Posts Tagged ‘Jammu’
Written by admin on 14 April 2012
Jammu, April 14 (IANS) Enthused by the drastic decline in militancy and an all- pervasive upbeat mood in the state, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is determined to raise the issue of repeal of AFSPA from some areas in the state at the chief ministers’ meet in New Delhi Monday, sources close to him said.
Omar Abdullah is set to tell the central government at the CMs’ meet on internal security that, in the matter of repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from some parts of the state, the goalposts ‘should not be shifted all the time whenever the issue is raised’, the sources said.
The AFSPA offers legal immunity to the security forces in their counter-terrorism operations.
Kashmir Valley is under AFSPA since 1990 along with a swathe of the border belt along the Line of Control, in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region, while the rest of Jammu region was brought under the Act in 2001.
‘AFSPA is not for maintaining law and order, it’s to fight militancy… and in those areas where militants have packed their bags and gone home, the special powers must go’ — the chief minister would argue, according to the sources.
Omar had promised in the state assembly during the budget session, which concluded on April 4, that AFSPA will go before he completes his tenure of six years and ‘some concrete steps would get underway this year itself’.
The chief minister was expected to tell the central government that this was an idea whose time had come — as the separatists are talking of participating in elections and the army has strengthened its counter-infiltration grid, and the man on the street wants to be left alone without the fear of the men in olive green looking over everywhere all the time, the sources added.
Tags: Jammu
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Written by admin on 13 April 2012
Jammu, April 13 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir built 872 km of roads connecting 240 habitats during 2011-12 as against a target of 750 km, an official said Friday.
Taking stock of the progress under the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting and said linking rural and remote areas with highways was all the more important in a state like Jammu and Kashmir with a hilly and difficult terrain, the official said.
According to an official spokesman, Abdullah asked the department to penalise and blacklist those contractors who indulged in unnecessary delay in the completion of schemes.
Abdullah equated ‘dependable road communication with economic prosperity’.
‘You should give exemplary punishment to such unscrupulous contractors who are responsible for delays and deprive people of the benefits of works,’ the official said, quoting the chief minister.
Some residents are not impressed with the government claim on rural road construction.
Mohammad Ashraf Naik of Kishtwar, 220 km north of Jammu, said: ‘A majority of these roads are only on paper and those that exist on ground are sub-standard. The areas that really need connectivity are overlooked.’
Tags: Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir
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Written by admin on 10 April 2012
Jammu, April 10 (IANS) An announcement on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will be made as soon as the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decided on the amendments, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Tuesday after a high-level meeting to review security in Jammu and Kashmir.
Chidambaram, on a daylong visit to Jammu during which he also visited the Vaishno Devi shrine, told reporters that the home ministry had proposed ‘three amendments to AFSPA and they are under consideration of the CCS’.
‘An announcement will be made as soon as decision is taken on it,’ Chidambaram said after chairing a meeting that also discussed a strategy for ‘consolidating peace of 2011′, the interlocutors report and security measures in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah pressed the minister to revoke AFSPA, which gives armed forces special powers, said informed sources after the meeting also attended by civil, police, paramilitary, intelligence and army officials.
He suggested that AFSPA be lifted from districts like Jammu, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Srinagar and Badgam in the Kashmir Valley.
According to the sources, the meeting was presented with graphs showing steady decline in militancy since 2010.
‘For the revocation of AFSPA, the graph of militancy is the first and last point to be seen. The data reflects steep and drastic decline in militancy. This is self speaking,’ said an official.
However, the army feels the situation is still volatile.
The state government also supported the lifting of more security bunkers from the Kashmir Valley this summer ‘to give more semblance of normalcy and peace’.
According to official statistics, 1,600 security bunkers have been erected in the state since 1990. About 80 bunkers, mostly from Srinagar, were removed last year. This year, there are plans to remove 25 more.
Abdullah, it is learnt, also said that the report of the interlocutors on the state be made public and its recommendations implemented. If not, such a process would lose credibility, he said at the meeting.
The home minister responded by saying that the report would be discussed by the union cabinet before making it public.
The panel of three interlocutors — journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former information commissioner M.M. Ansari — was formed in October 2010. It submitted the report in October 2011.
The meeting also took stock of the overall security scenario in the state, infiltration of militants from Pakistan, strategy to counter militancy and steps for synergy between security and intelligence agencies.
Chidambaram arrived here Tuesday morning for a day-long visit to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also pay obeisance at the Vaishno Devi shrine.
He began his visit by undertaking the journey to Vaishno Devi, about 50 km from here in the Trikuta hills. He boarded a chopper for Sanji Chhat and from there moved on foot to reach the shrine.
He was accompanied by Governor N.N. Vohra, who also heads the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board that manages the affairs of the shrine.
After visiting the shrine, the minister chaired the security meeting and later left for New Delhi.
Tags: Jammu
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Written by admin on 10 April 2012
Jammu, April 10 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah pressed Home Minister P. Chidambaram to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state, sources said Tuesday after a high level meeting to review security.
The meeting, chaired by Chidambaram and attended by civil, police, paramilitary, intelligence and army officials, also discussed a strategy for ‘consolidating the peace of 2011′, making public the interlocutors report on the state as well as security measures in the state.
According to official sources, Abdullah strongly advocated that the process of revoking AFSPA be started by lifting it from peaceful areas where the army has no operations.
He suggested that AFSPA, which gives armed forces in the state special powers, be lifted from districts like Jammu, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Srinagar and Badgam in the Kashmir Valley.
According to the sources, the meeting was presented with graphs showing steady decline in militancy since 2010.
‘For the revocation of AFSPA, the graph of militancy is the first and last point to be seen. The data reflects steep and drastic decline in militancy. This is self speaking,’ said an official who was present at the meeting.
However, the army is of the view that the situation is still volatile.
The state government also supported the lifting of more security bunkers from the Kashmir Valley this summer ‘to give more semblance of normalcy and peace’.
According to official statistics, 1,600 security bunkers have been erected in the state since 1990. About 80 bunkers, mostly from Srinagar, were removed last year. This year, there are plans to remove 25 more.
Abdullah, it is learnt, also said that the report of the interlocutors on the state be made public and its recommendations implemented. If not, such a process would lose credibility, he said at the meeting.
The panel of three interlocutors — journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former information commissioner M.M. Ansari — was formed in October 2010. It submitted the report in October 2011.
The meeting also took stock of the overall security scenario in the state, infiltration of militants from Pakistan, strategy to counter militancy and steps for synergy between security and intelligence agencies.
Chidambaram arrived here Tuesday morning for a day-long visit to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also pay obeisance at the Vaishno Devi shrine.
He began his visit by undertaking the journey to Vaishno Devi, about 50 km from here in the Trikuta hills. He boarded a chopper for Sanji Chhat and from there moved on foot to reach the shrine.
He was accompanied by Governor N.N. Vohra, who also heads the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board that manages the affairs of the shrine.
After visiting the shrine, the minister chaired the security meeting.
Tags: Jammu
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Written by admin on 10 April 2012
Jammu, April 10 (IANS) Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram arrived here Tuesday for a daylong visit to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also pay obeisance at the Vaishno Devi shrine.
Chidambaram began his visit by undertaking the journey to Vaishno Devi, about 50 km from here in the Trikuta hills. He boarded a chopper for Sanji Chhat and from there moved on foot to reach the shrine.
He was accompanied by Governor N.N. Vohra, who also heads the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board that manages the affairs of the shrine.
Sources said he would review the security situation in the state on returning from Vaishno Devi.
The controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), making public the interlocutors’ report on Kashmir and the requirement of paramilitary forces for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin June 25 are among the issues that might come up in talks between the minister and state government officials.
Tags: Jammu
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Written by admin on 09 April 2012
Jammu, April 9 (IANS) A meeting of Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling alliance’s coordination committee Monday focused on ways to step up development works across the state and strengthen democracy at the grassroots, but failed to agree on whether to contest the upcoming local bodies polls jointly or separately.
The coalition coordination committee reviewed the functioning of the National Conference-Congress government of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
The meeting was chaired by Pradesh Congress Committee President Saif-ud-Din Soz. He is head of the coalition coordination panel. It was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and former minister Mangat Ram Sharma from Congress side, while Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Law minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and former minister Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan attended from the National Conference side.
The review focused on the performance of the Omar Abdullah-led government in the past over three years, the achievements of holding of panchayat elections and the proposal to hold civic body polls in the urban areas and promulgation of the Public Services Guarantee Act (PGSA), which makes the officers accountable to the people on day-to-day issues concerning their lives, according to sources in the panel.
‘Our basic idea is to take a regular review of the performance of the government from all angles, development, peoples’ aspirations and how to strengthen the democracy at the grassroots level,’ one of the panel members told IANS. ‘There are many challenges ahead and how to overcome those was also discussed,’ a member said, requesting anonymity.
There were minor differences aired during the meeting as the National Conference and Congress leaders differed on the deadline of holding the urban local bodies’ polls. They also discussed how the new initiatives should be taken where the two ruling alliance partners are seen as speaking in one voice rather than giving vent to their differences in public, the sources told IANS.
The meeting assumes significance as the government is trying to read the pulse of the people before the local bodies polls. It, however, remained undecided whether the two parties would fight the polls jointly or separately.
‘That matter is yet to be decided and we hope to sort it out when we meet next,’ the member of the panel said.
Tags: Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir
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