132
exchange sides on LoC
Despite unrest, Rawlakote
bus plies normally
By Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU,
Dec 31: Unrest in Pakistan notwithstanding
in view of former Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto’s assassination, Poonch-Rawlakote bus
service plied normally this morning with 132
passengers exchanging sides.
Among them was a
40 year old man, Jagjit Singh of Khori Narh,
Poonch, who will meet his uncle at Peer Kot,
Hajeera in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for
the first time in his life.
A decision to open
Chakkan-Da-Bagh point on Line of Control (LoC) in
Poonch district to run fortnightly
Poonch-Rawlakote bus service was taken by the
authorities late last night after getting a nod
from External Affairs Ministry in Delhi.
It may be
mentioned that the Union Government had ordered
suspension of Thar Express which runs between
Munabao and Khokhrapar in Rajasthan and Wagah
point in Punjab’s Amritsar district for
Indo-Pak bus services soon after violence flared
up in Pakistan after the assassination of Benazir
Bhutto. However, Wagah point was re-opened
yesterday as violence subsided.
People from both
parts of divided State, who had to board
Rawlakote bus service from Poonch, had started
gathering in Poonch town for last two days as
confusion prevailed whether the bus will be
allowed to ply or not. It was in the late last
night that the people were given a go ahead for
their preparations to visit PoK, official sources
said.
Sixty three
persons left Poonch for PoK in the bus service.
They include 28 people from this side, who were
visiting PoK for the first time to meet their
relatives while 35 PoK citizens returned to their
side after visiting their divided families and
relatives.
From PoK, 69
people came to Poonch including 39 fresh faces,
who were visiting this side to meet their divided
families. Thirty persons returned to Poonch from
PoK after spending stipulated 28 days with their
relatives.
Forty year old
Jagjit Singh son of Gurcharan Singh, a resident
of Ward No. 13, Khori Narh, Poonch, was very
excited as he prepared to leave for PoK this
morning. His excitement had the reasons as he was
leaving for Peer Kot, Hajeera in PoK to meet his
uncle for the first time in his life.
His uncle, who had
converted himself after being left out in PoK,
was over 60. Jagjit Singh, 40, had rarely spoken
to his uncle or his cousins on telephone but had
seen his writing on the letters. This will be for
the first time when he will meet his uncle.
Before leaving for
PoK, Jagjit said he will extend an invitation to
his divided family to visit Poonch.
Arshad Mirza,
Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) and Gaffar
Choudhary, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Kotli
represented PoK side at Chakkan-Da-Bagh while
Matloob Khan, General Manager, District
Industries Centre (DIC), Mohd Hussain Kohli,
Revenue Authority and Rajinder Singh, DySP Poonch
represented J&K.
Justice
Radhakrishnan new CJ
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU,
Dec 31: In exercise of powers conferred by
Section 95 of Constitution of J&K, President
has appointed Justice Kalavamkodath Sivasamkara
Panicker Radhakrishnan, Judge of Kerala High
Court, as Chief Justice of J&K High Court.
He will be
administered oath by Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K
Sinha on January 7, 2008 at Raj Bhawan at 3 pm.
Tainted
Maj Gen denied promotion
NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Army today kept out Major
General Anand Kapur, who is facing CBI probe in a
graft case, from promotion to the key post of
Director General Ordinance at Army Headquarters.
Instead in a
stop-gap arrangement, the Army named Lieutenant
General Bharat Singh Sisodia as the Director
General of Ordinance to succeed Lieutenant
General DDS Sandhu who retired today.
The appointment
came as the Cabinet Committee on appointment is
yet to take a decision on the panel of the
officers submitted to them for promotion as DG,
Ordinance.
Kapur who is being
investigated by CBI on charges of possessing
assets disproportionate to his known income
headed the list.
Army officials
said as Sisodia has only ten months of service
left, Major General Kapur would retire by then.
The Government has
not taken any action against Kapur as the CBI is
yet to chargesheet him.
The new Director
General is the officer with a long standing in
managing Ordinance inventory of the Army.
He is currently
Commandant of College of Material Management,
Jabalpur.(PTI)
Two
militants held in Valley
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR,
Dec 31: Two militants associated with
different outfits were arrested in in Kashmir
Valley where militants exchanged fire with a
search party in Bandipora district.
A police spokesman
said that Hizbul Mujahideen militant identified
as Iqbal Dar was apprehended by police and troops
of 49 Rashtriya Rifles in a joint operation from
village Panzath under Qazigund police station in
Anantnag district last night.
Two hand grenades
and 14 AK rounds were recovered from his
possession, he said.
Meanwhile,
militants opened fire on a joint search party of
police and security forces at Vijapara village in
Bandipora district in the wee hours today but no
one was hurt in the brief gunbattle, the
spokesman said.
Security forces
later arrested a suspect for questioning, while
two hand grenades and a magazine of AK assault
rifle were recovered from a house in the village,
he said.
Meanwhile, body of
a 55-year-old person identified as Abdul Rashid
Malik was recovered from Handwara area of Kupwara
district this morning, the spokesman said adding
that a case had been registered and the cause of
his death was being ascertained.
Four
SIs promoted as Inspectors
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU,
Dec 31: Director General of Police (DGP)
Kuldeep Khoda today ordered promotion of four
Sub-Inspectors to the rank of Inspectors.
The promotee SIs
are Khurshid-ur-Rehman, Shakeel Ahmed, Raj Kumar
Sharma and Varinder Gupta.
Pak
polls put off by a month
ISLAMABAD, Dec 31: Pakistan’s Election
Commission today decided in principle to delay
the general election set for January 8 till
February in view of poll preparations being
adversely affected by the violent protests
against the assassination of former Premier
Benazir Bhutto.
The poll panel
made the decision during an informal meeting this
evening after receiving reports from poll
officials and caretaker governments in the four
provinces —Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and
North West Frontier province —about the
impact of the protests on election arrangements
and the law and order situation.
The Election
Commission decided that the polls should be put
off till the third week of February so that
ballot boxes and electoral rolls destroyed in the
protests can be replaced and the printing of
ballot papers can be completed, Dawn News channel
quoted sources in the panel as saying.
The Election
Commission is expected to make a formal
announcement about the postponement of the polls
till February when it meets again tomorrow
morning.
Elections to the
national and four provincial assemblies were
scheduled to be held on January 8, but
preparations have been hit by violent protests
across the country, particularly in the southern
Sindh province.
The report
received by the Election Commission from
authorities in Sindh said preparations had been
adversely affected and polls could not be held as
scheduled on January 8, sources said.
Besides, the
printing of ballot papers in a high-security
press in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, had been
disrupted by the protests and is not likely to be
completed before January 15, they said. All
nomination papers had also been burnt in four
districts of Sindh.
In a related
development, the government of the NWFP today
decided to recommend to the Election Commission
that polls in several areas should be postponed.
It said polls
should be put off in the Kurram tribal agency and
Swat and Shangla districts due to the "poor
law and order situation" in these areas.
It also said
elections should be postponed in Abbottabad and
Kohistan due to snowfall and inclement weather.
Kurram agency has
been rocked by sectarian clashes between Shias
and Sunnis since mid-November and a recent spurt
in fighting claimed nearly 80 lives. The army is
conducting a major operation against pro-Taliban
militants in Swat and Shangla.
The decision to
put off the polls till late February was
apparently influenced by the fact that the
government would need to deploy security forces
during the Islamic month of Moharram, which has
witnessed sectarian violence in the past. Some
provincial governments also had reservations
about the holding of polling during Moharram.
The Election
Commission met earlier this morning and sought
reports on the poll preparations and law and
order situation from the provinces by 6 pm.
In a statement
issued on December 29, the panel had said that
pre-poll arrangements, including the printing of
ballot papers and training of poll personnel, had
been "adversely affected" by the
protests against Bhutto’s assassination.
It said all
electoral rolls and ballot boxes had been
destroyed when its offices in nine districts of
Sindh were burnt by protestors. Sectarian clashes
in Kurram agency had also created a situation
that "is not conducive" to the holding
of polls, it said. (PTI)
Army
jawan commits suicide
Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH,
Dec 31: A Rashtriya Rifles (RR) jawan
committed suicide while the troops were laying
ambush against militants at a forward location in
Gursai area of Mendhar in district Poonch.
A police spokesman
disclosed that Lance Naik Hira Lal (32), of 37 RR
shot himself with his service weapon at around 8
pm last evening. The jawan succumbed while being
shifted to hospital at Mendhar.
SHO Gursai
(Poonch) Surjit Singh said the soldier, who was
on deputation with the counter-insurgency force,
belonged to border village, Nagri Parole in
Kathua district. A case under Section 174 CrPC
has been registered in this connection.
Defence PRO Jammu
Lt Col S D Goswami said that Army authorities
have ordered a court of inquiry into the
incident. The cause behind this extreme step
could not be ascertained immediately.
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