Srinagar, December 6
Latest proposals of Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf to resolve Kashmir issue, have evoked varied reaction among mainstream and separatist political parties in Jammu and Kashmir. General Musharraf in an interview on Tuesday disfavoured independence for Jammu and Kashmir if India accepted his four suggestions which include demilitirisation and self-governance.

National Conference President, Omar Abdullah has asked the Centre to come forward with a “positive response” to the new four-point formula put forward by the Pakistan President. He lamented while Pakistan had extended its hand of friendship through the new suggestions, India rejected it without giving a thought to the new formula on the pattern of the NC autonomy resolution.

Mr Omar Abdullah urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stick to his (PM’s) assurances for resolving the Kashmir in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the two neighbouring countries. Referring to the Prime Minister’s assertion at Amritsar on the occasion of flagging off a train to Nankana Sahib, Omar held that the PM had expressed willingness to consider any plan to unite two Kashmirs. He urged the Centre to adopt a comprehensive approach in view of General Musharraf’s new suggestions.

The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also asked India to respond positively to the suggestion of the Pakistan’s President on a final solution to the Kashmir problem. It showed Pakistan was serious to solve the Kashmir issue and added the APHC supported the suggestions of the Pakistan’s president.

The hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called a meeting of all its constituent parties to deliberate on the proposals. Mr Geelani has been unhappy with the approach of the Pakistan leadership with its changing stance on Kashmir in the recent years.

The United Jchad Council, a conglomeration of different militant organisations, led by Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahuddin has also rejected the proposals of the Pakistan’s president. In a statement here a spokesman of the UJC said nothing short of the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir was acceptable. 

Srinagar, December 6
Six persons, including three Army jawans, were killed as avalanches triggered by snowfall struck a forward post in the Uri and Karnah sectors of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said today.

An avalanche trapped four Army personnel manning a forward post at Dokhi-Bahak in the Bijhama area of the Uri sector in Baramula district last night, a defence spokesman said.

While one of them was rescued alive by a rescue team, three others, found unconscious, later succumbed, the spokesman added.

In another incident, official sources said, three personnel of the General Road Engineering Force were buried alive under a snow avalanche while they were returning to their camp after road clearance at Zalrah in Kupwara district last night.

They were travelling in a snow-clearance machine when the avalanche trapped them, the sources said, adding the rescue parties had launched an operation to retrieve their bodies.

Hundreds remained stranded on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for the second day today after the road was closed due to landslides and shooting of stones, triggered by heavy rains.

Official sources said fresh landslides were reported between Ramban and Ramsu due to heavy rain since last evening. — PTI, UNI

Srinagar, December 6
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of a person who was illegally arrested and rendered disabled by the security forces in 1990.

Disposing of a petition filed by Abdul Rahim Dar, father of the victim, Justice J.P. Singh, in his order issued last week, directed the state to deposit Rs 2 lakh with the court within one month as compensation to the victim Mohd Ayub Dar.

“I would have recommended the matter to the government to decide the requisite compensation, but his deprivation for 16 long years comes in the way. To protect the petitioner and his son from further agony, I have thought it fit to determine compensation in these proceedings so that the petitioner, who has already entered into the evening of his life, succeeds in securing justice for his son during his life time,” the judge observed.

Dar, in his petition, said soldiers of the Rajput Rifles arrested his son from his residence on April 10, 1990. He was kept in custody for 45 days and severely tortured, which rendered him mentally deranged. He was released after the intervention of the then Governor of the state.

A medical board headed by the head department of Psychiatric Diseases Hospital examined him. The board, in its report, said “Ayub has been diagnosed as a case of chronic schizophrenia (long duration mental disease) and requires treatment over a prolonged period.” The report of neuro-psychiatrist SKIMS Medical College Hospital, Bemina, said “ Ayub is not in a position to earn his livelihood.” Frustrated, Dar filed a petition in the court, seeking Rs 20 lakh as compensation for rendering his son permanently disabled. — PTI