PLANNED: Panchayat elections will be held in October after almost a decade in J&K. Such elections were last held in early 2001, after a gap of 23 years. Ruling coalition partners NC and Congress are likely to contest Panchayat polls jointly while opposition PDP wants elections held on party basis. There will also be 33 per cent reservation for women.
APPOINTED: The Chief Justice of J&K High Court appointed the principal district and sessions judge, Budgam Moulvi Javaid Ahmad as Registrar General of the High Court Srinagar.
UNEARTHED: Police claimed to have busted an inter-State sex racket after arresting eight persons including three youth and five women from a house at Bhatindi in Jammu.
Two of the five arrested girls belonged to Himachal Pradesh, one to Hubli in West Bengal and two to Jammu. Police said one of the women from Himachal was running the brothel. A case under Sections 345 and 7 Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act has been registered against the accused.
ORGANISED: Tourism Department is organising the first ever Mughal Road motor car rally in collaboration with Himalayan Motor Sports Association. The rally with around 40 competitors will start from Royal Spring Golf Course Srinagar at around 4 PM on June 25 and reach Kokernag from where it will enter Jammu region through Simthan Top and stop at Hari Niwas Palace, Jammu. On June 26 morning, the rally will leave for Srinagar via Mughal Road from Bufliaz. Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah will award the participants at SKICC.
DIRECTED: A Division Bench of the High Court has asked the government to establish separate boards, homes, and the courts for juveniles within three months. Justices Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain and Muzaffar Hussain Attar directed the government to take all required steps to implement the Juvenile Justice Act.
PROTESTED: Hundreds of people staged protest demonstrations against Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for disallowing them to erect tents and stalls in Pahalgam and en route the Amarnath cave during the yatra period. They accused the Shrine board of “bringing their own people from different states of the country for erecting tents and stalls en route the shrine”.
TABLED: Finance Minister Pakistan Administered Kashmir Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan presented PaK’s deficit but tax free budget for 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs 47.332 billion (Pakistani). PaK is expected to generate Rs 11.672 billion from its internal resources, Rs 750 million from water uses charges of Mangla, Rs 4.5 billion as its 80 percent share in taxes generated by the AJK Council from the PaK territory, Rs 6.68 billion as share in the federal taxes and the deficit between income and recurring expenditures, to the tune of Rs 12.555 billion, would be met by federal government.
APPROVED: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah approved the extension of benefits of SRO-43 to the surrendered militants. Now any surrendered militant if killed by militants will be entitled to ex-gratia relief and job opportunity to his next of kin.
CELEBRATED: Over 800 Kashmiri pandit families living in the Valley who did not migrate, had massive influx of guests on the weekend. Their relations living in Jammu and other places across India as migrants, had come for the yearly Khirbahwani festival. This year over 40,000 Pandits participated in the festival at Tulmula, in Ganderbal.
REVEALED: Army claimed that two civilians working as porters for them were killed when Pakistani army troopers this morning opened fire on Indian army post in Machil sector of frontier district of Kupwara.
KILLED: A colonel was killed when suspected militants ambushed troops in Lolab forests in Kupwara near LoC. Colonel Neeraj Sood, commanding officer 18-Rashtriya Rifles was rushed to army hospital in Drugmulla where he succumbed to his injuries.
REFUSED: Cross-LoC barter trade was suspended for the fifth consecutive week on Poonch-Rawalakote road after government imposed ban on import of ‘ajwain’, which was in huge demand.
CONTESTED: Army is opposed to any changes in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as the central government is planning amendments in the act to make it humane saying that it will affect their “operational capability”. Army claimed that the prosecution requests were pending with the political bosses in the defence as well as in the home ministry and not with the Army Headquarters. It maintained that over past 12 years both these ministries have not accorded any permission for prosecution.
ARRESTED: Police arrested three men accused of burning a girl alive in a PaK village. The three are accused of killing 22-year-old Saiqa. Media reports quoting Saiqa’s elder brother Istafar Khan said that one Suleman, 22, the younger son of Kazim Khan, wanted to marry Saiqa but one of the accused, Iqbal Khan, desired Suleman to marry his daughter instead. Therefore, Iqbal orchestrated the plan “to remove my sister from the way”.
SANCTIONED: The central government has sanctioned a special package for its employees of all categories allowing them to fly to J&K by air along with their family members while availing Leave Travel Concession (LTC).
DROPPED: A senior Congress leader Makhan Lal Fotedar, dropped a bombshell when said that had had Mufti Sayeed been allowed to complete six years as chief minister, there would have been a different situation in J&K. Fotedar, has remained close to the Gandhi family for years.
