Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, June 17: Bandipora town in North Kashmir observed shutdown for the second day today in protest against the alleged desecration of a holy Quran while police released 30 labourers, who were detained yesterday for questioning while 24 are still in custody.
Shops and business establishments in Bandipora town remained closed while traffic was off the roads. Police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police was heavily deployed at sensitive places to foil any attempt of disturbance.
Although the situation was tense but it was under control and no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere.
Police had detained 54 labourers working with Border Roads Organisation, for questioning in connection with the incident and today they released 30 of them while 24 are still in their custody.
Tension gripped parts of Bandipora district yesterday following alleged desecration of the holy Quran by unidentified persons in remote Tragbal village.
A Defence spokesman said here that the BRO authorities are very sad and disturbed due to the incident which took place in Bandipora.”
“Chief Engineer of the BRO’s project Beacon has clarified and confirmed that no person of Beacon is involved in this incident. It may be the act of some miscreants to cause disharmony and disturbance in the peace loving State and same is strongly condemned,” the Defence spokesman said.
The spokesman said that it is not possible that any person of Beacon is involved in such deplorable incident. The incident was widely condemned by the leaders across Kashmir.

NEW DELHI, June 17: The NDA today failed to firm up a position on the Presidential poll as it was divided over opposing UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee and there was lack of clarity on extending support to P A Sangma.
With an intention of using the Presidential poll to rope in parties like AIADMK and BJD and possibly Trinamool Congress, the main opposition BJP-led alliance decided at a meeting here that talks would be held with these parties to have a common candidate against Mukherjee.
At a two-hour meeting of the NDA which was skipped by Shiv Sena, JD-U leader Shivanand Tiwari is believed to disfavoured a contest against Mukherjee because of his stature, reflecting a divide in the coalition.
BJP leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj were said to be of the opinion that there should be a contest but there was no consensus as to whether to support Sangma, who has been propped up by AIADMK and BJD, or Kalam, who is being pushed into the race by Trinamool Congress.
There was a strong view that supporting Sangma would help NDA win back AIADMK and BJD. However, to finetune this, talks should be held with leaders of these parties before any decision is reached, sources said.
The NDA coalition was also not clear whether Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee would agree to shunning Kalam and supporting Sangma.
After the meeting at BJP leader L K Advani’s residence, NDA convener Sharad Yadav told reporters, “Various leaders put forth their views in detail. More discussions are required in this regard to arrive at the right decision.
“L K Advani will talk to Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states and all others. NDA will meet sometime later again to take a decision in this regard. Those outside (Delhi) will also be consulted.”
JD-U chief and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav did make the point against contesting Mukherjee but he was not averse to going with the BJP should it persist with a fight in the Presidential election.
However, Tiwari, the other JD-U leader considered close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, strongly opposed a contest. This is seen as an attempt by Nitish Kumar to keep his options open.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee had called Kumar on Friday seeking JD-U’s support for the UPA candidate.
Tiwari, whose party JD-U shares power with BJP in Bihar, was clear that no strong purpose would be served by contesting against Mukherjee, a tall leader with vast experience in Government and Parliament, and more so when the UPA has a clear edge in the electoral college.
However, Advani and Swaraj are understood to have argued that Mukherjee should not go uncontested, especially in view of the Lok Sabha polls due two years hence.
The BJP is said to be keen on supporting Sangma so that the alliance could rope in parties like BJD and AIADMK that could be valuable in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Sources in NDA said that a decision will be taken with the objective of strengthening the NDA coalition.
They said that while wider consultations will be held with all the Chief Ministers of NDA, informal talks will be held with BJD leader and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Mamata, whose role has become very important in the Presidential elections.
“The objective is to ensure that NDA gets more strength before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,” a source said.
The NDA is closely watching the evolving situation with respect to Sangma as to whether he will remain in the fray.
The NDA sources said there would be no point in announcing support for Sangma unless it was certain that he would continue to be in the race.
Sangma, on his part, cleared any doubts by underlining that he continues to be in the race and that he had talked to Mamata also to get her support.
“I appealed to her to support my candidature. She was insisting on Dr Kalam. I said Dr Kalam had opted out of the race, therefore, you should support (me),” he said.
BJP leaders felt Advani should stay in touch with Jayalalithaa and Patnaik.
Shiv Sena, the oldest ideological ally of the BJP, skipped the key meeting of alliance leaders here, triggering speculation that the party was opposed to a fight due to lack of numbers.
“Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray will take a decision on the issue,” said party leader Sanjay Raut, when asked about speculation that the Sena was against fielding any candidate against Pranab Mukherjee, UPAs Presidential nominee.
Shiv Sena had not backed former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the Presidential poll last time despite BJP and several others in the alliance supporting him.
At that time, it had backed Pratibha Patil—she being the first Maharashtrian to be nominated for the top post of President. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, June 17: Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured in a grenade attack on their picket in Sopore town in North Kashmir district of Baramulla today.
The grenade was hurled on a 179 Battalion of CRPF picket this morning. Three CRPF men were injured in the attack, one of them is critically. The militants managed to flee from the scene after carrying out the attack.
The injured were admitted to nearby hospital while security forces have launched an operation to track down the militants involved in attack.
Sopore is militancy infested area where maximum number of attacks have taken place during past several years. Security agencies say that conducive atmosphere and proximity to the LoC is the main reason for the survival of militancy in the area.

Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, June 17: At least 18 persons including a dozen Shahdara Sharief pilgrims were injured in two separate road accidents in district Rajouri today.
Reports said a mini-bus bearing registration No. JK-14/8413 which was carrying 13 pilgrims from Udhampur to Shahdara Sharief shrine at Thanna Mandi in Rajouri met head on collision with a bus No. JK-12/3750 coming from Rajouri to Jammu at Thanda Pani near Sunderbani today. The mini-bus after collision with the bus fell into a gorge.
Immediately after the mishap, the people from Jammu bound bus moved out and rushed for the rescue of the injured. The locals of the area also joined. The police party from Sunderbani later reached there receiving information. The injured were removed to Sunderbani hospital. Five seriously injured passengers were referred to GMC hospital Jammu after providing preliminary treatment. They were identified as Shriya Begum, driver Mohd Arif, Shabnam, Ghulam Fatima-all from Kawa in Udhampur and Jamal Din from Finder in Bishnah.
Those admitted to Sunderbani hospital are, Ghulam Mohammed, Ruksana Begum, Aqib Javed, Ghulam Ali, Ahmed Ali and Mumtaz Bano, all hailing from Kawa, Udhampur. Three of them were also later shifted to Jammu. They had left for Shahdara Sharief pilgrimage in the morning from Udhampur. A few passengers in the bus sustained minor bruises. The police has taken cognizance.
Meanwhile, five passengers were injured after an auto-rikshaw overturned on the road near Kadli bridge in Rajouri today. All the five injured identified as Zubeda Begum of Sathri village, Shamima Choudhary and Nasreena Begum from Palma and Zaitoon Begum and Nasreen from Nagrota were admitted to district hospital Rajouri. The driver managed to escape from the spot after mishap.
The police has registered a case against him.

NEW DELHI, June 17: The chiefs of Pakistan Rangers and BSF, the border guarding forces of the two countries, will for the first time meet here next month to thrash out a host of issues including recent incidents of firing along the Indo-Pak border.
The five-day Director General (DG)-level talks, beginning July 1, are being held for the first time in Delhi. Earlier venues for talks between the two forces manning key frontiers on their respective sides have been places like Jalandhar, Amritsar and Chandigarh.
The 20-member Border Security Force (BSF) delegation will be led by its Director General U K Bansal while the other side will be headed by Pakistan Rangers chief Major General Rizwan Akhtar.
Both the forces will discuss issues related to the border areas which include trans-border crime, smuggling of fake Indian currency and narcotics with a special focus by the BSF on regular ceasefire violation instances along the International Border (IB).
The meeting will also discuss the issues of the Jammu and Punjab areas which are being dealt by the two forces.
“This is the first time the Pakistan Rangers delegation is coming to Delhi. They will be hosted for talks at the force headquarters here,” a senior BSF official said.
Both the forces have a tradition of holding bi-annual talks, with each side visiting the other country once a year. Regular flag meetings are held by local commanders on a need and emergency basis.
The BSF is also expected to raise the issue of unauthorised constructions along the Indo-Pak border during the talks.
Establishing a hotline between the force commanders will also be discussed at the meet. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, June 17: A 60-year-old woman was severely beaten up to death by her husband at a remote village, in Darhal area of district Rajouri today.
The deceased has been identified as Rehmat Jan, wife of Ghulam Hussain (65), resident of village Pallarani in Darhal tehsil. The police said over a minor issue, Ghulam Hussain took out a lathi and started beating his wife mercilessly. She sustained injuries on head and other parts of body and fell unconscious.
The family members who intervened, rescued her and rushed to Darhal hospital. Later, she was shifted to District hospital, Rajouri. The doctors after providing preliminary treatment, referred her to Jammu for serious head injuries and multiple-fractures. She succumbed to injuries near Chingas, just short of Nowshera.
The body of the deceased was brought back to Rajouri hospital for postmortem. The police registered a case under Section 302 RPC against the accused Ghulam Hussain, who was said to be absconding. The police was searching for him.