Srinagar
Two people have died while four others have suffered injuries after a vehicle they were travelling in rolled deep into a gorge at Thathri in Doda.
Reports said the condition of the injured is stable.
The identity of the dead has not be ascertained yet.
More details awaited
J&K’s six time finance minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, the NC leader who has worked as a member for the state autonomy committee and was chairman of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers of India on GST talks about the costs and consequences if Article 35A is tinkered with
NC politician, Ab Rahim Rather.
KASHMIR LIFE (KL): Article 35A of the Constitution of India, unknown to the public domain till recent times, has raked up an intense debate. What its abrogation would mean to J&K?
ABDUL RAHIM RATHER (ARR): There is a deep rooted conspiracy to see Article 35A out of the Constitution. Challenging its legitimacy after 63 years of its existence is intriguing. The overwhelming majority of the state is genuinely agitated over the issue.
Article 35A empowers the State Legislature to define the permanent residence of the state and confer on such permanent residents any special rights and privileges or impose upon other persons any restrictions in matters related to employment under the state government; acquisition of the immovable property in the state; settlement in the state; or right to scholarships or such other forms of aid, as the state government may provide.
Once Article 35A is scrapped, the intention is to bring the people of the entire country at par with the residents of the state in respect of government jobs, acquisition of immovable property, settlement in the state and right to scholarships, which the government may provide.
If they succeed in doing so, it will lead to dangerous consequences and nobody will be able to contain the situation thus created. There will be sweeping demographic changes. A situation may also arise where the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir would come into direct conflict with the Constitution of India.
KL: You are a political veteran. You have remained part of the state autonomy committee. You understand the costs well. Please explain how Article 35A became part of the Indian Constitution.
ARR: Article 35A did not appear all of a sudden in the Constitution of India. It is the culmination of a long struggle made by the people of the state. It was under strong public pressure that Maharaja Hari Singh promulgated the notifications on 20th April 1927 and 27th June 1932, defining the state subjects and their special rights and privileges. Even before that, during Maharaja Pratap Singh’s rule the mortgages in favour of non-residents were restricted.
Post independence, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah and his colleagues made untiring efforts to ensure that it is constitutionally protected. In the State Constituent Assembly, a committee on Fundamental Rights and Citizenship was constituted on 7th November 1951. The Committee also made recommendations in this regard. During Delhi talks, Sheikh Sahib made it a point to make Government of India agree to have a provision in the Constitution of India for the protection of State Subject Law. It was accordingly incorporated in Delhi Agreement 1952. This agreement was not only approved by Lok Sabha on 24th July 1952 and Rajya Sabha on 5th August 1952 but also by the State Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1952.
Given this background, the Article 35A was incorporated in the Constitution of India in May 1954.
KL: NC, oldest party of the state, being in power for most of the time is accused of eroding the special status of the state. How far is it correct?
ARR: This accusation is totally wrong and baseless. It is because of the untiring efforts of Sheikh Sahib and his colleagues that Article 370 was incorporated in the Constitution of India. Long negotiations for the same were held between the state leaders, led by Sheikh Sahib, and central leaders, led by Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru from middle of May 1949 to middle of October 1949. It will, therefore, be appropriate to say that National Conference is the architect of Article 370. This special position was intact till Sheikh Sahib was unconstitutionally and illegally dismissed 1n 1953 and simultaneously imprisoned. A phase of unconstitutionality began in the state thereafter. Autonomy secured after putting in hard labour and sustained efforts were mutilated beyond recognition. The immenseness and pace of erosion of autonomy from 1953 onwards can be gauged from the perusal of the long list of the presidential orders, applying various provisions of the Constitution of India to the state.
This unfortunate phase of unconstitutionality ended after 1977 when J&K National Conference was elected back to the Legislative Assembly except, of course, when some presidential orders were issued in 1985 and 1986 when the National Conference was out of power.
KL: As of now what has remained of Article 370?
ARR: As I have already mentioned that from 1953 onwards, especially in sixties, the process of erosion of the state autonomy was so rapid and on such a massive scale that entire Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which was supposed to guarantee and preserve the special status of the state in the Indian Union was emptied of its substantive content with the result that the state’s jurisdiction over the matters, as envisaged by the Instrument of Accession of 1947 and Delhi Agreement of 1952 was gradually diminished and systematically transferred to the Union. All this has been done by the Centre without any powers to do so. That is why J&K National Conference has been asking for restoration of autonomy to its pristine form.
KL: If J&K loses its special status, what would be its effect on the relationship between J&K and Delhi?
ARR: The basis of relationship between the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union of India is the Instrument of Accession. A plain reading of this document would show that the accession of the state with the Union of India is limited to three subjects only—Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications. It was fully elaborated in the Constitution (Application to J&K) Order, 1950.
Article 370, which grants special status to J&K, is based on the Instrument of Accession. So the principal matters in respect of which the Dominion Legislature could make laws for our state were Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications. This arrangement involved a division of sovereignty, which is a normal feature of a Federation. Beyond the powers transferred by it to the Dominion, the state enjoyed complete residuary sovereignty. Once these fundamental terms are removed, the relationship will come under severe strain. That is why, Sheikh Sabhib, while speaking in the State Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1952, warned; “I would like to make it clear that any suggestions of altering of this basis of relationship with India would not only constitute breach of the spirit and letter of the constitution, but it may invite serious consequences for a harmonious association of our state with India”.
KL: State is fighting its own battle, left alone by Government of India. How strong is J&K’s defence in the Supreme Court?
ARR: Even the state government is divided on the issue. The spokesperson of the BJP, a coalition partner in the state government, has unambiguously said that time has come to say good-bye to Article 370 and Article 35A. The Government of India is a mute spectator. They have not filed a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court. Article 35A had been challenged in the past also. Those petitions were dismissed because the then central government took a definite stand and defended the Article vigorously. However, unlike in the past, the Government of India refuses to take a definite and clear position on the Article this time around, thus making it a wide open case.
The petitioner NGO enjoys proximity with the RSS—the ideological fountain-head of the ruling BJP, which wants to resolve the Kashmir issue through the sweeping demographic changes. But the only hiccup to achieve that design is Article 35A, which bars settlement of non-state subjects in the state. So far, the Union Government has decided not to file counter affidavit in the matter. By abstaining from filing a counter affidavit, Delhi has apparently toed the line of the petitioner. The Chief Minister has met the Prime Minister the other day. We don’t know what transpired between the two leaders. She should have impressed upon the Centre to fight the case in the Supreme Court against the petitioning NGO. The statement of the Chief Minister that the Prime Minister was positive is not sufficient to eschew the apprehensions of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. There is general feeling that PDP slept over the matter too long and its response to the matter is also lukewarm. After actively collaborating with the Centre on GST, the PDP seems to have ganged up with the powers that be yet again to facilitate an assault on Article 35A.
KL: If at all J&K loses the case, how the united opposition which NC is a part, will manage to safeguard the interests of the state subjects?
ARR: In that eventuality it is the state government which shall have to face the disastrous consequences because primarily it is the government that is responsible for safeguarding the interests of its subjects. The opposition will definitely do whatever is possible to save the situation that may arise due to gross negligence of the ruling party.
KL: Kashmir apart, what would it mean to Jammu and Ladakh?
ARR: Jammu will be worst hit. The circumstances under which the Maharaja was forced to issue state subject notifications are relevant even today. Most of the settlements likely to be made after scrapping of Article 35A, I am afraid, will be in Jammu. All the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh shall equally suffer for want of government employment, admission to various professional courses, scholarships etc, as there will be unprecedented competition in these areas.
KL: You had been the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers on GST and were special invitee on the launch. But you said GST was a sell out as it diluted left over autonomy further. You still hold that view?
ARR: Yes, I still hold the view that GST in the present form would be disastrous for the fiscal autonomy of the state. I had been a member of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers of India for a pretty long time. I was elected its Chairman in 2013. While I played the role in evolving a consensus among other states of the country in respect of new tax regime, my views about the Jammu and Kashmir state in this regard were distinctly different, firm and consistent. I repeatedly told the Empowered Committee and Union Finance Ministers, from time to time, that J&K was a separate case. It had to be dealt with carefully and cautiously so that special position enjoyed by it under the Constitution was not diluted. I had suggested an alternate GST model for Jammu and Kashmir for which a blue-print was prepared in 2011. It was to be a state legislation. A legal opinion was sought from a Supreme Court lawyer, who is considered to be a taxation expert. He opined positively in favour of the proposal. The matter was also considered back home by a committee, consisting of legal and taxation experts, which fully endorsed this idea. Thereafter, the matter was discussed in the State Cabinet and vide its Decision No 137/21/212, dated 1st August 2012, it approved the alternate GSP proposal. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers was informed accordingly. The matter came up for discussion in the said committee on 28th and 29th January, 2013 at Bhubaneswar (Orissa) and on 18th and 19th November 2013 at Shillong (Meghalaya). The proposal was unanimously agreed by the Empowered Committee. Such a mechanism would be in conformity with the special constitutional position enjoyed by the state and also ensure participation of the state in the GST regime.
The present state government, however, finally decided to apply GST here in the same manner in which it was done in other states.
KL: Why are certain think tanks in India using the judiciary to alter things, which are constitutionally guaranteed? Is it because they cannot alter it through Lok Sabha or assembly?
ARR: BJP has always been against the special status enjoyed by our state under the Constitution of India. But they cannot tinker with it politically. It is not also possible to alter it through Lok Sabha or the Assembly either. Article 370 is not amendable. It cannot be abrogated. It could be done only on the recommendations of the State Constituent Assembly, which has ceased to exist. So, they have resorted to the judicial process to achieve this goal. The present petition appears to be a sponsored litigation.
KL: For the last many years the focus of judicial activism is the state subject laws. Why have successive governments failed in strengthened this law further? Last time it was another judicial intervention that gave non-local sons-in-law a right to J&K citizenship?
ARR: The relevant law has no loopholes as far as I have understood it. But, unfortunately, in the case you are probably referring to, the government of the day bungled in 2004. The case was closed due to government apathy. The then coalition government perhaps thought it expedient to withdraw the appeal from the Supreme Court against the judgment of the State High Court. A Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly to undo the damage caused due to the judgment of the J&K High Court. The Legislative Assembly passed the Bill. You may recollect the role of the then ruling party in the Legislative Council. It will require pages together to reproduce that painful story.
If J&K loses its battle in the Supreme Court over the new minority debate, Muslims will lose a slew of benefits that come to them as India’s principal minority. Masood Hussain argues for reviving a scheme that was announced and forgotten
The petitioner is a Kathua based lawyer Ankur Sharma. His plea is simple. Since the state legislature has not set up State Minority Commission, the religious and the linguistic minorities in the state are facing discrimination. “Consequently, the benefits exclusively meant for the minority communities are being given away to a certain community, which is the majority community, in an illegal and arbitrary manner,” the PIL pleads. “Non-identification and non-notification of the minorities is leading to disbursement of minority benefits illegally and arbitrarily, according to the whims and fancies of successive state governments.”
Since the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, is not applicable to J&K, the petition says constitutional guarantees under Article 29 and 30 (rights of minorities) are immaterial in J&K as minorities are neither identified nor notified.
For safeguarding their “interests” and “fundamental rights”, the PIL wants the Court to set up a state minority commission for identification of religious and linguistic minorities, appoint a panel of experts to submit a report on the religious and linguistic minority communities of J&K and direct extension of National Commission for Minorities to J&K. It also wants constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a High Court Judge (retired) working under apex court’s direct supervision for investigating the illegal and arbitrary disbursement of minority benefits under the Prime Minister’s 15 point Programme to the communities.
Story, So Far
The petition has been there for almost three years now. A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur issued notices to the state and central government and National Commission for Minorities as early as July 13, 2016. There was not any response by the central government and by February 2017, the court had slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 on the central government.
By March 27, 2017, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul had asked the state and the central government to “sit together” and decide “this very very important issue”. They were supposed to respond within four weeks. The time was later extended by three months.
State and the central government did sit together and set up a committee. Headed by secretary of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, it has J&K Chief Secretary and National Minority Commission representative as its members. The committee has met but felt the requirement of more discussion to arrive at a conclusion.
J&K’s Stand
J&K is a Muslim majority state with 68.31 percent of the 12541302 people counted Muslims in 2011 summer. Hindus are 28.43 percent of the state, followed by 1.87 percent of Sikhs, 0.89 percent of Buddhists and 0.28 percent of Christians. Of state’s 22 districts, 17 are Muslim dominated, one is Buddhist majority and the remaining four are Hindu majority areas.
Forming less than one percent of India’s population, the demographic dispersal across J&K is interesting. Leh is Buddhist majority with Muslims as minority. The neighbouring Kargil is reverse. Kashmir has negligible minorities but in Jammu, Hindu populations have huge Muslim settlements. Similar situations exist in various other districts.
That was perhaps why; the J&K’s Social Welfare Minister Sajad Gani Lone told the legislative council in June 2016, J&K does not require establishing a minority commission at all. He was responding to an intense demand by the BJP lawmakers. “Such demands will add fire,” Lone said. “Jammu has a Hindu majority and Kashmir has a Muslim majority. We cannot declare minorities at block levels and have to follow national criteria.”
In this argument lies the state’s case. Unlike the central government, state has responded to the notice of the Court. J&K submitted to the court that Muslim majority J&K has unfairly been singled out. Same situation exists in many other states. In Punjab Sikhs are a state majority but a national minority, same is the case in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, where Christians are in majority in addition to Muslim majority Lakshadweep. “Any decision passed by the court must be holistically and uniformly be made applicable to all the States and UTs,” J&K state said in its reply.
National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, is not applicable to J&K. In absence of the Commission, national minorities in J&K (read Muslims) do not receive the benefits under the welfare schemes for the minorities. The state’s position is that it does not want to set up a commission but will continue implementing various central sponsored schemes in the state without seeking full benefits that minorities in India are entitled to.
Unlike J&K, states like Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, and Andaman where National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, is applicable, the Commission’s have not been set up, so far. J&K’s belief is that court cannot force is to set up a minority commission because it would be “legally not maintainable”.
Blaming the petitioner for approaching the court with “unclean hands” and a “hidden agenda”, the state response to the court says that setting up of State Minority Commission is the prerogative of the lawmakers.
Major Benefit
At the peak of militancy, the Home Ministry would offer scholarships to the destitute children under various minority schemes. Its number has dwindled by now.
The only benefit that J&K is getting while being a national minority is that it has extended the loan facility of National Minority Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) to the minorities. In J&K, there are three institutions which have been authorised by the state government, against sovereign guarantees, to lift, disburse and recover these loans, including educational loan: J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute, J&K Women Development Corporation and, off late, J&K State Financial Corporation.
These loans are being lifted at three percent and deployed at six percent. These low cost funds have helped thousands of people to create their livelihoods in last few years. These livelihood projects in J&K have perhaps the best recovery percentage in India.
Working with NMDFC since 1994, J&KWDC has lifted and disbursed Rs 90 crore so far and it has created nearly 10,000 small livelihood units across the state.
J&KEDI started working with the NMDFC in June 2011. By now, it has lifted Rs 112.50 crore that has helped it created 3652 units across the various sectors of the economy. “We can grant a loan of 30 lakh for a viable project even for creamy layer though at more interest,” one executive of the JKEDI said. “It is great scheme that lays emphasis on simple interest and there is no default.” EDI has disbursed as many as 170 educational loans also.
A Parallel Scheme
But the policy makers in the state were not oblivious of the fact that the state minorities were at the margins of such schemes. Almost a year before Ankur Sharma went to the court; a blueprint was in the pipeline to create a parallel scheme that will benefit the state minorities including Hindus which is a national majority.
“The government proposes to launch a new scheme – Term Loan Scheme for Micro Enterprises – for the benefit of the youth belonging to non-minority population of the state who are not being covered under existing scheme of ministry of minority affairs, Government of India,” Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu announced in his maiden budget speech for 2015-16. “For the purpose, detailed guidelines will be issued by the government in the month of April 2015.”
While it was not implemented by the state, the blueprint of the scheme has been dusted by the babus in the secretariat. It is being fast forwarded for a possible launch to address part of the concerns that the minorities have in J&K. As per the basic details of the proposal, the state will create a corpus to fund similar initiatives with low cost credit on NMDFC pattern.
They are only four people who operated from a small office outside Leh’s airport. With an active support system within the organisation and the local administration, the EDI has set up 366 units in Ladakh, reports S Khurshid-ul-Islam
Sonam Angmo, Stanzin Minglak
Chinese and Indian armies resorting to stone pelting in a remote belt is rarely known to anybody in Leh. It is, in fact, bigger news in Srinagar than in Leh, where people are busy hosting and serving thousands of tourists that 16 flights bring in daily.
Hotels apart, the massive tourist rush has given a boost to business and this sector is being driven mainly by the J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI). Handicrafts, travel, fruits, vegetables and all the new initiatives, EDI is the main promoter. Its regional office is managed by four staffers-
Dorjay Wangchuk, Jigmet Skitzon, Gulzar Ali and Kunzes Dolma – and they work over time. They function within the targets set for them and the appetite the market exhibits. They have to make a huge balance.
EDI’s work in the region explains its status and standing. When the Leh’s Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) offers the JKEDI only three kanals of land for creating its regional centre, the Deputy Commissioner Prasana Ramaswamy intervenes: “I strongly recommend this case as JKEDI is doing a superb job of training and financing entrepreneurs. The Manger JKEDI is certain of getting the funds for Regional Center for construction of the regional center. It will definitely do a lot of good to Leh” It gets eight kanals of land finally.
Dr Chultim Dorjay
“It was difficult to convince the politicians and administrators but probably for the work, the institute has done in Ladakh that no one could afford to say us no” Dorjay Wangchuk, the highly enthusiastic executive Manager EDI, said. ““Now I am doing chowkadari of the land as some people had grabbed it that too in the name of religion and refugees which were a difficult proportion, but anyway land is now ours.”
While big money is being invested in the region, all the major small jobs are to the credit of EDI. Operating from a small office in the Industries Complex, EDI has created a single window clearance place for new entrepreneurs. The four member team manages almost everything for the new entrepreneurs.
DechenYangdol
Apart from implementing the schemes that are being framed in JKEDI’s Pampore Headquarters, its Leh office has slightly more in its basket. It is supporting implementation of the ambitious Loom project. So far, it has been able to involve 150 women from eight villages. Working in a cooperative pattern, the women make handmade pashmina and wool products. The district administration that has given them prime land is helping them market these products as well.
When EDI officials move around in Leh markets, they get literally over busied by responding to the salutations because they have hand-held many people doing good business now. They have a number of success stories to their credit because most of their enterprises are directly linked to a stable tour market.
DechenYangdol a graduate lady established Chenz Décor in 2015 with Rs 12 lakh help that she got under seed capital scheme. She started with a shop on the first floor of a new shopping complex and has now acquired 2016 sq feet space on a yearly rental of Rs 3.50 lakh. Her daily sales are around Rs 10 thousand.
Watching her do better business, the J&K Bank has already extended her CC limit from Rs 6.15 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs. Yangdol is happy. She gets Rajasthani furniture and it sells like hot cakes.
Motup Namygal is Nubra resident who migrated to Leh after his twelfth class. In Leh’s main market, he runs Digital Printing House, with state of art machinery. Again, he invested Rs 15 lakh, part of which came under one EDI scheme as free money. Within three years of its establishment, his shop is Leh’s No 1 address for digital printing. Managed by three employees, his daily sales are Rs 12,000.
Just opposite the Sonoum Narbu District Hospital is Modern Diagnostic Center. It is the new address for all the major diagnostic tests. It is being run by a doctor couple: Chultim Dorjay and Maneesha Badwal. A gold medalist and former Senior Resident at Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi. Dr Badwal joined her husband after quitting her job with National Rural Health Mission. Their centre in Anjuman Complex is equipped with the latest IT support. His next plan is to get an MRI machine which could be first in Ladakh region.
Lena Ladakh Pashmina, supported by the EDI, is a joint venture between Sonam Angmo, a 28-year-old food technologist, and Stanzin Minglak, an Environmental Sciences post graduate. With an investment of Rs 27 lakhs, they employed seventy women from Zanskar (Kargil) in winters for spinning. Presently eight weavers stand employed for weaving and finishing purposes. The duo is ensuring that the products they dish out are literally handicrafts, hand-made, hand spun, hand woven and naturally dyed. The unit is already an export oriented unit as their products have gone to Australia, Holand, and Thailand.
“We have stories of success and struggle and we are shocked by the people when they make choices which normally they should not make,” an EDI official said. “But they plan better and invest accordingly.”
Kunzes Dolma, Gulzar Ali, Dorjay Wangchuk and Jigmet Skitzon.
Stazin Namgiyal is the son of a shop keeper who did not join Jet Airways where he was offered a job, instead, he set up a health club and gym where the Leh’s moneyed youngsters spend their early mornings and evenings to keep themselves fit. “My son gets up from bed at 4.30 am and he reports back 10.30 pm,” the Namgiyal Sr said. “He is trying hard to establish his business.”
“We have 366 functional units which the EDI supported under various schemes,” Wangchuk said. “Almost 125 new cases are at various stages of approval.”
When allies seek and not extend support in court rooms, the alliance is reduced to marriage of convenience, reports Tasavur Mushtaq
Notwithstanding Agenda of Alliance insisting that “present position will be maintained on all the constitutional provisions pertaining to J&K including the special status in the Constitution of India,” Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, two and half years later, is seeking help against attempts to alter special status.
Mehbooba met everybody who matters in Delhi and asserted she has assurance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Almost a fortnight after, nobody from BJP has come on record to second what Mehbooba claimed.
“What she said is immaterial. What matters is what the PM said. That’s the only part of this meeting that matters at all,” Omar said in a tell-tale tweet, adding “..Can @PMOIndia explain ‘assurances’ pls?”
BJP is non-committal. Reiterating that matter being ‘legal’, the right wingers avoid supporting the ally. “By saying it is a legal matter, something sub-judice, they have left Mehbooba to fight it alone politically,” says a senior PDP legislator.
Even before Mehbooba flew back home with the “assurance”, BJP had rushed two leaders Avinash Rai Khanna and Ram Madhav to Jammu to be part of core group meeting. The meeting sources said was “to reassure local leaders, vocal against Article 35A, that party stands for them.”
The party wants “larger debate” which in itself falls short of AoA assurances. Its Kashmir Study Circle recently tied up with Jammu University for a seminar on 35A.The party is not supporting of status quo.
“Article 35A was illegal and needed to be challenged in court,” BJP’s Legislative Council member Ramesh Arora said. “The president can’t amend the Constitution by himself. It is illegal.”
Concerns are genuine. “This is existential threat for the party,” a South Kashmir PDP lawmaker said. “What we are left with, they have robed us off everything and how we can face our people again.”
Delhi’s non-involvement in supporting Srinagar is adding to the crisis. “It is the AG’s job to defend the constitution,” an official in the Home Ministry has told the Indian Express. These responses are coming at a time when Mehbooba is seeking a joint affidavit of state and centre to the Supreme Court.
PDPs “crisis manager” Dr Haseeb Drau is out of Kashmir and must be in Delhi. Amid these efforts, a Telegraph report suggested that “a 63-year-old file containing legal opinion on Article 35A has vanished from North Block’s high-security vaults.” Many attribute file disappearance with Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign. It contained “the then attorney-general’s opinion justifying the insertion of Article 35A into the Constitution that year through a presidential order rather than a constitutional amendment.”
The crisis has come at a time when the ruling PDP Is visibly more divided as situation is creating its own power centres. Muzaffar Hussain Baig, the senior most founding member of the party, has been in news for reasons not going well with the PDP.
But some political experts are correct when they say that Delhi has started changing the narrative and successfully reduced Kashmir to mere reactionaries. “See the level they dropped Kashmiris to and now even Syed Ali Geelani talks about safeguarding Article 35A,” said a university professor wishing not to be named. “The separatist camp have now issued protest calendar to safeguard the provision of Indian constitution.”
The hearing of the case has now been to take place after Diwali. Mehbooba in her August 15 speech pinned hopes on the apex court, “I have faith in our Supreme Court that whenever attempts were made to target the special status of the state, the apex court upheld Kashmir’s status. I am sure, as they rejected such pleas in last 70 years, they will do it this time too.”
Delhi, according to reports, has sought intelligence inputs on the possible repercussions in Kashmir if the apex court revoked or amended the article. The united opposition has already warned of repercussions, the separatist see it as “matter of life and death”. All eyes on Supreme Court!
Congress government exercised so haste that Tihar jail failed even in arranging a professional hangman to work the gallows for hanging Afzal Guru. TV journalist Sunetra Choudhury’s book on prison tales of India’s 13 famous persons offers the first credible account of Guru’s last three years in Tihar and his walk to the gallows, courtesy Kobad Ghandy, his friend
And what he read – about three students being sent to jail for organizing this event to commemorate Afzal Guru, about the central university being called anti-national, about pro-Pakistan slogans being made – disturbed him. And while so many across the country jumped in on the debate, no one cared for Kobad’s thoughts. What they didn’t know was that Kobad Ghandy, the man accused of being a member of the banned organization, CPI (Maoist) and arrested in 2009, was perhaps the only one who knew Afzal Guru in his last three years and is also the only one who is waiting for justice at 70 can describe from inside jail how his hanging took place.
‘They all kept misrepresenting Afzal Guru,’ he told me inside the Cherlapally Jail in Hyderabad, in August 2016. ‘There was so much talk about Afzal being anti-national. He was not.’ Afzal Guru and he became thick friends from the moment he walked into prison till 9 February 2013 when he was hanged. It’s not based on any solid, scientific evidence.
It’s the impression of one prisoner of his co-prisoner in a high-risk ward. One was branded a Maoist ideologue, the other a convicted terrorist who plotted the 2001 Parliament attack. But why was Afzal Guru not an anti-national according to Kobad? One of the main reasons Kobad cites is Afzal’s knowledge and love for the thirteenth-century poet and Sufi mystic Rumi. ‘Afzal had all six volumes of Rumi’s works.’ And over the course of their three-year association, Afzal Guru seems to have transferred this love to Kobad Ghandy. When they’d have their morning tea and slices of bread together, Afzal would familiarize him with verses from Rumi. No wonder Kobad quotes Rumi in a letter to his Doon School batch mate of 1963, Gautam Vohra, written just a month after the hanging:
Those loves that are only the pallor of the face, Are not
love at all,
But only in the end disgrace,
For like the peacock’s plumage,
And like the finery of many a king,
The outer allay of beauty
Became the inner enemy of ugliness.
A file photo of Afzal Guru’s family in New Delhi.
It’s extraordinary that the man who was hanged to ‘satisfy the collective conscience of the nation’ influenced his neighbour in jail to such an extent – he left a legacy not of violence, or of hate speech, but of poetry that is serene and beautiful.
Even though they were surrounded by criminals, even though Afzal Guru was destined to die, and Kobad faced more than 14 cases of the deadly Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) across the country, which meant at 69 there was no guarantee that he would ever live to be a free man, the two would sit in Tihar Jail and talk about mystical verses. Often Afzal would read and speak about Rumi and Iqbal, and Kobad would take notes.
Of course, Kobad makes a distinction between Afzal and the other Islamists in jail, who he couldn’t have a proper conversation with. He clearly remembers how 9 February in the year 2013 unfolded. From the moment they took him out at 6 a.m., the other Kashmiris started shouting slogans against the hanging. They were all locked in their cells but the protests became so loud that the law officer had to come to calm them. ‘He explained that they were only following orders.’ The older man remembers how Afzal had no idea when he left his cell that he would never come back again – thinking it was a regular search; he apparently said: ‘Will come back after namaz.’ It was only when he realized that he was the only one being taken out of the cell, the real reason dawned upon him.
‘The jail staff was very impressed with Afzal, he was not at all nervous.’ This was also corroborated by the then Director General of Tihar, B.K. Gupta. He doesn’t like to publicize it much but says he was saddened at Afzal’s hanging. His force, however, wasn’t able to work out all the arrangements. For instance, they couldn’t manage to find a hangman and so it was one of the jail staff members who had to work the gallows. Law officer Sunil Gupta who was in charge of the execution recalled Afzal telling him: ‘I’m getting compassion waiting for from your eyes.’ When Gupta apologized for what he was about to do, Afzal apparently told him, ‘People call me a terrorist but I am an activist, fighting for the marginalized.
My fight is against the system. I have no regrets’. There was one last request Afzal had for Gupta – that death should come swiftly. ‘I assured him there wouldn’t be any pain,’ Gupta said to me, later. As they pulled the lever that took away the ground he stood on and jerked him to death, Sunil Gupta remained in front of Afzal as he had requested him to. Afterwards, the prison authorities did everything they could to erase all traces of him. As Kobad said: ‘My milk jug which he had borrowed was in his cell, but they refused to give it back to me. There were some whose books were with him, they refused to return those too. We all wanted to get his diary which we knew he maintained, but nothing was allowed and they destroyed it all.’ Nothing remained except memories and a love for Rumi.
Kobad Ghandy’s Letter to Author
Cherlapalli Central Jail
Cherlapalli
Raiga Reddy district
Hyderabad 501301
17 September 2016
It was 21 September 2009, when I first entered Tihar, at about 7 pm. It was my first entry into an Indian jail. After going through two sets of humiliating searches, I entered the high-risk ward of Jail Number 3. The inmates had already been locked up in their cells. And as I entered the ward of Block A (there are 2 blocks in this ward), I found Afzal Guru at the gate of his Cell 1, with a huge smile on his face saying, ‘Welcome to Tihar, I was expecting you here.’
He said he had been reading about me all over the newspapers and said we will meet in the morning. I was led to Cell 4 and kept with three others, including Delhi’s most famous Don, Kisan Pehlwan.
The next morning, I was moved to Cell 8 with two Khalistanis. The death sentenced Khalistani, Bhullar, was in Cell 2. That morning I had tea with Afzal which was a practice I continued till the day he was hanged on 9 February 2013. It was Afzal’s standard practice to fill the thermos flask of Tihar’s watery tea and add to it milk powder and a few tea bags purchased from the canteen to give an excellent brew. For the next three years, each day we would have this, together with the two slices of bread supplied by the jail authorities. This was followed by a walk in the ground adjoining the ward. A regular practice through the years. This was the same ground that adjoined the Phansi Kothi where he was later hanged and buried.
And through the years I found in Afzal a very humane person, warm hearted and simple. A person who had a deep affection for his mother, his school teacher wife and only son. They would regularly visit him every Raksha Bandhan day when the lady family members were allowed into the jail to be with their relatives. His needs were very limited, living off the Rs 1000 a month his wife sent from her meagre earnings.
Afzal Guru was exactly the opposite of what the media has portrayed him as – a fundamentalist fanatic. No doubt he was a staunch believer in Islam, and did his namaz five times a day, observed roza and other Islamic customs. He also had great faith in the other world – Jannat – which gave him his enormous courage to go to the gallows with his head held high and apparently without an iota of fear.
He was a great admirer of Rumi and Iqbal. He had all the six volumes of Rumi in Urdu which was his regular companion; many of the excellent verses he translated for me over our morning tea. Through Afzal I learnt much of the human essence of Islam, so vulgarized by the dogmatists and fundamentalists.
Afzal was not only vehemently opposed to the methods of the fundamentalist of bombing/killing, the innocent public, he also had a deep dislike for the Pakistani/ISI. He would often say they were worse than the R&AW and were responsible for the killings/assassinations of large number of intellectuals who were for Azaadi and not for merger with Pakistan. Particularly during the JKLF upsurge in the 1990s, which was then not pro-Pak. Afzal said large numbers were killed by ISI besides the Indian government.
He also gave me a concrete picture where virtually every aspect of Kashmiri life was controlled by the army making the entire valley like an open prison. He would regularly compare the life of Kashmiris to that of the Palestinians.
He was of the opinion that the Pakistanis were doing more harm to the Kashmiri’s struggle than assisting it – Kashmiri people were being used as a mere tool in Pakistan’s conflict with India, the sacrificial lamb of the India-Pak conflict.
Afzal had also great respect for communism (unlike the fundamentalists) and even repeated Iqbal who had said: Communism + God = Islam. Afzal was very well read having a nearly equally good grasp over both Urdu and English. He had read people like Naom Chomsky and other progressives from the West. He loved ghazals. In jail, the prison authorities had no complaint against him, notwithstanding the humiliations he apparently faced during the earlier period of his confinement.
Two days before Afzal’s hanging we were told to immediately move to the block at the back (and those in the B Block were temporarily moved out) as white washing had to be done.
But when we went to the B Block the gate leading to the ground which over-looked the big compound that housed the Phansi Kothi was promptly closed so that we could not see what was going on outside. But we soon gathered hectic work was going on in the Phansi Kothi. All sorts of rumours were spread by the staff that a foreign delegation was visiting; may be Bhullar (who was by now shifted to the mental hospital) was to be hanged, etcetera etcetera.
Afzal would say if anyone was to be hanged; it was not Bhullar but himself. That evening though the fear was there in everyone’s mind, Afzal seemed as cheerful as ever.
The next morning the staff turned up half an hour late, at 6 am. When they opened Afzal’s cell, Cell 1, he was heard saying that if there was to be any searching, do it later as they will first say their namaz. But after letting Afzal out, they locked his cell and did not open any other. It was then that he and we too realized what was to happen.
He was led away to his original cell in A Block where the law officer met him. He was told that the hanging was to take place at 8:00 am. He requested to speak to his family and son on the phone, which was refused. That all other legal norms had already been flouted by the Congress government are already known. He did his namaz, was given tea and biscuits; he had a bath and said his final namaz.
At 5 minutes to 8, he was led across the same ground we walked everyday, wishing all the staff present, and asking the authorities to treat them well. We were told later much that the staff had tears in their eyes as he wished them all well and fearlessly walked to the gallows. The prison authorities, at the behest of the government, refused to hand over his belongings, diary or even body to his family. He was buried two feet away from where the other Kashmiri leader, Maqbool Bhat, was buried. Ironically, Maqbool Bhat, too, seems to have been anti-Pakistan as well, as recently the books by him were banned by the Pakistani government.
And with this ended my association with the most humane, honest, straightforward and simple person I met during my seven years of incarceration in Tihar. Most Kashmiris were not like Afzal, except one Rafique who had much of the same characteristics as Afzal. But none were as well-read as him. It is surprising why the Congress government sought to snuff out the life of the more rational voices in Kashmir, pushing the movement into the arms of the fundamentalists and pro-Pak elements.
Syed Ali Geelani with Galib Guru, son of Afzal Guru.
The Khalistanis with whom I was put was also a great education. I learnt that the movement no longer stood for its original ideal based around centre-state relations and the Anandpur Saheb resolution. They had turned the movement into a fundamentalist movement where the main target was now the Deras (mostly supported by the SCs and lower castes as they were denied a place in the Gurudwara) who they claimed were vulgarizing the Sikh religion. They have turned puritanical, oppose meat eating and are fanatic. Ironically, as I gathered, all their leaders were in Pakistan. Many, like one of my cellmates, were involved in smuggling drugs and arms from Pakistan.
They idolise Bhindranwale and ignore Bhagat Singh. But the two recounted many stories of Sikh bravery in their history much of which was not known to me. I felt sad that such a heroic history of a community had degenerated into such sectarian fanaticism. It was these two who in fact brought out the secular character of the Gurudwara and the excellent tradition of all in the Gurudwara, big or small, during manual labour (Kar Sewa). Guru Nanak’s great social reform, anti-caste traditions seem to be in strong reversal from what I learnt from the Khalistanis.
Kobad Ghandy
Excerpted from Behind Bars: Prison Tales of India’s Most Famous by anchor journalist Sunetra Choudhury with permission from Roli Books
He was in second grade when an accident left his arms amputated. For next three years he shuttled between hospitals in Kashmir. Then he decided to fight back and emerged as an impressive student and cricketer great enough to become first Kashmiri player in India’s para-cricket team, reports Mohammad Raafi
It was Monday, August 21. Amir received a call from an unknown number. With the help of his friend, Amir received the call. It was the secretary general (SG) of Indian Cricket Federation for disabled. “You have been selected for the national team,” Amir remembers AW Siddiqui, telling him.
Ecstatic, Amir erupted in celebration without listening to what Siddiqui said further.
The phone rang again and it was Siddiqui again, “You are playing International Matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, shortly,” he said.
Amir quickly said ‘good bye’ to Siddiqui and ran to inform his parents.
Since then, Amir said, the village is jubilant. “People from various villages, some of whom we know, and others, whom we don’t know, visit me daily. They greet me and congratulate me,.”
Amir said, the feeling is such that he can’t translate it into words. “I had never even in the wildest of my dreams thought I will live to this day.” He said that parents of a disabled person are always concerned about their son. They have fears and tensions. They live an uncertain life. “The story is different today,” Amir said. “My parents are proud. They have raised me this far and are content with what I have been able to achieve.
Captain of J&K’s Para-Cricket team, Amir’s date with destiny is a departure from the usual. It was September 21, 1997. Amir, then a second primary student, had gone to drop lunch box for his brother, working at a sawmill. As his brother started taking lunch, Amir started playing at the mill. While playing with a piece of timber, sawmill blades caught the kid and rolled him around. The machine, within seconds, left him aside and both his arms on other.
Amir was driven to Srinagar’s Bone and Joint Hospital. There, multiple operations were conducted and Amir’s arms were amputated from shoulders. Next three years, Amir spent in different hospitals of Srinagar. The treatment had shattered Lones’, financially.
“When I was brought home, people suggested my parents that, they should find some way to eliminate me as I was of no worth now,” Amir remembers people suggesting his father. However, Amir’s parents stood by him and assured that they would do everything they could.
“I had to sell most part of my agriculture fields and sawmill to make sure that my son is treated well,” Bashir said. “I even took loan from bank, but how one could leave his son in anyway.”
A few months after a prolonged shuttling between the hopsitals, Amir joined a school. Dedicated to learn, Amir enjoyed studying. Gradually, fervour to read and write peaked. Amir worked hard and trained himself in writing with his foot.
One of teachers of Amir said that initially the teachers and Amir’s classmates were against him for attending the school because he had no hands and it was perceived that he cannot learn. However, he said, Amir outshined with each passing day.
Despite difficulties, Amir continued his struggle and studies, and passed his Class 10th, 12th with flying colours. Amir changed himself into a person who was no more dependent on anyone.
In cricket, his inspiration was Sachin Tendulkar and in art it was MF Hussain who inspired him to try his hand in painting. Amir plays cricket with Sachin as his ideal.
Watching Amir Hussain Lone, captain of Jammu and Kashmir’s Para-Cricket team, playing cricket is like witnessing the indomitable spirit of human effort. He grabs the ball with his toes and throws it at the batsmen. He is also good with the bat, which he sandwiches between the neck and the shoulder. His talent was channelized when Amir joined his college cricket team.
“Everyone was stunned to see me playing cricket in college. Within few minutes everyone was applauding for me, and I became an icon in Degree College Bijbehara,” Amir said. But his life as cricketer changed once his talent was spotted by one of the faculty members in the college who later helped him to join J&K National Para cricket team.
Looking at his extraordinary performance, he wasn’t only selected in the National Para-cricket team of J&K, but also appointed its captain. From there, after coaching for few months, he and his team went to play in Delhi. In Delhi, Amir showed such a performance that opposite team put him on their shoulders.
Now, when Amir has been selected for the national team, he says, Allah has been kind enough for what he bestowed me with. “I am leaving for Delhi in December and later will go to Lucknow where I will play against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.”
Later, he said, “I am touring Sri Lanka to play a series.” Amir hopes that he performs well and with consistency.
“I wanted to create an example that a person like me can do anything and can be self-reliable. This is my answer to those people who rejected me and told my parents that they shouldn’t waste money on me,” concluded Amir.
As the Supreme Court has issued a fresh notice to the army, CBI and the Central Government seeking explanation for closing the case of fake encounter at Pathribal, Saqib Mir visits the sprawling Chatergul valley and sees the people not giving up their demand for justice
Zonatangri, the spot where five civilians were killed hasn’t been touched.
Abdul Rasheed Khan 45, is one of the most known residents of Brariangan, the remote cluster in south Kashmir, that is perpetually in news for a gruesome massacre of March 25, 2000. It is actually this massacre that has kept Khan is limelight. Since his father Jumma Khan was one of the slain five, Rasheed has been the most vocal voice of the victim families.
But nobody knows that in last 17 years; Rasheed has rarely spent nights at home. He comes home in the day, works at home, and disappears in the evening for the night. This is his way of managing scare.
Rasheed was nearing 27 when soldiers barged into his residence during the night of March 23 and 24, 2000 and asked his father to accompany them to the nearest garrison. “My father resisted but they forced him to accompany them,” Rasheed said. “Then on March 25, an encounter raged in the nearby Pathribal and we came to know that my father was killed there.”
With no option but to succeed his father and become head of the family, Khan said he had two challenges to manage in addition to managing the family: fighting for the justice for his father and ensuring his personal security. He claimed there were series of instances apparently aimed at forcing him into submission.
Many times, even during nights, Rasheed said the army laid a siege around his house claiming they had information about militant presence. “We knew there are no militants inside and we also knew they were not after militants,” Rasheed said.
One day, he was in Nowgam, talking to two friends in a local ground, where children played cricket. “Then a stranger wearing Kameez Pyjama entered the ground and started doing rounds and then he came to us saying he was a Lashkar militant and was searching for his two disappeared associates,” Rasheed said. “We felt it fishy because he was searching for his militant friends in the ground close to a garrison. I told him that you cannot be a militant. Infuriated, he took out a pistol and pointed that at me. Within no time we grabbed him and informed the police. Then it was revealed that he was Rashtriya Rifles Subedar.”
Rasheed said various local political activists tried to motivate him to give up his struggle for bringing the killers of his father to justice in last 17 years. “I am ready to go to any place in this world for bringing the killers of my father to book,” Rasheed said.
These are the precise reasons; Rasheed said why he stays away from home during nights.
Juma Khan, his father, is not his only case. His younger brother Mohammad Rafeeq then a ninth class student, was one of the nine protestors who were killed at Brakpora. They were part of a major protest demonstration seeking the whereabouts of the five civilians. State’s counter-insurgency force SOG opened fire on them and killed five.
Mirza Noor, widow of Juma Khan
Five civilians including Juma Khan went missing within a day after 25 Sikhs were massacred during the night of March 20, hours before visiting US president Bill Clinton would start his official tour in India. The police was under massive pressure to get the killers. Two nights later, many civilians went missing from the Chatergul Valley. And on March 25, the “encounter” took place.
Later that day when Home Minister L K Advani visited Chittisinghpora, the police and army officers gave an open air presentation, got appreciation for the operation and eventually clicked a group photograph with him. Naredra Modi, then in-charge secretary general of the region, made a strong speech.
Amid celebrations in the counter-insurgency grid over killing the “butchers” of Sikhs, the residents got clinching evidences of the missing people from the “encounter” site. On April 3, 2000, thousands gathered and moved in a procession towards district headquarters. They were fired upon killing eight protesters including the missing Juma Khan’s son Rafeeq.
Since then, the three massacres linked with each other have remained a huge question mark over the criminal judicial system of a place that is officially disturbed and where security grid enjoys literal impunity from law. After many years, the army gave itself a clean chit on January 24, 2014.
“The evidence recorded could not establish a prime facie case against any of the accused persons,” army spokesman in Jammu said. “However, it was clearly established that it was a joint operation by the police and the Army based on specific intelligence.”
Abdul Rasheed Khan
son of Juma Khan
Three years later, uncle of Zahoor Dalal has gone to the Supreme Court seeking resumption of the trial in a CBI court. To be heard after six weeks, it has almost revived the case with a notice to the army seeking explanation about how it exonerated its men.
But the residents are keen that they will continue fighting. Almost 3 kms away from Rasheed’s home in Brariangan, lives Mohammad Shakoor Khan, in three storied old house on the banks of a small stream, surrounded by maize fields. His father, also named Jumma Khan, was killed in the fake encounter.
Jumma’s widow Mirza Noor, now 70, remembers the night of March 22, when soldiers barged into her house and took him with them. He never returned.
“We are desperate to see the killer brought to book,” Shakoor said. “We faced miseries after his killing.”
Abdul Shakoor Khan
son of Juma Khan
Shakoor’s younger sister, Shakeela, a mother of three, died of cardiac arrest. “After his killing, Shakeela became a heart patient as she could not bear the inhuman killing of her father,” Noor said. “But we will continue our fight for justice.”
In order to prevent the “story” from fading from their memory, the belt has not touched the spot of the gruesome “encounter”. The Zontengri hillock overlooking the entire Panchalthan belt has that Kotha still intact in which the “encounter” took place.
Though the hillock is a picturesque location, it’s woeful history has prevented the locals from making any construction on that particular spot. A few new Kothas have come up but far away from where the encounter took place. “We did not construct our new kotha at the unfortunate site as living there could give us nightmares,” Bashir Ahmad Khan, now 75, whose Kotha was also blown up in the fake encounter said.
POONCH
RAMBAN
R S PORA
HANDWARA
BARAMULLA
JAMMU
Said to be man of influence and connections, Watali, 65, revealed this to sleuths of National Investigating Agency (NIA) when he was arrested on allegations of funding militant and separatist organisations.
Eighth in a row to fall in the net of NIA, Watali has reportedly talked about his political contacts in both India and Pakistan and have even dropped names of politicians, bureaucrats, and intelligence officials.
Father of three sons, all doctors, Watali’s elder brother was veteran police officer, A M Watali, who retired as DIG police in early nineties.
Hailing from Handwara in Kashmir, Watali is believed to have ventured into business at a very young age. Donning many hats, he, reported by Indian Express, started his business with a handsaw machine. Later he set up an oil mill, joinery mill and finally had his day in real estate. He started to develop colonies under M/s Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt. Ltd name, which has a capital of Rs 40,00000.
Having business interests in many countries, he has also worked as a broker in Dubai while operating cargo flights between Dubai and Russia. He has helped Pakistan to get sugar from Middle East.
He was first arrested in 1990, from his house in Baghat along with Bilal Lone, Sajad Lone and Yasin Malik. He spent eight months in Jammu jail.
Watali is believed to have close relations with slain Abdul Gani Lone, whom he accompanied on many foreign trips. However, a few newspapers reported that he was Lone’s driver as well.
On Lone’s behalf, it is said that he carried a letter of ‘mediation’ addressed to then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Watali has claimed that the offer was an effort by the Hurriyat to “legitimise itself”.
He has claimed to have met Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan, former president of Pakistan administered Kashmir to initiate a dialogue between the then prime minister A B Vajpayee and Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Qayyum facilitated a telephone conversation between the two leaders soon after the Agra Summit.
Investigators allege that Watali’s business interests in Kashmir, Middle East and Pakistan helped him act as a conduit for illegally remitting funds to secessionists and militants.
He has told investigators that he was part of an effort by the Hurriyat to act as mediator between India and Pakistan during the Kargil war. The offer, made during the peak of the conflict in 1999, was rejected by Pakistan, he claimed.
FIR stands registered in police station Parimpora when his name surfaced in a case of illegal encroachment of land and assault in year 2016. Later, investigations on the case were stayed on orders from Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
He is accused of using invalid passport and case stands registered by the police. After his initial questioning, NIA said Watali used to charge a commission of 7 to 9 per cent for transfer of money that he received from Pakistan or the Middle East.
— Saima Bhat
Tasavur Mushtaq
Srinagar
After many speculations in the past, J&K Governor from last over nine years, Narendra Nath Vohra, is all set to pave way for new Governor, early next month, informed sources told Kashmir Life.
Rajiv Mehrishi
The sources Wednesday evening confirmed that the file of resignation has been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for final approval.
After scouting for a replacement for several months, central government, sources said have finalized name of incumbent union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.
Born on August 08, 1955 in Rajasthan, Mehrishi, a 1978 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan is all set to retire on August 31 after completing his two year term as home secretary.
Believed to be close to NDA government, Mehrishi, on the day he was to retire as Union Finance Secretary was asked to continue for two more years as home secretary.
Mehrishi who holds a degree in business administration from Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow has served at key positions in both central government as well as in Rajasthan, his allotted cadre.
Governor N N Vohra
The outgoing governor, N N Vohra took over from Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha on June 25, 2008 and is currently serving second term. He is going ten months ahead of his term.
It was reported earlier that Vohra had written to central government asking it for his replacement citing his “age and health.”
A veteran, Vohra 81, a career bureaucrat and retired IAS officer of 1959 batch of Punjab cadre was the first civilian governor of J&K after Jagmohan in nearly two decades and was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2007 for his services.
He held very important positions in his career and was recalled from retirement to head the PMO as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister I.K. Gujral during 1997-98.
Vohra is considered to be the Kashmir expert. Before being appointed as 12th governor of J&K, Vohra had been the central government’s interlocutor in Kashmir. During his tenure as interlocutor, he held wide-ranging discussions with both the unionists and separatist in the valley.
His was in command to withdraw the controversial Amarnath land shrine transfer order in 2008.
His appointment was hailed as being signal to address Kashmir issue politically.
Governor N N Vohra during the path taking ceremony of PDP-BJP government in Jammu
A lecturer in his initial days at Punjab university, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law by the university in 2011.
A writer as well, Vohra has edited over a dozen books and served as an IAS officer till 1994 before being appointed as home secretary in 1993.
He was also appointed as home secretary of Punjab after the operation Blue Star where it is said he “managed peaceful elections in 1985.”
Srinagar
Noted journalist, broadcaster, author, storyteller, script writer and lyricist Neelesh Mishra known for his famous radio show ‘Yaadon Ka Idiot Box’ Wednesday said that seeing the world through the prism of the character is the key for better storytelling.
Mishra was speaking at a daylong workshop on ‘Radio storytelling’ organized for media students by the Department of Information and Public Relations at Media Complex in Srinagar.
The workshop, spokesman said was attended by the faculty and media students of Media Education Research Centre, University of Kashmir, Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora, Govt Women’s College MA Road and Government Degree College Baramulla.
Noted journalist and broadcaster Neelesh Mishra interacting with students in Sgr (Image: DIPR)
Director Information, Muneer-ul-Islam, Joint Director Information (Headquarters) Abdul Majid Zargar, Deputy Director Information (PR) Sheikh Zahoor, Bureau Chief of ‘The Hindu’ Peerzada Ashiq were also present on the occasion.
Regarding the art of storytelling Mishra said getting involved in the character mentally helps in coming out with good stories.
He asked the students to stress on delivering the message honestly and cited the instance of a postman whose job is deliver the message without adding anything to it.
Mishra offered the media students internship in storytelling at his organization and then turning it into a successful entry opportunity in the media field.
He also asked them to decide and explore early about their career choices and not get influenced by the peers or family pressure. “A person can judge himself in which filed he can do best,” he said.
Mishra shared his journey of life, full of challenges and opportunities from his birth place Nainital to becoming one of the successful voices in the broadcasting world.
He also shared his behind the scene conversation with Mahesh Bhat while researching for a book which led to his debut song for Bollywood ‘Jaadu hai Nasha hai’ for Jism.
Speaking on the occasion, Director Information Muneer-ul-Islam said the DIPR is always ready to facilitate the media students with different genres of media to enrich their knowledge. He said of late various initiatives have been taken to give professional touch to the functioning of the Department and create avenues and opportunities for the media students.
The Director Information announced that DIPR will soon start Internship for media students, both at Jammu and Srinagar.
He said that many more programmes are in pipeline which would help media students to get required exposure for launching a successful career in media industry.
Srinagar
Minister for Education, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari laid a foundation stone of light motorable foot bridge on diversion channel at Chek Rawalpora on Wednesday, spokesman said.
The 39.60 meter long foot bridge, spokesman said will connect Check Rawalpora with Goripora shall be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 34.52 lakh. The project will be executed by Flood Spill Channel Division Narbal of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department.
Emphasizing on the need to increase connectivity between different areas, Bukhari said this foot bridge will benefit the large populace of the area.
Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari laying a foundation stone of light motorable foot bridge on diversion channel at Chek Rawalpora (Image: DIPR)
He said this was the long demand of people in general and students in particular. The students have to cover a long distance to reach their respective schools and construction of this bridge is fulfillment to the promises made to them.
Bukhari said the government under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti is committed to the overall development of the state. He pledged to augment the infrastructural needs and narrow down the gaps in the state.
He also reviewed the status of the ongoing work on Flood spill channel being executed at an estimated cost of Rs. 399.29 crore under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan which passes through districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Bandipora from Bemina to Naidkhai via Khushipora involving 1759 kanals of land.
He directed the concerned officials to expedite the dredging works and complete the project in time bound manner.
On the occasion, the delegation of people from the area met Bukhari and appraised him about various issues faced by them. He assured them that all their genuine grievances will be addressed at an earliest.
Srinagar
Minister for Public works, Naeem Akhtar Wednesday said that North Kashmir is set for a massive change in connectivity aspect with the infusion of around Rs 1100 crore on upgradation, widening and macadamisation of roads under various plans.
According to spokesman, Akhtar said that with the massive investment, North Kashmir has been put on a path of equitable development as was promised by the government. He was speaking to various delegations of people and officers during an extensive tour of Bandipora and Baramulla districts.
R&B Minister Naeem Akhtar during his tour to North Kashmir (Image: DIPR)
Akhtar said that it is for the first time, works on such a scale have been undertaken in North Kashmir districts. “There are two components in our development plan for these districts. First we want an overall development of the three districts of north Kashmir that have been left out of march towards progress due to various reasons and second focus is on the under-served areas like border areas in these districts,” he said. “Within a span of two years entire face of the North Kashmir will be transformed.”
He said that under PMGSY alone various road projects worth Rs 476 crore are being executed and more road projects are being accomplished by R&B Department. The Minister said that the vital Srinagar-Bandipora road will be completed by next year and first phase of road strengthening, building of drain and tress walls are in final stages. He said that road will start right from Sonarwani and macadamisation of some portion will start right in the current year.
During a meeting with officials at Bandipora, Akhtar, spokesman said also took stock of protection works going on Bonar and Madhumati streams under NHPC project worth Rs 134 crore. He called upon the officials to expedite the work and simultaneously take up beautification and landscaping work. The two streams are expected to cater to huge volume of water after the commissioning of Kishenganga Hydel Power Project in the coming months.
He also also inspected the work on District hospital and Maternity hospital being built in the district. He was informed that 90 percent work on the district hospital has been completed and the hospital will be commissioned by the end of this year.
While addressing people at Sopore, Akhtar said that biggest change will happen in North Kashmir with the four laning of Srinagar-Baramulla highway from Narbal onwards. He said that the project has already been approved by the Centre and DPR is being prepared for the project after which the work will start immediately.
He said that from Baramulla to Uri the four laning will be undertaken in the second phase. He said that another alternative road is being constructed on the other side of the Jhelum upto Uri, which will further connect dozens of villages.
The Minister was accompanied by DC Bandipora, Chief Engineer R&B and PMGSY, and other officials.
Srinagar
Stating that corruption has rendered the system defunct in Jammu and Kashmir despite tall claims of PDP-BJP government to eradicate it, CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami Wednesday said marginalised and poorer sections of the society have been left to fend for themselves by this government.
In a statement, he said, “The weaker and poorer sections of the society have been totally neglected by the government which has severely hit their means of livelihood. The welfare schemes for old aged, destitutes and other weaker sections are virtually defunct. Same is the situation with casual labourers working in different departments. There has been lot of noise on their regularisation. Even the issue was discussed in the Assembly, but till date nothing has been done on ground. Wages of casual laboureres in several departments are pending for several months. The NERGA workers are without wages, widows, old aged and destitutes are moving from pillar to post to get their pension, but nobody is listening to their woes.”
“The insensitive approach of the state government towards the long pending legitimate grievances of casual labourers, Anganwadi workers and helpers, contractual employees is unfortunate. These people work with dedication but they have been pushed to the wall and the state government seems to be insensitive towards their well-being.”
M Y Tarigami
Stating that the governance deficit has cost the state dearly, he said, “Inflation is so high that for a common man purchasing essential commodities from the market has become difficult. There is no accountability on price control as government is nowhere. Corruption has spread its tentacles everywhere despite tall claims of the government that it will leave no stone unturned to eradicate it. System has become defunct and government is insensitive to the woes of common people. There is a dire need to chalk out a comprehensive policy to regularize the casual labourers. Government should fulfil the promises it has made with casual labourers and contractual employees from time to time without any further delay. How will these people and their families celebrate Eid if government fails in its duty to release their pending wages?”
Tarigami lashed out at the government for its erratic utility services and scarcity of rations at the CAPD outlets, especially in remote and far off areas. “The rations at the CAPD outlets in these areas are either out of stock or of the substandard quality.”
The CPI (M) leader urged the government to release the pending wages of casual labourers and contractual employees before Eid festival. He also urged the government to review the cases of prisoners for release on Eid.
Srinagar
“Once international community used to care for human rights but today business and economic considerations stand more dearer to them,” this was stated by Jammu & Kashmir Liberation front chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik on Wednesday while speaking to a protest sit-in organized by APDP at Partap Park.
“Brutal killings of more than hundred thousand Kashmiris, destructions of proprieties worth billions, attacks on the chastity of women, thousands of unmarked graves, arrest and torture of thousands, a blanket ban on peaceful political activities and above all, custodial disappearances of more than ten thousand people are all glaring examples of human rights violations in Jammu Kashmir,” Malik said and added that “when anybody dies his family naturally gets consoled with time but if someone is disappeared forcefully and separated from his family, his family keeps looking for his whereabouts and thus the pain and agony for them is unending.”
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik, along with relatives of missing Kashmiri youth participate in a silent protest (KL Image: Bilal Bahadur)
He according to spokesman said that because of these custodial disappearances, thousands of our sisters are living as half widows and their children do not know whether or not they are orphans and their parents day in and out pass through a worst psychological trauma.
Castigating international community, he said international community has failed people of Kashmir as it has not fulfilled its obligations vis-a-vis Kashmiris.
“Our human rights are being violated on a daily basis but no one seems to care as international community seems more concerned about their economic and business interests than human rights and human values’’.
He said that all talk of establishing peace in the world but for peace to prevail there is need of justice to be delivered to the oppressed people.
“Here in this park today these men, women and children demand justice as their dear ones have been arrested by Indian forces and stand disappeared today’’ said Malik and added that “today jails, police stations and interrogation centers are filled with thousands of political prisoners, young boys and children who are being tortured and terrorized for speaking truth and crying for justice.”
“A blanket ban has been imposed on all peaceful political activities, nocturnal raids, searches, crackdowns and vandalizing properties has become order of the day especially in south Kashmir,” he said.
