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Kashmir : PDP welcomes Centre’s move to pull out troops from schools and hospitals |
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PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohd. Sayeed has welcomed Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s announcement on pulling out troops from schools and hospital buildings in the state by Nov. 30. He said the move reflected the Centre’s objective approach and response to his demand for troop cut and scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
The Mufti hoped that this could be a prelude to rationalis¬ing troop deployment for internal security duties in the state.
Taking a dig at the coalition partner, the Congress, Mufti Sayeed said the Defence Minister’s announcement should provide the lead to those quarters, both within and outside the state, who have been speaking out of turn on this very sensitive issue.
Addressing party workers, the former Chief Minister said the PDP’s guiding principle was its agenda of ensuring political empowerment, economic emancipation and social uplift of the people of the state. “We will continue our struggle for shaping up a peaceful, dignified and prosperous future for our people, foundations of which were laid in 2002”, he said.
Farooq Abdullah to be NC’s chief-ministerial candidate
In a significant move, the National Conference has decided to project Farooq Abdullah as the chief-ministerial candidate of the party in the coming Assembly elections, instead of the party chief Omar Abdullah who lost the state poll in 2002.
At a meeting in Srinagar, the National Conference decided to launch a state-wide campaign against what it called the failures of the ruling coalition successively led by Mufti Mohd. Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad. The party organised a public meeting at Riasi town in the Jammu region in which leaders highlighted issues related to the coming Assembly elections.
Militant camps in PoK intact
GOC 15 Corps Lt. Gen. A.S. Sekhon has said that the terror¬ist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir remain intact despite President Musharraf’s talk of taking action against Islamic mili¬tants. He said the Army had vacated all schools and government dispensaries as per the directive issued by Defence Minister Antony.
Gen. Sekhon said the Army is committed to upholding human rights while fighting militants, and there has not been a single custodial killing at its hands in the last one year. He was talking to journalists in Awantipora after inaugurating a seminar on human rights.
Trial run of train successful
After decades of wait, a train has finally started chugging on rail tracks in Kashmir.
The Northern Railway conducted trial run of an eight-coach Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) train between Ompora in Badgam district of central Kashmir and Kakapora in Pulwama dis¬trict of south Kashmir on Nov. 1.
The trial run was conducted to check safety aspects on the Kakapora-Pampore-Nowgam-Badgam track in the Qazigund-Baramula section. The train covered a distance of 22 km from Badgam to Kakapora in 18 minutes, attaining maximum speed of 110 km per hour.
The train has air-conditioned coaches with heating system and push-back seats. This is the first time in the history of the Indian Railways that a train with all these facilities will cover short distances in a particular area/region.
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