WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 TIMES NATION | Politics...
1
Aarti.Singh@timesgroup.com Haal Pulwama: In 2008, Prime Mi- nister Manmohan Singh had anno- unced a Rs 1,600-crore package under which around 1,500 youth were emp- loyed with the state government and lodged in five transit camps across the Valley. But, today, behind the high walls of one of the camps at Haal Pul- wama, rows of insipid quarters with closed doors and windows face each other uninvitingly. There’s little sign of a bustling habitation in the transit camp of 100- odd Kashmiri Pandits, brought to the Valley six years ago to “undo” the community’s ethnic cleansing. Around 300,000 Pandits were driven out in 1990 after Islamist insurgents killed several community members. In Kashmir’s April-May bloom, when everyone is out, the Haal camp residents suffer self-confinement, depression and fear. “We don’t go out. Every time so- mething happens in the Valley, the camp gets attacked by stone-pelters. We’re made to feel unwelcome. Whe- re shall we go?” asked a Pandit wo- man. She lives with her husband and two children in the transit camp, 40 km from Srinagar. Hit twice, first as refugees in Jam- mu in one room tenements, and now in a transit camp in their own land, most inmates like the young woman have not had the courage to visit their home towns in another part of the Valley in the last six years. “Our life is like a double penalty. We’re under house arrest. We don’t even let our children step out of the compound once they return from schools,” the woman said. “How secure can one fe- el when one hears young boys shou- ting ‘Bharat ka jo saath dega, woh gaddar hai, woh gaddar hai’ (suppor- ter of India is a traitor, a traitor!) on the streets?” she asked. “For us, there’s no freedom of ex- pression. No freedom to wear what we’d wear outside Kashmir... or to express our political opinions or patriotism. One of us was threate- ned to shut up in a discussion among colleagues recently. But the majori- ty in Kashmir can abuse India or ex- press their love for Pakistan and azaadi,” said the mother of two in English. She, however, added that the older generation in Kashmir was friendly and supportive. A couple of rows away, (first na- me withheld) Koul sipping Kashmi- ri tea, described the camp life as a si- tuation similar to 1989. “It’s the same hostility. Last year, they pelted stones at us even on Di- wali. Two years ago, we noticed a do- zen armed militants inspecting the camp from outside,” Koul said. The larger issue, he said, is the same old contest between religious and natio- nal identities. “For them, we’re Hin- du Indians. Syed Geelani (separa- tist) keeps dubbing transit camps as RSS clusters. It’s stressful because such campaigns against us generate hostility,” Koul said. Most mothers in the camp compla- ined about the Islamicised education in private schools and frequent shut downs. “There are Islamic prayers in the assembly and class on Islamiyat. Although, our children are exempt from both, they sit outside classrooms and hear everything out of curiosity. Employment in Kashmir has dis- rupted family lives of most camp in- mates. Many married couples are separated by the arrangement. “This is a divorce imposed by the sta- te. We couldn’t make ends meet with one salary. Private jobs in Jammu didn’t pay enough. So I took up the job. Now, one of my one kids is with his father in Jammu and other one is with me,” a woman said. Koul said the camp had reached a “threshold” and was on the verge of petitioning the government for their transfer out of the Valley. “We can’t li- ve in this dungeon perpetually,” he sa- id. The state’s corrective experiment, which has no parallel in the subconti- nent’s post-independence history, se- ems to have fallen apart. UPA’s ` 1,600Cr Plan To Resettle Pandits In Valley Gives Rise To Ghost Towns Set up to heal, it’s now camp of fear Vishwa.Mohan@timesgroup.com New Delhi: The water resource ministry has prepared a detailed reply to the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) assuring that the area of Panna reserve which will be inundated under the Ken-Betwa river linking project does not ha- ve a tiger population and care will be taken to en- sure minimum displacement of vultures while going ahead with the ambitious scheme. The project is intended to alleviate the chro- nic water shortage in Bundelkhand. Though the key statutory body under the Wildlife Protection Act has expressed concerns over aspects of the Ken-Betwa river linking project in Madhya Pra- desh and Uttar Pradesh, the likely impact on wild cats might be limited as tigers are seen in other parts of the Panna reserve, sources said. Water resources minister Uma Bharati has incorporated assurances in response to the bo- ard’s report to the ministry which flagged how the project would affect the tiger reserve and vultures if forests were diverted for the river linking project. Ken-Betwa linking won’t hit Panna tigers, says water min FROZEN LIVES: Inside the high walls of one of the camps at Haal Pulwama, rows of insipid quarters with closed doors and windows face each other uninvitingly. And the few residents of the transit camp suffer self-confinement, depression and fear Abdul Qadir TNN Gaya: Suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, the mother of Rocky Yadav who is in jail for al- legedly shooting a teenager, sur- rendered before a court on Tues- day after evading the law for six days, and was formally charged with violating Bihar’s new liqu- or prohibition law. Breaking it can invite fine of up to Rs 10 lakh and a jail term of 10 years. Rocky’s MLC mother in jail for violating liquor ban New Delhi: “Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji is like my brother. He as- ked me ‘Didi, can I take your bike’? So I gave it to him,” Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, discharged in the 2008 Male- gaon blast case, told the National In- vestigation Agency (NIA) in her state- ment. “I didn’t attend any meeting for the planning of any attack for which I was arrested by Maharashtra ATS. I was framed by the police,” she further said. The statement is part of the chargesheet filed by the agency on Friday, which sought to drop MCOCA charges against all the accused while giving a clean chit to Thakur and five others on the basis of “insufficient evidence”. The NIA has claimed that the LML Freedom motorbike, origi- nally belonging to Thakur, was with Kalsangra for almost two years before the blast in September 2008. The agen- cy backed its assertion with the state- ments of witnesses who claimed that the bike was with Kalsangra for long, who sent it for repairs and regularly used it before a bomb was planted on it. Officials said Thakur never asked Kalsangra to return the bike. The NIA chargesheet cited 12-13 additional witnesses whose state- ments, the agency claimed, were igno- red by the Maharashtra ATS. ‘Brother’ Ramji wanted the bike, I gave it: Sadhvi Neeraj.Chauhan@timesgroup.com Bilal Bahadur Bharti Jain & Omer Farooq Khan TNN New Delhi: The NIA has got In- terpol red corner notices (RCNs) issued against Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) chief Maula- na Masood Azhar and his brot- her Abdul Rauf, both based in Pakistan, for masterminding the January 2 fidayeen attack at Pathankot airbase. Sources said the process for issuance of RCNs against the two Pathan- kot attack handlers, Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, was also on. Both Masood and Rauf alrea- dy have RCNs pending against them in other cases. While Maso- od is subject of an RCN in the 2002 Parliament attack case, Rauf faces an RCN in the IC-814 hijack case. Pakistan is yet to ex- ecute these arrest warrants. The fresh RCNs against Az- har and Rauf were issued after NIA secured an “open-ended” non-bailable warrants against them for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror strike on the strategic IAF base at Pathan- kot on the intervening night of January 1 and 2. These will get attached to the existing Interpol notices. Rauf is charged with a mo- re direct role in the Pathankot conspiracy. There’s a video clip of him owning up to the at- tacks and congratulating “his boys” for its successful execu- tion, uploaded on JeM-linked websites rangonoor.com an- dalqalamonline.com, after the fidayeen strike. “The voice in this clip has been established to be that of Rauf. We have wit- nesses to identify it,” said an NIA officer. NIA had sought vo- ice samples of Azhar and three others from Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which visited India in March to probe the Pathankot attack. Kashif Jaan, the alleged handler of Pathankot terrorists, had spoken to them while they had entered the Indian territory and he had dropped them till the border. Shahid Latif, another handler, who was released by the Indian government in May 2010, had prepared the four men for the attack, apart from provi- ding them with weapons and other articles, as first reported by TOI on Tuesday. Pakistani authorities and media were tight-lipped about the red-corner notice. “We’ve not yet received any such notice from Interpol. Ac- cording to our information, In- dia’s NIA had sought red cor- ner notice against Masood and others. Such sensitive issue is not conveyed through media. There are official procedures for such engagements,” said Nafees Zakaria, Pakistan’s fo- reign office spokesperson. Since the government’s cla- im in the aftermath of the Pat- hankot attack that the JeM chief was taken into protective custo- dy, nothing was heard about Ma- sood’s whereabouts. In March, China had blocked an Indian move at the UN while putting it on a “technical hold” to declare Masood a global terrorist. JeM was formed by Masood in 2000 following a split in Har- kut-ul-Mujahideen. Interpol issues fresh notices against Azhar, brother Rauf A jawan stands guard outside the Pathankot airbase in this file photo. The process to get red corner notices issued against the two Pathankot attack handlers, Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, is also on, said sources New Delhi: Senior IPS officer Satish Verma, who was a member of the special investigation team (SIT) that probed the Ishrat Jehan case, has been served a show-cause notice alleging “misconduct” and “unauthorised absence” from duty. PTI IPS officer who probed Ishrat case gets notice 11 THE TIMES OF INDIA, LUCKNOW WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 TIMES NATION | Politics & Policy
-
Upload
truonghuong -
Category
Documents
-
view
216 -
download
2
Transcript of WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 TIMES NATION | Politics...
Haal Pulwama: In 2008, Prime Mi-nister Manmohan Singh had anno-unced a Rs 1,600-crore package underwhich around 1,500 youth were emp-loyed with the state government andlodged in five transit camps acrossthe Valley. But, today, behind the highwalls of one of the camps at Haal Pul-wama, rows of insipid quarters withclosed doors and windows face eachother uninvitingly.
There’s little sign of a bustlinghabitation in the transit camp of 100-odd Kashmiri Pandits, brought tothe Valley six years ago to “undo”the community’s ethnic cleansing.Around 300,000 Pandits were drivenout in 1990 after Islamist insurgentskilled several community members.
In Kashmir’s April-May bloom,when everyone is out, the Haal campresidents suffer self-confinement,depression and fear.
“We don’t go out. Every time so-mething happens in the Valley, thecamp gets attacked by stone-pelters.We’re made to feel unwelcome. Whe-re shall we go?” asked a Pandit wo-man. She lives with her husbandand two children in the transitcamp, 40 km from Srinagar.
Hit twice, first as refugees in Jam-mu in one room tenements, and nowin a transit camp in their own land,most inmates like the young womanhave not had the courage to visit theirhome towns in another part of the
Valley in the last six years. “Our lifeis like a double penalty. We’re underhouse arrest. We don’t even let ourchildren step out of the compoundonce they return from schools,” thewoman said. “How secure can one fe-el when one hears young boys shou-ting ‘Bharat ka jo saath dega, wohgaddar hai, woh gaddar hai’ (suppor-ter of India is a traitor, a traitor!) onthe streets?” she asked.
“For us, there’s no freedom of ex-pression. No freedom to wear whatwe’d wear outside Kashmir... or toexpress our political opinions or
patriotism. One of us was threate-ned to shut up in a discussion amongcolleagues recently. But the majori-ty in Kashmir can abuse India or ex-press their love for Pakistan andazaadi,” said the mother of two inEnglish. She, however, added thatthe older generation in Kashmirwas friendly and supportive.
A couple of rows away, (first na-me withheld) Koul sipping Kashmi-ri tea, described the camp life as a si-tuation similar to 1989.
“It’s the same hostility. Last year,they pelted stones at us even on Di-
wali. Two years ago, we noticed a do-zen armed militants inspecting thecamp from outside,” Koul said. Thelarger issue, he said, is the same oldcontest between religious and natio-nal identities. “For them, we’re Hin-du Indians. Syed Geelani (separa-tist) keeps dubbing transit camps asRSS clusters. It’s stressful becausesuch campaigns against us generatehostility,” Koul said.
Most mothers in the camp compla-ined about the Islamicised educationin private schools and frequent shutdowns. “There are Islamic prayers inthe assembly and class on Islamiyat.Although, our children are exemptfrom both, they sit outside classroomsand hear everything out of curiosity.
Employment in Kashmir has dis-rupted family lives of most camp in-mates. Many married couples areseparated by the arrangement.“This is a divorce imposed by the sta-te. We couldn’t make ends meet withone salary. Private jobs in Jammudidn’t pay enough. So I took up thejob. Now, one of my one kids is withhis father in Jammu and other one iswith me,” a woman said.
Koul said the camp had reached a“threshold” and was on the verge ofpetitioning the government for theirtransfer out of the Valley. “We can’t li-ve in this dungeon perpetually,” he sa-id. The state’s corrective experiment,which has no parallel in the subconti-nent’s post-independence history, se-ems to have fallen apart.
UPA’s ̀̀ 1,600Cr Plan To Resettle Pandits In Valley Gives Rise To Ghost Towns
Set up to heal, it’s now camp of fear
New Delhi: The water resource ministry hasprepared a detailed reply to the National Boardfor Wildlife (NBWL) assuring that the area ofPanna reserve which will be inundated underthe Ken-Betwa river linking project does not ha-ve a tiger population and care will be taken to en-sure minimum displacement of vultures whilegoing ahead with the ambitious scheme.
The project is intended to alleviate the chro-nic water shortage in Bundelkhand. Though the
key statutory body under the Wildlife ProtectionAct has expressed concerns over aspects of theKen-Betwa river linking project in Madhya Pra-desh and Uttar Pradesh, the likely impact on wildcats might be limited as tigers are seen in otherparts of the Panna reserve, sources said.
Water resources minister Uma Bharati hasincorporated assurances in response to the bo-ard’s report to the ministry which flagged howthe project would affect the tiger reserve andvultures if forests were diverted for the riverlinking project.
Ken-Betwa linking won’t hitPanna tigers, says water min
FROZEN LIVES: Inside the high walls of one of the camps at Haal Pulwama, rows ofinsipid quarters with closed doors and windows face each other uninvitingly. And thefew residents of the transit camp suffer self-confinement, depression and fear
Abdul Qadir TNN
Gaya: Suspended JD(U) MLCManorama Devi, the mother ofRocky Yadav who is in jail for al-legedly shooting a teenager, sur-rendered before a court on Tues-day after evading the law for sixdays, and was formally chargedwith violating Bihar’s new liqu-or prohibition law. Breaking itcan invite fine of up to Rs 10 lakhand a jail term of 10 years.
Rocky’s MLCmother in jail for
violating liquor banNew Delhi: “Ramchandra Kalsangraalias Ramji is like my brother. He as-ked me ‘Didi, can I take your bike’? So Igave it to him,” Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur, discharged in the 2008 Male-gaon blast case, told the National In-vestigation Agency (NIA) in her state-ment.
“I didn’t attend any meeting forthe planning of any attack for which Iwas arrested by Maharashtra ATS. Iwas framed by the police,” she furthersaid. The statement is part of thechargesheet filed by the agency on
Friday, which sought to drop MCOCAcharges against all the accused whilegiving a clean chit to Thakur and fiveothers on the basis of “insufficient
evidence”. The NIA has claimed thatthe LML Freedom motorbike, origi-nally belonging to Thakur, was withKalsangra for almost two years beforethe blast in September 2008. The agen-cy backed its assertion with the state-ments of witnesses who claimed thatthe bike was with Kalsangra for long,who sent it for repairs and regularlyused it before a bomb was planted onit. Officials said Thakur never askedKalsangra to return the bike.
The NIA chargesheet cited 12-13additional witnesses whose state-ments, the agency claimed, were igno-red by the Maharashtra ATS.
‘Brother’ Ramji wanted the bike, I gave it: [email protected]
Bilal Bahadur
Bharti Jain & Omer Farooq Khan TNN
New Delhi: The NIA has got In-terpol red corner notices(RCNs) issued against Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maula-na Masood Azhar and his brot-her Abdul Rauf, both based inPakistan, for mastermindingthe January 2 fidayeen attack atPathankot airbase. Sources saidthe process for issuance ofRCNs against the two Pathan-kot attack handlers, Kashif Janand Shahid Latif, was also on.
Both Masood and Rauf alrea-dy have RCNs pending againstthem in other cases. While Maso-od is subject of an RCN in the2002 Parliament attack case,Rauf faces an RCN in the IC-814hijack case. Pakistan is yet to ex-ecute these arrest warrants.
The fresh RCNs against Az-har and Rauf were issued afterNIA secured an “open-ended”non-bailable warrants againstthem for allegedly conspiringto carry out terror strike on thestrategic IAF base at Pathan-kot on the intervening night ofJanuary 1 and 2. These will get attached to the existing Interpol notices.
Rauf is charged with a mo-re direct role in the Pathankotconspiracy. There’s a video clip
of him owning up to the at-tacks and congratulating “hisboys” for its successful execu-tion, uploaded on JeM-linkedwebsites rangonoor.com an-dalqalamonline.com, after thefidayeen strike. “The voice inthis clip has been establishedto be that of Rauf. We have wit-nesses to identify it,” said anNIA officer. NIA had sought vo-ice samples of Azhar and threeothers from Pakistan’s JointInvestigation Team (JIT)which visited India in Marchto probe the Pathankot attack.
Kashif Jaan, the allegedhandler of Pathankot terrorists,
had spoken to them while theyhad entered the Indian territoryand he had dropped them till theborder. Shahid Latif, anotherhandler, who was released bythe Indian government in May2010, had prepared the four menfor the attack, apart from provi-ding them with weapons andother articles, as first reportedby TOIon Tuesday.
Pakistani authorities andmedia were tight-lipped aboutthe red-corner notice.
“We’ve not yet received anysuch notice from Interpol. Ac-cording to our information, In-dia’s NIA had sought red cor-ner notice against Masood andothers. Such sensitive issue isnot conveyed through media.There are official proceduresfor such engagements,” saidNafees Zakaria, Pakistan’s fo-reign office spokesperson.
Since the government’s cla-im in the aftermath of the Pat-hankot attack that the JeM chiefwas taken into protective custo-dy, nothing was heard about Ma-sood’s whereabouts. In March,China had blocked an Indianmove at the UN while putting iton a “technical hold” to declareMasood a global terrorist.
JeM was formed by Masoodin 2000 following a split in Har-kut-ul-Mujahideen.
Interpol issues fresh noticesagainst Azhar, brother Rauf
A jawan stands guard outside thePathankot airbase in this filephoto. The process to get redcorner notices issued against thetwo Pathankot attack handlers,Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, is also on, said sources
New Delhi: Senior IPS officer SatishVerma, who was a member of thespecial investigation team (SIT) thatprobed the Ishrat Jehan case, has beenserved a show-cause notice alleging“misconduct” and “unauthorisedabsence” from duty. PTI
IPS officer who probedIshrat case gets notice
11THE TIMES OF INDIA, LUCKNOWWEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 TIMES NATION | Politics & Policy
