Category: Union Territory

‘Tough stance against youth will not bring peace in valley’

Srinagar: In connection with the Mother’s Day, the International Forum for Justice and Human Rights -JK (IFJHR-JK) presses for the release of all youth who were arrested recently allegedly charged with stone pelting and trouble mongering.

Chairman of the forum, Muhammad Ahsan Untoo in a statement has said that all the youth who were arrested during the recently concluded parliamentary elections should be released on humanitarian grounds as their parents are living in misery being at bay from their loved ones.

“We appeal government to facilitate the early release of all the youth as a goodwill gesture in connection with the Mother’s Day,” Untoo said, adding, “Government’s tough stance in dealing with arrested youth will not, in any way, contribute to ensure peace in the valley.”

Untoo said though there are not serious cases against these youth except the alleged stone pelting which can be patched up through “other options” as counseling.

The forum also demands justice for the families whose kith and kin have been subjected to enforced disappearance. “We want government to take up the issue of enforced disappearance and redress the same as early as possible,” IFJHR-JK chairman added.

“They should work for strengthening coalition rather than personal scors”

Srinagar: Joint Secretary of State Congress, Salman Nizami today said that the two senior NC leaders Mustafa Kamal and Shafi Uri by giving irresponsible statements are a threat to the NC-Congress coalition. They by way of their irritational statements have created chaous and confusion among the coalition cadres. People in the coalition on ground are in a fix and in a state of shock by way of their childish statement. Shafi sahib and Kamal sahib must understand that they have to be role models for the workers who actually on ground risk their lives to sustain the coalition. They need to be magnanimous to rise above personal eye differences and see to it that coalition is strengthened. They should acknowledge and realize the fact that congress actively participated in the rallies and campaigned for coalition candidates, PCC President Prof. Saifudin Soz and Union Minister for Health G.N. Azad while actively involved in campaigning both saw to it that each and every congress worker votes for the coalition candidate. Lets take a vow on this day that such irresosposible statements from such senior leaders are not repeated in future. Nizami said that coalition is intact and all Lok Sabha parliamentary seats will be won by coalition which will be reply to the communal forces who are hell-bent in breaking the coalition.

Srinagar: The Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has threatened government agitation ‘if raids, arrests and autocracies aren’t stopped till Tuesday’.

In a statement issues to GNS, the octogenarian leader said: “the complete election boycott of the people of Kashmir have frustrated the rulers from New Delhi to the Srinagar and they are now subjecting the entire population to the political ‘vengeance’ by unlashing the reign of terror and atrocities upon the common people.”

While threatening with agitation, Geelani said: “if the process of raids, arrests and autocracies are not stopped till 13th May, we will come up with a disciplined programme in public against these excesses and atrocities after 13th May.”

Geelani said that no strike or shutdown will be observed anywhere in Jammu and Kashmir till 13 May and appealed the people especially youths to ‘show discipline and unity at this crucial juncture and follow the programme with letter and spirit’.

“The arrest spree, raids and barbarism launched by the state administration have created panic among the general masses and they are spending sleepless nights. After the successful election boycott in Jammu and Kashmir, the authorities in New Delhi and their local employees have made plans to avenge the boycott practice of people by using autocratic and violent ways and to implement these plans, the police and Indian army have been given full authority to prosecute the common people particularly the younger generation,” the senior resistance leader said.

He said that the youth and students are ‘severely tortured, abused, harassed and insulted in the police stations and jails and they are pushed to the wall’. “Under the so-called ‘national interest’, India with its secret agencies is busy in suppressing the peaceful political voice of Jammu and Kashmir by using state power, violence, and force and is committing atrocities,” he said, adding: “From minors to elders, everybody is arrested and detained in police stations and then they are tortured and abused by the civilized police officers and are pressurized to stay away from the freedom movement.”

The Hurriyat chairman strongly condemned these acts of police and demanded the immediate release of the detained people, youth and students.

‘NC and Congress workers were united in elections’

Srinagar: Member of Parliament from Baramulla and Senior National Conference Leader Sharif-ud-din Shariq has said that the NC-Congress Alliance was an ideological coalition and not an opportunistic marriage of convenience. “Our alliance with Congress is ideological and is in pursuit of the common values and ideals of secularism, pluralism and communal harmony. There was no rift between the coalition partners during the course of the Parliamentary Elections and the question of a rift now doesn’t arise”.

Stating that certain sections were wrongly projecting a rift between NC and Congress at the behest of some vested interests, Shariq said “My remarks were distorted and twisted at certain places and in some reports. I stand by the NC-Congress ideological coalition’s united efforts in these Parliamentary Elections and am confident of a win for the NC-Congress Coalition from all six Parliamentary Seats in the State”, Shariq said.

Sharif-ud-din Shariq said that the alliance between National Conference and Congress was an alliance between secular forces against the march of communalism and divisive politics. “We are united in our resolve to protect the secular ethos and traditions of not just J&K but the entire country. Our workers are informed political minds who understand the importance of standing united against the threat of communalism. Both parties have similar ideological goals in this context and have similar foes”, Shariq said.

Condemning the assault on voters in certain areas of North Kashmir, Shariq said that these unfortunate incidents had the potential of fragmenting the Kashmiri society to the ultimate detriment of this nation. “While people have  a right to boycott elections, people also have an equal right to participate in elections. Both rights need to be upheld and coercion or intimidation is not acceptable”, Shariq said. Shariq appealed to the people of North Kashmir to respect each other’s’ sentiments and differences of opinion and asked responsible citizens in their respective areas to facilitate a reconciliation between the people.

Srinagar: Panic gripped Boniyar village in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district after laborers who were digging a drain few meters away from Government Higher Secondary School found 28 motor shells each measuring two inches, official sources said.

The laborers immediately informed police officials of Boniyar police station and they reached the spot and recovered all 28 motor shells from the under construction drain, they said.

“All the 28 motor shells were destroyed by Bomb Disposal Squad,” a police official told GNS, adding: “with the help of RPG gun we destroyed them.”

A local told GNS that he heard ‘sound of loud explosions’ in the area.

Pertinently, an army camp was in the same area some 35 years ago which had gutted in a fire incident. It is believed that these shells were left by the army men of the said camp.

Meanwhile, police on Saturday recovered a live grenade from Ahmad Nagar area in the outskirts of summer capital, official sources said.

They said that today locals spotted a suspicious object while clearing the debris in the area where two foreign militants were killed in 22 hour firefight last month.

“After spotting the object, locals informed officials at police station Soura who along Bomb Disposal Squad rushed to the spot,” sources said.

The Bomb Disposal Squad recovered the object under the debris and later handed it over to police. A police official told GNS that the object is a live grenade (HE-36).

On 13 April, a fierce gunfight erupted in Ahmad Nagar in which two Laskhar-e-Toiba militants identified as Abu Huzaifa and Chota Hafeez were killed while two cops were also injured. During the encounter, two houses were gutted and damaged.

Srinagar: Two minors on Saturday morning drowned in a river body here in the outskirts of city, police said.

A police spokesman in a statement said that two boys identified as 12 year old Syed Rehman Gogri and 11 year old Shariq Nabi Bhat hailing from Chattabal locality of city got drowned in Nalla Hokarsaar at Sozaith in Narbal.

“River Police along with local Police launched rescue operation to retrieve the drowned boys,” adding the rescue operation was on till last reports came in.

Meanwhile, the spokesman said five minor school children and an elderly person were rescued by Police from Nehru-Park and Duck Park this afternoon.

“Five minor school children who were on way back to their homes after attending the school were rescued by River Police and Nehru Park police when their boat capsized in Dal-lake due to windstorm near Nehru Park,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added: “an elderly person about 75 years old Mohammad Ramzan Sheikh son of Mohammad Iqbal sheikh resident of fisherman colony was rescued by Nigeen Police when his boat overturns due to windstorm in Dal-lake near Duck Park, foreshore road. Besides, police helped in shifting stranded tourists from Char-Chinar to safer places.

SRINAGAR: After police claimed to have identified the people who harassed and assaulted passengers in North Kashmir, Police Saturday in a statement said eight more have been arrested.

“Continuing its efforts to arrest the miscreants involved in the incidents of harassment of some passengers on May 8, 2014, eight more miscreants have been arrested from Sopore and Baramulla,” said the police spokesman.

Spokesman further said that, “all the miscreants involved in these acts of harassment and assaults have been identified. It is being reiterated that stringent action is being taken against those involved in these offences and no one involved will be spared.”

Special teams have already been constituted and raids are on to arrest other people  involved in these acts.

JAMMU: Army on Saturday said that two militants were killed when troopers foiled an infiltration bid along Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.

An army man was also injured in the exchange of fire late last night.

Defense sources said that a group of four militants were seen moving inside Indian Territory along LoC in forward belt Kalsia in Poonch district.

“Army troops challenged them and the militants opened fire on the troops, who retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and a soldier suffered injuries,” they said.

India and Pakistan are alleging one another about the exchange of firing along LoC.