominent exponents of this nascent religious movement, including the Karwaan-e-Islami founder Maulana Ghulam Rasool Haami, led the march and later addressed a news conference on the shrine premises. With most of the Valley’s separatist religious and political leaders, including hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, enjoying an at home at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on occasion of Pakistan’s national day, the green-turban alliance claimed in the heart of Srinagar that 85 to 90 percent of Kashmiri Muslims believed in saints and shrines.

MUASWJ leaders complained that the spiritual leaders believing in saints and shrines were being targeted under a concerted campaign in the Valley. They claimed that all attacks on the moderate religious leaders and spiritual activists, from the one on Qazi Nisar in Anantnag in June 1994 to the latest on Pir Jalal-ud-din in Srinagar, in March 2012, had happened in a chain. The motive, according to them, was to browbeat, terrorise and silence the voice of the shrine believers (Ahl-e-Aetiquaad) in the Valley.

The MUASWJ speakers claimed that Mirwaiz Qazi Nisar of Anantnag, saint Ahad Sahab of Sopore, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Maulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi and now Maulana Jalal-ud-din of Batmaloo had been attacked with guns and grenades on account of their unflinching faith and belief in shrines and spiritual leaders and promotion of this school of thought in Kashmir. They described it “most shocking” that recent terror attack on Jalal-ud-din had happened when he was making preparations for a Meelaad procession (a rally to celebrate the birth day of Prophet Mohammad) in Batmaloo. Jalal-ud-din, who had sustained gunshots on his body, is still under treatment at SKIMS, Soura.

Much-revered saint Ahad Sahab of Sopore, who had a miraculous escape in a grenade attack on him nearly six years back, died natural death in 2010. His followers included senior politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, advocates and judges including a judge of J&K High Court. Several of Maulana Dawoodi’s followers had died and sustained injuries when he came under a fatal grenade attack at Tahab in Pulwama district few years back.

Maulana Haami and Dawoodi, who have established substantial base in the Valley in the last 10 years, are known as the leading proponents of Bareillvi school of thought. Even after a series of guerrilla attacks on them, they have been organizing massive processions and openly challenging the hardliners and all those not believing in spiritual leaders and Muslim shrines. Of late, Government has been providing them support, overtly and covertly, which has made them suspects in the eyes of Valley’s radical separatist and religious leadership.

Hardliners have been publicly condemning the guerrilla attacks on these spiritual leaders and emphasizing that were aimed at dividing the Kashmiri Muslims on sectarian and ideological basis and thus “weakening the freedom struggle”. In his recent reaction, Geelani has condemned the attack on Jalal-ud-din and said that he would have called on him “if not held continuously under house arrest” by Police.

Addressing today’s news conference, Maulana Haami sought thorough investigation into the attack on Jalal-ud-din and demanded that the assailants be unmasked and produced in the “peoples’ court”. He said that Police and the militant outfits should investigate the attack on the pattern of the assassination of Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith chief Maulana Shaukat Shah and punish the culprits. Haami alleged that certain forces were at work to create the culture of devastation and killings on sectarian basis. He asked the intelligentsia to get together and defeat such elements with complete unity.

Later, the organizers led a rally from the shrine of Sheikh Dawood Batmaloo Sahab. The participants chanted purely religious slogans and avoided reference to Kashmir’s separatist political movement and those dying for “freedom”. Religious processions organized by separatist religious leaders, like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Aga Syed Hassan of Budgam do invariably pay tributes to the “martyrs” and call for Kashmir’s “freedom from India”.

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One killed, 17 injured in highway car blast at Bijbehara

Police station, 100 shops damaged; 3 CRPF men among injured

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Mar 22: Twenty-five-year-old driver of a Maruti car was blown into pieces when a powerful bomb blast occurred in his vehicle, close to Police Station at the highway township of Bijbehara, in south Kashmir, today. SSP Awantipora maintained that the deceased was an overground worker (OWG) of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, who died while targeting an Army convoy, but SSP Anantnag described him as a “civilian with no adverse history”. Seventeen persons, including three personnel of a CRPF road opening party (ROP), sustained injuries in the same explosion that also caused extensive damage to the police station and over a hundred shops.

Informed sources said that an extremely powerful car blast occurred on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, close to Police Station, in a crowded market at Bijbehara, about 45 Km from Srinagar, in the afternoon today. Driver of the ill-fated Maruti car died as he was blown into pieces and 17 others sustained injuries. This kind of a deafening explosion happened on the highway after years of peace and tranquility in Kashmir.

SSP Anantnag, Ramesh Kumar Jalla, told Early Times over telephone that the blast inside the Maruti-800 occurred at 3.32 p.m, minutes before the daily convoy of Army from Jammu to Srinagar, was to have passed through Bijbehara. He said that the slowly moving car from Anantnag to Srinagar blasted with a deafening explosion, just 20 to 25 yards short of Police Station of Bijbehara. Mangled remains of the car, alongwith pieces of the organs of the driver, were found littered in a radius of 50 yards. He said for about two hours, Police and civilians failed to understand anything about the make of the vehicle and the people killed in the blast as parts of both were beyond any recognition.

Later, Police recovered a cellphone, one ATM card of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd and a voter’s photo-identity card issued by Election Commission of India. It described the holder as Mohammad Abbas Dar S/o Mohammad Amin Dar R/o Gadikhal, Chursoo, Awantipore. A Police party rushed to the village in Pulwama district and found the identity was real. According to SSP Anantnag, one of the brothers of the deceased, as also his cousin working in JAKLI of Army, identified him as Mohammad Abbas Dar of Gadikhal village.

Parts of the dead body were collected and handed over to members of Dar’s family who mourned his death and later conducted his funeral at Gadikhal, Awantipore. Police learned from residents that the deceased was a 25-year-old civilian who had completed his Bachelor of Arts from Government Degree College, Tral, and was trying to get admission in a post-graduation course at Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipore.

Later, Early Times learned from informed sources that father of the deceased, namely Mohammad Amin Dar was working as a Supervisor in Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) department, his elder brother Mohammad Shafi Dar was working with Home Guard wing of J&K Police, another brother Javed Ahmad Dar was owner-cum-driver of a Tata-Sumo taxi and the third brother, Yousuf Dar, was a truck driver. Youngest of the siblings was a married woman and their mother was a housewife.

SSP Anantnag said that the blast caused extensive damage to the nearby Police Station besides over a hundred shops on either side of the road. At least six vehicles, parked as well as those in movement, were also damaged. He said that 17 persons, including three ROP personnel of CRPF 90 Bn, sustained injuries. The injured were quickly evacuated and rushed to different hospitals for medical treatment. SSP Jalla, as well as Medical Superintendent of SKIMS, Soura, Dr Syed Amin Tabish, maintained that out the ten persons admitted to SKIMS, only one was critical. He was identified as Arif Hussain Waza S/o Abdul Rashid Waza R/o Bijbehara.

Late tonight, Dr Tabish said that Arif successfully underwent a surgical procedure and he had now good prospects of recovery. He said that five persons were still under treatment and observation and four others had been discharged in the evening. SSP Jalla denied agency reports that the death toll had reached two. He asserted that the deceased was a civilian who, according to Police records and residents, had no history of involvement with militancy, counter-insurgency or politics. He said that Police had registered the matter and started investigation into the circumstances that led to the blast.

“We are further checking antecedents of the deceased and working on different theories”, SSP Jalla said. According to him, eyewitnesses revealed that the ill-fated Maruti car came from the main market and it slowed down to speed of about 5 km/hour, some 30 to 40 yards short of the Police Station. Suddenly, there was an extremely powerful blast, killing the driver. He said that the car seemed to be a stolen one as its chassis plate was found removed and the engine number obliterated and embossed afresh. Part of a number plate read “JK02V”.

Lashkar OGW?

SP Awantipore, Mohammad Irshad, however, claimed that the deceased, Mohammad Abbas Dar, had functioned as an OWG with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba militant outfit for several years and, according to him, he had figured among the wanted suspects even in the current year.

“We have reasons to believe that Abbas Dar got killed while attempting to plant his IED-laden car to target the incoming Army convoy on the highway”, SP Awantipore told Early Times. Quoting Police records, SP Awantipore said that Abbas had closely worked as OGW with two militants, namely Altaf and Mudassar alias Doctor, both members of lashkar and residents of Gadikhal village. While as Altaf got killed in an encounter with security forces at Andrus, Pulwama, in 2009, Mudassar died in another gunbattle in early 2010. Both the slain militants, as well as Abbas, according to SP Awantipore, were involved in a number of terrorist activities including a major IED blast that ripped a vehicle of Pulwama Police outside Central Jail in Srinagar few years back.

Late tonight, informed sources further revealed that Police had seized Abbas Dar’s cellphone. Call details and tower location statements indicated that he had spent a night in Srinagar and had returned to Bijbehara, via Awantipore, in the forenoon. He had switched off his cellphone somewhere near Awantipore. Three SIM cards were found to have been used in the same phone set.

“At this stage, we believe that one of these SIM cards was to have been used to cause the blast. It is possible that the driver mishandled a device or the person holding the remote device (cellphone with a SIM card), pushed a button before the car was parked”, said an official. He said, as a matter of routine, Jammu-Srinagar Army convoy daily passes through Bijbehara between 3.30 p.m and 4.30 p.m.

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On Geelani’s request, ‘Martyrs Memorial’ coming up at Muzaffarabad

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Mar 12: ‘Prime Minister’ of Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir, Choudhary Abdul Majid, has obliged Kashmir’s separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani by starting construction of a ‘Martyrs Memorial’ at Muzaffarabad.

In his letter No: PS/20/2012 dated 20-02-2012, ‘Prime Minister’ Choudhary Abdul Majid has informed Syed Ali Shah Geelani that the ‘Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ has taken his suggestion and immediately started work on the memorial that would come up as a mark of tribute for thousands of Kashmiris and Pakistani nationals who had laid down their lives for the “freedom struggle” in the last 65 years.

Ch Majid has made it clear to Mr Geelani, the hardliner separatist heading his own Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and the radical faction of Hurriyat Conference, that the memorial would be not only a match but also far superior to such memorials standing in different countries in the West.

On February 9^th, 2012, during his winter season stay at his Malviya Nagar residence in New Delhi, Geelani had written a letter, requesting Choudhary to create a memorial at Muzaffarabad in honour and memory of thousands of Kashmiris who had “sacrificed their lives for Kashmir’s liberation in the last 65 years”. Geelani had pointed out to Ch Majid that war and martyrs memorials had been created in almost all the European cities after the World War II. Such memorials, according to Geelani, had been serving as an inspiration for the posterity in different nations that had ever waged a war or struggled for their freedom from ‘military occupation’.

Geelani had lamented to Ch Majid that the Valley’s separatist leaders had attempted to create a memorial for the “martyrs of the Kashmir freedom movement” at Iddgah in Srinagar but the “forces of occupation” (Police and security forces) had brought it down repeatedly. Even the civil society, according to Geelani, was held “on gun point” and not permitted to raise such a memorial in Srinagar.

“We have finally zeroed in on Muzaffarabad where a Martyrs Memorial could be raised without any hardship. Now that, your government’s annual budget is coming up in Assembly, we request you to please earmark a particular outlay for construction of the memorial so that we don’t feel constrained to move out with a begging bowl”, Geelani had written to Ch Majid.

Appreciating Geelani’s proposal, Ch Majid has informed the separatist leader that he, on his suggestion, he had immediately constituted a high level committee, headed by Minister of Finance, Planning and Development of ‘AJK Government’ Choudhary Lateef Akbar, for raising the Martyrs Memorial at Muzaffarabad. “The committee has been assigned to choose the venue, arrange an appropriate design for the minaret and supervise the execution of works.

“By the grace of Allah, this memorial will be outstanding among all such memorials and far more elegant than those created in the West”, Ch Majid has written to Geelani in a letter available with Early Times. “It will remind all future generations about the supreme sacrifices of the martyrs of the Kashmir freedom movement”, Ch Majid has written to the octogenarian separatist leader.  He has assured Geelani that the people and the ‘Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir’ would continue their “political, moral and diplomatic support” to the Kashmiris and also keep “all possible resources” at their disposal. He has not mentioned how much of money was being spent on the memorial.

Notwithstanding opposition and criticism to such memorials among Pakistan-based Jihadist and pan-Islamist guerrilla groups, some of the Valley-based separatist leaders and ‘civil society groups’ had attempted this type of  construction few years back. Attempts to raise a memorial at the “Martyrs Graveyard” of Iddgah were forcefully discouraged by the authorities. Later, some pro-Azadi civil society groups reportedly purchased land at a place on Srinagar-Narbal patch of the highway. However, none of such constructions began in the last six years.

In Kashmir, Army has ‘martyrs memorials’ at Badami Bagh, headquarters of Srinagar-based 15^th Corps. Memorial of ‘Battle of Budgam’ is existing in the cantonment in Srinagar in the name of the soldiers killed while fighting Pakistan-supported tribesmen and repulsing their attack on Kashmir in 1947. J&K Police has also raised a memorial at Zewan in Srinagar outskirts in honour of the over 1500 personnel killed in militant attacks and encounters. This will be for the first time that a memorial would be created for thousands of militants and civilians killed in over 62,000 militancy related incidents from 1989 t0 2012.

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For ‘corrupt’ politicians, officials in J&K: Delay means victory, stay means victory

CBI cases pending for final hearing since 2003, SAC cases since 2006

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Mar 10: Notwithstanding the Supreme Court of India’s but also the Union government’s and the state government’s stress on speedy disposal of all corruption related matters, scores of such cases are “under investigation” since decades and dozens more pending for admission or final hearing at different courts of law in Jammu & Kashmir.

State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) spent over two decades to complete its investigation into a corruption related matter against a politician. The politician was a Cabinet Minister in 1984 when he, according to the SVO findings, misused his official position and indulged in practice of corruption. In Omar Abdullah’s government since 2009, he is continuing as a Minister in the Cabinet. SVO failed to get sanction of his prosecution on a bizarre ground: That it was an ‘old case’ in which many of the witnesses had expired. One more reason stands recorded on the file: This matter has been repeatedly surfacing in all sessions of Legislature and thus causing embarrassment to the government.

Governments of Messers Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Governor N N Vohra conveniently chose to ignore the illegal deputation of the politician’s green hand son on the post of a Director. Mr Omar Abdullah’s government directed SVO to close the 26-year-old matter of corruption for good. Helplessly, the SVO filed ‘Ikhtitami’ in an anti-corruption court in Jammu.

Same politician’s Munsiff son has been spared by J&K High Court for deputation on a post of civil administration in the state government despite the fact that as many as 39 Munsiff courts in J&K had no judges. All the news stories and RTI applications in this matter have been ignored by the Executive as well as the Judiciary.

At least two more Ministers in the cabinet have corruption related matters against them in J&K Accountability Commission (SAC). Fresh complaints have been filed against one of them and SAC has taken a suo moto cognizance against another. Previously, these Ministers had got the SAC judgments against them strayed. This time around, they have got the preliminary inquiries stalled. With this, all the complaints against Ministers and equivalent status holders---except the one initiated suo moto against the Finance Minister---have been stayed. No one knows for how long.

For a multitude of reasons, SVO’s pace of investigation has been unimpressive. Rate of conviction, as compared to CBI at the national level, has been dismal. Over 200 preliminary inquiries and FIRs have failed to reach the stage of submission of challan in the last 10 years.

SAC has remained either fully defunct or without necessary staff and infrastructure in all 10 years since it was constituted in 2002. As many as 33 of its judgments/ proceedings have been stayed by the High Court in Jammu. Numbers are not readily available but believed to be more in Srinagar wing. Even the CBI’s performance in J&K, in terms of investigation as well as rate of conviction, has been no match to the organisation’s report card at the national level.

The reply, provided to an RTI application by Registrar Judicial at Jammu Wing of J&K High Court earlier this week, makes it clear that 40 of CBI’s cases, mostly corruption related matters, were pending in Jammu wing alone. These include 20 cases in which trial court proceedings have been stayed or records have been summoned by the High Court in Jammu. Of these, as many as 11 cases have been pending “FOR FINAL HEARING”. The oldest one, titled Bansi Lal Zutshi v/s State through CBI, has been instituted on 4-8-2003. Final hearing has not happened in the last 9 years.

One each of these cases belongs to 2004, 2006 and 2007. Two have been instituted in 2008, one in 2009, two in 2010 and two in 2011. Eight of the 20 stayed cases of CBI are pending “FOR ADMISSION”. One each stands instituted in 2007 and 2008, two in 2010, three in 2011 and one in 2012. One more case of 2012 has been pending “FOR ORDERS”.

Of the 33 corruption related matters of SAC, stayed by Jammu wing of High Court, as many as 22 have been pending “FOR FINAL HEARING”. The oldest one stands registered against then Minister of State for Health, Suman Lata Bhagat. It was instituted on 7-12-2006 and stayed on the same day. Then Chairman of SAC had in fact taken suo moto action during hearing of an official’s complaint against then Commissioner-Secretary Health, Mrs Sonali Kumar, and initiated proceedings against the Minister (Suma Lata) and MoS (Abdul Gaffar Sofi) in the infamous AMT admission scam.

Three of these cases, which are still ‘pending for final hearing’, had been instituted in 2006, thirteen in 2007, five in 2008 and one in 2009. Remaining 11 of SAC’s corruption related matters, stayed by High Court in Jammu, have been pending “FOR ADMISSION”. Seven of these had been instituted in 2007 and three in 2008. The last one, titled Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed v/s State Accountability Commission and others, has been instituted on 23-02-2012.

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Who’s afraid of Accountability Commission?

Ministers, MLAs, IAS officers, others enjoying ‘stay’ orders in over 200 cases

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Mar 7: Jammu and Kashmir’s lawmakers and bureaucrats have been claiming credit for reviving and empowering anti-corruption institutions despite the fact that they have got most of the integrity and accountability related matters against them stayed in High Court. Beneficiaries of the stay orders, that have already stayed unmoved in the last three to six years, include a number of sitting and former Ministers and legislators besides IAS and IPS officers.

Successive governments in the last 10 years have proudly created, revived and “strengthened” a host of anti-corruption watchdogs. These include J&K State Information Commission (SIC), J&K State Accountability Commission (SAC), J&K State Vigilance Organisation (SVO), J&K State Vigilance Commission (SVC) and a special designated court for CBI cases.

However, the government functionaries lost no time to get the matters against them stayed in J&K High Court. During the same period, Srinagar and Jammu wings of JKHC have stayed nearly 200 corruption related matters in favour of officials and politicians and these orders have been holding for three to six years. Government advocates have not bothered to even file a memo of urgency, let alone getting the status quo orders quashed.

In reply to an application filed under Right to Information Act, Registrar Judicial at Jammu wing has revealed the other day that different politicians, public servants and others had, in Jammu alone, challenged as many as 33 cases heard or decided by SAC. High Court has stayed admission, trial and recommendations in all the 33 cases, mostly on admission. It has also called as many as 40 cases from CBI’s designated court and got 20 of them stayed. Nearly 50 other cases, under investigation with SVO, tried or under trial at the anti-corruption court in Jammu, have also been stayed during the same period.

According to the reply, a copy of which is available with Early Times, Public Information Officer and Registrar Judicial at Jammu wing has revealed that 102 corruption related matters were currently pending disposal at the High Court in Jammu. These included 77 cases in which High Court had summoned records from the trial courts. Forty of similar cases had been summoned from CBI’s trial court and the proceedings/disposal had been stayed in 20 of these cases. The number of the cases pertaining to SAC and stayed by the High Court in Jammu has been mentioned as 33.

Notwithstanding the Supreme Court of India’s repeated directions and frequently pouring in guidelines from union Ministry of Law and Justice, calling for speedy disposal of corruption related matters, state government’s advocates have attached least priority to these cases. Consequently, stay orders issued by High Court have remained in force for three to six years. And, the reply says that these corruption related matters have been “listed on priority basis”. Nevertheless, a cursory look on the cause lists makes it clear that only “Transfer Matters” and cases of “Senior Citizens” have been underlined and typeset in bold in J&K High Court.

Congress party’s incumbent Minister for Public Enterprises, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Pandit Mangat Ram Sharma, former Minister of Health, Suman Lata Bhagat, and her son Vikas Behal, former Minister and sitting MLA from Doda Abdul Majeed Wani are among the beneficiaries of these stay orders.

A number of senior officials who have got the SAC proceedings/ recommendations stayed from High Court in Jammu include senior IAS officers of the rank of Commissioner Secretary, Atul Duloo and Ashok Parmar, Secretary rank official of the Department of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Farhat Qureshi, former Deputy Commissioner of Rajouri, Sheikh Rafiq Ahmad, former Secretary Animal Husbandry, Dr Deen Mohammad, who later functioned as Secretary in Mehmood-ur-Rehman-led State Finance Commission, former Director General of Department of Youth Services and Sports, Ravinder Gupta, former DIG Satvir Gupta, former Executive Engineer, Dharam Vir Kaul and former Cutodian Jammu, Abdul Majid Wani.

Stay order granted in favour of then Minister of Health, Suman Lata Bhagat, on 7-12-2006 has remained in place and uncontested in the last over 5 years. Her son, Vikas Behal, who is an Assistant Executive Engineer and functioned as the Minister’s PRO, got the SAC proceedings stayed on 3-02-2007. The order is holding even after 5 years. Stay orders granted to then DIG of Udhampur-Doda range, Satvir Gupta, on 26-12-2006 and another official, Ali Ahmad Shah, on 6-10-2006, have also been in force for the last over 5 years.

In the year 2007, former DC of Rajouri Sheikh Rafiq Ahmad, former Secretary of J&K Housing Board Mrs Farhat Qureshi, Inspector and then SHO of Sunadbani, Jamrodh Singh, caught on video while allegedly accepting bribe from a detainee, then Executive Engineer Dham Vir Kaul and former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma (then Chairman KVIB) also got the SAC orders/proceedings against them stayed from High Court. Similar relief was granted in 14 other corruption related matters during the same year. All these orders have been intact for the last over four to five years. In its judgments, SAC had recommended outright dismissal of Jamrodh Singh and Kaul from service.

In 2008, SAC ordered recovery of a sum of over Rs 15 Lakh from then Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Dr Deen Mohammad, and Director Sheep Husbandry who had visited Australia for purchasing Merino sheep but returned empty handed because of a disease afflicting cattle and already in knowledge of the duo. SAC’s orders were stayed by High Court on 15-01-2008. Interestingly, Dr Deen, who had been previously inducted into technical quota of IAS, was granted a key position in State Finance Commission at the time of his retirement.

Then DG Sports, Ravinder Gupta and two senior IAS officers, who are both currently holding the rank of Commissioner-Secretary, namely Atal Duloo and Ashok Parmar, also got the SAC orders/ proceedings  against them stayed in 2008. Custodian Jammu Abdul Majid Wani got the relief on 30-03-2009.

Truncated Minister of Education and former J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, who had already got the SAC orders against him in the infamous Panchayat Ghar Electrification Scam stayed in Srinagar wing of High Court, is the latest among politicians who has got SAC’s suo moto proceedings against him (in unfair means scam of foster son Imam Souban Bhat) stayed in Jammu wing of High Court on 23-02-2012.

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J&K High Court to get 5-7 new judges in 2012

Magray, Azharul Amin, Kotwal, Bhat, Thakur among 7 cleared for appointment

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Mar 5: With the clearance of the names of five advocates and two judges, the process of filling up all seven existing vacancies of judges in Jammu and Kashmir High Court has begun.

The Collegium, comprising Chief Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifullah and the two senior most judges of the state High Court, namely Mr Justice Virendar Singh and Mr Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, is reliably understood to have held a meeting and cleared the names of seven advocates and judges for their recommendation. The other day only, recommendations are said to have gone separately to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Governor N N Vohra, union Ministry of Justice and Law and Chief Justice of India.  After intelligence and vigilance clearance besides necessary clearance by Chief Justice of India, warrants of appoints are issued on behalf of President of India by Department of Justice of the union Ministry of Justice and Law.

Having sanctioned strength of 9 permanent and 5 additional judges (including Chief Justice), JKHC has currently a total of seven incumbents. As such, seven vacancies are required to be filled up. In case Chief Justice Kalifullah, whose name has been reportedly cleared by Supreme Court of India, is appointed as a judge of Supreme Court in near future, the number of judges in JKHC would further reduce to six and the vacancies would increase to eight.

If knowledgeable sources are to be believed, names of two judges and five advocates have been received by Chief Minister and same are being processed for the state government’s remarks and recommendations. However, Government would be sending its observations in favour of only six candidates. Senior advocate Hakeem Ishtiyaq Hussain, who was believed to be among the seven, has passed away on Monday. He was son of former District and Sessions Judge, Hakeem Ghulam Hussain, and brother of recently retired judge of JKHC and now member of J&K Accountability Commission, Hakeem Imtiyaz Hussain.

Those being considered for recommendations by the state government include Registrar General of JKHC, Mr Janak Raj Kotwal and Principal District & Sessions Judge, Mr Bansi Lal Bhat, who is currently posted as Sessions Judge with CBI’s designated court in J&K. They have been picked up for elevation from the Judicial Service.

Five advocates, including Hakeem Ishtiyaq Hussain, are said to have been picked up from Bar, both in Srinagar and Jammu. They include senior Additional Advocate General, Ali Mohammad Magray, advocate Azharul Amin, senior advocate at Jammu wing of JKHC, Dheeraj Singh Thakur, and advocate Tashi Robertson of Leh who has been practicing law at Jammu wing of JKHC since 1992. Mr Thakur happens to be the son of former additional judge of JKHC, late Devi Das Thakur, who functioned as Deputy Chief Minister in Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s government in 1984-86. Dheeraj’s elder brother, T S Thakur, is already working as a judge of Supreme Court of India.

Among the seven incumbent judges at JKHC, four are from Bar and three from Service. After years of practice in home state Tamil Nadu, Mr Justice Kalifullah was appointed as a judge of Madras High Court on March 2^nd, 2000. He was transferred to JKHC on February 24^th, 2011 and appointed as acting CJ on April 7^th, 2011. On September 18^th, 2011, he took over as CJ of JKHC.

Mr Justice Virendar Singh joined Bar in his home state in 1978. He was appointed as a judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court on July 2^nd, 2002. Later, upon his transfer he joined as a judge of JKHC on April 19^th, 2007.

Mr Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir cracked the state’s Higher Judicial Service Examination with distinction in 1992 and was appointed as District and Sessions Judge of Kupwara on 27-05-1993. He was elevated as additional judge of JKHC on 31-01-2005 and became a permanent judge at the same place on 07-07-2007.

Mr Justice Jai Pal Singh, who belongs to J&K, was appointed as an additional judge of JKHC, after over two decades of legal practice, on 04-10-2005. He was confirmed as a permanent judge of JKHC on 01-10-2009.

Justice Mansoor Mir’s brother, Mr Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, cleared J&K Civil Service (Judicial) Examination in 1992 and was appointed a Munsiff. After holding several key positions in subordinate judiciary, he functioned as Principal DSJ of Srinagar in 2006-07. He was elevated as an additional judge of JKHC on 23-11-2007 and confirmed as a permanent judge on 01-10-2009.

Mr Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, who worked as a legal practitioner at Anantnag and Srinagar, was appointed as an additional judge for JKHC on 05-11-2008. He became a permanent judge on 05-03-2010.

Mr Justice Hasnain Masoodi, who has the distinction of masters from the prestigious Harvard University, was appointed as an additional judge of JKHC, after 27 years of judicial service, on 13-11-2009.

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Sr advocate Hakeem Ishtiyaq passes away

Early Times Report

SRINAGAR, Mar 6: Senior advocate of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Hakeem Ishtiyaq Hussain, has passed away during the process of treatment in New Delhi yesterday. Designated senior advocate by the High Court two years back, he was son of a District and Sessions Judge, late Hakeem Ghulam Hussain, and younger brother of lately retired judge of Jammu & Kashmir High Court and presently Member of J&K Accountability Commission, Justice Hakeem Imtiyaz Hussain. 

Hakeem Ishtiyaq suffered from liver cancer for few years and had recently undergone a surgical procedure at Medicity Hospital, in Delhi.The procedure involved part transplantation of liver donated by his daughter.

Dead body was in being carried from New Delhi to Srinagar by road. Large number of people from all walks of like called on the bereaved family and expressed their condolences. Funeral is likely to take place here today.

Founder editor and publisher of Srinagar Law Journal and Law Publications, Hakeem Ishtiyaq was himself author of several publications including a research-based work on preventive detention laws in vogue in J&K and rest of the country. He had been practicing law at J&K High Court since 1985.

According to highly placed and informed sources, he alongwith senior additional advocate general Ali Mohammad Magray, had emerged as top probable for the two vacancies of judges, from Kashmir Bar, likely to be filled up later this year. According to sources two more incumbents were likely to be picked up from Jammu Bar. Besides, two senior Principal District and Sessions Judges could be elevated and inducted as additional judges in J&K High Court which had more than half of its sanctioned strength vacant.

High Court Bar Association, Srinagar, and Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, have communicated their condolences to the bereaved family, particularly Justice Hakeem Imtiyaz Hussain.

The work remained suspended in all the courts including the High Court and the subordinate courts at Srinagar on Tuesday on the part of lawyers as per the decision of the Executive Committee of HCBA.

To pay homage to the departed soul, a condolence meeting was held today at the conference hall of J&K High Court in Srinagar. A number of lawyers paid rich tributes to their departed colleague and appreciated his unmatched contribution to Bar, legal services and legal research and academics. Being the state’s only law publication, Srinagar Law Journal has published almost all landmark judgments of J&K High Court in the last over 25 years. Hakeem Ishtiyaq had also provided a helping hand to his brother Justice Imtiyaz Hussain in compiling and publishing voluminous books on J&K Service Laws and J&K Revenue Laws. Late Hakeem had also compiled and published a book on the preventive detention laws in vogue in India and the conflict riddled states of north east and Jammu and Kashmir.

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