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04 Rabi-ul-Awwal | 1436 Hijri | Vol: 17 | Issue: 267 | Pages : 08 | Price: `3
Poll verdict widens schism between
'Hindu Jammu' & 'Muslim Kashmir'
w w w. k a s h m i r o b s e r v e r. n e t
saTURDaY 27 DeCemBeR 2014
Wisdom
Talk sence to
a fool and
he calls you
foolish
...........Euripides
(484BC- 406BC )
Major Parts of
Dal Freeze
sriNaGar: Cold wave, accompanied by icy winds, swept across
North India making day-to-day
life difficult.
Srinagar today recorded minus
4.2 degree celsius with major parts
of the Dal Lake and other water
bodies frozen.
Weather conditions were no better in Leh and Kargil in Ladakh region.
Leh settled at minus 14.2 degrees.
The night temperature recorded in the border town of Kargil
was minus 13.6 degrees, against
12.6 degrees, yesterday.
Kargil recorded its coldest Page 6
CB Books six
for Fraud
/ Srinagar Today: MoSTly Sunny
MaxiMuM: 12oC / MiniMuM: -1oC / HuMidiTy : 75% / SunSeTS Today... 05:21 PM / SunriSeS ToMorrow... 07.24 aM
POLITICAL TIC-TAC-TOE AS ALL PARTIES EXPLORE ALL OPTIONS
5 Conditions Sent to BJP: PDP
sriNaGar: People’s Democratic
Party National spokesperson, Dr
sameer Koul Friday said that deliberations on government formation
were going on with the bJP and if
the deal materializes, mufti muhammad sayeed would be the Chief
minister of the state for entire six
year period.
“Politically, it will be not a suicide
for PDP to form government with the
support of BJP as we will govern the
state on our own terms. We have our
own ‘pro-people’ agenda and the party will not deviate from that agenda,”
Koul said adding that it is dead impossible for PDP to form government
with National Conference.
He said that National Conference is
a non serious party while people have
voted to keep this party out of power.
“How can we betray our people and
form government with the National
Conference. NC leaders are always interested in filling their coffers rather
than work in the interest of common
people,” he said.
Dr Sameer Koul admitted that Muzaffar Hussain Beigh was constantly
in touch with the BJP leaders and that
he has put forth all the conditions be-
fore them.
When asked what are the conditions which have been put forth by
his party before the BJP, Dr Sameer
Koul said that at initial stage they
have put forth five conditions including, the respect for the Self-Rule
proposal (softening of borders), revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from peaceful areas,
strengthening of Article 370, full
tenure for Mufti Muhammad Sayeed
as Chief Minister and comprehensive
package and relief for flood hit people
of Kashmir, including traders.
“These conditions we have put
forth at initial stage and if the deal
materializes, more conditions will
follow,” Koul said adding that it is the
dream of PDP to mitigate the sufferings of people and to provide them
good governance.
“People will feel a real change if
PDP forms the government. We mean
business and will relieve the people
from sufferings. There will be no discrimination and even commoners will
feel a change on the ground,” he said.
The BJP won 25 seats while the National Conference won 15 seats in the
87-member Jammu and Page 6
T
he two rounds of talks between
BJP and PDP hit a roadblock on
Friday after the PDP insisted that Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed should remain the
chief minister for the full six-year term.
The talks between the two sides led
by BJP's Ram Madhav and the PDP's
Muzaffar Hussain Baig respectively,
were also stuck over a common
minimum programme demanded by
the PDP.
"The PDP and the BJP are like oil and
water, no chemistry. I see no chance
of them coming together. We haven't
written a formal letter nor have they,
but the leaderships know each other,"
said Congress leader Salman Soz.
G
overnor NN Vohra Friday invited
both the PDP and the BJP to
forward their plans for the formation
of the government. The two parties
have been holding parleys in the state
to reach the magic figure of 44 in the
87-member Assembly.
O
mar Abdullah tweeted on Friday:
"Looks like PDP is playing mind
games with the BJP (by) leaking about a
letter of (NC) support that doesn't exist,
Only a verbal offer conveyed."
PDP Will Form Govt. In J&K: Mattoo
sriNaGar: Prof Amitabh Mattoo, an influential Kashmiri with
connections to the corridors of
power in Delhi, Friday claimed
that the National Conference
will not be a partner in any new
government and that Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed will be the
next Chief Minister of the state.
“NC and PDP will never form
an alliance for a variety of reasons, including the fact that
they compete for the same
space”, Mattoo said.
He said that the NC will not
be a partner in any new government. “No one today can
afford to touch it. It is the only
untouchable party today, given
its performance in the election
(even though marginally better
than predicted) and its track
record of the last 6 years. The
challenge for the NC will be to
keep its flock together over the
next 6 years,” Mattoo said.
Matoo according to CNS said
that the PDP will form the next
government with Mufti Muhammad Sayeed as chief minister.
“The PDP's greatest challenge
will be to reach out to Jammu
and Ladakh. Two possible ways
for PDP are to reach out to the
BJP rebel from Udhampur, and
make three of its Jammu stalwarts, including Rangeel Singh
and a Sharma and a Thakur
ministers straight way by making them part of the Legislative
Council in the next 6 months.”
Former Vice Chancellor Jammu
University said that the BJP will
sit in opposition and offer outside
BJP Contemplates
Alliance With NC?
With deadlock persisting over government formation for the third consecutive day after poll results were announced, speculation was rife on
Friday that the BJP has offered National Conference four cabinet Page 6
Sagar Says, Waiting For
PDP Response
JammU: The Crime Branch of
Jammu and Kashmir Police wing
today produced challan against
six cheaters for duping innocent
youth by promising them government jobs in Railways.
"Challan was produced against a
group of cheats who used to dupe the
innocent and gullible youth by promising them Government jobs in Railways," official spokesperson here said.
He said a complaint was registered by one Naresh Page 6
sriNaGar: Denying reports of any secret
parleys between National Conference and
BJP for government formation, senior
party leader and MLA Khanyar, Ali Mohammad Sagar Friday termed the alleged
silence of Peoples Democratic Party over
Omar Abdullah’s offer of support for PDP
govt intriguing.
“The reality is that PDP is ready for alliance with the BJP and for this its leaders
Muzaffar Husain Beg and Nizam-ud-Din
Bhat held several secret meetings with
BJP leadership in Delhi,” Sagar, who is also
NC general secretary said.
Rejecting the reports that outgoing
Chief Minister and NC working president
Omar Abdullah held any meetings with
BJP leadership in Delhi, he said, “It is propaganda. He (Omar) went to Delhi as he
had to proceed to London.”
Reiterating his party’s offer of support
to PDP for government formation, Sagar
said, “We are ready to support PDP if it
forms the government. Omar sahab had
immediately after the declaration of election results offered support to Page 6
issue-based support to the PDP
and seek delimitation and greater
empowerment of Jammu.
“The Congress will seek to
be part of the government, but
may settle for supporting the
PDP from outside,” he said.
He according to CNS said
that Sajad Lone, Hakim Muhammad Yasin, M.Y Tarigami (if
his party allows him), and Engineer Rashid will be part of the
new government.
He said that the new government in Jammu and Kashmir will
have the full support of Prime
Minister Modi and his government on all developmental issues.
“This government will, however, have the shortest possible
honeymoon period, and will
have to show that it Page 6
Shabir Shah Bereaved
Mother Passes Away
aNaNtNaG: Habla Begum, the
mother of senior pro-freedom leader
Shabir Ahmed Shah passed away after brief illness. She was 98.
Hundreds of people including top
pro-freedom leaders including Muhammad Yasin Malik and Nayeem
Ahmed Khan besides others participated in her funeral prayers. She was
laid to rest at her ancestral grave yard
located in Kadipora, Ananatnag.
Meanwhile, scores of leaders and
organizations have condoled the demise of Habla Begum.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
has condoled the demise Page 6
SPIrItuaL SoLaCe: Devout pray at the Khanqah of Khwaja Naqashband in Srinagar on the saints
annual Urs Friday- Pix Abid Bhat
‘Parties Supporting BJP Will
Face Public Wrath’
MLA Er Rashid says
ready to offer support
to NC-PDP alliance
Kashmir
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sriNaGar: Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) President
and MLA Engineer Rashid on Friday offered his unconditional support to National Conference – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance for formation
of government in Jammu and Kashmir and ruled
out any support to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Addressing a news conference here, the independent MLA from Langate, said that NC and PDP should
join hands for the betterment of Kashmir and for
safeguarding the interests of people of the region.
He added that it seems that both parties don’t
want to join hands as both the parties can’t pursue
their Self-Rule and Autonomy agenda. “NC talks
about Autonomy while PDP pursues Self-Rule.
Both parties have chance to sit together and
devise a better agenda but these parties can’t
join as they know they will get exposed before
the public as both the parties are scared of New
Delhi and Modi,” Rashid claimed.
While ruling out any support to BJP led Page 6
Video on PDP MLA stokes controversy
sriNaGar: PDP MLA Mohammad Ashraf Mir,
who scored a victory over Omar Abdullah from
Sonawar Assembly seat, has stoked a controversy
after a video surfaced purportedly showing him
firing several rounds from an automatic rifle on
the day of Assembly poll results.
The video, which has gone viral on social networking applications like WhatsApp, shows the People’s
Democratic Party leader purportedly firing several
rounds in air from an AK-47 rifle at his residence.
However, Mir denied having fired any rounds
and accused his political rivals of producing a
doctored video.
“I did not fire any rounds … there was a commotion following my victory and the rifle of one
of my PSOs (personal security officer) fell on
ground which I retrieved and handed it back to
him,” Mir told PTI.
Mir defeated Omar from Sonawar assembly segment by a margin of over 4,700 votes, becoming
the first politician in Jammu and Kashmir to register a victory over an incumbent Chief Minister.
Omar dares police to
register case against Mir
Omar Abdullah today dared the police to
book the MLA. "So will J&K police register a
case against the gun toting MLA or will they
be too scared in case he's a minister a few
days from now?" he questioned on Twitter.
"The PDP chap let off an AK 47 to celebrate
his victory over me. Thank goodness I didn't
lose Beerwah!!! I wonder what they would
have fired!" he commented in another tweet.
Even if he holds an AK 47 for 5 minutes, it
is illegal," said Congress leader Rashid Alvi.
A leader of the BJP, which is in talks with
the PDP for government formation, also condemned the act.
"The use of an AK 47 at a public event is
shameful. They are using guns the same way as
militants," said the party's Chaman Lal Gupta.
I dId not fIre any roundS … there was a commotion following
my victory and the rifle of one of my PSOs (personal security
officer) fell on ground which I retrieved and handed it back to him,”
C M Y K
saturday
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer
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uch maligned as the number one
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poisoning is a real phenomenon,
especially for us urban folk.
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consuming any contaminated food or drink. In
some unfortunate cases, it can be life threatening too. Yes, food poisoning is no pretty sight.
But, are you aware of which foods to be weary
of to avoid food poisoning? They lurk everywhere. Here's a quick list of foods that can cause
food poisoning if you don't take care of how you
consume them...
Eggs. This in no way applies to all eggs. As
with other foods, sometimes eggs can be contaminated by certain harmful bacteria - Salmonella being the most dangerous. If you consume
a raw egg that is infected, you could show
symptoms of severe food poisoning. To prevent
this - always buy eggs from a clean and credible
store, wash mildly and store in a refrigerator as
soon as you get home. Always cook eggs well
before consuming them, and ensure that you resort to proper medication at the first instance
of any food poisoning symptoms.
Tuna. Tuna can be contaminated
with scombrotoxin, which can lead
to cramps and headaches. Make
certain that tuna is kept cool
(on ice) after being caught
because if it gets too hot it
can release toxins, which
will be difficult to kill by
cooking. Undercooked
tuna is also cause for
concern. To avoid
food poisoning from
tuna, ensure that it's
refrigerated well, and
cooked thoroughly.
Also, attempting raw
tuna dishes without
being sure of how and
where the fish came from is
dubious.
Oysters. Oysters and other
shellfish in general are seen as
potent food poisoning threats
that could catch you completely
unaware. The quality of the
water in which they breed has a
lot to do with this phenomenon.
If the water they are filtering on
is polluted, then chances are the
oysters are contaminated. Food
poisoning caused by shellfish can
S
o the only day you can think of a
pumpkin is Halloween, is it? well,
this vegetable has more uses than
just scaring people away. If you are
on a diet, pumpkin is one of the most
beneficial vegetables that you can gorge on.
To utilize pumpkin as a weight loss food,
you will need to substitute it for a food in
your diet that is higher in calories. Take for
instance, if you are having a high-protein
salad for dinner as a part of your weight loss
regime, you can replace it with a healthy
pumpkin soup. not only is this vegetabe low
in calories but it is also high on fibre.
Since it is high on fibre, it helps in keeping apetite in check by slowing down overall
digestion. The disease fighting nutrients in
pumpkin like vitamins, potassium and magnessium help in improving your immunity
too. Isn't it a superfood? wondering how to
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Potatoes. Food poisoning from potatoes is
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raw state to any food.
Cheese. Cheese can easily be
contaminated with bacterias
such as Salmonellaor Listeria,
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Berries. Some people can be allergic
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berries to the extent that they don't mind
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diarrhea. Cyclospora can be present in all kind
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InClUDE PUMPkIn In YOUR
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pie is not the one which you would want to
binge on if you are planning to lose weight,
there are a lot of other dish that will help
you achieve your goal. Here are a few recipes
made out of pumpkin that will help you in
losing weight:
The pumpkin wonder soupRoast some cumin seeds and then crush
them. Take a spoon of olive oil and saute three
pieces of garlic in it. Take a cup of pumpkin
puree and add it to the sauteed garlic. Add
a pnch of freshly grated ginger to it and add
half a cup of water to the mixture. Add salt
and let it boil for a while. Add a pinch of black
pepper and savour the delicious soup.
The simple Indian pumpkin broth
Heat a small spoon of oil and put medium-sized pumpkin pieces to it. Fry a little and
add a teaspoon of ginger and cumin paste and
salt to it. After frying the spices for a while,
add water to it. keep stirring it the pumpkin
pieces become soft enough. Have this broth
twice a day with chapatis.
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, we are
saturday
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer

NEWS

NC Talks IN MedIa ONly, Have NOT
Offered suppOrT TO us: NayeeM
SRINAGAR: Dismissing the reports that his party was in talks
with the BJP over government
formation, Peoples Democratic
Party chief spokesman Nayeem
Akhtar Friday said there has been
no formal offer from the BJP over
the issue till now.
“We have not received any
formal offer from BJP and if there
will be we will deliberate over it,”
he said.
Asked about Ram Madhav’s
talks with PDP leaders, he said,
“It was informal talk. But I appreciate Madhav’s statement where
he said Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed is a national leader and BJP
holds him in high caliber.”
On National Conference’s offer
of support to his party for government formation, Akhtar said,
“NC has neither sent a written
nor verbal offer to us. They say
it in media only. They didn’t approach us. Had they we would
have deliberated over it.”
He also dismissed reports that
Mufti Sayeed was going to Delhi
to meet Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and other BJP leaders for
talks over government formation.
Pix Abid Bhat
Mirwaiz
Condoles
Demise Of
Shah’s Mother
FROZEN: Chianr Bagh side of Tsont Kol froze Friday as temperatures dipped further in Kashmir.
Muslims Facing Problems As
They Have Distanced Themselves
From Prophet (SAW): Mirwaiz
Srinagar: Terming the life of
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as an
open book to be followed in letter
and spirit by the Muslims and the
people world over, Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq Friday said that all
the problems faced by Muslims
including the problems at social,
political and religious level were
due to Muslims distancing themselves from the teachings of Islam
and Prophet (SAW).
While addressing a gathering
at the shrine of great spiritual and
Islamic personality, Hazrat Khwaja Bahaudin Naqshband (RA)
on his annual Urs before Nimaz-eAsr commonly known in Kashmir
as ‘Khwaja Digar’, Mirwaiz paid
rich tributes to the Islamic scholar.
Terming him as an embodiment
of knowledge and spiritual excellence, Mirwaiz said the sufi saint
was a great social reformer and
had spread the word of Islam to
his disciples in its true spirit.
Deploring the social ills surfacing in the society, Mirwaiz said on
the land of Sufi saints; material-
Meanwhile National Conference Friday said that its offer of
support to PDP stands intact as
has been expressed by the Party
Working President Omar Abdullah.
"Our offer has been conveyed
first by the Party Working President through the public domain,
then we have issued a statement
offering such a support and the
support offer has also been conveyed verbally directly to PDP
through a trusted intermediary
formally. It is on record. It is a
ism, greed, selfishness, immorality and social problems in Kashmir
have spread in a manner as has
never happened in the past Kashmir’s 5000 year old history. In this
context, he said dispersion of the
message of Sufis and Saints would
help in eradicating ills in the society to a large extent.
Expressing serious concern
over the tearing apart of the fabric of society and violence against
woman, Mirwaiz said that it was
the religion of Islam which has
empowered the women by giving
her rights besides stressing upon
the society to give dignity and
protection to her.
Demanding stern punishment
for the accused who are involved
for throwing acid on a girl doing
Law in a Law college in Srinagar,
Mirwaiz said that such crimes
were on a rise in Kashmir. He said
exemplary punishment should
be given to the culprits involved
in the crime so that social ills are
rooted out from the society. He
said there was a need to start a social reform mission in the society,
adding, every individual should
play his part in such a mission so
that a healthy society is carved out
for future generations.
Referring to Kashmir, Mirwaiz
said the “so called” elections
and government formations can
never be substitute to right to
self determination. He further
said that Hurriyat was committed to take the struggle for right
to self determination to its logical conclusion, adding, Kashmir
issue should be solved according
to the wishes and aspirations of
Kashmiri people.
The Hurriyat (M) chairman said
that Kashmiris have not sacrificed
their lives for elections or government formations. “Sacrifices were
laid for the freedom struggle,
adding, no question arises that
Kashmiris would dislodge themselves from this sacred struggle
for which they preferred to give
their lives and property. Election
drama was being held since 1947
in Kashmir and as such it has never changed the disputed status of
Kashmir,” Mirwaiz claimed.
Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M)
chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
has expressed his grief and sorrow
over the demise of the mother of
head of Democratic Freedom party,
Shabir Ahmad Shah. The deceased
also happened to be the close relative of Hurriyat (M) media advisor
Shahid-ul-Islam.
Extending his sympathy and solidarity, Mirwaiz has condoled with
the bereaved family.
Paying rich tributes to the deceased for her contributions towards the freedom struggle during
her whole life, Mirwaiz said, “Her
husband Ghulam Mohamamd Shah
was martyred under the custody
by the Indian troops while her son,
Shabir Ahmad Shah spent years
behind bars for demanding right to
self determination.”
While offering his tributes, Mirwaiz prayed that may Allah rest the
soul of the deceased in peace and
give the bereaved the strength to
bear this loss.
Meanwhile, a delegation of senior Hurriyat (M) leaders including
Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Javaid Ahmad
Mir, Engineer Hilal Ahmad War and
Yasmeen Raja visited the bereaved
family in Islamabad and expressed
their condolence, solidarity and
sympathy with the bereaved family.
serious offer and stands as it is.
Now it is for PDP to approach National Conference for our support
if they choose to seek it. The ball
lies in their court, not ours", NC
Spokesman Junaid Mattu said in
a statement issued to GNS.
Refuting reports of an alleged
"letter" written by NC to PDP, NC
Spokesman Junaid Mattu said
"We are not begging PDP to accept our support that we would
write letters to them. Did PDP
seek a letter of support from BJP
before authorizing their leader
and MP Muzaffar Beig to enter
into talks with the BJP? Why ask
NC for a letter then? They are the
single largest party and have various options to cobble together
a government. They can choose
what they want to do. Our offer
is one of the options they have. If
they want it, they should reciprocate. No letters will be written
from NC" the NC Spokesman said.
"It is PDP that needs numbers
as it has emerged as the single
largest party short of the mark
of majority in the Assembly. If
J&K Land Records To Be
Available Online Soon
Jammu: An ambitious project
to provide digital land titling
guarantee to the people of
Jammu and Kashmir has been
launched with the first step
of putting out a Request For
Proposal (RFP) in the public
domain.
The project includes Data
Entry, Digitization (Vectorization) of Cadastral Maps,
(Musavis), Survey/ Re-Survey
for up-dation of land records,
Integration with Record of
Rights (RORs), Management
of old Revenue Documents,
Development of Web-based
GIS for running various applications together with training
and capacity building.
For ensuring that the project is completed in a time
bound manner, proposals for
outsourcing this entire work
to competent and experienced
IT service providers have been
invited by January 24th, 2015.
In J&K, an empowered
Agency viz; Jammu & Kashmir
Land Records Management (
JaKLaRMA), headed by Financial Commissioner (Revenue)
as its Chief Executive Officer
in an Ex-officio capacity, is
handling this project. Set up
in 2013, JaKLaRMA with a
series of hectic meetings with
the Union Ministry of Rural
Development, Department of
Land Resources, has succeeded
in getting approval of an Annual Action Plan for Rs. 60.00
crore of 12 districts of J&K for
Phase-I.
To begin with, the
Agency has planned
to take two districts
viz; Jammu and
Srinagar in phase-I,
10 more districts
in phase-II and the
remaining 10 districts
in phase-III so as to
complete this entire
project in a time
bound manner.
Accordingly, the Agency
has formulated a request
for proposal (RFP) for inviting IT solution providers for
outsourcing the activities involved in the implementation
of the National Land Records
Modernization Project in the
State. The RFP after approval
from the Executive Body of
the Agency has been floated
on the official web-site of the
Pix Abid Bhat
authorized to grant residential permissions in favour of these affected
owners with a speedy disposal.
SMC keeping in view the grave
problem being faced by owners of the
damaged houses went into a process
of speedy disposal of building permissions and settled above thousand
cases for the flood hit house owners.
Commissioner SMC Dr Qasba said
that under the garb of the said order
for issuance of residential building
permissions, some of the applicants
with ill intentions have resorted to
the major illegal violations of their
sanctioned plans.
But acting tough against such violators, SMC for the past three months
has demolished 251 such illegal
structures raising violations in the
sanctioned plan and is continuing to
keep a tight vigil on illegal constructions in the city. The case in point the
illegal line of shop that had come up
near Brarinambal which was demolished by the SMC.
Relatives of murdered Muneera held protest against police failure to nab the culprits on Friday in
Srinagar: Pix Mubashir
Devout women offer afternoon prayers on the occasion of ‘Khoja Diggar’ at Naqashband Sahib in
old city on Friday
PCB launches on-line consent
management & monitoring system
JAMMU: In order to bring in
transparency and accountability in the working of the
J&K State pollution Control Board, on-line consent
management system and
monitoring system has been
launched in Jammu by J&K
State Pollution Control Board.
Board also organized one
day workshop on the launching
of e-consent mechanism starting from 26th December 2014.
The workshop was inaugurated by the new Chairman
of the State Pollution Control
Board, Suresh Chugh who
launched and introduced the
e-consent management and
monitoring system (OCMMS)
in the working of the board,
initially from the Jammu district.
Chairman informed that
shortly this system shall be
extended to other districts of
the State as well. On the occasion, Chairman informed that
this will bring transparency,
accountability and simplification of procedure and paper-
F.C. (Revenue) viz; www.JKfcr.
nic.in. Five perspective bidders
have already submitted some
queries which were responded
to. A pre-bid conference was
thereafter held on 23-12-2014
wherein on the request of perspective bidders; the Agency
has extended the bid submission date to 20th Jan. 2015 for
receiving complete proposals.
The revised schedule has also
been uploaded on the official
web-site.
The dream is to enable all
land holders in J&K to get a
copy of their land holdings
from the internet, without the
intervention of any revenue
official. The software will also
allow all updations on account
of sale, inheritance; mortgages etc. online and bring much
needed transparency to this
sector.
The survey-resurvey involved, if any, in this exercise
shall also be outsourced with
the existing revenue officials
only authenticating the record so prepared by the selected service provider. This
will ensure that settlement
operations too are carried out
side-by-side with these modernization efforts
Tramboo
extends
condolence
SMC Initiative Against Illegal Constructions
Srinagar: In the backdrop of the devastating floods that hit the Srinagar
city, the government has issued an
order No: 265-HUD of 2014 dated:
08.10.2014 and announced a policy
for reconstruction/repairs of floodaffected houses.
As per the order No. 265 of
2014-dated 08.10.2014, the competent authorities in SMC, SDA, LAWDA, JMC, JDA and other Local Body
Institutions of the State, in whose
jurisdiction the structure falls, were
they want our support, they can
ask for it formally. Bringing up
ridiculous objections to the medium of such an offer of support
cannot be PDP's alibi for not coming up with a clear, unambiguous
response. The ball continues to
lie in their court. Our offer has
been formally conveyed through
an appropriate channel and no
further efforts need to be made
from our side. We continue to
hope that PDP will respond in a
clear, unambiguous manner", he
said.
less working for the e-consent. He added that gradually
all the services of the board
shall be made online for the
benefit of the industry and
the people at large. Chairman
said since the Public Service
Guarantee Act has been adopted by the State Government for the service provider
departments, and PCB is one
such organization, so it has
become necessary to improve
the efficiency in working of
the board, so as to dispose of
the consent cases in a stipulated time period that too in
a transparent and simplified
manner, for which the introduction of online consent
management is a step forward in this direction.
The Chairman PCB lauded the efforts of the Er.
J.N.Sharma, EE, Head e-Governance and his team for developing and customizing the
web based Consent management system with the support of Anil Kumar Technical
Director NIC, Ministry of En-
vironment and Forest, New
Delhi.
The Member secretary
PCB Iqbal Panjoo also briefed
about the various features
of the online system and apprised that the system shall
be useful for prompt disposal
of the cases besides being
transparent.
First application of the Consent case of
the Jammu (South) was processed through the online
mechanism and it was made
operational for all the applications of the Jammu district. Unit holders of Jammu
District can now file online
application and board can
process these applications internally through a paperless
working.
On the occasion a power
point presentation was also
made by J.N Sharma, highlighting the salient features
and usage of the OCMMS
module and training was also
imparted to the users and officers of the board during the
workshop.
Srinagar: Chief Patron JKLF-R
Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo and Chairman JKLF-R Farooq Ahmad Dar (Bitta Karatey) who is also senior leader
of HCJK have expressed their
sorrow on the sad demise of
the mother of Shabir Ahmad
Shah Sahab.
In a statement both the
leaders while extending their
deepest condolences have said
that she was the mother who
gave birth to the personality
like Shabir Ahmad Shah, “the
pious and the steadfast personality and the Kashmiri nation is indebted to her in this
regard.”
“She dedicated her son for
the cause of the freedom--the son, who has always remained steadfast in the way of
struggle and has been struggling day in and day out for
the cause---the son who has
spend most of the part of his
life in the Indian prisons for
the pious cause of freedom of
the state from the occupation
of Indian state,” they said.
Malik grieved
Srinagar: Jammu Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik
Friday expressed his heartfelt
grief and sorrow over the sad
demise of mother of Hurriyat Conference JK Chairman
Shabir Ahmad Shah.
In a statement a spokesman
of the Front said on hearing
the sad news of demise Malik along with senior leader’s
Noor Mohammad Kalwal and
Altaf Khan visited Anantnag
and participated in the jinaza
of the deceased.“After the
jinaza and burial JKLF leader’s
visited the residence of the
deceased and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family. Paying rich tributes to the
deceased Yasin sahib said that
the sacrifices of the deceased
and his family will always
be remembered. Yasin sahib
while praying for the heavenly abode for the deceased
mother also prayed for sabr I
jamil of her bereaved family,”
the statement said.
C M Y K
Did PDP seek a letter of
support from BJP, asks NC
SRINAGAR, Friday, February 01, 2013
A LONG WAY TO GO
undone whatever little may have cated for the Observer Group else- he would like to remain Indian, but I
will request the government of India
where in difficult economic times.
been achieved by the CBMs.
However, as expected, this (to) please provide him security.”
However, despite both sides reFOR THOSE WHO HAD
Not content with his ‘request’ to
iterating that the bilateral ties had not ‘noble’ proposition with fiscal import
Saturday
the
Government
of India, Malik went
failed
to
cut
any
ice
as
the
issue
unbeen
derailed,
the
recent
turn
of


PLACED THEIR BETS ON
OCIETAL TRENDS guided
by
the political elite have shorn
events suggest otherwise. New der discussion was an open debate on to appeal to the Indian public that,
‘AMAN KI ASHA’, 2013 HAS Delhi, suddenly like a bolt out of the on peacekeeping and not on auster- “I would like to request all Indian
the teaching profession of its status and sanctity, turning it
brothers and sisters and all those
ity measures.
blue, raked up the
CERTAINLY BROUGHT
into just another vocation with little to distinguish it from,
Why
New who are talking in a negative way
issue of the relWhy
New
Delhi
BAD NEWS. BUT AREN’T
decided to about Shah Rukh, they should know
evance of the UN
say, hawking garments on the streets.The adventurous, glamdecided to deviate from Delhi
THEY THEMSELVES TO BE
deviate from its he is a movie star."
Military Observer
orous and challenging enterprise of kindling, illuminating and enits age-old policy of
While New Delhi may be anage-old policy of
G r o u p
BLAMED FOR EXPECTING
lightening tender young minds has become a lack-lustre and
‘letting the sleep- noyed at Malik’s ‘request’, the
(UNMOGIP) on
‘letting
the
sleeping
THE IMPOSSIBLE?
ing dogs lie’ to people of India will perhaps remain
the LoC in Jammu
uninspiring activity devoid of its sorely-needed spirit, mainly bedogs lie’ to bring up the bring up the ever grateful to the Pakistani Inteand Kashmir.
cause successive leaderships (if they deserve that name) have been
UNMOGIP issue rior Minister for enlightening them
XPECTING THAT the
Declaring that
UNMOGIP issue and
and the timing it with the fact that Shahrukh Khan is
venom of hatred infused “UNMOGIP’s role
too occupied with other, more lucrative, concerns to bother about
the timing it chose
chose to do so, “a movie star!”
into their people over the has been overwhat is the corner-stone of the well-being of a people. This has had
Can bilateral ties between India
defies compreyears by the leaders on taken by the
to
do
so,
defies
TheonBJP’s
newfound
strength
the state almost checkmates
botheasily
the Kashmiri
parties into collaborating with the
Hindu nationalist
partyimprove
if theyif Pakistan
a direct bearing
the condition
of schools
and theirin
performance.
hension.
So, and Pakistan
both sides could
Shimla Agreement
comprehension.
So,
agrees
that
the
UNMOGIP
is not rewhile
nothing
of
1972
between
and
quickly
be
remedied
merely
by
By an ironic
twist
circumstance,
the At
teaching
profession
has joining hands with the BJP alienates them from their primary constituency, the Kashmir valley.
want
toofstay
relevant.
the same
time,
came out of this quired any longer in J&K and India
the antidote of ‘Confidence Build- India and Pakiwhile
nothing
came
out
been for long, the last resort of the capable and the destination of
providing
Shahrukh
debate,
old to reciprocates
ing Measures’ (CBMs) while they stan, signed by
keep the BJPby
away.
It becomes
Parvaiz Bukhari
of this debate, old
choice for those who
are unable to fit in anywhere else. When the
Khan ‘Z’choice
category
security?
wounds were re- a Hobson’s
themselves continue to foster an en- the Heads of the
for the
Kashmiwounds were reopened
Though
the recent
opened
and ri rivals,
vironment of mutual mistrust!
two governments
screening process for entry
into this
field - on
as many
wouldexchanges
see an beO ONE
expected
a which the entire social
tweenbetween
New Delhi
and
Islamabad
normalisation of alliance
The reaction of New Delhi and and ratified by
the
PDP
and
NC may
clear
mandate
for
and
normalisation
of
edifice rests - should have
been highly stringent, it had largely bea whiff
humourJammu.
into our lives,
the bilateral ties as bring
Islamabad to the recent incidents on their respective
“ganging
up”ofagainst
any party in the
the bilateral ties
the dismal
future
of thebetween
bilateral relabetween
New Either
the LoC serves as a grim reminder parliaments,” the
come a hit- and-trial exercise
with
theKashbarest minimum regard for
way, the
schism
Jammu
and
tions, which
the and
present
‘line of enDelhi
and "Hindu
that the basic philosophy of ‘build- Indian representabetween New Delhi
Jammu"
"Muslim
mir elections. Even
talent, skill and temperament.
gagement’
portends,
is
disquieting
Islamabad
has
tive
suggested
its
ing
bridges’
through
CBM
initiatives
Kashmir"
appears
more
real.
the Bharatiya Janata Party itand Islamabad has
Having been
active partners in ruining the state-run school systaken yet another and sends shivers down the spine.
by increasing ‘people to people’ con- termination.
self did not believe that it would
It is high time that leaders of both
body blow.
tact is flawed.
As expected,
taken yet another body
tem, the ruling
classes now
abdicate44+"
all responsibility
by dumping
accomplish
its "Mission
to
forstop
separatists
countries
behaving like schoolIslamabad too Boost
Flawed, not because the concept Pakistan strongly
wrestsector
powerinto
in the
restive
state.
blow.
Islamabad
too
the educational
the
private
lap.
This
is
seen
in
the
lavish
children
and
the serious
seems
to
be
itchin
itself
is
wrong,
but
because
the
denounced
New
But the results are very signifiThis situationremedy
could give
a
‘foot-in-themouth’ disease,
ing for a chance new
leaders themselves don’t seem to be Delhi’s contention
support to fashionable
prohibitively
expensive private schools
seems to be itching for
fillip to separatist
politicswhich
cant for theand
party
and the directo have
them.
Till this
to ‘take on’ New in seems
interested in setting an example by by saying that no
the state.
If afflicted
the latest
state
tion that politics
the state
and the mushrooming
of lesserincopycats
who are making a finana chance to ‘take
happens,
‘Amanany
ki Asha’
will
Delhi. Just a day elections
displaying confidence in each other. bilateral agreeproduce
of the
ex-remain
could take.
cial killing in the
absence of a dependable and affordable public
on’ New Delhi.
a distant
dream andthe
bilateral
after the Jamaat- plained
Though, both countries are now ment between the
The BJP got 25 seats in the
consequences,
sepa- relations could
will become
‘comedy
ud-Dawa Chief, ratists
showing some sanity in their deal- two nations had
structure. It 87-member
is nothing short
of a scandal
legislature,
all that
of parents should avoid
receiveanother
new crecircus’!
ings, the damage done to the pre- “overtaken or affected” the role or Hafiz Saeed offered ‘asylum’ to dence
them
from
the
Hindu-dominated
for
their
argument
that
sending theirareas
wards
to government schools on account of the latter’s
Bollywood star Sharukh Khan, Paki- the pro-India political parties are
carious bilateral relationship between legality of the UNMOGIP.
of the Jammu region. The
dismal record,
and
prefer
andaccount
crowded private options no
New Delhi initiated the stani Interior Minister Rehman Malik merely forces of New Delhi’s authe two by irresponsible statements
party’s failure seedy
to open
like “there can be no business as UNMOGIP debate under the garb of too joined in by saying that though thority
NILOOFAR
is based in New Delhi and
the Muslim-majority
in QURESHI
the state.
matter howinmercenary
they are. Kashmir
usual” and “war mongering” has better spending of resources allo- Sharukh Khan “is a born Indian and canAbesituation
reached at: [email protected]
valley did not surprise anyone,
in which both the
Striking at Roots
NILOOFAR QURESHI
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer
OPINION
S With Poll Verdict, Schism Widens Between
‘Hindu Jammu’ and ‘Muslim Kashmir’
E
N
Studentsnorcleared
by the state-run school system in Kashmir
did it bother the BJP leaderregions of the state perceive that
often barelyship.
make the grade in rudimentary literacy, particularly in
democratic elections produce disempowerment could potentially
Ram
Madhav,
the
Rashtriya
rural and remote
areas. This is sought to be cloaked by the perforre-energise the political question
Swayamsevak Sangh official in
mance of a the
handful
private schools,
with no thought for the
around the status quo on Kashparty,ofdedicated
the victory
for the—
Jammu
The
BJP’s newfound strength
in Jammu
to the
mir.
called me
up to say with remorse prised pundits who had almost If statehood
colossal amounts
spent
on memory
runningofaShyavast network
of under-perof total freedom to pursue the pathways of
remember.”
he were a cricketer
which I region
rather of marks,
EVIN M
ARTIN the party off after the has existed for many years.
in the state almost checkmates
The mainstream political
written
ma Prasad Mukherjee, indicating
that what the RSS started inK
Jamown mind, frolic in the fields of an idylThis generally got the ashen-faced ones one’s
doubt since he possessed not one jot of cricket
forming institutions.
Howsoever
sound
the
system
may
appear
on
both the Kashmiri parties into parties in the state and across Inthat the BJP was on course to remu in 1947 the BJP is completing September floods. It won 15 seats,
lic
nature
and dream of writing lines that
moving
a
few
feet
forward
in
a
determined
vocabulary
in
his
speech
—
but
if
he
were
a
paper, on the
ground
it is asofrickety
and run-down
as party
the school
collaborating with the Hindu nadia may celebrate the highest votalising
the dream
the powerful
now. The
has succeeded in including two in the Jammu re- Ideological
rhymed
and
in aKashmore natural
effort
to
overcome
their
resisting
wills.
cricketer
Mr
P
would
have
been
categorised
‘IN
CONCLUSION’
was
a
favourite
er
turnout
indescribed
Jammulife
and
Hindu
nationalist
organisation.
gion,
a
near-miracle,
given
the
and
tionalist party if they want to stay
compromise
houses spread
all over rural Kashmir chronicallypolarising
starved ofthe
staffHindu
and votephrase
way
a way
thatthe
hadinsurgency
nothing to do with
Chemistry
weretime,
aboutjointables mir
rounder.This is because he was three
of a polarised
teacher of mine
— a man of scien- as an all
Mukherjee, who died in a prison consolidating itself in the region
atmosphere.
in—
2014
since
relevant.
Atperiods
the same
proper equipment.
Reports
of under-manned
schools,
symbols
and water
that changed as science?
science teachers
rolled way
into one.
He for
taught
tific qualification;
man who
looked
you state
in Kashmir
in 1953,
coined the
So awhat
does
the at
2014
a “victory for democracy”, but
that
was particularly
significantly cleansed
ingcryptic
hands
with the
BJP alienates
The only
now
the with
A young
mancould
dreaming
is how I come to
with the
introduction
of dif- the BJP’s
Chemistry
when the
frogs were
and perceived
atoms and
molecules.and
Mr P,Kashmir
let’s Physics,
slogan
"Ekare
vidhan,
ek pradhan,
in Jammu
rise
destabilise
of areas,
its Muslims
of election
themmagically
from their
primary
constitdemand
toand
remain
dormant
is if colour
at the primary
level,
a routine
feature such
whileduring
insti- the days
my school reports
day and age
ferent powders.
I once remem- theview
plentiful
he was
found
in the
call him, for
he veryThe
wellMuslims
may still be
ek nishan" ‒ one country, one
reveal?
in alive
Kashmir
conditions
slowlyof that
brought
Partition.
either
the
PDP
or NC is able to
uency, the Kashmir
valley.
tutes in theConstitution,
city appear one
to bursting
at the seams
withfractured
needless mandate
whenbyI glance
at them
occasionally
ber naively
being
drawn
Biologyreach
roomsan
giving
lessons compromise
flag. The slogan
for a that
range
of political
repressive
means
since these
The
Both, the
NC and
the
PDPinto about
ideological
monitoringvoted
the masses
passed
through forcLIFE IN A
staff, Schoolshas
in been
far-flung
areas function
at thethrown
sweet discretion
the clearest
indiciation
1990s.
up by thisof
election,
to form
a government
with the have previously
with from
the a thedays
yellowing in a plastic sleeve. Mr P obvitakingworked
a deep sniff
on dissection
which
non-bihis dehands. es, a part of their decision being
CLASSROOM
of
the
BJP’s
pledge
to
take
away
The had
direction
of too
attempts
a
negative
vote
against
the
BJP,
BJP.
The
PDP
believes
in
a cer- BJPOF
at the national
level but
have
scribed
by
National
Confera kind heart
for his marks
bottle of chlorine
that
nearly ously
ology-inclined
ones
like
myIt
was
the
Sixties,
of
course.
The
Hippie
their often lone
teachers,
and
instances
of
just
one
or
two
tutors
the state’s special status, accordgovernment
the way
the Hindu-dominated
had difficulty
explaining
ence leader Omar Abdullah
as while
tain hard
formtoof
self-rule forTHE
the disto me formation
in their ownin
scientific
took my
sinuses forsuch
a walk at awarded
self found
stomach,
Movement
was winking
naughtily from out-areas
SIXTIES
handling multiple
classes
and370,
hundreds
of students
arehas
common.
state
over
the
coming
days
will
stood
solidly
behind
the
saffron
political
convenience
to
their
ed through
Article
even in its
“messy”,
created a situation
puted
state,
while
the
NC
mainreflect
a
kindness.
right
out
of
my
body.
especially
the
drawing
of
side classroom windows,“Come out and taste
elections
can
be ame anyparty. An elderly acquaintance blood
in or
voters.
as well
as revealIfifthe
remaining
in which
is difficult
tains
that theofstate
did
nottomerge
The standards
of suchsymbolism.
schools and the education
they itimpart
can to imagine
dissectingalone
of a frog
taught
PhysicsBoth
was are
aboutwary
equations,
balance
the severing
flesh in
order
peer
the freedom!”
route
to
resolving
the
political
is- of vegSrinagar
said,
“The
foundations
needy
now.
a government without the BJP,
with
India
but
acceded
under
thing
it
pointed
me
in
the
direction
and sticking pins in paper while trying to
The band Uriah Heep did indeed sing, at the undercoating and the insides.
well be imagined.
Polarising the vote
But the 2014 election result is
unless the Peoples Democratic for the division of the state on
sue of Kashmir.
conditions that it would enjoy a
etarianism and a kindness to all animals great
trace
angles
of
reflection
and
refraction
“One
has
to
have
a
stomach
for
these
plaintively,
Free
Me,
which
may
well
have
The situation
to drift forParty
far too
in join
the hands.been
andlong
the NC
The communal lines have been laid.” certain quantum of autonomy also spurring the arch-enemies of
Ashas
the been
final allowed
results became
and small. Science provided --Scroll
me with an ina thick
glass slab.
things,”
Mr P would
instruct,
directing his through
the anthem
of manydemand
a classroom
bound
A
nebulous
for
separate
Kashmir
politics
to
join
together
PDP
won
28
seats
and
the
NC
surwithin
the
Indian
state.
clear,
a
friend,
a
Kashmir
Pandit,
hope that with time the growing, engineered preference for priMost things in Mr P’s class started out as sight into laterality. That is, you could be
words at the ones who’d gone a whiter shade
schoolboy of that time.
It was also still the Years of Collusion — of pale and generally stood in the back rows premises before gradually working their way seated in the lap of science and be totally at
vate schools would phase the government system out of existence.
between teacher and parent to ensure at all at the dissecting table so they missed a good through a series of reasoning stages to a finely ease contemplating poetry.
It remains to be seen how well measures taken in desperation, like
Science didn’t care because ultimately it
drawn conclusion.
cost that Johnny put his head down peered deal of what was going on.
recruitments scrounged in haste, are able to turn the tide for sociDispute that, he’d say, pointing to a seems everything is relative. There is no end,
into the laboratory microscope and averted PREPARING TO FACE LIFE: “Life is going to
ety, particularly low-income, rural and agrarian classes for whom
his gaze from the classroom windows. The toss things at you that are a lot harder to take, solved equation on the blackboard. Of course, no conclusion to be drawn because like some
world outside can wait, a good education so get used to it. In any case, you have to do it who could? Especially who could who had his wise person once said, “A conclusion is the
state-run schools were the mainstay of hope.
Tired of Thinking? Come to a Conclusion
Why I’m not interested in polls in Kashmir
yourself come exam time. It carries a good deal
couldn’t.
O
T H E R
O P I N I O N
.....................................................................................
N
O
H
O
L
D
S
head wrapped around other notions — those
B
A
R
R
E
place where you got tired of thinking.”
D
.................................................................................................
in Kashmir were all responsible moan the loss of lives but also
just won’t be able to do it… He’s all, parties from Delhi were seen like Kashmir mean an old set of
for what we now know as the demonstrate staggering political, a shareef insaan; they’ll take all distributing tickets to just any- client elites will be replaced by
another one. For the elites, it
Bloody Summer of 2010. Young historical and moral amnesia, or he has.”
one, even an electricity pylon if
will be a six year opportunity for
lives were taken, families ripped
But will people vote, I asked? it could talk would do. If nothing
pure illiteracy, when it came to,
self-aggrandizement, for graft, to
apart, and parents left with a life- for instance, investigating and Of course we will. In 2008, they else, I would apear on TV, the
killed around seventy of us, did relative may have thought. I sin- make money off India. For India,
up on
who was
time isofundoubtedly
mourning unfair
and chasing
HE PAKISTAN women’s cricket team’s visit This discrimination
eters will following
be able to stay
in Mumbai
in responthe
it is a part of conflict management
sibleiffor
the lynching
thatatephemeral
justice,
in climate
to India for the World Cup has turned into and puts our team
current
we reach
the final. of eight- they not? Two months later we cerely hope he lost his deposit.
a significant ghost,
disadvanvoted, didn’t we, he said in a devThat said, people of Kash- that the state has practised for so
year
oldto
Sameer
thatabout
is modernThe ICC also
needs
considerRah.
if India should
a security and logistical nightmare. First, the tage. The teamthe
has Kafka-land
been conciliatory
long that it has now mastered the
mir have clearly voted, not,
was home
in Kashmir
on the astatingly succinct self-critique.
daythe
Kashmir.
team could not go to Mumbai, where its its treatment but
multi-nation
tournaInternational Cricket be allowed toI hold
theitpolls.
On my way
At home later that night, I in my view, to endorse India’s craft and thinks it doesn’t need to
dead
had the bullets
ofat a eve
matches were originally scheduled, after the Council (ICC) shouldThose
ments
timeof
when
can’t guarantee
safetyfrom
take note
of this.
historically intransigent posi- solve the issue.
the airport I saw a rather surreal was rivetted by another image.
Shiv Sena started issuing its usual threats
Internationalboth
teamsthe
haveIndian
refused paramilitaries
to visit of all players.
So, to come back to the quesimage emblazoned on a fly- On TV this time. A former gen- tion on Kashmir or to suggest
and the local police inside their
against visiting Pakistani teams.
It is nowvinyl
too late
to reschedule the World
Pakistan over justified
security fears. It seems,
tion this august newspaper asked
over. It was the poster of a newly eral of the Indian army was ad- let’s forgive, forget, move on
juvenile bodies. There had been
Mirza Waheed
Now, hotels at the alternative venue of however, that if we simply put international Cup and our pulling out of the tournament
sprouted political outfit, the Save dressing a small rally, or a posse and be happy, but for a little bit of me. What do I think of elecmassive demonstrations against
Cuttack and neighbouring
city teams at clubhouses in stadiums and refuse in protest will only heighten tensions. We
’m perhaps one of those bor- a fake encounter and against the Kashmir Party, with its patron in of fawning journalists, I couldn’t of extra electricity in the dark tions in 2014? I think, Oh, same
Bhubaneshwar have refused
lodging
to our to
should make
clear
that we
aresize
onlyinplaying
let who
them gokilling
anywhere
the security
chief
posing
life
a threep- tell. Wait. I wasn’t mesmerised winters, for a job for that unem- old, same old, in spite of the slight
of else,
teenage
student Tufail
ing,
old-fashioned
men
that such
players out of fear.
wouldMattoo
apparently
bewas
solved.
who
killed by aunder
tear duress
ieceand
brown
suit.conditions
It was a are
telling by the general turned politician’s ployed post-grad son, daughter shift in idiom: Development, ecoare constantly problem
bothered
if any of So
our sportspersons
tour par- clipped army-boy looks. Towards or nephew, for macadam on the nomics, and the suitably vague
Our cricketers now have to
this all-imNo country, of
course,
suchopenunacceptable
gas
shellwould
thataccept
broke
his moment.
many political
byplay
such
archaic concepts
portant tournament underas
virtual
house ar-accountabilIndia again.
Instead
appeasing
the anticonditions to play
cricketPeople
in Pakistan.
Yet, the
our streets
skull.
filled
ties,
oftenofwith
fiercely
opposite the left of the frame, I recognised only motorable road that leads phrase ‘achche din’. I think if
justice,
Pakistan
the Indian
rest, with their accommodation
beingfor
pro-extra-judicial
women cricketers
are expected
to putAnd
up with
elections were the solution to
again
and again.
clearly
un- extremists,
a distant relative, and briefly to the village, or to help a cousin
worldviews—
if a government
political party
ity, prosecution
andhave
comfort
of our
vided at the clubhouse
of the
stadium
in thiswords,
in India. Additionally,
finaltoofshoot
the tomust
thought he’s probably developed or nephew who’s been languish- the Kashmir imbroglio, it should
canthe
besafety
said to
a worldview,
der specificthe
order
kill,ensure
killings
(or,
in simpler
that is—have emerged, or been a fetish for photo-bombing. There ing in prison without trial for have been solved and resolved at
armed forces
lives
cold-blooded
murder),
which all their matches
will be played.
Every incarceratournament isthesupposed
to be ended
held intheplayers.
save Kashmir
of more
young
protestors,
tion ofinminors,
end of the
largest
TRIBUNEsince was no way I could tear myself years, in short for a slightly less least ten times since 1957, when
other team will be staying
five-star hotels.
Mumbai.
India needs
to explain
how
our crick- result- birthed, to-EXPRESS
away from the screen. What hard life. And people have voted the first elections were held in
militaristation in the world… To ing in more heartbreaking funer- the decolonisation of South Asia,
before, sometimes in abysmally Kashmir.
put it another way, I haven’t been al processions. By the end of that that people have forgotten who on earth was he doing with an
I will as
perhaps
Indian
general?
He’s
con- even
low if
percentages
and
sometimes
exactly
is being
saved andmust
frominclude
too interested in the elections in summer, around 120 had All
been
letters
intended
for publication
the army
writer’s
name and
address,
a pseudonym
is used.
Letters are edited
clarity,remain
space one of
those
boring, prickly people who
in with
significant
turnouts.
2014, in
whom.
I asked therequire.
driverOur
if he
testinga letter
assembly
elections,
myagree
Kashmir. Let me try to explain.
killed. The local government,
and accuracy
of expression
publishing
does not
mean we
everything
or evenInanything
it. -EDITOR
In 2010, 120 Kashmiri citi- elected on a mandate of good gov- knew anything about this brand uncle chipped in. Turns out this it seems the people of Kashmir still contemplate “the blood of
children ran through the streets
zens, many of them school chil- ernance in 2008, never even apol- new outfit. Sheepish grin turns relative – very distant, I insist – have voted against the far-right
dren, were brutally killed on ogised let alone prosecute those to a grimace, a prelude to trade- who is done with most of his life BJP and the people of Jammu in / without fuss, like children’s
the streets of Kashmir. This was responsible for the killings. Over mark Kashmiri black humour. tasks as a father, husband, and favour it. This doesn’t bode well blood”, as Neruda would say. --ET
and may
in future pave the way
and having
the next
few tell
years,
the careers
man is to
a and
relative
fresh Could
DEAR EDITOR, ostensibly done to quellof amistrust.
you also
us who
EDITOR,
killings and heinous crimes
thereson,
is something
thatrecently
seems toretired DEAR
countries,“This
one wanting
the of mine
(The writer is a novelist. His
uprising against Indian rule. The of politicians, police chiefs, bu- but he won’t make it”. Why? “Be- from his job and started a busi- for a bifurcation of the disputed
I would like tocentral
comment
on
the
beheaded
and
mutilated
the
bodies
of
Apropos
news,
‘AFSPA
Immucommitted
by its army and such
invite
and
incite
the
elements
to
other
avoiding
its
role
in
Kashmir.
new novel, The Book of Gold
government in Delhi, the
reaucrats and spooks, would be cause he’s actually a good man, ness, had decided, since there state.
letter, written by local
one Shoaib
Bhat, in Srinagar,
Forthe
Forces’
Crimes Must Leaves,
the Indian soldiers?
should
not friendly
all other
agenciesearlier
that too
Kashmir.
is part of
thetohistory
the nity In
It is not
in theend
interest
of any
was published
this with
largerSex
political-historwas Itnothing
else
do, heofmight
government
he will
up losing
notofjust the
shinedThis
up in
TV studios,
Kashmir Observer,and
Jan 22,
"Who
have happened
in any case.
Observer,inJanuary
the help of Indian puppets
year)of
ical, Kashmir
context, elections
a place
as well contest elections. After End’
thetitled,
armed
forces apparatus
election
his property.
He
sky-diving
journalists would
sub-continent.
twobe-countries
Indiabut
andallPakistan
to
Discrimination Against Cricketers
T
I
OBSERVER MAIL
Kashmir’s Fate is Just Consequential!
is Responsible For LoC Killings?" I
must say to Shoaib that, you seem to
know a lot.
If it is true, there should be
investigation and appropriate action
taken against those who provoked
peace and created this environment
UN roles in Kashmir has been
minimised post 1971 for India. It is
just symbolic now.
It seems that the United Nations
has not played any role in this sector
for a long time. In my view, it is more
a political point on part of both these
let ter
indulge in any misadventure here or
anywhere.
No one should man Kargil or other
higher reaches, the rough terrain and
OBSERVER
all this is in the extreme
frigid cold
and hostile environment. The military
on both sides should be minimised but
MAIL
28, I want to say that we the
We need to overcome it for our
people of Kashmir appreciate
eternal peace. Unfortunately,
what Dr.Kiran Bedi said but who
Kashmir's fate is just consequential!
hasinclude
to initiate
the action.
Shoaib,
keep
writing
and
stay
safe.
All letters intended for publication must
the writer’s
name and
It is India
who as
hasclarity,
to take the
Khuda Hafez!
address,
even if a pseudonym is used. Letters
are edited
spaceand accuracy of expression
require.
Ourbut
publishing
a letter
does
action,
this country
is never
-VORSHAL
not mean we agree with everything
or
even
anything
in
it.
-EDITOR
Via: email ready to bother for innocent
KaShmir rightS cannot Be ignored
T
he enlightening and
informative
article,
‘SAARC summit and
the Kashmir problem’
written by a seasoned
Saudi diplomat, Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi
(Saudi Gazette, December 3, 2014)
needs some observations from a
Kashmiri perspective. I totally
agree with Dr. Al-Ghamdi that “it
is high time for the leaders of both
countries (India and Pakistan) to
take bold and serious decisions to
resolve this dispute. It is impossible for the region to enjoy peace
and security without solving the
Kashmir problem.”
The Kashmir question is one
of the oldest unresolved international problems in the world. The
experience of the past six decades
has shown that it will not go away
and that an effort is urgently required to resolve it on a durable
basis. It is imperative, whatever be
the rights and wrongs in the equation as far as arguments go, that
we realize that real populations
are involved with a pronounced
sense of an identity of their own,
with their suffering and their aspirations rather than just legal title
Hail Kiran Bedi
and merit.
The mantra has been repeated
too often that the UN has no alternative to relying on bilateral talks
between India and Pakistan to
achieve a settlement. The experience of more than 67 years is ignored. No bilateral talks between
India and Pakistan have yielded
agreements without the active role
of an external element. The missing element is to make the Kashmiri leadership part of the negotiations with India and Pakistan.
It is not the inherent difficulties of a solution, but the lack of the
will to implement a solution that
has caused the prolonged deadlock
over the Kashmir dispute. The
deadlock has meant indescribable
agony for the people of Kashmir
and incalculable loss for both India and Pakistan. The persistence
of this problem has been a source
of weakness for both of these
neighboring countries.
It is time to recognize that
there cannot be a military solution
to the problem; any such solution
is bound to invite challenge. There
has to be a cease-fire from all sides
during negotiations. Negotiations
cannot be carried out at a time
when parties are trying to kill each
other. There cannot be and should
not be any condition from any party, other than commitment to nonviolence and to negotiations.
Our objective should be not to
answer what is the correct or best
solution for the Kashmir problem
but how that solution can be arrived at. In other words, it should
by itself neither promote nor preclude any rational settlement of
the dispute, be it accession to India
or Pakistan or independence.
I believe that peace and justice
in Kashmir are achievable if all
parties concerned – India, Pakistan and Kashmiris – show some
flexibility and make sacrifices.
Each party will have to modify its
Kashmiri origin.
-M. R. BABA
Via: email
XXMAIL YOUR LETTERS
P.O. Box # 337, GPO, Srinagar-190 001
email: [email protected]
position so that common ground
can be found. It will be impossible
to find a solution that respects all
the sensitivities of Indian authorities, values all the sentiments of
Pakistan, keeps intact the unity of
the State of Jammu and Kashmir,
and safeguards the rights and interests of the people of all the different zones of the state. Yet this
does not mean that we cannot find
an imaginative solution.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
_____________________________
Secretary General World Kashmir
Awareness, Washington- D.C
_____________________________
[email protected]
saturday
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer

(BanKinG MaTTers)
It’s OffIcIal:
the Worldwide
Bail-ins are coming
I
PANORAMA

Mark nestmann
n case you missed the announcement,
Cyprus-style bail-ins are coming to a bank
near you.
On November 16, leaders of the
G20 Group of Nations – the 20 largest
economies – made an important decision. The
world’s megabanks now have official permission to pledge depositor accounts as collateral
to make leveraged derivative bets. And if they
lose a bet, the counterparty to the contract has
first dibs on your money.
The governments of these 20 countries are
now supposed to put these arrangements into law.
Most, including the US, have already done so.
You could be forgiven for not paying much
attention to the G20 meeting, because it was
mostly “more of the same” – the latest plan to
have central banks inject trillions more dollars
into the global economy.
But the G20 also endorsed a proposal with a
mind-numbingly tedious title: Adequacy of LossAbsorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution. Not exactly a pageturner. Your average American is more likely to
watch Chicago Fire than to delve into the minutiae of the global financial system.
But this proposal profoundly changes the
rules for banking globally, and not in a good way.
Deposits in banks that are “too big to fail” will be
“promptly recapitalized” with their “unsecured
debt.” This avoids those nasty taxpayer-funded
bailouts that proved so politically unpopular
during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
And the largest chunk of unsecured debt is
your bank deposits. Insolvent banks will recapitalize themselves by converting your deposits
– checking accounts, but also money market accounts and CDs – into stock.
Thus, when you deposit money in a bank,
you’re taking the same risk as someone buying
a stock. Or, for that matter, betting on a horse
named “Falling Star” at the local racetrack.
Because, in effect, that’s what banks are doing
with your money.
The G20 has also officially declared that derivatives – the toxic contracts Warren Buffett
calls “financial weapons of mass destruction”
– are secured debts. Since your bank deposits
are now only unsecured debt that the bank has
pledged to a secured creditor, guess who gets
your money if the bet goes the wrong way for the
bank? Answer: It’s not you.
Heads, the bank wins. Tails, you lose.
Fortunately, “insured deposits” won’t be
subject to this treatment. In the US, 100% of
deposits in insured banks are protected up to
$250,000 per depositor, courtesy of federal deposit insurance. But it’s hardly reassuring that
this fund has a reserve ratio under 1%. For every
$100 on deposit, the FDIC has less than one dollar
to back it with.
This is still a lot of money – $54 billion at the
end of September. But it’s dwarfed by $6 trillion
in insured deposits, not to mention derivatives
contracts with a total value of nearly $300 trillion. Indeed, the failure of just a single major
Wall Street bank could exhaust the fund.
Federal law authorizes borrowing from the
US Treasury to make up the shortfall, but when
a banking crisis hits, it’s not likely to occur in
a vacuum, as I described in this essay. Lots of
other people will be demanding a handout, many
of them with stronger political connections than
you or I could ever hope to muster.
How bad could it get? Well, under the scenario the G20 just blessed, uninsured bank depositors would be even worse off than account-holders in the government-owned banks in Cyprus
that became insolvent in 2013. Their claims
were considered superior to those of derivative
counterparties. Some uninsured depositors got
almost half of their money back (although at one
government-owned bank, they got nothing).
A more apt example would be Lehman
Brothers. When it declared bankruptcy in 2008,
unsecured creditors got about 21 cents on the
dollar. You might be wondering why the G20
made this decision. The obvious incentive is to
avoid politically unpopular bailouts of megabanks that are “too big to fail.”
But there’s a less obvious reason as well.
The G20 hopes that you’ll invest in government
bonds backed by the “full faith and credit” of its
member governments. That will have the effect
of keeping down interest rates on the alarmingly
high debt carried by almost every G20 member.
How can you protect yourself?
The most important precaution is to minimize your exposure to the banking system. Keep
bank deposits well below the deposit insurance
maximums. Accumulate physical currency, precious metals, and other “real assets.”
Diversifying your investments internationally also makes sense, but because bail-ins have
now gone global, it’s no longer as simple as just
opening an account outside the US or whatever
other country you live in. Use only strong, wellcapitalized banks to hold the funds you keep in
the banking system. Look for banks with as high
a level of “Tier 1” liquidity as possible – 25% at
the minimum. (By comparison, the minimum
required in the US is only 6% to be classified as
“Well-Capitalized.”) If you have at least $500,000
or so to spare, open an account with an offshore
private bank that has no commercial lending or
derivatives exposure.
I don’t know when the next global financial
crisis will hit. But when it does, I do know who
will pay for it. And it won't be the bankers or the
financial geniuses who designed the "financial
weapons of mass destruction" that led to their
downfall.
Get your assets out of the “too big to fail”
banks – now. It’s only a matter of time before the
SHTF.
Line Up Or rUn?
Religious extremists are the new version of fascism. They are fascists in the making. They have
all the historic characteristics of fascism. They kill opponents en masse.
Parents taking terrified children of Peshawar army school home following the massacre there.
S
Farooq Tariq
uch was the devastating effect of the Peshawar attack
on children that my 14-yearold son asked his mum what
he should do in case came to
his school. – “Line up or run”?
The day shocked Pakistan and the
world. A spontaneous shutdown the
following day reminded us of the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s killing in
December 2007, when all of Pakistan
was shut down in grief and anger.
The Pakistani state failed miserably to curb the rise of religious fundamentalism. For a long time, extremists were encouraged by the state as a
second line of security. The security
paradigm meant that enmity with India was the core purpose of state patronage. The process of Islamisation
was accelerated by military dictator
Ziaul Haq with the full support of
American imperialism.
Apart from creating and supporting jihadist groups, for decades some
sections of the state with the financial
and political assistance of imperial
powers have indoctrinated millions
with a conservative Islamic ideology
for the purpose of safeguarding their
own strategic interests.
The three decades since 1980
are seen as the years of madressahs
which, in many instances, became
the alternative to the regular school
system in the country. Many terrorist activities carried out in Pakistan
have been linked to the organisational and political support some such
madressahs.
After 9/11, the state’s close relationship with extremists has changed
to some extent – but not broken in real
terms. Banned terrorist groups continue to change their names and carry
out activities on a regular basis. They
hold meetings and public rallies, collect funds and publish literature without any state intervention.
Pakistan has become more conservative and more right wing. Blasphemy laws are frequently used for
settling personal and ideological
scores. Religious minorities, women
and children are easy targets and are
paying the greatest price for this decisive right-wing turn.
The rise of extremism has emerged
as the most serious challenge not only
to progressive forces but also to the
very foundation of a modern society
in the country.
Education and health are the
real targets of these extremists. Polio
workers, mainly women, are killed
by terrorists on the assumption that
a team working for the elimination
of polio led to the discovery of Osama
bin Laden, leading to his assassination. The net result is that the World
Health Organisation has recommended a ban on all Pakistanis travelling
abroad without a polio vaccination
certificate.
The primary and high school syllabus in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is amended to give room to
more unscientific and orthodox ideas
in the name of religion.
Religious extremists are the new
version of fascism. They are fascists in
the making. They have all the historic
characteristics of fascism. They kill
opponents en masse. They have found
considerable space among the middle
class – particularly among the educated
lot. They are against trade unions and
social movements. They find women
to be inferior to men, and aim to keep
them in the home. Attacking religious
minorities has become a norm.
These groups are internationalists. They are against democracy and
promote theocracy as a way of governance. They are the most barbaric
force recent history has seen in the
shape of the IS and the Taliban. There
is nothing progressive in their ideology. They are not anti-imperialism but
anti-America and anti-west. They have
created and carried out the most barbaric terrorist activities in the shape
of suicide attacks, bomb blasts, mass
killings and indiscriminate shootings.
These people must be countered.
The American way of fighting back
in the shape of the ‘war on terror’
has failed miserably. Despite all the
American initiatives of occupations,
wars and creating democratic alternatives, extremists have grown more
in number and are stronger than they
were on 9/11, despite the occupation
of Afghanistan.
A whole package is needed. The
state must break all links with extremist groups. The mindset that
these people are ‘our own brothers,
our own people, our security line
and guarantee against Hindus’, some
are bad and some are good’ and so on
must be changed. Conspiracy theories
are favoured by these extremist right–
wing groups. They do not want to face
the reality.
There is no short cut to ending
extremism. There is no military solution. It has to be a political fight with
dramatic reforms in education, health
and realities of the working class in
most Muslim countries. Starting from
nationalisation of madressahs, we
need free education, health and transport as one of most effective means to
counter fundamentalism.
Right-wing ideas are promoting
extreme right-wing ideology. A mass
working class alternative in the shape
of trade unions and political parties, linked with social movements,
is what will really help counter this
kind of extremism.
Author can be reached at: Email:
[email protected]
The Underground Girls of KabulWorld Peace
reviewed by Fareeha rafique
“
Right now I am nothing. I
was nothing and I am nothing. I was never a man and
never a woman.” Shukria is
in her mid-30s and a former
bacha posh, that is, she lived in disguise as a boy till the age of 17.
At first glance, Jenny Nordberg’s
The Underground Girls of Kabul —
before one sees the subtitle — seems
suggestive of a hidden world of socially-censured activity. The reality,
though, is that all activity within the
pages of this book is part of accepted
norms in Afghanistan.
Nordberg does not tell us what
drew her to Afghanistan in the first
place. Whatever did though, the concept of bacha posh struck a chord,
and Nordberg found herself investigating Afghanistan’s social fabric
deeper and deeper.
In Nordberg’s quest to get to the
bottom of the mystery she is trying
to resolve we traverse history, going
back through the centuries, as well
as take a cold, hard look at presentday Afghan society — which comes
across as having a lot in common
with Pakistani as well as Indian conservative segments of society. The
echoes, in many places throughout
Nordberg’s observations, are resoundingly familiar. For example,
when she says: “the ownership of
an Afghan girl is literally passed on
from one male — her father — to the
one who becomes her husband.” Or
when she observes: “the responsibility for men’s behaviour, indeed for
civilisation itself, rests entirely with
women here, and in how they dress
and behave.”
This is 21st century Afghanistan,
and the social norms laid bare are
comparable with much older times.
As indeed they are compared with.
Throughout history, women have
taken on a man’s avatar for various
reasons, we are told. Many examples
are cited, be it of Zenobia, a 3rd century queen in Syria who grew up as
a boy and later fought the Roman
Empire on horseback, or of Joan of
Arc. What is interesting about the
concept of bacha posh is that it is not
a creation of the last few tumultuous
decades in Afghanistan. Rather, it
goes back centuries. Nordberg traces
the practice back to the Zoroastrian
times in Afghanistan, spanning the
3rd to 7th centuries.
Again, examples are given. Afghan women, for generations, have
gone to war in disguise. Villages
boast of a character or several. A
contemporary example is of 50-yearold Hukmina in the small village of
Sharaf Kali who fought the Russians
during the war, and she certainly
does not fear the Taliban. She was
raised as a companion to her brother,
and says she “never had the thoughts
of a woman. If I felt like a woman I
would not be able to do these things.”
The Underground Girls of Kabul
is speckled with many such facts and
references to history. In her quest
for answers, Nordberg speaks to a
varied cross-section of people, from
the top of the pyramid to the bottom.
But what exactly is bacha posh?
It literally translates as “dressed like
a boy” in Dari. But beyond the literal,
what it means for the child herself is
that “although none of the girls chose
their boyhood voluntarily, most say
they enjoy their borrowed status. It
all depends on what they get to do
with it. For each child, it boils down
to perks versus burdens.” And what
may those be? “Those who are part
of upper or middle-class families, are
often their families’ token of prestige
or honour, thriving on speaking up
at school and playing violent outdoor
games in the neighbourhood. Others,
in poor families, are broken down by
forced child labour just as the actual
boys in the same position often are.”
In most cases, they are conditioned back into dressing and behaving like girls in their early teens, and
go on to marry and have children.
But there are rebels also: those who
do not want to grow up to live their
lives as women and opt to remain undercover into adulthood. The psychological repercussions for the bacha
posh, and related issues of sexuality,
are also delved into by Nordberg.
The book is narrated like a story,
with case studies of people (many of
whom Nordberg befriended) fragmented by research, philosophy,
introspection and the merest occasional slip of sarcasm. The narrative
goes back and forth a bit. Azita is the
main protagonist, and we follow her
fascinating life-story. She is indeed
the linchpin of this book. A bacha
posh for a few years in her life, her
youngest of four daughters, Mehran
(Mahnoush), is being brought up as
one too. Azita’s is a story of courage,
hope and fighting the odds. We are
elated at her triumphs, and crestfallen at her defeats, in her personal life
as well as political career. Nevertheless, that Azita’s tale remains centrestage right till the very end is something that seems off-kilter. After all,
the central theme of researching the
phenomenon of bacha posh should
remain the focal point.
From stumbling upon the first
bacha posh (Azita’s daughter Mehran) to dissecting the phenomenon,
Nordberg takes the reader along as
she makes her discoveries. Early
on, the premise is established that
“the absolute need for a son trumps
everything else.” Nordberg does not
come across anyone who refutes
this. Indeed, as obstetrician Dr Fareiba emphasises, “we are the Pashtun people. We need the son.” Thus,
Nordberg inches towards the understanding that “It is how things always worked in this country, where
tribal law and strict patrilineal tradition have historically offered a
higher degree of stability than most
governments.” And so, the temporary phony son is preferable to none
at all — to save face socially, to be an
extra earning hand, and to magically
influence the creation of actual boys
for her parents.
Nordberg observes that “Afghanistan has many other worries on its
mind. A girl who grows up in boys’
clothing is not an affront — in fact,
it only confirms the established order, in which men have all the privileges.” Her quest can go no further.
The bigger picture — Afghanistan —
has bigger problems, too. This then,
a smaller issue, in itself the result of
centuries of tradition, is something
that will exist until the social order
rewarding men changes.
The Underground Girls of Kabul:
The Hidden Lives of Afghan Girls
Disguised as Boys
(SOCIOLOGY)
By Jenny nOrdBerg
Virago, UK
ISBN 978-1-84408-774-7
350pp.
6 Saturday
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer


J&K Bank conducts Ganderbal, Srinagar
DLRC meets, awareness camps in Baramulla
Srinagar, Dec 26: J&K Bank conducted
a District Level Review Committee
meeting at DC Office Srinagar, which
was chaired by District Development
Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad
Shah to review the progress achieved at
the end of September 2014 under ACP
2014-15.
LDM Srinagar apprised the forum
about progress achieved at the end of
second quarter (September 2014) under
ACP 2014-15.
In the quarter under review, District
Srinagar has disturbed Rs 884 crores
against the target of Rs 1978 crores thus
achieved a growth of 45% under priority sector and Rs 342 crores have been
disbursed against the target of Rs 2020
crores registering a growth of 17% only.
Under various sponsored schemes at the
end of September 2014, Rs 41.72 crores
have been disbursed among 4309 beneficiaries.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman
DLRC Farooq Ahmad Shah expressed satisfaction over the relief package declared
by J&K Bank for rehabilitation and revival
of people of the district.
While approving the District Credit
Plan for Rs 4718 Crores with an increase of 18% over the DCP 2014-15, he
stressed Banks and Sponsoring agencies
to be pro-active in implementation of
the sponsored schemes to achieve the
proposed targets.
The meeting was also attended by R N
Kaul (AGM RBI) and Zubair Ahmad (NABARD) besides representatives of banks
and sponsoring agencies operating in the
district.
DLRC Ganderbal
The Bank also conducted a District
Level Review Committee (DLRC) meeting
of Ganderbal District at mini secretariat
Ganderbal, which was chaired by District
Development commissioner (DDC) Ganderbal Sarmad Hafeez.
Lead District Manager Faiz ullah
Qureshi briefed the house about the
achievements of the banks operating
in the district under District Credit Plan
2014-15.
The banks have disbursed a total
amount of Rs 160.98 Crores for establishment of 7025 units at the end of the second quarter for FY 2014-15 registering
38% achievement, out of which Rs 129.69
Crores were disbursed for establishment
of 6334 units under priority sector registering achievement of 54% and Rs 31.29
Crores for establishing of 691 units under non- priority sector registering an
achievement of 16%. CD ratio of the district stands at 68%.
Out of priority sector, Agriculture and
allied activities registered 66%, MSE 86%,
Education 10%, housing 4% and others 41%.
He advised the financial institutions
to sanction and disburse cases strictly
as per guide lines and in close co-ordination with sponsoring agencies. He also
advised NABARD/other concerned agencies for timely release of Subsidy/Margin
money.
Also, a meeting of the DLIC (District
Level implementation Committee) was
conducted alongside the DLRC meet.
In the meeting, the discussion on
progress of banks in opening of accounts
and holding camps/mega camps under
PMJDY was discussed.
Baramulla Camps
Meanwhile, the Bank conducted various financial literacy camps at Rafiabad
and Wagoora blocks in Baramulla to
educate the people about Prime Ministers Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) and other
schemes.
Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling center Baramulla organized the camp
in collaboration with the bank’s Dangiwacha business unit at Panchayat Ghar
campus in Village Zeithan, which was attended by a large number of people from
the village and its adjoining areas.
The participants were informed the
about financial planning, budgeting, savings, expenses, advantages of savings
with banks, different type of borrowings,
concept of Business Correspondents, ultra-small branches and Khidmat centers.
They were also apprised about the
features of Kisan Credit Card scheme, Education loan scheme and various income
generating loan products of banks.
Features of various J&K Bank saving
and loan products especially Mini Sheep
farm Scheme were highlighted and the
people were urged to take benefit of the
scheme as there was enough of scope for
the said scheme in the area to earn their
livelihood and contributing to the overall
development of the area. FLCC Baramulla
held a similar camp at Wagoora.
Board gives nod to India Cement’s fund raising plan
TN CM lauds Centre for
boosting investor confidence
Chennai:
Lauding Centre
for its efforts to boost investor
confidence, Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister O Panneerselvam on
Friday said the National Democratic Alliance government ‘has
to continue its thrust on private
investments besides focusing
on public investments’ and
hoped to see steps in this regard
in the Union Budget 2015-16.
The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts taken by the
Central Government to instil
confidence in both domestic
and foreign investors and to
attract investments to propel
economic growth. “However,
looking at the mid-term economic analysis 2014-2015, the Central
Government has to continue its
thrust on private investments,
besides focusing on public investments in order to kick start the
economic cycle. I hope this Government will be able to signal this
in the Budget 2015-2016,” he said.
In his address at the pre-budget meeting of states convened
by Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, Mr. Panneerselvam
presented his State’s case on
a number of issues including
drinking water schemes.
He sought Centre’s approval and funding support
in the forthcoming budget for
Rs 1371.86 crore sea water desalination plant with a capacity of 150 MLD (million litres
a day) to address Chennai’s
drinking water needs.
Originally conceived by the
A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA government, river inter-linking
was given a ‘new lease of life’
in the Budget 2014-15, he said.
He hoped that Centre will
take this forward by giving
due priority to the peninsular river linkage project with
adequate budgetary support.
“The project for linking Cauvery, Vaigai and Gundar rivers
at a cost of Rs 5,166 crores is
pending for the Central Government’s approval. We look
forward to its inclusion in the
2015-2016 Union Budget,” Mr.
Panneerselvam, who also holds
the Finance portfolio, said.
Chennai: Board of India
Cements has approved a proposal to raise Rs. 500 crore
through qualified institutional placements or foreign
currency convertible bonds
to meet capital expenditure
needs, a top official said on
Friday.
“The Board has approved
the proposal for raising an
amount not exceeding Rs 500
crore by way of issue of QIP/
FCCB/GDR or other Securities
to improve the leverage and
for meeting normal capital
expenditure,” India Cements
Ltd Vice-Chairman and Managing Director N. Srinivasan
said at the company’s 68th
Annual General Meeting held
in Chennai.
“We have approached the
shareholders for approval in
this regard,” he said.
The company is taking all
measures at the operational
level to improve the performance in the remaining part
of the current financial year, he
said and expressed hope that
the investment activity would
pick up in the coming months
following a stable Government
at the Centre and thrust on infrastructure development.
“During the first half of
current financial year, total
sales volume including clinker and exports stood at 49.08
lakh tonne compared to 50.89
lakh tonne in the corresponding period of previous year,”
he said on the performance of
the company.
“With an improvement
in selling prices, the overall
EBIDTA for six months was at
Rs 350 crore against Rs 329
crore in the first half of last
year. The company returned
to black in second quarter reporting a net profit of Rs. 7.49
crore,” he said.
The performance of India
Cements in 2013-14 can be
considered to be “satisfactory” by maintaining the capacity utilisation, Mr. Srinivasan
said, adding that it maintained overall sales, including
clinker at 100.37 lakh tonne
as compared to 100.55 lakh
tonne in previous year.
“Total revenue including
other income for the year
stood at Rs. 4,529.84 crore
against Rs. 4,615.67 crore in
previous year. The erosion
in top line and higher cost
of production resulted in
lower operating profit of Rs.
594.20 crore as compared to
Rs. 841.95 crore in 2012-13”,
he said.
In 2013-14, the company’s
new 48 MW power plant at
Vishnupuram in Telangana
was commissioned and it
helped to reduce the overall
power cost with lesser offtake of high cost open access
power. “The existing power
plant at Sankar Nagar in Tamil
Nadu also stabilised at higher
levels of operation, yielding
further economies,” he said.
He said the installed capacity of cement in the country grew by 15 times in last
30 years to 360-365 million
tonne of which South accounts for 40 per cent share.
“Till five years ago, when
the economy did well, the
cement industry clocked a
double digit growth. With the
economy registering sub five
per cent, the cement industry
took a hit with practically nil
growth in last year,” he said.
The capacity utilisation
for the whole of India was
around 71 per cent while
it was still lower in South,
which is “saddled with excess
capacity and the severe competition pushed down the cement prices”.
“It is hoped that Reserve
Bank of India will consider
revising lending rates in New
Year to spur investment activity as core and retail inflation
rates have considerably declined,” he said.
President signs ordinance on insurance, coal Curbs on gold imports
new Delhi:
President
Pranab Mukherjee on Friday
signed two key ordinances
allowing hike in the FDI cap
in the insurance sector and
facilitating e-auction of coal
blocks.
The NDA Government had
recommended promulgation
of these ordinances after failing to get them passed in Parliament.
Re-promulgation
The Coal Mines (Special
Provisions) Bill, 2014 was
passed by the Lok Sabha but
could not be taken up for dis-
cussion in the Rajya Sabha,
pushing the government to
recommend a re-promulgation of the coal ordinance.
In case of the insurance
amendment bill, the Government recommended promulgation of a fresh ordinance,
allowing hiking the FDI cap in
the sector from 26 to 49 per
cent.
The decision on taking the
ordinance route was taken by
the Union Cabinet, chaired
by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, on Wednesday.
Additional capital inflow
The government hopes
the increased FDI cap would
bring in additional capital inflow of USD 6-8 billion to the
insurance sector.
While the Insurance Laws
Amendment Bill, 2008 had
been approved by the Select
Committee of the Rajya Sabha, it could not be taken up
for discussion in Parliament
owing to pandemonium over
the conversion row, among
other issues.
The coal ordinance would
allow for the e-auction of coal
blocks to private companies
for captive use, while allowing direct allotment of mines
to State and Central Public
Sector Enterprises.
From Front Page
5 Conditions
Sagar Says
Kashmir Assembly. The People's Democratic
Party (PDP) emerged as the single largest party
with 28 seats while the Congress tally was 12.
Seven seats were won by other parties and independents. (CNS)
PDP, but there has been no response from them
which is strange. I as general secretary of NC again
reiterate that if PDP wants to form the government we ready to give support to them.”
However, he claimed, that PDP was willing to
go with BJP “due to which they weren’t responding to the sincere offer of NC.”
“There have been three secret meetings between BJP and PDP leaders in Delhi and Muzaffar
Husain Beg and Nizam-ud-Din Bhat have played
an important role in it. The reality of PDP has
come to the fore as leaders of this party including its patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed during
election campaigning had claimed that they were
ready for anything to stop BJP juggernaut in the
state,” he added.
Sagar rejected reports of any contact between
NC and BJP for government formation, saying,
“There is no question of NC supporting BJP to form
the government. We have ideological differences
with BJP and there can’t be any compromise on
that.”
“During our core group meeting all the MLAs
have unanimously decided not to be part of BJP
led government,” he said and claimed it was PDP
who was desperate to go with BJP.
The Assembly election results have thrown up
a hung assembly in J&K with PDP emerging single
largest party with 28 members followed by Bhartiya Janta Party with 25. The National Conference
and Congress have bagged 15 and 12 seats respectively making it difficult for parties to choose alliance partners.
PDP Will
means business within the next 6 months,” he
said. (CNS)
BJP Contemplates
berths in lieu of support for its first ever government in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s newly elected
MLAs favour an alliance with the NC.
Senior BJP leaders also said the BJP has reached
out to the NC, and is ready to offer it four cabinet berths if it agrees to an alliance. These leaders
added that the NC would also be asked to join the
central government and given support for a Rajya
Sabha seat.
Party General Secretary, Ram Madhav Friday
admitted that the BJP was in touch with both National Conference and People’s Democratic Party.
Talking to reporters outside Srinagar International
Airport, Ram Madhav said that the BJP was hopeful that it will form new government in Jammu
and Kashmir.
He said that both National Conference and PDP
leaders have met BJP leadership and deliberations
were going on.
Ram Madhav however added that no party has
put forth any conditions before them. “The talks
were conducted in cordial atmosphere to find a
solution to the deadlock,” he said.
He according said that BJP wants the new government in the state formed soon.
Shabir Shah
and conveyed their heartfelt condolences with
the bereaved family. The party patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and party president, Mehbooba
Mufti, described the deceased a respectable social
and generous personality. Conveying their sympathies to Shabir Ahmad Shah and other members of the family, the leaders prayed for the everlasting peace of the deceased soul.
Senior party leaders, Muzzafar Hussain Baig,
Tariq Hameed Karra, Abdul Rehman Veeri, MLAelect; Syed Altaf Bukhari, Naeem Akhtar, and others have also expressed their sympathies with
Shabir Ahmed Shah.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani led Hurriyat has also
expressed grief over the demise of the mother of
Shabir Ahmed Shah.
Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
(JKLF) Mohammad Yasin Malik expressed his
heartfelt grief and sorrow over the demise. On
hearing the news Malik along with senior leader's
Noor Mohammad Kalwal and Altaf Khan visited
Islamabad and participated in her Nimaze Jinaza.
JKLF leader's visited the residence of the deceased
and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family.
Paying rich tributes to her JKLF chairman said
that the sacrifices of the deceased mother and his
family will always be remembered.
National Front Chairman Nayeem Ahmad Khan
also condoled the death of the mother of Freedom
Party head, Shabir Ahmad Shah.
Nayeem Ahmad Khan led a high level party
delegation to Islamabad and participated in the
Nimaze Jinazah of the deceased.
In his condolence message Khan said that the
deceased lady was a great soul who always prayed
for those busy in the freedom struggle and she
considered every freedom loving youth as her son.
Nayeem Ahmad Khan said that the deceased was
a victim of state terrorism as her husband was the
first victim of custodial killings. Her husband and
Shabir Shah’s father was martyred in custody in
early nineties.
‘Parties
drive smuggling: Centre
new Delhi: The Union government has said restrictions
imposed on gold imports to
stem the pressure on the Current Account Deficit (CAD)
are likely to have led to a substantial increase in smuggling.
From April to September this
year, there was a more than
four-fold increase in the seizure of smuggled gold, to 2,289
kg, against 522 kg seized during the same period last year.
Giving the information in a
reply to a written question in
Parliament last Friday, Minister
of State in the Finance Ministry
Jayant Sinha said: “…there had
been a substantial increase in
the seizure of smuggled gold as
well as in the gold imports.”
Twelve Lok Sabha members had raised questions
about gold imports.
“The increase in seizures of
smuggled gold this year, compared to last year, may partly
be attributed to the fluctua-
tions in the price of gold, the
restrictions imposed on the
import of gold and customs
duty rates,” Mr. Sinha said.
To stem the pressure on the
CAD, the government and the
Reserve Bank of India had taken measures to moderate the
demand for the precious metal.
These included an increase in
customs duty on imports and
prohibition of gold in the form
of coins and medallions. Nominated banks and other entities
Supporting
Major Parts
government Engineer Rashid made it clear that
in backdrop of anti-Kashmir stand of BJP we cannot
afford to have a BJP led government in the state, he
said.
"Any party which will support BJP to form government will get eradicated from the political
map of Jammu and Kashmir and that party will
truly face the wrath of public in Kashmir."
Engineer Rashid said that NC, PDP should remember that it is the crucial juncture in the political history of Kashmir and their every step would
be keenly watched and analyzed and for restoring
honour of people of Kashmir.
MLA said if the PDP and National Conference were
sincere in fulfilling their agenda of self rule and autonomy which the two parties have been promising
for a long time now, they should come together.
"Why does not PDP accept the offer of support
made by Omar Abdullah? It is for Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to explain. If they still fall short of
numbers, I will also support them," the MLA said.
Rashid said he will offer unconditional support to NC and PDP if they form government. He,
however added that he will also support PDP if it
forms the government with the support of Congress party. “My support to Congress-PDP government would be based on certain conditions like
the release of political prisoners, unconditional
dialogue with militants, cordial relations with
Pakistan and so on,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said that he is in
touch with Hakim Yasin and Muhammad Yousuf
Tarigami and they all have decided to support to
Kashmir centric government that will mitigate
the sufferings of the people.
He said that it is historical fact that BJP pursues
hidden agenda and it not only wants to abrogate
Article 370 but also wants to grant state subject
rights to Hindu refugees of Pakistan administered
Kashmir.
night of the season, so far, on December 18
when the mercury dipped and settled at minus
14.4 degrees.
Pahalgam recorded minus 7 degrees, Gulmarg
at minus 5.6 degrees Kupwara settled at minus 5.4
degrees, Qazigund minus 5.6 degree, about three
notches below normal, while, at Kokernag it was
minus 4.2 degrees.
CB Books
Kumar and others alleging that they have been
cheated by a group of cheats identified as Yash Pal
Bhagat, resident of R S Pura, Sameer Kumar, resident of Silliguri, Darjelling, Rabi Kumar, resident
of West Bengal, Rajinder Singh, resident of RS
Pura Jammu, Sanjeev Kumar, resident of R S Pura,
Jammu and Sameer Kumar, resident of Darjeeling.
"The complainant said the cheaters motivated
them to pay Rs 5 lakh each for managing their
appointments in the Railway Department as Assistant Station Master and Ticket Collectors," said
the spokesperson.
He said subsequently free railway passes and
appointment letters were dispatched to complainants for their joining but when they went for
joining, their names did not figure in the selection
list as such the appointment orders were fake.
A case under sections 420, 465, 468, 120-B of
RPC was registered and investigation started.
During investigation it was found that Yash Pal
Bhagat met with one of the accused Sameer during his visit at Mata Vaishno Devi and hatched a
criminal conspiracy to dupe the innocent unemployed youth of J&K.
"All the accused persons extorted money from
the complainants following which case was registered and they were charge-sheeted today before
the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Jammu,"
said the spokesperson.
saturday
27 12 2014 Kashmir Observer

NEWS

Arrest Warrant Issued Against Lal Masjid Cleric
dents who were killed ‘martyrs’.
The protesters chanted slogans against Abdul Aziz as a
staff member came out of the
mosque and warned protesters
that any further chanting will
not be tolerated by the management. Police in riot gear also
arrived at the scene and asked
the protesters to disperse.
Lawyer-turned-activist
Jibran Nasir, who spearheaded
the protest, remained undeterred, despite receiving a
threatening call from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Jamatul Ahrar
faction’s spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan.
“We have requested the police to conduct a focused investigation…then we will know
whether to continue chanting
slogans or to celebrate,” he told
The Express Tribune.
“This is a story of the will
of the common man. This is a
common man’s protest against
all the rogue clerics who use
and manipulate the name of
Islam for their own interests,”
Iran To Fire
Homemade
'Toufan' Missile
Tehran :Iran's homemade
high-precision missile "Toufan" (Hurricane) will be fired
Friday by the army during the
ongoing military drills, Iranian
ground force commander Lt.
Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan
has announced.
"The high-precision 'Toufan' missile, having a range of
four kilometre, can be used
both as a land-based missile
and fired from helicopters
during the war-games," Fars
News Agency reported Friday
quoting him as saying Thursday.
He also said that Shaher
sniper rifle, the Moharram
six-barrel cannon, and mineshedding systems are among
the other weapons and
equipment to be used in the
wargames.
Elaborating that the drones
used by the Iranian Ground
Forces in the drills, Pourdastan said a new type of these
drones can be used for suicide
attacks against air or ground
targets.
Navy commander Rear
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari
said Tuesday that during
the miiltary drills the naval
forces would use different
types of military equipment
and weapons showing Iran's
might in water.
Various types of warships,
destroyers, submarines, missiles, aircraft and helicopters
would be used in the drills in a
show of Iran's naval might and
power, he added.
Different units of the Iranian army started massive
military drills in the southern
and southeastern parts of the
country Thursday.
The six-day military exercises codenamed Mohammad
Rasoulallah (PBUH) will cover
an area of 2.2 million sq. km
from the east of the Strait of
Hormuz, a strait between the
Gulf of Oman and the Persian
Gulf, to the southern parts of
the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea.
Novel Trap To Kill
Bedbugs Forever
Toronto : Biologists from Simon
Fraser University in British
Columbia have developed the
first effective and affordable
bait and trap for detecting and
monitoring bedbug infestations.
The biggest challenge in
dealing with bedbugs is to detect the infestation at an early
stage.
This trap will help landlords,
tenants and pest-control professionals determine whether
premises have a bedbug problem so that they can treat it
quickly. It will also be useful
for monitoring the treatment's
effectiveness, said chemist Gerhard Gries.
Working with chemist Robert Britton and a team of students, Gerhard and his wife
Regine Gries finally found the
solution - a set of chemical attractants or pheromones that
lure the bedbugs into traps and
keep them there.
After two years of frustrating false leads, the team finally
discovered that histamine, a
molecule with unusual properties that eluded identification
through traditional methods,
signals safe shelter" to bedbugs. Importantly, once in contact with the histamine, the
bedbugs stay put whether or
not they have recently fed on a
human host.
The researchers expect the
trap to be commercially available next year.
The paper was published in
Angewandte Chemie, a leading
general chemistry journal.
he said. Nasir, who has
been instrumental
in galvanising
public support through
social media,
said that the
protest had
acquainted
Islamabad CIvIl
with likeJudge Issued arrest
minded indiwarrant agaInst
viduals, who
abdul azIzI
now represent the
campaign.
In response to the arrest warrant, spokesman for
the Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation Hafiz Ehtisham said that
Maulana Abdul Aziz will resist
arrest.
The government has also
withdrawn security to Aziz
which he was given three years
ago on the public pressure.
Former military ruler Pervez
Musharraf had launched a military action in the Lal Masjid in
2007 in which around 100 alleged militants, including the
younger brother of Aziz, were
killed.
Peshawar
Saudi Arabia
How Lung Cancer Can Be
limits family visit Stopped From Spreading
visa to six months
Riyadh : The passport department of Saudi Arabia
has announced a new regulation that limits the family
visitor visas to six months,
an official spokesperson
said.
The period would start
once a visitor arrives in the
country and registers on
the passport department's
computerised system, Arab
News reported citing Lt.
Col. Ahmed bin Fahad AlLuhaidan.
He said the department
recently launched a family visa extension service
where citizens or residents
can extend the visa electronically.
Earlier this year, Interior
Minister Prince Mohammed
bin Naif allowed expatriate
workers to renew the visit
visas of their loved ones
until the end of 2014. The
decision was applauded by
expatriates.
Family visit visas, the visas typically used by accompanying family members
of foreign workers, do not
grant the right to work or
reside in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this year, temporary restrictions were imposed July 1-Oct 24 on visit
visas under which visitors
were not allowed to renew
their visas or extend their
stay in this Gulf nation.
E-ticketing launched
for Taj Mahal,
Humayun's tomb
Union Minister of Tourism
and Culture, Mahesh Sharma,
Friday launched e-ticketing
facility for the Taj Mahal and
Humayun's Tomb on a pilot
basis, and a helpline number
to ensure safety of domestic
and international tourists.
Today's
(Friday's)
announcements are the beginning of a journey to cleanliness, safety and hospitality to
improve the tourism experience of people visiting our
country, Sharma said at an
event to mark Good Governance Day.
"We had this attitude that
'sab chalta hai' (everything
works like this), but now this
won't happen. If this casual
attitude was the way of life, it
won't be there anymore," he
added.
Ever since Sharma took
charge of the tourism ministry,
he has been emphasising on
creating a safer environment
for tourists coming to India,
and the launch of Incredible
India toll free helpline number
is in pursuance of that.
"The facility currently is
available in two languages
- Hindi and English across 6
lines. We will be introducing
international languages like
German, Russian and French
soon," said Sharma.
Tickets for the Taj Mahal
and Humayun's Tomb can now
also be booked 90 days in advance. Payment can be made
via debit card, credit card or
through net banking and there
are three categories of tickets
for visitors viz. foreign visitor, Saarc visitor and domestic
visitor.
Sharma also released a
book in Braille on Delhi's monuments.
"This is the best time that
the stakeholders become partners because development is
not possible without them.
We will have inputs from
stakeholders and discuss issues with them and see how
those inputs can be included
in our final decision making
process," said Sharma.
London : To break loose and
spread around the body, lung
cancer cells first chop of the
protein ties that bind them to
other cells, new research shows,
adding that targeting this flaw
could help stop lung cancer
from spreading.
This research shows for the
first time how lung cancer cells
sever ties with their neighbours
and start to spread around the
body, by hijacking the cells'
recycling process and sending
it into overdrive, said lead researcher Angeliki Malliri from
Cancer Research UK Manchester
Institute at University of Manchester.
Ties which bind cells together
- controlled by a protein called
TIAM1 - are chopped up when
cell maintenance work goes
wrong, the findings showed.
Healthy cells routinely scrap
old cell parts so they can be broken down and used again. But
this process spirals out of con-
trol in lung cancer cells, which
scrap too many TIAM1 ties.
Targeting this recycling process could stop lung cancer from
spreading by keeping the cells
stuck firmly together.
"Early-stage research like this
is essential to find treatments
which could one day block cancer spread - which would be a
game changer, Nell Barrie from
Cancer Research UK said.
The study was published in
the journal Cell Reports.
Our Ancestors Had
Stronger Bones, Says Study
New York: Researchers have
found that low-bone density is
a modern phenomenon caused
probably by humans' shift from
a foraging lifestyle to a sedentary agricultural one.
For millions of years, extinct
humans had high bone density
until a dramatic decrease in recent modern humans, the findings showed.
"Much to our surprise,
throughout our deep past, we
see that our human ancestors and relatives, who lived in
natural settings, had very dense
bone," said Brian Richmond,
professor at George Washington
University and one of the study
authors.
"And even early members of
our species, going back 20,000
years or so, had bone that was
about as dense as seen in other
modern species," he said.
The research is based on a
high-resolution imaging of bone
joints from modern humans and
chimpanzees as well as from
fossils of extinct human species.
The work provides an anthropological context to modern
bone conditions like osteoporosis, a bone-weakening disorder
that may be more prevalent in
contemporary populations due
partly to low levels of walking
activity.
"Over the vast majority of
human prehistory, our ances-
tors engaged in far more activity
over longer distances than we
do today," he said.
"We cannot fully understand
human health today without knowing how our bodies
evolved to work in the past, so it
is important to understand how
our skeletons evolved within
the context of those high levels
of activity," he added.
The findings explain why
compared to our closest living
relatives--chimpanzees--as well
as to our extinct human ancestors, modern humans have
lightweight skeleton.
The study appeared in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Transformer damaged six times in last 4 months
Srinagar: In last four months,
the community transformer of
Muqam-e-Shahewali village of
north Kashmir’s Kupwara district
has got damaged on six occasions,
leaving hundreds of souls under
darkness in harshest winter.
“We have been repeatedly demanding upgradation of transformer as it gets damaged every
now and then,” the locals said.
They said the transformer
was prone to damages and concerned PDD authorities failed to
rectify it despite being informed
time and again.
“The fault leading to the damage to the transformer was due
to the local lineman but its consequences are being suffered by
us,” said the locals of Dawood
Colony,
Muqam-e-Shahewali,
accusing the PDD of being ‘indifferent’ to their woes.
“It is a routine now. We have
been repeatedly demanding upgradation of the transformer because it is overloaded but there is
not even a whisper by the officials
which speaks volumes about the
lack of concern to our woes,” they
said. The residents have been de-
manded JK Peoples Conference
chairman Sajad Lone and MLA
Kupwara Bashir Ahmad Dar of the
same party to personally interfere
into the matter so as to seen installation of fresh transformer in the
area to prevent what they said recurring troubles.
“We are facing immense hardships in absence of electricity. Education of our children is suffering
badly. Patients and elders are facing difficulties in absence of the
electric light,” they said urging the
concerned authorities to restore
the electricity at the earliest. (GNS)
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ISLAMABAD: A non-bailable arrest warrant was issued today
against controversial Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz
for threatening civil society
members who were protesting
against him for not condemning the Peshawar school massacre.
Islamabad Civil Judge Saqib
Jawad issued arrest warrant
against Azizi on the request of
investigation officer of the case.
The Aabpara Police Station
had registered an FIR against
Aziz two days ago under section 506 (2) (hurling threats) of
the Pakistan Penal Code.
Members of civil society
had been protesting outside
the Lal Masjid agains Aziz for
his unwillingness to condemn
the brutal attack on the Army
Public School in Peshawar that
killed 150 people, 136 of them
children.
A civil society activist, Ahmad Ali said that Maulana Abdul Aziz refused to condemn
the incident in Peshawar and
said he could not call the stu-


Kashmir Observer
news
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8 SATURDAY 27 12 2014
Jammu records season's lowest, fog hits rail, air service
Jammu today witnessed season's coldest day with minimum temperature 3.8
Degree Celsius while life in fog hit region
remained standstill as people preferred
to stay indoors.
Meanwhile, the rail and air services also
remained affected due to the fog as the
trains departed and arrived few hours
late from their scheduled times.
"One flight from Jammu to Srinagar was
cancelled while few others delayed due
to fog," an official informed.
Jammu today recorded season's minimum
3.8 degree Celsius temperature while the
maximum was 9.3 Degree Celsius.
"There will be foggy conditions tomorrow" a Met Section official said adding
that the maximum and minimum temperatures tomorrow would be around
9 degree Celsius and 4 degree Celsius
respectively.
"Weather will be dry and cold over in the
next 24 hours in the state ," he said adding that fog and cold conditions would
prevail over plains of Jammu.
Azad asks BJP to
tread carefully
in Kashmir
BJP Wants To
Impose Its Designs
on Kashmir: CPI (M)
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party should
not rush to form a government in Jammu and
Kashmir and take care of the "sensitivity" of the
people of the state, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Friday.
"It is very sad that there was a fractured mandate
in Jammu and Kashmir... What I am concerned
about is that BJP is being insensitive as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned," Azad, a former
chief minister of the state, said during an interaction with women journalists at Indian Women
Press Corps (IWPC).
"They (BJP leaders) have camped in Srinagar,
what is the rush," he asked.
"Areas like Jammu and Kashmir and northeast are
sensitive areas. They (the BJP) should not rush with
saffronisation of these areas. Should BJP go out of
the way to form a government, they will be inviting
trouble," he said.
"It is not a Gujarat, Maharashtra, or Bihar. Even
local leaders have to think twice before they
speak. There are people who are always ready to
exploit the situation," he said.
Asked what kind of trouble he was talking about,
Azad refused to elaborate.
Azad also cited the example of Indira Gandhi,
who made way for Sheikh Abdullah to be Jammu
and Kashmir chief minister even though Congress had a majority.
He also said that the Peoples Democratic PartyNational Conference-Congress combination
would be good for the state as it will give a stable
government as well as representation from all
parts of the country.
IT Is IMPerATIve ThAT a secular
government is formed in Jammu
and Kashmir and the secular forces
should rise to the occasion keeping in
mind the larger interests of the unity
and integrity of our country,"
KhoJA DIggAr: Worshipers offering prayers at the Khanqah-e-Naqashbandiya on the occasion of saints annual Urs on Friday- Pix Abid Bhat
14-yr-old arrested for TTP, ISIS & Boko Haraam Anti-Islam: Geelani
cousin’s murder
Guv seeks
written proposal
from BJP, PDP
SRINAGAR: Police solved the murder mystery of a teenager who
was found dead in Mattan area.
The cousin of the deceased
who was involved in the murder has been shifted to juvenile home, Srinagar.
Giving details of the case, the
district police authorities stated that on 17th of December,
Mattan Police recovered a body
of a teenager Rouf Naikoo son
of Shafi Nikoo resident of Nagam Kokernag. The deceased
was putting up with his aunt
at Matipore Mattan, a police
spokesman in a statement.
Police Mattan registered a
case FIR number 105/14 under
section 302 and investigation
was taken up. After completing all medico-legal formalities, the body was handed
over to his next of kins for
last rites. Special teams were
JAMMU: Governor N N Vohra has
sought proposals in black and white
from both Peoples Democratic Party
and Bharatiya Janata Party on government formation in the state.
"Letters have been dispatched on
behalf of the Governor N N Vohra
to the heads of both the parties BJP
and PDP seeking their proposals
on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir," sources in the
Raj Bhawan told UNI. They, however, refused to disclose the contents
but confirmed that the letters have
been dispatched to the parties.
"The Governor has asked them to
submit their proposals in couple
of days," the sources added.
They said that the documents have
been issued on the basis because
both PDP and BJP have emerged as
first and second largest parties respectively in the Assembly elections.
PDP has won 28 seats while BJP
25 in the polls.
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formed to explore all possible
angles of the murder, he said.
“During the investigation several suspects were thoroughly
questioned and it surfaced
that on the fateful day, in the
afternoon the deceased had
left his aunt’s house along
with his cousin 14 years old
Baid Bashir son of Bashir Ahmad Paddar resident of Matipore”, he said.
While playing the two had
an altercation and Baid hit
Rouf with a stone on head
and he fell down on ground
over another rock resulting
in his on spot death. Sensing
trouble Baid left the body
in a nearby nursery and left
the spot and returned home
alone, he said, adding that
Baid has been arrested and
has been shifted to Juvenile
home in Srinagar.
SRINAGAR: Terming all pro-Indian
politicians of Kashmir as “opportunists and unprincipled,” Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani
Friday alleged that these people were
power hungry and they are least concerned with the miseries of the common people.
“The status of Kashmir issue can’t be
changed by holding of election drama
but by using it as a tool, India want to
lengthen its occupation in Kashmir,” a
Hurriyat (G) press statement quoted
Geelani as saying.
Addressing Friday congregation at Hyderpora Jamia Masjid, Geelani termed
the actions of
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan, ISIS and Boko Haraam as
un-Islamic and inhuman and said that
these people were defaming Islam and
their actions don’t have any Islamic or
moral justification. “
Islam has high values and regards for a
human life and the Holy Quran terms
the murder of a single human being as
the murder of whole humanity. Prophet Muhammad (saw) was not only sent
as a blessing for the whole humanity
but he gave us lessons even for safeguarding the rights of animals.”
“Our Prophet (saw) had pardoned
his worst enemies and presented a
beautiful character before them. The
people who are killing children in
the name of Islam, kidnapping school
children and subjecting people to the
worst torture during their custody,
they are totally unaware of the spirit
of Islam and they are becoming the
big hurdle in the propagation of Is-
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lam. Islam is the religion of peace,
brotherhood and equality and Islam
wants justice among the whole humanity based on equality. In the past,
Islam has propagated with the help of
its excellent character and morality
which it presented before the people
and in the future it will spread in the
entire world due to its high regard for
the human values,” veteran Kashmiri
Islamist said.
Geelani, however, said, the freedom
movements which are going on in
many places in the world can’t be
linked with this terrorism which has
engulfed the whole world. “These
are two different realities and they
can’t be mixed up with each other.
Most of the nations of the world in
the past have achieved their freedom through the struggle and these
movements and struggles are still
active in the regions like Palestine,
Kashmir and Afghanistan,” he said.
While commenting over the recently
held election drama in the Jammu &
Kashmir, the Hurriyat (G) chairman
termed all the pro-Indian politicians
as equal and same and said that
“some pro-Indian people have tried
to fool the people during the election
campaigning by talking about the solution of Kashmir issue.”
“Be it Omar Abdullah, Mufti Sayed or
any other, they all are the advocators
of the Indian occupation in Kashmir.
They are opportunist politicians and
they work as the daily wagers of the
authorities in New Delhi. Their only
work is to endorse the crimes which
India and its forces are committing
against the people of Jammu & Kashmir. They ask people for the votes in
the name of water, electricity, roads
etc. but then they sell these votes for
their salaries and luxuries from India,” he alleged.
“All these tactics and wickedness
have failed in the past and it will remain unsuccessful in the future also.
No power in the world can keep us
away from our freedom and the history is testimony of the fact that how
did the big powers surrendered in
front of the struggling nations,” he
added.
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C M Y K
SRINAGAR: Amid hectic efforts for formation of government in Jammu and Kashmir, CPI(M) today said BJP
is trying to "impose its political design" in the state
which should be resisted in the "interest of the unity"
of the state and safeguarding its special status.
"The formation of the government of Jammu and Kashmir
has become complicated because of the nature of the result
and a hung Assembly. The BJP, which benefited from the
polarization in in the Jammu region, is trying to impose its
political design in the formation of the government."
"This should be resisted in the interests of the unity of
the state and safeguarding its special status," a CPI(M)
statement said.
CPI(M) has one MLA in the newly-elected 87-member
Assembly. PDP, with 28 members, has emerged as the
single largest party while BJP has 25 seats, NC 15 and
Congress 12.
BJP is in talks to firm up a coalition government. "It
is imperative that a secular government is formed in
Jammu and Kashmir and the secular forces should rise
to the occasion keeping in mind the larger interests of
the unity and integrity of our country," CPI(M) said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is holding consultations with his party leaders of the state on
government formation in Jammu and Kashmir had
yesterday said that his party will play a "crucial" role
whoever forms the government.
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JAMMU: Fog today hit the rail and air
service as the winter capital recorded
season's minimum 3.8 Degree Celsius
temperature, throwing the normal life
out of gear.