BJP takes on UPA over national security

Srinagar, July 13:

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mo-hammad Sayeed Satur-day said that Kashmir wasn’t an international dispute and can be re-solved through dialogue.Talking to KNS at the martyrs’ graveyard in the shrine premises of Khwaja Naqshband sa-hib (RA) here, he said,

“Kashmir isn’t an inter-national dispute. When we were in power (2002-2008) we ensured that Kashmir prob-lem is solved through talks and it was due to our efforts that then Prime Minister (Atal Behari) Vajpay-ee offered hand of friendship to Pakistan from Kashmir.”“We also involved Hur-

riyat in dialogue pro-cess. We opened roads (Srinagar-Muzaffarbad) in our tenure and re-

leased political leaders. Mobile service was intro-duced in our time in J&K,” he said. “We took then Prime Minister in a public rally where he offered

hand of friendship to Pakistan. But recently when Prime Minister

Manmohan and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gan-dhi came here, Kashmir was placed under cur-few and they were taken to Banihal.”“We entered into coali-tion with Congress in 2002 for the betterment of Kashmiris. It changed the situation in Kashmir and Vajpayee offered hand of friendship to Pakistan which was re-ciprocated by General

See Mufti on Pg. 11

Anantnag, July 13:

Posters issued in the name of militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, have spread terror in South Kashmir even as the police regis-tered the First Information Report (FIR) here.The laser-printed posters, warning people against li-aising with the police and mainstream politicians, appeared mysteriously at the Jamia Masjid Hanfia,

See Posters on Pg. 11

HM posters spread fear in

Anantnag

Srinagar, July 13:

A shutdown called by the separat-ists and selective restrictions by the authorities marked Martyrs' Day in Srinagar Saturday, as flo-ral tributes were paid to those who laid down their lives in 1931 protesting autocracy.Authorities imposed restrictions in five police station areas of Kh-anyar, Nowhatta, S.R. Gunj, Rain-awari and Safa Kadal in the old city to maintain law and order.Though officially these restric-tions were termed "preventive measures", the restrictions halted life in areas where they were im-posed.Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, accompanied by Finance Minister Abdur Rahim Rather, Rural De-velopment Minister Ali Muham-mad Sagar, Lok Sabha member Sharief-ud-Din Shariq and senior police and civil officers paid floral tributes at the martyrs' graveyard at Khwaja Bazaar in the old city,

where a contingent of state police presented a guard of honour to the chief minister.The Chief Minister said that the sacrifice of martyrs to free the

society from autocracy and lay edifice for democracy and human dignity is one of the richest chap-ters of the history of Jammu and

See Martyrs on Pg. 11

Shahana

Srinagar, July 13: Another po-litical volcano called PDP, has come into scene for the last over a decade as an alternative to National Conference. The party mercurial in its nature has played card after card to become parallel political force in J&K, but has not so far been successful to provide a viable alternative to National Con-ference. Starting from heal-ing touch to disband the infa-mous task force, from Khushal Kashmir to dual currency, from buffer state to revocation of AFSPA, from withdrawal of army to self rule, it has used all political prescriptions to woe the people of J&K but alas! It could not sustain the atten-tion of the majority of people. The party led by a veteran pol-itician like Mufti Mohammad Sayed could neither woo the

people of J&K nor the central government because of its in-consistent approach to politi-cal issues. At one stage, Mufti Mohd Syed as Home Minister of India sang the song of Kash-mir being the integral part of India in full pitch but as soon as he formed his own party after leaving Janta Dal, he be-came vocal in asking for a po-litical solution of J&K which now he thought was not inter-nal issue and pleaded for ne-gotiations with Pakistan and separatists. When PDP was a coalition partner in J&K, it never raised the boggy of self-rule and never talked about Kashmir being a disputed ter-ritory. However, as soon as it was out of power, it started talking the language closer to separatists. There is no doubt that during the tenure of Mufti Mohd Syed several confidence building measures were initi-

ated by Govt. of India which included opening up of some crossing points, making peo-ple to people contact a dream come true. Mufti played a vital role in persuading the central leadership for initiating these confidence building measures with Pakistan. However, he cannot take the whole credit for this because if centre would not have its own compulsions, the dream of start-ing a bus service or trade activities would never have been realized. It was because of changing political and eco-nomic scenario on interna-tional level which facilitated initiation of better friendly relations between India and Pakistan. Coming back to its contribution on economic and developmental front, there is hardly any major achieve-ment which could be show-

cased. Mufti Mohd Syed went on a stone laying spree for hundreds of projects, but most of them remained confined to the stone laying ceremonies and never took off to get any-where near completion. He however, undertook a beauti-fication of the banks of river Jehlum and got some work completed besides removing encroachments at various

points on national highway. Here one can say, Mufti Mohd Syed was also

rendered sometimes helpless because of coalition compul-sions. But when one measures him on the laid standards, ex-cept some examples of excel-lence here and there, he is on the lowest ebb. Mufti Mohd Syed however gave a concept of a clean politics as there was no allegation of any kind of victimization of his opponents

during his rule. He was also unchallengeably instrumen-tal in bringing back the nor-malcy to the state to a great extent besides taking away unlimited powers from Spe-cial Task Force and making it answerable, but his promise disbanding the force did not materialize. An atmosphere of security was created be-cause of such bold initiatives in the valley, earlier called the valley of Ghosts because of the psycho fear created by this dreaded force. As regards unemployment, his case is not different from NC or Congress, as the number of unemployed youths increased manifold and Mufti Mohammad Syed’s promise of one job to one fam-ily could never became a reali-ty. Instead backdoor entries in custodian department, Islamic University, PHE, Flood Con-trol, Tourism Development

Corporation besides some oth-er departments left a dark spot on his clean image. Infact PDP which was visibly up against corruption itself became an in-strument to accommodate cor-rupt and retired bureaucrats, media officers and those small time politicians who have the allegations of unfair dealings. Political pundits believe that a coterie of some persons are re-sponsible for taking decisions which instead of strengthen-ing the party, have weakened it in many ways. For example, the decision to withdraw the support to Ghulam Nabi Azad govt. has cost heavily on PDP. Despite having a potential of becoming a viable alternative to National Conference, PDP may not have much to pres-ent before the people in 2014 Assembly Elections to seek a clear mandate to return to power.

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

SunDAY July 14 | 2013 | 04 Ramzan 1434 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL nO: 3 | ISSuE nO: 169 | RS: 2/- (AIR SuRCHARGE FOR JAMMu /DELHI/LEH 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&K

‘31 martyrs remembered amid shutdown

New Delhi, July 13:

Sharing the perception of Muslims that they are being “victimized”, Mi-nority Affairs Ministry will soon moot a proposal for setting up of a special task force to oversee the terror cases against the members of the commu-nity.“Muslims believe their youth are being arrested but not tried for years… There is a perception Muslims are being vic-timised,” Minority Af-fairs Minister K Rahman Khan reporters.Contending that people should not be arrested

without evidence, he said, “There is a deep hurt in the community over what they believe is injustice and we cannot escape it.”Khan said he had would submit a proposal to the Government soon for set-ting up of a task force.“I will be writing to the Government to set up a task force. It should have powers to monitor these cases,” he said.Most suspects are re-leased after five, seven or 10 years but their life is ruined, the Minister said.He said delay in trial of terror cases is tanta-

mount to “denying ba-sic rights to citizens” as long spell behind bars destroys their lives.“It is also true that terror-ism exists. Eliminating the menace is everyone’s responsibility, including that of Muslims,” he said.He said he would ask the Government to involve moderate community leaders to deal with chal-lenges facing Muslims.The UK has taken a simi-lar approach to deal with terrorism by taking com-munity leaders onboard and he would ask the In-dia Government to adopt a similar approach,

See STF on Pg. 11

STF on Muslim terror cases mooted

Jammu, July 13:

BJP on Saturday alleged that the UPA government has failed completely to deal with the issue of national security, and the recent ter-ror attacks in the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir, are a fallout of its soft approach towards mili-tancy. Referring to bomb blasts in Mahabhodi Temple at Bodh Gaya and the recent mili-tant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP national gen-eral secretary Murlidhar Rao accused both Congress and National Conference, its ally in J&K, of encourag-ing fundamental, narrow-minded and separatist forces. "Every terror attack is be-ing politicized, and the security apparatus of the country is getting down. In-stitutions like NIA, CBI and IB are fighting against each

other," he said. Accusing Congress of be-traying people of Telanga-na, Rao said BJP supports separate statehood for the region, and will vote in fa-vour if a bill is brought in Parliament in this regard. "Telangana issue is a his-toric one. Congress has betrayed the people of the region. I believe they (Con-gress) do not want to do it (go ahead with separate statehood for Telangana)," said Murlidhar Rao, party's national general secretary. He said BJP will vote in fa-vour of the bill envisaging separate Telangana, when-soever it is brought in the Parliament. "BJP has decided that if they (Cong) introduce a bill even now in the coming Monsoon session, BJP will support the bill," Rao said. "Due to this (Telangana) is-sue, the development of the

See BJP on Pg. 11

nC, Congress encouraging separatists

Of 2014 Assembly Elections- where do political parties stand?

http://www.zabarwantimes.com

Jammu, July 13:

Taking dig at BJP’s orches-trated campaign over revo-cation of Article 370, Pro-vincial President National Conference Devender Singh Rana Saturday said that repeated assertions over this sensitive issue speaks volumes about the political bankruptcy of the party.Speaking at a function held in observance of Martyrs Day at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here this morning, Rana said that after feeling

isolated and distracted from the masses in the wake of inner-party skirmishes, BJP is struggling to remain relevant in the political spectrum by inciting com-munal passions.“Narendra Modi’s latest salvo over Hindu nation-alism and justification of 2002 communal riots is an indicator what discourse the party is taking in the en-suing elections,” Rana said and added that this is just the extension of its

See Rana on Pg. 11

BJP struggling to remain relevant: Rana

Kashmir not an international dispute: Mufti

Part-III

Omar pays floral tributes

Srinagar, July 13:

"We have learnt our lessons from this incident," a three-star general said on the sidelines of a recent pass-ing out parade here. He was commenting on the deadly guerrilla ambush late last month in which eight sol-diers were killed and 13 injured in this Jammu and Kashmir summer capital.As infiltration attempts from across the Line of Control (LOC) into the state record an increase, the chal-lenges for the army to keep the trained and heavily-armed guerrillas from en-tering the state have also grown.

On July 9, the army foiled a major infiltration bid into the Valley in north Kash-mir's Kupwara district. A group of eight to nine guer-rillas tried to sneak in from across the LOC in the Keran sector when they were fired upon by army troops.In the resultant gunfight, the army said five guerril-las had been killed while others in the group had fled towards the LOC, taking cover in the thick foliage in the area."Surveillance of a border like the LOC is no mean job. There are mountains, riv-ers, streams, ridges, ravines and gorges along the LOC. It is not a cut and dried

area that we have to guard. Despite the three-tier LOC fencing, we need highly sophisticated surveillance equipment to keep the en-emy at bay," a senior army officer said here.To mount vigil and meet the growing challenges of LOC infiltration by highly moti-vated guerrillas, the army's Northern Command has floated a request for propos-al (RfP) for purchasing six border surveillance man-agement systems (BSMS) for deployment in Jammu and Kashmir.The BSMS would provide inputs to the surveillance centre that is normally situ-ated behind the observation

posts on the LOC.The border in Jammu and Kashmir is at present man-aged through a surveillance system that includes three-tier fencing, thermal imag-ing, manual patrolling and floodlighting the area.The BSMS, army sources say, would enhance its counter-infiltration surveil-lance capabilities.Sources in the state intelli-gence say that out of a group of five to ten guerrillas who attempt to infiltrate and are challenged by the security forces, despite suffering ca-sualties, a small number of survivors generally man-ages to sneak in.

See Challenges on Pg. 11

Challenges grow for army as infiltration bids increase

Srinagar, July 13:

A nine-year-old boy was killed on Saturday after a leopard attacked him in north Kashmir, the second such incident in the area in past 24 hours.Earlier on Friday two leop-ards entered village Hars-hunar, Kreeri, in north Kashmir district of Baram-ulla from a nearby forest and killed a six-year-old boy.The attacks by wild animals have sharply increased recently, underlining the Valley’s grave man-animal conflict issue.The fresh incident took place in Kreeri area of Baramulla district north of Srinagar, witnesses said.Adil Ahmad was with his friends when a killer leop-ard attacked and bit him in the neck, fatally wound-ing him. His body also bore marks of the cat’s claws.A large number of villag-ers gathered for his funeral prayers.

See Leopard on Pg. 11

Leopard mauls another boy to

deathBoy drowns in AnantnagSrinagar July 13, 2013: A School boy identified as Showkat Ahmad Bhat son of Gul Moham-mad resident of Shiekhpora, Chittergul was drowned while having a bathing in Orpat Nallah, Manzimwadi, in the jurisdiction of Police station Achabal. The body of Showket was fished out and handed over to his relatives for last rites.

Decomposed body of girl recovered Bhaderwah, July 13: The de-composed body of a minor girl, who was allegedly abducted by a youth on July 3, was recov-ered in Bhaderwah belt of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said. On the basis of information given by locals, police recov-ered the semi-naked body of the 10-year-old girl Kajal Devi in bushes near Nalthi Park of the district, they said. The victim was kidnapped by Tirath Singh of Kauch vil-lage on July 3. However, after the family members lodged a complaint against him, police arrested Tirath.Police claimed that the girl might have been raped by the accused, adding that a case has been registered against him.

KPs hold 'Black Day' Jammu, July 13: The occasion of Martyrs' Day in Jammu and Kashmir today saw protests by Kashmiri Pandit groups who observed the day as a black day saying that it commemorated the persecution inflicted by one group of people on another.The Joint Forum of KP Organ-isations held a massive demon-stration outside the Press Club here. Activists at the demon-stration said that the Kashmiri Pandit community had been observing July 13 as 'Black Day' since 1932.

Boy drowns, 21 injured in mishaps Srinagar, July 13: A boy drowned in Anantnag district of south Kashmir while 21 persons were injured in separate mis-haps across the Kashmir valley, a police spokesman said here on Saturday.He said a school boy, Showkat Ahmad Bhat son of Gul Moham-mad of Shiekhpora, Chittergul drowned while having a bath in Orpat Nallah, Manzimwadi in Achabal area of the Anantnag district. The body of the boy was fished out and handed over to his relatives for last rites, he said.Separately, he said, eleven per-sons were injured when a mini bus—Tata 407 (JK09-16170 they were travelling in, met with an accident at Chookibalan, Kral-pora in north Kashmir’s Kup-wara district this afternoon. All the injured, he said, were shifted to Hospital for treatment According to KNS, in another accident, a mini bus (JK03-8817) hit and injured a child, Munsif son of Parshu of Uranhal in Bijbehara area of Anantnag while a Santro car (JK03A-6931) collided with a Motorcycle (DL95AE-3507) on KP Road at Mattan area of the southern Kashmir district, resulting in injuries to the motorcyclist Zakir Hussain Malik of Khayar and Pillion Nisar Ahmad Wagay of Nambal. In another accident, a Tata sumo (JK03A-7943) met with an accident at Poshinari in Uttrasoo, Anantnag, resulting in injuries to three persons who were travelling in it. In yet another accident, a Scorpio vehicle (JK05D-1532) hit a Scooty (JK05C-8239) at Kralhar, Baramulla, near FCI, resulting in injuries to Scooty rider Abdul Rashid Lone son of Mohammad Sultan of Uskh-kara. Meanwhile, a Maruti car (JK05C-7550) hit a motorcycle bearing (JK04A-6093) at Chana-pora in Tangmarg, resulting in injuries three persons who were riding the motorcycle. All the injured were shifted to Hospital for treatment.

Srinagar, July 13:

In a rare incident of its kind, unknown persons killed a policeman by slashing his throat at Harduna forest area of Vilgam village in frontier district of Kupwara in North Kashmir.

Official sources told Global News Ser-vice that Head Constable Sanaullah Zar-gar, son of Abdul Gani Zargar was killed by militants this morning after he was fetching timber from the nearby forest.

Sanuallah Belt no. 940/F posted at DPL Srinagar had gone to his home on leave where he was killed.

On Saturday morning, Sanuallah left towards nearby forests for fetching logs of timber, sources said, adding that as-sailants (probably militants) may have found police identity card from his pos-session thus murdered him.

“Sanaullah left his house at around 9 am on Saturday to collect some logs of timber from Hardoona forests. He didn’t return till late afternoon. We tried to con-tact him on his mobile phone but it was switched off,” a relative of Sanaullah told GNS.

Later on, the family members searched for him and found his body in the nearby forests in a pool of blood.

The death has sent shockwaves in entire Hardoona and its adjoining areas. “The death have created panic in our area,” Abdul Gaffar Bhat, a local resident said.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman in a statement issued to GNS said that San-aullah had gone to a nearby forest area of Hangalpora along with his wife for col-lection of firewood where the duo was intercepted by some unknown militants in the forest.

“Sonnaullah was killed by the mili-tants in a gruesome manner,” the spokes-man said, adding that Police has reached the spot and the area has been cordoned off.

The body of the deceased Head Con-stable was handed over to his relatives for last rites, he added.

Police has registered a case in this re-gard and started further investigations.

The deceased policeman is survived by his wife and four children including a girl

Jammu, July 13:

Minister for Planning Ajay Sadhotra today visited Shri Amarnath Yatra Jammu base camp Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar and took stock of the facilities being provided to the pilgrims.The Minister had a round of the Yatri Niwas complex and took stock of boarding, lodging and other facilities made available for the pilgrims. Divisional Com-missioner Jammu Pardeep Gupta who accompanied the Minister, briefed him about the facilities being provided to the Yatris for their com-fortable stay. Director Tour-ism Soujanya Sharma, Com-missioner JMC K. L. Khajuria, Chief Engineer PDD Shenaz Goni and other senior offi-cers were also present on the

occasion.The Minister im-pressed upon the concerned officers to gear up their men and machinery so that all the facilities including power, drinking water, sanitation, transport, security, Langar arrangements and other fa-cilities provided to the Am-arnathji pilgrims at the base camp and other stations.

He asked CAPD for regular

market checking to ensure that the yatris are not over-charged by the shopkeepers during their stay in Jammu. He hoped that this year’s Ya-tra will be a grand success.

The Minister said that the government is determined to ensure smooth conduct of the annual yatra besides en-suring all necessary services to the devotees.

Anantnag, July 13:

Minister for Floriculture and Haj & Auquf, Peerzada Mohammad Syed, to-day distributed cheques worth Rs. 7.10 lakh amongst 74 beneficiaries of Damhal Panchayat Halqa in block Achhabal for developing their toilet units under Nirmal Bharat Abhyan programme.

Besides, the Minister also gave away cheques to five deserving beneficiaries as second instalment under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) at the rate of Rs. 35,000 each for construction of dwelling units in the area.Speaking on the occasion, the Minis-ter said that Government was committed to provide better facilities to the people, especially in the rural and far-flung areas and several people friendly programmes have been launched for the purpose. He said Nirmal Bharat Abhyan programme, which is a flag-ship programme of Cen-tral Government aimed at to provide assistance to the rural people for devel-oping their toilet units under sanitation campaign. Government bears the expen-diture for establishing the toilet units by

the inhabitants in their premises to en-sure proper sanitation and neat and clean environment. He asked the people to take advantage of the scheme and establish the toilets units in their homes and help in maintaining the clean environment. He said that all panchayat halqas in the block Achhabal will be covered during the cur-rent fiscal.

Similarly, the IAY is also a flagship pro-gramme of Central Government and rural people living below the poverty line are eligible for the benefits for construction of their dwelling units. He directed the officers to identify the deserving benefi-ciaries so that the benefits of the scheme reach out to the needy.

He called upon the officers of vari-ous departments to create awareness amongst the people to popularize various Government schemes so that people can avail benefits of these schemes. He asked the people to coordinate with the admin-istration in ensuring overall development in all vital sectors.

Officers of various departments were present on the occasion.

DDC takes stock of development works

Anantnag, July 13: The District Develop-ment Commissioner, Anantnag, Dr. Farooq Ahmad Lone today visited various areas of Anantnag town and took stock of ongoing developmental works in the town. He was ac-companied by a team of district officers also.Dr. Lone visited Khanabal area and interacted with the people and enquire about the basic amenities being provided to them by the Dis-trict Administration.The District Development Commissioner also visited Khanabal-Pahalgam road where he took stock of ongoing macadam-ization work on K.P. Road. He emphasized upon the concerned officers and agencies to speed up the macadamization work and also stressed upon the agencies for transparency in the mac-adam work.A deputation from Khanabal area called on the District Development Commission-er and apprised him about their problems and demands.Dr. Lone assured the deputation that all the problems and demands would solved in a phased manner on priority basis.

Kulgam, July 13:

Minister for Social Welfare, ARI & Trainings, Ms Sakina Itoo on Saturday visited Khaloora in Noorabad area and took stock of various developmental activities and grievances of the peo-ple.

Addressing a huge gathering of people on the occasion, the Minister said that the present Government un-der the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during the past four and half years has tried its best to address the problems of the people, particularly of those living in far-flung ,hilly and remote areas. She said, the Government has already tak-en up a number of steps under a stra-tegic approach and comprehensive plan to strengthen the basic facilities to the people. Maintaining that the Government focused on certain vital areas which included, drinking water, power supply, education, health and

road sectors which are the basic needs of the people. She said a massive de-velopment has been registered in

these sectors and change is visible on ground and people themselves have acknowledged the same. She said

that government has been making all out efforts to provide transparent and accountable administration to the

people and various landmark deci-sions in this direction have been taken by the present regime. She asked the people for strengthening the hands of Mr Omar Abdullah, to redress their grievances. Referring to the demands of the people, the Minister assured Government will examine their de-mands on priority and all genuine is-sues will be addressed appropriately. In some cases she issued on the spot instructions to the concerned officers for addressing the problems imme-diately.Regarding the urgent demand of setting up a water supply scheme at the village, the Minister asked the concerned engineers to prepare a de-tailed project which would be taken up on priority. She also issued neces-sary instructions to the concerned en-gineers to formulate a comprehensive proposal for strengthening the power infrastructure in the area to provide better electricity facilities to the lo-cals.

More pleasant conditions that are a lot easier to deal with could lull you into a new sense of security in your relationships. Personal and professional interactions should be especially warm and supportive. This should last for a while, Aries, but then the situation will prob-ably revert to whatever it was before. Make the most of the situation while it lasts.

Some intense dreams about someone you haven’t seen for a long time could have you wondering what this person is doing now, Gemini. It might also awaken the desire to be in contact again. Call if you can. You might be pleasantly surprised. An increased psychic sensitiv-ity could cause you to better understand the thoughts and feelings of family members.

Social events or group activities concerned primar-ily with spiritual, metaphysical, social, or humanitar-ian issues could take place in your community today, Cancer. These could be enlightening and enjoyable, and you could make some new friends. The exchange of ideas could get your mind going a thousand miles an hour.

Legal papers might need attention today, Leo. This could concern a positive development in financial mat-ters. Though you might not be too clear on the language, you will still be glad to do it since it could represent a highly desirable turn of events for you. New self-con-fidence could result. You could find more interesting people drawn into your aura. Sparkle and shine!

A new romance or friendship could develop with someone who’s very creative and shares your spiritual values. This is a very positive development, Virgo. Just avoid idealizing your new friend. This person is human like everyone else, and needs to be loved as is. Don’t create an unrealistic impression of the person. If you acknowledge and accept this, a rewarding new relation-ship could result.

You could have heightened psychic awareness to-day. You will probably notice it first when you pick up thoughts and feelings of family members, perhaps com-ing up with the same words at the same time. You may notice this phenomenon more throughout the day. You might experience visions or powerful premonitions. Make the most of this ability.

Someone who lives near you who may not have said much to you before could suddenly strike up a conversa-tion that results in a new friendship. You could be won-dering why you didn’t speak to him or her before. You could share a number of interests, and because of that, you could learn about some new group activities. Don’t push too hard, and don’t idealize your new friend.

Some paperwork might need execution today, Sag-ittarius. This may be tedious, but it’s apt to open new doors for you and pave the way to more success and good fortune. Writing or speaking might be involved in some way, and modern technology plays a definite part in what you will be doing. This could lead to valuable contacts and new friendships. Explore your options.

Strong intuitive rapport with someone who lives far away could create a desire to contact this person. This is a good idea, Capricorn, as this person may be going through a positive transition in life and eager to share the news. This communication could bring you closer together, so go for it. Whatever is happening with your friend could spill over into your life in some way.

Your intuition could bring you an interesting oppor-tunity to increase your income in an unconventional way. Others may think the idea strange, but for you it’s definitely worth considering. Check all the pros and cons, talk to people in the know. Whether this is the source or not, an increased level of financial security is strongly indicated now.

Social events could put you in touch with interest-ing people involved in intriguing fields like astrology, alchemy, and other occult sciences, or perhaps in so-cial, political, or humanitarian causes. There could be a possible new love interest. You’re going to enjoy these people, Pisces, and probably want to see them again. You need to make the effort.

Your sharp intuition and imagination could bring enlightening spiritual insights, Taurus. Metaphysical or religious books could be especially appealing. Rela-tions with close friends and family should benefit from this enhanced sensitivity. You may be able to under-stand them better because of it. This could be inspir-ing.

Sakina addresses public gathering in Khaloora-Noorabad area

Policeman beheaded by unknown persons in North Kashmir

Sadhotra reviews facilities at Yatri Niwas

Peerzada distributes Rs. 7.10 lakh among NBA beneficiaries

Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS Srinagar |Sunday 14 .7 .2013

Naseer Ganaie bereaved, Mother expires

Srinagar, July 13:

A condolence meeting was held today at the Directorate of In-formation, Srinagar to express sympathies with noted Journalist and Correspondent of Delhi based English News paper Mail Today, Mr. Naseer Ahmad Ganaie who’s mother passed away yesterday. The meeting presided over by Director Information, Mr. Zaffar Ah-mad.The participants in the meeting conveyed their heartfelt con-dolences to the bereaved family of Mr. Naseer Ahmad and prayed for eternal solace to the departed soul.

Today the Director Information, Mr. Zaffar Ahmad visited the residence of Mr. Naseer Ahmad and conveyed his halt felt condo-lences.

Shabir inspects Medicare facilities

at PHC MarhJammu, July 13:

Minister of State for Health, Shabir Ahmed Khan today con-ducted a surprise inspection of Primary Health Centre Marh and took stock of the Medicare facilities in the hospital.

He was accompanied by CMO Jammu Javaid Chib, BMO Marh Dr. Anita Singh.

During the inspection, the Minister inspected each section of the hospital and enquired from patients about the facilities being provided to them. He stressed for maintaining cleanliness and hy-gienic conditions in the hospital premises.

He directed the hospital administration to ensure that every possible facility was provided to the patients and their attendant.

Gurezi reviews functioning of Horti, Seri & Flori deptts

Sham inaugurates Yamaha Showroom

Jammu, July 13:

Minister of State for Animal & Sheep Husbandry Horticulture, Agriculture & Floriculture Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurezi) today laid emphasis on promotion of protective cultivation in far flung areas of Jammu division to help farmers to get returns during winters also.

Chaining a review meeting of Hor-ticulture, Floriculture and Sericulture Departments of Jammu Division, the Minister exhorted upon field functionaries to tap huge Horticulture potential of 1.50 lakh Hectare in the region and bring more area under Area expansion programme to ensure the plantation of high yielding varieties so that productivity in the division is boosted and economy of the division is increased.

He emphasized on to promote growing of Mango, litchi and Guava in Jammu, Kathua and Samba area, Stone Fruits in Poonch, Rajouri and Tem-perate Fruits both fresh and dry in Doda and Kishtwar Districts. He asked the field functionaries to strengthen the Depart-mental nurseries to produce quality plant material so that farmers get the certified plant material at their door step.

Director Horticulture Jammu, Anil Ku-mar Sharma, Director Floriculture Jammu, K. K. Sharma, Additional Director Sericul-ture Jammu, M. L. Chadgal besides Chief Horticulture Officers of all the Districts of Jammu Division, District Level Officers of Horticulture Department, Officers from Floriculture and Sericulture Departments were present in the meeting.

Director Horticulture Jammu briefed the Minister about the Horticultural ac-tivities taken up by the Department for

the benefit of the farmers. He informed the Minister that accreditation of Depart-mental/ Private Nurseries by National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agricul-ture, Govt. of India has been geared up in the state to produce and distribute certified plant material among the farm-ing community. The Department has initiated some steps to increase the pro-

ductivity of the fruits in the region by dissemination of modern technology of canopy management and good orchard management practices. The Minister ad-vised the departmental officers to inter-act with the farmers frequently to aware them about various ongoing schemes and programmes especially sponsored by the Govt. of India

The Minister directed the Department to promote protective cultivation in far flung areas of the division so that farmers

can produce vegetables and other fresh cash crops during winters. Sh Gurezi also sought the details of achievements from Director Flori-culture and Sericulture and called upon them to encourage commer-cial Floriculture and Sericulture so that the farmers also participate in these activities to increase their socio economic conditions.

He enquired about the selec-tion process initiated by the Hor-

ticulture Department to fill up the vacant posts of Class-IV employees of all Districts and issued the necessary instructions to comply the decision already taken to complete the recruitment process by ending August 2013.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.

Jammu, July 13:

Minister for PHE, Irriga-tion and Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma, has reiterated the coalition government’s resolve to work for the upliftment and improvement of the living stan-dard of the people living in rural and far-flung areas of the State.

The Minister was speaking after inaugurating Chenab Mo-tor Yamaha Showroom at Dark-al Morh, Akhnoor here today.

Sham said that government was committed to provide im-proved facilities to the people especially to the people living in rural and remote areas to uplift their economic status. He said that central and state governments have launched a number of welfare schemes for the people and asked them to come forward and avail ben-efits of these schemes.

Sham asked the unem-

ployed youth to venture into the private sector instead of hankering after government jobs which are limited. He asked them to avail facilities provided under self employ-ment schemes and bank loans for establishing their own in-come generating units.

He appreciated the efforts of the prop M/S Chenab Motor for opening the showroom and asked the owner to provide job in their firm to local youth.

The Minister apprised about the different self employment schemes, especially designed for the rural folk are available under PMEGP and KVIB. He said that government was pro-viding attractive incentives and subsidies besides providing marketing facilities in and out-side the state. He stressed upon the youth to strive in private sector as it has huge scope for progress and growth.

E ++HHEAAL L HH5 ZABARWAN TIMES

SUNDAY | 14 JULY 20138 ZABARWANTIMES

Omega-3 and Turmeric to Repair Spinal Cord Injuries

Two dietary supplements may be helpful in address-ing age-related damage to the neck and spinal cord. Researchers at UCLA have shown that two natural compounds - curcumin in the Indian curry spice tur-meric and docosahexaeno-ic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oil - appeared to offset the ef-fects of a spinal injury in rats. The animals were giv-en a condition that simu-lates cervical myelopathy, a set of symptoms seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. The investigators fed one group of rats foods similar to a typical Western diet; a second group received regular rat chow supple-mented with DHA and curcumin; a third group were given standard rat chow as a control. After three weeks, the rats on the Western diet had pro-gressive problems with walking. The curcumin/DHA group walked better than this group, and ex-amination of their spinal cords showed that the rats

on the Western diet had higher levels of a marker linked to cell-membrane damage. The DHA/cur-cumin group had marker levels similar to the con-

trol group. These finding suggest that DHA and cur-cumin may help minimize disease-related changes and possibly help repair damage to the spinal cord.

A new report from Tufts University suggests that higher daily doses of vi-tamin D - between 800 and 2000 IUs - can sig-nificantly lower the risk of fractures for both men and women age 65 and older. The research team analyzed 11 separate clinical trials that studied the effect of vitamin D supplementation in more than 31,000 seniors. They found a 30 percent reduc-tion in the risk of hip frac-tures and a 14 percent re-duction in the risk of other fractures among those whose daily vita-min D intake ranged from 800-2000 IUs. The investigators reported that they saw no benefit to taking doses of “D” below 800 IUs daily for prevention of fractures. They also noted that unless older adults are exposed to bright sunlight year-round they need supplements to maintain ad-equate amounts of “D” and that typical consumption from foods, including tuna, salmon or fortified milk adds up to only 150 IUs per day. Most multivitamins pro-vide only 400 IUs. The study was pub-lished on July 5, 2012 in The New Eng-land Journal of Medicine.My take? I recommend a daily dose of 2000 IU of vitamin D, although that amount may increase as research continues. Not only is this vitamin essential for bone

strength - and as this new study suggests, for prevention of fractures - research has shown that it may lower risks of a num-ber of serious diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune dis-orders, and diabetes. Unfortunately, vita-min D deficiency is widespread. It is now estimated that hundreds of thousands of cancer cases worldwide might be prevent-ed each year if we all had adequate daily intakes. Don't be concerned that 2,000 IU will give you too much. With exposure to sunlight in the summer, the body can gen-erate between 10,000 IU and 20,000 IU of vitamin D per hour with no ill effects. In addition, no adverse effects have been seen with supplemental vitamin D intakes up to 10,000 IU daily. Always take your vitamin D with a fat-containing meal to ensure absorption.

Whether it is shoes that help you look shapely or pills that help you shed weight, here are a few fads and reasons you should avoid themWe've all seen fitness prod-ucts and diets advertised on television, radio and in stores. They might prom-ise a fitter and a slimmer you in a week but it might not be advisable to adapt them.Only-one-ingredient dietsA diet based solely on eating cottage cheese, a vegetable-only lunch, just grapefruit all day - It's ob-vious when a diet has you eating only one food or ingredient, it's a bad fad. Your body needs a variety of foods, including grains, healthy fats and protein to thrive. Eat real food and avoid diets that have you skipping out on entire food groups.

Toning apparelFrom shoes that help you tone as you walk to sports bras that burn fat as you wear them, it's clear that nothing you wear can help you shed pounds. The shoes may help you ac-tivate different muscles,

but you can't rely on them to lose weight or really in-crease your fitness level. Start on a real workout - exercising, dancing, yoga etc to get fit and slim.Pole dance work-

outIt's true that dancing ses-sions help you stay fit, but what is it with the pole? How does learning pole dance from fitness pro-fessionals help you lose weight? There's nothing wrong with pole dancing if you enjoy it, but it's not a great idea for a standard fitness routine.

CleansingYou temporarily cleanse your body eating only a few foods or following a cleanse formula. But the truth here is that your liver and kidneys already do a great job detoxing your body. You can lose water weight during a detox, but you can also lose muscle mass due to a lack of nutri-ents. Your metabolism can take a beating and your fat storage can actually go up. Prefer eating foods that flush your system so you don't need to be cleansed.

Every now and then, the food and beauty industry discovers a new player that makes it tremble with excitement. Sometimes it's backed by research, sometimes it's just a new, undiscovered element that a marketing genius stum-bled upon and launched, to the delight of an en-amoured audience of con-sumers. This search for the new, the 'It' ingredient is constantly on. But how many of these are actually good for you? What do the ones that are supposed to be good actually do? Who should be careful about overdosing on them? We took four items — quinoa, argan oil, edamame beans and agave — and put them under the scanner. Here's everything you must know about them:

QuinoaWhat is it? It's a seed widely used as a grain.What are its health benefits?According to nutrition-ist and counsellor Pooja Kothari, quinoa is a rich source of protein, fibre, calcium, phosphorous,

iron and other essential minerals. It helps regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels, relax muscle spasms, clear the intes-tines and keep the body toxin-free.

What else?Nutritionist Tripti Bhan-dari recommends quinoa to those looking to lose weight, as it performs the function of a carbohydrate without adding the calo-ries.How should it be con-

sumed?Bhandari suggests cooking it as a brown rice replace-ment — in upma, dalia, pudding or kheer. To de-rive maximum benefit, Kothari suggests soaking it in water for seven to eight hours before you consume it.Who should avoid it?

If you have gout or high uric acid, avoid quinoa.Worth the hype?YesEdamame What is it? Baby soy beans.What are its health ben-efits?It's a rich source of dietary

protein. "They contain a high amount of antioxi-dants and a low amount of oil with a little saturated fat, aiding hormonal bal-ance and production of other essential enzymes," Kothari says.

What else?It is also a rich source of Vitamins B, K and E, and contains minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, copper and folic acid. It strengthens the immune system and in pregnant women, it's good for the development of the foetus. It also reduces cholesterol, helps weight loss and has anti-inflammation proper-ties.How should it be con-

sumed?Kothari suggests you boil it till the pod becomes soft, and then add it to soup and salads, or simply eat it with some salt and spices. If you can coax an eda-mame sabzi out of it, go ahead!Who should avoid it?

Same as quinoa, gout (high uric acid) and thy-roid patients should avoid edamame, according to

Bhandari.Worth the hype? YesArgan oil

What is it? An oil extracted from a bush called Argan that grows in Morocco and some other parts of the world. On account of its rareness and exclusivity, it's also very expensive.

What are its health benefits?

It has high concentrations of antioxidants, omega-6 and Vitamin E, which nourishes skin and hair.

What else? It's light and thus absorbed easily. It helps reduce acne, scarring, wrinkles and psoriasis. It can also be used in cooking and it reduces the risk of cardio-vascular disease.

Worth the hype? No. Dr Apoorva Shah

of Richfeel says Argan oil's health benefits are the

same as those of any other hair oil. Shah's advice is to oil your hair thrice a week,

drink a glass of water every hour, and maintain a balanced diet to get the

hair you desire.

If you have always liked to reach for that glass of ice tea, preferring that to a beverage, think again.For, a study indicates that drinking iced tea can contribute to the devel-opment of painful kidney stones, due to its high concentration of oxalate, one of the key chemicals that could result in the formation of kidney stones.

What the researchers found"For people who have a tendency to form the most common type of kidney stones, iced tea is one of the worst things to drink," Dr. John Milner, an assistant professor in the department of urology at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, said in a news release. Re-searchers went on to explain that the drink contains high levels of oxalate, a chemical that leads to the forma-tion of small crystals made of miner-als and salt found in urine. Although these crystals are usually harm-less, the researchers cautioned they could grow large enough to become wedged in the small tubes that drain urine from the kidney to the bladder. "A lot of people choose to drink more iced tea, because it is low in calories and tastes better than water. How-ever, in terms of kidney stones, they

might be doing themselves a disser-vice," added Milner.

Nutritionist says...Ice tea may not be all that much low in calories, says nutritionist Dr Priya Karkera. "This is because one tends to add sugar to it. I also feel that ice tea can be a contributing factor to kidney stones and is avoidable to be had on a regular basis." She also rec-ommends that those who are at risk for kidney stones should reduce cer-tain foods that contain high concen-trations of oxalates, including spin-ach, chocolate, and nuts. Salt and

meat are extremely harmful. Drink several glasses of water as well one glass of barley water a day can help, she advises.

Beverages that can help

Lemon juice is a good drink to keep the kidneys hydrated, as the citrates present in lemonade inhibits the growth of kidney stones. "Drinking several glasses of water as well one glass of barley water a day can help," advises Dr Karkera

If you end up with a rash on a new tattoo, don't brush it off as an allergic reaction or a normal part of the healing process, says a study. A recent study documents many cases in the Roches-ter, New York area, of tat-toos infected with a type of bacteria often found in tap water. Evidence points to a pre-mixed grey ink, the type used in currently popular portrait or pho-tography tattoos, as the culprit. Mary Gail Mercurio, der-matologist at the Univer-sity of Rochester Medical Centre, examined the indi-viduals infected. She says some people with tattoos have allergies or experi-ence other dermatologic complications, but it's not common. "Patients and doctors need to have a certain level of suspicion when they see a rash developing in a tat-too. Many of the patients I saw thought their skin was just irritated and the issue would go away during the healing process," Mercurio was quoted as saying by

The New England Journal of Medicine. "In actuality, they had an infection that needed to be treated with an antibiotic; it wasn't going to go away easily on its own," added Mercurio, according to a Rochester statement. The investigation of the outbreak, which was also highlighted in the US Cen-tres for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbid-

ity and Mortality Weekly Report, started with a pre-viously healthy 20-year-old man who had a history of multiple tattoos in the past without any issues. In October 2011, he re-ceived a new tattoo on his arm and subsequently developed a persistent, in-flamed rash in that area. After learning of his case, the Monroe County De-partment of Public Health

explored the issue and identified other individu-als who developed similar rashes after getting tattoos at the same parlour, from the same artist. Tests conducted at the Rochester Medical Cen-tre revealed that a specific type of bacteria, Mycobac-terium chelonae, was in the patients' skin and led to the red, itchy bumps in their tattoos.

Scientists are to begin clinical trials to determine if eating more foods rich in vitamin E during preg-nancy prevents childhood asthma.Women will eat soups naturally high in the vitamin, which it is be-lieved may promote lung growth in the developing foetus.Children born with good lung function are less likely to develop asthma.

Details of the trial were outlined at the British Sci-ence Festival being held in

Aberdeen.Asthma is highly prevalent - in the UK, 10-15% of chil-dren and 5-10% of adults have been diagnosed with the disease.The majority of children with asthma will carry the illness into adulthood.The disease is managed by preventing and reliev-ing the major symptoms - breathlessness, wheez-ing and coughing - using inhalers and, in extreme cases, with steroid tablets.There has been a recent in-crease in the prevalence of asthma in children.To try to understand why, a team of researchers from the University of Aberdeen

established a cohort of ap-proximately 2,000 women and measured the impact of diet on the incidence of asthma in children up to the age of five.Prof Gra-ham Deveraux, who led the study, said: "We were able to show, for the first time, that children born to mums with a lower vita-min E intake during preg-nancy were more likely to develop asthma by the age of five and have poor lung function."These early find-ings were then confirmed in studies carried out in Japan and the US.The next challenge for the researchers was to show

that altering nutrition during pregnancy could positively impact on a child's susceptibility to

asthma.Avoiding potions and pillsProf Deveraux considered that a trial using vitamin supplements lacked cred-ibility - trials of vitamins to treat various conditions had so-often failed.He said the key may be in-take in food."People have never actual-ly eaten vitamin E tablets; normally most people get

their vitamin E from food."I wondered whether it might be the other nutri-ents that go with vitamin E in food that may be re-sponsible for the effect. There may be interactions between vitamin E and the other nutrients."So, I was very keen to do a dietary in-tervention rather than a pill or a potion."With the help of a team of dietitians, he performed a small study on pregnant women to see if he could manipulate their diet to increase their vitamin E intake up to the recom-mended levels and, he says, "it worked a treat".But vita-min E was not the only thing that altered, as Prof Dever-aux observed: "Lots of oth-er things changed, like the fatty acids changed, the zinc changed, the seleni-um, the vitamin D - and all these are nutrients which we know have been asso-ciated during pregnancy with childhood asthma."Whilst the results vindicat-ed their overall approach, the dietary interventions were too complex and would not be readily ac-cessible to a wide range of society. Also it was difficult

to standardise and control.Super soups

To overcome these prob-lems, the team approached a commercial soup manu-facturer to develop a range of enhanced soups. Each one is naturally rich in vitamin E - and other po-tentially important miner-als - and for each there is a similarly tasting "normal" soup that could be used for the control group of preg-nant women.By judicious tweaking of ingredients - for example, substituting normal tomatoes found in cream of tomato soup with their super-nutritious sun-dried counterparts - they were able to develop three new varieties of "su-per-soups".The team now plan to test the soups in a small pilot study involv-ing 50 women. They will be enrolled during early pregnancy and asked to eat either enriched or nor-mal soup three times a week.The study will show whether the new dietary intervention is well toler-ated by the women and - by carrying out blood measurements -

NATION DAILY ZABARWAN TIMES

7 SRINAGARSunday, July 14 ,2013 Kashmir ThunderSunday 14 July2013

Congress will not declare Rahul as PM candidate: Digvijaya

New Delhi: The Congress will not de-clare Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministe-rial candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh hint-ed today while dismissing suggestions that BJP’s projection of Narendra Modi is a challenge to it.

He also did not say whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be a candidate for the top post once again if the party wins next year’s elections.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and party General Secretary Digvijaya Singh. PTICongress Vice President Ra-hul Gandhi and party General Secretary Digvijaya Singh. PTI

“We do not have a presidential form of government. Congress party does not declare PM or CM candidates before elec-tions…Even in the Karnataka Assembly elections, we had not declared any CM candidate,” Singh told PTI in an inter-view.

He was replying to questions why Con-gress was diffident about projecting Rahul Gandhi, why it should not project him and who is the PM candidate of Congress.

Singh also gave indications that the Congress was not averse to doing busi-ness with the Left after the next elections and apprehended that the advent of Modi could lead to communal polarisation in the polls.

Asked about BJP’s elevation of Modi as its election campaign chief, just a step short of announcing him the prime min-isterial candidate, Singh said, “We are not concerned. It is not an issue with us. BJP is free to take any decision. We are in the politics of ideology and not personality…Congress party does not believe in the

politics of polarisation.”Asked whether Congress treats Modi

as a political challenge and about Union Minister Jairam Ramesh’s comments that Modi presented managerial and ideological challenge to the party, Singh said, “The very name of Modi and before that of LK Advani give an impression of polarisation.”“It is not Modi. It is the ideology of the Sangh and the BJP which believes in divisive politics. Politics of ha-tred and violence based on religious lines, which is the challenge,” he said.

Singh sidestepped a query on whether

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could again be Congress’ PM candidate. “First the country has to give us a mandate again and then the Parliamentary Party and the party chief have to take a decision in con-sultation with elected MPs,” he said.

To a question on whether Left Front, which supported the UPA I government from outside is a natural ally of the Con-gress, Singh said, “We had very good expe-rience for the first four years of working with the Left in UPA I but unfortunately Left made a big issue of the nuclear bill” and withdrew support to the government.

“My own perception is that with Left, we know the parameters in which we work together. It is easier to work with the Left because we know the parameters in which they work,” he said.

About the political fallout of the JD(U) walking out NDA in Bihar and whether it can be a part of UPA, Singh said this is an issue which has to be considered by the Congress high command.

“Nitish Kumar did not resign when there was an accident in Godhra and he was Railway Minister though Ram Vilas Paswan had resigned. Now he (Kumar) has taken a positive step, which is of course a very bold step, which we are ap-preciating.

“My own view is if he had shown this courage in the last Bihar election, the BJP would not have got so many seats and BJP would have landed in the same position as in Odisha where Naveen Patnaik asked them to leave the coalition,” he said.

Asked as to whether RJD was its natu-ral ally in Bihar, Singh said it was for the Antony Committee to decide.

The fact remains that RJD chief Lalu Prasad was supporting the Congress Pres-ident and the Congress even before 2004, he said.To a query about the poll-plank of Congress for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said, “Our campaign theme will be on the basis of the work done in the last ten years and the work we will be doing in the next five years.”

“UPA-II has managed to give a sus-tained growth even in the worst economic crisis the world is facing. UPA pumped more money in lot of development schemes that led to high spending in rural areas,” Singh said.

1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Supreme Court refuses to hear Jag-dish Tytler's plea

Tytler had approached the apex court chal-lenging the high court's July 3 order that refused to grant interim stay on the trial court's order.

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain Congress leader Jagdish Tytler’s plea seeking a stay on an order of the trial court directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a further probe into his alleged role in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.A bench headed by Justice P Satha-sivam on Friday said that the apex court should not interfere in the matter at this stage as the case is pend-ing in the Delhi High Court which is scheduled to hear it on September 18.Sensing the mood of the bench, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi agreed to withdraw the petition which was allowed by the court.Tytler had approached the apex court challenging the high court’s July 3 order that refused to grant interim stay on the trial court’s order.The high court had refused to stay the probe say-ing, “Only investigation is ordered and this court will not stop the investigation.Tytler had on May 30 moved the high court challenging the trial court order setting aside the CBI’s closure report giving him a clean chit in the 29-year-old case and directing the probe agency to examine eye-witnesses and people claiming to have information about the riots.Tytler, in his plea before the high court, had said that the trial court order is contrary to the scheme of code of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).The method and mode of investigation by a probe agency is the absolute prerogative of the agency.

Don't divide nation, be an Indian nationalist: Digvijaya Singh to Narendra Modi

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today assailed Gujarat Chief Min-ister Narendra Modi's remarks describing himself as a 'Hindu na-tionalist', saying "shouldn't we all be Nationalist Indians" and asked the BJP leader not to 'divide the nation" on the basis of religion.

A day after Modi's remarks sparked a political furore, Singh said on Twitter, "Shouldn't we all be Na-tionalist Indians rather than Hindu Nationalist or Muslim Nationalist or Sikh Nationalist or Christian Na-tionalist ?"

Related: Modi says did the right thing in 2002, his 'puppy' analogy trig-gers outrage

In another tweet, he also took a jibe at Sangh Parivar saying, "Don't divide this Great Nation on basis of religion which Savarkar and Jinnah did. They were the original authors of Two Nation theory."

Hitting out at fundamentalism in all forms, he said in another tweet that he heard Pakistani teen activ-ist Malala Yousafzai, who survived after being shot by the Taliban for

supporting girl's education, ad-dressing the Unit-ed Nations."What a powerful con-demnation of Tali-ban and all forms Fundamentalism. She has now be-come an Icon for World Literacy.

"Congratula-tions to her and let us resolve to fight for all that she stands for! May God give her a long life and the strength she deserves," the Congress general secretary said hailing the 16-year-old.The tweets of Singh, a known detractor of the con-troversial Gujarat Chief Minister, came close on the heels of Modi's at-tempts to defend himself against al-legations of inaction during the 2002 riots in Gujarat."Even If I am in the back seat of a car and a puppy comes under the wheels, isn't it painful? It is.Whether I am a chief minister or not, I am a human being. I will be

sad if something bad happens any-where," Modi was quoted as saying in an interview.

The Gujarat chief minister said he had done "absolutely the right thing" during the 2002 riots and that his government had used its "full strength" to set things in order.

"I am nationalist. I'm patriotic. Nothing is wrong. I am born Hindu. Nothing is wrong. So I'm a Hindu nationalist. So yes, you can say I'm a Hindu nationalist because I'm a born Hindu," he had said.

Pressure and threats made us lie earlier: Ishrat witnesses to CBIPolicemen who testified before the CBI on

the possibility of Gujarat Chief Minister Na-rendra Modi and former state home minister Amit Shah knowing about the Ishrat Jahan encounter in advance, told the agency that they had now decided to tell the truth in or-der to save innocent men named in the origi-nal FIR, and that their earlier statements had been made under pressure from senior officers.

"In all above situations (earlier probes) I have not narrated the entire truth," retired DSP D H Goswami said, according to state-ments annexed to the CBI's chargesheet filed on July 3.

Related: 'Forensic officials colluded with Gujarat cops to show Ishrat encounter as genuine'

"The reason was I believed that innocent officers and men might suffer and wrong mo-tives may be attributed to what they did as part of their duty and in compliance of the in-structions of their senior officers. However, I understand now that the converse is true,

and that unless the truth is disclosed the officers and men who didn't commit a serious crime may also get involved in the charge of conspiracy... and our state-ments... would implicate them in this case," Goswa-mi said.

Goswami was an inves-tigating officer for the Gulberg Society mas-sacre case in the Supreme Court-appointed SIT under former CBI director RK Ragha-van.

Othr policemen have given reasons like "pressure from seniors" and being "afraid" of the consequences, for not telling the truth for nine years. Most of these witnesses testi-fied at least four times before the case went to CBI: before Crime Branch investigator ACP Parixita Gurjar in 2004, then before the Gu-jarat High Court-appointed SIT in 2009, and twice in 2011 before the SIT.

* In his statement to CBI DSP G Kalaim-

ani, retired ASI Nizamuddin Saiyed, who witnessed the ab-duction of Ishrat and Javed Sheikh, said he was under "tremendous pressure not to disclose the truth", and had got the courage to defy the pressure only after the encounter was proved to be false.

* Then Police Inspector K S Desai, who was witness to the illegal deten-tion of Amjadali Rana at Arham Farm and Javed and Ishrat at Khodiyar Farm, and the killings at Kotarpur, said: "In all the above sit-uations I have not narrated the entire truth, as it has been known to me. I was under pres-sure from (DSP) Shri N K Amin to not speak the truth."* Retired ASI Chhagan Barot, who was the driver of the then Crime Branch of-ficer Tarun Barot and who witnessed the ab-duction of Ishrat and Javed from Vasad toll booth, said: "I did not state the truth (earlier) because I was under instructions to speak as per the (2004) FIR. Now Shri Barot, Shri (G L)

Singhal (then Crime Branch ACP) and Shri J G Parmar (then in the Crime Branch) have been arrested... So I want to speak the truth now."* I K Chauhan, who witnessed the ab-duction of Amjadali Rana and the encounter, said, "When the case was investigated by SIT, I did not tell the above facts... because Shri Tarun Barot time and again used to threat-en/warn me that if I spoke the truth then the consequence would be very serious."

Former DSP Goswami, who was reader to G L Singhal in 2004, described a meeting between the accused officers two days before the encounter, at which references were al-legedly made to Modi and Amit Shah.

On June 12, 2013, Goswami told the CBI that he had accompanied Singhal to the Crime Branch headquarters around 7.30 pm on June 13, 2004, and had seen then SIB joint director Rajinder Kumar and then joint CP (Crime) P P Pandey sitting with D G Vanzara in his chamber.

"I remember Shri Rajinder Kumar telling Shri Vanzara to speak to the chief minister

about it, and Shri Vanzara saying he would talk to the 'safed dadhi' and the 'kali dadhi', the well known monikers in the Crime Branch for... Shri Narendra Modi and minis-ter of state for home Shri Amit Shah," Gos-wami said in his statement.

oswami said he "vaguely remembered" that Singhal had disagreed with the motive in the draft FIR pre-designed on June 14, 2004 for the encounter to be faked the following day. "But Shri Vanzara was adamant and even said that he had the approval of the chief minister and MoS (home)."

The statement of another officer, K M Vaghela, who had worked with Vanzara for long, too made mentions of "safed dadhi" and "kali dadhi", suggesting that Modi and Shah probably knew about the encounter in ad-vance. Vaghela's statement was recorded on April 13, 2013.ASI Nizamuddin Saiyed in his statement described how Tarun Barot had "...almost snatched Shri I K Chauhan's revolver and fired on the Indica car with it" after hav-ing emptied his own weapon.

Solar panel scam: Demand for Ker-ala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy

resignation gathers momentumThe scam relates to a series of

fraudulent solar panel installation deals offered by a firm owned by Saritha Nair and her friend Biju Radhakrishnan who lured custom-ers to invest money in their decep-tive schemes.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Democrat-ic Front (LDF) in Kerala contin-ues to stage state-wide protest rallies over a demand for the res-ignation of Chief Minister Oom-men Chandy for his alleged role in a scam involving the manufac-ture and sale of solar panels.

The LDF has sought a judicial probe in the matter.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) headed by the Congress Party rules Kerala while the LDF is the main opposition in the state.

The scam relates to a series of fraudulent solar panel installation

deals offered by a firm owned by Saritha Nair and her friend Biju Radhakrishnan who lured custom-ers to invest money in their decep-tive schemes.

Opposition parties in the state have alleged that Chandy had vital role in this scam.

As part of the state-wide rallies,

supporters of the LDF held demos outside the secretariat in Thiruvana-nthapuram on Friday.

Speaking to the media, NK Prem-achandran, a leader of Revolution-ary Socialist Party (RSP) which is a constituent of the LDF, said that to escape from accountability in the irregularities, the ruling Congress party was shrewdly indulging in cosmetic cabinet changes to shield Chandy.

He claimed that the scam worth millions of rupees had duped thou-sands of investors.

The chief minister’s office has come into the picture after it was revealed that three officials from the chief minister's secretariat made a number of calls to Nair, an accused in the fraud of supplying solar pan-els.

Consequently, the two officials from the secretariat were removed from their positions.

Meerut girl Razia Sultan conferred with the first UN Malala Award

Meerut: Razia Sultan, a 15-year-old girl from Meerut, has been conferred with the first United Na-tion Malala Award on Friday for spreading awareness on educa-tion among child la-bourers.

After being res-cued by a non-govern-mental organisation (NGO), Razia joined a school and eventually went to different re-gions as a youth leader representing the NGO and carried out door-to-door campaigns on child educa-tion.She was awarded on July 12 which has been heralded as Malala Day to mark her fight for right to education. Malala Yousafzai addressed a Youth Assembly at UN headquarters in New

York on her 16th birthday on Friday. Teenager activist Malala was shot in

the head at close range by the Taliban in October last year as she left school in Pakistan's Swat Valley, northwest of the country's capital Islamabad, after campaigning against the Islamist Tali-ban efforts to deny women education.

Centre, state govts should end SL navy's 'high handed'

behaviour: FishermenNAGAPAT-

TINAM: Fish-ermen from coastal areas of this district on Saturday did not set out to sea demanding that the Centre and state gov-ernments con-tain the alleged "high handed" behaviour of Sri Lankan naval-men who frequently cut their fishing nets and damage their boats.

Officials said Lankan naval personnel had routinely snapped the nets of several fishermen last week when they were fishing in the Palk Straits, which was not the island nation's territory.

The fishermen demanded effective intervention by the Union and state governments to put an end to such high hand-ed behaviour of the Lankan naval-men, they said.

Shibu Soren-Hemant Soren first father-son duo to have been

Jharkhand Chief MinistersWhile the se-

nior Soren had three short terms at the helm of af-fairs between 2005 and 2010, Hemant was administered the oath of office by Governor Syed Ahmed on Satur-day morning.

JMM presi-dent Shibu Soren and new Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Satur-day became the first father and son to have ruled the state.

While the senior Soren had three short terms at the helm of affairs between 2005

and 2010, Hemant was administered the oath of office by Governor Syed Ahmed on Satur-day morning.

However, across the country there have been many such in-

stances.Most recently,

Akhilesh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh donned the man-tle following the footsteps of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav while Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah fol-lowed his father Farooq Abdullah.

The others are Odisha chief

minister Naveen Pat-naik and Biju Patnaik, Haryana's Devi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala, Maharashtra's Shan-karrao Chavan and Ashok Chavan.