Director Health files caveat
101 influential doctors detached

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 20: To streamline functioning of the Health Department and to provide advanced medical facilities in the far-flung backward areas, the Health Department has detached 101 ‘influential’, doctors who had been attached in the city.

Keeping in view the ‘approach’ and ‘links’ of these detached medicos, Director Health Services, Jammu Dr Kailash Kohli today filed a caveat in the High Court this morning before serving the order the doctors. Orders have been served individually to all doctors.18 doctors, who have been attached with Directorate of Health Services have been shifted, 11 medicos transferred from Gandhi Nagar Hospital, nine from Police Hospital and five each from Sarwal and Leprosy Hospital.

Director Health Services, Dr Kailash Kohli, talking to the Excelsior admitted that most of the shifted doctors were ‘influential’ so the Department has decided to file caveat in the High Court before issuing orders to them. He hoped that this order will help in streamlining medical facilities in the far-flung areas.

As earlier reported by the Excelsior, these orders were issued on the direction of the Health and Medical Education Minister Suman Lata Bhagat.

According to Govt Order number 428 of HME of 2004, Dr Maqbool Ahmed Zarger, B-Grade ENT specialist, has been transferred to District Hospital Doda, Dr I K Wangoo, B Grade-Ortho to CH Vijaypur, Dr Sanjeev Gupta, B Grade Pead to CHC Reasi, Dr Rakesh Gupta- B Grade Surgeon, to EH Vijaypur, Dr Ram Kumar, B Grade Phy, to CHC Surankote, Dr Rakesh Sharma to Accidental Hospital, Vijaypur, Dr T R Gupta-Radiologist to District Hospital Kathua and Dr A D Singh to SDH Gandoh. All these seven doctors were working in the Police Hospital, Jammu.

Eighteen doctors who were attached with the Directorate of Health Services and awaiting orders of adjustment were also posted in the different rural and areas. Those who have been posted included Dr Ravinder Singh, who has been transferred to PHC Kishtwar, Dr Bawa Ram Bhagat to SMGS Jammu, Dr Anita Koul to Police Hospital Jammu, Dr Amita Turiki to Gandhi Nagar Hospital, Dr Suresh Chander to District Hospital Rajouri, Deepak Kapoor to CHC Bishnah, Dr Arun Arora to CHC Samba, Dr Des Raj Dogra to Leprosy Slum Jammu, Dr Vijay K Saini to CHC Akhnoor, Dr Rekha to CHC Sojhana, Dr Satish Kumar to AD Gole Gujral, Dr Renu Rani to CHC Samba, Dr Vikas Bhardwaj to dispensary Kishenpur Manwal, Dr Amrita Kotwal to EC Subash Nagar Jammu, Dr Rajeev Sharma to CHC R S Pura, Dr Purpkar Singh to PHC Kharan block Pallanwalla, Dr Romesh Raina to CHC Hiranagar and Dr Manik Sharma to Govt. Hospital Sarwal, Jammu.

Eleven doctors being working at Gandhi Nagar Hospital were also transferred. Those who were transferred included Dr Sham Sunder Gupta to District Hospital Kathua, Dr Jai Kumar Gupta to CHC Katra, Dr Subash Abrol to CHC Akhnoor, Dr Kamaljeet Singh to Leprosy Hospital Jammu, Dr Meenu Jain to CHC Bani, Dr Naseem Choughan to District Hospital, Rajouri, Dr Arun Gandotra to CHC Gandoh, Dr Rajni Bala to District Hospital Kathua, Dr Pankaj Gupta to Police Hospital.

Five doctors of Sarwal Hospital were also shifted to different places. Dr Harinder Kour of Sarwal Hospital has been shifted DH Udhampur, Dr Shardha Kapoor to PHC Pargwal, Pallanwalla, Dr Maduri Slathia to CHC Samba, Dr Sandeep Gupta to Gandhi Nagar and Dr Mirdula Gupta to CHC Ramnagar.

Dr Vijay Sawarbal has been transferred to DH Poonch, Dr Meenakshi Wakhloo to DH Kathua, Dr J K Kotwal to DIO Rajouri, Dr Prakash Prabhakar to DH Poonch and Dr Chaman Lal to PHC Gudu Falal, Billwar. All these five doctors were working in Leprosy Hospital Jammu.

Dr Kewal Samotra working at GB Pant Hospital has been transferred to CHC Bhaderwah, Dr R S Manhas, woking at SMGS Hospital has been posted at CHC Kishtwar, Dr Vimal Kumar, working at PHC Dhani, to AD district Kathua, Dr Anita Baru, working at GB Pant Hospital to District Hospital Rajouri, Dr Liyaqat Ali to district hospital Kathua.

Dr Rakesh Gupta has been transferred from CHC Marh to CHC Akhnoor, Dr ADC Manhas from GMC Jammu to CHC Bani, Dr Sunil Bhatt from GMC to District Hospital Rajouri, Dr D L Jangral to Police Hospital, Dr Rakesh Kumar from PHC Nandpur to CHC Mandi, Dr Anil Gupta from DH Udhampur to EH Ramban, Dr R K Khusoo from CHC Kishtwar to Emergency Hospital, Banihal, Dr R K Gandotra to Police Hospital Jammu, Dr Makhan Lal from Udhampur to EH Thatri, Dr Zahan Ara from MLA Hostel to CHC Mandi, Poonch, Dr Ritu Gupta from Channi Himmat to District Hospital Rajouri, Dr Lata Jamwal from EC Sainik Colony to PHC Pallanwala, Dr R S Charak from DTC Jammu to PHC Pallanwalla, Dr Rajeev Sharma from DTC Jammu to Gura Slathian, Dr Anju Bala from CHC Marh to PHC Karha Pallanwala, Dr Deepak Sharma from CHC Marh to EH Ramban, Dr Meena Kumar from CHC Marh to AD Basantpur Parole, Dr Jyoti Devi from CHC Marh to PHC Ramkot, Dr Girdhari Lal Manhas from SMGS to SDH Gandoh.

Dr Dimple M Singh and Dr Kuljit Kour from Red Cross Society have been transferred to PHC Bagrtian Ramnagar and AD Panthal respectively. Dr Arun Kohli from PHC Rathana to CHC Akhnoor, Dr Kulrattan Anand from PHC Ramgarh to DH Rajouri, Dr Anjum Mirza from EC Nanak Nagar to CHC Darhal, Dr Mohinder Singh Sandhu, with motorcade of the Chief Minister has been transferred to PHC Miari block Katra, Dr Shanti Jaugral from Channi Himmat to DH Udhampur, Dr Avinash Gupta from Channi Himmat to CHC Reasi.

Dr Paramjeet Kour has been transferred to CHC Sunderbani, Dr Shakti Balla to AD Bhaya, Hiranagar, Dr Vishav Gupta to CHC Kalakote, Dr Ambika Sachdeva to CHC Reasi and Dr Arifa Sultana to EH Batote. All these five doctors have been working at RIS Jammu. Dr Seema Choudhary, Dy.CMO Jammu has been transferred to PHC Dagore.

Dr Rana Zahoor Ahmed has been shifted to PHC Dagore, Dr Seema Ezaz to DH Doda and Dr Rekha Rani to PHC Bhanara. They have been working at RIHFW, Nagrota.

Dr Suresh Bhagat from Sainik School Nagrota to CHC Bishnah, Dr Madan Lal from Model Town Gangyal to PHC Loordka Rajouri, Dr Mandeep Singh from Model Town Gangyal to DH Poonch, Dr Sarooj Kotwal from EC Birpur to DH Doda, Dr Dalip Vaid from EC Birpur to PHC Bagoo Das Mahore, Dr Rita Gupta from SMGS Hospital Jammu to CHC R S Pura. Three doctors working in PP Centre SMGS Jammu have been also transferred. They included Dr Rita Kotwal to EH Banihal, Dr Jyotshana Lamba to EH Rambam and Dr Vijay Lakshmi to CHC Mendhar.

Dr Anoop Manhas, Dy CMO Jammu has been transferred to District Hospital Kathua while as Dr Simmi Kotwal transferred to EC Digiana to SDH Bhaderwah.

CB Srinagar establishes Rs 32.11 lakh fraud
Two former ST DCs among 9 held

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 20: Six Sales Tax officials including two former Deputy Commissioners and three partners of a transport company were today arrested by the Crime Branch, Srinagar for committing a fraud of Rs 32.11 lakh.

After arrests, a challan against the accused was produced in the designated court of law in Srinagar by the investigating agency. One of the accused had died during the investigations.

All six Sales Tax department officials were posted at Lakhanpur when the fraud was committed.

SSP Crime Branch, Srinagar Dr Abdul Aziz Khan said the accused had entered into a conspiracy and imported goods worth Rs 4.1 crore in one month between March 29, 1995 to March 27, 1996 without depositing any Sales Tax.

CST/GST numbers of four firms of Leh, three of which were non-existent, were used by the accused to evade payment of Sales Tax amounting to Rs 32.11 lakh on accounts of the import of goods to Kashmir, Dr Khan said.

He added that the amount of Rs 32.11 lakh, which was a direct loss to State exchequer, was shared by the accused among themselves.

Sales Tax officials, who were arrested by the Crime Branch Srinagar today before production of challan against them, have been identified as Ghulam Nabi Rangshal son of Ghulam Mohd R/o Shivpora, Srinagar, the then Deputy Commissioner, Sales Tax, Lakhanpur, Abdul Rouf son of Shamas-ud-Din R/o Nishaat, Srinagar, the then Deputy Commissioner, Sales Tax, Lakhanpur, Sonaullah Bhat son of Ghulam Mohd Bhat R/o Bemina, Srinagar, the then ETO Sales Tax, Lakhanpur (who passed away during investigations of the case), Manzoor Ahmed Kawoosa son of Ghulam Rasool R/o Wachpora, Srinagar, the then Inspector Sales Tax, Lakhanpur, Parvez Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam Nabi Dar R/o Gassu, Hazratbal, Srinagar, the then Junior Assistant, Sales Tax Lakhanpur and Fayyaz Ahmed Khan son of Ghulam Nabi Khan R/o Zabgaripora, Nowhatta, Srinagar.

Three partners of Golden Transport Company, Srinagar, who were also accused in the case, are Riaz Ahmed Zargar son of Ali Mohd Zargar R/o Lal Bazaar, Srinagar, Abdul Rashid Zargar alias Peecha son of Mohd Sultan R/o Raisbagh, Srinagar and Farooq Ahmed son of Rehmatullah R/o Sultanpura, Uttar Pradesh.

A case against the accused has been registered in FIR No. 83 under Sections 409, 465, 471 and 120-B.

Four firms of Leh, whose CST/GST were misused by the accused, include Alamdad Enterprises, Dynamic Traders, Fayyaz Enterprises and K S General Works. Barring Fayyaz Enterprises, all other firms didn’t exist at all. CST/GST numbers of the existing firm were also misused by the accused.

India, Pak announce dates for talks

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: India and Pakistan today announced dates for expert-level talks on nuclear and conventional Confidence Building Measures, commencement of the proposed Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and six other identified issues, beginning in the last week of November.

While talks on nuclear CBMs will be held in Islamabad on December 14 and 15, the one on conventional CBMs will follow on December 15 and 16.

The two sides are expected to take up a draft agreement on advance notification of missile tests during this meeting.

The Foreign Ministries in Islamabad and New Delhi simultaneously announced schedule of meetings on eight subjects for which there was an agreement in principle during the visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to India in September.

The meeting on starting bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will be held in New Delhi on December seven and eight. The issue of what sort of document should be carried by those wishing to use this service has been a subject of intense debate between the two Governments.

While New Delhi contends that passports should be the travel document that should be permitted, Pakistan feels that for using this bus service from J and K to PoK, an agreed document other than passprt should suffice.

It was decided that railway authorities of the two countries will meet in Islamabad on December two and three to discuss the proposed rail link between Munnabao and Khokhrapar.

The Narcotics Control Authorities will meet here on November 29 and 30. Their parleys would include finalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding.

In the near back-to-back schedule, there will be a meeting of the Indian coast guards with the Pakistan maritime security agency here on December three and four during which they will discuss an MoU for establishing communication links between them.

On December 14 and 15, there will be a meeting in Karachi on the joint survey of the boundary pillars in the horizontal segment in the Sir Creek area.

The two sides will also have a meeting of the committee of experts on trade related issues here on December nine and ten.

A joint statement issued on September eight after Kasuri’s meeting with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh had stated that Foreign Secretaries Shyam Saran and Riaz Khokhar would meet in December to discuss overall progress, as well as subjects of peace and security including CBMs and J and K, in the composite dialogue.

The two Foreign Secretaries have also been mandated to work out the schedule of meetings on the other six subjects comprising Siachen, Tulbul Navigation Project, Sir Creek, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields, under the composite dialogue.

In Islamabad, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan, when asked about the second round of meeting between the Foreign Secretaries to discuss Kashmir and peace and security, said the dates for the talks were being discussed and the parleys could take place in Islamabad in the third or fourth week of December.

Also, the dates for the meeting of experts to resolve differences on Siachen will be announced after reaching a mutual agreement, he said. (PTI)

Advani flays Govt handling of Kashmir affairs

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: BJP president L K Advani today criticised the UPA Government for its handling of the Kashmir affairs and accused it of virtually derailing the dialogue process initiated by the NDA Government with separatists.

"The Government has not done what it needed to," the former Deputy Prime Minister said at his first press conference when asked to comment whether the Manmohan Singh Government was handling the issue properly.

Had the Government handled the Kashmir affair properly, the dialogue process initiated with separatists would not have derailed, he said.

After the Vajpayee Government started talks with Hurriyat, Advani, then Deputy Prime Minister, held two rounds of talks with the separatist conglomerate which had agreed to hold the third round after Lok Sabha elections in May.

However, since the new Government assumed office, the talks have not taken off.

Indicating that his party will not give up Hindutva, Advani dismissed suggestions his coming back at the helm of party affairs was due to defeat in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra polls and expressed confidence of it "staging a comeback".

He said BJP would strive to correct its image "created by rivals" and aim at reaching out to all sections of the society.

Advani, who took over from M Venkaiah Naidu in the wake of the electoral reverses, said the "political obituary" of BJP and its earlier Avatar Jana Sangh several times but still the party has staged comebacks overcoming all odds.

"The interpretation that BJP is in crisis is wrong. The impression that the change of guard was effected due to electoral outcome is laughable," he said, asserting "I have no doubt that BJP will similarly stage a comeback."

Claiming that the Manmohan Singh Government was "helping us a lot", the leader of opposition said the BJP-led coalition would not have to wait for long for fall of "this Government ridden with contradictions." "I don’t think this Government has the mood of keeping us in the opposition for five years," Advani said while emphasising that his party was mentally prepared to be in the opposition for the full term.

Advani, who announced that he would meet top RSS leadership in Nagpur on Dussehra, made it clear that BJP would continue pursuing "nationalism", arguing it was the "only nationalist national party" in the country practising real secularism.

Advani said he had to take reins of the party after Naidu persisted that he be relieved due to personal reasons. "If you try to persuade me, you will be cruel to me," he quoted Naidu as telling him.

He insisted that the party was "huge" and had inbuilt resilience as it pursued the "nation-first" ideology.

Making a scathing attack on the Congress-led Government, he said that the UPA Government has been "playing with and gambling with the security of the country. Just to win elections, they had sought the support of the Naxalites (in Andhra Pradesh) and ULFA (in Assam)," he said.

He added that the terrorism, which was restricted to the western front, had now spread to the north eastern parts of the country and the Government has allowed lifting of the ban on People’s War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh, letting them join hands with the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).

Observing that the Naxalite problem has become "more serious" owing to the developments in Nepal, he recalled that the BJP-led NDA Government had declared that it would talk to any insurgent group only after it gave up arms.

"Under this Government, governance has taken a back seat and vendetta against the opposition has taken the front seat," the former Deputy Prime Minister said.

Making it known that the BJP has not given up the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, Advani said unlike his party, Congress was "not a nationalist party not only because it is headed by a person having foreign origin but also because of the policies it practices."

He also alleged that under the UPA Government, the post of the Prime Minister had been "devalued" and the values of parliamentary democracy "degraded".

"The Prime Minister is the principle decision-maker in the parliamentary democracy and any other arrangement may be right in a different system," he said.

In an obvious reference that the UPA coalition depended upon crucial support of the left, he said if the Congress wanted a "quasi-communist system, let them say it openly".

Asserting that he was willing to enter into any debate on secularism, he dubbed Congress and the communists as "pseudo-secularists" and said for them secularism was a "facade for pure vote bank politics".

BJP, he said, believed there should be no difference among Indians on religious or caste lines and this philosophy was embedded in the country’s tradition and culture. India, he said, would have become a theocratic state at the time of the partition in 1947 had this tradition of secularism not existed.

Lauding the second rung leadership in BJP, which he termed as "talented and labourious", he said even though initially he was reluctant to take up the baton from Naidu, the "blend of senior leaders and upcoming young leaders" encouraged him to accept the responsibility.

He also described Atal Bihari Vajpayee as one of the finest Prime Ministers in recent time. (AGENCIES)

CJI, Centre concerned over health of subordinate judiciary

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: The head of the judiciary and the Union Government have expressed serious concern over the health of subordinate courts in the country, which faced a daunting task of dealing with whopping backlog of over two crore cases even as it lacks judges, staff and infrastructure.

Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti feels the lower court Judges are working like machines but says even that is not enough to deal with the huge arrears as over 2,000 posts of Judges/Magistrates out of a total of 13,000 are lying vacant.

"On account of unfilled vacancies, the subordinate courts function like lame ducks," Justice Lahoti told PTI.

He said the constitution vests power, coupled with duty, to Parliament to provide for the establishment of additional courts for the better administration of laws enacted by it. However, "these constitutional provisions are yet to receive the requisite attention of the Central Government," he added.

Law Minister H R Bharadwaj also feels that the State of Affairs of the lower courts in the states is not so good.

Conceding that there was a problem in regard to the District Level Courts, he said almost all the states complain of lack of fund to help judiciary in building infrastructure and appointing additional staff.

"Judiciary gets least priority in the development agenda of the states. We must take interest in the development of the lower judiciary and give them more funds. The funding should increase for atleast five or six years to overcome the problems plaguing the subordinate judiciary," Bharadwaj said.

The Chief Justice of India said there are long standing vacancies in the court staff which are not being filled because of financial crunch or ban on appointments.

"The courts have bare minimum staff and that too already over-burdened," Justice Lahoti said citing the ever increasing queue of litigants before the courts which dispose of millions of cases every year, a fact rarely noticed in face of the huge backlog of litigation.

Maintaining that the common man still reposed its faith in judiciary, the CJI said "those who matter" only notice that nearly 30 lakh cases were pending in the 21 High Courts across the country with a sanctioned strength of 719 judges.

"Rarely they ask as to how many of the Judges are in place though they are quick to blame the judiciary for the backlog which is cited every now and then," he said.

Law Ministry sources said that total vacancies of High Court Judges as on October one, 2004 was 219 which calculates to a little over 30 per cent of the total strength of Judges.

Out of the 219 vacancies, recommendations have been sent by the Chief Justices of various High Courts for filling up of 126 posts, the sources said.

The CJI has sent to the Government 95 recommendations within the last four months of which 64 has been cleared by the Government. Over 30 proposals for appointment of Judges for the High Courts are pending with the Goverenment, the sources said. (PTI)

'Jawans involved in fake encounters awarded prizes'

JODHPUR, Oct 20: The Army jawans involved in fake encounters in Siachen were presented with cash prizes for their "bravery" before the bursting of the scandal, a military court was told here today.

After the "action" of August 24 last year, Commanding Officer K D Singh came to near Bhutali forward post and gave away cash awards to jawans, prosecution witness Phatta Bahadur Thapa, the then commander of the post, told the court holding General Court Martial proceedings against Maj Surinder Singh for "staging" the encounters.

"I was not given the cash prize because I was told that, being Junior Commissioned Officer, I was not entitled to get the same," Thapa said during his cross examination by defence counsel R S Randhawa.

To the query by counsel why he changed his statements compared to what he said during the collection of Summary of Evidence (SOE), Thapa said "many things which I forgot earlier have been recalled now."

When the witness said he did not remember as to how Maj Singh got injured in fake encounter on September 21, the defence counsel confronted him with his depostion in SOE in which he had stated that the officer was standing 50 to 60 yards away and was probably hit by a splinter.

"I might have been asked in SOE if Maj Singh had been injured by a splinter and I replied `Shayad Laga Hoga’ (he might have been hit)," Thapa said.

The court was adjourned for the day after defence counsel completed cross examination of Thapa who will be examined by prosecution counsel R N Singh tomorrow. (PTI)

Army chief visits forward areas

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 20: Army Chief General N C Vij arrived here today on a two-day visit to the forward areas of Jammu region.

He was received at the technical airport near here by officiating GOC, Nagrota Corps, Maj Gen Mandhata Singh and other senior Army officers.

Soon after his arrival here, Gen Vij left for Rajouri and Maniyarwala where he was received and briefed by GOC, Romeo Force, Maj Gen G D Bakshi, according to a Defence spokesman.

Gen Vij complimented Maj Gen Bakshi and his troops on the recent successes achieved by the Romeo Force in eliminating some of the top terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The Romeo Force has eliminated over 20 top militants of the two terrorist outfits in Rajouri area during the last one month.

The Army Chief later went to Jadawali Gali where he was briefed by Commander, 14 Sector R R.

Gen Vij had detailed discussions with the Field Commanders regarding the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the Pir Panjal Ranges.

China favours early border settlement

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: Favouring settlement of the vexed boundary issue with India "at an early date" based on "mutual adjustment", China today said both the countries should address problems left over by history in a "pragmatic, flexible and practical way".

National Security Adviser and India’s special representative on talks with China J N Dixit will go to Beijing next month to hold further discussions with his counterpart Dai Bingguo.

"There is need to settle the boundary dispute at an early date......Making mutual adjustment. I think there is no no reason why we cannot find solution. I, personally, am very optimistic of the future prospects of the negotiations on the boundary question," Tang Jiaxuan, visiting Chinese State Councillor, told senior editors at an interaction here.

Emphasising on the need to "redouble" efforts to improve bilateral ties in three areas, he said "we need to take forward comprehensive cooperation in various fields to face questions including those left over by history in a pragmatic, flexible and practical. We need to broaden vision to deepen relations and open up new vistas."

Asked why not not much progress has been made on the negotitations on the border question despite an agreement over 10 years ago for maintaining peace and tranquility on the Line of Actual Control, Tang, former Foreign Minister who now oversees Chinese foreign policy, admitted that questions on border dispute between sovereign countries were always sensitive and resolution would take "some time".

"However wise a diplomat is when he enters the negotiations on such issues he will see how to protect the interests of his country and at the same time see how to improve relations with the other country.

"All in all I believe we are making efforts to reach a just, appropriate and mutually accpetable agreement on this question," Tang, who has meeings schedule with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Dixit, said.

He said currently the negotiations on the boundary question have entered "crucial levels" and the special representatives were setting major principles for setting the issue at the macro level. Other officials would be discussing the issue at the micro-level.

"Negotiations between India and China will continue to move forward making progress. The Chinese view that for settling the issue and make the bilateral relations stronger, both the countries should make mutual adjustments," he said without elaborating.

He said once the boundary question was settled once and for all the countries could show to the world that the question was successfully setled and bring benefits to both the countries.

"We will be able to settle the question in a mutually acceptable and satisfactory way," he said recalling Chairman Mao Tse Tung’s views conveyed to the then charge d’affaires Brajesh Mishra and Deng Xio Ping to Rajiv Gandhi.

On border trade negotiations, he said there was huge potential for bilateral cooperation. In the first six months this year, the volume of trade has gone up to 8.7 million dollars and may go upto 10 million dollars. (PTI)

PM to inaugurate Udhampur railway line after Diwali

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: A long wait for inauguration of the Jammu-Udhampur line of the ambitious national railway project connecting Kashmir valley to the rest of the country was going to end soon, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh likely to flag off the first passenger train between the two towns of the state sometime after Diwali.

This was stated by Minister of State for Railways Naran Bhai J Rathwa while talking to news persons after flagging off the second of the 17 Sampark Kranti trains promised in this year’s railway budget. The new Sampark Kranti will run between Delhi and Kathgodam.

"We were waiting for elections to end so that the Prime Minister could inaugurate the most eagerly awaited project without violating the code of conduct, and now we hope this would be possible sometime after Diwali," Mr Rathwa said.

He said the State Government had communicated to them that it was fully prepared to provide the necessary security on the terrorist infested route.

The Jammu-Udhampur line, part of the Jammu-Baramulla railway project, had been completed in April this year when the first goods train ran on the line. The Commissioner Railway Safety had cleared the tracks for operation of passenger service but the Northern Railway kept on postponing the event till date.

The work on the project had suffered a setback after one of the engineers working on it was kidnapped and killed by militants. (UNI)

Militant, 2 civilians killed in Valley

Excelsior Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 20: One militant and two civilians have got killed in two separate incidents of violence in Kashmir valley since last evening.

Informed sources in north Kashmir said that troops of Rashtriya Rifles 29 Bn killed a militant in a brief encounter at Damdar in Delina-Naupora belt in Baramulla. He was identified as Mushtaq Ahmed Bhat S/o Ghulam Rasool Bhat R/o Tarzoo, Sopore. Officials claimed that he was a member of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Sources said that last evening, a group of armed persons appeared at Nadihal, Langet, in Handwara area and they shot dead one Bashir Ahmed Malla S/o Abdul Jabar Malla. Sources said that Malla’s sister-in-law, Feroza, sustained critical injuries in the shootout. She later succumbed to hospital. However, a Defence spokesman said that Malla was fired upon by a search party of the Army. He sustained injuries and died in a while. The spokesman insisted that Malla was an "upper-ground worker" wit Al-Badar outfit.

Reports from south Kashmir said that two brothers, namely Shehnawaz and Pervez Bhat S/o Yusuf Bhat R/o Poshpora, Pulwama, picked up some explosive device and began fiddling with it. It went off, causing injuries to the duo. They were rushed to Srinagar and admitted at SMHS hospital.

Meanwhile, senior officer of Central Reserve Police Force was shot dead by a jawan inside a camp in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir today, official sources said today.

Second-in-command of 143rd battalion of CRPF, S S N Naiyar was shot dead by Head Constable Suravjeet Yadav at Awantipora, 30 kms from here on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, they said.

The sources said Yadav, a driver in the battalion, used his service revolver to shoot the officer, who died instantly. The jawan was immediately overpowered and was taken into custody, they added.

However, the cause that led to this extreme step was not known immediately, they said.

Hablal detained under PSA
SPO gunned down in Doda

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 20: A Special Police Officer (SPO), who was working as Personal Security Officer (PSO) of his father, was gunned down by the militants at Barth, Gandoh in Doda district last night while a top Hizbul Mujahideen militant Hablal alias Iran-3 was today detained under Public Safety Act (PSA) for two years.

Reports said Manzoor Ahmed, SPO, who was working as PSO of his protected father Mohd Amin Beigh, was shot dead by two militants in his house at village Barth last mid-night.

Beigh’s elder son was a militant but had later surrendered to security forces. He too was later killed by the militants.

After killing Manzoor Ahmed, the militants also took away his SLR and ammunition.

A police party rushed to the spot from Barth early this morning after getting a report of the killing and started investigations. The killers haven’t been identified so far.

Meanwhile, the district Doda authorities today ordered detention of Hablal Zargar alias Iran-3, a ‘district commander’ of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit under PSA for two years.

Hablal was arrested from a house at Beoli, Doda on September 14 by Doda police and security forces. He was arrested on the disclosures of two arrested militants Mohd Younis of Batote and Akhter Hussain Zargar of Kastigarh, Doda.

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