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Srinagar: A person who was injured in clashes during Amaranth land row six years ago succumbed to injuries at his home in north Kashmir’s Barramulla district Saturday morning, after braving multiple complications and ailments for six years.
30-year-old Shams-u-Din Fafoo, son of Mohammad Anwar of Shalteng Sheeri, succumbed to his injuries at his residence on Saturday at around 5:00 am, official sources told GNS.

The victim was a daily wager in Flood Control department and was posted at Malsum Sheeri in Baramulla.
“My son was on his way back to home after routine duty on June 30 2008 when protests were going on near Kichhama,” Muhammad Anwar, his father, a worker at Public Health Engineering Department, told GNS.
“When he reached there he was hit by a bullet fired by police as they were chasing a group of protesters,” he added.
Din was hit by a bullet in his abdomen and was immediately rushed to Sub-District hospital Baramulla.
Anwar said that doctors at SDH Baramulla referred him to SKIMS Soura for further treatment.
At SKIMS, the he was admitted for three months and underwent a surgery.
Subsequently he was discharged from the Hospital.
“My son was continuously ailing since last six years and during the period he had to undergo two more surgeries,” Anwar added.
“Unfortunately, he couldn’t survive and breathed his last today,” he said, adding “he was our only support.”
“My son was our only support. He has three children including a daughter,” he said, adding “His mother had already left us in February 2008, and now I am left alone.”
“I am a mentally impaired person now and unable to go to the duty. I am suffering from multiple ailments since my wife died. I don’t know how I will manage all this so as to support the three children and their widow mother which my son has left behind,” he said while bursting into tears.
“Irony is that no authority from police or district administration ever bothered to visit us,” he added.
A police official, while talking to GNS, said: “The incident happened on 30 June 2008 when a mob attacked Police Station Sheeri and a guard room. In retialition, the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chased the mob. In police action, several youth sustained injuries.”
More than sixty persons, mostly youth were killed after forces fired to suppress the unprecedented mass protests against controversial transfer of land in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam area to SASB in 2008. (GNS)

Srinagar: Stating that 2014 will be a big challenge for security in Kashmir, Army Saturday claimed that the militancy related incidents have increased in valley this year with the killing of 11 ultras while as 13 have been arrested.
According to the KNS correspondent, addressing a press conference Lt. General Gurmeet Singh, GoC 15 Corps  stated that during the starting 50 days of the year 2014, the militancy related incidents have increased and that most of the militants belonged to the militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. He stated further that out of 11 militants killed this year by the security forces, belonged to Hizb, LeT and Jaish-e-Mohamad. He said further that during this period more than 13 militants have been arrested that proves that the violence has increased this year in valley.
He added further that the Army is providing full space to the local militants to surrender and that army only fires in retaliation. Gen. Singh stated that the locals who have joined the militant ranks are being misled and that army provides them the opportunity to surrender at the earliest.
Gen Singh added that during the operations with the militants, the army prioritizes that there must be no collateral damage and that no human rights violation should take place.
When asked that why a local militant from Char-e-Sharif was not given a chance to surrender, Gen, Singh stated that the militant namely Saif Ahmad fired severely on forces and during the retaliatory firing, he was killed. The 15th Corps commander stated further that the killed militant was active during the past and that earlier he was with the Jaish outfit and then had joined Hizb. However General Singh lauded the statement of slain militant’s brother during his funeral procession wherein he had advised the youth to stay away from stone pelting.
He appreciated that coordination between army and the Jammu and Kashmir police. Gen Singh also lauded peoples cooperation with the army saying that people now repose trust and confidence and are supporting the army.  (KNS)

New Delhi: Former Chief Research Analysis Wing (RAW) A.S.Dulat Saturday said that he fails to understand why Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is denying the fact that dialogue is going on between Government of India and Hurriyat leaders. Dulat told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS that when minister of state for home affairs R P N Singh himself is declaring in the Parliament that dialogue is going on then there is no reason to contradict his statement.
 
Pertinently, Mirwaiz led Hurriyat had termed the minister in Indian Parliament far from truth and had said that no dialogue is going on between Hurriyat and New Delhi.
 
“God knows better why Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has described the statement of the Minister as misleading and claimed that it was made with a malicious intention to malign the image of Hurriyat leadership as well as to hoodwink the public opinion. May be Mirwaiz wants a meaningful dialogue and the dialogue which draws everybody’s attention,” he said.
 
He said that there are various forms of dialogue and the fact is that dialogue is going on. “A minister can’t lie in the Parliament. I presume that Mirwaiz feels that dialogue which is going on is not good enough and he wants it to be more conclusive,” he said.

Responding to a query, Dulat said that no political party will get political mileage by raising Afzal Guroo issue. He said that both National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party were on the same page as far as the execution of Guroo was concerned. Both the parties termed the execution unfortunate and criticized New Delhi.
 
“The issue of Guroo’s execution can’t be made a pole plank as it will not suit the interests of political parties in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. Dulat said that the execution of Guroo was unfortunate but political parties of Jammu and Kashmir should move ahead and criticize not each other over the issue.
   
Responding to a query about fresh row over 2012 troops movement near Delahi, for RAW chief said that India is never going to be Pakistan way. “Army should restraint from jumping into politics and should not issue political statements. India can’t be compared with Pakistan as far as the role of Army is concerned. Our Army has no role in politics and there are no chances at all that India will go Pakistan way where Army rules the roost,” he said. (CNS)

Jammu: Terming the murder of Waseem Ahmad Malla of Sopore as gruesome, barbaric, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Saturday lashed out at the forces that are baying for the blood of innocent people.
In a statement, the party president, Mehbooba Mufti blamed the present National Conference-led government for losing the grip of the law and order situation in J&K that has been responsible for such tragedies. She said these unfortunate incidents have become a routine now and the government has miserably failed to save the lives of innocent people. “Reoccurrence of killings at the hands of ‘unknown gunmen’ put a serious question mark on the credibility and seriousness of the government to protect the human lives,” she said.
Mehbooba said by splattering blood of innocents on ground nothing will change and it will only complicate the problems. Expressing solidarity with the deceased family, she said Waseem’s loss is irreparable, in every sense, for the society in general and for his family in particular. She also demanded a thorough, independent probe into the innocent so that the perpetrators can be brought to book as soon as possible.

Baramulla (MIR ARIF TKSNN): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal on Friday opened its office in Baramulla district of north Kashmir.The office is located at khawaja bagh and   Ashiq Hussain Ganai, who has been appointed as in- charge party convener for Bandipora, Kupwara and Baramulla, the party officials said.

They said Ganai was appointed by senior AAP leader Prashant Bushan, whose comments on holding a referendum over the presence of Army in Kashmir had snowballed into a major political controversy.“I found Kejriwal’s ideas and AAP’s manifesto in line with my ideology. I met Kejriwal and other party leaders in New Delhi and shared my ideas with them,” Ashiq told Kashmir scenario at his office in khawjabagh baramulla.

He said he and some other Kashmiris were shortlisted by the party after Bhushan conducted interviews of several people at AAP’s New Delhi headquarters.“The party high command assigned me to be in- charge of north Kashmir and we have started homework for mobilization and membership drive and already from last  days 10,000 people have been registered with AAP from Baramulla,Kupwara and Bandipora districts,” he said. “I made people understand that AAP is a strong voice against corruption. People have started turning up at our office on large scale.”The people want to get rid of the rampant corruption in the state which is now only possible with the efforts made by AAP to eradicate corruption from every nook and corner”said Aashiq hussain ganai ( Kashmir Scenario)

Jammu: A Pakistani prisoner was Saturday morning found hanging inside a jail here, an official said.
K. Rajendra Kumar, director general prisons, told reporters here that the body of Showkat Ali, son of Barkat Ali, a resident of Pind Sail Jathan in Sialkot Pakistan, was found hanging from the iron window of a barrack toilet inside the prison Saturday morning.
“Pakistani and Bangladeshi inmates who were in the same prison informed the authorities in the morning about the incident,” Kumar said.
He said a magisterial probe into the death has been ordered.
Ali was arrested in Jammu in February 2011 after he crossed over from the international border.
He was reportedly suffering from some mental ailment and was lodged in the Amphalla district jail in Jammu following court orders. An FIR has been registered. (U4U voice)

Jammu rated one of the best districts in country for MGNREGA implementation

Jammu: Maintaining that transparency and accountability has been strengthened while implementing various Rural Development schemes, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Mr. Ali Mohammad Sagar Friday said that these programmes have been instrumental in changing the socio-economic profile of the rural and far-flung areas of the state besides ensuring the creation of assets for the convenience of the people.
While replying to the Demand of Grants of Rural Development Department & Panchayats in the Legislative Assembly, the Minister said that the pace of implementation of the flagship schemes MGNREGA has registered a phenomenal growth since 2008-09 onwards when the budget of the scheme was Rs. 86.51 crore to Rs. 850 crore and during the current financial year the scheme is expected to cross an availability of Rs. 1000 crores with zero liability to the next financial year.
“1.10 lakh number of works have been taken in hand and ending January 2014, 2.35 crore man-days have been generated which may touch 4 crore by the end of current financial year and next year’s labour budget for the first quarter stands approved at 2.88 crore man-days”, the Minister added and maintained that 10.99 lakh families have been registered and job cards issued to them.
 “Jammu district has been ranked as one of the top most in the implementation of MGNREGA in the country and recently it was awarded by the Union Ministry at New Delhi”, the Minister maintained.
Under supporting staff of MGNREGA, 80 Programme Officers, 2179 GRS, 834 Technical Assistants, 230 Management Information System (MIS) Operators and 20 Social Audit Coordinators have been engaged, the Minister maintained and said that a fool proof mechanism has been put in place to ensure transparency as well as accountability in its implementation and deviations if any, have been strictly taken notice of and action initiated against the derelicting officials.  
Referring to the mechanism of transparency and grievance redressal, the Minister said that the department has created a cell in the administrative department for redressal of grievances and the complaints received are given a track number and then response is elicited from various officials and the complainant is informed about the action taken.
Terming the incorporation of certain amendments in J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 in order to incorporate certain broad features of constitutional 73rd amendment like reservation to SC/STs, Women and direct elections to the chairpersons of all three tiers as historical, the Minister said it would go a long way in broadening the ambit of decentralization of powers and involvement of people at grass root level in day-to-day governance.
J&K ombudsman for Panchayats Bill 2014 has been drafted and is being tables in the House during current session, which will look into the complaints against Panchayats so as to ensure that PRIs function within the frame work of rules and regulations so as to make their functioning transparent and accountable, the Minister added. He said that Government of India has put in place MIS where entire information regarding execution of individual works and payments to the individual job holders are uploaded on the system which can be accessed by anyone by taking printouts of the works done as well as the payments received by the individual card holders thereby strengthening the mechanism of transparency in MGNREGA works.
While terming the process of empowering the Panchayats with powers of 14 vital departments as one of the major feature of ensuring the democratic decentralization of powers to the grass root level, the Minister said that the government has fulfilled its promise of putting in place a vibrant Panchayati Raj System and these representatives are being involved in the policy formulation as well as implementation of various welfare schemes undertaken by the government, the Minister said and maintained that senior officer of the level of Additional District Development Commissioner has been nominated as Nodal Officer for ensuring that the orders of empowerment of Panchayats are strictly adhered to.
While referring to the process of augmenting the infrastructural capacities of the Panchayats, the Minister said that the money released under the 13th Finance Commission is being solely utilized for capacity building of PRIs and 1678 Panchayat Ghars are being constructed in convergence with MGNREGA and funds for repair and renovation of the existing 2250 Panchayat Ghars have been released under the same award. He said in addition, Rs. 1.25 lakh for Halqa Panchayat has been released for developmental works to be identified and executed by these Panchayats.
 “We have passed clear instructions to ensure that all the Panchayat Ghars constructed by December 2014. We have kept a budgetary provision for honorarium of Panches and Sarpanches in the budget and they are currently being paid an honorarium of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 2000 respectively as sitting fee besides they are being taken out the State for interaction and subsequently also trained at IMPA”, the Minister elaborated.
In order to bring the rural areas at par with urban ones the government has undertaken a comprehensive programme of constructing one model village per constituency, the Minister maintained and said that this would go a long way in ensuring that the people living in far-flung and remote areas of the state get the requisite facilities which would also ensure their socio-economic elevation.
Referring to the Government’s decision of creating additional 177 CD Blocks as watershed in the history of the state, the Minister said that the same would ensure sustained and fast paced development of the rural areas. He said that the necessary directions have been passed for identifying the institutional structure and other related things for these blocks. Under the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Sashiktikaran Abhyan an amount of Rs. 29.96 crore has already been approved by Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj for the current year.
Under NRLM (UMEED) an amount of Rs. 750 crore has been sanctioned and the scheme has initially been started in four blocks i.e. Basohli, Chenai, Khansahib, Laar and till date 1650 Self Help Groups have been framed in these blocks and five more blocks viz Sumbal, D. H. Pura, Gundna, Mahore and Kargil are being covered during current financial year. Similarly, under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) a perspective programme of Rs. 2300 crore stands approved for treating 15 lakh hectares of treatable area, the programme would go a long way in Waste Land Management, Soil and Water Conservation, he said.
In order to provide the housing facilities to the rural poor under Indira Awas Yojana, the State has registered a phenomenal increase in its implementation and the current year allocation has increased to Rs. 140.64 crore and 18752 houses have been taken in hand, the Minister maintained.
To ensure cleanliness in rural areas Nirmal Bharat Abhyan has been undertaken for construction of individual household latrines school toilets by converging with MGNREGA funds and an amount of Rs. 92 crore has been allocated for the current year and 3455 school toilets and 83 community toilets are being constructed. As many as 23 Members participated in the discussion which included, Mr. Sharief Niaz, Mr. Abdul Gaffar Sofi, Mr. Rashpal Singh, Mr. M. Y. Tarigami, Mr. Jugal Kishore, Dr. Shafi Wani, Hakeem Yaseen, Mr. Javaid Dar, Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Mr. Rafi Ahmad Mir, Mr.
Harshdev Singh, Mr. Yashpal Kundal, Mr. Irfan Shah, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, Er. Rashid, Ashok Kumar, Mrs. Shamima Firdous, Mr. Gharu Ram Bhagat, Mr. Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Ch. Sukhnandan, Mr. G. M. Saroori, Mr. Charanjeet Singh and Mr. Peer Afaq. Earlier, the Minister moved the Demand for Grant of a sum of Rs. 1420.47 crore to defray the charges which will come in the course of payment during the year ending March, 2015.
The Members who had moved the cut motions withdrew the same after satisfactory reply from the Minister. Later, the House passed the grants with the voice vote.