News Analysis India

Tag: Jammu and Kashmir

  • Apni Party demands rollback of changes in Jammu and Kashmir land use policy

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Taking strong exception to recent changes in the land use laws announced by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Saturday demanded immediate rollback of the decision, saying it is “loaded with far-reaching consequences”

    The agricultural land in Jammu and Kashmir is supposed to be safeguarded by the government against any kind of fiddling with its land use status, he said, alleging that arbitrary decisions like the recent one would result in increased alienation of people.

    “Such policy decisions are the prerogative of an elected government, and the present dispensation should desist from taking such unilateral moves that put a question mark on its mandate,” Bukhari said.

    In view of assurances given by the Centre from time to time, and in light of directions of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, no permission should be granted for conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes especially for non-domiciles of Jammu & Kashmir.

    “The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir has also barred the conversion of agricultural land in Jammu & Kashmir in view of the fast shrinking agricultural land mass and its repercussions on overall crop production that has witnessed a drastic fall over the years,” he said.

    The former minister said the latest decision on land use policy would open floodgates for non-agricultural activities and will further increase the dependency of the people of Jammu and Kashmir on import of foodgrains.

  • Seven properties bought by outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir, all in Jammu region: Centre

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Seven plots of land have been bought by outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir in the last one year ever since the central government brought new land laws for J&K where earlier land could only be purchased by residents of the region, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs informed Parliament on Wednesday.

    Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha by CPI (Marxist) leader Jharna Das on the issue, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai elaborated that all the seven plots of land bought by people from outside J&K are located in Jammu and no such purchase has been made in the Kashmir Valley.

    In response to a separate question on whether civilian killings have increased recently in J&K, the minister did not give a clear answer and said, “The numbers of civilian killings have remained in the range of 37-40 every year during the last five years – 2017 to 2021 (till November 30, 2021).”

    Rai was responding to a question by Congress MP KC Venugopal who further asked whether civilian killings are increasing insecurity among outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir and also sought to know the steps taken by the government to ensure safety and security of people in J&K. To this, Rai said, “Notwithstanding attempts by terrorists to target some civilians, a large number of migrant workers continued to stay on in the Kashmir Valley and left as usual upon the onset of the harsh winter. Also, a large number of tourists have visited Jammu and Kashmir during the last few months.”

    The junior home minister told the Lower House that the government has taken several steps to ensure safety and security of civilians including those from outside Jammu and Kashmir.

    Citing measures taken by the government in this direction, Rai said a robust security and intelligence grid is in place; day and night area domination, patrolling and proactive operations against terrorists are being carried out in J&K. Besides, round the clock checking at Nakas and Road Opening Parties have been adequately augmented at strategic points to thwart any terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, Rai added. On Wednesday, Rai also responded to questions on restoration of statehood to the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. “Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be granted at an appropriate time,” the minister said. When asked by Congress MP Vivek Tankha whether there is a timeline to hold the state elections in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Rai said, “The decision to schedule elections is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India.”

    Earlier this year in August, the Centre had told Parliament that two people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought property in the region since August 2019.

    In October last year, the central government notified new land rules allowing any Indian citizen to purchase non-agricultural land in the Union territory. The new land laws for Jammu and Kashmir followed the August 2019 decision of the government to bifurcate the erstwhile state into two Union territories and revoke Article 370 which granted special rights to J&K.

  • 14 injured as terrorists attack police personnel’s bus in J&K’s Srinagar

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: At least 14 Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police personnel were injured on Monday when militants opened fire on their bus on the outskirts of Srinagar city, officials said.

    The attack took place in Zewan in Pantha Chowk area this evening, they said.

    They said at least 14 police personnel sustained injuries in the attack.

    The injured have been taken to various hospitals.

    The area has been cordoned off and a search operation launched to track down the assailants, the officials said, adding that further details are awaited.

    Terrorists fired upon a police vehicle near Zewan in Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar. 14 personnel injured in the attack. All the injured personnel evacuated to hospital. Area cordoned off. Further details shall follow: Kashmir Zone Police(Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/IfEXEh3wii
    — ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2021
    ​(More inputs awaited. This is a developing story)

  • BJP confident of forming next government in J-K but no clarity on CM candidature

    Express News Service

    SRI NAGAR: With elections in Jammu and Kashmir likely to be held in mid-2022 after completion of delimitation exercise, the BJP is confident of forming the first elected government in the Union Territory and having its own chief minister. But, there is no clarity yet in the party whether the CM candidate would be from within the region or outside.

    Senior J&K BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta said the saffron party will form the next government in J&K. “We are confident and will make it happen. Our workers and leaders are working on the ground. We have got huge public support and there will be a BJP government in J&K after polls,” he said.

    According to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, elections in J&K UT would be held after the delimitation exercise is completed. The tenure of the Delimitation Commission, which has to redraw constituencies for the assembly and parliamentary seats in J&K after Article 370 revocation, ends in March 2022.After abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K state into two UTs on August 5, 2019, J&K Assembly seats have risen to 90 from 87.

    BJP spokesman Arun Gupta said the party is confident of winning 50 seats. The BJP, he said, had already declared that the next CM would be from the party.  It will be the first time that J&K will have a BJP CM, he asserted.Asked who would be the party’s CM candidate, Gupta said, “This is a party matter and we don’t discuss it in public. It will be decided by the party at an appropriate time”.

    However, another J&K BJP leader said there was no clarity yet whether the CM candidate would be from within J&K or outside. “Nobody in the party knows who will be the CM’s candidate. The party’s central leadership will take a call.”

    Sources in the party said Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh could be the frontrunner. “He is very close to PM Narendra Modi,  Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda and this factor may go in his favour,” said a source.

    In 2014 assembly polls, BJP bagged 25 out of 87 seats and was part of the PDP-led coalition government. That government collapsed in June 2018 after BJP pulled out citing security concerns.

  • Coonoor crash grim reminder of similar accident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch in 1963

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Mi-17V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 others brought back memories of a 1963 chopper accident in which six officers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch.

    The crash in Poonch is considered as one of the major air accidents in the country’s military aviation history.

    The military officers killed in the chopper crash on November 22, 1963 were Lieutenant General Daulat Singh, Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, Air Vice Marshal EW Pinto, Major General KND Nanavati, Brigadier SR Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant SS Sodhi.

    The crash in Coonoor is also a grim reminder of the 1952 Devon crash near Lucknow, in which the Indian Army’s top leadership could have been lost.

    Lieutenant General SM Shrinagesh, the then General Officer Commanding in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command, and Major General KS Thimayya, the QuarterMaster General, had miraculously survived the crash.

    Both of them went on to become Army chiefs.

    Other officials on board the chopper were Major General SPP Thorat, Major General Mohinder Singh Chopra, Major General Sardanand Singh and Brigadier Ajaib Singh.

    Major General Thorat later became the Eastern Army commander.

    The pilot of the Devon aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, was conferred with the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, for his presence of mind in averting any loss of lives.

    In 2019, former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh and eight other armed forces personnel were injured in a chopper crash in the Poonch sector.

    The lone survivor in the Coonor crash, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington.

    Rawat had survived a helicopter crash in 2015, when he was a lieutenant general.

    The CDS was scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.

    Those killed in the crash included Brigadier LS Lidder, the military adviser to the CDS, and staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh.

  • Like farmers, people of J&K may have to make ‘sacrifices’ to get back their rights: Farooq Abdullah

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir may have to make “sacrifices”, as farmers protesting the new farm laws did, to restore its statehood and special status.

    Addressing a convention of the NC’s youth wing on the occasion of the 116th birth anniversary of party founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah at his mausoleum at Naseembagh here, Abdullah, however, said his party does not support violence.

    After almost a year of protests by farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 19 announced the decision to repeal the farm laws passed last year to ease rules around the sale, pricing and storage of crops.

    Parliament passed a bill to repeal the farm laws on the first day of the ongoing Winter Session on November 29.

    “(The farmers protested for) 11 months, more than 700 farmers died. The Centre had to revoke the three farm bills when farmers made sacrifices. We may also have to make sacrifices like that to get back our rights.

    “Remember this, we have promised to get back (Articles) 370, 35-A and statehood and we are ready to make any sacrifice,” Abdullah said.

    The NC, however, is not against brotherhood and does not support violence, he said.

    The Centre revoked the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two union territories on August 5, 2019.

    On the recent Hyderpora encounter and how the families of two civilians killed in the operation forced the administration to return their bodies, Abdullah said it was made possible because people showed unity.

    He demanded that the body of another person, Amir Magray, killed in the encounter also be returned to his family.

    “Three innocent people were killed (in the Hyderpora encounter). When people raised their voices, they (the administration) returned the bodies so that their kin could bury them. This is what unity can do.”

    “But the body of one person has still not been returned to his family. How many innocent people would they have killed this way? We will hold them accountable. He (God) will also hold them accountable and no one will escape that,” the NC chief said.

    Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks that tourism has increased in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Abdullah said “as if tourism is everything” when it comes to the union territory.

    “You had promised 50,000 jobs, where are they? Rather you are terminating our people. Were there no people for employing in the (Jammu & Kashmir) Bank that you got people from Punjab and Haryana? “Where will the boys and girls from J&K go? But if we raise our voices, they are crushed. The media is facing pressure, they (journalists) are summoned to police stations if they write anything against (the government). And they (government) say there is freedom,” he said.

    Abdullah asked NC workers to remain united and hold the party flag high.

    “Many enemies will come and try to pull you (away) from the party, be wary (of them). They are roaming around. Do not listen to them and remain with the party,” he said.

  • ACB arrests revenue official while accepting bribe in Jammu

    By PTI

    JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday arrested a revenue official and a tout while accepting Rs 4,000 as bribe from a person for mutation of his land on the outskirts of Jammu city, officials said.

    The ACB received a complaint from a person who said that he purchased a plot of land in the Pooja Colony in Bantalab and got it registered from the competent authority and that he deposited Rs 1,000 for mutation of the land in the north tehsil office in Jammu, they said.

    He alleged that Patwari Manish Charak demanded Rs 4,000 for the mutation of his land in his name, the officials said.

    A case was registered, and the official and a tout, Ashif Choudhary, were caught red-handed while accepting the bribe, they said.

    A search was also conducted at the house of accused public servant, and further investigation in the case is going on, the officials added.

  • J-K administration sanctions ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to kin of COVID-19 victims

    By PTI

    JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has sanctioned ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to the dependents of COVID-19 victims and directed all deputy commissioners to set up a robust yet simple mechanism for its disbursement.

    Jammu and Kashmir has recorded 4,476 Covid-related deaths — 2,291 in Kashmir and 2,185 in Jammu — since the pandemic began last year.

    In an order issued by the Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Nazim Zia Khan, secretary to Lieutenant Governor, said the implementation of the scheme would commence immediately and it will cover all residents who died due to COVID-19.

    Sanction is accorded to the adoption of the scheme for granting claim to the next of kin of COVID-19 victims in pursuance of the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in compliance with the Supreme Court order, Khan said.

    According to the order, the eligibility of a case under the scheme would be verified through the database created by the Health and Medical Education Department and duly certified by the designated medical authority.

    “Wide publicity shall be given to the scheme by the concerned deputy commissioners (chairman of District Disaster Management Authority), Health and Medical Education Department to ensure saturation of the scheme within a period of two months,” the order said.

    It asked all deputy commissioners to set up a robust yet simple mechanism for the disbursement of the ex gratia assistance.

    “All deputy commissioners shall issue an appropriate order for the constitution of a district-level committee (DLC) for redressal of any grievance(s) with regard to the certification of the Covid death,” it added.

    Khan said the committee would comprise of additional deputy commissioner of the concerned district, principal of government medical college or chief medical officer of the district and medical superintendent of the district hospital or government medical college.

    The district-level grievance committee will be responsible for verifying the authenticity of the COVID-19 death as per the central government guidelines, proposing necessary remedial measures, including amending the COVID-19 death certificate, and detailing appropriate administrative resources to verify facts in accordance with the guidelines issued for Covid-related deaths.

  • On Jammu and Kashmir visit, Finance Minister inaugurates projects worth Rs 165 crore

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR:  Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday arrived here on her first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and inaugurated projects worth Rs 165 crore. The development works inaugurated by the minister pertained to health, education, urban infrastructure and disaster management. She also laid foundation stone for Union Territory (UT) Level Emergency Operation Centre and SCADA control building at Budgam, Kashmir (worth Rs 34.88 crore) under the World Bank-funded Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP).

    The JTFRP, which is assisted by a credit of $250 million from the World Bank, was started in the aftermath of devastating floods of 2014 which severely affected low-lying areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, causing immense damage to housing, roads and bridges. The finance minister also inaugurated the Income Tax department’s new office-cum-residential complex in the summer capital of J&K. 

    Speaking on the occasion, Sitharaman said the I-T office at Srinagar will act as a “bridge” to connect people of the region to the “best taxpayer services” and also help them in their taxation issues through the Aaykar Sewa Kendra. 

    Later, in an interaction with tax administrators and stakeholders here, the finance minister urged the officers of both CBDT & CBIC to be “agents of change” and reach out to the industry and business individuals to ascertain their expectations from the government.

  • J&K L-G Manoj Sinha should take responsibility for Hyderpora encounter: Mehbooba Mufti

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha should take the responsibility for the Hyderpora encounter, in which civilians were killed.

    “What happened (at Hyderpora) was very bad. The oppression has crossed the limits. And the LG should take the responsibility (for the encounter) as he is not only the head of the administration here, but also the representative of the Centre,” she told reporters in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.

    The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said it is the L-G’s duty to protect the lives and properties of the people of the Union Territory.

    “At Hyderpora, three innocent civilians were killed and later, branded as OGWs (overground workers) and hybrid militants and the families had to beg for their bodies. And till now, the body of Amir Magray, who is from a poor family, has not been handed over to the family. His father has been awarded for killing a militant.”

    ​ALSO READ | Hyderpora encounter: Ramban DDC chief warns of protest if 3rd victim’s body not returned to kin

    “This kind of atrocities will not improve the situation, but will rather deteriorate it further. Such incidents will further widen the distance between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the country,” she said.

    Mufti warned that if such incidents continue to take place, the situation will become very dangerous in Jammu and Kashmir.

    She said Sinha should ensure that Magray’s body is handed over to his family.

    “He (Sinha) is answerable to us as he is the representative of the Centre and whatever wrong happens here, he is responsible for that,” the PDP chief added.

    Four persons were killed in an alleged encounter at Hyderpora here on Monday night.

    ALSO READ | Concerned Citizens Group demands judicial probe into civilian killings in Hyderpora encounter

    A controversy broke out as the families of three of those killed in the incident said their kin were innocent civilians.

    A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident.

    Mufti alleged that there is a “jungle raj” in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “There is no government. Everything, including the right to speech, is being suppressed here. Kashmir has been turned into a big jail,” she said.