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Congress rebels pacified Pruning of council not viable, says Baig Anti militancy operations intensified
Four militants killed |
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Gen Vij visits
forward areas JCO commits suicide Four artisans
selected for national awards Four craftpersons and weavers from Jammu and Kashmir are among the 49 master craftpersons and weavers selected from all over the country for national awards for the years 2000 and 2001, an official spokesman said here today. Probe into missing manuscript o n, says VeeriJammu, December 13 The investigation in the case of the missing manuscript of the Quran bearing seal of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb is on, Minister of State for Education and Parliamentary Affairs Abdul Rehman Veeri said today. Entry of rock salt
from HP banned The Consumer Affairs Department of Jammu and Kashmir has banned the entry of rock salt from the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. The Director, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Mr P.S. Betab, today ordered that the rock salt mined in Gumma and Darang mines of Mandi district should not be allowed to enter Jammu and Kashmir. 
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Congress rebels pacified Jammu, December 13 The party high command is learnt to have asked the dissidents here not to precipitate the matters as the opposition parties were already trying to make a laughing stock of the Congress in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The PCC president, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, who shuttled between here and Delhi almost every day earlier during the week in a bid to control the revolt-like situation by a section of the party men here, has silenced the dissidents by giving them an assurance that the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, will visit here sometime in the middle of next month to settle their grievances. The problem has mainly arisen following the denial of berth to certain Congress legislators in the coalition ministry and chairmanship of a board or corporation recently by the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed. Although there were indications that the ministry might be expanded by the chief minister by including some Congress dissidents, but those close to the Mufti claim that the Chief Minister himself being of the PDP could not induct any Congress MLA in the Cabinet unless his name was sponsored by the Congress leadership. He had inducted the ministers and the chairpersons of the Congress only after approval by their leadership. The dissidents as well as the opposition BJP have also been saying that insignificant portfolios have been given to the ministers belonging to the Congress. However, Mr Azad denied these allegations and told this correspondent that the Mufti in consultation with the party leadership did the allocation of portfolios. The National Conference was trying to utilise the opportunity to create uncertainty in the state by claiming that it was in a position to topple the Mufti government. However, the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, who is from the Congress, has been the main target of the dissidents. The dissidents as well as a large section of senior leaders of the Congress were not satisfied with the functioning of the ministers belonging to the party. They accuse most of these ministers of having failed to exert their authority in watching the interests of Jammu which was providing an opportunity to the Opposition to criticise the Congress. |
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Pruning of council not viable, says Baig Jammu, December 13 Prof Bhim Singh, who is a member of the Upper House, had tabled a resolution in the Legislative Council the other day but the government opted to defer the Bill as it did not want to hurt the sentiments of a leader who supports the coalition government. The Finance Minister, Mr Muzzaffar Hussain Baig, said limiting the size of the Council of Ministers to 10 per cent of the total number of seats was not viable and that too in a coalition government. Had the government allowed the adoption of the Bill it would have restricted the number of ministers to nine because the total number of Assembly seats is 89, including the two nominated members. At present there are 31 members in the council headed by Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, and still more than six MLAs belonging to the Congress, the PDP and the PDF, have been clamouring for a berth in the ministry. Those who were critical of Prof Bhim Singh’s suggestion wanted the Panthers Party leader to apply his suggestion in his party. The party has four MLAs and two are in the Council of Ministers. They said if Prof Bhim Singh’s suggestion was made applicable the party could not expect to have even one member in the Council of Ministers. However, Prof Bhim Singh had argued on the floor of the Legislative Council that limiting the size of the ministers to 10 per cent of the total number of Assembly seats was called for because of the resource crunch. His formula is not acceptable to either the Congress, that is keen to include at least three more MLAs in the Council of Ministers, or the PDP or the PDF. Leaders of the coalition government are aware of the fact that even in case of a marginal pruning of the size of the ministry the government could fall like a house of cards as for the past one year the National Conference has been trying to bait on dissidents in the Congress, the PDP, and the
PDF. |
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Anti militancy operations intensified Anantnag, December 13 The Army operating in the area aims at eliminating militants, claims Major General J.S. Lidder, GOC of Awantipora based Victor Force. The thrust areas would be towns of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian Kulgam, Beijbehara and Budgam. The fore along with the ITBP is responsible for the security of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway upto Jawahar Tunnel. Among militant groups who have presence in the area are Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami and Al Bader. At least 273 militants of various groups were killed by security forces this year, while 66 others were apprehended. The number of weapons recovered from militants every year ranges between 300 to 400. The area, which is considered to be the hub of political, tourist and commercial activity is also home of the Amarnath cave and Chrar-e-Sharief. In order to provide security on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, various measures have also been taken. These include night patrolling of the highway jointly by the Army, ITBP and the local police. |
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Jammu/Srinagar, December 13 One security personnel was also injured in the gunbattle which took place when a joint force of the police, BSF and Army launched a search operation in Gool forest of Udhampur district on specific information about the presence of militants, official sources said. Identified as Asgar Bhai, the militant was tehsil commander of the outfit in Gool belt. Three militants, including two Pakistani nationals, and a special police officer were also killed since last evening, official sources said today. Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in a gunfight with a joint ambush party of the police and Rashtriya Rifles at Qaider village of Anantnag district this morning. The militants identified as Idris Bhai of Pakistan and his local accomplice Mudasir Ahmad Parray, alias Abu Shaheen were wanted in connection with several cases and had escaped when security personnel raided their hideout in Shopian last evening. In another encounter, Rashtriya Rifles personnel killed a Pakistani militant of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, Mohammad Mansoor of Sargoda, during search operations at Natnoosa in Kupwara district. A special police officer Barkat Ahmad Naikoo was dragged out of his residence by militants in Gund Chabotra village of Kupwara district and shot dead last night, the sources said. Militants also killed a village Chowkidar Gulzar Ahmad Malik at Chitragam in Pulwama district suspecting him to be an informer of security personnel.
— PTI |
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Gen Vij
visits forward areas
Jammu, December 13 General Vij visited the state second time since the ceasefire on the border was declared. The Army chief met several field commanders and senior functionaries who briefed him on the situation on the border. Official sources said that the Army chief was informed that there had been no violation of the ceasefire on either side of the LoC in the past 19 days of ceasefire.
He was briefed that though infiltration from across the LoC had decreased considerably small groups of rebels continued to sneak into the Indian territory. |
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JCO commits suicide Srinagar, December 13 Official sources said JCO Baldev Singh of 46 Rashtriya Rifles shot himself dead inside his camp. He was rushed to a hospital by his colleagues but was declared brought dead, the sources said.
— PTI |
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Four
artisans selected for national awards Jammu, December 13 Nazir Ahmed Mir has been selected for the award for papier machie craft in the handicrafts sector for the year 2000 while Ghulam Mohammed Qazi gets the national merit certificate for carpet weaving. For the year 2001, Ghulam Hyder Mirza and Akhter Hussain Rather have been selected for the national merit certificate in the handicrafts sector for papier machie, the spokesman said. The winners of the national award get Rs 25,000 and a certificate while those of merit certificate receive Rs 5,000 and a certificate.
— PTI |
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Probe into missing manuscript on,
says Veeri Jammu, December 13 Indications are that some insiders of the SPS Museum in Srinagar, where it was kept, may have collaborated with vested interests in stealing the manuscript, Mr Veeri said and added that the truth would be known only after completion of the probe. The manuscript was found missing on September 11. Mr Veeri said security arrangements had been beefed up in and around the museum and other archives in the state to ensure safety of valuable
historical documents and other items. — PTI |
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Entry
of rock salt from HP banned Jammu, December 13 He said import and movement of the non-iodised salt and iodised salt above 1 mm size in volume had already been banned in the state. The salt from the two mines in Himachal Pradesh was commonly known as “cattle lick” which could be consumed only by the cattle because of over 30 per cent content of minerals and silica that were injurious to health. |
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Jammu, December 13