Indo-Pak nuke CBMs talks make headway

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: In a change of stance, Pakistan today said South Asia was no longer a "nuclear flashpoint" as Islamabad and New Delhi made "considerable progress" on nuclear confidence building measures promising to start a hotline between Foreign Secretaries, but drew a blank on conventional weapons front.

"The fact is that we accepted the nuclear capability of both sides as a fact of strategic stability and South Asia is not a nuclear flash point and we are moving to solidify that in terms of internal and external perceptions," said Additional Secretary in Pakistan Foreign Office Tariq Usman Haider, after holding talks with his Indian counterpart Meera Shankar on nuclear CBMs.

Indian officials said Haider’s assertions that South Asia was no longer a nuclear flashpoint summed up the progress of the talks as Pakistan till recently highlighted the acquisition of nuclear weapons by both India and Pakistan made the subcontinent most dangerous region in the world.

Endorsing Haider’s comments that South Asia was no longer a nuclear flashpoint, Shankar said at a joint press conference with Haider after their two-day deliberations, that "there has been constructive engagement on a range of issues of concern to both sides. We hope to carry on these talks in future at various levels including at the experts level." "We agree that it is extremely important for both countries to move forward in this area. We remain committed to the process," she said.

A joint statement issued after the talks said that both sides expressed their desire to keep working towards elaboration and implementation of nuclear CBMs, within the agreed framework.

The statement said the two sides held detailed consultations, especially on the upgradation of the existing hotlines between the DGMOs and establishment of a dedicated and secure hotline between Foreign Secretaries of the two countries. These measures inter alia, are intended to prevent misunderstanding and reduce risks relevant to nuclear issues, it said.

The two sides would report the progress made during the talks to the respective Foreign Secretaries who are scheduled to meet here on December 27 and 28. "We will report the progress made in the talks to the Foreign Secretaries," Haider said. They agreed that the future periodic expert-level talks on nuclear CBMs would discuss, review and monitor the implementation of nuclear CBMs as called for by Lahore MoU of 1999, the statement said. Both sides however failed to make any progress on the conventional weapons front.

India has already forwarded nine military-to-military related CBMs, which included a draft agreement on peace and tranquillity along the LoC in order to solidify the current ceasefire but Pakistan’s response in this regard was disappointing, officials said.

The Pakistani side for conventional CBMs was also led by Haider, while the Indian delegation was headed by Joint Secretary at Minister of External Affairs Arun Kumar Singh.

Playing down the failure of both sides to finalise an agreement on the pre-notification of missile tests as hoped by both sides ahead of the talks, Shankar said the two sides could not finalise the agreement not because of any "hurdles."

"Agreements of this nature are complex and raises many questions and has to be considered in a delicate way by both sides and resolve in a manner acceptable to both.

We will continue our discussions," she said. Asked why the two sides have not finalised an agreed arrangement to establish hotline facilities between Foreign Secretaries, they said discussions on modalities and technical aspects of the establishment of such a link up were being discussed as it should be a "secure" communication line available round the clock. Officials later clarified that the discussions hinged on whether phone should be through optic fibre cables or satellite. Also, both discussed up-gradation of hotline facilities at the level of Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) which were of normal telephone link and both sides want to make a "secure" line.

The Indian officials said that three of the four meetings held on different issues with Pakistan this week went off very well. The two sides virtually finalised an MoU share operational intelligence to curb narcotics trade in the talks held at New Delhi.

They reached an agreement to conduct a joint survey of the Sir Creek off Gujarat Coast beginning from January three. The survey is expected to take about a month. (PTI)

Cop, 6 SPOs arrested, suspended in Doda
10 rifles looted from police picket
*5 Bangladeshis, jawan among 10 killed

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: Militants last night looted 10 rifles, a wireless set and boxes full of ammunition from a police picket at Singhpura, about 45 kms from Kishtwar while 10 persons including five infiltrators, believed to be Bangladeshis, were killed in separate incidents across Jammu region since last evening.

Lone police constable and six Special Police Officers (SPOs), posted at Singhpura picket have been arrested. While the constable has been placed under suspension, the SPOs have been dis-engaged from the services for giving up weapons without any fight.

Official sources said a group of six to seven militants descended to a religious place at Singhpura under the jurisdiction of police station Chatru, about 45 kms from Kishtwar in Doda district at 8.30 pm last night and held a police constable Bashir Ahmed, Incharge Singhpura operational police picket, as hostage.

The militants called four other police personnel to the religious place at gun point and held them hostage too. The militants then stormed Singhpura police picket, about 15 kms from Chatru, and looted all 10 weapon, one wireless set and entire ammunition from the police post without any resistance by the police personnel.

The militants fired few shots before fleeing from the spot but didn’t cause any harm to the police personnel on duty. In the firing, a woman Jana Begum W/o Gh Hussain R/o Singhpura was killed. The ultras escaped towards a forest area. Sources said they had come to the village from upper reaches of Alan Gadol in Anantnag district of the Kashmir valley, about 12 kms from Singhpura.

Weapons looted from the police picket include 4 SLRs, four .303 rifles, one AK-47 rifle and one Light Machine Gun, the sources said.

There were a total of 17 police personnel including Incharge Bashir Ahmed deployed at Singhpura police picket. A couple of them had gone to take dinner while a couple of others were on leave when the militants struck.

Senior police officers including SSP Doda Sunil Kumar along with re-enforcement of police, para-military and security forces rushed to Singhpura and launched a search operation for the militants. Operation continued throughout the day today but the militants remained untraced.

The lone constable and six SPOs posted at the picket have been arrested for questioning. While the constable has been suspended from the services, the SPOs have been dis-engaged. A case of negligence on duty is being registered against them, the sources said, adding action against other SPOs will be taken after ascertaining that whether they were on duty or not.

In another incident, troops gunned down five "infiltrators" near Babbar nullah in Sarthi Kalan village of Mangu Chak in Hiranagar sector at 3.15 am today.

The "infiltrators" were suspected to be the Bangladeshi nationals as there were no recoveries of weapons or any incriminating document from their possession. Only one holy book and some clothes were recovered from them.

SDPO Border Jugal Sharma and SHO Hiranagar Inspector Brij Mohan Sharma visited the spot.

Meanwhile, a Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman denied that the slain persons were the "infiltrators". He said the killed persons were the exfiltrators and were heading towards Pakistan. They were killed in an ambush laid by the troops about three kms inside the International Border, he added.

Bodies of all five Bangladeshis were buried this afternoon, police said.

Troops of 26 Rashtriya Rifles and police gunned down two militants in an encounter at village Pallad in Thalela area of Bhaderwah in Doda district this evening.

Security forces didn’t suffer any casualties in about an hour long operation. One AK-56 rifle, one magazine, 11 rounds, one SLR with one magazine and eight rounds and one .303 rifle were recovered from the scene of encounter.

One of the slain militant has been identified as Abu Akkan of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit.

Another encounter took place between Army and a group of unidentified three militants at village Chapata in Thanna Mandi area of Rajouri district. In the exchange of firing, an Army jawan Joginder Singh Gurjan was killed while the militants managed to escape.

A civilian Mohd Altaf son of Aslam Gujjar was kidnapped and killed by the militants at Chringal Kabukot in Kalakote tehsil in Rajouri district last night. His dead body was recovered from Sarwari forest area this morning.

Lalu's absence sparks furore, LS adjourns for day

NEW DELHI, Dec 15: The absence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in the Lok Sabha forced adjournment of the House for the day today with an angry opposition demanding his resignation over yesterday’s train accident in Punjab in which 37 passengers lost their lives.

When the House reassembled after two adjournments, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee accepted pleas made by leader of the opposition L K Advani and NDA chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee to adjourn the House till tomorrow when Prasad is expected to make a statement on the rail tragedy.

Trouble began soon after the question hour when opposition members led by Vajpayee questioned the absence of Prasad who had assured the House that he would take the members into confidence on the mishap after his return from accident site.

Noisy scenes were also witnessed in the Rajya Sabha as opposition members pressed for Prasad’s resignation after BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad charged that the accident had occurred due to system failure.

As the Lok Sabha met at 1400 hrs, leader of the opposition L K Advani pleaded for adjournment of the House for the day saying a stalemate like situation had arisen in view of the absence of Railway Minister.

The Speaker, however, made it clear that the adjournment should not be treated as precedent in future.

CPI member Guru Das Gupta said he was equally disturbed over the tragedy and wanted the minister to come to the House and make a statement. At the same time, he said, he was not agreeable to adjourn the House.

Devendra Prasad Yadav (RJD) described as "unfortunate" the stand taken by the opposition and dismissed it as a calculated move. He wanted the Speaker not to start a new precedent by adjourning the House.

After nearly 40 minutes of uproar which began shortly after the question hour with agitated opposition members in the well shouting slogans demanding Prasad’s resignation, the House was first adjourned for ten minutes and later for over an hour.

The Speaker used the adjournment to hold consultations with leaders of various political parties to find a way out for restoration of normalcy.

Chatterjee, in the midst of uproar, observed he would not be cowed down and was not going to adjourn the House.

At one stage the atmosphere was surcharged when opposition members moved to the treasury side of the well and leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee was seen asking them to go back to their side.

BJP leaders V K Malhotra and B C Khanduri were seen confabulating with Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the protest continued.

The atmosphere became tense when the House took up a calling attention motion of CPI member Gurudas Dasgupta amid the opposition protests and the Finance Minister P Chidambaram made a statement on the issue.

Earlier in the din, a suo motu statement was laid on the table by Minister of State for Railway R Velu in which he said the "prima facie cause of the accident is one of human failure".

He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Railways, was enquiring into the cause of the accident.

Both the assistant Station Masters of Bhangala and Mirthal Railway Stations have been placed under suspension. The line has been restored at 2.30 a.m, he said. He said 37 people were killed and 53 injured in the accident. Thirteen persons had been discharged and 40 were being treated in hospitals. (PTI)

20 more inducted in Karnataka Ministry

BANGALORE, Dec 15: After months of vacillation and suspense, Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh today expanded the coalition ministry inducting 20 ministers — 11 from JDs and nine from the Congress.

Carrying out the much talked about and delayed expansion, Singh met the December 15 deadline set by JD(S), whose legislators were upset over the delay and had warned against any further dithering, causing uneasiness in the coalition.

Eighteen ministers were inducted in the cabinet rank with nine each from Congress and JD(S). Two JD(S) members joined as Ministers of State, with Governor T N Chaturvedi administering the Oath of Office and Secrecy at the portals of Vidhana Soudha, the State Secretariat, at a brief ceremony.

With today’s expansion the strength of the ministry rose to 32 and Singh said at a press conference, after an informal cabinet meeting, that he would induct two more shortly, to take the ministry’s strength to 34 in line with the constitutional amendment fixing a ceiling on the ministry size.

Singh did not explain why the Congress chose to keep in abeyance induction of two ministers from its side.

Admitting that there was delay in ministry expansion, Singh attributed it to political events like elections to Legislative Council and Bidar Lok Sabha bye-poll, among others.

Singh, heaving a sigh of relief over the ministry expansion, said the six-month-old issue had been settled now. "Though it is late, because it is a coalition Government... Talks were going on.... We have done it now".

Asked if leaving out many ministerial aspirants, including some seniors, would lead to disgruntlement, Singh said, "they (legislators) are happy. This is the decision of the high command". "..We have taken the permission of the high command".

"This (expansion) has put an end to the debate that was going on for the last six months. It (the debate) had overshadowed the good achievements of the coalition Government," deputy Chief Minister and JD(S) leader Siddaramaiah said.

The expansion saw induction of former minister R V Deshpande whose entry had reportedly came in for opposition from the JD(S) but another weighty aspirant D K Shivakumar, a strongman in the S M Krishna Ministry and a bete noire of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, has been left out, as also some other seniors, including A Krishnappa and Dr Parameshwara.

Today’s exercise is expected to cause resentment among strong ministerial aspirants from both the Congress and JD(S) camps, adding to the woes of Singh who is already weighed down by the task of managing coalition contradictions.

Several districts, including Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga, Kodagu and Chikamagalur are unrepresented in the ministry but the Chief Minister explained it away saying the "numbers are limited", apparently referring to the cap on ministry strength.

This is the second expansion carried out by Singh after the Congress-JD(S) coalition came to power on May 28 in a post-election arrangement. (PTI)

Peace in J&K turning into reality: Mufti
*Spring of amity has set in: Baig

Excelsior Special Correspondent

Darhal, Dec 15: Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said the convergence of interest in peace in the sub-continent holds bright prospect for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said a lasting peace was no longer a dream but fast turning into a reality.

Addressing a public meeting here today, the Chief Minister said Jammu and Kashmir was fast marching towards enduring peace as reflected in the urges of its people. He said this would not be a forced peace or peace of the graveyard but truly representing the people’s aspirations. He said the slogan of peace with dignity given by his party and later pursued as a policy by his Government has now become a people’s movement in the sub-continent.

The constituency of peace in India and Pakistan is gaining ground, he said adding, ‘Aman key karvaan mai donoon mulkoon key log shamil hain’ (people of both the countries have joined the caravan of peace).

The Chief Minister said those who were earlier advocating violence and bloodshed to put their point across were now talking the language of reconciliation. He referred to the recent conference of leaders of Jammu and Kashmir from both sides of LoC at Kathmandu and said that there too the importance of peace was highlighted with participants stressing on reconciliation and peace as means to achieve this objective. He said his party and the Government had always tried to build an atmosphere of amity among the people of the sub-continent and it was a matter of satisfaction that this stand was receiving endorsement not only within Jammu and Kashmir but from the rest of the country and Pakistan as well. He said he had a vision of a new space for Jammu and Kashmir recognized by the world around it and this would be realized sooner than later.

Mufti Sayeed said the imperativeness of peaceful settlement of issues has become stronger world over and the realization was dawning on people to adopt the path of dialogue.

He said the determination of the people was mainly responsible for the turnaround in the situation. He said his Government has infused a greater sense of security among the people. He said instances of excesses do take place here and there that cause embarrassment but these isolated incidents could not be taken as a rule.

In response to local demands and problems, the Chief Minister said that Darthal had been granted a tehsil and a boy’s higher secondary school. He said Rs. 4 crore would be spent on the construction of road between Darhal and Rajouri. He expressed displeasure over the non-availability of staff in the sub-district hospital and said early steps would be taken to post doctors and paramedics there. He said the construction of the Mughal Road would open up new vistas of development in the entire area. He said Rs. 100 crore would be obtained from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of the road while another Rs. 120 crore would be available from the recently announced Prime Minister’s economic package. The road would be completed in two years and work would start from next spring.

The Chief Minister said Rajouri would emerge as a centre of education and research activities with the setting up of the Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University. He said degree colleges at Thana Mandi and Mendhar and Army School at Rajouri on the pattern of famous Doon School would also add to the quality education scenario emerging in the area.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Finance, Muzaffar Hussain Baig said the coalition Government under the leadership of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was writing a new history of peace and reconciliation in the State. He said very few people change the course of events at a crucial juncture and with the efforts of Mufti Sayeed the walls of hatred were crumbling and the spring of friendship had set in across the sub-continent. He said not only the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road but roads from Poonch and Rajouri would also be thrown open facilitating easy movement of people on either side of the LoC.

Mr. Baig said that alongside with the restoration of peace, the government had embarked upon a new path of development with special focus on of remote and hilly areas. He said the government was aware of the problems confronting the people of hilly areas like Rajouri and assured that these would be addressed. He hoped the Pahari speaking people would get the scheduled tribe status under the present government.

On this occasion a prominent leader of Darhal, Iqbal Malik joined the People’s Democratic Party.

Civilian, 2 militants killed in Sopore

Excelsior Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 15: Two Pakistani militants and their motorcycle driver got killed in a broad daylight suicide strike on a BSF formation at Sopore in north Kashmir today.

Informed sources in north Kashmir told the EXCELSIOR that two heavily armed militants appeared at Hathi Shah locality in the apple-rich Sopore township in Baramulla district at 1215 hours today. They forced a youth, namely Syed Mohammad Fayaz S/o Syed Anwar Shah R/o Bumai, Sopore, to give them a lift on his motorcycle, JK05A-0190, for just crossing the bridge on river Jhelum. Fayaz, who had called on his in-laws at Hathi Shah, could not resist. As the trio reached well on the bridge, the militants jumped down and made separate attempts to storm the camp, situated on the southern abutment of the bridge.

The militants lobbed at least eight hand grenades and fired volleys of AK-56 gunfire. Even as one of them managed to enter the guarded premises, a BSF sentry gunned him down. Another militant was shot dead by another sentry from the opposite direction. Sources said that the paramilitaries were busy with their lunch when the militants carried out their fidayeen attack. One of the BSF soldiers sustained injuries. Troops took the motorcycle driver for a militant and shot him dead on the bridge. However, later in the afternoon, he turned out to be a civilian used for the guerrilla action on gunpoint.

A senior Police official said that two of the three youth killed in the action were believed to be Pakistani cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba. He said that Police were checking the antecedents of their carrier and investigating whether he had been used forcibly or had been working for the militant organisation. He said that all the arms and ammunition recovered from the site of the gunbattle were in the possession of the two armed militants and nothing objectionable had been found on the Sopore resident’s body. Inquiries revealed that Syed Mohammad Fayaz was the bona fide owner of the motorcycle used by the militants.

Officials believe that the objective of the militant strike was to invite heavy retaliatory gunfire from the BSF camp at the spot which remains usually crowded with vehicular as well as the pedestrian traffic. "Had the troops fallen in the trap and opened fire indiscriminately, there would have been a large number of the civilian casualties", said DIG north Kashmir Raja Aijaz Ali.

Meanwhile, Police and security forces detected and defused an IED, which had been planted by militants near Masjid-e-Ibrahim Hyderpora on Srinagar-Airport road today.

Sources said that Police recovered the dead body of a truck driver, Mohan Singh, from his vehicle, DL-IG-7882, at Fruit Mandi here last evening. He seemed to have consumed liquor before going for a sleep. However, some injuries on the body made Police register a case of murder.

Son kills mother for lust of money

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: Police today worked out the blind murder of a widow at Upper Gadi Garh under the jurisdiction of Satwari Police Station by arresting her son and his friend.

Police spokesman said that body of a 60-year old widow— Kirpal Kour was recovered from the fields in the Upper Gadi Garh area under the jurisdiction of Satwari Police Station in the wee hours of November 16 when some villagers noticed the same while going to their respective fields.

They immediately brought the matter to the notice of police and a police team led by SHO Satwari Hamid Choudhary rushed to the spot. The body was shifted to hospital for post-mortem which revealed that the woman had injuries on her head and stab wounds on different parts of the body.

After registering a case under Section 302 RPC police began investigation into the case during which the son of the deceased came under suspicion. The further investigations revealed that there was a dispute between the deceased and her son over the property and both were living separately.

Later, police conducted raid in the house of the son of the deceased to arrest him but he was not present at his house which established his hand in the murder of the widow. Finally, the deceased’s son—Davinder Singh was arrested by a police team led by DySP South Shiv Kumar Chouhan and SHO Hamid Choudhary under the supervision of SSP Jammu Dr Kamal Saini and SP South Bhupinder Singh. A friend of the accused—Narinder Singh alias Bobby, son of Amar Singh of Upper Gadi Garh, who helped Davinder in eliminating his mother in lieu of Rs 60,000 was also arrested by the police.

During questioning, Davinder Singh confessed to have eliminated his mother over property dispute. He disclosed to the police that after his marriage he started living separately due to estranged relations with the deceased. Later, both the deceased and the accused decided to sell off the entire property and divide the amount between them.

The entire property was sold at Rs 12.40 lakh and the borrower gave the first instalment of Rs 5.80 lakh to Kirpal Kour. Davinder Singh took the money from his mother and asked the deceased to keep the second instalment with her.

After collecting Rs 12.40 lakh, Davinder Singh contacted his friend Narinder Singh alias Bobby and chalked out a plan to eliminate Kirpal Kour to pave the way for getting the entire amount of Rs 12.40 lakh. As per the plan, Narinder Singh managed to bring Kirpal Kour in the fields in the wee hours of November 16 on the pretext of managing ‘Tabeez’ for her so that her relations with Davinder Singh could be normalised.

As soon as Kirpal Kour entered the fields, Narinder Singh hit on her head with a wooden log followed by Davinder Singh stabbing his aged mother with sharp-edged weapon. After eliminating Kirpal Kour, both the accused fled from the spot.

Doctors' petitions dismissed
Transfer is Govt's prerogative: HC

Excelsior legal Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 15: Upholding the Government decision to transfer number of doctors to far-flung and rural areas, the State High Court today stated that the transfer is an exigency of service and the prerogative of the employer to see at what place the service of an employee can be utilized properly and suits the public interest.

While deciding the batch of writ petitions filed by doctors who had challenged the recent Government order of October 18, 2004, whereunder they were transferred to other places, Justice YP Nargotra, in an approved for reporting judgment, referred to various orders of the Supreme Court and observed that keeping in view the law settled down by the Apex Court, even there is a guideline that normal tenure of a person at a post shall be of two years and such guideline is also not the binding upon the Government. Secondly, the court stated that it doesn’t legally vest enforceable right in favour of the employee that he/she cannot in any circumstances or even in the interest of the administration be transferred before completion of his normal tenure.

" No employee has a right to insist that he/she should be allowed to continue on a particular post for any length of period. The only right available to an employee on the basis of any guidelines or policy of the Government that the employee shall not be transferred before the expiry of normal tenure of two years, is to approach the higher authorities for redress of the grievances. The Courts cannot interfere with the transfer order on that ground", Justice Nargotra stated while referring to Supreme Court guidelines in " Goverdhan Lal" case.

Dr ADS Manhas, Dr Lata Jamwal, Dr Sunil Bhat, Dr Anjum Shaheen and Dr Rita Kotwal had filed the writ petitions wherein they had challenged the Government order number 428-HME, dated October 18, 2004 whereunder they were transferred from one place to other places. The High Court, however, dismissed their petitions with the observation that it is the prerogative of the employer ( Government) to transfer an employee in an exigency of service.

Advocate General AH Naik alongwith Deputy Advocate General Shaista Hakim appeared for the State.

Geelani admitted in Delhi hospital

Excelsior Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 15: Senior separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been admitted in a New Delhi hospital for a surgery to be conducted on Friday.

A spokesman of Hurriyat Conference led by Geelani said that the septuagenarian firebrand leader was admitted in the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi where he would undergo for a surgery on Friday.

"One of his kidneys has already been removed. He has developed some stone in another kidney that would be removed on Friday," the spokesman said in a statement issued here this evening.

Meanwhile, the Hurriyat spokesman has condemned Government decision not to allow Geelani to proceed on Hajj even this year. "This is a brazen act of interfering in religious matters. For last nine years now, Mr Geelani has been filing Hajj form before district administration but on the behest of Indian Government the local puppet administration has not allowed him to proceed on this religious duty. This year also, the district administration denied to issue travel documents to him," the spokesman said.

He pointed out that Hurriyat was justified to infer from this "partisan attitude" that "India considers only Mr Geelani as real representative of the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Kashmir".

In a separate statement, a constituent of Hurriyat Conference (Geelani), Muslim Khawateen Markaz, today condemned Government for extending ban on Dukhtaran-e-Millat and some other Kashmiri groups. "This is clear violation of the UN charter. And more so, Kashmiris are engaged in a justified struggle since 1947," the Markaz spokesperson said. The spokesperson also expressed concern over "worsening human rights scenario" in Jammu and Kashmir.

Bhaderwah Army Station by 2006

NEW DELHI, Dec 15: The Government has approved the establishment of a military station at Bhadarwah in the Doda distrtict of Jammu and Kashmir, which is likely to be completed by the end of 2006, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Replying to a query from Dr Karan Singh (Cong), Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the proposal was mooted some 20 years ago, but its execution was delayed because of a variety of factors, including difficult terrain and non-availability of local contractors and skilled workers.

Mr Mukherjee also pointed out that construction material for the military station had to be transported from outside as these were not locally available.

The minister also clarified that the structure at Bhadarwah would be in the form of a military station and not a cantonment.

After the 1962 Chinese war, the Government had taken a policy decision not to establish any cantonment. "Only military stations can be set up now," he said.

Dr Karan Singh expressed concern over the inordinate delay in the construction of the military station and said such a station was imperative to fight terrorists who had infilitrated in large numbers in the Jammu region as also in Poonch, which is close to the Line of Control (LoC), and Doda.

There should be a sense of urgency for completing the project, he argued.

Replying to a supplementary from Dr Farooq Abdullah (NC), the minister said work on the construction of a road connecting Chamba with Bhaderwah could not be taken up because of lack of resources.

The NC leader had argued that such a road would give an impetus to tourism in the region. (UNI)

BJP trying to divert attention: Azad

NEW DELHI, Dec 15: The Government today blamed the BJP for disruption of proceedings in the Lok Sabha on the rail accident issue which it said was to "divert" attention from the "ongoing intra-party struggle."

With the Lok Sabha being adjourned for the day following turmoil over the absence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to make a statment on yesterday’s railway accident in Punjab, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said "for six months the NDA boycotted the House over the issue of Lalu as Railway Minister and now when he is not present in the House, they demand he should make the statement personally. "Had he been present, they would not have heard him", he said.

Azad said this was the first time that a question has been raised that only a particular minister should reply. "It has never ever happened before," he said.

Quoting rules of procedure, Azad said "according to the rules of procedure, any Cabinet Minister or Minister of State or even parliamentary secretary can reply on behalf of the minister."

Azad said the opposition was not prepared to listen and was bent on the House being adjourned ahead of schedule.

He said the fact that the Railway Minister rushed to the accident site and personally supervised the relief operations itself is creditable and since he was there, he could take on the spot decisions.

"This should have been appreciated by the opposition rather than protesting that he should have made the statement personally," Azad said.

To a question that considering the magnitude of the accident, Prasad should have come to the House to reply, he said "it was not necessary. Besides, he had given in writing that he would not be in Delhi till December 23 (the last day of the winter session)." (PTI)

India, Pak to commence joint survey

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: India and Pakistan today agreed to commence from January three joint survey of the boundary pillars at Sir Creek, a small coastal strip along the Rann of Kutch off Gujarat coast.

A joint report would then be submitted to the respective Governments, a joint statement issued after two-days of "detailed" technical discussions on Sir Creek at Rawalpindi said.

The meeting was held in pursuance to the understanding reached between Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri in Delhi in September this year that the two sides hold technical-level discussions on the modalities for carrying out joint survey of the boundary pillars in the horizontal segment (blue dotted line) in the Sir Creek area.

While the Pakistani delegation was led by the Surveyor General, Maj Gen Jamil-ur-Rahman Afridi, the Indian side was led by Brig Girish Kumar, Deputy Surveyor General of India. The Indian delegation also called on Rear Admiral Ahsan-ul-Haq Chaudhri, Additional Secretary in Pakistan’s Defence Ministry.

Officials here said both sides positively understood each other’s points of view and a consensus generally emerged.

Both sides agreed for a joint survey of the pillars erected in 1924 by the then authorities of Sindh and Kutch.

The two sides have held eight round of talks so far and they now have agreed to jointly survey the seven-mile creek.

The Sir Creek issue was among the eight contentious subjects being discussed under the composite dialogue process.

Sir Creek is a small strip of water along the Rann of Kutch (in India) and Sindh (in Pakistan).

Officials said both countries were keen to acquire it as it is particularly considered to be rich in oil and natural gas. (PTI)
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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