JAMMU : The Beating Retreat ceremony today marked the grand finale of this year’s Republic Day celebrations held at Maulana Azad Stadium here this evening.    Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and his wife Usha Vohra witnessed the show.

A scintillating and colourful brass band and pipes and drums show was presented by the Army, BSF and J&K Police on the occasion.

The contingents received great applause from the audience.    The items presented in brass band display included Mahroon Silver and Gold, SCIPIO, Sitare Hind, Vijay Bharat, Siki Mola and Sare Jahan Se Achha, and in Pipe Band show, the well dressed contingents presented Sam Bahadur, Sherpa Valley, Himalaya, Sherpa, Cutty’s Wedding, Ms Mcleod of Raasay, Veer Sachin, Abide With Me.

The Governor gave away prizes to various brass band and pipes and drum contingents for their outstanding display on the occasion.

He also presented trophies and cash awards to the participating schools.

The spectacular fireworks added colour to the closure of the Beating Retreat ceremony.

The function concluded with ‘Sare Jahan Se Achha Hindustan Hamara’ and National Anthem.

(AGENCIES)

JAMMU : Claiming ignorance to any threat by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to resign over setting up of new administrative units in Jammu & Kashmir, his deputy Tara Chand today said a report on the matter would be submitted to the state cabinet in a day or two.

“There is nothing he (Omar) has told me. I came to know through media. He has not talked to us in this (threat of resignation) context and I think that there is no such issue,” Chand, who is the chairman of Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) on setting up of new Administrative Units told reporters here.

“In politics everyone tries to take political mileage out of an issue. But on this Omar has not talked to me,” he said.

Ruling out differences between allies Congress and National Conference, he said, “The report is being compiled and it would be submitted to the cabinet in a day or two.”

Chand, who chaired a meeting at the Circuit House for several hours today, said, “The cabinet committee has been continuously working on the proposal of new administrative units. It was during the coldest days recently in Jammu and Kashmir that the CSC went to all places and met all political parties, social organisations and recorded their demands.”

Flanked by members of the committee, he said, “We have received more than 3,000 demands. After that CSC sat together and worked on it for six to seven days and to finalise the proposal shortlisting all 2,000 to 2,500 demands.”

Chand, a senior Congress leader, said a commission under S S Bleoria was set up for creation of new administrative units when Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Chief Minister. But the Azad government fell and its report could not be implemented.

When the new coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah took over, he set up a new committee under the chairmanship of Mushtaq Ganaie and the panel worked for four years, he said.

“When the report was placed before the cabinet, Congress ministers from Jammu raised the issue of discrimination that several important areas in Ladakh and Jammu did not figure in the list,” he said, adding even NC members from Kupwara raised the issue that some areas in the district has been ignored.

Following this the present committee was set up. “My party wants that all these areas are given their due in the report and the people should get justice,” Chand said.

Replying to a question about Omar hitting out at Congress at the Vijaypur rally for “creating hurdles in the passage of the proposal of new administrative units”, Chand said, “I was not (present) in Vijaypur rally. As I said this is a coalition government of both the parties and the government is working for the peace, progress and prosperity of the state.”

“As regards to setting up of new administrative units, this is in the interest of the people of the state. No hurdle is being created from the Congress’s side and neither the party wants to create any hurdle… Congress wants that this government should continue till the last date of its tenure,” he said. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI, Jan 29:  An IAF helicopter unit today rescued more than 200 people trapped in remote areas of Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir for the last two days.

“130 Helicopter Unit at Jammu undertook an operation of rescuing stranded people from the inaccessible villages of Kishtwar. Flying in piercing snow waves and extreme cold conditions, IAF’s MI-17 helicopter in assistance with local administration airlifted 203 stranded people in 10 sorties from remote parts of Kishtwar region,” an IAF release said.

The operation was carried out by Wing Commander Suresh Tiwari, Co-pilot Wing Commander Anup Sharma and Squadron Leader Shiv.

The aircraft took off at 0730 hrs and carried out the operations in freezing temperature of minus 10 degree Celsius. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI :  Congress today downplayed reports of a possible split in its alliance with National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir even as NC President Farooq Abdullah said that his son and state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would take the final decision on the ties between the two parties.

“The alliance stands as of today” and it would not be proper to pre-judge the issue, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in the backdrop of media speculation on the ruling alliance split over the issue of creation of new administrative units in the state which the Congress is stonewalling.

Abdullah, a Union Minister, told journalists that Omar, who is said to be thinking of resigning over the issue, would take the final call on the alliance.

But, he said, there is a need to resolve the matter amicably because creation of administrative units is for the good of the people and by this way, the work done by the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of creating eight districts will be completed.

“This is not going to benefit one party but credit will go to both the parties,” Abdullah said.

To a question on whether the two parties would be fighting elections together, he said “no final decision has been taken on this”.

Asked whether there was a growing mistrust between NC and Congress, Abdullah shot back, “there are some people with vested interests who are trying to create mistrust between the coalition partners.”

Congress leaders from the state have been holding meetings with party high command to work out a solution on the issue.

State’s deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand had said after a meeting last night that the Mushtaq Ganaie Committee had “recommended 700 new administrative units but the figure may go up to 2000 or more.”

He is the Chairman of the Cabinet Sub-Committee meeting set up by Omar to go into the recommendation of Ganaie Committee which had called for setting up new administrative units in the state. (AGENCIES)

JAMMU:  Violating the ceasefire, Pakistani troops today resorted to small arms firing on Indian forward posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, drawing retaliation from border guards.

“Enemy (Pakistani troops) fired from their small arms (on Indian forward posts along the LoC) in Balakote sector at around 1500 hours,” Public Relations Officer (Defence), Jammu, said.

“There was ceasefire violation by them,” he said adding Indian troops guarding the borderline fired back resulting in exchanges which lasted five minutes.

“There was no damage or casualty on our side in the cross-border firing,” the Defence PRO said.

Pakistan has committed ceasefire violations 195 times along the Line of Control last year.

The number of truce violations by Pakistani troops in 2012, 2011, 2010 was 93, 51 and 44 respectively. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI: With alliance of his party with the ruling  Congress coming under strain, National Conference Chief and Union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah today softened stand towards BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief  Minister Narendra Modi, saying people’s choice for Prime  Ministership of the country should be accepted by all.

Dr Abdullah, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, said in a democratic country like India, its people who will finally decide who should be the Prime Minister of the country.   If they choose Mr Modi, it is their choice, he said.

NC had been coalition partner of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, that was in power before the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) replaced it in 2004.    On the question of continuing their alliance with the Congress,

he said the final call on the issue would be taken by his son and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

Congress in the state and the National Conference are at loggerheads over Mr Abdullah’s move to create about 700 new administrative units in the state ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha poll and the scheduled Assembly election in October-November this year.

Congress thinks the scheme would benefit the NC in the coming polls.

Mr Abdullah has threatened to resign and advance the Assembly polls along with Lok Sabha elections.

(AGENCIES)

LONDON: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said there was no “recent evidence” to suggest that Pakistan wants to negotiate a permanent settlement to the Kashmir issue.
Omar also said that India and Pakistan do not have “good neighbourly relations” and that some people in that country would like nothing more than to see the “end” of him.
On the issue of terrorism in his State, the Chief Minister said militants of 16 different nationalities including those from the US and the UK have either been caught or killed in J&K.
At the same time, he made it clear that Pakistan was continuing to support militant groups across the Line of Control (LoC).
“I haven’t seen any recent evidence of it unfortunately,” Omar said while anwsering questions in BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ programme by its well-known anchor Stephen Suckur.
Omar spoke of Pakistan’s approach while talking about its sincerity in negotiating a permanent settlement to the Kashmir issue.
Asked why had he not discussed the issue with the Pakistani Government, Omar explained,” We don’t have very good neighbourly relations. One of the reasons, I have about the security that you talked about and the fortified compound(in Srinagar) is because there are some people in Pakistan who like nothing more than to see an end of me.”
During the course of the interview, Omar was asked about the elaborate security at his office and home in J&K and whether there were some people in Kashmir who wanted to kill him.
Responding, Omar said, “Of course there are…But with whose support…As much as they would like guns to grow on trees in Kashmir, they don’t.”
“We don’t have arms manufacturing factories. All the weapons that are used in Kashmir to keep this militancy alive come from across the LoC, the orders, the instructions come from there,” Omar, known for his candid replies, said in an apprent reference to role of Pakistan.
The Chief Minister also said that majority of militants operating in his State were not Kashmiris. “There was a time in early 1990s, 100 per cent of militants in Kashmir were Kashmiris. It might surprise you to know that at the last count, more than 16 different nationalities of people have either been caught or killed in Kashmir. (AGENCIES)

LONDON : Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said no Prime Minister can revoke Article 370 of the Constitution granting special status to the State “without calling into question” its accession to India.
Dismissing a question on whether he was worried at the prospect of BJP’s Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister, Omar said, “it does not matter whether he is the Prime Minister or the President or (holds) any other position.
“Constitutionally, he cannot revoke Article 370 without calling into question the accession of J&K to India. Now as Prime Minister of India, if he wants to rewrite accession to India, he is welcome to it. But I do not think any Prime Minister would be as foolhardy as that,” he said.
Omar was answering questions in BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ programme during which he more then held his ground in the face of tough questioning by its well-known anchor Stephen Sackur who focused on the insurgency, role of the armed forces and the State’s accession to India.
The Chief Minister was asked about Modi’s suggestion for a debate on Article 370 to which he had responded by offering to do that debate with the BJP leader “at any time, any place”.
He said Modi had not responded to this himself but “one of his minions gave a statement that he is too busy to discuss Article 370 and, to make it worse, he is far too more important to discuss it with somebody like you (Omar)”.
Sackur remarked that he would be “extraordinarily worried” because Modi could be the next Prime Minister if opinion polls were to be believed because the BJP leader favours doing away with J&K’s special status. “I am not worried,” Omar told him. (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR : Property worth lakhs of rupees was damaged when about half a dozen shops were gutted in a fire incident in north Kashmir district of Barmulla, official sources said here today.
They said fire broke out in fish market at Baramulla during the intervening night. However, fire tenders from different parts of the town were rushed to the spot and fire was brought under control.
Sources said six shops and other property worth lakh of rupees had been damaged in the fire. The cause of fire was not known, they said adding no one was injured. (AGENCIES)