UP govt in crisis over portfolios
Non-BJP Ministers up in arms

LUCKNOW, Nov 21 (PTI) — Sore at "discrimination" in portfolio distribution by Chief Minister Ram Parkash Gupta, three key constituents of the BJP-led ministry in Uttar Pradesh today decided to boycott the first meeting of the Cabinet tomorrow, an exercise which was promptly put off.

The boycott decision by the LCP, the JBSP and the JD (R) forced the postponement of the Cabinet meeting even as an official spokesman said the meeting was "not on the agenda" of the Chief Minister.

He said a new date for the meeting would be announced later.

A day after Mr Gupta allocated portfolios to his ministerial colleagues, the LCP, the JBSP and the JD (R), at their separate meetings today, decided to boycott the Cabinet meeting and announced their representatives in the ministerial council would not take charge unless their grievances were addressed to.

The LCP President Mr Naresh Agarwal, JBSP spokesman Jai Narain Tewari and JD (R) leader Rajaram Pandey told mediapersons here the coalition partners would chalk out their future course of action if their grievances were not redressed.

"Our ministers will not take charge of their respective offices till our grievances on allocation of portfolios are redressed," the three leaders said.

Mr Agarwal said he would raise the issue with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee when he visited Delhi on November 25. Mr Tewari said the JBSP Executive Committee would meet here on November 26 to discuss the issue. He warned if immediate corrective measures were not taken, the BJP would be responsible for the consequences.

The allies are sore at the allocation of portfolios, alleging that their ministers have been given insignificant departments.

Asked if the government would be reduced to a minority after the boycott, Mr Aggarwal said: "You can interpret it in any way you like".

He said his party had taken exception to the comment of the Chief Minister that the portfolios had been allotted according to "merit" of the ministers. "The Chief Minister will have to clarify what he meant by merit", he fumed.

He said the Chief Minister should withdraw his statement. "Mr Gupta should also make it clear whether merit means experience of the minister or sycophancy".

Mr Aggarwal reacted sharply to another comment of the Chief Minister that he might think in terms of deciding on mid-term poll, saying "we supported the BJP-led government for the sake of stability in the state, but the Chief Minister's statement suggests otherwise".

Admitting that his party was prepared for mid-term poll, he, however, remarked that the situation did not demand it.

The LCP leader said the party ministers would talk to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in this regard on November 25, when the latter was scheduled to visit Lucknow.

Charging the BJP with intending to run the government as its "sister concern", Mr Aggarwal said. He (Gupta) must withdraw the word "efficiency".

He, however, said his party was ready to enter into any kind of dialogue with the Chief Minister to resolve the issue.

Stressing the need to form a co-ordination committee, he said similar problems might arise in future if such a committee was not formed.

3,000 youths in J&K missing
From Arshad H. Naqshbandi

SRINAGAR, Nov 21 (PTI) — Faced with the appalling disappearance of youths in Kashmir, desperate parents are still hoping for their safe return even as the increasing number of missing persons in the state in recent months has put the authorities on tenterhooks apprehending an upsurge in militancy.

During the decade-long militancy, the cases of disappearance of youths have increased as unofficial estimates put the number of those who remain untraced at about 3,000 with aggrieved parents and relatives on a relentless pursuit of the missing ones.

Abdul Rashid Bhat, a resident of the Nishat area here, has been running from pillar to post in a bid to obtain any clue about his missing college-going son Mohammad Ishaq, who disappeared from Gandhi Memorial College here on October 11, 1995.

"He (Ishaq) left for college on the fateful day and never returned home. The whole family is shattered and has suffered for four years as his memories continue to haunt us," recalls visibly disturbed Bhat.

Bhat and his relatives, after a fruitless search for Ishaq or his dead body, had already performed his last rites as per Islamic traditions but in their heart of hearts the entire family was still waiting for him to return.

The relentless search for his missing son has left Bhat in a state of bankruptcy as getting any information requires greasing palm of that source.

"I’m not going to give up. Even in providing false information about his (Ishaq’s) whereabouts, people have cheated me umpteen times treating me as a lunatic father," contends Bhat, 49, who owns a shop near the famous Mughal Garden.

Bhat, who earlier had approached the police, the BSF, Army and the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to investigate his son’s case and failed to get any clues, got some relief when the state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah ordered an inquiry into the disappearance of Ishaq on September 25 last.

As the state government instituted an inquiry into Ishaq’s case, thousands of aggrieved parents urged for similar treatment to ascertain the fate of their missing wards.

The alarming increase in the number of missing youths from almost all districts of Kashmir during recent months has sounded alarm bells for the authorities who apprehend and link their disappearance to the revival of the waning militancy in the state.

"There has been an increase in reports of missing youths as is evident from number of FIRs being filed by parents in local police stations of the various districts", admits a senior police official on condition of anonymity.

Expressing concern over the increasing incidence of missing youths, he says the militant outfits in a desperate attempt to revive dwindling militancy were engaged in a recruitment drive for youths, who either were pushed across the Line of Control (LOC) or trained in local camps.

Well-placed sources in the BSF admitted to have identified 50 to 60 youths missing during recent months from Srinagar and Budgam districts who might have gone across the border for arms training.

Army in recent past has been successful in curbing exfiltration of Kashmiri youths along the LOC.

At least 16 youths were arrested by the Army while trying to exfiltrate from Kupwara sector on July 6.

"We have information that some boys are missing from Kupwara area as militant outfits lure young boys into their fold and our effort is to create awareness among youths about the hazards of militancy and curb exfiltration," says an Army officer stationed in frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir.

Over the past few months, a plethora of appeals by parents to missing youths have been appearing in local dailies.

Still in a state of shock over the mysterious disappearance of his youngest son on September 19, Ghulam Nabi Mir and his family find it hard to believe that Firdaous Ahmed, a 12th standard student, is missing after playing in nearby ground.

"My son was seen playing cricket with his friends when people last saw him and has since disappeared for reasons unknown to me," says Mir, a resident of Biner Kahdoora in Baramulla district in north Kashmir.

Denying that his son might have joined militant ranks, Mir fumes with anger saying his son had no such inclination.

"This is to rub salt into my wounds. I know my son better than anyone else and he didn’t have any urge or sympathy towards militancy," says Mir, a farmer.

Though officials admit the reports of missing persons in Kashmir, the exact number of such cases was yet to be ascertained. Unofficial estimates put the number in recent months at about 1,000.

According to the police, most of the missing youths aged between 15-18 years had either been lured by militant outfits or were being abducted to join militant ranks and in many cases parents did not report the cases of missing children for fear of drawing attention of security agencies. — PTI