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Maharaja would have liked self rule, Baig tells Jammu 11/16/2009 12:04:25 AM ZAFAR CHOUDHARY Jammu, Nov 15: No would have spoken so high and nice of the last Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh as the Peoples Democratic Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig today did. The event was a civil society interaction on party’s self rule proposal and reference to the Dogra ruler was to drive home a point that what Peoples Democratic Party is today projecting as a formula to settle the Kashmir problem was originally a concept of Maharaja Hari Singh –‘self rule’. Addressing a 150 odd audience here this afternoon, the oratory asset of Peoples Democratic Party championed cause of Jammu in his nearly hour long speech as no other pro-Jammu scholar like Prof Hari Om or politician like Prof Chaman Lal Gupta could have done. The remedy, Baig suggested, self rule. How? Read on. “Despite pocketing 24 per cent higher development spending then Kashmir, there is sense of deprivation and discrimination in Jammu which is genuine too”, said Baig as he went on to explain: “the political power has always remained in the hands of...   READ MORE

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‘J&K to be electricity surplus, cash rich by end of 12th FYP’ 11/16/2009 12:04:03 AM EARLY TIMES REPORT New Delhi, Nov 15: If state government’s presentation at the Power Minister’s conference in New Delhi is anything to go by, Jammu and Kashmir can be not only a power surplus state but also one of the richest states in the country by selling electricity. The presentation made here today by Minister of State for Power Shabir Ahmad Khan ambitiously claimed that hydro-electric projects totaling 6760 Mega Watts are being tapped till the end of 12th Five Year Plan. It may be mentioned here that total peak hour power demand in Jammu and Kashmir is around 2100 Mega Watts and availability, out of own resources, is not more than 1000 MWs. Tapping 6700 MW potential will be thr...   READ MORE   No ‘idea of Kashmir’ without Pandits: Pillai 11/16/2009 12:03:28 AM Early Times Report New Delhi, Nov 15: The Union Home Secretary GK Pillai today observed that it is hard to imagine the very idea of Kashmir without Kashmiri Pandits. Regretting over the events of past 20 years Pillai said internal displacement of the community should not have happened. Pillai, who was speaking at a one day conclave of a prominent Kashmiri body said, "One cannot imagine a Kashmir without Kashmiri Pandits in them," inviting a round of applause from about 400 community members who had come for the event. "Internal displacement of Kashmiri Pandits should not have happened," Pillai said during his address at the All India Kashmiri Samaj conclave. He also said it was not p...   READ MORE   Azad, others to continue at party posts 11/16/2009 12:03:05 AM Early Times Report New Delhi, Nov 15: Though many of her own general secretaries dislike the infringement of the one person-one post norm, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has shown no hurry to relieve ministers of their charge at the All India Congress Committee. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, Veerapa Moily, A.K. Antony, V. Narayanswamy and Prithviraj Chavan continue to be in charge of states even as they shoulder heavy ministerial responsibilities. Some of the general secretaries looking after only organisational work have reservations over the current arrangement but they cannot express their views openly. In private conversations, however, they say that the party leaders should em...   READ MORE   MLA makes point for self respect, first 11/16/2009 12:02:36 AM SANDEEP BHAT Jammu, Nov 15: While the Peoples Democratic Party today sought to introduce its self rule proposal for debate in the civil society in Jammu, its only two elected legislators from the region walked out of the seminar hall in an apparent message that self respect comes first. Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan (from Mendhar) and Choudhary Zulfikar Ali (from Darhal), PDP’s only two MLAs from Jammu visibly found themselves out of place at party’s civil society seminar on self rule when they found themselves sitting among the audience while the new entrants taking seats at the podium. They waited for few minutes till Muzaffar Hussain Baig started his lecture on self rule. As Baig beg...   READ MORE   Army rescues stranded civilians on Leh NH 11/16/2009 12:02:15 AM Early Times Report Udhampur, Nov 15: The Indian Army literally played as angels for a number of civil vehicles stranded near the Zojila pass on Srinagar- Leh- highway, due to the untimely and unexpectedly heavy snowfall of the past few days. About a hundred and fifty civil vehicles, mostly trucks of Kashmir had been virtually left ‘out in the cold’ at Gumri, just short of the Zojila Pass, on the Leh-Srinagar highway. The vehicles were stranded for over three days due to the heavy snowfall and dangerous condition of the road between Gumri and Zojila. The Indian Army’s Drass Brigade swung into action on Saturday to bring much needed succor to the beleaguered civilians. A convoy of militar...   READ MORE   Tribal yet a breed apart Engineer’s elevation elates Gujjars 11/16/2009 12:01:57 AM Early Times Report JAMMU, NOV 15: Since yore communities like Gujjars, Bakarwals and similarly disadvantaged tribe have been pushed to the margins of respectable occupations, trades and professions. Thus, they were put under reserved categories that could enable them to overcome historical handicaps. Yet, getting elevated to top administrative positions in state services still remains a dream for many among them. Notwithstanding this, a history of sorts has been created by Mr Asghar Ali Majaz and Mr Qasim Choudhary as they now become Development Commissioner (Power) and Chief Engineer (EM & RE) for the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Both belong to the Scheduled Tribe and have risen through r...   READ MORE   …meets Pak diplomat 11/16/2009 12:01:33 AM ABID SHAH NEW DELHI, NOV 15: All Party Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, during a day-long jaunt here today reportedly met Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr Shahid Malik. Mirwaiz is thought to be a moderate voice among Kashmir’s separatist leaders and an ardent supporter of dialogue to resolve the vexed issue of Kashmir. He was with the High Commissioner for about for about four hours today. The Mirwaiz also held discussion about the Kashmir issue with long time family friend Mr Bhushan Bazaz who heads Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Forum. Later, Mr Bazaz told Early Times that the Mirwaiz came last night on an unscheduled visit from Kishtwar and remained busy in the ...   READ MORE   Mirwaiz lieutenants again in the eye of a storm Efforts underway to isolate Prof Gani, Bilal Lone, Abbas Ansari, Fazal Haq 11/16/2009 12:01:13 AM AHMED ALI FAYYAZ SRINAGAR, Nov 15: Much like last year’s turbulence on controversial allotment of land to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, faces of moderate politics in the Kashmiri separatist camp are once again being isolated not only by Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference but also by many in Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s own conglomerate. Obviously encouraged by the space created by Omar Abdullah-led coalition government for Mr Geelani, pro-unification leaders like Shabir Ahmed Shah and Nayeem Ahmed Khan have begun efforts to neutralize the Hurriyat (M) foursome---Prof Abdul Gani, Bilal Gani Lone, Maulana Abbas Ansari and Fazal Haq Qureishi---amid speculations of ...   READ MORE

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