Srinagar, Mar 31 : Urging people to exercise their franchise in favour of the Congress party candidates to ensure defeat of communal forces, the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President G.A. Mir has said that the upcoming Lok Sabha election has provided best opportunity to people to defeat the political exploitation on the part of BJP-PDP and other opportunist forces.

G A Mir said that Congress will continue to fight against the forces inimical to peace and development of the State. He also appealed the people to vote for Congress to keep communal forces at bay.

AICC Secretary Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan (MLA) also addressed the rallies and urged the people to forge unity on all fronts to ensure defeat of fascist and disruptive forces.

JKPCC President G.A. Mir while addressing series of election rallies in Bandipora and Dangarpora Sopore has expressed confidence that Congress will win the election in the Country and State with a thumping majority, it will ensure defeat of communal and fascist which are hell bent upon to divide people on religious and regional lines for the sake of coming into the power.

G.A. Mir was accompanied of senior party leaders including AICC secretary Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Haji Abdul Rashid Dar, Gulam Nabi Monga, Usman Majeed, Farooq Andrabi, Haji Farooq Mir (Candidate), Imtiyaz Parray, Umer Kakroo, Irshad Wani, Nazir Lone and others.

Addressing the gatherings, G.A. Mir said the upcoming Lok Sabha election was a direct fight between communal and fascist forces in the country. “People should not forget as to what BJP has done during their five years rule in the country, they were feeling insecure under BJP rule in the country,” he said.

“BJP has brought miseries and exploited people on various counts for votes, but at the same time, Mir felt confident that people will defeat the politics of exploitation on the part of BJP and other forces to ensure victory of secular forces in the country.”

Lashing out at the previous PDP-BJP Government over adding woes to people, G.A. Mir reminded that since the PDP-BJP assumed power in the State, things have gone from bad to worse, bloodshed, harassment of innocent people has been the hallmark of PDP-BJP coalition, despite the contradiction in their approach they enjoyed poor and continued to fool people on sensitive issues.

“I want to remind you (people) about the promises made by PDP in Kashmir and BJP in Jammu during the election in 2014 which have fallen flat,” he said. “What happened to those promises, have they fulfilled any single promise during their rule,” Mir questioned and asked the people to give a befitting reply to PDP-BJP and other opportunist forces for exploiting them and playing with their emotions, from time to time.

“BJP is in habit of playing religious & emotional cards for electoral gains and emphasized the people to defeat their nefarious designs to ensure victory of Congress party with a thumping majority,” Mir tells people.

“JKPCC president felt confident that Congress will form the Government at Centre and will get majority in State in Jammu and Kashmir in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” he added and emphasized the people to forge unity and ensure victory of Congress candidates, for the fact, it is the Congress alone which has the capability of safeguarding the interests of the people, besides ensuring that they do not suffer further on account of employment and others facilities they deserve.

Addressing the rallies Haji Abdul Rashid Dar, Gulam Nabi Monga, and Usman Majeed sought votes for Congress candidate Haji Farooq Mir and appealed the people to ensure his victory with a thumping majority, as that, it is the Congress Party which has serve the people and will remain committed to serve them to the best of its ability.

On this occasion prominent political leader from north Kashmir Deen Mohammad Cheeta joined Congress. Congress leadership welcomed him. 

New Delhi, Mar 31 : The Supreme Court of India has admitted to hearing Government Dental College Hospital, Srinagar, corruption case following the PIL filed by a renowned RTI activist Dr. Sheikh Ghulam Rasool through his counsel Advocate Gagan Deep Shar.

Pertinently, an RTI activist, Tanveer Hussain had gathered information through RTI regarding purchases of various dental machinery and equipment made by college authorities including “Digital Panoramic X-ray machine” and “Complete Vertical Rack Sterilization system”.

An FIR under No.33 of 2012 dated 18.12.2012 U/s 5(2) P.C Act Svt. 2006 r/w 120-B R.P.C was registered by the Vigilance Organization Kashmir against the accused Dr.Riyaz Farooq, Principal Govt. Dental College Srinagar in his capacity as Chairman purchase committee no.3 along with other members of the purchase committee in criminal conspiracy with V.L. Narayan of M/s Villa India for procurement of machinery at an exorbitant price for pecuniary benefits to one another causing a loss of over 16 lacs to the state exchequers.

Dr. Reyaz Farooq had filed a writ petition being OWP no.1259 of 2015 before the High Court U/A 226 of the Constitution of India of Jammu and Kashmir with section 561 – A Cr.P.C seeking issuance of writ of certiorari quashing the report of vigilance organization FIR No.33/2012 registered at P.S VOK and communication dated 20.04.2015 vide which vigilance clearance was not accorded to him. After filing the objections, High Court vide its order dated 23.07.2015 stayed the FIR No.33/ 2012 and investigation thereof.

The Special Leave Petition to Appeal of the noted RTI activist and Chairperson J&K RTI Movement is against the Final Judgment and Impugned Order dated 12.11.2018 passed by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar in OWP No.1259 of 2015, whereby the High Court has allowed the petition, thereby quashing the preliminary enquiry, FIR No.33 of 2012 and the consequent proceedings arising of the said FIR for want of sanction u/s 190 Cr.P.C.

Following Special Leave Petition dated 12.11.2018 by Dr. Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, the Supreme Court listed the case for hearing in July 2019. 

Srinagar, Mar 31 : Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Sunday said that Article 35A and Article 370 are the Articles of trust and any thought of tinkering with them will alter the relationship between J&K and the union of India.

Reacting to Arun Jaitley’s remarks on Article 35A, Sajad said that all provisions of the Constitution of India except Article 1 and Article 370 have been applied to J&K State through Presidential Orders and not through amendments under Art 368 which requires an approval by two-third majority of both Houses of Parliament.

He said that 35-A is in no way an impediment to investment and development in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Investors are not willing to set up industry, hotel & private educational institutions in Kashmir due to the prevailing security situation and economic uncertainties attached to it,” he said

He further said that J&K is not the only State where non- locals are prohibited from purchasing land.

“All North Eastern states and even Himachal Pradesh have laws prohibiting non-locals from purchasing land. Why are politicians in New Delhi only against J&K’s special status? What are their views on Art 371-A to 371-K which guarantee provisions like 370 as applicable to North Eastern States? Why do they forget that transfer of immovable property is prohibited in NE States and parts of HP as well?”, he asked.

Reiterating that Article 35-A and Article 370 are Articles of trust, Sajad said even thoughts of tinkering with these Articles will be a sin.

“Article 35A is a matter of faith and dignity for the people of the J&K through which the Constitution of India guarantees to safeguard the special identity and unique status of Jammu & Kashmir. In matters of pride and identity, profit and loss is immaterial. Can a country allow a foreign country to undermine its sovereignty and national pride just for the sake of some monetary gains?” he asked. 

The court martial proceedings against Major Leetul Gogoi, who was at the centre of the 2017 ‘human shield’ controversy, have been completed and he may face reduction in seniority as a punishment for “fraternising” with a local woman in Srinagar last year, officials said.

The court martial process against his driver, Sameer Malla, who was facing charges of unauthorised absence from the unit, was also completed recently in the Kashmir valley and he is likely to be given a “severe reprimand”.
Malla, recruited in the Territorial Army in 2017, was posted with 53 sector of Rashtriya Rifles, a counter-insurgency force fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

After completion of Summary of Evidence against Major Gogoi and his driver in early February followed by the initiation of court martial proceedings, the two men have been held guilty on two counts — “fraternising” with a local in spite of instructions to the contrary and “being away from the place of duty while in operational area”, the officials said.

Statements of the accused as well as other witnesses were recorded by the Army court and the punishment, which will be vetted by the Army headquarters, has been given, they added.

The Army Court of Inquiry (CoI) had recommended disciplinary action against Major Gogoi after it indicted him as well as his driver for the Srinagar hotel incident on May 23 last year. Major Gogoi was detained by police following an altercation with the hotel staff when he was allegedly trying to enter inside with an 18-year-old woman. The woman had expressed her unwillingness to depose during the court martial proceedings and informed the Army authorities that she had given a statement before a magistrate and the same should be treated as her final stand.

The woman had also stated that she had gone out with Major Gogoi of her own will, besides disclosing that she had become a friend of the Army officer through his fake Facebook profile, where he had named himself Ubaid Arman.

Immediately after the incident came to light last year, Army chief Bipin Rawat had said that exemplary punishment would be given to Major Gogoi if he was found guilty of “any offence”.

“If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action,” General Rawat had said.

Major Gogoi hit the headlines after he tied a man to a jeep purportedly as a shield against stone pelters during polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election on April 9, 2017.(HT)

A two-page suicide note, purportedly written and dropped by a Hizbul Mujahideen bomber and exclusively accessed by The Quint, makes it clear that the car blast near the Banihal Railway Station on Srinagar-Jammu highway, on Saturday 30 March, was an attempt to repeat the infamous Pulwama fidayeen attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

It failed—not because of meticulous surveillance by security and intelligence agencies but due to the good luck of the ten personnel on board the targeted bus in the middle of a 46-vehicle Srinagar-Jammu convoy.

More than forty CRPF men had been left dead in the 14 February strike at Lethapora, Pulwama, that virtually brought India and Pakistan to the point of war as, for the first time after 1971, the Indian Air Force crossed the LoC on 26 February and strafed the Jaish-e-Mohammed installation at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. There was retaliation from Pakistan on 27 February that, however, ended with repatriation of the seized IAF pilot Abhinandan.

Breach of Post-Pulwama MHA Guidelines

With the strategic and security experts debating the ‘deterrent’ in television news studios, indigenous terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen seems to have meticulously planned a repetition of the Pulwama blast.

A Hyundai Santro plying along the convoy overtook a number of vehicles in the convoy and caught fire with a low-intensity blast. Eyewitnesses spotted a suspected militant jumping out of the burning Santro and fleeing towards a hamlet. The windshields of a bus suffered mild damage, yet nobody was killed or injured.

“Today, I want to share something with you all through social media. I hope you will appreciate my feelings and pray for me. By the time this message from me will reach you, I will be enjoying my arrival in Allah’s Jannat,” Owais Amin, who was supposed to die much like Adil Dar of Pulwama, recorded in the note. As his car failed to blow up with the primary blast, he escaped and got a fresh lease of life.

Recent Provocation: Rizwan’s Custodial Killing

The suicide note in Urdu, but written in English transliteration, identifies the bomber as Owais Amin. It selectively refers to the history of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, paints India as a ‘tyrant occupier’ and claims that failure to hold Plebiscite in Kashmir had driven many of the Kashmiris, including Owais Amin, to ‘extremism’.
Of the recent stimulants, it mentions alleged custodial killing of a private school teacher Rizwan Assad Pandit who died in police custody on 19 March when he was under interrogation for his alleged involvement in the Lethapora blast.

“I want to know from the sensible Indian people as to why Rizwan Assad Pandit was martyred. He had neither touched a gun nor gone to across the border. He was an innocent Kashmiri youth. This is why I preferred death to life and I hold it as my good luck. A Muslim should live like Sultan Saladin Ayyubi (the 12th century Muslim military expedition hero who defeated Crusaders in a series of wars). A dignified life of few years is better than a jackal’s life of hundred years,”the note reads.

Adil Dar, the driver of the Pulwama strike who belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed, had also left a similar message for the Kashmiris, recorded in an audio clip that went viral on social media after his death.
Before that, the only such message from a Kashmiri fidayeen militant had come out on 1 January 2018 when Fardeen Khanday of Tral died in an attack on a CRPF camp in Awantipora. “By the time, this message will reach you, I will be enjoying my arrival in Allah’s Jannat,” each one of them had said.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh, however, maintained that the investigating agencies were still verifying veracity of the purported suicide note. He said that the experts, who were part of an elite team headed by DIG Doda-Ramban Bhim Sen Tuti, were examining witnesses and analysing the material seized from the spot. He said that the NIA team had visited the spot and they were “very much on the job”.

“One prominent militant by the name of Owais Malik exists in South Kashmir. But we are yet exploring if it was the same militant or a different one or neither who had caused the blast yesterday and escaped,” DGP said.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, MK Sinha, spoke to this correspondent upon landing of his helicopter in Banihal on Sunday. “I have reached with a team and it will take us two hours to make an inspection and have a meeting,” he asserted, without sharing details of the investigation.

Crucial CCTV Footage Obtained

DGP Singh revealed to The Quint that the police had succeeded to obtain a private video that identifies the Santro following the CRPF convoy towards Banihal. The official CCTVs installed at Jawahar Tunnel do not show any suspected vehicle following the convoy from Srinagar side.

To a great extent, it also identifies its driver. We observed that it was plying with a J&K number-plate which turned out to be fake. Thereafter, we took out its chassis number. The owner of the vehicle of that chassis number surfaced in Hisar, Haryana. We verified his antecedents but found nothing amiss. Now, we have taken out the Santro’s engine number that, we are sure, can lead us to its owner and must help us identify the terrorist. I am sure we will achieve a

According to IGP Sinha, the Santro car was fitted with two LPG cylinders—one big and small—and contained petrol, jerrycan, gelatin sticks, urea and sulphur, the material which is used for fabricating Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to cause a blast.

The commander of the CRPF convoy, SS Yadav, whose area of operation falls in Banihal area of Srinagar-Jammu highway, was heard sharing with another officer that the material found in a sack was a low-combustion explosive. He was not clear whether it was RDX or urea. However, many officers believed it was loose urea that failed to burn the bus.

he DGP revealed there were two IEDs in separate tiffin carriers in the car. One of them went off. However, the car caught fire and it failed to detonate other IEDs.

We have seized a live IED in a tiffin carrier. It had caught fire but did not go off. Besides, there was one small LPG cylinder and one commercial LPG cylinder in the car. The main blast did not take place. It was sheer good luck of the targeted personnel that all the blasts did not occur simultaneously as per the terrorists’ plan.

The DGP disclosed that the suicide bomber had overtaken seven to eight vehicles and attempted to hit a bus in the middle of the convoy. He admitted that it was a major security lapse for which all the responsible agencies, particularly the CRPF that escorts the convoys and provides Road Opening Parties (ROPs) on the highway, would be made accountable.

(The Quint)