Curfew clamped in Srinagar, restrictions elsewhere

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Sept 7: Curfew was today clamped in Srinagar city, the summer capital of the State, and restrictions imposed in rest of the Valley as authorities apprehended large scale protests over the killing of four persons in Palhalan area of Baramulla district yesterday.

Curfew was imposed in the city in wee hours of today after violent protests were witnessed at many places, including attack on two police stations, well past midnight after 'Taravee' (special night prayers offered by Muslims in Ramazan), official sources said.

Hundreds of youth started pelting stones at police stations at Nowhatta and Karan Nagar late last night. The mob tried to set ablaze the police stations by hurling petrol bombs at these buildings.

However, police personnel fired aerial shots to disperse the mob. One youth was hit by a bullet in Karan Nagar and was admitted to a hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.

A group of youth, riding motorcycles, were going around the city raising provocative slogans and instigating other youth to take to streets. Although police officials remained tightlipped, hard line Hurriyat Conference leader Masrat Alam was also among the motorcycle borne youth.

Alam has been on the run since ending June as police suspect that he is engineering street protests in the city.

The sources said curfew was imposed in the city after intelligence inputs suggested that separatist groups were planning to instigate more street protests in the morning.

Initially, curfew was only clamped in Rainawari, Maharajgunj, Safakadal, Khanyar, Nowhatta, Maisuma, Batamaloo and Kralkhud police stations but it was extended to entire city after stone pelting incidents were reported from several parts of the city.

The curfew order was being strictly enforced by the police and paramilitary forces as the authorities had cancelled all curfew passes issued previously. However, journalists and employees maintaining essential services were issued fresh curfew passes.

Despite the civil administration making all out efforts to ensure essential services and free movement of the media, police and CRPF personnel at many places refused to honour the passes issued by the district magistrate with many journalists living in the south side of the city complaining against CRPF personnel at Rambagh and policemen near Jahangir Chowk.

Elsewhere in the valley, police have imposed severe restrictions under Section 144 CrPC on the movement of people as a precautionary measure to prevent any further loss of the life or damage to the property.

The late night protests erupted in the city over the fresh killings at Palhalan in Pattan area of Baramulla district.

Four persons were killed and 12 others injured yesterday when security forces allegedly opened fire on a stone-pelting mob that had attacked IGP Kashmir's convoy in Pattan area. Police have initiated an enquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman said situation across the Valley remained by and large peaceful barring few stray incidents of stone pelting by miscreant groups at Singhpora, Tappar in Baramulla, Chinkipora, Bomai in Sopore, Kangan Bazaar, near DC office in Shopian, Nowgam and Tengpora By pass in Srinagar.

A group of miscreants pelted stones on police station, Sopore who were chased away by using mild lathicharge and tear smoke shells, the spokesman said.

He said nine miscreants were arrested last night during the stone pleting attack on Nowhatta police station.

The spokesman said about 80 miscreants pelted stones on CRPF personnel deployed at Budshah Chowk in the city. They were chased away without any one being injured, he added.

Sources said one person was injured when he was hit by a tear smoke shell at Chota Bazaar area of the city during clashes with police while CRPF personnel allegedly thrashed a youth in Batamaloo area.

The sources said both the injured have been admitted to hospital for treatment.

BJP stakes claim in Jharkhand

RANCHI, Sept 7: Over three months after it parted ways with the JMM, BJP today again came together with Shibu Soren’s party and staked claim to form a new Government in Jharkhand, with Governor M O H Farooq recommending lifting of President’s Rule from the State.

The report was sent hours after Munda submitted a list of 45 MLAs in the 81-member House and paraded 44 of them at the Raj Bhavan after Farooq gave them an appointment, Raj Bhavan sources said.

The other legislator belonging to the JMM, Poulus Surin, was in judicial custody.

Earlier, in the day, JMM offered ‘unconditional’ support to the BJP after which its Legislature Party elected former Chief Minister Arjun Munda as its leader.

"We have given a list of 45 MLAs to the Governor requesting him to invite (newly-elected BJP legislator party leader) Arjun Munda to form the new Government. The Governor said he would look into it and inform us," BJP’s State unit president Raghuvar Das told reporters after meeting Farooq.

Das handed over the list to the Governor in the presence of 42-year-old Munda, also the party’s national general secretary who took over as CLP chief after incumbent Das quit the post on the direction of BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.

In the list submitted to Farooq, there were 18 MLAs each of BJP and JMM, two from JDU, five from AJSU and two Independent MLAs — Chamra Linda and Bidesh Singh.

"JMM has extended unconditional support to BJP’s initiatives to form a Government," JMM spokesman Suprio Bhattacharya said.

Besides Munda and Das, AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and JMM leader Hemant Soren, son of the JMM chief, were present at the Raj Bhavan.

AJSU’s vice-president Praveen Prabhakar said his five-member legislature party has extended full support to the BJP’s initiative.

In Delhi, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is learnt to have briefed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the situation in the State and options before the UPA.

The meeting was also attended by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily.

Congress has 14 MLAs and its ally JVMP 11.

In the event of Munda being invited to form the Government, it will be the eighth Government after Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar on November 15, 2000, and would be Munda’s third term.

Babulal Marandi was the first Chief Minister before Munda took over from him. In between Madhu Koda held the post once and Soren thrice.

President’s Rule was imposed on June 1 with the Assembly being put under suspended animation after recommendation by the Governor on May 31.

He had given the recommendation after no party came forward to form a Government following JMM president Shibu Soren resigning from the Chief Minister’s post on May 30 following withdrawal of support by the BJP. (PTI)

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Govt contractors pushed labourers into anti-national acts

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Sept 7: Three Government contractors of Kishtwar and Ramban districts have been put on Intelligence radar for reportedly hiring a number of labourers from Banihal and Ramban areas to Kashmir valley especially in Anantnag district on the pretext of working in Government run projects but pushing them into undesirable activities.

An Intelligence agency of the Government of India has sounded the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of police to trace the contractors, who had hired the labourers for working in the projects on fixed monthly pay but later engaged them into anti-Indian activities in the Valley.

Official sources said the information gathered by the Central agency has revealed that the labourers had earlier worked in some projects in both Government and private sector and mostly hailed from rural areas of Ramban and Banihal. Three Government contractors took them to Anantnag district with the assurance of getting labour work for several months in the Government run projects.

While 25 to 30 labourers were taken from Ramban and Banihal, five to seven others belonged to Kishtwar district, sources said, adding that they were first taken to Kishtwar and then to Anantnag. The villages of Kishtwar, border Anantnag areas of Kashmir from where the labourers crossed over.

Sources said the labourers could have been taken through normal Jammu-Srinagar highway road by the contractors if they were to be engaged in the project works. However, a different route was adopted by the contractors for taking the labourers to Anantnag.

Confirming that they have received an input from a Central Intelligence agency on the Government contractors intentionally putting the innocent labourers into anti-national activities, sources said the Counter Intelligence has identified all three contractors but they were not present in their houses.

"Probably, the contractors had become aware that they had come under surveillance. They were untraced. Besides the CI, police in some parts of Kashmir was also in search of contractors and labourers’’, sources said.

They added that the contractors are likely to be booked under the provisions of anti-national activities once they are traced. Their mobile telephones continued to indicate their location in Anantnag district confirming the reports of their involvement in undesirable activities.

Most of the labourers, according to sources, were still trapped in Anantnag as they had been handed over to some groups by the contractors engaged in anti-Indian activities in the Valley.

They said the Central Intelligence agency has asked the CI to look for similar activities of anti-national elements in other parts of the region also. However, no such instance has been reported from any other area so far.