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26 Shawal | 1440 Hijri | Vol:22 | Issue: 144 | Pages:12 | Price: `3

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Why BJP Could Emerge As Majority Partner In Future J&K Coalition GovtSpecial Correspondent

SRINAGAR: On June 17, a resolution passed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (J&K Chapter) following a day-long meeting of its working committee in Jammu resolved to carry forward the “momentum of the parliamentary polls and work tirelessly to form the next government in the state on its own.”

The meeting, chaired by its state president Ravinder Raina was signifi-cantly also attended by the senior BJP leader and the minister of state in Prime Minister's Office Dr Jitendra Singh. The leaders discussed a gamut of conten-

tious issues that could well become its campaign planks in the Assembly polls likely to be held later this year.

The party sought fresh delimitation in the state which it hopes will en-hance the number of seats in Assembly for Hindu majority Jammu province, empowering it further relative to Mus-lim majority Kashmir Valley. It also bid for de-freezing of one-third of 24 Assembly seats reserved for Pakistan Controlled Kashmir (PcK) and allot-ting these to Jammu region where dis-placed residents from PCK are settled since 1947-48. The party also demand-ed "political reservation" for the sched-

uled tribes, most of whom are settled in Jammu and harped on the staple issue of discrimination with Jammu and Ladakh during the rule of Kashmir-based parties like National Conference and the PDP.

The party's confidence isn't mis-placed. Despite being an incumbent party in the previous state government, the party not only repeated its perfor-mance in the recent parliament polls, winning three out of six seats but also enhanced its vote share to 46 percent, up from 32 percent in Assembly polls. What is more, in these three seats the party gained lead in 28 Assembly con-

stituencies, three more from the last Assembly polls.

In Kashmir province too, where it lost three Lok Sabha seats to the NC, the BJP gained lead in Tral Assembly con-stituency, a militancy hotbed and the hometown of slain militant command-ers Burhan Wani and Zakir Musa. The reason for this is that while the local people boycotted election in response to separatist call, the constituency's Hindu residents living in other parts of the country voted for the BJP.

Credible prospectThis state of affairs lends the BJP's

apparently overreaching bid to form a

government in a Muslim majority state a degree of credibility - albeit, the de-mographics do not seem to warrant it. According to 2011 census, Muslims con-stitute 68.3 percent of J&K's population, Hindus 30 percent, Sikhs 2 percent, and Buddhists, a little more than 1 percent.

The demographics of the majority of the Assembly constituencies also fa-vours the majority community: all 47 constituencies of Kashmir Valley are Muslim dominated. Similarly Muslims are in majority in around 17 of 37 con-stituencies of Jammu and in the two of the four in Ladakh region.

But this is where More On P8

Art 370 Has To Go Lock, Stock, Barrel: MadhavNEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general sec-retary Ram Madhav on Saturday said that Article 370, which pro-vides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, has to go “lock stock and barrel.”

“As far as 370 is concerned, our ideological commitment is well known. Article 370 has to go lock stock and barrel as the Home Minister (Amit Shah) clearly mentioned yesterday (in Parlia-ment),” Madhav was quoted as having said by news agency.

“Our government is commit-ted to resolving all outstanding issue in Kashmir. We are moving in that direction,” he said, add-ing that the article was a tem-

porary provision. “When it was introduced by former PM Nehru, he himself had said that it was temporary and would erode on its own,” Madhav said.

Pertinently, the Supreme Court has said that Article 370 of the Constitution was not a "temporary provision". It was responding to a plea challeng-ing the validity of Article 370, which grants a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition was filed by Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha, seeking a declaration that Article 370 was temporary in nature.

The petitioner had claimed before the high court that Article 370 was a More On P8

SC To Hear Pleas Against Articles 370, 35A NEW DELHI: Upon reopening on July 1 after a six-week summer vacation, the Supreme Court will deal with pleas against Article 370 and Article 35A be-sides the Ayodhya land dispute, review pleas in Rafale case and the contempt case against Ra-hul Gandhi for wrongly attribut-ing to the court his "chowkidar chor hai" slogan.The top court, which would function with its full More On P8

Parties Dismayed Over Delay In Assembly Polls

Alienation Will Deepen in Kashmir: CPI (M) NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Sat-urday demanded an early as-sembly election in Jammu and Kashmir and alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comments in the Lok Sabha a day ago regarding the state were "provocative" and would alienate the people further. The Left party said if the conditions were conducive for holding the Lok Sabha election in the state, there was no reason to believe that the same situation prohibit holding the assembly election. More On P8

Over 30 Degree Colleges In J&K Remain Headless

Observer News Service

SRINAGAR: Most of the po-litical parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday ex-pressed dismay over the state-ment of Union Home minister Amit Shah on the question of conducting assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, with National Conference saying the "inordinate delay" in hold-ing the polls in the state was

synonymous with "scuttling" federalism in the country.

It said the people are yearning for a stable government which could protect the identity and territorial integrity of the state.

"The central government led by BJP is persistent on ruling the state from the Centre. The move will prove detrimental to the structure of federalism in the country. The inordinate delay in More On P8

SRINAGAR: As many as 30 Gov-ernment Degree Colleges (GDCs) in Jammu and Kashmir are func-tioning without Principals for the past one year, raising doubts about their administrative effi-cacy and academic standards.

These colleges, officials said were running headless for past year post retirement of the per-manent and in-charge Principals. “A dozen of Principals retired in past year and the government is yet to find the replacement for them," an official of Higher Edu-cation Department (HED) said.

The colleges which have been left headless for past one year has not only taken toll on academics but has also affected the day to day affairs of these institutions.

“Besides salary of staff, there are other day to affairs for which there should be a college head with DDO powers. Even a minor

repair in college has financial im-plications but these institutions don't have permanent head with DDO powers who can handle all these affairs," the officials said.

Meanwhile, the government for the past one year has also shifted some Principals from col-leges and attached them in Rash-triya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

(RUSA) directorate rendering the colleges headless.

"They were working as in-charge principals but were attached to RUSA as advisors. They have no work in RUSA but were still at-tached there,” the official said.

Most of the newly approved Degree Colleges are also without any staff member as More On P8

After Worst Sex Ratio, J&K Records More Foeticide Than 19 Other States Observer News Service

SRINAGAR: After sharpest decline in the child sex ratio across all the states in India with 862 females to every 1000 male children as per the last census report , Jammu and Kashmir has reported more female foeticide cases than nine-teen other states in India.

While responding to a ques-tion in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare DR. Harsh Vardhan said two cases of female foeticide were reported in 2016 in Jammu and Kashmir as per information of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The total reported cases of foeti-cide across India are 144 in 2016. Seventeen states have recorded zero foeticides and two others—Andhra Pradesh and Assam are behind J&K with one reported case of foeticide. Utter Pradesh

has witnessed highest with 52 reported cases followed by Rajas-than (21), Madhya Pradesh (19), Chhattisgarh (18), Maharashtra (7), Haryana, Punjab and Uttara-khand with 4 each while Karna-taka reported as many as J&K (2).

Regarding Child Sex Ra-tio (number of girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years), he said it is col lected on decadal basis by Re g i s t ra r General of India as a part of Census. The latest data available is of 2011.

He said that Jammu and Kash-mir recorded lowest child sex ra-

tio, registering a decline of 862 in 2011 from 941 in 2001. In 2011, the national average was 919 against 927 in 2011. In rural area of

Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio was 865 in

2 0 1 1

against 957 in 2011 while in Urban areas it stood 850 in 2011 and 873 in 2001.

The minister said that sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years (females per 1000 males) was recorded

He said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is regularly monitoring Sex Ratio at Birth

(SRB) through National Fam-ily Health Survey that has

shown an improvement of 5 points, from 914 in 2005-06 to 919 in 2015-16 at the national level.As per the Survey during

2005-06, he said, the ratio was 902 and during 2015-16, it was 922, showing an improvement of 20 points.

Sex ratio is an important indi-cator of the social conditions par-ticularly with respect to women’s status in the society. “An impor-tant concern in the present status of Jammu and Kashmir’s demo-graphic More On P8

A SADHU TREKS TOWARDS AMARNATH CAVE SHRINE as annual Yatra begins on July 1. The first batch of pilgrims will leave Jammu for the Baltal base camp in north Kashmir at around 4 a.m. on Sunday in a convoy escorted by security forces. KO Photo

NC Activist Shot At In South

SRINAGAR: Suspected militants on Saturday evening shot at and injured a 70-year-old activist of National Conference in Pulwama district in south Kashmir.

Reports said that the gunmen fired upon Ali Mohd Yatoo (70) at his residence at Nawnagri area of Palpora, leaving him injured.

Ali, according to reports, sus-tained a bullet wound in his right leg and was rushed to the district hospital for treatment.

Senior NC Leader Ghulam Nabi Ratnpori also confirmed it. Howev-er, he said that the condition of Ali, a resident of Nawnagri, is stated to be stable. Ratnipori said that Ali Mohammad’s son More On P8

P7/Head & Tails....... P4/World

WHY YOU SHOULD STOP USING BALLOONSTRUMP HAILS 'FRIEND OF MINE' MBSPeople see balloons as an uplifting thing. Going to the skies and the heavens. They don’t reach heaven but make birds reach it before their time.

Trump said on Saturday he appreciated Saudi Arabia's purchase of US weaponry, calling Crown Prince a "friend of mine"

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News In Brief

Let tenderness pour from your eyes, the way sun gazes warmly on earth.

-- Hafez

Police Officer Dies In Car Crash JAMMU: An assistant sub-inspec-tor of Jammu and Kashmir Police was killed on Saturday when his car skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, officials said. ASI Vikram Singh (45), a resident of Gatha village of Bhad-erwah, was posted in Kishtwar police station in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) wing, they said.He was on his way to work when he lost control of the More On P8

SPO Disengaged In Poonch POONCH: A Special Police Officer was disengaged after attempt to burn vehicles of Sarpanch and ‘Naib’ Sarpanch in Poonch district.Official sources said that there was attempt on part of some unidenti-fied persons to set ablaze a Bolero vehicle (JKO02-1578) of Sarpanch Subhash Chander Sharma and Swift vehicle (JK11C- 2888 of ‘Naib’ Sarpanch Rekesh Kumar son of Nanak Chand. The vehicles were parked at Hakim Mohre in Mend-har when Some persons tried to burn them. However More On P8

Dr Pervaiz Shah Appointed Principal GMCSRINAGAR: The Governor adminis-tration on Saturday appointed Dr Parvaiz Ahmad Shah as incharge principal Government Medical Col-lege, Srinagar, after retirement of Dr Kaiser Ahmad."Consequent upon the retirement on superannuation of Dr. Kaiser Ahmed, Principal, Government Medical College, Srinagar on 30-06-2019 (AN), and in the interest of Administration and patient-care, Dr. Parvaiz Ahmad Shah, More On P8

Kulgam Blast Injured Dies, Toll 2SRINAGAR: The death toll in a mysterious blast inside the shop of a scrap dealer at Chidderban area of Khudwani in south Kash-mir’s Kulgam district on June 27 rose to two as one of the injured persons succumbed to injuries on Saturday.A police officer said one of the two injured persons, Mohammad Abass Bhat son of Abdul Rashid Bhat of Chidder Khudwani lost his battle for life at SKIMS here.On Thursday, one person— Nazir Ahmad Bhat son of Abdul Khaliq Bhat—was killed and More On P8

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Materials Used For Torture, Execution

India Abstains From Voting On UN Resolution Agencies

UNITED NATIONS: India has ab-stained from voting on a Gen-eral Assembly resolution on ex-amining steps to restrict trade in materials used for executions and torture, saying that that it could infringe on the rights of countries that carry out capital punishments provided for un-der their law “after following the due process of law”.

India, however, unequivocally declared its opposition to torture, which is a crime under its laws.

The resolution, which was adopted on Friday with 81 votes in favour, 20 against and 44 ab-stentions, asks Secretary-Gen-eral Antonio Guterres to look at “a range of options to establish common international stan-dards for the import, export

and transfer of goods used” for capital punishment, torture or inhuman punishments.

Speaking after the vote on the resolution, a First Secretary in India’s UN Mission, Paulomi Tripathi, said that New Delhi was “firmly committed to pre-vent torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treat-ment or punishment”.

“The Indian judiciary also serves as a bulwark against any such violations of human rights.

“We firmly believe that free-dom from torture is a human right which must be respected and protected under all circum-stances,” she added.

Explaining India’s decision to abstain from voting for the resolution, Tripathi said: “Every State has the sovereign right to determine its own More On P8

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