'Elections will be most free & fair'
Azad invites all political parties to join poll fray

Excelsior Correspondent

Sopore, Mar 19: Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad today said the forthcoming elections in the State would be most free and fair and invited all political parties to join the fray. He said those who were afraid of fighting elections use the pretext that these might not be free and fair.

Addressing a public meeting here, Mr Azad said in democracy, the people and not foreign countries, were real deciders of political fate. "Leaders and political parties, who had faith in people, participate in elections but those not believing in people's power look towards other countries," he added.

"The USA, UK, China or Pakistan are not going to decide our destiny", he said, adding that it were the people of J&K who would decide political fate of the State. He said people had to find solution to their problems themselves and not bank upon the advice of others.

The Chief Minister promised free and fair elections to the State Assembly scheduled later this year and said nobody should have any apprehensions on this account. He recalled the bye elections of 2006 held during his tenure and said that not a single political leader or party had complained of any irregularity. He said he had warned officials deployed on election duty against any irregularity. He said more than 70% voter turnover was recorded in these elections.

He expressed satisfaction over improvement in overall situation in the State. He said last year the lowest ever killings were recorded during past about 20 years. "Not a single case of custodial disappearance was reported in 2007 and this year so far. The fact that the people were fed up with violence and wanted peace to prevail besides strict actions taken against erring security officials has contributed towards the improvement in the situation," he said and assured the people that his Government would not tolerate any human rights violation. While strict action was taken against militants, no excess against civilians would be countenanced, he asserted.

Mr Azad hoped that dialogue process between India and Pakistan would resume soon and the atmosphere of reconciliation and amity taken forward. He said the process had received setback due to the internal situation in Pakistan but now that a new Government was about to assume office there he was optimistic that the two countries would resume the peace process.

He recalled the post-Kargil situation when the two armies were in an eyeball to eyeball position and said that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi along with the coalition Government in J&K had initiated efforts leading to improvement in situation. He specifically referred to the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakote roads to allow people to people contact.

He said exchange of journalists, social activists, artistes and students and convening of three Round Table Conferences chaired by the Prime Minister and setting up of Working Groups were other important measures taken since 2002 to promote peace and normalcy in the State. He said the Congress and PDP had joined hands in 2002 to provide relief to people of the State and unitedly work for restoration of peace and initiate a new era of development in the State.

Mr. Azad said his Government was working earnestly to provide relief to the people who had been badly affected by long turmoil. He said on the recommendations of Working Group, a comprehensive plan would be soon implemented for supporting those rendered widows and orphans by militancy. He also dwelt in detail on the massive infrastructure development in critical sectors like education, roads, healthcare, power and drinking water and said that such construction activities were unprecedented and unheard during the last 60 years.

Addressing the rally, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig has said that PDP and Congress joined hands after 2002 elections to bring about speedy development in the State and not to loot public exchequer as was done by the previous Government.

He said the coalition Government is working under Common Minimum Programme envisaging overall development and restoration of complete normalcy and peace in the State. He said historic and landmark decisions taken by the coalition Government during last more than five years have helped improve socio-economic profile of the people. He said the present Government initiated revolutionary measures in education sector, opening 40 new degree colleges, upgrading dozens of schools and making higher education possible for the students close to the homes.

Mr. Baig said since the present Government took over, it started seeking resolution to Kashmir issue. In this connection, he referred to opening of Srinagar-Rawalpandi and other roads which not only strengthened people to people contact but also helped to develop good relations between the two countries. He expressed hope that the wall of hatred between India and Pakistan would get dismantled soon and peace of bridge would be established.

Health and Medical Education Minister Mangat Ram Sharma praised the people of Kashmir for maintaining communal harmony and brotherhood even during militancy. Saying that peace is essential pre-requisite for development and prosperity of a State, the Minister called upon the people to extend full cooperation to the Government in restoring complete peace and normalcy. He said to provide better healthcare facilities to the people of State at par with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), two super speciality hospitals one each at Srinagar and Jammu are coming up. He said all primary health centres in the state would have dental surgeons and dental technicians besides BUMS doctors would also be available in these hospitals.

Social Welfare Minister Abdul Gani Vakil said that with the opening of Government Women’s College at Sopore, the long felt demand of the people of apple town and adjacent areas has been fulfilled. He hailed the people friendly policies and bold initiatives taken by Azad led Government to ameliorate the lot of downtrodden and weaker sections of the society. In this behalf, he made a mention of loan waiving scheme being extended to Jammu and Kashmir, enactment of anti-defection law and relentless crusade against corruption. He said the honorarium of Anganwari workers is also being enhanced.

Chairman, Handicrafts Development Corporation Haji Abdul Rashid representing Sopore constituency also spoke on the occasion.

PoWs, visa, trade to figure
India to resume dialogue with Pak

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: India today said it will resume composite dialogue with Pakistan as soon as the new Government is formed in the neighbouring country and the issues of Prisoners of War (POWs) and visa and trade liberalisation will figure prominently in the talks.

"We have asked Pakistan not to allow terrorist to use their territory," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his reply to the discussion on Foreign policy in Rajya Sabha.

He said visa regulations need to be further liberalised along with trade and commerce.

On the simmering unrest in Tibet, Mr Mukherjee made it clear that Dalai Lama was allowed into India in 1959 only as a spiritual leader and the Government had asked him not to indulge in politics that would affect Indo-China relations.

Dwelling on Nepal, he said India has not created any chaos in the Himalayan State but has only tried to defuse the volatile situation. "we have been counselling political parties. We do not have territorial ambitions (in Nepal)," he added.

Elections are to be held for a Constituent Assembly which would pave the way for the formation of a democractic State in Nepal, he noted.

On the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis, he said these are internal issues and have to be thrashed out within the realms of their constitution. "Tamils have every right to live in Sri Lanka. For Sri Lanka, a political solution is the only answer," the Minister said.

Expressing deep concern over the recent attacks in Gaza, the Minister said Palestinians have every right to have their homeland just like Israel. "Nobody can deny this. There is no question of diluting our stand," he said.

On SAARC, he said the SAARC Development Fund Programme is on and when it meets at Colombo, the issue would be taken up. Also would be taken up is the SAARC Food Bank Programme, the Minister said. (UNI)

Militants strike in Srinagar after 7 months
One killed, 16 injured in blast on flyover

Excelsior Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Mar 19: One person was killed and 16 sustained injuries when Hizbul Mujahideen, attempted to blow up a part of the only flyover in this Capital city with a powerful IED blast.

Informed sources told EXCELSIOR that a defeaning explosion occurred on the apex point of the concrete flyover, facing J&K High Court Complex, at 1750 hours this evening. A parapet wall of the flyover was ripped apart and half-a-dozen vehicles suffered damage under the impact of the falling rubble. Part of the reinforced concrete mass hit a Maruti Alto, bearing registration No: JK03A-2833, down on a main street. All the four persons traveling in the car sustained injuries. A Santro, JK04A-6278, was also extensively damaged. Four other vehicles suffered minor damage.

Sources said that in all 17 persons sustained injuries. They were reportedly all civilians, including a Traffic Police official. Sources said that Head of Nephrology Department at SKIMS Soura, Dr Mohammad Aslam, was among the injured as he had a miraculous escape when his car was hit. Officials said that 12 persons were admitted to SMHS Hospital and one of them, namely Abdul Hameed Bhat S/o Ali Mohammad Bhat of Chadoura, was referred to SKIMS where he later succumbed to injuries.

Five more persons with injuries and fractures were under treatment at Bone & Joint Hospital Barzulla. Three women were among the injured though one person had been discharged from SMHS Hospital late this evening.

Eyewitnesses said that a possible IED went off inside a sentry box which occasionally remains manned by CRPF or Police. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had returned from Sopore and he was present at his residence when the explosion was heard in a radius of 3 Kms in uptown.

IGP Kashmir Zone, S M Sahai, said that the blast occurred when no vehicle was plying on the apex point of the flyover. He said that militants seem to have planted the IED in a portion which was under construction.

Hizbul Mujahideen central spokesman, Khaleel-ur-Rehman, told mediapersons over telephone that the militants of his organisation had attempted to target a CRPF vehicle. He claimed that the targeted vehicle was damaged and all the CRPF traveling in it got either killed or injured. He said it was "unfortunate" that some civilians were also hurt in the blast. Officials and eyewitnesses maintained that there was no paramilitary vehicle around when the explosion took place. Officials said that the blast was caused with a remote control device. They said that a suspect, who was reportedly a student from the nearly Maisuma locality, had been detained for questioning.

It was after months of total normalcy that militants caused an IED and created a wave of terror in the Capital city of Srinagar. Last time, militants had caused a car bomb blast near Al-Ameen Hospital at Hyderpora Crossing on Srinagar-Jammu Highway bypass on September 1st, 2007 when seven persons, including two BSF personnel, had sustained injuries. Prior to that, militants had thrown a hand grenade into a tourist bust from Gujarat at the entrance of the world famous Nishat Garden on July 29th, 2007. Seven persons had got killed and 19 others injured in that blast. Even as some militants have died in intermittent encounters, all initiated by Police and security forces, no major incident of violence had taken place in the last seven months.

Those who got injured in today's blast were identified as Fayaz Ahmed S/o Ali Mohamed R/o Batmaloo, Mohammad Farooq Waza S/o Mohammad Yusuf R/o Nawab Bazaar, Sajad Ahmed Khan S/o Abdul Rahim R/o Gulab Bagh, Ali Mohammad Haroon S/o Mohammad Farooq R/o Batmaloo, Shabir Ahmed Kanzoo S/o Ali Mohammad R/o Mehjoor Nagar, Javaid Ahmed Lone S/o Ghulam Nabi Lone R/o Chhanapora, Bilal Ahmed Khan S/o Abdul Rashid R/o Suthra Shahi, Umar Ahmed Karam S/o Bashir Ahmed R/o Chhanapora, Constable Farooq Ahmed Bhat N0: 217/Traffic Police, Tanveer Ahmed Nandpuri S/o Ghulam Nabi R/o Malbagh Habak, Mukhti W/o Abdul Gaffar R/o Dangerpora Chhatergam, Mushtaq Ahmed Rather S/o Abdul Gani Rather R/o Jawahar Nagar, Shabir Ahmed Wani S/o Ghulam Ahmed Wani R/o Aloochi Bagh, Basit Ahmed Mir S/o Hilal Ahmed Mir R/o Rawalpora, Javaid Ahmed Gassi S/o Mohammad Ismail Gassi R/o Mehjoor Nagar and Nasreen D/o Late Mohammad Sadiq Dar R/o Batmaloo.

4 Lashkar militants shot dead in Doda

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 19: Doda police and Army today gunned down four militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit including a ‘district commander’ in a fierce encounter at Gwari Shah under the jurisdiction of Gandoh police station. Two police personnel were also injured in the operation.

SSP Doda Manohar Singh said a search operation was launched jointly by Doda police and troops of 26 Rashtriya Rifles in Siaie area of Gandoh after developing a specific information about the presence of four militants in the area.

During searches, Army and police teams were sounded by local people that the militants had taken shelter in the house of a civilian Rafiq Magray. They cordoned off the house and asked the militants to come out and surrender.

However, the militants opened firing on the security personnel, who retaliated. A heavy exchange of gun firing between the two sides continued for four hours in which all four militants were killed.

Security forces ensured that there was no civilian casualty in the operation. Family members of Magray were moved out of the house before a counter attack on the militants was launched. The house suffered damage in the exchange of firing.

Police have taken Magray into custody for questioning to ascertain reasons for giving shelter to the dreaded militants in his house.

Two policemen including a follower Wasim Raja were injured in the operation. They were evacuated from the encounter site and were hospitalised.

Bodies of all four slain militants have been recovered from the house. They have been identified as Imtiaz Hussain alias Abu Turab son of Mohd Gafoor R/o Chirala, Thathri, a ‘district commander’ of LeT, Sadam Hussain son of Abdul Gani R/o Joura, Thathri, Suraf Nawaz alias Mehnaz son of Ghulam Mohd Shah R/o Joura Thathri and Sagir Ahmed of Pakistan.

While Imtiaz Hussain was active in militancy for last 12 years, Abdul Gani was operating for last four years. Suraf Nawas was brother of Gul Nawaz, a slain ‘area commander’ of Hizbul Mujahideen. Suraf was an active militant for the last one year.

Bodies of the militants have been sent for post-mortem. Bodies of three of them, who were local ultras, will be handed over to their families.

Recoveries made from the slain militants include three AK rifles with four magazines and 15 rounds, one pistol with one magazine and four rounds, three wireless sets and a large quantity of incriminating material.

Official sources said Imtiaz Hussain alias Abu Turab was a dreaded militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba and was involved in several militancy related incidents in Gandoh and Thathri including the killing of VDC member Ganesha Chand of Zekla Pain. He had managed to escape during an encounter with security forces in August last year at Gugala forests in Gandoh in which two militants were killed and two police personnel were injured. He had also slipped away from another gun-fighting with security forces at Sunarthawa in Thathri last year.

The killing of four dreaded Lashkar militants in a single operation was a big setback to LeT outfit especially in Doda district, sources said.

They added that during last two and a half months, Doda police have eliminated nine militants of LeT and apprehended another besides arresting nine Over Ground Workers (OGWs). One militant has surrendered during the period.

30 elected to RS unopposed

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Thirteen Congress and 8 BJP candidates were among 30 elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha (RS) after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for biennial elections to 56 upper houses seats ended this evening.

DMK and BJD bagged two seats apiece while a nominee each of AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad, Bodoland People’s Front, CPI-M and TDP made it to the house of elders.

All the 30 were elected uncontested as they were the only candidates left in the fray after the last date for withdrawal of nominations ended today.

Notable among them are Union Ministers G K Vasan and T Subbirami Reddy, former Arunachal Chief Minister Mukut Mithi, AICC spokesperson Jyanthi Natarajan and Motilal Vohra (all Congress) and BJP’s Shanta Kumar and columnist Balbir Punj.

Besides Vasan and Natarajan, DMK’s A A Jinna and Vasanthi Stanley, AIADMK’s N Balaganga and CPI-M’s T K Rengarajan were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.

Barring Vasan and Natarajan, it would be a maiden foray into the upper house for others.

It is also the first time that a CPI-M nominee was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu after 14 years.

The stage is set for contests for the remaining upper house seats which will take place on March 26.

Former Union Minister and veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar was elected unopposed to the Council of States from Himachal Pradesh.

Kumar, the two-time Chief Minister of Himachal, was the only candidate to file his nomination for the lone upper house seat from the hill State.

Motilal Vora and former State BJP chief Pratap Singh were elected from Chattisgarh.

BJP’s Purshottam Rupala, Bharatsinh Parmar and Natuji Thakore and Congress nominee Alka Kshtriya made it to the house of elders from Gujarat.

Rupala, a known Narendra Modi loyalist, is the State BJP chief.

In Rajasthan, Om Prakash Mathur and Gyan Prakash Pilania (both BJP) and Prabha Thakur (Cong) were elected uncontested to the upper house as theirs were the only nominations filed for the three seats.

Pilania, a jat leader, and Thakur, the Mahila Congress president, were re-elected to the upper house.

Mathur, who is entering the Rajya Sabha for the first time, is the Rajasthan BJP Chief.(PTI)

1698 traders evading income tax for years together

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Mar 19: A total of 1698 traders have been evading income tax in the State for the past several years and causing huge loss to the nation’s exchequer.

This came to fore during the first ever initiative of the Income Tax Department in Jammu and Kashmir to compare data-base of the traders available with the Commercial Taxes Department.

"The exercise which started about one and half month back has concluded with startling disclosures about the evasion of the income tax by a large number of traders", authoritative sources told the EXCELSIOR.

The data-base of 4779 traders (1290 of Kashmir division, 213 of Udhampur district, 195 of Kathua and 3081 of other districts of Jammu division) whose annual turnover was more than Rs 40 lakh and who were filing Value Added Tax (VAT) returns, was put to the comparison by the IT Department sleuths during this exclusive exercise.

The comparison of the data revealed that 466 traders of Kashmir province, 28 of Udhampur, 18 of Kathua and 1186 of other districts of Jammu province were neither filing IT returns nor audit report which was mandatory as per the Income Tax laws, the sources said, adding that all have been issued final notices by the Department to clarify their position and file the returns as well as audit report before March 31, 2008.

Disclosing that on the basis of notices some defaulting traders of Anantnag and Baramulla districts have filed returns, they said that Department will resort to direct action in case the traders don’t come forward to voluntarily file the returns and audit report.

About the action they will be subjected to, the sources said that penalty for non-filing of audit report, IT returns, penalty for concealment of income and non-compliance of notices will be imposed on them after March 31, 2008.

They further disclosed that the monitoring of 2000 cases each by the 15 Assessing Officers of the Department for the Advance Tax has also yielded encouraging results and 50 per cent increase has been registered in the monitored cases in comparison to the figure of last year.

With this, the Department has collected Rs 365.86 crore income tax in the State till February 29, 2008 and the fixed target of Rs 525 crore during the current financial year will be easily achieved.

Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department conducted survey in M/s Tawi Chemicals, a firm of Raju Choudhary to verify the genuineness of certain claims made by it which are not admissible as per the Income Tax laws.

"The scrutiny of the documents of M/s Tawi Chemicals revealed that Raju Choudhary was claiming Income Tax exemptions under industrial benefits despite being not entitled for the same", the sources said, adding "the forged documents have been impounded for further detailed scrutiny". However, at the initial stage it came to fore that M/s Tawi Chemicals suspected to have claimed Rs 25 lakh undue benefits.

This case was similar to that of M/s Fil Industries owned by a Kashmir based industrialist where the survey was conducted early this month and undue IT exemption to the tune of Rs 50 crore was detected.

Govt to double strength of Anti-Corruption Courts

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Mar 19: The Government is reported to have agreed to double the strength of Special Judges, Anti-Corruption in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions with a view to cope up with the rush of over 400 cases pending for trial in the two Anti-Corruption courts in Jammu and Srinagar.

Increase in the number of Anti-Corruption Courts from one each in Jammu and Srinagar to two each taking total number of the Courts to four was a long pending demand of the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) for speedy trial of the cases.

Official sources said the number of cases pending before Special Judges, Anti-Corruption, Jammu and Srinagar has gone upto 400. Against this, the number of cases disposed of per year by the two courts was 50. This way, it was going to take eight years to settle the present number of cases.

Further, approximately 80 more cases are being challaned by the Vigilance Organisation every year. While in 2007, the SVO had challaned 89 cases, the number was 93 in 2006.

In view of piling up of cases before two Anti-Corruption Courts in Jammu and Srinagar, sources said, the Government has finally agreed to add one more Anti-Corruption Court in both Jammu and Srinagar.

The process for setting up the new courts has been initiated, they added.

Sources said the increase in number of Anti-Corruption Courts in both capital cities will lead to speedy disposal of cases and will considerably bring down the number of cases pending before the present two courts.

According to sources, even at one point of time, there were 500 cases and 550 Preliminary Enquiries pending before the Vigilance Organisation.

It was in 2005 that number of pending cases and PEs had together crossed 1000 mark.

Presently, however, there were only 12 cases of 2005 or prior to that which were pending before the SVO, sources said, adding they too would be disposed of by the end of April this year.

From April onwards, the Vigilance Organisation would be investigating the cases registered during two years i.e. 2006 and 2007 besides few cases of 2008.

With accused going hi-tech resorting to maximum use of computers to save their documents especially those pertaining to investment in banks, LIC etc, the SVO too has adopted a strategy to take on the cyber crime, sources said declining to elaborate on the strategy.

During investigations of some recent cases and Preliminary Enquiries, the Vigilance teams have found that some officers had been carrying out their financial transactions mostly using e-network, thus, avoiding the use of documents like maintenance of pass books and other paper work.

To take on such officers, the SVO Investigating Officers (IOs) have already been trained in computer related crimes.

Prevent 'labour loot' at Vaishno Devi: Lal Singh

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: A Congress member from Jammu and Kashmir today sought prompt Government action to prevent what he described as "loot of 17,000 labourers" working at the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi in the State.

A highly-agitated Choudhary Lal Singh, who got the support of the House, including that of Left member Basudeb Acharia, on the issue he raised during zero hour, forced Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to adjourn the House when he walked towards the well.

Earlier, when the Congress member asked if labour was taxed anywhere in the world, Mr Acharia, whose name had already been called by the Chair to raise his issue, quipped " No".

Members across party lines supported Mr Choudhary when he pointed out 17,000 labourers working at the temple were exploited both by the Government and private contractors. He disclosed that a "pithuwala", who carried a devotee on his back, took home a paltry Rs 120 per trip from Katra, starting point of pilgrimage, to Bhavan, where the shrine is located, after deduction of a tax of Rs 33 and Rs 9 of contractor’s commission. Similarly, a "pithuwala", who plied devotee on horseback, got just Rs 200 per himself and the animal per trip after deduction of Rs 33 and Rs 10 respectively. Before, Mr Choudhary could narrate the fate of "palkiwala", a group of four people who take a pilgrim in a palaquin on the holy trail to Vaishno Devi, Mr Atwal called Mr Acharia to make his point. But instead of yielding to the Marxist member, who agreed that labour is not taxed anywhere in the world, the Congress member walked towards the well of the House, forcing the Deputy Speaker to adjourn for lunch. (UNI)

Sarabjit's hanging deferred

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Sarabjit Singh, on death row in Pakistan, today got a one-month breather with his hanging being put off till April 30 by President Pervez Musharraf following India’s appeal for clemency on humanitarian grounds.

A somewhat relieved daughter Swapandeep hoped her "innocent" father will be set free and he will be reunited with his family soon. "We are happy...I am hopeful that my papa will be released by Pakistan and will return soon."

President Musharraf deferred the execution of Sarabjit fixed for April 1 by 30 days after the Indian Government made a formal appeal for clemency yesterday.

"The matter will now be considered by the concerned authorities in the Pakistan Government," a source in the Foreign Office said in Islamabad.

Information about Sarabjit’s reprieve was given by the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha.

"Government of India is continuing its efforts to save the life of Sarabjit Singh. We have achieved partial success and we will continue to carry on our efforts," Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee said the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been informed by Pakistan Foreign Office that President Pervez Musharraf has stayed the execution of Sarabjit Singh by a month, till April 30.

Sarabjit was sentenced to death in 1991 for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. His family denies he is a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory.

Swapandeep said "as soon as we heard this news, we became happy. But we will be happy in a true sense when my Papa will return home".

"I am hopeful that in the way they have delayed the execution, our father will get clemency and he will return to us soon," she said adding "now, we have become more confident that our father will be sent to us soon by the Pakistan Government".

"We got this one month in which we will prove to President Musharraf that my father is innocent".

While seeking clemency from Pakistan for Sarabjit, India had said that the impression that he is being executed in retaliation for the death of a Pakistani in Indian custody will "impinge on the positive atmosphere" between the two countries.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said his Government has taken up the matter with Pakistan at the highest level.

Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur yesterday sent a written appeal for clemency directly to Musharraf and requested him for permission to visit Pakistan to meet her brother in jail.

The mercy petition of Sarabjit, whom Pakistan claims is Manjit Singh, was rejected by Musharraf on March 3. Sarabjit’s mercy petition was sent to Musharraf along with that of Indian prisoner Kashmir Singh, who was pardoned and freed after spending 35 years on death row in Pakistani jails.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court too rejected Sarabjit’s plea for clemency in March 2006. (PTI)

21 promoted as Section Officers

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 19: The Government today ordered transfer and posting of G A Kamili, Administrative Officer (AO), SKIMS, Srinagar as AO in Government Medical College, Srinagar.

Mohammad Yaqoob Ganai, AO, GMC Srinagar has been transferred and posted as AO in the office of Chief Conservator of Forests, Kashmir.

The Government has accorded sanction to placement of three Head Assistants of J&K Secretariat (Subordinate) Service as Section Officers (SOs) in their own pay and scale with charge allowance pending clearance of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC).

They are Naseema Akhter, Navidata Munshi and Farooq Ahmad Malik.

Following placement of three Head Assistants as Section Officers, the Government has ordered transfer and adjustment of six SOs.

M K Pandita, Section Officer PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, has been transferred and posted in Department of Culture. C L Raina, Section Officer, Home Department has been transferred and posted in Agriculture Production Department.

Nazir Ahmed, Section Officer, General Administration Department (Management) has been transferred and posted in ARI & Trainings Department while Naseema Akhter, presently working in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on her placement as Incharge Section Officer in the Home Department.

Navidata Munshi, presently working in General Administration Department on placement as Incharge Section Officer, has been posted in PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

Farooq Ahmad Malik, presently working in Planning Development Department on placement as Incharge Section Officer, was posted in Labour and Employment Department.

Through a separate order, the Government has also ordered promotion of 18 Head Assistants of J&K Secretariat (Subordinate) Service as Section Officers in the pay scale of Rs 7450-225-11,500 on regular basis.

They are Bimal Mattoo, Atul Kumar Suri, Shoba Rani, Surjeet Singh, Anchal Singh, Rajni Bhat, Muneera Akhter, Feroz Ahmed Mir, Bilal Ahmad Najar, Javaid Ahmad Reshi, Umesh Sharma, Mohd Yaqoob Malik, Mukhtar Ahmad Nehvi, Ishtiaq Ahmad Bhat, Asifa Jan, Iftikhar Rasool Hamdani, Arun Kumar Bajaj and Mohd Yaseen Baqal.

Mother, son done to death

Excelsior Correspondent

POONCH, Mar 19: A young woman and her two- year-old son were found dead at the bank of a river near Surankot in district Poonch today.

The deceased were identified as Safia Bagum (32), wife of Mohd Rafiq, resident of Khettan village near Daraba and her two year old son. Some passers-by noticed the bodies of mother and her kid lying at the bank of the river which falls between Faislabad and Draba. They turned suspicious when they noticed some crows and eagles flying over from a distance.

When they moved nearby, the villagers found both lying dead. They immediately informed Draba and Surankot police. SHO Surankot Ch Mohd Aslam along with some policemen reached the spot and shifted the bodies to Surankot hospital. Some marks of violence were visible on the bodies. The police said that it seemed to be the case of double murder however, inquest proceedings were launched under section 174 CrPC.

The family members of the deceased claimed that both went missing during last evening and they were searching for them. The police has detained some family members for questioning. However, no clue could be established in this regard. The police has also failed to arrest the accused involved in the murder of youth, Mohd Sharief, resident of Harhi in Surankot. Strong resentment was brewing among the villagers over delay action of police.

Meanwhile, a jawan of 17 JAKLI was seriously injured after his scooter skidded off the road near Bondi Chechiyan village in Mandi area of Poonch last evening. Identified as Sepoy Sarfraz Hussain, son of Hassan Shah, resident of village Noona Bandi, he was shifted to Poonch hospital late last evening. He died on the way while being shifted to GMC Jammu from Poonch hospital today. The jawan had come to his village on leave.

Four DySPs transferred

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 19: Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda today ordered transfer and postings of four DySPs.

Mukesh Kumar, DySP Police Component, Sopore, has been transferred and posted as SDPO Nowshera.

Manzoor-ul-Qadir, awaiting orders of posting, has been adjusted in JKAP 6th battalion. Munir Ahmed, DySP SSG has been transferred and posted as DySP STC Sheeri, Baramulla.

Mohd Yusuf, DySP has been posted in Police Component, Sopore vice Mukesh Kumar.