Infiltration bids up in April
Army Commanders to focus on checking terror in J&K

NEW DELHI, Apr 27: With the Jehadi groups in Pakistan occupied Kashmir signalling plans to intensify their attacks on the Indian soil, the upcoming Army Commanders conference will focus on measures to check any upsurge in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

The five-day combined Commanders conference, which would be inaugurated by Defence Minister, AK Antony, would take stock of the militancy situation in the trouble-torn State, where official figures show a slight upsurge in attempts to cross the Line of Control.

The meeting comes in the wake of resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and its possible impact on militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

While, Army sources said that there were only 15 to 18 infiltration attempts detected in the three winter months of January, February and March, the figures in the current month had almost touched 14.

The Commanders’ focus on militancy comes in the backdrop of reports about 742-km-long anti-infiltration fence being submerged by snow at many places and some troop levels having been pulled out from the State.

New measures to check militancy have also to be put in place in view of Assembly elections in the State which are due this year. The Jehadi groups have declared their intention to disrupt the poll process.

The conference will also take up the dissatisfaction caused by the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations in the rank and file of the Armed forces.

"Detailed discussion of the Sixth Pay Commission report andsteps required for mitigation of shortage of officers and improving quality of individual combat kit issued to all soldiers will also figure prominently," according to a Defence Ministry statement.

The conference is also likely to discuss key issues including operational readiness of Armed forces with the emphasis being laid on cyber security and improvement of communication systems. (PTI)

PM's package will benefit refugees, border people: CM

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Apr 27: Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has called for better appreciation of the package announced by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for displaced persons from PoK and refugees of West Pakistan, saying the fact that major initiatives taken for the first time since independence to address chronic problems with social and economic dimensions could not be ignored.

Addressing a public meeting here today, he said although there was always scope for doing more, the Congress-led Government in the State had succeeded in getting for these victims of adverse circumstances what none of the predecessor Governments had been able to do.

"While the outright criticism of the package by some sections can be explained as political compulsion it certainly deserved better appreciation by the people, especially for whom it is intended", he added.

Mr Azad said problems of the displaced people from PoK and refugees from West Pakistan had been lingering on for decades. Most of these problems, he recalled, had been existing since 1947 and the successive Governments had failed even to attempt at addressing these, not to speak of providing incentives to the affected people. There had always been more lip service than actual measures on the part of the Governments, unlike this time when the State Government accorded the seriousness to the issues these deserved, he observed.

He said he had held an all parties meeting for two days to address the issues confronting this unfortunate section of the people. He said as no consensus could be reached among the political parties, the Government chose the second option as was unveiled by the Prime Minister on Friday.

Seeking to dispel the wrong impression about the package for displaced people from PoK, Mr Azad said that Rs 50 crore had been sanctioned for the families who had not been adequately compensated at the time of their arrival here. He said in 1947 as many as 31,619 families migrated from PoK of which 26,319 came to J&K. He said out of these, 22,719 families settled in rural and 3600 families in urban areas. From 1947 to mid-50s, land was distributed among these families at the rate of 32 kanals aabi or 48 kanals khushki per family. Since 1956 to 2000, as many as 4988 families had been claiming that they did not get full compensation whether it was aabi or khushki land. In 2000, the Central Government announced a package for these 4988 families at the rate of Rs. 5000 per kanal with a ceiling of Rs. 25,000 and released Rs. 5 crore for the purpose.

The Chief Minister said following the release of money by the Centre, the claims of the 4988 families were verified and 3800 were found correct while the remaining 1188 claims were under verification. He said of the 3800 families whose claims were found correct, 2861 had received the compensation and the remaining 939 families refused to accept it arguing that it was meager. He said the package was accordingly recast vis a vis the package of 2000 announced by the NDA Government. "The Central Government had now announced a package of Rs. 50 crore which would be paid to the 4988 families at the rate of Rs. 25,000 per kanal of land. The compensation money now available to these families was at least four times more than the previous Central Government had sanctioned for them," he said.

As for as the refugees from West Pakistan were concerned, Mr Azad said that even as the Constitutional provisions stand in their way for permanent settlement in the State and in the wake of the absence of consensus among the political parties on the issue, the Government had announced perhaps the near best package for them in the given circumstances. He said concessions would be provided to let their children and grand children secure admission in technical educational institutions in other parts of the country.

They would be provided domicile certificates on whose basis they could apply for jobs in the Central Government departments. He said in order to improve their economic conditions and start their own business, bank loans would be extended to them without the security of land since they did not own land or property in the State. A nodal cell had been announced in the Union Finance Ministry to deal with this matter that had already begun the preliminary work. Vocational training opportunities for the refugees were also part of the package announced by the Prime Minister. These measures were besides the important decision taken by the State Government recently to allow the West Pakistan refugees better living conditions by way of upgrading civic amenities at the camp sites, he added.

Referring to the incentives announced for border population, the Chief Minister said that due to the persuasion by the State Government, the Defence Ministry had announced massive hike in rent of land under the use of Army in border areas. He said border farmers from Akhnoor to Kathua, as in other similarly placed areas of the State, would be benefited by this measure. The rent for the land that had come under defence ditches and bunds and border fencing had been substantially enhanced, he said.

He said while he appreciated that rent for agriculture land was not the best substitute for a farmer but its multifold increase was certainly a boon. He said in case of the farmers who were not satisfied with the rent the Defence Ministry was ready to purchase the land in their use from the owners at the current market rates. He said he would constitute a committee soon to ascertain who among these farmers wanted to sell the land or take the enhanced rent.

Mr Azad also drew the attention of people to the fact that the Defence Ministry had earlier this month announced a whopping 500% increase in rent of the private land under the use of Army in Municipal Corporations, Poonch Municipal Council, Cantonments in capital cities and Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees. In simple terms, he said, it meant that a land owner receiving Rs. 1000 as rent from the Army for a kanal of land would now get Rs. 5000. The rent for Class I irrigated land had been enhanced by 300%, for irrigated double cropped land by 242%, for Class II irrigated land by 284%, for un-irrigated by 246% while the rent for the Class III un-irrigated land had gone up by 216%, he said, adding that the massive hike had been affected first time in 60 years.

The Chief Minister said that his Government had been working for the development of each section of the society. He said people from deprived sections like SC/ST, backward areas, border residents, unemployed youth, migrants belonging to any region or religion and whether in far flung areas or in cities and towns had been benefited by the all round development offensive launched by the Government.

Minister of State for Power, Babu Singh, in his address, thanked the Chief Minister for taking steps for ensuring clean administration and infrastructure development.

He highlighted the problems of West Pakistan, PoK and Chhamb refugees, need to open fair price shops keeping in view rising prices of essential commodities, relief for drought areas and development of Gujjar Basties.

The public meeting was also addressed by Minister for Health & Medical Education, Mangat Ram Sharma, MP, Ch. Lal Singh, Advisor to CM, Janak Raj Gupta and MLA, Girdhari Lal.

11 member team in Valley to work out modalities
Train service in Kashmir to be launched in June

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Apr 27: The much talked about train service in the Kashmir valley will be launched in June and to work out the modalities for the same, an 11-member team headed by Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Ferozepur Division is presently camping in the summer capital of the State for the past two days.

Official sources told the EXCELSIOR that on the directions of Union Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Division, Satish Kumar arrived Srinagar on March 25 alongwith all the 10 Branch Officers to work out modalities for the launch of train service in Kashmir valley in June, ahead of the announcement of Assembly elections.

Since out of total 120 kilometre railway project, all sorts of work on 70 kilometres track from Anantnag to Rajvanshar has been completed, the DRM and his Branch Officers inspected railway track, stations, Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs), which have already been transported, yards and residential and official buildings to work out all sorts of requirements for opening up of the section, the sources disclosed.

After concluding their visit tomorrow afternoon, the team will submit a detailed report vis-a-vis requirement of manpower for different works, machinery at the yards and other logistics, to the concerned authorities of the Northern Railways for making immediate arrangements, the sources said.

"There will be no fresh recruitment immediately and the operations of trains will be manned by relocating the railways staff from Northern Railways", they disclosed and said that the decision about recruitment and separate division will be taken at later stage.

The team will also submit report about requirement of security personnel to guard the railways properties and is likely to recommend immediate construction of permanent bunkers which have not come up so far, they disclosed and said that two companies of Railways Protection Force (RPF) have already arrived Srinagar while two more will be deployed next month.

Sources disclosed that Commissioner Railway Safety is also visiting Kashmir valley in the first week of May for last trials of the trains so that a final green signal was given for the chugging of trains in June, as desired by the Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav during his visit to Srinagar early this month.

They disclosed that at the initial stage only two DMUs will run on Anantnag to Rajvanshar track having nine stations at Anantnag, Bijbehara, Panzgam, Awantipora, Kakapor, Pampore, Srinagar, Budgam and Rajvanshar.

"The remaining 50 kilometre track from Anantnag to Qazigund in south Kashmir and Rajvanshar to Baramulla in north Kashmir will be made operational after the project executing agency, IRCON India International, completes work on remaining 5 blocks (section between two railway stations) by the end of current year", the sources said.

Among the other members of the team accompanying the Divisional Railways Manager, Ferozepur Division are Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Brijesh Dharmani, Divisional Electrical Engineer, B S Kharkal and Senior Divisional Financial Advisor Mukesh Mittal.

EC to discuss poll readiness with CEO
Photo rolls of electorates prepared in J&K

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 27: For the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Department has prepared photo-rolls of voters in order to ensure that only genuine citizens of the State exercise their right to franchise in the elections.

In the Assembly elections due this year every polling booth will have voter lists as well as photo-rolls of the electorates, who have been issued Photo Identity Cards by the Department, said Chief Electoral Officer BR Sharma when contacted by the EXCELSIOR.

"The election officials will cross check the photograph on the identity card with that on the photo-rolls before allowing electorate to exercise his right to franchise", he said, adding "the innovative methodology will help in ensuring that only genuine voters participate in the elections besides detecting the forged identity cards which have been prepared by the anti-national elements".

The photo-rolls in respect of voters of entire Jammu province and Ladakh region have been prepared while in Kashmir region, the photo-rolls of electorates in Srinagar and Budgam districts have been prepared so far, the CEO disclosed and said that process for preparing photo-rolls of voters in other districts of Kashmir province will be completed much before the Assembly elections.

In response to a question, he said that photo-rolls of the voters have been prepared by scanning the photo-graphs of the electorates from the office copies of the identity cards.

Mr Sharma disclosed that very shortly the Department will introduce electronic format of the voter identity cards in the State and all the new voters will be given the state-of the art cards. "At present there is no plan to issue such cards to 42 lakh voters, who have already been issued I-cards till date", he added. However, in case of damage to the I-cards of existing voters, the new cards would be in electronic format.

During the summary revision of the electoral rolls, an addition of 4.5 lakh new voters across the State was made while 2.5 lakh names of dead persons have been deleted, the Chief Electoral Officer further disclosed.

Meanwhile, PTI adds from New Delhi: The Election Commission will "very soon" discuss with the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir issues related to the September Assembly polls, including that of possible misuse of voter identity cards some of which were found from Pakistani militants.

Besides security scenario and preparation of electoral rolls, the meeting will also focus on the issue of voter identity cards.

"In 2002 Assembly polls, people were issued electoral identity cards manually by affixing their photographs. The methodology was different then and misuse was possible," Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said when asked to comment on reports that the process of issuance of such cards in the State has come under the EC’s scanner.

The CEC said lack of infrastructure facilities in the militancy-hit State had created hurdles for the Commission in the exercise of issuing the ID cards.

"We are meeting with the CEO of the State very soon to discuss the entire gamut of issues including electoral rolls and identity cards," Gopalaswami said without elaborating.

With voter ID cards being found from several slain foreign militants in the State recently, authorities have decided to re-verify the documents.

DDCs revived in Doda as summer sets in

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Apr 27: With the onset of summer leading to movement of people to dhoks in upper reaches of Doda and Kishtwar, police have re-activated Dhok Defence Committees (DDCs) to protect the people from Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HUJI), which still remained dominant militant outfits in the twin districts.

Official sources said nearly 60 DDCs, which operate on the pattern of Village Defence Committees (VDCs), have been revived in Doda and Kishtwar districts with the start of summer. The people from both communities have already started shifting to their dhoks in higher reaches along with their cattle.

Each DDC has members between 8 to 12 and half of them are equipped with weapons and communication system. Their primary task is to protect the people living in dhoks, who are more prone to militant attacks in view of their movement in isolated areas.

About 38 DDCs have been revived in Doda and 22 in Kishtwar, sources said. Along with them, mobile operational groups of police and Special Operations Group (SOG) have also been activated and shifted to dhoks.

According to sources, though there has been no report of fresh recruitment or infiltration of militants to Doda and Kishtwar districts from Pir Panjal range, the number of active militants in the two districts still remained over 250 which include around 30 foreign mercenaries.

Sources said Hizbul Mujahideen remained dominant militant outfit in Doda despite suffering several major reverses during past few months with killing, arrest and surrenders of its cadre. The outfit has 70 to 80 active militants, 60 of them very active, in Doda but not even a single foreign mercenary. Last foreign mercenary in Hizbul Mujahideen outfit was Zargam, who was killed in the end of last year.

Hizbul is presently being commanded by Javid Qureshi, Shah Din and Bashir Lohar but the outfit has not named any of them as successor to Shamim Thool, the divisional commander, who was killed only few days back by Doda police.

Hizbul is followed by LeT outfit which has a strength of 60 militants in Doda with 35 of them being very active. The LeT has 14-15 foreign mercenaries in its cadre including Shabir Ahmed Itoo alias Yasir Itoo, Abu Yasir and Abu Akasha.

In Kishtwar district, the picture is quite different with Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HUJI), which has more roots in Bangladesh now than Pakistan, having 35 active militants. The number of Hizbul militants in Kishtwar was nearly same. Though the LeT outfit has only 20 to 25 militants in Kishtwar, majority of them, at least 15, were foreign mercenaries, sources said.

Police and security forces were now trying to target top leadership of the militant outfits. As far as local militants are concerned, the priority of police remained to get them arrested or surrendered. Killing them is the last option, sources said.

Karzai survives assassination bid

KABUL, Apr 27: Afghan President Hamid Karzai today survived an assasination attempt by Taliban militants who staged a daring attack with rockets and gunfire on the country’s largest annual military parade, killing three people, including a lawmaker, and injuring a dozen.

Karzai as well as scores of Ministers from his Cabinet and top foreign diplomats including the US Ambassador escaped unhurt from the attack at the parade, organised to mark the 16th anniversary of the end Soviet-backed rule in Afghanistan, state run Bakhtar news agency reported.

Security forces whisked Karzai and other dignitaries away as spectators scrambled for cover and security guards opened fire in every direction to retaliate the attack.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had deployed six militants, with suicide vests and guns, to target the President. He said three of those militants died in the attack.

Three people were killed and 12 others injured in the attack, officials said.

Fifty-year-old Karzai has survived at least three previous assassination attempts but this was the first attempt on his life in the capital.

He appeared on television within an hour of the attack and told the country that everything was fine.

"The enemy of Afghanistan, the enemy of the security and development of Afghanistan, tried to disrupt the celebration and tried to create fear," he said.

"Fortunately, the Afghan security forces surrounded them and some of the suspects were arrested, and, thank God, now everything is all right and the people of Afghanistan should be calm and confident," he said. Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatimie told AFP that an MP, Fazl-ul Rahman Samkanai, suffered severe bullet wounds to his stomach and liver and died on the operating table.

A 10-year-old boy living in the area was also killed, apparently in return fire, it said.

The British and American Ambassadors to Afghanistan and the Commander of NATO forces in the country were among those present at the event.

The event was being broadcast live on Afghan State television, which quickly cut to library footage and ceremonial music as the gunfire erupted.

Live TV showed Karzai standing on a huge stage surrounded by a crowd of MPs, Cabinet Members, Military Commanders and Foreign Diplomats, when the attack took place.

The national anthem was being played when the attack started.

Sirajudin, a Police Officer at the scene, told the AP that he saw two people firing AK-47 assault rifles from a house toward the area of the stage. At least one explosion followed the gunfire, and security forces returned fire.

There was a sense of panic in the streets, with people unsure how serious the incident had been.

The event, which had been shrouded in tight security for days, was cancelled soon afterwards.

A US embassy official said US Ambassador, William Wood escaped unharmed. Other foreign dignitaries and Cabinet Ministers were also safe, officials said.

The parade, in central Kabul, was part of Afghan National Day celebrations, marking the capture of Kabul from the Soviet-backed Government by the Mujahideen in 1992.

"President Karzai condemns this act and asks for all the people to remain calm," a statement from the Presidential Palace said. (PTI)

Corporator Kailash Rani passes away

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 27: Kailash Rani, Congress Corporator from Ward No 44, Nanak Nagar passed away today due to cardiac arrest. She is survived by three children.

A large number of people from all walks of life attended her last rites at Shastri Nagar Cremation Ground, here this evening.

Minister for Health and Medical Education Pt. Mangat Ram Sharma, Minister of State for R&B, Gharu Ram, Deputy Chairman Legislative Council Arvinder Singh Micky, several legislators, Mayor and Corporators were among others who attended her last rites.

Meanwhile, former Minister and MLA Gandhinagar Raman Bhalla in a meeting condoled the demise of the Corporator and expressed sympathies to the bereaved family.

CRPF nabs history sheeter

SRINAGAR, Apr 27: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) arrested a person in Ganderbal district and recovered a stolen service weapon of a policeman from him.

Mushtaq Qadir, a history sheeter, was arrested by the troops of 45 battalion from his house at Narayanbagh during a raid last night, CRPF Spokesman Sudhanshu Singh said.

He said a carbine and two magazines were recovered from his possession.

The weapon is believed to be snatched from a policeman from Batmaloo area of central Srinagar early this month, Singh said.

Head Constable Ghulam Mohiuddin, posted with 3rd battalion of security wing, lodged a written complaint on April 17 claiming that some robbers had barged into his rented room at Batmaloo and decamped with his service weapon - a carbine with two magazines. (PTI)

‘Rahul for PM’ chorus continues

NEW DELHI, Apr 27: Even after a curt public warning by the Congress Party against ‘sycophancy’ and ‘speculation" the chorus seeking to project Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Ministerial candidate continues to reverberate in the 123-year-old party, pushing the high command in a bind.

The trend unwittingly brought embarrassment every time to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has one more year in his present term.

The latest among the leaders to join the ‘Rahul-for-PM’ bandwagon was Digvijay Singh, one of the senior most leaders who had served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for long.

"Rahul is fully competent to occupy the post of Prime Minister" said Singh, who is one of the AICC general secretaries, adding such an opinion should not be viewed as "sycophancy."

Seeking to highlight the statement of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi batting for Mr Gandhi, Mr Digvijay Singh said, "If a seasoned leader sees talent in some person, it should not be viewed as sycophancy."

On the renewed chorus in favour of Mr Gandhi, AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said that "the statement asking the party leaders to stop sycophancy has not been intended to run down any individual functionary. It was meant to stop a trend."

He, however, admitted that "the view in the party seems to be that there is nothing intrinsically inappropriate in ‘Rahul-for-PM’ line, but that it was too early and had caused embarrassment to Prime Minister Singh."

Though sycophancy is not new to the Congress party, a fresh debate on the subject has been kicked up in the party in the wake of a recent statement by senior Party leader and Union Minister Arjun Singh supporting the projection of Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Ministerial candidate.

Going by Congress standards, the views expressed by Arjun Singh can never be termed as sycophancy.

But the statement of Arjun Singh had apparently brought embarrassment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was more so because he is a member of the Council of Ministers headed by Manmohan Singh.

The AICC’s snub also coincided with the statement of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who did not see anything wrong in the idea of passing over the reins to the young MP from Amethi.

There are indications that the Congress party managers have been preparing the ground to put the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family into the Prime Ministerial orbit in the event of its victory in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

At the same time, it did not want to make it an issue of public debate at this juncture as it would give a political cudgel to the Opposition BJP to beat the Congress with.

The BJP had been dubbing Dr Manmohan Singh as the ‘weakest PM’ with all powers being concentrated in the hands of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Any effort to project Gandhi as the next Prime Minister at this point of time by senior leaders like Arjun Singh is feared to give more credence to the BJP allegation about the status of Mr Manmohan Singh, besides embarrassing him.

The reaction of the Congress Party to the renewed chorus by Digvijay Singh seems to be mild.

But in the case of Arjun Singh, the party reacted strongly, when the official spokesman had said, "Ms Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi always kept away from any environment of sycophancy. We want to put an end to all speculation."

In fact, Arjun Singh was summoned by Ms Gandhi to her residence and reportedly asked to refrain from openly batting for Gandhi at this point of time.

The Congress had repeatedly maintained that the ‘shun sycophancy’ statement was not targeted at Arjun Singh. "it is a general statement...It should not be subscribed to any individual," Shakeel Ahmed had said. But the timing of the statement was self-explanatory.

The Congress, however, seems to be happy over the support the candidature of Mr Gandhi had received for the post of PM from DMK chief M Karunanidhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.

The party has not so far reacted to the public statement issued by Mr Karunanidhi and Mr Pawar supporting Mr Gandhi’s candidature.

More leaders are expected to join the chorus for making Rahul the next Prime Minister as the Lok Sabha elections draw closer. (UNI)

Two HM militants killed

BARAMULLA,: Two top militants of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) were killed by the security forces at Pattan in this north Kashmir district today.

Official sources said Army and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a joint operation at Pattan on Srinagar-Uri road.

During the operation, two militants were killed in an encounter.

The operation was still going on when the reports last came in. (UNI)

Ground situation in J&K improved significantly: Antony

New Delhi : Defence Minister A K Antony today said the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir had shown signs of improvement with incidents of violence going down significantly.

''The incidents of violence in the state has registered a significant drop. The relatively peaceful conditions have created a conducive environment for the Assembly elections due to be held later this year,'' he told the Army Commanders' Conference here.

Mr Antony said this had been made possible mainly due to the commendable dedication, sacrifices and commitment of the Army.

He referred to the recent decision of the Government to increase the payment of rentals in the state from 2.1 times to 5 times for various categories of land.

The Defence Minister asked the top commanders to ensure that timely relief was given to the people for their legitimate dues.

''This will surely go a long way in accelerating the return of peace and normalcy in the state,'' he added.

Referring to the North-East, Mr Antony said the Government accorded top priority to the development infrastructure in the region. ''Latest infrastructure will not only enhance the security and defence preparedness of the region and the country, but also accelerate the economic growth and welfare of the region.''

He said the general situation in the North-East had shown a marked improvement and was by and large peaceful.

Recently, elections were successfully conducted in some states, the Defence Minister said, adding this indicated a yearning for peace among the local people.

He said the role of Army in countering Naxal violence was limited. The Army had provided assistance to states by setting up counter terrorism institutions and by a mechanism of 'training the trainers,' Mr Antony added.

He said the task lay clearly in the realm of state police forces, the central police organisations and paramilitary forces and they must develop the requisite capacity and efficiency to deal with the menace effectively.

However, the Defence Minister they must benefit from the Army_s immense experience and expertise in these areas. (UNI)