Lead Stories
Pak wives of ex-militants appeal Modi, Imran: Provide documents, allow us to travel home
Srinagar, Feb 2: Pakistani wives of former militants, who came to Jammu and Kashmir with their husbands under the rehabilitation policy, Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for travel documents to return home.
They claimed that they have not been provided the permanent resident certificates as promised.
In 2010, NC vice-president and then chief minister Omar Abdullah had announced a rehabilitation policy for the youths of Jammu and Kashmir who had gone across the LoC for arms training but had renounced militancy and wanted to return home to lead a normal life.
Seeking personal intervention of Prime Minister Narender Modi and Prime Minister Imran Khan they said that their identity is at stake.
âOur identity has been snatched. A person is known by his identity. A person without identity is nothing. The authorities have been saying that we are illegal occupants, hence have registered FIRs against us .They should be withdraw them at an earliest,â said one the protesting women.
Expressing sympathy with Kubra Gillani, a native of Muzaffarabad, they said that she has not been able to return Pakistan since 2018.
âI am a divorce, came here in 2014 along with my ex-husband, who hails from Anantnag. We got separated in 2018, since then, i am not able to return.
Presently, i am staying at Sopore with a Kashmiri family. I was sent back as I could not produce the necessary documents,âshe said.
I couldnât take part in the last rites of my father and sister. Both the governments should ensure hassle free travel, âshe added.âWe didnât come on our own but were invited by the central and state government. It was former chief minister Omar Abdullah, who announced the policy in 2010.Nothing was done with regard to our rehabilitation. The policy is nowhere on the ground, âsaid Asiya Hassan Baba with tears rolling down from her eyes.
âWe have many issues. We feel as if we have been caged. We have been deprived from everything, from identity card to PRC. We even have been deprived form passport. The government is bound to provide us everything, it is providing to other inhabitants,âadded Baba.
They said that they have every right to live with honor and dignity, adding that the love for the motherland forced their husbands to return.
âOur husbands were affected by militancy. We decided to return as we were sure that we wonât be harassed. Sine our return, we have been struggling for even basic amenities. We left the comforts and came here. We never knew that we would have to face government apathy,âsaid Jameela Akhter.
They said that the Indian government should provide them travel documents including passport. âIt should also provide us domicile rights so that we donât have to face hardships. The irony is that we are not able to get a simple SIM card as we have no identity cards. One needs travel documents for travel that too when visiting another country,âsaid Haleema Bano.
They said that it is the responsibility of every responsible government to provide basic rights to its people.
âAround 500 of us came here without bothering about our loved ones. Among us many have not visited Pakistan for the last ten years, not only this, there are several who could not even take part in the last rites of their loved ones,â said Afroza Akhter.
New Delhi, Dec 10: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the local administration of Jammu and Kashmir will take a call on the release of detained political leaders in the valley and the Centre won’t interfere in the process.
Shah said the government has no intention to keep any leader under custody for a single day more than required.
“..it is for local administration to decide when political leaders will be released. We don’t want to keep anyone (leaders) in jail even for a day more than what is required. As and when the local administration feels the time is appropriate, they will be released. There will be no interference from our side,” Shah said.
He was responding to a question by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and detention of political leaders.
Taking on the Congress, Shah said, Farooq Abdullah is in custody for six months but the Congress had kept his father in custody for 11 years.
“Farooq Abdullah’s father was kept in jail for 11 years by the Congress. We don’t want to follow them and as soon as the administration decides, they will be released,” he said.
He further said all leaders should be concerned about political leaders in the valley, he is also concerned but if leaders are more worried about people of Kashmir it will send a better message.
Underlining that the situation is completely normal in the valley, Shah said, “99.5 per cent students of the eleventh class sat for exams there, but for Adhir Ranjan Ji this is not normalcy, seven lakh people availed OPD services in Srinagar, Section 144 removed from everywhere. But for Adhir Ji the only parameter for normalcy is political activity.”
Earlier Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, responding to a supplementary question by Sridhar Kotagiri, said stone-pelting incidents have decreased substantially in 2019.
In 2018, 802 such incidents were reported which reduced to 544 in 2019, while only 190 stone-pelting incidents were reported since August 5, Reddy said.
All leading English, Urdu newspapers and TV channels are working in the valley, he said.
Srinagar, Dec 10: Government has constituted a five-member committee to examine all the aspects related to the hiring and remuneration of academic arrangements in various departments.
The committee, as per an official order, will be chaired by Financial Commissioner of Finance department with Secretary Higher Education Department as its Member Secretary, and Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department, and Secretaries School Education and Technical Education departments as its members.
The committee has been asked to look into all aspects of academic arrangements made in various departments from time to time.
âIt shall inspect the mode of hiring teaching faculty and their duration for the academic year and what will be their source of funding,â reads the order.
Government has directed the committee to suggest a common approach to address the challenges faced by the departments on account of academic arrangements.
âThe committee shall be authorized to co-opt any expert in its deliberations,â the order says.
The committee, the order says, will function under the higher education department and shall submit the report and recommendation, observed during the inspection of the department, to the government by January 10.
Each year, the government hires services of hundreds of teachers on academic arrangement basis in higher education department.
In most of the colleges in Kashmir, these teachers outnumber the permanent staff members.
Last week, Lt. Governor, GC Murmu reviewed the functioning and problems prevailing in higher education department.
Besides, the Lt. Governor asked the concerned department to frame a comprehensive recruitment policy to rationalize the recruitment process.
âThe higher officials have been directed to resolve all the seniority and recruitment issues in the Higher Education Department at the earliest to remove the entire bottleneck prevailing in the department,â Murmu had directed.
Srinagar, Dec 10: For the fifth straight day, dense fog and poor visibility forced the cancelation of all 27 flights at Srinagar International Airport.
With this, the total number of flights cancelled due to poor visibility has crossed 116 in the last four days.
Twenty eight flights were cancelled on Monday. On Sunday, Saturday and Friday, poor visibility at the airport led to the cancellation of 26, 24 and 11 flights, respectively.
An official at Srinagar airport said there was zero visibility at the airport on Tuesday and with the result all flight operations were suspended.
âUnfortunately, all the flights got cancelled today as well. The prevailing conditions didnât suit the operation of flights as the visibility recorded on Tuesday was zero,â he said.
Director Airport Authority of India (AAI) Santosh Dokay told The Kashmir Monitor, visibility at the runway was less than 50 meters due to the dense fog.
âAt least one kilometer visibility is required for flight operation but currently we have a visibility up to 50 meters. Even zero visibility was recorded in the morning. It could lead to accidents if a plane lands or takes-off under these conditions,â he said.
What has compounded the problem is that despite upgrading Instrumental Landing System (ILS), flight operations continue to remain hit.
âWe do have an ILS, which was upgraded recently and an Approach Lighting System (ALS) was also installed. The visibility range at the runway has been improved to 1000meters from two kilometers. But the kind of fog witnessed this year hasnât been witnessed before. It is unprecedented and persists through the day,â Dokay said.
Due to frequent cancellation of flights, scores of the passengers had to return their homes on the fourth consecutive day. âEvery year we have to face the situation when flights get cancelled for weeks together. Many among us have to visit outside state for medical reasons. Every time flights donât take off,â said Aijaz Ahmad Ganie, who had to take her mother for a checkup to New Delhi.
Meteorological Department (MeT), has forecasted dense fog till Wednesday across the valley.