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Haj pilgrims to pray for peace in Kashmir Excelsior Correspondent /Agencies SRINAGAR, Dec 3: "Hum Hindustan aur Pakistan may dosti aur Kashmir may aman key liye Mecca aur Madina may dua karangay (we will pray for friendship between India and Pakistan and peace in Kashmir valley in the holy cities of Mecca and Madina)" said the Haj pilgrims who boarded the first flight from here to Saudi Arabia today in a special flight. An official spokesman said 215 pilgrims today left for Jeddah in a special flight. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Haj and Auqaf Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and a number of senior civil and police officials were present at the airport. Mr Azad interacted with several pilgrims and appealed them to pray for peace in Valley. Speaking to media persons at the Airport, the Chief Minister said that he has already given instructions for construction of Haj house on modern lines equipped with all facilities including immigration and all other documentation facilities. He said that he has also directed the concerned agencies to complete the ongoing work of International Airport here so that maximum Haj flights including International flights are operated from next year. Mr. Azad said he was happy that all the intending Haj pilgrims who individually met him were satisfied with the available facilities and the pilgrims told that they will pray at Holy Mecca and Holy Madina for everlasting peace, prosperity and Khushali of the State which has seen 16 years of turmoil and miseries. As many as 9,306 pilgrims will perform Haj from Jammu and Kashmir this time. These include 2,783 from Srinagar, 1,154 from Badgam, 1,527 from Pulwama, 1,229 from Baramulla, 1,509 from Anantnag, 376 from Kupwara, 17 from Leh, 51 from Kargil, 96 from Jammu, 205 from Doda, 191 from Rajouri, 81 from Poonch, three from Kathua and 84 from Udhampur. Enough bloodshed was witnessed by the people of the Jammu and Kashmir during all these years of turmoil, the pilgrims said adding they would pray to Allah for restoration of lasting peace in the State. "We will also pray for strengthening of friendship between India and Pakistan," they said and added a ray of hope has generated among the people of the State after the two neighbours took some Confidence Building Measures (CBM), including reopening of roads closed after partition. The pilgrims said "we will also pray in the holy cities to save us from the natural disasters, including the one witnessed on October 8 when about one lakh people on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) died in the killer quake. An official spokesman said there would be one flight daily from December 3 to 16 while from December 17 to January 1, two flights would leave for Jeddah daily. The luggage weight fixed for pilgrims is 45 kg at the time of departure and 55 kg on arrival after pilgrimage. The pilgrims will be provided 2100 Saudi rials through the Bombay Mercantile Bank at the Srinagar Airport and additional foreign exchange will be provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank. 5 Lashkar militants killed in
Valley Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, Dec 3: While eliminating five more cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba in Kashmir valley today, Police and security forces have learned that the three Pakistani militants of the organisation, who were killed in Soura area the other day, had planned a high-profile suicide attack on the CRPF-guarded Radio Kashmir complex. Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to the Excelsior that in the last one month, Lashkar-e-Toiba had planned a major suicide strike on the heavily fortified Radio Kashmir complex in the Capital city. However, three of the key militants, who had been given the newsmaking task, got killed in Soura area the other day before they could execute their mission. Even as the trio is widely believed to have been wiped out in custody after a sustained interrogation, official sources insisted that the Lashkar militants got killed when militants opened fire during a raid of the Police and security forces on a militant hideout in Srinagar outskirts. Sources said that on the basis of the disclosures made by the three Lashkar militants, Police and security forces had successfully struck on one of the Lashkar modules while efforts were underway to get the most wanted Salah-ud-din alias Bilal alias Haider who, according to authoritative sources had been planning, coordinating and supervising the series of bank robberies in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley. Sources said that the head of another Lashkar module, Mohammad Rasheed Salfi alias Abdur Rehman alias Amjad alias Rehman Motta of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, got killed in an operation that was conducted by Police on the basis of a specific information at Machhwa in southern outskirts of the Capital city late last night. Sources claimed that Rasheed Salfi alias Amjad had planned and executed at least seven fidayeen attacks in Srinagar city before he had been shifted to Sogam, Kupwara, in 2004. His high-profile operations included a suicide attack on Greenway Hotel in which prominent counter-insurgent and former National Conference MLC Javed Shah had got killed alongwith his PSOs, a major suicide attack on then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s official residence and Ali Jan Shopping Complex besides a fidayeen attack on the PIB-Information complex in Press Enclave. Police and security forces had launched a manhunt for Salfi after his associates, namely Tanvir Ahmed Dar (a dismissed constable of J&K Auxiliary Police) and Majid Qadiri (an MBA student of Kashmir University), had been arrested. Rasheed Salfi alias Amjad returned to Srinagar after his successor, Dawood Bhai, was killed in an encounter in Shalteng outskirts of the capital city in September this year. Sources revealed that Salfi then coordinated two major suicide attacks—one beside Civil Secretariat and another in Lalchowk. According to these sources, killing of this Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba was a major success for J&K Police. Sources said that search was in progress for five to six suspects with strong political and official connections who had provided key support to the fidayeen in Srinagar and other areas. These sources disclosed that two Deputy Commissioners in Kashmir valley, who had refused to confirm detention under Public Safety Act (PSA) of some "overground militant activists" without any plausible reason, were likely to be removed from their postings in a few days. Meanwhile, informed sources said that troops of Rashtriya Rifles 36th Bn and SOG Anantnag launched a cordon-and-search operation over a specific information at Kachhwan Larnoo in Kokernag area of Anantnag district today. During the operation, heavy exchange of gunfire took place between the holed up militants and security forces. Three militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba got killed. They were identified as Mushtaq Ahmed Dar alias Usama S/o Abdur Rasheed Dar, Mohammad Ayub Dar alas Haidar S/o Ghulam Qadir Dar, residents of Chrerih, Kokernag, and Fayaz Ahmed Bhat S/o Ghulam Rasool Bhat R/o Diwaspora, Handwara. Officials were certain about the identification of the two militants of Kokernag but they were still checking whether the third one was carrying the real or fake identity card. Meanwhile, reports from north Kashmir said that troops of RR 22 Bn killed yet another militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba in an encounter at Doodhmoj Yunis in Sopore outskirts today. He was identified as Yasir Bhai of Pakistan. Investigations revealed that he had infiltrated into the Valley alongwith a group of militants in September this year. Sources said that suspected militants barged into the house of a widow, namely Rafeeqa, at Chuntimulla in Bandipore area late last night and shot her dead. Suspected as an informant of armed forces by militants, her husband Bagoo Gujjar and another relative had been similarly killed by militants earlier. In Wangat area of Kangan, unidentified gunmen have fired upon a linesman of PDD, namely Ghulam Nabi Mir S/o Abdur Rehman Mir, and left him wounded. He has been evacuated and admitted to a hospital. Meanwhile militants attacked a security force camp at Yaribal Banipora in north Kashmir district of Baramulla with automatic weapons. The fire was returned and in the fierce clash which lasted for about 20 minutes, three soldiers were wounded. The militants, however, managed to escape. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Police and security forces, in a joint operation at village Samboora in Pulwama district, arrested two militants and recovered 10kg of RDX, a pistol with one magazine, six rounds, six timers, two detonators, a wireless set and ten hand grenades. Security forces detected and later defused two IEDs at Pathari. |
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WDC MD attached with GAD Excelsior Special Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 3: The Government today quashed all 43 appointments and promotions made in Women Development Corporation (WDC), through a back-dated order after change over of the Government and attached WDC Managing Director Masooda Yasin with General Administration Department (GAD) with immediate effect An order to this effect was issued by the Government this afternoon. Daily Excelsior, in its today’s edition, had exposed 43 appointments and promotions made in the Corporation through a back-dated order after change over of Government on November 2. The order had been issued by the WDC MD. While 23 fresh appointments had been made, 20 officers and officials had either been promoted or regularised through the order. The fresh appointments included some gazetted officers including daughter of a Special Assistant of a former Minister. The gazetted officers can be appointed only through the Public Service Commission (PSC). Vigilance Commissioner Dr Ashok Bhan had personally conducted investigations in the recruitment scam immediately after getting a complaint that appointments and promotions had been made in the Corporation on a back-dated order. The Government had also referred a similar complaint to the Vigilance Organisation. A high level team of the anti-corruption body led by Dr Bhan completed investigations in the case within 15 days and submitted a report to the Government recommending cancellation of the entire order of appointments and promotions, filling up of posts through a proper procedure and action against the WDC MD for issuing the order. An official hand-out issued here this evening said: "consequent upon the receipt of the Vigilance Organisation’s report on illegal appointments, promotions and regularisations made by Masooda Yasin, Managing Director, J&K Women’s Development Corporation in violation of the rules and prescribed procedure and the Government having considered the said report, it is hereby ordered that Mrs Yasin has been attached with the GAD with immediate effect’’. Mrs Yasin has also been charge-sheeted, the sources said. The Government further ordered that Syed Fazalullah, Director Libraries, will hold the charge of the Managing Director, WDC in addition to his own duties till further orders. The appointments, which have been cancelled, are Mrs Arjman Anwar, Field Supervisor, Mrs Shamim Akhtar, Field Supervisor, Ms Sweety, Field Supervisor, Mr Arjun Rathore, Recovery Agent, Mr Chander Bhushan, Recovery Agent, Mr Jasbir Singh, Recovery Agent, Mr Akbar Ali, Recovery Agent, Mr Arvind Kumar, Recovery Agent, Mrs Farhat Rasool, Recovery Agent, Mr Urfan Noor, Recovery Agent, Mr Sajad Ahmed, Recovery Agent, Shah Nawaz Alam, Recovery Agent, Mrs Sabiya Qadir, Recovery Agent, Mr Ajiaz Ahmed Wani, Recovery Agent, Ms Sheema against the post of District Manager, Mr Ghulam Mohammad Dar, Chowkidar, Ms Masooda Akhtar, Recovery Cashier, Mr Kuldeep S/o Radha Krishan, Recovery Agent, Roohi Jabeen, Recovery Agent, Ms Archana Koul, District Manager, Ms Shankuntla, District Manager, Ms Jameela, Field Supervisor and Ms Nishat, Field Supervisor The promotions and regularisations, kept in abeyance as per the Government order, are Mrs Suchitra, promoted as District Manager, Mr Mehraj-ud-Din, promoted as Supervisor, Mr Muneer Ahmed, promoted as Field Supervisor, Mr Shashi Kant Sharma, regularized against the post of Jr Asstt, Mr Mohd. Alam Khan, regularized as Field Supervisor, Mr Raj Kumar, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Gahru Ram, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Lutfullah, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Amit Bhat, placed in the rank of Computer Operator, Mr Mir Imran placed in the rank of Computer Operator, Mr Javed Ahmed orderly, placed in the rank of Jr Asstt., Mrs Fahmida orderly, placed in the rank of Jr Asstt., Mrs Shahida, placed against the post of Jr Steno, Mr Kali Dass, placed in the rank of Driver, Mr Nazir Ahmed, placed in the rank of driver, Mr Riyaz Ahmed, placed against the post of orderly, Mr Sanjay Kumar, continued as peon, Mr Shesh Kumar Chowkidar, placed as orderly and Mr Mushtaq Ahmed, placed as Computer Operator. Manager, Mr Mehraj-ud-Din, promoted as Supervisor, Mr Muneer Ahmed, promoted as Field Supervisor, Mr Shashi Kant Sharma, regularized against the post of Jr Asstt, Mr Mohd. Alam Khan, regularized as Field Supervisor, Mr Raj Kumar, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Gahru Ram, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Lutfullah, placed in the rank of Field Supervisor, Mr Amit Bhat, placed in the rank of Computer Operator, Mr Mir Imran placed in the rank of Computer Operator, Mr Javed Ahmed orderly, placed in the rank of Jr Asstt., Mrs Fahmida orderly, placed in the rank of Jr Asstt., Mrs Shahida, placed against the post of Jr Steno, Mr Kali Dass, placed in the rank of Driver, Mr Nazir Ahmed, placed in the rank of driver, Mr Riyaz Ahmed, placed against the post of orderly, Mr Sanjay Kumar, continued as peon, Mr Shesh Kumar Chowkidar, placed as orderly and Mr Mushtaq Ahmed, placed as Computer Operator. |
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4 rifles snatched from VDC members in Rajouri Excelsior Special Correspondent RAJOURI, Dec 3: Militants last night struck at village Tehwan in Samot area of Budhal in this district last night and kidnapped five members of the Village Defence Committee (VDC). While four of them were released, another managed to escape from captivity of the militants. The ultras, however, snatched four rifles and rounds of the VDC members and set on fire the house of one of the member, official sources said. They said a group of four to five militants, suspected to be the activists of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, struck at Tehwan, Samot at 9 pm and captured five VDC members identified as Zafar Iqbal son of Shamas Din, Mohd Fareed son of Mohd Sadiq, Zafar Iqbal son of Manzoor Ahmed, Binia Min son of Mohd Shaffi and Ashraf Ali son of Shamas Din. While keeping the VDC members as hostage, the militants set on fire the house of one of the VDC member Zafar Iqbal son of Manzoor Ahmed. Manzoor was Naib Sarpanch of the village. The house was gutted but there were no casualties in the fire. The militants later took the VDC members to a surrounding forest area. In the process, a VDC member Ashraf Ali managed to escape from the captivity and fled towards another forest area. He also fired some shots in air with his .303 rifle alerting Army and police. The militants snatched four rifles and rounds of four VDC members and escaped from the village. The freed VDC members returned to their houses in early hours of this morning unharmed. Meanwhile, Ashraf Ali, who had taken shelter in another forest area in the night, also returned to his house this morning in an injured condition. He had sustained injuries as he fell down from a hill while trying to escape. His rifle, which he had hidden in the forest, was recovered by security forces this afternoon. Army and police parties reached the spot at 11.30 pm last night and immediately launched a search operation in the area. Searches continued till late this evening but the militants remained untraced. Police parties in the operation were led by DySP DAR Rajouri and SHO Budhal. Meanwhile, 121 battalion of Border Security Force (BSF) recovered a consignment of ammunition and explosives from Danna forest in Kandi area of this district today afternoon. Recoveries included 900 Pika rounds, 53 AK rounds, seven hand grenades, 13 detonators, 17 IED switches, one kg explosive sticks, 20 meters cortex wire, two IED boosters, five IED switches and 50 fuse. A hide-out of the militants, where ammunition and the explosives had been dumped, was destroyed during the operation, the sources said. ‘No place for non-technicals
in Board’ By Gopal Sharma JAMMU, Dec 3: Expressing his resolve to make State Pollution Control Board (PCB) as real pollution monitoring body and providing more teeth to it, Minister for Forests and Environment, Housing and Urban Development Tariq Hameed Qarra has said that PCB will be re-constituted shortly as per the directions of the State High Court. In an exclusive interview to the Excelsior today, the Minister said, " We will have to adhere to the High Court directive and reconstitute the State Pollution Control Board bringing more competent and thorough professional people for its smooth and effective functioning", the Minister said, pointing that non-professionals and non-technical people have no place in such a organisation which has to perform a different kind of job. "I will not disagree with the view of the High Court that SPCB has turned defunct and conducting no regular monitoring of air and water quality in the State. It is unfortunate that despite its operation for the last so many years, it still remained as a toothless body and deviated from its real job of monitoring pollution level in the urban and semi-urban areas, " Mr Qarra maintained. In response to a question, the Forest Minister said that State Pollution Control Board actually needs the scientific and research oriented work and analysis moreover, no-technical and non-professional people are required. He said that he has got some inputs regarding holding of some key posts by some non-technical people. In this regard, strict instructions have been issued to the Chairman of the Board and Commissioner/ Secretary Forests to obtain the list of persons working in the SPCB alongwith their nature of post, qualifications and experience as well. Mr Qarra advocated the suggestion of having regional directors and even the Member Secretary of the Board having background of Environment engineering or a Scientist from Environmental Sciences with vast experience in the relevant field. This way the system of adhoc approach towards the functioning of Board by the people brought on deputation from Forest department will be discouraged. Infact, there was need of streamlining the entire process in the Board. Responding to a question regarding issuance of NOCs, the Minister admitted that SPCB is not limited up to issuing NOC’s like an RTO office. It has the major concern of looking into the aspects related to the human life including air, water, sound and industrial pollution and monitoring their quality. Issue directions and take cognizance. It is unfortunate that its Labs have yet to perform adequately producing good results. When asked about the mushroom growth of pesticide units in Jammu, Kathua and Samba areas and their operation in violation of existing norms and without NOCs, the Minister said he was minutely observing the things and will take some time to act. Even the illegal operation of the stone crushers and the brick kilns has to be checked. The work and area of responsibility of the officers concerned has to be looked into and the competent and professional people will be assigned the duty and their work will also be properly monitored by a new system devised in the Board. On being asked about the sensational disclosures of the former Chairman of the Board, S D Swatantra regarding non-utilisation of Central funds to the tune of about Rs one crore, non-commencement of National water quality and air quality monitoring programmes even after 17 years of existence of Board, the minister said it is of no use to see what happened in the past, our resolve is to rectify the mistakes and work vigorously for improving over all functioning of the Board and make it more relevent and effective. There was immediate need to see why the Labs of the Board remained defunct and whether the staff appointed for the task is competent or not. It will also be seen that right kind of stuff is inducted in the newly constituted Board. He said there was a need to give a serious thought to the recommendations of the former Chairman of the Board regarding the appointment of Regional Directors and Member Secretary strictly in accordance with the rules and Section 4 of the Water Act, which says, "persons having knowledge and experience in scientific, engineering and management aspects of the pollution control activities should be appointed for the said posts in the Boards." |
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JALANDHAR , Dec 3: A special battalion of Railway Protection Force is being raised to provide foolproof security to tracks in Jammu and Kashmir in view of terrorist threats, Railway Board Chairman J P Batra said today. "To provide foolproof security to railway tracks in J&K, the Centre has already sanctioned raising of an extra RPF battalion and the recruitment process will be initiated soon," Batra told reporters at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala after flagging off the 16,000th coach (AC-3 tier) of the factory. Till such time the special battalion was raised, "we have requisitioned forces from the State Government and CRPF to protect the workers and Railways property in J&K", he said. Regarding safety measures, Batra said a pilot project was under way with anti-collision devices (ACDs) installed in trains plying under Northern Frontier Railway and the testing report was expected soon. "If found satisfactory, ACDs will be installed in all the trains at a cost of around Rs 200 crore," he said. Batra claimed more than 70 per cent of the Justice Khanna report recommendations had already been implemented and "the rest would be completed very soon". "For renewal of tracks, bridges, coaches and signaling equipment, a special budgetary provision of Rs 17,000 crore has been earmarked for the next five years and results of the work initiated will be visible by next year," he said. Batra said fireproof materials were being used in new coaches and even the AC fireproof coaches had been specially designed to avoid any untoward incident. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 3: A day after the political storm over his allegedly receiving oil vouchers from Saddam Hussain regime in Iraq, Union Minister Natwar Singh today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fuelling speculation about his resignation but highly placed sources said he is not stepping down. Singh, who was accused by his close aide and India’sAmbassador to Croatia Aniel Matherani of receiving oil allotment from Saddam’s regime for his "personal services", drove to the Prime Minister’s Official residence for a meeting that lasted about 40 minutes. Though there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting, the sources said he is not resigning. The sources said the Prime Minister would not act on the basis of mere allegations or charges and would await the report of the Justice Pathak Inquiry Authority set up to probe the issue. Earlier, putting up a brave front, Natwar Singh told reporters on the margins of a function here that he would"face" the "struggle". "There is a struggle, we will face it," he said when asked whether he found himself in a situation of "struggle"like Mangal Pandey, the hero of India’s first Independence struggle of 1857, because of the latest developments. Singh refused to make any further comments, includingwhether he would send a legal notice to Matherani for comments attributed to him by a news magazine alleging that he had received oil vouchers for himself and his Congress Party.(PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Gearing up to take on the Government in Parliament over the fresh revelations in Iraq’s oil deal scam, the NDA has issued a whip to all its MPs to be present in both Houses next week. "If all our members are present in full strength then our strategy will be more effective," BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said here today. He said the BJP had issued a whip to all its MPs in both Houses to remain in Delhi all through the next five days and other NDA members will also be issuing similar directions. Mr Malhotra indicated that the opposition was also planning to stall proceedings till former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh resigned from the Union Cabinet. "We will be adopting an aggressive posture in both the Houses. We will insist on Mr Natwar Singh’s resignation from the Union Cabinet and Ms Sonia Gandhi’s resignation as the chairperson of the National Advisory Council," he added. Mr Malhotra said leaders were also meeting on Monday morning to chalk out their strategy in Parliament, including the course of action to be taken in the event of Mr Natwar Singh being asked to step down. The opposition is also likely to press for a discussion on foreign funding of political parties in the light of the Mitrokhin Archives and the book on CIA funding written by former US Ambassador to India Daniel Monihan. The NDA has already moved notices for discussion on the subject under rules 184 and 193 in the Lok Sabha. (UNI) |
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SRINAGAR, Two persons, including a CRPF jawan, were injured as militants tossed a hand grenade near a security camp in the busy business area of Hari Singh high street in the city this morning, police said. Militants lobbed a hand grenade on the security camp around 1145 hours injuring a CRPF jawan and a civilian, police said quoting initial reports. The explosion was followed by firing of shots, they said. No militant outfit has
claimed responsibility for the act so far. (PTI) |
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