Jammu Srinagar

MFN status to Pak unfortunate: Cong
SRINAGAR, Aug 4 — Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP K.M. Khan yesterday said that the Centre’s move to continue with the most favoured nation status to Pakistan was unfortunate and said the government should reconsider the decision.

Power crisis may trouble NC
JAMMU, Aug 4 — Growing student unrest over the failure of several thousand candidates having been denied admission in degree colleges and acute electricity crisis may ultimately prove an Achilles' heel for the ruling National Conference in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the Jammu region.

2 militants killed in valley
SRINAGAR, Aug 4 — Two militants were killed and another was arrested in two separate operations in the Kashmir valley today, an official spokesman said here.

• 10th batch leaves for Pahalgam

Will Mufti Sayeed succeed?
From M. L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 4 — Will Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who after resigning from the Congress floated a regional party, the Peoples Democratic Party, emerge as Sant Longowal in the troubled Kashmir valley? This question has assumed significance following reports that several individuals, who matter in political circles in Delhi and other agencies support the Mufti’s idea of holding unconditional talks with the separatists including the militants.

During turbulent period in Punjab the Union Government had to bank upon Sant Longowal who acted as a mediator between the Government and the extremists with the result the backbone of militancy in Punjab was broken the moment Mr Longowal assumed power.

Inside reports say that the Mufti had been approached by several political leaders during the past six months for taking steps which could motivate militants to join the national mainstream though under a major political and economic package.

According to these reports, the Mufti had planned to start mediations on the Congress platform but when he was not encouraged he quit the Congress to float the regional party which was bound to provide suitable platform for those among the separatists who were not prepared to align themselves either with the Congress or the National Conference.

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is said to have the support of those agencies that favour greater autonomy to the state which could encourage the militants to join the national mainstream. Majority of people and several activists of various militant outfits have realised the futility of violence which they had used either for achieving freedom or Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan are said to be willing to follow Kashmir’s new "Sant" provided measures were taken in hand for the restoration of pre-1953 constitutional status to the state.

Those agencies and individuals who have been supporting the Mufti’s line of action for restoring peace to the state could have utilised the services of the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who has been an ardent supporter of greater autonomy and regional autonomy.

But majority of separatists and militants were in no mood to have any truck with Dr Abdullah and his National Conference. The reason they gave was that under the three-year rule of the National Conference the economic and political scenario in the state witnessed rapid degeneration with the problem of corruption, unemployment and other ills having remained unresolved.

Reports also indicated that several influential political lobbies in America were trying to persuade Pakistan to accept conversion of the Line of Control into a permanent border as the most suitable solution. And even if Islamabad ultimately agreed to this settlement, chances being remote, it should have the backing of the majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir. And in order to prepare the people for this peaceful settlement Mufti Sayeed and his daughter, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, could act as a bridge between Srinagar and Delhi.

In the light of these behind-the-scene activities the future of Mufti Sayeed and his daughter, who treat themselves as peace-makers, depends on the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. If the Mufti’s Peoples’ Democratic Party draws a blank in the elections he may not be in a position to emerge as a Kashmiri Sant although his PDP has to win three out of six seats and that could vindicate his stand on initiating a dialogue with the militants.

For the Mufti the task of defeating the National Conference in three constituencies of Srinagar, Baramula and Anantnag is as difficult as it is for him to beat the BJP from Udhampur and Jammu constituencies.

At least poll experts are of the opinion that the task of making his presence felt in the Kashmir valley may not be impossible in Baramula and Anantnag constituencies.

The Mufti has already made up his mind on the candidates he was fielding from the valley’s three constituencies and he has arrived in Jammu to finalise the list of party candidates for Udhampur and Jammu constituencies. Another task for him in Jammu is to set up the bases for his organisation and persuade those of his colleagues to join the PDP who hitherto had decided to remain in the Congress.

The PDP chief may also keep the party’s door open for the dissident in the Congress and the National Conference which will help him to have a broader base for his organisation.

MFN status to Pak unfortunate: Cong

SRINAGAR, Aug 4 (PTI) — Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP K.M. Khan yesterday said that the Centre’s move to continue with the most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan was unfortunate and said the government should reconsider the decision.

Reacting to the statement of Union Commerce Minister Ram Krishna Hedge that the government wanted to continue giving the MFN status to Pakistan, Mr Khan said many people in the country were of the view that it was an "unfortunate move" as many Indian soldiers had been killed by Pakistani intruders in Kargil.

Mr Khan, who is here to gear up the party’s preparations in Kashmir for the coming parliamentary elections, said: "I want the Centre to refrain from making such provocative statements as Pakistan launched an undeclared war against India and numerous soldiers were killed by Pakistani intruders."

"What is the logic in granting the MFN status to Pakistan when Islamabad has yet to reciprocate and has been engaged in a proxy war against India in Kashmir for the past one decade?" he asked.

The Congress leader termed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s bus diplomacy as a failure and said it was a big blunder by Mr Vajpayee to trust Pakistan.

"The government has failed in its duties in checking intrusion in Kargil. It should be accountable to Parliament when it meets after the elections," he said.

Mr Khan, who is the AICC observer in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, said the Congress believed in dialogue but only with those who shunned violence, denounced violation of human rights and believed in the secular and democratic Constitution of the country.

Apparently referring to the oft-repeated demand of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who quit the party on the same ground, he said the Congress was for a dialogue but within the framework of the Constitution.

"We have the record of holding dialogues and signing of accords, between Indira (Gandhi)-Sheikh Abdullah in 1975, Farooq (Abdullah)-Rajiv (Gandhi) in 1987 and even in ending militancy in Punjab. Mizoram and Nagaland through dialogue" he said.

He said if the Congress returned to power at the Centre, it would be its endeavour to work for the restoration of normalcy in Kashmir, eradicate poverty, unemployment and ensure security to the people of the state

Power crisis may trouble NC
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 4 — Growing student unrest over the failure of several thousand candidates having been denied admission in degree colleges and acute electricity crisis may ultimately prove an Achilles' heel for the ruling National Conference in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the Jammu region.

During the past several days candidates, who had passed plus two examination, failed to get admission in degree colleges for BA, B.BSc and B.Com courses forcing them to start an agitation in Jammu and Kathua. In Kathua, agitating students burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah.

The agitators demanded an increase in number of seats in the existing colleges and immediate opening of new colleges at district and subdivisional level to enable students to go in for higher studies.

In view of the acute cash crunch the state government had imposed a blanket ban on opening of new schools and colleges and spend whatever funds were available with it on consolidation of the existing facilities and infrastructure in the educational institutions. Students who had passed plus two examination even in A grade were not been able to get admission in BA, B.Sc and B.Com courses on the plea that the seats in the existing colleges were limited. The state government had to go by merit and keep the reservation schedule intact.

The state unit of the All-India Lawyers' Union expressed concern over what it has called "denial" of admission to the successful candidates in the degree colleges.It berated the government for wasting funds on unproductive schemes as a result of which the education sector was starved of funds.

The union has warned the government against agitations if the aggrieved students were denied admissions. It called for immediate steps for opening new colleges at district and tehsil level.

Meanwhile, the growing electricity crisis in the Jammu region too, has started generating anti-government sentiments. Despite high humidity and temperature, the government imposed five to six-hour load shedding during the day and frequent power breakdowns compounded the problems of the people. Earlier during summers the load shedding period used to be reduced but this season the government increased it because it had reduced the annual allocations on purchase of electricity from the Northern Grid owing to financial crisis. What had annoyed people in the Jammu region was that despite three-times hike in the power tariff during the last one and a half years and notwithstanding the fact that the number of defaulters in the Jammu region was quite small when compared to the Kashmir valley, the government resorted to heavy load shedding.

Nature, too, played its role in aggravating the electricity crisis. Major rivers in the Kashmir valley had meagre discharge and lakes, too had shrunk in size and water discharge with the result three power projects in Kashmir had been able to generate only 20 per cent of the optimum capacity.

The BJP and the Congress have decided to use the student unrest, electricity crisis and acute drinking water shortage as major issues during the pre-poll campaign to strike against the National Conference.

Senior BJP leaders said that they would cite the instances of residences of ministers, senior bureaucrats where regular supply of electricity and drinking water remained unaffected whereas several hundred villages in the Jammu region received electricity only once a week.

2 militants killed in valley

SRINAGAR, Aug 4 (PTI) — Two militants were killed and another was arrested in two separate operations in the Kashmir valley today, an official spokesman said here.

Troops launched an operation against holed up militants in Magnipora village of Bandipora in Baramula district which sparked off an encounter between militants and security search parties. Two militants were killed in the encounter.

Security forces arrested a militant of banned Harkat-ul-Ansar outfit from Batakote village of Pahalgam in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

10th batch leaves for Pahalgam

JAMMU, Aug 4 (PTI) — The 10th batch of 3385 Amarnath pilgrims today left here for Pahalgam, the base camp of the holy cave shrine.

The pilgrims, including sadhus, left in a fleet of 154 vehicles, an official spokesman said.

Reports from Srinagar said nearly 20,000 persons have offered prayers at the cave shrine during the first 11 days of the annual pilgrimage.