Ensure no further exodus of KPs Governer

J&K Governor N N Vohra today said it is time to see what needs to be done to ensure that incidents like the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during militancy does not recur.

Referring to the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley at the peak of militancy in 90’s, he said it was time for the community to go back in time and see why it happened.

"Go back in time and perhaps see why all these happened? Will it happen again and what is it we need to do to see such a huge exodus doesn’t happen again," Vohra said.

The Governor was addressing ‘Shuhul Taaph-III’ or Sweet Sunshine, a cultural gathering organised by Kashmiri Education, Culture and Science Society (KECSS) in Lalded Centre in South Delhi.

He said time is changing in India as well as in the neighbourhood. "The circumstance and the situation in the immediate neighbourhood inadvertently affects us," he said.

Commenting on the festival organised by the KECSS, he said youngsters have lost touch with their cultural moorings, language, families, soil. "Such exhibitions will help youth connect to the past," he said.

During the festival, the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore was also celebrated with a discussion on the influence of Kashmir on the poet. 

Ashok Kaul, Professor of Sociology in Banaras Hindu University, spoke about the influence of Tagore’s affluent and intellectual background on his life and works.

"His life, practices and world at Shantiniketan was his analytical experimentation with revelations of knowledge, similar to Kashmiri Shaivism," Kaul said.

On the Day 2 of ‘Shuhul Taaph-3’, a 3-day cultural extravaganza showcasing several initiatives taken by the Kashmiri society to promote their culture, art, literature and language KECSS held discussion on ‘Tagore’s contribution vis-a-vis linkages with Kashmir"

Hindi writer Chaman Lal Sapru said Tagore was a universal poet whose influence on Kashmiri poets and authors is very relevant and undeniable.
ship building yard in Dal lake
Dhanwantri Jayanti celebrated in Jammu
Kapsons opens fashion store in Jammu

IT raids liquor barons premises

Income Tax officials today raided a number of premises of Uttar Pradesh-based liquor baron and businessman Ponty Chadha in the State and in Delhi on suspected tax evasion and claimed to have traced a huge currency chest in a big mall owned by him in Noida.

A team of 20 officials armed with counting machines and gas cutters reached the Centrestage Mall in Noida in the outskirts of Delhi to seize cash stored in its basement, top sources in the department said.

However, they declined to hazard any guess on the possible amount that could be there amidst reports that ` 100 crore has been seized.

As the search teams were not given the keys to the chest, whose contents were not known, the gas cutters were being used to break it open, the sources said.

Searches were conducted in Delhi at 13 locations including at the posh Sainik Farms and Lajpat Nagar, while in UP, IT teams comprising 200 officials, undertook similar operations at six locations in Noida, Moradabad and State capital Lucknow.

Chadha, according to I-T sources, is in Dubai at present in connection with a family function. Neither Chadha, considered close to the Mayawati Government, nor any of his family members could be contacted for their reactions.

The searches, which began at around 10.30 this morning, were initiated after the department got inputs regarding alleged tax evasion by firms associated with him, the sources said.

The department, according to the sources, were also looking at the possibility of illegal sale of liquor by certain firms in the run up to the UP Assembly polls.

I-T sleuths also searched the properties of two of his alleged associates—Lalit Kapoor and Gurjeet Kochhar—in Delhi and is expected to question them about certain transactions.

The searches were conducted by the Delhi-based Criminal Investigation Unit of the department and, according to the sources, the searches were related to the alleged mis-pricing of huge liquor consignments in the State and other places.

They said that the department conducted the operation after gathering intelligence and other inputs about Chadha and his businesses in the last four months.

Chadha, who runs one of the largest liquor businesses in the state with numerous dealerships, also has business interest in cinema and multiplex sectors.

Neither Chadha nor his family members could be reached for comment. 

Govt to probe adulterated milk supply

Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to investigate the matter related to adulterated milk being supplied in the entire state, particularly Kashmir valley.

Sources in divisional administration said that government has taken a serious note of the news report about the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) survey, which revealed that 83 percent of milk consumed by households in Jammu and Kashmir is adulterated, containing detergent and other hazardous substances.

The sources added that understanding the sensitivity of the issue, the concerned authorities have been directed to study the survey report and take all necessary action in preventing adulterated milk being supplied to Kashmir valley.

The sources also said that concerned agencies, consisting of Srinagar Municipal Corporation and director consumer and public distribution have  been asked to maintain tight vigil and check all the milk being supplied by different companies in the valley.

The government has also directed concerned departments to take legal action against those companies involved in supplying adulterated milk. “The issue is concerned with the health of people and no compromise would be made on their health,” the sources said.

A national study conducted by Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has revealed that 83 percent of milk consumed by the people in the state is adulterated and has not only week nutritious value but has numerous other side effects to human health. 

The study has also revealed that hazardous substances like detergent, starch, sodar, Glucose and other substances are mixed with mild which are hazardous to human heath.  

In its first-ever national survey on milk adulteration 2011, the (FSSAI) has found that of the total 1,791 samples tested throughout the country, (including Jammu and Kashmir)   at least over 68 per cent i.e. 1,226 samples were either diluted with water or mixed with harmful detergent.

The situation was worse in states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Jharkhand, Orrisa, West Bengal and Mizoram where all the samples collected were found  contaminated or not conforming to the standards.

For instance, in Manipur 96 per cent samples were not conforming up to the standards, In Meghalaya it was 96 per cent, followed by Tripura (92 per cent), Gujarat (89 percent, Sikkim (89 percent), Uttrakhand (88 percent ), Uttar Pradesh (88percent), Nagaland (86 percent), Jammu and Kashmir (83 percent), and Punjab (81 percent).

In Rajasthan it was 76 percent followed by Delhi (70 percent), Haryana (70 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (68 percent), Maharashtra (65 percent), Himachal (59 percent, and Chandigarh (48 percent)

Except Goa and Poondicherry, where all the samples picked conformed to the standards, all other States including Delhi failed to meet the standards for milk.

Adulteration was widely prevalent in rural as well as urban areas in packed and loose milk both, samples of which were tested in the government's laboratories.

The snap shot survey was conducted with an aim to identify the common adulterants in milk in rural and urban areas in different states besides finding out the non-conforming samples in loose and packed milk throughout the country.

Two youth held in Delhi for thefts

Two youths hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, including an engineer, were arrested here for allegedly stealing luggage from hospitals and airports, police said today.

Rafiq Dar (27) and Irfan Malik (32), both from Srinagar, were arrested from Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar two days ago, Additional Commissioner of Police (South-East) Ajay Chaudhry said.

Dar is married and has two children and his father has a smalltime poultry business in Srinagar, while Malik is a B Tech degree holder from a private college in Faridabad and has a computer paraphernalia shop in Srinagar. He was also working as a tour and travel agent and was planning to go to Dubai.

The arrests came following investigations into a complaint that two mobile phones of a patient were stolen from Apollo Hospital here.

"CCTV footage were analysed and one suspect was zeroed down who could be seen roaming unnecessarily in the very part of the hospital where the patient was recuperating. He was again seen on December 10 morning wandering in the hospital.

"He was intercepted and put to questioning. He revealed his name as Rafiq Dar and confessed to have committed the said theft. He also named Malik, who was also apprehended from the Apollo Hospital complex itself," Chaudhry said.

Dar had come to Delhi with his father long back on a few occasions for treatment. After leaving the school, he got involved in his father's smalltime business of poultry.

However, he fell in bad company and started committing petty thefts. Since he was familiar with hospital activities, he knew that it was very easy to pick luggage or belongings of the patients in hospitals.

He has allegedly committed bag-lifting from hospitals in the past also, but was never caught. He also befriended Malik, whom he knows since childhood, and Rafiq was providing him stolen laptops.

"They had come to Delhi by air on December 8 and lifted two bags from the airport also. The duo has also disclosed that they had stolen a bag containing a laptop and some other documents from City Hospital near Karol Bagh on December 9," Chaudhry said.

Interestingly, he said a photograph of Fortis Super-Speciality Hospital, a lot of Pan-Cards, Laptops (2), Mobile phones (6), Photo-IDs of other persons, used garments and cosmetics have been recovered from them.

Kashmir Festival in Dehi

To showcase rich art and heritage of Jammu and Kashmir countrywide, a mega festival is being held at New Delhi in 2nd week of December.

The Principal Secretary to Chief Minister B.B. Vyas while chairing a meeting, convened to chalk out the programme for organizing Kashmir Festival at IIC in the Union capital, said that emphasis should be laid on projecting the rare and unique art and heritage in the mega event.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary, Tourism Atul Duloo, Director, Tourism, Kashmir Farooq Ahmad Shah, Director Information, Khawaja Farooq Renzushah, Special Secretary to Chief Minister Zaffar Ahmad, Special Secretary, Forests, Additional Secretary, Protocol and Cultural Academy and other senior officers of Cultural Academy, Forests and Protocol departments.

The programme will be organized by Department of Tourism and Culture in association with Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Cultural Academy, Forests, Protocol Departments and Resident Commission, New Delhi.

It was decided in the meeting that the masterpieces of art will be exhibited in the Kashmir festival and films on environment of the State will be screened. A seminar will be held in which reputed scholars will deliver lecturers. Besides, INTACH will be organizing a seminar on heritage in which various aspects of State's heritage will be highlighted. The Cultural Academy will present sufi programme and traditional folk dances of the State.

The art lovers and those interested in multifaceted heritage of the State will participate in the gala event. The photo exhibition will be put up by Tourism and Information Departments jointly. A well known drama of Balwant Thakur's Baba Jito will be part of the event, in which different facets of State's culture will be artfully showcased.

Mr Vyas exhorted officers to make this programme a great success as it is an effort to introduce the cultural diversity of the State at a very big forum, which will be attended by a cross section of the Indian society, who are now taking keen interest in understanding the diverse cultural ethos of J&K.

He said that the event throws an opportunity to Tourism Department also to highlight panoramic view of the State to the wide ranging audience expected to participate in the event.

Terror mail from Kishtwar

NIA team joins probe, cafe sealed

Terror mail traced to Kishtwar; 5 detained

An e-mail sent to media houses in New Delhi by the Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HuJI) claiming responsibility for yesterday’s blast outside Delhi High Court in which 13 persons were killed and 76 others were injured has been traced to a cyber café in Kishtwar town.

Police have sealed ‘Global Internet Café’, located at Malik Market, Shaheedhi Road few yards away from the Deputy Commissioner’s office and police station in the heart of Kishtwar town without maintenance of any record and registration. Police, which was joined by a two member NIA team tonight besides cyber and Forensic experts, has seized all computers, CPUs, discs and other relevant material from the café and detained five persons including two students of Government Degree College, Kishtwar, two owners of the café, both of whom were brothers, and one of their employee for questioning.

The e-mail account (harkat-uljihadi2011@gmail.com) had been generated from Terminal No. 2 of the cyber café, which had a total of six Terminals, at around 12 noon yesterday, which was used for sending e-mail to two English television channels claiming responsibility for the blast, police sources from Kishtwar said following day long hectic investigations in the case after getting a tip off from the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which was yesterday entrusted with investigations of the blast case, that Kishtwar was origin of the e-mail.

Incidentally, an IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, Mukesh Singh, DIG, who had served as SSP Jammu and Poonch before proceeding on Central deputation, has been made Incharge of the investigations by the NIA. Mr Singh had recently returned from the United States after three months course with Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

A two member NIA team headed by another Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) officer, Shiv Kumar Sharma, former SP Katra and Additional SP Samba, reached here from New Delhi this afternoon and straightway left for Kishtwar to join investigations of the case. The team reached Kishtwar at 10 pm and met senior police officers conducting investigations. Both sides exchanged the inputs available with them about the e-mail and other possible terror links of Kishtwar to yesterday’s blast outside Delhi High Court.

Police was preparing sketch of the HuJI man, who has sent terror mail, with the help of detained persons. Police was quizzing cafe owners as an attempt had been made to format the computer from which mail was sent in a bid to destroy the data. The sketch was likely to be made by tomorrow after which a hunt would be launched to nab the accused who was stated to be in the age group of 18-20 years.

Though police here claimed a long back that HuJI outfit had been wiped out from Kishtwar, today they didn’t rule out that the outfit might have managed to revive itself by recruiting some Over Ground Workers (OGWs) though there was no active OGW in police record.

Five persons, who have been detained by Kishtwar police for questioning in connection with the e-mail, included Imran Hussain Sheikh, 20, son of Mohammad Ashraf Mali R/o Peth, Kishtwar, a Part Final student of Degree College, Kishtwar, Ashiq Hussain of Doda, a Part First student of Degree College, Kishtwar, Mehmood Khwaja and Khalid Hussain, both brothers and sons of Aziz Din R/o Kishtwar town, the owners of Global Internet Café and Ashwani Kumar, another resident of Kishtwar, who was an employee at the café. A special police team has been constituted to investigate the case alongwith NIA.

According to police sources, the college students were detained following questioning of the café employee, who confirmed that both Imran Hussain Sheikh and Ashiq Hussain had used the Internet around noon yesterday. However, there were several other persons also, who had used the net at the café at the time when the account had been generated and e-mail sent to media houses claiming responsibility for the blast.

Sources said the café owner had not maintained any proper record of the visitors including their names, parentage, addresses etc. The cyber café hadn’t even been registered and it was being run on a broadband connection obtained for residential purposes.

Ashwani Kumar, who was present at the cyber café yesterday noon, has reportedly told police that Imran Hussain Sheikh was sitting at Terminal No. 3 of the café, which had a total of six Terminals, each of them equipped with a computer. However, the investigations revealed that e-mail account on the name of Harkat-ul-Jihadi had been generated from Terminal No. 2 from which the mail had been sent.

Besides Imran and Ashiq, other persons who had used the net are also being traced but the investigating agencies were finding the task difficult in the absence of any record maintained by the cyber café.

The unregistered cyber café, which was not keeping any record of net users in militancy-infested district, was being run yards away from Kishtwar police station and the Deputy Commissioner’s office, sources said.

Besides senior police officers, cyber experts within the Police Department and Forensic teams have also joined investigations. All computers, CPUs, discs and other relevant material have been seized from the cyber café. The café has been sealed. The cyber and Forensic experts were examining available record of the computers and discs.

They added that in addition to e-mail, police was also investigating whether there was any other terror link of Kishtwar or any other district of the State with yesterday’s blast outside Delhi High Court. Such a possibility can’t be ruled out as Kishtwar borders Anantnag district of Kashmir valley from where it was possible to smuggle explosives.

However, police officers said investigations were at a very preliminary stage and nothing can be said about Kishtwar’s terror link to Delhi blast. They confirmed that Kishtwar was origin of the e-mail sent to two national English news channels in which the HuJI had claimed responsibility of the blast.

The mail reads: "we own the responsibility of today’s blast at the High Court, Delhi. Our demand is that Afzal Guru’s death sentence should be repealed immediately as we would target major High Courts and the Supreme Court of India’’. Guru, a Kashmiri, is on death row in Parliament terror attack. The Union Home Ministry had recently recommended to President Pratibha Patil for rejection of clemency petition of Guru.

Police and NIA were working on three-four angles including verification of authenticity of e-mail, association of mail sender with HuJI, whether the mail was a ‘diversionary tactics’ used by the militants and links of blast perpetrators in Kishtwar.

Earlier also, a top HuJI commander Bashir Ahmed alias Sabba Hijaji was found involved in Varanasi serial blasts of January 2007. The HuJI was wiped out in 2009 with the killing of its last surviving militant Amin Khan. Prior to him, another HuJI commander Sher Khan had surrendered.

It may be mentioned here that after 13/7 serial blasts in Mumbai, the Indian Mujahideen had sent an e-mail from Kerala claiming responsibility for the terror attack.

Sources said the HuJI outfit was claimed to have been liquidated more than two years back. However, according to sources, the tracing of HuJI e-mail’s origin to Kishtwar and possibility of terror link to Delhi High Court blast has cast a shadow on police claim.

The new development has indicated that the militant groups could be regrouping and reviving themselves. The presence of OGWs also remained there.

The HuJI outfit, it may be mentioned, had dominated Kishtwar, for more than one and a half decade till police claimed that the outfit had been wiped out about two years back. In fact, Kishtwar was known as headquarter of the HuJI in Jammu and Kashmir.

Delhi Police has in the past arrested several HuJI militants from the national capital.

HuJI leader Muzaffer Ahmed Illahi Daanger alias Suhail Faisal, a resident of Kishtwar, was arrested in conenction with the November 23, 2007 serial blasts in courts in three cities Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad in UP that killed 13 people.

A man was also detained at the Srinagar airport in connection with the Delhi blast probe on his return from New Delhi following an input received from a Defence Intelligence Agency about a conversation he had made on September 5.

Sources said that a person, resident of Qamarwari in outskirts of the city, was stopped at the airport following a direction from the national capital.

The man had spoken to his brother in the national capital and stated that the work would be done by 11 AM on September 7 and that he was reaching on September 6 and returning on September 8 after finishing the work, the sources said.

They said the conversation was picked up by a Defence Intelligence Agency, which informed the Central Security agencies after the Delhi High Court blast yesterday.

The man has been extensively questioned by the security agencies on his arrival here and his details were being verified, the sources said, adding prima facie it seems that he had no role in the blasts.

IGP Kashmir SM Sahai, when approached by the Excelsior, said the man didn't appear to be linked to Delhi blast. However, he was being quizzed.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said investigation into the e-mail claiming responsibility for the Delhi High Court blast, which has been traced to Kishtwar district of the State, is in an "advanced stage".

"I am not in a position to share any details with you, other than the fact that various leads have been shared with us and we are in advanced stage of investigating those leads," Omar said on the sidelines of a function in Srinagar.

The Chief Minister was replying to a question about the email allegedly sent by the Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI), traced to Kishtwar district of Jammu division, in which the militant group claimed responsibility for the Delhi attack.

Asked if there was a link between the bomb blast in New Delhi and militancy in Kashmir, Omar said it will be premature to "reject or accept this premise".

"Obviously certain leads have been shared. Investigations are ongoing. We will share our findings with the NIA and they will then decide how to take it further," the Chief Minister said.

Omar said the nation demanded answers from those responsible for the security as to who was behind the attack.

"The nation demands answers and it is the responsibility of those who are tasked with protecting this country that they must provide the answers as to who was responsible for this and what can be done to ensure that attacks like these do not succeed in the future," he said.

PTI adds from New Delhi:-

Another mail was received by media houses in Mumbai and Delhi purportedly written by "Chotoo" of Indian Mujahideen who claimed responsibility for the Delhi High Court blasts and warned that another blast will take place at a shopping mall.

The mail sent from "chotoominani5@gmail.com" was received at 12.37 PM claiming that Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami had no role to play in the blasts and it was done by the Indian Mujahideen.

The mail also reasoned that they had chosen Wednesday as the day of the blast as it was the busy day for the High Court and there is a lot of crowd. The Delhi High Court hears Public Interest Litigation on Wednesday. The mail claimed that another blast will take place at a shopping mall.

"We are examining the email received by the media houses..About its authenticity and veracity and (we are) taking it seriously," Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry U K Bansal told reporters.

Security agencies including National Investigation Agency (NIA) are looking into the mail but serious apprehensions were being raised whether this was a genuine mail or a prank being played by somebody.

Sources said as of now nothing was being left to chance and the origin of the mail was being ascertained and, if need be, the service provider Google would also be contacted.

However, the mail does not resemble the earlier mails sent by Indian Mujahdieen which has claimed responsibilities for blasts in Varanasi and Delhi.

In Patna, a man who was arrested on charges of using a stolen ATM card, is being interrogated by the joint team led by NIA in connection with the blast probe.

Maha Yagna at Bhagavaan Gopinath Ji Ashram

Thousands of devotees today thronged the Bhagavaan Gopinathji Ashram Udaywala Bohri near here to participate in the annual Maha Yagya and pay their obeisance to Bhagavaan Ji. The rush of devotees started from early in the morning but it swelled into thousands during the Puranahuti in the afternoon and people were waiting in long queues up to the outer-gate of Ashram to have darshan of the Lotus feet of Bhagavaan Ji.

The Maha Yagya started yesterday night and the Bhajan and Kirtan were held for entire night in the Ashram by the devotees of Bhagavaan Ji.

Elaborate arrangements were made by the Bhagavaan Gopinathji Trust for the devotees on the occasion. The Trust has also engaged the services of its volunteers for the guidance of the devotees and maintaining order during the darshan in view of the heavy rush. The volunteers of the Ashram including men, women and students also rendered their services at different counters viz distribution of prasad, taking custody of shoes, serving of refreshment, including fruits, lemon water and other soft drinks. The Bhajan and Kirtan also continued for the entire day in the Ashram and the Maha Yagya culminated with Samohik Aarti in the evening.

After the puranahuti the devotees were also served with prasad.

The authorities had also made elaborate arrangements for the devotees and their security.

According to a handout issued by the Bhagavaan Gopinathji Trust, the Maha Yagya was simultaneously performed at Bhagavaan Ji’s Ashram at Kharyar Srinagar in Kashmir Valley, Amritsar, Punjab, Pamposh Enclave New Delhi, Vikas Puri, West Delhi, Vaishali, Ghaziabad, UP, Chambur, Kandivillim Mumbai, Kashmir Bhawan Pune besides Satsang Mandlis all across the globe.