Rangers force Pak nationals to spend entire life in Indian jails
Pakistani refuses to accept own countrymen

From Dinesh Manhotra

WAGHA (INDO-PAK BORDER), Sept 8: With blissful misty eyes, twenty four year old, Nawaz Ali, resident of Sialkot Pakistan, was staring towards his motherland located just a distance of 10 metres away from his bus in which he was sitting, with his desire to meet to his mother and sisters growing stronger after passing of every minute.

Nawaz has reasons to be thrilled as after spending three long years in different jails of Jammu region, Indian authorities have ultimately decided to hand him over to Pakistani agencies so that the boy could meet his family. Beside recounting some incidents of his life, delighted Nawaz was dreaming to meet his mother first of all after reaching his native place.

But all his dreams shattered at once when Pakistani authorities flatly refused to accept him as their national. Shell shocked Nawaz broke down when he was informed by a constable of Jammu and Kashmir Police that his countrymen have refused to take him back.

As the driver turned the bus to take it back to Jammu, dis-appointed Nawaz was repeatedly looking back towards Pakistan with tears rolling down his eyes. With anger in his eyes, he might definitely be thinking how unfortunate he was that even his country has refused to accept him.

Similar was the story of Mohammed Rafiq, 26, resident of Muzaffarabad of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) who was also dreaming to meet his parents after four years.

Last Sunday police authorities had informed him that they have decided to hand him over to Pakistan since then over-joyed Rafiq could not sleep. With baited breath he was waiting re-union with his family members. Rafiq was also looking dis-appointed as Pakistani Rangers refused to recogonise him as their citizen.

Nawaz and Rafiq were among those 28 Pakistani prisoners to whom Indian authorities had decided to hand over to Pakistan on humanitarian grounds. But Pakistani authorities have accepted only 14 of them and refused to take remaining 14. Nawaz and Rafiq were among those unfortunate Pakistanis to whom even their country has refused to accept.

In their 5 hours long journey from Jammu to Wagha Border, both Nawaz and Rafiq passed through their memory lanes with a desire to meet their parents growing stronger and stronger as the bus was approaching the destination where they were to be handed-over to Pakistan.

But Pakistani Rangers shattered all their dreams and left them with no option but to spend their entire life in Indian jails. For Pakistanis there is no value of human emotions, no matter whether these are Indians or their own countrymen.

To adhere human values and as a good will gesture, the Indian authorities had decided to send about 28 Pakistani prisoners back to their country. These Pakistani prisoners have been languishing in different jails of Jammu region for so many years for one or other crime.

Keeping in view his innocence and ignorance, Indian authorities have even decided to hand-over one Shahid Hussain who had infiltrated into this side to propagate Jehad and religious teaching in Jammu and Kashmir.

What to say of reciprocating Indian gesture, Pakistani authorities have even refused to take their bona fide citizens. "As a good will gesture we have decided to hand over these Prisoners to Pakistan but what can we do if they flatly refuse to accept them", said Commandant S K Wadhwa of Border Security Force.

Highly placed BSF sources said that Pakistani authorities have accepted only those prisoners who were their spy and were languishing in different jails after being caught by the Indian agencies. "Decision of the Pakistani authorities not to take back 14 prisoners has exposed their real face ", the sources said and added that those claiming to be protectors of Islam have refused to even accept their genuine citizen who mistakenly crossed over to this side. "As Pakistani authorities have refused to accept their citizens, we have left with no option but to keep them in jails", said a police officer.

Earlier Indian authorities handed over 14 Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan while 14 others were taken back to jails again.

Jadeja re-examined by CBI; interim report on Sept 29

NEW DELHI, Sept 8: The CBI is likely to submit its interim report on match-fixing to the Sports Ministry on September 29 after having questioned cricketing icon Kapil Dev and re-examined Ajay Jadeja.

Highly-placed sources in the agency said that an interim conditions and making players responsible towards the game would be submitted to the Sports Minister S S Dhindsa.

The sources said the report was being given final touches by the sleuths of the Special Crime branch and added that meeting of CBI officials with the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was a step in that direction only.

They said the informal chat with Tendulkar was an effort to tie some loose ends for the report.

In a related development, sleuths of the Special Crime branch examined Jadeja once again recently, the sources said, adding that some queries needed his answers, which he gave.

Meanwhile, Kapil Dev, who deposed before the agency yesterday, has again denied the charges of former all rounder Manoj Prabhakar that the former skipper had offered him a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to underperform against Pakistan in Singer Cup in Sri Lanka in 1994.

Kapil Dev has reportedly termed Prabhakar’s allegation as a "bundle of lies" and said the latter’s allegations were only expression of a "frustrated mind".

The ace all-rounder, who has been denying all charges levelled by Prabhakar, has also received implicit support from former team Manager Ajit Wadekar, wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia, batsman Navjot Sidhu and bowler Prashant Vaidya, named by Prabhakar as witnesses to a commotion between him and Kapil Dev over the alleged bribe offer.

Besides Kapil Dev, CBI has so far recorded statements of 15 persons including BCCI president A C Muthiah, Secretary Jaywant Lele, Treasurer Kishore Rungta, Delhi and District Cricket Association Sports Secretary Sunil Dev, former BCCI President I S Bindra, Ajit Wadekar, cricketers Manoj Prabhakar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu, Nayan Mongia, Ajay Jadeja, Prashant Vaidya and Nikhil Chopra besides some alleged bookies including Mukesh Gupta.

Meanwhile, Kapil Dev, whose premises were raided during the nation-wide swoop on some cricketers and others on July 20, was also questioned by the Income Tax authorities on Wednesday.

Kapil Dev had recorded his statement with the authorities and responded to all documents he had been confronted with by the IT authorities.

The former skipper had provided all the explanations sought by the authorities, the IT sources said.

In Mumbai, the CBI officials met batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar at his residence in connection with the match-fixing scandal rocking the cricketing world.

In a statement faxed to PTI yesterday, Tendulkar said Joint Director of CBI’s Special Crime branch R N Sawani met him on Wednesday, and asked him whether any outsider used to visit the Indian team’s dressing room during matches.

Tendulkar said that during the ‘informal’ meeting with the agency officials, he was asked about the relations between players, atmosphere in the dressing room and "plusses and minuses of the game."

"They also wanted to know my suggestions to bring improvement in the game," he said.

Besides Tendulkar, 16 other cricket-related persons have faced the CBI after a preliminary inquiry into the scandal was instituted on May 2.

Rungta, Sidhu, Wadekar and Jadeja have been examined twice while Prabhakar has deposed thrice before the CBI.

The Income Tax authorities have also opened all the lockers seized by them during their nation-wide swoop on cricketers, bookies and administrators on July 20 and are assessing the "recoveries" made from them.

IT sources said the officials of the department were preparing an appraisal report after which the players, administrators and bookies would be confronted with the seized cash and jewellery from these lockers and their statements were being recorded.(PTI)

Democratic system has collapsed in WB: George

MIDNAPORE (WB), Sept 8: NDA convenor and Defence Minister George Fernandes today alleged democratic system had broken down in West Bengal and charged the ruling Left Front with "making a mockery of the democratic apparatus".

"Democracy has been reduced to a mockery. The entire democratic apparatus has collapsed," Fernandes said after returning from his five-hour long drive to the trouble-torn Keshpur, Chandrakona Road and Garbeta areas of Midnapore district.

Fernandes, however, refused to spell out whether the Centre would consider imposing President’s rule on the State saying "what will happen now I cannot say. Whatever I have seen and heard I will place before the Government and then we will again deliberate on the issue."

The NDA leader visited the areas at the instruction of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee following Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s persistent demand for central intervention alleging breakdown of law and order in the State.

He said he would submit his report to Union Home Minister L K Advani, in the absence of Vajpayee who is on a 13-day visit to the US, by tomorrow evening.

"I have had a long political innings. But scarcely have I undergone as much pain and anguish as I have felt today after getting to know the unbearable sufferings of the people here," Fernandes, who was accompanied by TC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said.

Alleging that the people, especially those belonging to the SC, ST and minority sections, were being attacked by CPI-M men for their "only crime" of supporting Trinamool Congress, he said "entire villages have been set afire, people are being shot at and women are being raped by CPI-M backed hoodlums.

"If the situation was similar in the rest of the State, then I don’t know how I can describe it," he said.

Fernandes begged apology to Mamata Banerjee for ‘their’ failing to understand the gravity of the situation earlier. "Now I know how serious the situation is."

Fernandes parried repeated queries from reporters on the Centre’s next course of action saying his recommendation would go with his report."Then the Government will take a decision."

Asked whether he personally felt that the State was a fit case for Central rule, he said he had come as a representative of the Centre and his personal view was "not" important.

On his recent comment that Art 356 could not be enforced in the State, he said it was based on the Centre’s bitter experience in the failed bid to impose President’s rule in Bihar.

He ruled out promulgation of an ordinance declaring parts of the State as disturbed, saying "ordinances cannot be used to declare special zones".

Fearing that TC supporters who narrated the tales of woe to him would be subjected to torture by CPI-M men, Fernandes appealed to the State Government to take proper action. "Please don’t torture these poor people. Don’t rape their women folk. If you wish to vent your ire, make us the target."

Fernandes said TC leaders including Mamata Banerjee had complained to him that anybody who poured out his heart to them later bore the brunt of CPI-M’s wrath. He said a number of villagers made the same complaints to him today.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee told reporters in Calcutta that she was "satisfied" with the visit of Fernandes to Midnapore. "I am also satisfied with my talks with him."

Banerjee said she had postponed her return to Delhi by two days. She was scheduled to go back to Delhi today. (PTI)

SPECIAL REPORT
Pak ‘Deeni madaris’ trigger controversy
Islamic Republic of Pakistan has 1.5 million heroin addicts

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Sept 8: Islam prohibits production, sale, distribution and consumption of intoxicants. Yet, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is known to possess at least 1.5 million heroin addicts. And if Bernard Frahi, who heads the UN drug programme office in South and West Asia, is to be believed, Pakistan has the highest heroin population.

Bernard Frahi has let it be known: And whatever the total is, it seems to be getting quite a bit worse". This, undoubtedly, is an alarming situation. One would have thought that some serious concern would have been shown by the various Governments who have lorded over Pakistanis all these years.

Did any of the Pakistani ruling establishments even remotely understand the cataclysmic social implications of heroin addiction on an epidemic scale? On the other hand, however, the Pakistani ruling politicians or administrators or bureaucrats are so caught up in looking for "external enemies who seek to undermine and threaten" Pakistan’s very existence that they have overlooked a far more menacing internal enemy which is the despair of those who take to heroin in such large numbers and in the process destroy themselves and become the living dead.

If the New York Times had to tell Pakistanis that there are as many as 1.5 million heroin addicts in Pakistan, Pakistan’s influential English daily, Dawn, was tempted to recall that there was a time once, not so long ago, when Pakistan was an addiction-free society. A heroin addict, those days, was a rarity.

The Pakistani publication has, at the same time, reckoned the fact that drugs, with the passage of time, became "big business and heroin appeared on our streets". Omar Kureishi, a prominent Pakistani commentator, had, in 1993, stated: "Drugs are easily available and there has been no serious effort to go after the drug dealers who stalks the streets….. We need to inquire into the real social reasons for drug abuse, to probe the depths of despair that make people turn to drugs…. Believe me, it is a very serious problem. And all the signs are there that it will get worse".

Experts have, since the beginning of the year 2000, started saying that it will get worse! It is immaterial, Dawn has remarked, how Pakistanis got into the mess. There is no point, the paper has cautioned, in flogging the dead horse of Pakistan’s enthusiastic involvement in Afghanistan when it was invaded by the Soviet Union. The paper said: "We did so on behalf of the US who pulled out once the Soviet Union had been defeated, leaving not only Afghanistan but Pakistan in the lurch. The war in Afghanistan has given a big boost to the heroin industry, as the war in Vietnam had. In both cases, there is evidence of the CIA’s complicity in boosting this trade".

Pakistan was rewarded with a drug and Kalashnikov culture. And Pakistan is still reeling from both. In recent months, sections of Pakistanis have highlighted the need to set up a high-powered task force to tackle the problem of drug-addiction. In fact, a school of thought in Pakistan is of the firm view that the present military regime has the best chance of doing so without any delay and getting results. According to this school, heroin addiction cannot be tackled in isolation.

The war in Afghanistan merely made it easier by making heroin available in such large quantities and, therefore, relatively cheaply. One of the myths is that the ban on liquor forced people to turn to drugs. This presumes that were it not for prohibition, Pakistan would be a nation of lushes instead of heroin addicts.

The experience of countries like the US and India would show that there is no connection. Liquor is legally available in the US and India and yet the number of addicts is increasing. And the causes are the same: Despair that makes them want to disconnect with the world around them. It is matter of shame that the New York Times should tell Pakistan about how many heroin addicts it has, just as it is a matter of shame that the BBC should be telecasting a documentary on honour killings.

At a time when the Government of Gen Parvez Musharraf needed an image booster, the people have witnessed it beat two quick retreats. First, unsolicited testimonials of merit and credit for the ‘Deeni madaris’. Soon after, the more embarrassing submission on the blasphemy non-issue.

History bears testimony to the fact that Pakistanis, by and large, continue to be the victims of the shattering Zia-ul-Haq interlude. The dictator imposed fanaticism on all state-controlled media, including a section of the print media controlled or financed by obscurantist agencies. Another Zia legacy, with the compliments of the United States, is the ‘Deeni madaris’.

Yet another fact: Nobody has cared to define what exactly these ‘Deeni madaris’ are supposed to teach, to what purpose, except to produce recruits for the sectarian forces, now openly called ‘armies’ and operating as such. At present, Pakistan has more than 80 groups who call themselves religious parties. Most of these religious parties have their respective and exclusive bastions of power-madaris, mosques, khanqahs and who knows what else, under cover.

The number of ‘Deeni madaris’ in Pakistan has been put at around 6,000. It shows a 300 per cent rise over the 1947 figure of just 200. Of late, Pakistan’s Interior Minister has been offering unsolicited bouquets of praise and compliments to the ‘Deeni madaris’. Has he or anyone in his Ministry tried to see what kind of education and mental development are these institutions imparting?

Musharraf bid to replace President

ISLAMABAD, Sept 8 : Pakistani military regime is seriously considering a proposal to provide more powers to Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf to replace President Rafiq Tarar as head of the state, a newspaper reported today.

The President is expected either to step down or go on indefinite medical leave, paving the way for the Chief Executive to assume the office, ‘The Nation’ reported.

A final decision to this effect is expected in the near future, if not soon after General Musharraf’s return from New York where he had gone to attend the millennium summit of the United Nations, it said.

The Chief Executive’s role as the Head of Government would be taken over by a "comparatively clean" politician. According to the report, the Military Government was seriously considering these changes because of the formidable problems it faced, both on internal and external fronts.

The Government has come to recognise that its efforts to secure a fresh programme of financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is unlikely to succeed unless there is a swift return to civilian rule.

This would also neutralize India’s refusal to enter into diplomatic negotiations with Pakistan as long as the Government is headed by a soldier. Besides, the consideration of installing a civilian set-up seems to have been necessitated by the military’s discomfort at directly negotiating on controversial subjects including foreign aid, Kashmir and nuclear non-proliferation.

Senior PML leaders who in the past few months, mounted a serious challenge to deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s presidency of the party, are expected to play a significant role in the interim administration.

The sources said the make-up of the interim federal and provincial Governments is likely to reflect the regional strength of different political parties, giving the impression of a national interim set-up.

However, much depends on Pakistan’s major diplomatic and political partners’ still "undisclosed" commitment to the military Government in lieu of swift return to the civilian rule.

The return to civilian rule might be a pre-condition to the settlement of major issues — the CTBT, Afghanistan, Kashmir, financial assistance and talks with India — with the support of the US,Japan, European Union and Commonwealth.

However, there are two imponderables that will affect the Government decision: the ability of the cooperating politicians to deliver public support on the difficult decisions required, as well as the necessary indemnities and constitutional changes, and the quid pro quo offered by the western powers.

If either the politicians fail to show their ability to deliver the goods, or the western powers’ commitments prove to be either inadequate or evasive, then the Government will probably opt to military rule and fight it out.(PTI)

Another JKNLA activist among dead
Two army jawans, 2 top ultras killed in Rajouri

Excelsior Correspondent

RAJOURI, Sept 8: Two army jawans and two militants including an ‘area commander’ of newly formed Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Army (JKNLA) were killed and one army jawan was injured in two separate encounters in Surankote and Darhal areas of Poonch and Rajouri districts overnight.

Official sources said a group of six militants, all activists of JKNLA outfit, ambushed a patrol party of Romeo Force at village Charala in Surankote tehsil last mid-night. Militants opened heavy firing on the patrol party with assault rifles.

By the time armymen took positions and retaliated, one army jawan sustained a burst fired by the militants and died on the spot. Another army jawan and a militant were killed in the ensuing gun-fight, which lasted 25 minutes. One more jawan was injured in the exchange of firing.

Five other militants fled from the spot after effective return of firing by the troops and disappeared in an adjoining forest area taking advantage of darkness.

The deceased army jawans, whose bodies were shifted to hospital, have been identified as Sepoy Jagdish Kumar and Sepoy Laxmi Parsad Diwedi. Their dead bodies were sent to their native towns this afternoon.

Slain militant was identified as Haider Ali son of Mohd Sharief, a resident of Abbaspura village of Surankote. He was recently appointed as ‘area commander’ of JKNLA outfit for Surankote by the ISI. One AK-56 rifle with three magazines and 91 rounds, four hand grenades and one Kenwood wireless set was recovered from his possession. Few days back, troops had shot dead Sajjad Pakistani, a ‘district commander’ of the same outfit in Poonch district.

Sources said the militants, who were holding a meeting, were initially presumed by army as civilians. As such, troops didn’t open firing on them straightway which gave militants a chance to ambush the patrol party.

Another encounter took place between army, police and militants at village Seri in Kaloon forest area of Darhal tehsil this morning. Two militants, hiding in a dhok, were challenged by army.

During the cross-firing, one of the militant jumped out of the dhok and fled away in an injured condition. Troops of Thanna Mandi Brigade of Romeo Force then stormed the hideout and eliminated the lone militant.

Slain militant was identified as Mohd Yaqoob alias Javed son of Mohd Akbar, a resident of Topa, Darhal and an activist of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit. One AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 42 rounds, two hand grenades and some documents were recovered from the scene of encounter. Troops continued search operation to eliminate the injured militant.

Javed had crossed over to Pakistan in 1994 and returned in 1997 after arms training. Since then, he was operating in Darhal belt.

JeM militant shot dead
Intrusion bid foiled in Nowshera sector

Excelsior Correspondent

RAJOURI, Sept 8: Ace of Spades Division (ASD) this morning foiled an infiltration attempt by five-six trained militants into Indian territory through the Line of Control (LoC) in Lam sector of Nowshera tehsil. One militant was killed while others fled back in the unsuccessful intrusion bid.

Official sources said army personnel noticed a group of five-six militants trying to sneak into Indian territory through the LoC in Lam sector at 0330 hours today. As militants came within the firing range of army, troops challenged them.

Militants opened firing with AK-47 rifles, which was returned by Indian army. In the meantime, troops from across the border also resorted to firing and shelling on Indian side in a determined bid to give cover to infiltrators.

In the exchange of firing, troops eliminated one militant and forced others to flee back to Pakistan. There was no casualty on Indian army side in militants’ or Pakistani firing. In the morning, troops carried out searches at the scene of encounter and recovered one AK-47 rifle with one magazine and 20 rounds.

Body of the slain militant was also whisked away by his fleeing associates.

Sources said the infiltrators appeared to be the activists of Azhar Masood’s Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit as a rifle recovered from the spot had JeM written on it.

Meanwhile, Pakistan army continued heavy shelling and firing on Indian side on the LoC in different areas of Poonch and Rajouri districts. Pak firing was replied by Indian side. So far, there was no report of any casualty on either side.

In Jammu, Pakistani Rangers continued small arms firing in Hiranagar, Samba and RS Pura sectors along the International Border but failed to cause any casualty or damage. The firing was aimed at pushing militants.

Hizbul threatens to eliminate census officials

SRINAGAR, Sept 8: The Hizbul Mujahideen has issued a fresh warning against conducting census operations in Jammu and Kashmir and threatened to eliminate all involved in the exercise while accusing India of following an Israeli gameplan in this regard.

"If the Government does not adhere to the warning we will not desist from opening our guns at them", local newspapers quoted ‘commander’ Masood, spokesman of the outfit, as having said in a statement.

He said the Hizb was willing to give one concession to the Government that is till all the doubts are removed the census should be suspended.

Warning the State Government not to endanger lives by resorting to "adventurism", he asked how in the prevailing situation, when so many had migrated and thousands of youth had either gone underground or were reported missing, a valid census could be taken.

Alleging that the Government’s plans were to change the demographic pattern of the State so that avenues of development for Muslims were restricted, Masood said "we know the intentions of the Government behind this adventurism and we will never allow its nefarious designs to succeed".

The spokesman said the demographic changes in the State were being brought about on the advice of the Isrealis who did the same in the occupied areas in Palestine.

Terming it as a conspiracy against the Muslims, Masood castigated the Hurriyat Conference for its silence on the issue.

"The leaders claiming to be the representatives of the people should instead of exploiting the public sentiments rise to the occasion and raise their voice against the conspiracies being hatched against the Muslims’’, he said.

The outfit also asked the leadership either to support the Hizb programme on the issue or come out with their argument against it.

Another Pak-backed militant outfit Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) had also handed out death threats to 22,000 Government employees to be involved in the exercise.

"If any one of the 22,000 Government employees is seen participating in the census operation he or she will be killed without warning", LeT spokesman Abu Ubaid told a local daily yesterday.

The State Government has already made it clear that the census operation had no intention to change the demographic pattern of the State.

Official sources said provisions had been made in the census with specific columns in the enumeration sheets to identify migrants from other areas and members of the armed forces. Therefore, there is no question of the armed forces or migrants changing the demographic data of the State, they added. (PTI)

Employees body asks census workers not to participate

SRINAGAR, Sept 8: A representative body of Jammu and Kashmir Government employees has directed workers detailed for census operation "not to endanger their lives" by taking part in the exercise slated to begin from September 11.

"In view of open threats held out for the first time by Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Toiba, we will not allow Government employees to become Kurbani Ka Bakra (sacrificial lamb)", president of State Employees Conference (SEC) Ashraf Qadiri told PTI.

"I have directed the Government employees not to take part in the census operation pending an executive meeting of the conference which will be convened within a day or two," he said.

Qadiri said the Government can go ahead with the exercise if it deems it fit by detailing security forces for the job who day in and day out launch search and cordon operations throughout the Valley.

Pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen and Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba have threatened to eliminate all those Government officials who will participate in the exercise.

In a statement, another Government employees union, Employees and Workers Confederation, asked the Government to keep in abeyance the census operation in the State and ensure safety of the 22,000 employees detailed for the exercise.

The confederation met under the chairmanship of its president Bashir Ahmad Khan and discussed threadbare the threats held out by Hizbul Mujahideen and decided that the lives of 22,000 Government employees cannot be put at stake. (PTI)

Straw condemns cross-border terrorism

AHMEDABAD, Sept 8 : British Home Secretary Jack Straw today condemned cross-border terrorism and said his Government opposed such activities.

Straw, who was on day-long visit to the city, told reporters that the British Government did not approve of such terrorism internationally.

The terrorists, who had sought asylum in Britain, had in many cases, approached the Europradition, he said.

On the sanction of visa to visitors from India, Straw said 92 per cent of the applications were being approved in Mumbai and the request for a visa office at Ahmedabad was under consideration.

Straw met Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel in Gandhinagar and visited the Gandhi Ashram and the Akshardham Swaminarayan Temple there.(PTI)

SC directive to JK Govt on PG entrance exams

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 : The Supreme Court has expressed serious displeasure over non-holding of Post Graduate entrance examinations to various Medical courses in Jammu and Kashmir since 1996 due to a litany of litigations in the High Court and its interim orders.

Directing the authorities to hold such examinations within two months as per Government’s 1995 decision to conduct entrance tests every year, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice A S Anand also requested the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to constitute a bench for the purpose of deciding the petitions pending therein.

"Our first direction to the Competent Authority to conduct the next entrance examination shall be faithfully and punctually complied with, not withstanding any order or direction made to the contrary by any of the benches of the High Court," the bench comprising Justice Anand, Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Shivraj V Patil said.

The court also said all eligible candidates whether in the earlier selection list or not shall be entitled to take part in the said entrance examination.

However, the bench clarified that its directions would not set aside the admissions already granted to candidates who are pursuing various Post Graduate courses pursuant to the orders made by different benches of the High Court.

14 Bangladeshi arrested along IB

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Sept 8: Fourteen Bangla nationals were arrested by Border Security Forces (BSF) while trying to cross over to Pakistan this afternoon, a BSF spokesman said here.

BSF troops on Nakas observed movement of a group of people crossing over to Pakistan along the International Border near Mangral border outpost in R S Pura this afternoon, the sources said.

The arrested Bangla nationals included four men, five women and five children, they said.

Centre lacks guts on Kashmir : Yadav

ALLAHABAD, Sept 8: The Samajwadi Party today accused the Vajpayee Government of "lacking guts" in dealing with Pakistan despite its stepped up support to various militant groups involved in terrorist and subversive activities in the country, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

Accusing the NDA Government of dithering on the military option to root out terrorists’ training camps in Pakistan, party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said the BJP owed people an explanation for its inability to strongly tackle Pak-backed militancy in the country.

He alleged that the NDA Government was acting under pressure from foreign posers, particularly the United States, which "spoke volumes for its ineptness" in dealing with matters of national security.

The claim by US President Bill Clinton during his address to the joint session of Parliament on March 22 that Pakistan had withdrawn its troops from Kargil at his instance had taken the shine of the sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers killed in the war, the SP national president said while addressing the youth wing of the party.

On the international community’s calls for resolving the Kashmir issue, Yadav said his party was opposed to third party mediation as it was an internal matter of India.

He, however, said all options should be considered if it would lead to establishment of peace in the sub-continent.

Criticising the economic policies of the Centre, he said the second generations reforms would wipe out small and medium industries, while survival of big industries hinged on collaboration with multinational companies. (PTI)

9 officers of Planning Deptt transferred

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Sept 8: The Government today ordered transfer and new postings of nine officers of Planning and Development Department.

Joginder Paul, Deputy Director (P&S) Social Welfare Department in Civil Secretariat has been transferred and posted in Science and Technology Department.

H R Bhagat, DSEO, Jammu has been transferred and posted as Deputy Director (P&S) Social Welfare Department vice Joginder Paul.

Shahzada Bilal Ahmad, Deputy Director (P&S), Food and Supplies Department (Civil Secretariat) has been transferred and posted in Planning and Development Department vice Ravi Kumar, who has been posted as DSEO Jammu.

R P Sazgotra, Deputy Director (P&S), Directorate of E&S has been transferred and posted as Deputy Director (P&S), Directorate of Sheep Husbandry Jammu in place of S S Sasan , who has been transferred and posted as Deputy Director (P&S) Information and Transport Department in Civil Secretariat.

A K Gandotra, Deputy Director (P&S), Finance Department in Civil Secretariat has been transferred and posted as Deputy Director (P&S), Directorate of E&S in place of R A Bandey who has been shifted to Directorate of Technical Education.

N C Sharma, Deputy Director (P&S) Agriculture Department (Civil Secretariat) has been transferred and posted as Deputy Director (P&S) Directorate of E&S.

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