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GULMARG: Around 200 skiers from the US, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and India turned up for the first international heli-skiing challenge that began in Jammu and Kashmir’s ski resort of Gulmarg Thursday. The three-day challenge has been organised by the Kashmir Heliski Club and sponsored by Airbus Helicopters, a division of the Airbus group, a pioneer in aerospace and defence-related services. In the first round held Thursday, 30 skiers qualified for Friday’s semifinals. The skiers will be taken across to Afarwat peak (13,500 feet above sea level) in helicopters from where they will be dropped to manoeuvre through to reach the bottom of the mountain. A tourism department official said the state government was making efforts to promote Gulmarg as a key destination and possibly qualify among the top 10 skiing destinations in the world. “Airbus Helicopters, among the only helicopters capable of cruising and landing on high altitudes amid adverse weather conditions, is playing a crucial role to promote the sport,” he said. Such helicopters are also being used in passenger transport operations to the shrines of Amarnath and Vaishno Devi, he said.

Srinagar: Journalist fraternity Friday resented the directions of Army to refrain from wearing Kashmiri traditional dress ‘pheran’ if they want to attend the press conference that is going to be addressed by GOC Chinar Corps Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh on February 22 at Chinar Officers Institute, Badami Bagh Cantonment Srinagar. The emailed statement shot by Defense spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel N.N.Joshi to different media organizations in Kashmir reads that Journalist who wanted to attending the press briefing followed by lunch should send a scanned copy of their identity card besides the contact number.

New Delhi: Days after Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, renowned columnist and analyst, Prem Shankar Jha Friday said that the casual and callous execution of Afzal Guru is such a blot on Indian democracy which could not be removed and history will remain witness to this fact for centuries that present UPA government demonstrated that it can be utterly ruthless and self-serving in its deadly political and electoral calculations. “We are so shameless and insecure that even after a year we are reluctant to handover some of Afzal’s belongings including his spectacles and books to his family. I feel ashamed when I think and realize that Muhammad Afzal Guroo was made scapegoat,” Jha told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS adding that Guroo was deserving a review petition.

He said that New Delhi sat over the court decision for years before in a hush-hush manner executed him. Furthermore, due process was not followed, his family was informed through speed post; even his body was not handed over to them for the funeral rites and permission for the ‘namaz-e-janazah’ was granted to them after great reluctance.

“All these acts show the face of jittery government that wants to appropriate for itself the soft tag and gain some measure of credibility among the fence-setting and volatile elements to consolidate its vote bank,” he said.

Welcoming the decision of SC to commute death sentence of the killers of former India’s Prime Minister, Jha said that he feels sorry for Muhammad Afzal Guroo.

“More disgraceful than the judicial killing has been the manner in which he was executed. At a time when the capital punishment itself has come to be questioned and more or less abandoned by more than 140 countries, you hang someone who spent a decade waiting for death or deliverance without offering him the final legal recourse or even letting his family know,” he said adding that death sentence of Afzal Guru was not according to the ethics of law, justice and humanity, and it visibly appeared to be a political game.

Prem Shankar Jha told CNS that the authorities did not wait for completion of judicial process after rejection of the mercy petition that includes the right to fresh review petition. It is a gross violation of rule of law.

“Similarly the authorities took the comical position of informing the victim’s family by speed post. Obviously it was done in a calculated manner so that the victim and his family could be denied the legal provision of last meeting before the hanging,” he said.

Jha said that these gross violations of procedures and rule of law is also violation of human rights. This has strengthened the feeling of injustice among the people who were also not satisfied with the legal verdict. This has also resulted in gross sense of alienation among the people of Kashmir Valley.

Prem Shankar Jha said that Kashmiris had got one more occasion to feel alienated, as the wounds of Afzal’s secret hanging last year appeared to have reopened. (CNS)

Jammu: Observing that flapping stance of chronic Article 370 bashers is admission of the reality that this constitutional proviso cannot be dispensed with, National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Thursday said that hype over it is detrimental to the national interest. According to a statement issued to KNS, “Relationship of this state with rest of India is based on this irrevocable provision”, Rana said while addressing a seminar on ‘Impact of Article 370 on Jammu and Kashmir State’, organised by Universal Foundation, a non-governmental organization, here this afternoon. Among others, National Spokesperson of Bharatya Janata Party Meenakshi Lekhi, Prof Seema Nargotra and Sant Kumar participated in the seminar. President of the Foundation Dineshwar S Jamwal gave an introductory lecture on the topic.
Rana dwelt in length over the historical background and political significance of Article 370 with special reference to permanent residency law enacted by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927. He said that Article 370 can neither be scrapped, as is being day dreamed by some, nor amended. “This Article is permanent in character, which was even acknowledged by the statesman Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in his tenure as External Affairs Minister”, he said and referred to what he had replied to a question asked by a reporter. He said Mr Vajpayee was of the considered opinion that it was different to take a line on such sensitive issues while in the Opposition and quite contrary when in the government.
Without naming any party, the Provincial President said those perceiving that dispensing with Article 370 was necessary for the unity and integrity of the country were holding a superficial view with a sinister objective of hoodwinking public opinion. He said strengthening this provision is in best interests of the nation and any attempt to weaken it will only demolish the trust of people and constitutional bridge of relationship. He counselled cynics not to get bogged down by political myopism and see through reality with open mind. “Jammu and Kashmir has come out of dark tunnel with great struggle and instead of helping it to grow economically, efforts were being made to push the state to political uncertainty and chaos”, he said and warned peace inimical elements not to rake up frivolous issues with political intent.
Taking a dig at Meenakshi Lakhi, whose party has been demonstrating dithering stance on the issue, the Provincial President appreciated productive debate on Article 370, saying this will help in erasing unfounded apprehensions, whatsoever, and understanding this provision in its entirety. He dwelt upon the Instrument of Accession and the special circumstances under which Jammu and Kashmir acceded to democratic and secular India in terms of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Describing himself as a strong votary of the state subject law, Mr Rana termed it as a steel frame that stands guarantee for maintaining and preserving the special and distinct identity of three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. “This law is not exclusive domain of Jammu and Kashmir but the various other states of were also having similar laws”, he said while regretting that issues were only made when it comes to discussing Jammu and Kashmir. He sought to dispel the misinformation and misgivings about this law being favourable to any particular community and detrimental to others and said this serves the interests of every segment of society. “It was a conscious decision of the Maharaja to insulate the economic and other interests of Jammu and Kashmir”, he maintained.
Mr Rana made a fervent appeal to those holding contrary views on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir to shun political rigidity and understand realities of the State with open mind. He said Article 370 and state subject laws were necessary for political empowerment and economic emancipation of the people of this part of the country. (KNS)

Srinagar: Declaring the statements of Farooq Abdullah, Saif-ud-Din Soz and Mehbooba Mufti on Mohammad Afzal Guru as ‘Hippocratic’, which appeared after the Supreme Court’s decision to commute the death sentence of three convicts in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, chairman, Hurriyat Conference (G), Syed Ali Geelani said that these statements are the part of vote-bank politics.
According to a statement issued to KNS, he said that at the time of Afzal Guru’s hanging, Farooq Abdullah declared him a murderer and favoured his hanging, whereas Saif-ud-Din Soz maintained a criminal silence and when a bill was going to present in assembly with reference to Guru, Mehbooba Mufti with her party members backed out from assembly.
Geelani has said that we are not against the decision to commute the death sentence of the convicts in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, but these incidents remind us the unjust hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru and these incidents have cleared our confusion that Indian judiciary is also using duel standards and Kashmiris can’t hope for any justice from it.
He said that India treats Kashmir as its colony and its forces commit heinous crimes and massacres and the judiciary also fails to deliver the justice to the subjugated Kashmiris. He said that actually these sentences are the political decisions of the policy makers in Delhi, which are provided judicial cover by these courts.
Geelani alleged that after the arrest of Mohammad Afzal Guru, he was denied his legal right to defend himself in the lower court and no concrete evidences were put against him, except the evidences of police and intelligence personnel. He said that his capital punishment could have been converted into life imprisonment at the last stage, but the judiciary with political influence closed its eyes and hanged the innocent person. Expressing his surprise over the reactions of Farooq Abdullah, Saif-ud-Din Soz and Mehbooba Mufti, Geelani said that these pro-Indian politicians have made a u-turn in Afzal Guru’s case and are doing politics on the murder of this innocent person. He also said that people have not forgotten the statement, stand and discussions which were made on the martyrdom of Mohammad Afzal Guru.
Geelani said that the statement of Farooq Abdullah that ‘Afzal Guru had attacked the democracy and he have got the worth’, is still in the records, Saif-ud-Din Soz said that ‘law has finished its work’, while as Mehbooba Mufti and her party men at first made hue and cry but when an important bill regarding Afzal Guru was about to be presented in the assembly, they showed there real face and backed out. He further said that these pro-Indian and opportunist politicians does not have any definite character, they change it when needed. They do not care for innocent human lives; they only want to grab the power by hook or by crock.
While complaining about the behavior of the people towards these wicked and cunning politicians, Geelani said that the people often get trapped by their hollow promises and does not understand their wickedness. He said that the development works in the state are not any favour by National Conference, Congress, PDP or other pro-Indian parties to the people, but it is the potential of our vast natural resources and the huge taxes of common people of which a little bit is spent on these development projects and the major part of which goes into the corrupt pockets of these greedy politicians.
Pro-Freedom leader categorically said that by the grace of Almighty, we will defiantly get the freedom from the curl and wicked clutches of India, but the delay is caused by the disgusting and shameful character of local pro-Indian politicians. He said that our goal of freedom will remain a distinct dream until the people of Jammu and Kashmir will not understand the wicked politics of the politicians like Omer Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Saif-ud-Din Soz and will not show them the exit door. (KNS)