MASS GRAVES: Kashmir: PDP demands probe into unmarked graves!

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Press Trust Of India / http://ibnlive.in.com / Posted on Aug 22, 2011 at 08:37pm IST.

Srinagar: Opposition People's Democratic Party on Monday demanded a high-level probe by an impartial agency to establish identities of the persons buried in unmarked graves in Kashmir.

DNA tests of unidentified bodies should be conducted without wasting any time to give justice to the families of the victims, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said in a statement in Srinagar.

She was reacting to the report of the investigative wing of the State Human Rights Commission about unmarked graves having more than 2000 bodies in 38 places in the Valley.

Mehbooba said she was surprised that in spite of decline in the graph of militancy, fake encounters were still taking place in the state.

      

The PDP president recalled that since the formation of the National Conference-Congress government, the number of encounters on the Line of Control (LoC) showed a sudden rise and there is apprehension that majority of such encounters are fake.

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http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kashmir-pdp-demands-probe-into-unmarked-graves/177729-3.html

JAMMU & KASHMIR: Militant killed in fresh infiltration bid in Poonch!

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Shujaat Bukhari, The Hindu / JAMMU, August 22, 2011.

There was a fresh infiltration attempt from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector early on Sunday, even as the Army has been on tenterhooks for the last couple of weeks with Pakistan's "renewed strategy" to push more militants into the country.

There was a fresh infiltration attempt from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector early on Sunday, even as the Army has been on tenterhooks for the last couple of weeks with Pakistan's “renewed strategy” to push more militants into the country.

The Army was caught unawares in the Krishna Ghati area when, according to defence sources, four militants tried to sneak in across the border.

“Our troops noticed the movement of four militants on the LoC and challenged them. This resulted in an exchange of fire and a militant was killed and another injured,” a senior Army officer told The Hindu. He said the body was taken away by his associates under cover of darkness. “But we are sure he was dead and one injured. Two others managed to escape.”

  

He said the firing started around 1 a.m. “We are on high alert and won't let them succeed in their attempts.”

This is the fifth such incident on the LoC or the international border (IB) in the Jammu region in the past 10 days. Two major attempts took place in the Chakan-da-Bagh and Keri areas.

  

Army sources said a group of militants did manage to cross over. There are, according to these sources, around 450 militants waiting across the LoC in the Jammu zone. “These figures are based on inputs from different sources and are rough estimates, but there is no doubt that Pakistan wants to push more and more militants to disturb the peace.”

  

A number of militants have been killed in the region by security forces in the recent past. Inspector-General Jammu zone Dilbagh Singh recently told journalists that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was wiped out from the region after its top-ranking commander was killed. It is now the Hizbul Mujahideen, which is mostly active in the State, and police sources estimate the number of militants at not more than 100.

  

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2379922.ece

J&K state Human Rights Commission, has found out 2700 unmarked graves!

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NDTV Correspondent, Updated: August 22, 2011 09:33 IST.

Srinagar:  Kashmir's worst kept secret is now out in the open. What many have suspected about several mysterious disappearances in Kashmir may be true, a new human rights report says nearly 2700 alleged militant graves are not what was claimed. It has given fresh hope to families hunting for their loved ones.

The investigation team of the J&K state Human Rights Commission, after a three-year probe, has found out 2700 unmarked graves.

It brings new hope for those like 26-year-old Bilquees fighting for justice for her missing father Manzoor Ahmad Dar. Mr Dar disappeared in 2002 after he was picked up by the Army from his home. While an Army Major has now been indicted for this, there's no closure for his grieving family.

"We appeal to the government to just tell us what has happen to my father? Where is my father? If his grave is anywhere, for God sake tell us where is his grave," says a grieving Bilquees.

During the investigation, more than 500 bodies in unmarked graves were identified - they were found to be local militants and civilians. 

   

Unmarked graves are common in north Kashmir since the start of militancy in 1990, and many say this is just the tip of the iceberg.

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http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/truth-behind-kashmirs-missing-men-128090

JAMMU AND KASHMIR: 'Apolitical' literature festival in Kashmir triggers debate!

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Shujaat Bukhari, The Hindu / SRINAGAR, August 14, 2011.

The very attempt to keep politics out of the first ever literary festival to be held in Kashmir has set off a controversy with some leading writers from the Valley questioning the organisers’ agenda in making the event apolitical.

Nevertheless, coming as it does in the wake a relatively calm summer after successive summers of discontent, the organisers are working overtime to make the festival a ``grand success’’. Titled `Harud’ (autumn), the festival is expected to bring scores of writers from outside and within Kashmir to the Valley to make it resonate with the sound of poetry, literary dialogue, debate and discussions, and readings from September 24 to 26. Mainly the event will take place at the Delhi Public School (DPS) in Srinagar with a special series of symposiums and discussions at the Kashmir University.

The objections raised by New York-based author of `Curfewed Night’, Basharat Peer, and London-based Mirza Waheed – who debuted this year with `The Collaborator’ – has cast a shadow over the festival being organised in response to the Kashmiri people’s desire for such an event.

Within Kashmir, opinion is divided over the issue. While Peer and Mirza contend that every word they have written is political and contest the use of the word `apolitical’ by organisers in their initial media releases, others see it as a “good beginning” for giving an opportunity to young Kashmiri writers to interact with a different world.

Peer and Mirza also object to packaging the festival as evidence of ``normalcy in Kashmir’’ which has been writhing in the pain of conflict for the last 20 years. “I would rather go to jail in Srinagar and read my book to young people who are still imprisoned there,’’ Peer was quoted in The Guardian.

Writer and colmunist Z G Muhammad, however, has a different take on it. “I think it is a good beginning,” he told The Hindu. ``Whatever the forum, we should be able to tell our story in straight talk. If you are asked to give the message of Allah in a synagogue or a church, will you say no? I think if you have faith in your beliefs, the forum for telling the truth does not matter.” And, Muhammad is not alone. Sources said majority of Kashmiri writers have agreed to attend the festival but names are not yet available.

Festival adviser and noted author Namita Gokhale said: ``We do hope to create a platform for different voices in a literary fashion.’’ On the controversy surrounding the festival, she said ``I respect every point of view” but refused to elaborate. “It will celebrate the vibrant and layered literary tradition of the region, provoke dialogue and communication and create a platform and inspiration for a new generation of readers and writers,” she added.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2356637.ece?homepage=true

CM OF A POOR STATE: Rs 11 cr spent on Omar sorties in two years!

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Mufti Islah, CNN-IBN / Posted on Aug 11, 2011 at 01:27pm IST.

New Delhi: Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is under Opposition fire after an RTI query showed his helicopter sorties cost the state Rs 11 crore in two years. Out of the 490 odd sorties, more than 40 have been carried to picnic spots across Kashmir.

Rs 11 crore spent from July 2009 to June 2011 and another Rs 54 lakhs on refreshments - Omar Abdullah has run up a maintenance and operation bill of helicopter sorties that the Opposition is now gunning after.

While the Opposition calls Omar Abdullah an airborne chief minister, he has defended himself saying a chopper is a necessity and not a luxury and that for better administrative purposes the machine is required to reach far and wide in the hostile mountainous terrain.

"As far as misusing the helicopter is concerned, clearly this helicopter flies only in the state, so any travel that I undertake is work-related travel. I will use the assets to reach out to the people," said Omar Abdullah.

The RTI was filed by 35-year-old Bashir Ahmad Malik who decided to hold the state chief minister accountable. Malik, who is illiterate and lives in the backward area of Khag in Budgam, said an incident actually led him to ask this question.

Full Story at,.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/rs-11-cr-spent-on-omar-sorties-in-two-years/174906-37-64.html

JAMMU & KASHMIR: Final report by end of next month - Dileep Padgaonkar!

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Vinay Kumar, The Hindu / NEW DELHI, August 10, 2011.

Even as the interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir appear embroiled in differences, the head of the three-member panel, Dileep Padgaonkar, on Tuesday said it would complete its report by September-end.

Controversies and criticisms would not distract the panel from its focus of completing the report and submitting it to the government. “… we will complete our work as mandated by the government,” the eminent journalist told The Hindu.

His assertion came on a day when reports in a section of the media spoke of the resignation of Radha Kumar, an academician, from the panel after fellow interlocutor M. M. Ansari criticised her for attending a seminar on Kashmir in Europe, organised by the Tramboo Centre in 2006.

Mr. Ansari, a former Information Commissioner, earlier criticised Mr. Padgaonkar for attending a Kashmir seminar in the U.S., organised by Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was recently arrested by the FBI for using ISI funds for his activities and for lobbying for Pakistan. Mr. Padgaonkar had pleaded no knowledge of the organisers.

On its part, the Union Home Ministry clarified that Ms. Radha Kumar had not resigned. “Interlocutors have completed their visit of Jammu and Kashmir and are busy finalising their reports,” said an official spokesperson of the Ministry.

“Smear campaign”

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Exhaustive exercise

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2340746.ece

JAMMU AND KASHMIR: Pamphlets call concert ‘un-Islamic’, 3 junior docs held!

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• July 10, 2011 
• Correspondent 
• SRINAGAR / DC.

Kashmir’s police on Friday arrested three junior doctors of Srinagar’s Government Medical College (GMC) for allegedly circulating pamphlets which ask the participants to stay away from a musical concert marking its golden jubilee celebrations terming it “un-Islamic”. The officials said that the trio has been taken into “preventive custody” and would be freed after the celebrations were over.

But police sources here said that they have booked under relevant section of the law on charges of preaching hatred and bigotry and trying to disrupt the celebrations of the prestigious institute. 

01) Dance, Music and other forms of expression are human's celebration of life to thank the creators;

02) And Art has nothing to do with any religion and has been in co-existence, in the whole of Islamic World, cutting across all continents;

03) This proves that even education doesn't emancipate some incorrigible bigots!

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/pamphlets-call-concert-%E2%80%98un-islamic%E2%80%99-3-junior-docs-held-907

FROM JAMMU & KASHMIR: The big Kashmir panchayat hoax!

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Balraj Puri is senior journalist and political commentator based in Jammu.

The state seems to show a lack of trust in the way it has amended its panchayati laws, empowering itself instead of passing power on to the people

Illustration: Vikram Nongmaithem

JAMMU AND Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has constituted a high powered committee headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal for formulating a roadmap for the transfer of vital functions and finances to the panchayats, to which elections are being held from April 17. The elections are being conducted in several phases and are yet to be completed. Why was this done before announcing the elections? Why is the roadmap not publicly debated or at least discussed in the assembly, whose session has just ended? Till the roadmap is released, we have to keep our figures crossed. As it is, the present Panchayati Raj Act is merely an instrument of further centralisation of power rather than a genuine measure of empowerment of the people. Here, I raise some questions that the high-powered committee should consider.

The previous panchayati election was held in 2001.There was hectic discussion between political parties, including the coalition parties in the state government, on reforms in Panchayati Raj before the election. The Congress party and the opposition parties of Jammu had demanded that the new panchayats should be formed after Jammu and Kashmir adopts the 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution, which would have made panchayats a genuine instrument of decentralisation of power. The 73rd amendment as such is not that important. The state, after studying its working in other states of country, could have adopted even a better law than elsewhere if the objective was the empowerment of the people. The J&K assembly enacted a law to constitute an election commission to conduct the election. But, by that time, the code of conduct had been enforced, which means the commission would work from the next elections. The coming election would be conducted by the election department of the state government.

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http://tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws23062011Kashmir.asp

OMAR ABDULLA: I never questioned accession of J&K to India!

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• June 22, 2011 
• PTI 
• SRINAGAR / DC.

(File image) In this September 02, 2010 photograph, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addresses a press conference in New Delhi - PTI.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said he had never questioned the accession of the state to the Union of India.

"I have never said accession of Jammu and Kashmir to rest of India is not permanent. In my speech in the state Assembly in October Last year, I only pointed out the difference between accession and merger," Omar said.

Omar during a passionate speech in the Assembly at the peak of summer unrest had said the problem in Jammu and Kashmir was unique and needed a political solution.

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/i-never-questioned-accession-jk-india-omar-064