SOPORE
The 19-year-old Atir Ahmad Dar who was one of the six militants slain in Saidpora encounter is termed to be the victim of the situation that weaved around him. A student of first year, B. Com, his family said their God-fearing ward deserted them within days in the month of Ramzan and they later were informed that he was with Lashkar. They accuse police of arresting him in 2011 for stone pelting and torturing him for three months which left inedible marks on him. Between him and his dead body, the family has two cases – one that police registered against him and another which they recorded after the boy went missing. But police has its own story that suggests he was baptized into militancy in Tral in last year and his “actions” included killing an SPO, lobbing grenades and attacking a patrol of the Army.
KATHUA
It was a double embarrassment for Congress’s hyperactive minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din. He made a claim that led the State Accountability Commission to catch him and force him for a personal appearance. Finally, when he appeared, he denied he had ever made a claim. SAC is making its own assessment of things. But that is just part of it. Even in the cabinet, a decision on minister’s pet project envisaging re-designing Ravi-Tawi Irrigation Canal was delayed. Now, Attorney General will help the state arrive at a decision. The project change will impact Punjab’s Shapur Kandi Dam project that is otherwise facing a problem on funding front.
LOLAB
Peace claims notwithstanding, Kashmir is full of littered explosives. In forests, fields and orchards, glittering things attract kids and kill. The latest was in Shahabad village where Nuzhat, one of the three sisters, died while fiddling with an explosive. They had gone to collect fuel-wood. While Nuzhat died on spot, her sisters, Kulsooma and Shaista, returned injured. This incident came within a week after a housewife was killed in similar circumstances in the same district. Can J&K have some kind of policy on explosives that stay littered around?
DELHI
It was an embarrassing moment for Congress spokesperson, Ms Renuka Choudhary, when somebody asked her why Congress did not react with same anger over 2005 sleaze racket as it is now reacting to the brutal gang-rape of a young girl in a Delhi bus. The Kashmir racket involved many Congressmen of whom two were actually arrested by CBI. The question led to the end of the press conference. At the end of it, she was heard telling the reporter: “That (2005 case) was different.”
WASHINGTON
A delegation of Kashmiri entrepreneurs is on way home from a week-long visit to US. Led by Waseem Trumboo, the director of TCI group, this multi-member delegation of CII has decided to celebrate a week-long Kashmir festival in Washington or New York in October 2013 that will help promote tourism. The team travelled to Washington, California, Aspen (Colorado) and New York. Apart from visiting ski-resorts and seeking lifting of adverse travel advisories, they were hosted by USIBC where they heard Farooq Kathwari and the ambassadors, Howard and Teresita Schaffer, who have worked on the economic way-out in Kashmir. The great news is that the delegation has shown keen interest in investing in US!
KOLKOTA
An 11-member group of boys from areas close to LoC claimed to have landed in wonderland. Driven to West Bengal by Seagull Foundation for the Arts under its ‘Dialogue for Peace’ program, these boys are living with 13 boys from La Martiniere School for Boys that is partnering the program. All the 24 boys are attending a workshop especially designed by theatre personality and Sangeet Natak Academy awardee, Prabir Guha. Their stay has triggered a lot of media interest. While the boys have said the Kolkota life is unthinkable back home, they have also said the boys hosting them are “almost on the same boat”.
