J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Sonia visits quake-hit villages
Jammu, December 9
The Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, today visited several earthquake-hit villages near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch, Uri and Tangdhar and took stock of the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the government.

Spends night in Uri
Uri, December 9
In a first gesture of its kind by a political leader, Sonia Gandhi spent the night with quake survivors here. Ms Gandhi decided against returning to Srinagar for the night. She stayed at the brigade headquarters in Uri town and would leave for Tangdhar tomorrow morning. — UNI

2 top militants among 3 killed
Srinagar, December 9
The security forces gunned down three militants, including two self-styled commanders, arrested another and busted a hideout in Jammu and Kashmir over night, official sources said today.

Governor lauds Azad’s steps against corruption
Jammu, December 9
Jammu and Kashmir Governor S.K.Sinha, today appreciated Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad for telling firmly that there could be no talks with the militants till they laid down the arms and also by launching a crusade against corruption.

Azad okays prosecution of 8 officials
Jammu, December 9
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today sanctioned prosecution of eight officials against whom the Vigilance has primafacie established cases of illegal gratification and misuse of office.

Winter vacation from Dec 17

Sonia visits quake-hit villages
Tribune News Service & UNI

Jammu, December 9
The Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, today visited several earthquake-hit villages near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch, Uri and Tangdhar and took stock of the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the government.

Ms Gandhi had decided not to celebrate her birthday today and spend two days with the victims of the October 8 earthquake.

She arrived here in the morning and flew straight to Poonch in a helicopter. She visited Salotri, Digwar, Ajot, Kharmara and Gulpur villages which were the worst affected. She gave presents to the victims and enquired about the relief they were provided so far by the government.

She spent almost five hours in Poonch, where she met a number of quake-hit persons and listened to their grievances. Thereafter, she flew to Uri and Tangdhar where she would spend the night before flying back to Delhi tomorrow.

She was accompanied by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, PCC president, AICC general secretary Ambika Soni, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

''Janamdin Mubarak, Janamdin Mubarak,'' the birthday greetings rent the air as residents of Sultan Daki village welcomed Sonia Gandhi on her arrival here.

The survivors of the catastrophic October 8 temblor presented bouquets to Ms Gandhi. The villagers expressed happiness that she had chosen to visit them on her birthday.

The villagers told her that more rehabilitation work needed to be undertaken and the current relief amount of Rs 1lakh per family was not adequate and demanded total rehabilitation.

''At least 15 lakh should be given to each affected family or they should be rehabilitated totally,'' said Mohommad Kabir, who lost his parents in the quake and has a 10-member family to support. This was her second visit to the quake-hit areas.

Earlier, on her arrival here, she was received by Mr Azad, his Cabinet colleagues, Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya and DGP Gopal Sharma. 

2 top militants among 3 killed

Srinagar, December 9
The security forces gunned down three militants, including two self-styled commanders, arrested another and busted a hideout in Jammu and Kashmir over night, official sources said today.

They said an encounter took place between militants and the security forces at Gursai last night in which three militants were killed.

Three AK rifles, seven magazines, one wireless set and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants, identified as Abdul Rehman, self-styled district commander, Sher Nawaz, area commander, and Abu Assama.

He said a Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant was arrested along with four UBGL grenades and 20 cartridges at Shopian in South Kashmir. Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Doda-Udhampur) Satvir Gupta said cops came across a militant hideout at Kewar during routine searches. — UNI

Governor lauds Azad’s steps against corruption
S.P.Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 9
Jammu and Kashmir Governor S.K.Sinha, today appreciated Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad for telling firmly that there could be no talks with the militants till they laid down the arms and also by launching a crusade against corruption.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune here Mr Sinha said that people should not expect that Mr Azad had a magic wand that would put everything in order immediately. That would take its own time, but the new Chief Minister has sent a very good message by clearly accusing Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in the state and also rejecting the demand for reduction in the strength of troops here.

He said that people had appreciated Mr Azad’s crusade against corruption. He was also trying to introduce work culture that almost was unknown so far in the state.

What was appreciable was that Mr Azad was doing all this by setting a personal example. The Governor described this as a “positive development”.

Mr Sinha rejected the claim of various elements that the change of guard in the state had resulted in increased violence. He said contrary to the claim of such elements, violence had declined since November when Mr Azad took over. Giving figures, he said that except the three high-profile incidents of terrorism in quick succession after Mr Azad took over as Chief Minister, the situation had shown steady improvement. As against 153 incidents of terrorism in October, their number decreased to 115 in November. As against this, the number of incidents of terrorism in November last year was 196. These figures indicate that violence is on decline.

He said that as against the loss of 22 security personnel in October,12 laid down their lives in November.

The Governor stressed that the most effective weapon to douse fire of communalism was to wean people away from religious fundamentalists. This would restore communal harmony and amity in the state.

He said terrorism and violence in Kashmir were essentially a product of religious fundamentalism, which was contrary to the liberal Sufi Islam of the valley. The traditions of “Kashmiriat” shall have to be restored for the early return of peace.

The Governor said that he himself has been going out to promote “Kashmiriat” which was the most potent weapon to wean people away from the influence of religious fundamentalists.

He said that in this direction the Amarnath pilgrimage this time was started with a three-day Sufi extravaganza in Srinagar. On the last day of the pilgrimage I offered prayers at the cave shrine of Amarnath from where “I” flew straight to the Charar-e-Sharif shrine and offered a “chadar”.

Azad okays prosecution of 8 officials

Jammu, December 9
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today sanctioned prosecution of eight officials against whom the Vigilance has primafacie established cases of illegal gratification and misuse of office.

They are Dr Saifuddin Khan, the then Chief Medical Officer of Baramula, Dr Bashir Ahmad Malik, the then Block Medical Officer of Gurez, Mohammad Yousuf Gilkar, the then deputy custodian of Poonch, Kabir Hussain, a former girdawar, Sehdev Singh, a patwari, Irshad Ahmad Chalkoo, the then accountant in Baramula, Mohammad Ahmad Qadri, the then Accounts Officer of the Power Development Corporation, and Lakhmi Chand Bhagat, Senior Assistant, Settlement, Jammu.— TNS

Governor to examine Peerzada’s plea
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 9
The Governor, Lieut-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), today said he would examine with an open mind the petition of the PCC chief and Cabinet minister, Mr Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, in which he had sought that the case of alleged misuse of authority against him in the Accountability Commission should be transferred to the High Court.

The Governor said he had received a nearly 40-page petition from Mr Peerzada under Section 10 of the State Accountability Commission Act in which he had alleged that the Chairman of the commission Justice R.P. Sethi, was “biased” against him and as such the case should be transferred to the High Court.

Winter vacation from Dec 17

Srinagar, December 8
The Jammu and Kashmir Government today announced a two-and-a-half month winter vacation for educational institutions from December 17 to March 2. — PTI