SHO, 2 PSOs, driver injured in militant strike on Kashmir highway

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
-------------------

SRINAGAR, Jul 31: Station House Officer (SHO) Pattan Inspector Mohammad Saleem Mir was injured alongwith his driver and two personal security officers (PSOs) when suspected militants attacked a Police party at Mirgund on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway on Friday evening.

Informed sources told STATE TIMES that a unit of Police Station Pattan and Police Division Mirgund had put up a naka at Mirgund in the evening after receiving raw inputs regarding possible passage of some militants from Sopore to Srinagar. At around 8.30 p.m. when the Police signalled a Tavera, bearing registration number JK01Q-8792, two unidentified gunmen in it lobbed a hand grenade and fired indiscriminately.

Inspector Saleem Mir, who was in the front, got injured alongwith his two PSOs, namely Dilshad Khan and Mushtaq Ahmad. The civilian driver of his privately hired vehicle Bilal Ahmad Gujri, also sustained injuries. Others of the police party retaliated the fire but the assailants escaped successfully in the reverse direction. Later, all the three injured Policemen were evacuated and admitted to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. The civilian driver with minor splinter injuries was admitted in SKIMS Medical College Bemina.

Doctors attending to the injured at the military hospital said that only the Inspector had sustained a gunshot injury. His PSOs, they said, had splinter injuries. All of them were declared as stable.

Sources said that the assailants abandoned their vehicle which was seized by the Police after the militants escaped in the neighbourhood.

Even as most of the Police officials maintained that they were still busy to ascertain the identities and the organisational affiliation of the assailants, authoritative sources insisted that the assailants were none other than the cadres of the expelled Hizbul Mujahideen commander Qayyum Najar. Najar, the group’s top commander for over three years, has been expelled from Hizbul Mujahideen by chief commander Syed Salah-ud-din last week in the wake of a chain of attacks on mobile telephone operators in Sopore, Pattan and Srinagar.

Deputy Inspector General of Police in North Kashmir Gareeb Das told STATE TIMES that the Police party seized the Tavera used and abandoned by the unidentified militants. He said the identity of its owner would be ascertained by tomorrow as Police had immediately launched an extensive investigation. "We have launched a cordon-and-search operation in the locality alongwith Army and CRPF. We hope to get some clue about the identity of the two militants and their hideout", Mr Das said.

DIG said that it was a routine naka as some inputs last week suggested passage of militants by vehicles from North to South Kashmir. He said that the Tavera was intercepted when it was on way towards Srinagar from Sopore. According to him, Police had laid seven nakas on the highway from Sopore to Srinagar.

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Governor Vohra wants to be relieved on 'health grounds'
 
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
__________

SRINAGAR, Jul 29: On completion of seven years at Raj Bhawan, Narenda Nath Vohra has desired to be relieved as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on 'health grounds'.
 
STATE TIMES has learned from highly placed bureaucratic sources that in the middle of the current month, Mr Vohra sent a confidential communication to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking his retirement as the J&K Governor. According to these sources in Government of India, Mr Vohra has pleaded that he may be relieved around completion of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra as he was feeling it hard to discharge his responsibilities on account of "age and health".
 
Mr Vohra, according to these sources, has been advised to continue till the appointment of his reliever.
 
A retired IAS officer, who served as Union Home Secretary during the peak of militancy in Punjab and beginning of the armed insurgency and political strife in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Vohra had been appointed by Dr Manmohan Singh's UPA government as its interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir. During his frequent visits to Srinagar, he established liaison with a section of the separatist leaders, trying to rope them in for a political dialogue with New Delhi.
 
With his communication of condolences to the separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani on the death of latter's daughter Surraya Jan, Mr Vohra attempted to build a bridge with the Hurriyat stalwart. He however failed to evoke a response he expected and also experienced from some of the moderate separatists.
 
In July 2008, when Governor Lt Gen S.K. Sinha's term ended with the eruption of a regional and communal strife in Jammu and Kashmir, followed by fall of Ghulam Nabi Azad's Congress-PDP coalition, Mr Vohra was appointed as Governor. He functioned as Governor all through the turbulent summers of 2008 and 2010, both times handling the affairs with confidence and aplomb. Assembly elections of 2008 and 2014 besides Lok Sabha elections of 2009 and 2014, as also the Panchayat elections of 2011, were held successfully under Mr Vohra's leadership.
 
Upon the completion of his first term of 5 years, Mr Vohra was again appointed Governor in 2013. However, after tye change of regime and in the wake of removal and resignation of over a dozen Governors and Lt Governors in 2014, Mr Vohra had offered to quit. According to reports, on more than one occasions, he was advised to continue in office with the assurance that the Narendra Modi government had immediately no intention to appoint a new Governor in the sensitive border State of Jammu and Kashmir.
 
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Gill's appointment as J&K Governor approved by PMO

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
________

SRINAGAR, July 28: Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is understood to have approved former Director General of Punjab Police P.S. Gill's appointment as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Highly placed bureaucratic and political sources disclosed to STATE TIMES on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded approval to Mr Gill's appointment as J&K Governor and the PMO has sent the file to the Union Home Ministry for processing the warrant of appointment.

Attempts to seek confirmation from Minister of State Dr Jitender Singh and others in PMO were not successful.

If these sources are to be believed, Mr Gill could be appointed even before the Independence Day of August 15. In its edition of July 16, STATE TIMES had exclusively reported that Mr Gill was in the top consideration zone of BJP high command, with strong support of RSS, for J&K Raj Bhavan. His possible appointment can cut short incumbent Governor Narendra Nath Vohra's second term by 3 years.

On completion of his first term of five years in 2013, Dr Manmohan Singh's Congress-led UPA government had appointed Mr Vohra for another term which would have normally lasted till 2018. However, after the change of regime and Mr Modi’s taking over as Prime Minister in 2014, Mr Vohra had offered to quit when the NDA government removed over a dozen of the Governors and Lt Governors appointed by the previous regime.

According to sources, Mr Vohra had been advised to continue with the assurance that Mr Modi’s government had immediately no intention to appoint a new Governor in the sensitive State of Jammu and Kashmir.

After serving J&K for about 30 years on several key positions, Mr Gill functioned as DGP in his home State of Punjab. He has a remarkable contribution to his credit in fighting militancy and organising the counter-insurgent Special Operations Group of J&K Police in close coordination with Army and paramilitary forces.

Of the senior Police officers of J&K experience, Surendra Nath had been appointed as Governor of Punjab in August 1991 when militancy in that state was at its peak during President’s rule. He had previously served as Advisor to Governor Arjun Singh. On July 9, 1994, when Nath was also holding the charge of Administrator of Chandigarh and Governor of Himachal Pradesh---he was originally a Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer---he died while flying from Chandigarh to Kulu as his Beachcraft crashed into the hilly terrain. His role in fighting militancy in Punjab had been widely appreciated across the country.

Gurbachan Jagat, a Punjab cadre IPS officer who served as DGP of J&K from February 1997 to December 2000, functioned as Governor of Manipur from 2008 to 2013, after serving a stint as DG BSF and member of Union Public Service Commission. For the last 18 months of his tenure, he worked as Chairman of UPSC.

Gopal Sharma, an IPS officer of J&K cadre, who served as DGP in J&K during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s PDP-Congress coalition from 2004 to 2007, functioned as Advisor (Security) to Governor Jagat in Manipur.

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When I broke Kargil for the world

 

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

_______

Had my affectionate editor Mr SD Rohmetra been at his office, I am sure I wouldn't have been able to break the news of Kargil War. Meticulously responsible in such matters like any perfect editor, he would have said: "Fayyaz, I have checked with Army Commander (GOC-in-C Northern Command), Jaitly (Chief Secretary) and Jagat (DGP). It's not correct".

 

For my good luck, Mr Rohmetra was on a tour, perhaps with PM or President, in Europe. Kamal, his elder son in office, called me to know if I would be filing any story. I asked him for 5 column banner lead on page one even when I was still reverifying my facts. I didn't disclose the subject, nor did Kamal press. I also wanted to send it late so that others at office got no time to put their brains on it. I knew it that nobody will trust me in reporting that more than 300 from Pakistan had intruded into Kargil, captured areas deep into the Indian-held territories and a "war" had begun while as India and rest of the world had no inkling of it.

 

It was May 11, 1999, same day when GOC 15 Corps (Lt Gen Krishen Pal) sent his first confirmation of the incursion of over 300 Pakistani soldiers and militants to Command headquarters and Army headquarters. The intrusion had been first reported by some shepherds on May 3. It was first confirmed to their high ups by 121 Infantry Brigade and 3rd Infantry Division on May 7. After some startling inputs, I got the first unwitting confirmation of the three battlions' air dropping into Kargil from then SSP of Kupwara Manmohan Singh who, I am sure, didn't have any estimation of this matter's sensitivity. He had learned from local army officers that all units of paratroopers  (special forces) were being airlifted to Ladakh. I am sure, he had not found it important to share with IGP or DGP Gurbachan Jagat. I called some senior officials of State government to know if there was "any major infiltration in Ladakh". As usual, they invariably said "no, not to my knowledge". I am sure, none of them had an inkling of the war having begun secretly in Kargil. I was keen not to leak it to Government and media with my calls and questions.

 

Those days, we were 6 months old on Internet but there was no threat from the TV channels, now in a great competition. Besides, there was no Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc which now outsmart even the best of our competitive reporters. I had an idea that despite warning such a situation as long back as in January 1998, IB, RAW, MI and other Indian intelligence agencies were either ill-informed, or confused or nonplussed or at least secretive and none of them could pass it on to PTI whose Defence correspondents had always broken the news of a war in India.

 

My only competitions in the entire media world were Vikram Jit Singh​, then head of Srinagar bureau of Indian Express and Praveen Swami​ who then reported only for Frontline. I knew Frontline didn't publish daily but I was almost certain that Vikram could be informed. I wouldn't think about Barkha Dutt and others who later dominated the battlefront in reporting the developments. I was happy to find that on May 12, 1999, it was nowhere in the world other than in Daily Excelsior. The banner lead as I had desired. In Press Enclave that day, most of my colleagues cut me dead. Some of them had no knowledge of my scoop, others wanted to pose as if it was just a gossip but senior colleague Altaf Hussain of then BBC advised me that I should report such sensitive things only when the information is "logged" in official records. He told me there was no truth in it as he had spoken to all the concerned about the Excelsior story and none of them------Chief Secretary, DGP, BGS at 15 Corps-----had confirmed it to him. Without arguing, I assured Altaf Sahab that my story was "100% correct". He just smiled. Later, senior colleague Yusuf Jameel​ sahab also bumped into me outside his office. With a usual smile, characteristic of him only, Jameel sahab too gave me his words of wisdom. He too advised that one must take extreme care in verification of such sensitive issues.

 

On the same evening, Rashid Rahi of CNS told me that he had asked almost all the important officers in state government and army but nobody had confirmed it to him. I asked him "Did they contradict it? If they did, please carry a story". He said "They say we neither confirm it nor contradict it". For him it was "contradiction" but for me it was a "confirmation". Rahi immediately called up Vikram Jit and asked him about my story. Not knowing that I was there too, Vikram told Rahi "Yes, it is correct. I have unfortunately missed it". We all knew that Vikram alone had done the most authentic stories on army related matters as, we were told, he was pretty resourceful and one of his close relatives was also a Major General.

 

It was, however, only on May 14 or 15 that PRO Defence at 15 Corps, Maj Purshottam, who later died in a fidayeen attack at his office, called me to inform that the hell had broken loose with my story. He said that Army has ordered an internal inquiry but was relieved that he had not leaked it as nobody other than Corps Commander and BGS knew about the "war". When Brig Surinder Singh (121) and (Maj Gen of 3rd Infantry Div) landed in trouble while facing a tirade from Delhi and casualties of jawans on the war front, I was told they would "kill" me for sure. Purshottam said that everybody from Delhi was asking for EXCELSIOR report and he had faxed them copies of my published story. Next day it dominated TV and print media. Everybody began reproducing my story without credit claiming that it was being reported "first" by his or her TV or newspaper.

 

Friend and colleage Muzamil Jaleel​ stopped his bike at my gate (I had just shifted residence from MLA Hostel to Jawahar Nagar) and introduced me to Indian Express' Dedence Correspondent Gaurav Sawant, now working with TV. They wanted to know if i was interested to accompany them to Kargil for reporting. I told them that we would use PTI as we couldn't leave Valley free. Moths later, Muzamil told me how everybody at a meeting with K Subrahmanyam (head of Kargil Review Committee) had claimed to have broken the Kargil war. It was great of Muzamil, then extremely sincere and straightforward, to confront some colleagues. "I got up and shouted that it had been done by none other than Ahmed Ali Fayyaz in Excelsior of May 12", Muzamil said. Later, he informed me after a foreign tour, that JANES DEFENCE WEEKLY had recorded correctly that the Kargil War news had been first broken by me in Daily Excelsior.

 

The day Subrahmanyam's team landed in Srinagar, Director of Information K.B. Jandial called me. He said that KRC members want to interact with media at SKICC tomorrow. "Is is going to be a press conference?", I asked Mr Jandia. "No, just an informal interaction with journalists. They want you to attend", he said. I immediately made it clear to Mr Jandial that I would attend only if it is a press conference. "If the KRC members want to learn how I broke the story, they should come to me rather than expecting me to visit them", I clarified and refused to attend.

 

Barkha Dutt did perhaps the best of the Kargil coverage, inspite of a few goof ups, but even India's arguably the best TV journalist never reported who had broken the news of the war first.

 

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Five grenade blasts rock Srinagar after NSA's visit

◆DGP says 'Sopore module footprints' evident in fresh offensive

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
_________ 

SRINAGAR, Jul 24: In just two days of the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's maiden visit to assess the security scenario in Kashmir, suspected militants on Friday rocked the summer capital of Srinagar with a chain of five hand grenades, albeit taking care apparently that there were no fatal casualties.

It was for the first time in the last over two years that the unidentified persons carried out a series of grenade attacks in uptown Srinagar and spread a wave of terror around the government’s seat of power and the civil lines. In an attempt to reduce the level of panic, authorities labelled two blasts as "not subversive", insisting that one was a “firecracker” and another an accidental explosion of a “vehicle's battery”.

Government officials seemed to be labouring under the apprehension that the news of five grenade attacks around the time of Amarnath Yatra could scare away pilgrims and tourists.

Informed official sources nonetheless told STATE TIMES that in the first attack, suspected militants appeared at a franchise of the telecommunication company Aircel at Karan Nagar. They commandeered all the employees, salesmen and customers out and lobbed a Chinese grenade that caused extensive damage to the showroom interior. Nobody was injured in the blast caused around 400 metres from the offices of IGP Kashmir and other senior Police officers at 11.15 a.m.

A franchise of the telecommunication company Vodafone became the target of the second identical attack at Gole Market, Karan Nagar. Eyewitnesses said that everybody was asked to move out before the suspected militants threw a grenade at 11.30 a.m. The showroom suffered considerable damage.

The third grenade hit a BSNL base transceiver station at the premises of one Ali Mohammad Dar close to Police Station Shaheed Gunj, 400 meters from Civil Secretariat. An auto driver sustained splinter injuries.

Subsequently, another grenade blast occurred at Gogjibagh, in close vicinity of a CRPF battalion headquarters. It didn’t cause any damage. Police officials claimed it was a cracker blast. The fifth explosion of the day took place at Magarmal Bagh. Police claimed it was an accidental blast in a vehicle's battery.

Informed sources, however, insisted that the 4th and the 5th explosion were also "grenade blasts aimed at spreading a wave of terror without causing casualties". They insisted that small size Chinese grenades were used in all the five attacks. Tyres of two parked vehicle did burst in the blast caused at Gogjibagh.

Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar told STATE TIMES that he visited the spots and later took a meeting with senior Police, CRPF and intelligence officers. "We believe that it was the handiwork of a militant network mainly operating in Sopore-Pattan belt of North Kashmir. Footprints of the estranged Hizbul Mujahideen militant Qayoom Najar are evident in all the three grenade attacks", DGP said.

Rajendra revealed that Police had recovered same type of lever and ballistic material from two spots which had been previously recovery in identical attacks this year in Sopore and Pattan. "We are working on it and we are sure to solve these blasts very soon", DGP asserted. He said it was clearly an offensive of Qayoom Najar's group.

Significantly, in a statement purportedly issued from across the LoC on Thursday, Hizbul Mujahideen’s spokesman claimed that his organisation had expelled Najar for attacking innocent people, particularly those associated with mobile telephony. A number of civilians had died and sustained injuries in a series of such attacks, mostly in Sopore-Pattan area of Baramulla district two months back.

An unknown outfit launched under the banner of Lashkar-e-Islam had claimed these attacks while directing people associated with mobile telephony to immediately stop their business operations in Kashmir. However, most of the militant and separatist groups had alleged that the Indian agencies were behind the offensive. After the Hizb statement, it has become clear that none other than the organisation's most feared militant Qayoom Najar had carried out the attacks. Najar's rejoinder or clarification has not been received by news offices on Friday.

END

Amid hectic lobbying with BCCI, Farooq returns with "support" of Srinivasan's lobby and a BJP Minister

◆Imran Ansari too lobbying in New Delhi

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
------------------
SRINAGAR, Jul 22: An influential cricket coterie loyal to the former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Narayanaswami Srinivasan is understood to have assured "full support" to the Farooq Abdullah-led body of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) elected for a term of three years in 2014 but toppled through a controversial meeting of the Working Committee and mid-term election on last Monday.

During his two-day stay in New Delhi, Dr Abdullah is understood to have met a number of his old contacts in BCCI besides a Union Cabinet Minister who, according to highly placed sources, assured the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister that BCCI would continue to recognise only the body of the working committee and office bearers who have been elected in May 2014.

N. Srinivasan, the former BCCI President who landed into a controversy on account of the activities of his son-in-law last year, continues to be the most influential person in the Indian cricket world. He is also currently Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was, in June 2015, reelected as President of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) contrary to many speculations. Sources revealed to STATE TIMES on Wednesday that Srinivasan and his strong lobby in BCCI have assured "total support" to Dr Abdullah.

Equally significant is the support a senior BJP leader and Cabinet Minister, who is also an important functionary of BCCI, has reportedly lent to Dr Abdullah when the two met in New Delhi the other day.

BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmia, Joint Secretary Amitabh Choudhary and Treasurer Anirudh Choudhary are some of very important people of Srinivasan's coterie.

Both the contenders for the top position of the President in Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA)---former Chief Minister and the opposition National Conference supremo Dr Farooq Abdullah and the ruling PDP leader and Minister incharge Sports Imran Raza Ansari---have started intense lobbying to win the recognition of the BCCI.

While as Ansari had been installed by a dissident group with visible support of the Mufti Sayeed government as President through a disputed election on Monday, Dr Abdullah on Tuesday claimed to have captured back headquarters of JKCA as a civil court in Jammu had put the Minister's election in abeyance. He held a press conference at the same place where the Minister had taken control of the association a day before.

Both, Dr Abdullah and Ansari, left for New Delhi on Tuesday ostensibly to pursue their routine schedules. While as Dr Abdullah was to be the guest of honour at a function where the former RAW chief A.S. Dulat's book "Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years" was to be released on Wednesday, Ansari was to attend a diplomatic dinner hosted by the American embassy.

Dr Abdullah returned to Srinagar in the afternoon today while as Mr Ansari would be returning tomorrow. However, there is a possibility of his staying in New Delhi for one or two more days as Thursday's Cabinet meeting in Srinagar has been cancelled.

Sources in New Delhi said that Monday's controversial election of JKCA, in which a government-controlled group of the Working Committee toppled Dr Abdullah and installed the Minister of Sports Imran Raza Ansari as the new President, had already become an issue of prestige for the Mufti establishment that, according to another PDP Minister, would leave "no stone unturned to influence the BCCI through the coalition partner BJP so that Ansari's election as President is protected".

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'Mehboob can do anything but never expected it from Imran'

 
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
_________

SRINAGAR, July 21: During Tuesday's press conference at headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), National Conference supremo and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah turned a little emotional while mentioning that the Mufti Sayeed government's coup to dislodge him from the post of the President had at its forefront Minister of Sports Imran Raza Ansari.
 
"Mehboob (bureaucrat Mehboob Iqbal who has joined PDP after his retirement and has been elected as Chairman of JKCA in place of senior Congress leader Arvinder Singh Micky on Monday) can do anything but I had never expected it from Imran. I feel sad that Imran is part of this game. We have had deep family relationships. I made his father Minister even when he was in Congress", Dr Abdullah said about the young cleric-politician who for years was like a son to the former Chief Minister and whose father late Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari was known for his proximity to Dr Abdullah. 

According to reports as lately as on the day of Eid on last Saturday, two of the PDP's Cabinet Ministers called on Dr Abdullah’s son and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with their greetings. One of them was Imran Ansari. 

Imran's father Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari had shot into political prominence when he gave a tough fight to Dr Abdullah’s mother Begam Akbar Jahan who nonetheless defeated the Shia leader from Srinagar with a sizable margin in Lok Sabha elections of 1977. Later, Ansari joined Congress and contested Assembly elections against NC in 1977 when he lost to Abdul Rashid Shaheen and also in 1983 when he won and defeated Shaheen---both times from Pattan. In 1984, Ansari as head of Congress Legislature Party and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee played key role in dislodging Dr Abdullah as Chief Minister, engineering defection in NC and installing GM Shah as the new CM. 

However, when Congress under Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi's leadership formed a coalition with NC in 1987, Ansari emerged as Chief Minister Dr Abdullah’s bosom friend. Congress with Dr Abdullah’s favour inducted him as a Cabinet Minister in 1989. Thereafter, Ansari's intimate relationship with Dr Abdullah dominated Kashmir's mainstream politics. 

In 1996, NC helped Ansari win on Congress ticket from Pattan. He defeated Janata Dal candidate Abdul Rashid Shaheen. Notwithstanding stiff resistance from within his NC which had got two-third majority of its own, Dr Abdullah inducted Ansari into his Cabinet as Minister of Housing and Urban Development. He was once removed for his alleged involvement in so-called Sidhra land scam which was not established in Justice retired KK Gupta's commission of inquiry. However, allegedly under influence of Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly and CM's Principal Secretary BR Singh, then DGP rank IPS officer and Vigilance Commissioner RV Raju indicted Ansari. It didn’t affect relationship between Ansari and Dr Abdullah. 

However, relationship between the two political heavyweights turned sour between when Ansari was allegedly humiliated by some NC leaders and bureaucrats and CM ignored it. Finally, Ansari resigned from NC in 2005. Later that year he joined PDP. Even after that, the duo had been occasionally visiting each other till Ansari passed away in 2014. 

Ansari's sons used to call Dr Abdullah as their 'Uncle'.


FAROOQ REMOVED IMRAN’S NAME FROM FIR APPLICATION 

Informed sources revealed to STATE TIMES that even while drafting an application to SHO Ram Munshi Bagh seeking registration of FIR for "trespassing" against some JKCA men, Dr Abdullah removed Minister Imran Ansari's name. When his colleagues asked for reason, he told them that Imran was "just a boy, who is being used by some other people". The application mentions only the names of Iqbal Shah, Abdul Rauf, Mohammad Iqbal, Javed Ahmad Kitab, Ashraf Bhat and Manzoor Ahmad Wazir.

END