‘Different agenda for the local militants’
Mercenaries will be dealt with an iron hand : Azad
*People of Jammu, Congmen can wait for 3 more yrs
*23 of CMP’s 33 paras part of Cong election manifesto

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 29: PCC (I) president Ghulam Nabi Azad said here today that the new Government will deal sternly with the foreign mercenaries while adopting a ‘lenient approach’ towards the local ‘boys’ (the local terrorists).

Addressing his first press conference at a new look PCC (I) headquarters after missing out in the race for Chief Ministership, Azad said there were a two set of militants in Jammu and Kashmir. "While the new Government will deal with the foreign terrorists with an iron hand, it will have a ‘different agenda’ for the local terrorists", he asserted.

When pointed out by a newsman that this was not the approach of his coalition partner (the PDP), he shot back :"we are a party to the coalition". "If we go on killing the local terrorists, it would alienate a large section of local population", he said, adding ‘the foreign mercenaries will, however, have to be finished. There can’t be two opinions about that’.

To a question about allegedly equating the security forces personnel and the terrorists in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) in the matter of compensation and other relief, the PCC (I) president, who arrived here today from New Delhi, clarified that the relief a security personnel’s family gets in the event of his killing in a militancy-related incident was much more while family of the militant killed will only get rehabilitation, which is a social problem.

"If we don’t take care of this, about two lakh children will be rendered destitutes in the event of over 20,000 militants killing", he said.

Denying that election manifesto of the Congress (I) has been ignored in the CMP, Azad said 23 out of a total of 33 paras (of the CMP) were part of his party’s manifesto. "We are committed to fulfill our election manifesto—be it development of the State, removal of regional disparities, relief to the border migrants, compensation for land and crops or other issues", he declared.

"We have compromised with the post of Chief Ministership but we haven’t compromised on our election manifesto. Promises made to all three regions will be implemented in toto", he said.

Appreciating the sentiments of Congressmen in general and the people of Jammu in particular for sacrificing the post of Chief Ministership, Azad, who will leave for Srinagar tomorrow to accompany Mufti when he stakes claim for the Government formation before Governor, said the Congress rose to the occasion and took an ‘extra ordinary decision’ which no other party could do.

"The occasion demanded a decision of political sagacity and statesmanship as not only the nation but entire world was looking towards the Congress party. And, our leader (AICC president Sonia Gandhi) acted accordingly", he pointed out.

Azad said the Congress had four options after the electorate gave fractured verdict in the Assembly elections. "Option number one was to take support of the National Conference but we didn’t want that as the previously ruling party had been voted out and such a decision would have been against the wishes of the people. Option number two was that the PDP joined us as a coalition while option three was that we took PDP support from outside. The PDP didn’t agree to both the options. Fourth option was to go ahead with a minority Government", he elaborated.

Asked whether the Congress (I) had planned to take support from the National Conference after their talks were dead-locked with the PDP, the PCC (I) president quipped :"once you open the options, anything can happen". He said even a minority Congress Government would have survived"but we didn’t feel it right to keep other elected blocks out of the decision making process".

"I must take the onus on me that it was not feasible to fight National Conference, PDP, Centre, Pakistan and the terrorists together. Moreover, there would have been a threat of the people going in and out", he asserted.

"The Congress decision was aimed at giving a stable Government to bring the people out of morass and give them a real governance as most of the problems presently faced by the State were result of non-governance. We did it in the interest of the country", Azad said.

Asked whether the PDP Government was in the interest of the country and not a Congress Government, he said: "in the interest of the party we could have formed a minority Government but then we should have to forget the stability, governance and performance. But we took the decision (of making PDP president Mufti Sayeed the Chief Minister) in the country as well as State’s interest.

Nevertheless, it would be a Congress-led Government in the State after three years. "If the people of Jammu could wait for 55 years and the leaders of Congress for 27 years to get their Government, they can wait for next three years as well".

Azad said the Congress had faced similar problems earlier also and always came upto people’s expectations. "We had asked our Chief Minister in Mizoram to step down and handed over the power to Laldenga to restore peace in the State. Today, Mizoram was one of the peaceful States in the country", he added.

"We also gave a chance to Sheikh Abdullah in J&K and Akalis in Punjab. Though we might differ with NC but we brought them to the mainstream", he said.

Replying to a question about his previous statement that there would be no witch-hunting and a CMP resolution that an inquiry would be ordered into the complaints against Chief Minister, Ministers and MLAs, the PCC (I) president said ‘there was no denying the fact that the bureaucrats took unnecessary advantage of the situation during Chief Minister’s trips abroad.

"Everybody has to be accountable be they politicians or big buildingwallahs", he declared.

Regarding modalities of the Government formation, Azad said the respective leadership of the coalition partners would decide their Ministerial nominees. He, however, declined to spell out details on the number of Ministers to be inducted in the Government.

He said the Congress Ministerial candidates would be decided by him in consultations with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The Ministry wouldn’t be a jumbo, he added.

"Sonia has advised me that Ministry in J&K should be an example for the country. Continuation of the Ministers would depend on their performance, honesty and integrity", Azad said, adding ‘we had promised a corruption free Government to the people and we are bound to that. The Chief Minister designate is also of the same opinion’.

He said the names of Deputy Chief Minister, Chairman of Co-ordination Committee and Speaker, the three posts which the Congress got as per the Government sharing formula, will also be decided by Sonia Gandhi.

In reply to a question, Azad said the Congress (I) had no reasons to doubt that the PDP would deviate from the coalition agenda. He said there was no immediate need to elect a CLP leader.

Others present in the press conference included Mangat Ram Sharma, Amrit Malhotra, chief spokesman, Madan Lal Sharma, Raman Bhalla, Yogesh Sawhney, Jugal Kishore, Ghulam Mohd Saroori and Suman Bhagat, all MLAs and Choudhary Aslam.

CPM undecided on joining Govt
Mufti to stake claim today

SRINAGAR, Oct 29: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was formally elected as leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Legislature group this afternoon, will stake his claim to form a new Government in the State tomorrow.

I will be going to meet Governor Girish Chandra Saxena tomorrow in the afternoon to stake the claim to form a coalition Government, Mr Sayeed said talking to reporters after his election.

He said the new ministry headed by him will take oath on November second here.

Mr Sayeed said he will be going to Jammu to celebrate Diwali there.

Earlier the 16 MLAs of the PDP met at the residence of Mr Sayeed and elected him their leader. The name of Mr Mufti, who is not a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Council, was proposed by senior vice-president of the PDP Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig and was seconded by all the elected members.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) is yet to decide on the issue of joining the coaliton Government. Mr Sayeed said he would persuade the Centre to hold unconditional talks with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, including those who did not participate in the election process so that a lasting peace was restored in the State.

In reply to a question, he said all the regions of the state would get their due share in decision making. "We will involve people from Jammu, Kashmir, Leh, Kargil and other areas in planning and financial matters of the State."

"We want the help of everyone to take the State out of this turmoil," he said.

About the delay in forming an alliance, Mr Sayeed said, ours is a regional party whereas the Congress is a national party and has its own commitment with the people across the country.’’

"But I am happy that we could agree to a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) which will definitely help to restore peace in the State," he said.

When a reporter drew his attention to the statement of the Hizbul Mujahideen that the coalition Government headed by him will be no different to the previous Governments in the State, Mr Sayeed said, "we have nothing to do with these statements."

"We have a CMP and we will try to implement it in toto. We have promised to release all the detenus, the Special Operation Group will be adjusted in state police, POTA will be repealed and families of militants and those of militancy-affected will be properly rehabilitated. We will go as per our agenda," he said. (UNI)

Only trilateral talks answer to J&K's problem: Hurriyat

NEW DELHI, Oct 29 : In spite of political process getting a momentum in militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir with a coalition Government in the offing, Hurriyat Conference today asked the Centre to try to solve the "real issue" through a trilateral dialogue and said efforts were on to facilitate a meeting between Kashmir Committee and their counterparts in Pakistan.

"I am going to hold another round of talks with Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Jaleel A Jilani to forward the process of talks, which the Kashmir Committee initiated with us, to that side of the border to achieve concrete results in solving the Kashmir issue," Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat told PTI here.

Bhat, who has had meetings with Jilani and KC chairman Ram Jethmalani over the last few days, said the problem of Kashmir could be solved only if there was trilateral dialogue between India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir and for that it was necessary to open up the fronts at various levels.

"Soon there will be another Government in the State but that is not the permanent solution of the problem. We are making efforts to involve people from both the sides for a fruitful dialogue," Bhat said.

"We have to come to grips with the dynamics of the Kashmir problem and realise there is no escape but to hold dialogue if we want to look for a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue," Bhat said.

Pointing out that continuation of the problem could result in "big trouble" as both the countries were nuclear powers, he said "we have to rise above pettiness for a big cause and address the real issue."

Asked if their efforts would be worthwhile as there was no elected Government in place at the time in Pakistan, Bhat said "the fact one has to realise is that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is very powerful and initiation of dialogue under his regime can bear fruits."

"Secondly, Governments come and they go, it has to be people-to-people contact between the two countries. That is important," he added. (PTI)

Militants strike in Srinagar city
4 cops among 9 killed in Valley

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 29: Striking in this capital city at four different places since last evening, militants have gunned down four personnel of Jammu & Kashmir Police, CRPF and BSF. Elsewhere in Kashmir valley, security forces have eliminated three militants while as militants have killed one fellow militant and a civilian.

This afternoon, at 1230 hours, militants fired upon Constable Abdur Rasheed of Police Station Soura at the main entrance of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura. The spot is less than 30 yards from the Police Station. With critical injuries, the constable was rushed to SKIMS for medical treatment. After a while, he succumbed to injuries. After less than two hours, militants again gunned down two CRPF personnel, at Kakasarai Chowk, near SMHS Hospital. They were identified as Head Constable Barbinder Singh and Constable Ashok Patel of Humhama-based CRPF 48 Bn.

Earlier, last evening, militants had shot dead Constable Dinesh Kumar of BSF 89 Bn at Bohrikadal, in downtown here.

Informed sources in north Kashmir told EXCELSIOR that troops of Rashtriya Rifles Sector 8th eliminated two Pakistani militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kanthpora (B) village, near Cherkoot Army formation in Lolab valley of Kupwara district. They have been identified as Hyder Ali Imran and Nasrullah.

Reports from south Kashmir said that troops of RR 36 Bn eliminated one unidentified militant in an encounter at Mati-Gawran, in Kokernag area of Anantnag district this evening.

Sources said that militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad appeared at Khan Gund, Tral, and fired upon a fellow militant, namely Showkat Ahmed Bhat. They kidnapped him in injured condition and later shot him dead at Laam. Troops of BSF 120 Bn swooped on the hideout and engaged the militants in a gunbattle. However, militants managed to escape. A trail of blood suggested that one militant had sustained injuries.

Last evening, militants appeared at Kalaroos in Kupwara district and shot dead a 45-year-old farmer, Samandar Mughal S/o Raj Mohammad.

Last evening again, militants lobbed a hand grenade towards a security forces patrol at Nihama, near Forest Checkpost of Kulgam. It missed the intended target and exploded on road, causing injuries to eight civilians. One soldier also sustained injuries.

Cabinet approves draft 10th plan document

NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Union Cabinet today approved 10th Five Year plan targeting an 8 per cent economic growth annually for the period 2002-07, for which an outlay of Rs 15,92,300 crore including gross budgetary support of Rs 706,000 crore has been earmarked.

Briefing newspersons after the cabinet meeting, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K C Pant, said the Central plan will have an outlay of Rs 9,21,291 crore and the outlay for the states and Union territories will be Rs 6,71,009 crore.

The three-volume document has proposed to carry forward key reforms, particularly in agriculture, to generate 50 million jobs in the next five years besides raising FDI flow to 7.5 billion dollars annually, Pant said.

Asked whether 8 per cent annual target looked possible in view of RBI today lowering the growth target to upto 5.5 per cent and NCAER also pegging economic growth at 4.8 per cent in the current financial year, Pant said "there is no relevance in comparing the two targets. One bad agriculture year can disturb the overall growth targets."

Pant exuded confidence that the ambitious growth targets could be achieved but said there was need to take some hard economic decisions for which there should be political consensus among political parties, states and the Centre to carry forward the looking policies.

Pant emphasised that merely achieving the economic growth of 8 per cent would not meet the objective as bringing an improvement in the quality of life of the people was equally necessary and thus suggested an 11-point agenda to be carried forward during the years to come.

The agenda included reduction in poverty ratio to 21 per cent by the end of 10th Five Year Plan (2007) from 26 per cent now, Pant said adding this needs to be supplemented by reduction in decadal population growth to 16.2 per cent in 2001-11 from 21.3 per cent during 1991-2001.

Another feature of this plan is the recognition that "governance is perhaps one of the most important factors for ensuring that the plan is realised, as envisaged," Pant said and added that the plan document has laid down a perspective list of reforms in this regard.

He also mentioned that the plan has laid down a roadmap for tax reforms to achieve the tax-GDP ratio of 10.3 per cent during the plan period from the existing 8.6 per cent.

For efficient fiscal management, the plan has recommended widening the tax base and improving collections, removing tax incentives and concessions and introducing an integrated central and state VAT, downsizing the Government, cut in subsidies and administrative overheads, Pant said.

The 8 per cent growth target would require an investment of 28.4 per cent of GDP which would be met from domestic savings of 26.8 per cent of GDP and external savings of 1.6 per cent, he said.

The bulk of additional domestic savings would have to come from production and Government dis-savings from negative 4.5 per cent to negative 0.5 per cent of GDP.

Pant said the dates for National Development Council (NDC) would be finalised soon to ratify the 10th Plan.

He said the 10th Plan has a number of new features. "Firstly, the plan recognised the rapid growth in the labour force that we would like to experience over the next decade," Pant added.

At current rates of growth and with the current labour intensity in production, there was possibility of rising unemployment and that could lead to social unrest, Pant said adding "keeping this in mind the plan has laid a special emphasis on employment intensive sectors of agriculture, irrigation, small and medium enterprises since the national growth targets do not necessarily translate into balanced regional development and the potential and constraints of each State differed vastly, Pant said the 10th Plan has adopted a differential development strategy.

"It is for the first time that state-wise growth and other monitorable targets have been worked out in consultation with the states. This will enable the states to better focus their own development plan," he said.(PTI)

Omar meets Mufti

SRINAGAR, Oct 29: Union Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister-designate Mufti Mohammad Sayed at his Nowgam residence today. "We had a brief chat on the latest political and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Omar just congratulated me," Mr Sayeed told reporters after being elected People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Legislature Party leader.

"I told Omar (who unsucessfully contested from Ganderbal, the constituency represented by Abdullah’s since 1977) that we need the help of everyone to take the State out of the present situation," Mr Sayeed said.

He said a number of senior bureaucrats also called on him during the day.

He, however, avoided a direct question on whether he would campaign for the Congress in Gujarat where elections were to be held in December."Let us see," was all he said.

When pressed further, he said it was not necessary to reply to every question.

Mr Sayeed said Congress, president Sonia Gandhi and other central leaders will attend the swearing-in ceremony on November two.

After taking oath on Saturday he and others will go to Jammu to celebrate Diwali with the people there, he added. (UNI)

Employees get DA

NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Centre today announced an additional installment of DA of three per cent for its employees and pensioners that would cost the exchequer Rs 1,079 crore annually, an issue on which there was no political consensus at the recent Chief Ministers’ conference.

The decision to raise DA from the present 49 per cent to 52 per cent, which would benefit lakhs of Central Government employees, was taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,

Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, an official spokesperson said the additional instalment effective from July 1, 2002 would cost a total of Rs 719.34 crore for the residual period of the current financial year.

While additional DA for employees would entail a burden of Rs 773.01 crore annually and Rs 515.34 crore during the residual period of the current financial year, dearness relief for pensioners would cost Rs 306 crore for a year and Rs 204 crore for the remaining period of 2002-03.

It may be recalled that a proposal for freezing of DA came up for discussion during the Chief Ministers’ conference earlier this month but no consensus could be evolved on the issue. (PTI)

Patankar opposes disbanding of SOG

SRINAGAR, Oct 29: The proposed decision of the Congress-PDP coalition to merge the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police would be a disadvantage but not a setback to the anti-militancy operations in the State, a senior Army officer said today.

"Disbanding the SOG of the State police will be a disadvantage but not a setback to the security operations against the terrorists," General Officer Commanding 15 Corps, Lt Gen V G Patankar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here today.

He said the SOG, better known as Special Task Force, were a motivated force who worked very hard work to fight terrorism.

The Corps Commander hoped that the cooperation of the people and some additional work by security forces would help make up for the absence of SOGs.

Saying that the security situation has shown a marked improvement in the past fortnight in the Valley, he said "the number of encounters have come down significantly as people now want peace and progress in the Valley".

He said people were cooperating with the security forces to weed out about 1500 terrorists who were still active. (PTI)

MMA for resolving Kashmir under Simla Accord

ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: In an apparent policy shift, an alliance of six hardline religious parties in Pakistan has said it prefers the settlement of Kashmir and other disputes with India under the ambit of the Simla agreement and allayed fears that militants would step up operations in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Islamists’ resurgence.

The alliance - Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) - has resolved that the Kashmir issue should be settled through bilateral approach outlined by the Simla agreement, its nominee to the post of Prime Minister, Moulana Fazlur Rehman, said.

The MMA constituents believed that policy to resolve all disputes with India through Simla agreement should be continued until Pakistan Parliament decides otherwise, he told foreign and local media here.

He also sought to play down fears that resurgence of MMA would increase the support base of Pakistan-based militant groups to step up their operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rehman, who heads the pro-Taliban Jamat Ulema Islami (JUI) which has emerged as a dominant force in MMA by winning more seats than its alliance partners in October 10 polls, said the internationalisation of Kashmir issue could help in bringing awareness but in the end it has to be resolved between India and Pakistan.

Rehman’s comments are in contradiction to the policy followed by President Pervez Musharraf that the Kashmir issue should be resolved through a third party mediation. During the past three years of his rule, Musharraf has denounced the bilateral approach in various international fora.

Rehman also said that MMA wanted to follow more balanced policies towards west. "We want good relations with the western countries and the world community."

"We will fully combat terrorism in the country (Pakistan). We will not allow our soil for such activities and also for use against any other country," he said, adding his party and alliance had condemned the incident of terrorism, including the killing of the French engineers in Karachi. He said the alliance wanted to adopt debt free foreign policy which was based on Pakistan’s own resources. The business community would be provided concessions and the tax system would be made in consultation with them.

Referring to the constitutional amendments by Musharraf, he said, "the popular mandate warrants their review. We believe that the amendments in the national interest should be accepted with an open mind and those not in the national interest be rejected. We do not want to discard all these amendments."

About the introduction of Islamic laws, he said, "we will work within the parameters of the constitution and pursue the recommendations of the Islamic Ideological Council, which is a constitutional body."

Replying to a question about religious Madarasas, he said the Government "arbiterarilly" imposed an ordinance.

Madarasas were not against reformation, he said, adding "MMA wants good education and teaching of such subjects which are according to the demand of the present era." (PTI)

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