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)

Kupwara 31 March: Urging those who boycott the elections and call casting votes as betrayal from the cause, AIP parliamentary candidate from North Kashmir Er. Rasheed has asked masses and sensible voices to revisit their strategies and not play down the negative impact of huge election boycott.

During his vigorous mass campaign Er. Rasheed on Sunday addressed public gatherings at Herri, Laderwan Kawari, Awoora, Hayhama, Drugmulla, Lolab,  Sogam, Wawoora, Warnow Lolab, Lalpora, Surigam, Kanthpora and other places and urged masses to come out in huge numbers and vote for AIP to make a positive change on the political spectrum of J&K.

Er. Rasheed said “The proxies of New Delhi including PDP, NC and PC have not only created traditional cadres and have full backing of state apparatus, AIP is contesting election against all odds and is truly trying to make efforts to tell the world truth about Kashmir and Kashmir issue.

AIP promises to speak not only the truth but not to compromise on the aspirations, sentiments and sacrifices of people. Non-participation by sensible voices will ensure victory of murderers, exploiters and anti-Kashmiri forces. There is a huge need to change the strategy to make world community and Indian masses heard and understand the reality about Kashmir issue.

It may look strange but the fact is that NC, PDP and PC being the biggest beneficiaries of election boycott are doing everything to ensure that people don’t vote for a change”.

Er. Rasheed thanked masses in Kupwara and Lolab areas for turning in huge numbers despite the dirty tricks being played by so called regional parties and assured people that he will represent them with commitment, sincerity and dedication.

Er. Rasheed said “While Peoples conference preferred to get engaged in horse trading to grab power, NC and PDP cried victim seeing their dynasty rule under threat, without introspecting why people started hating them.

Er. Rasheed said those who invented PSA, gifted power projects to New Delhi, imposed AFSPA and are architects of all miseries, rather confessing their guilt’s are playing politics of exploitation and hypocrisy”. 

Stating that the undemocratic measures taken by the Central government are pushing the people of the state into a corner, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said that need of the hour is that the Government of India must stop this muscular policy and understand that dialogue is the only way forward.

Mehbooba while addressing workers conventions in Pattan and Sonawari stated that it was the agenda of the PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed that accorded a sigh of relief to the people of the state after 2002 elections.

She said that prior to that, dialogue with Pakistan, reconciliatory approach and pitching for peace used to be considered as a taboo within the political landscape.

She said that it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who initiated an era of reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir and laid foundation of the ideology that declares that the state must become a bridge of friendship between India and Pakistan.

The Former Chief Minister said that the previous coalition of PDP and BJP was dictated by the numbers of the election results in which both the parties were at par and forming coalition was a brave attempt to engage with the new India which is dominated by the Hindutva forces.

Mehbooba said that the PDP successfully resisted for four long years the policies of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and that it has now become visible that how the BJP is trying to divide the state, divide communities and undermine the vital institutions of the state. “One could imagine at present what havoc would the BJP have created, if it would have been left alone after the 2014 polls,” said PDP President.

Mehbooba, however, said that when there was no presence of BJP in 1996 in Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah with sixty MLAs aligned unnecessarily with the BJP with a sole objective to secure a junior ministerial berth for his son.

She added that soon after Dr Farooq joined hands with the BJP, he gave away whatever was left of state’s economic prospects in the shape of power projects to the centre. She added that Farooq Abdullah consolidated forces of official terror and patronised and promoted them while making BJP Halaal in Kashmir politics.

The PDP President Mehbooba Mufti in her address also expressed serious concern over the prevailing situation in the state and said that the repressive measures and iron fist approach are being rigorously implemented with common masses threatened, intimated and harassed by the government at large. She reiterated PDP’s stand vis-a-vis banning the socio-political and religious organisation- Jamaat-e-Islami, terming such a measure as undemocratic, unconstitutional and an attempt to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims all across.

The PDP President added that her party will remain in the forefront to oppose any move aimed at harassing, suppressing and targeting the people of state and that the policies being adopted by the central leadership towards the state are turning the already crises ridden region into a war zone.

Senior PDP leader Dr Mehboob Beg also spoke on the occasion and asked people to strengthen the PDP and support it during the coming elections by voting overwhelmingly in its favour. (KNS)

Asia’s largest tulip garden, which has about 12 lakh tulips of 51 varieties in its lap on the banks of world famous Dal lake in the summer capital, Srinagar, was thrown open to visitors from Sunday, marking the beginning of new tourism season in the Valley.

The Tulip Garden in the backdrop of mighty Zabarwan range of mountains, was thrown open for public, including tourists and locals, on Sunday, where about 3000 people visited the garden on the first day.