Excelsiordaily

REGD.NO.JK-71/15-17RNI No. 28547/1992

Vol No. 51 No. 315 JAMMU, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2015 16+4 (Magazine) =20 Pages `̀ 4.00

Excelsior Correspondent

CHENNAI, Nov 14:Jammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Mufti MohammadSayeed today said "education-al backwardness" of Muslimswas the reason for their inabil-ity to progress economicallyand insisted that educationwas "most critical" for theuplift of the community.

“There is no doubt that edu-cational backwardness is themain reason why we have notbeen able to progress economi-cally," he said in his keynoteaddress at the inaugural UnitedEconomic Forum Summit-2015at ITC Grand Chola here. Hewas one of the start speakers atthe Summit where he spoke onthe topic of “education andemployment: critical require-ments to minority communityupliftment”.

Sayeed said he had alwaysbelieved education is "most crit-ical to uplift our community".The "decline" in the socio-eco-nomic and education status ofthe Muslims started as early asthe 18th century, he said whilerecalling that "pioneers andgeniuses" like Sir Syed Ahmed

Khan and freedom fighterMaulana Abul Kalam Azad had

advocated education for devel-opment.

While Khan startedMohammaden Anglo-OrientalCollege, known as AligarhMuslim University (AMU) now,Azad understood the importanceof education and believed that"Muslims could carve out a dis-

tinct niche for themselves in asecular and diverse India", he

said.Azad, who Sayeed recalled

had opposed partition of thecountry, was chosen byJawaharlal Nehru as indepen-dent India's first EducationMinister and he heralded thenation's modern education, theChief Minister said.

He said he did not find any

PARIS, Nov 14:

France was in a nationwidestate of emergency today aftera night of horror in Pariswhen gunmensprayed restaurantswith bullets, massa-cred scores of con-cert- goers andlaunched suicideattacks near thenational stadium,killing at least 128people.

At least eightmilitants, all wear-ing suicide vests,brought unprece-dented violence tothe streets of theFrench capital, inthe bloodiestattacks in Europesince the Madridtrain bombings in 2004.

Armed with AK47s andshouting "Allahu Akbar", fourof the group marched into a rockconcert at the Bataclan venue ineastern Paris, murdering at least82 people and taking dozenshostage.

"They didn't stop firing.There was blood everywhere,corpses everywhere. Everyonewas trying to flee," said PierreJanaszak, a radio presenter who

was at the concert by US rockband Eagles of Death Metal.

Hinting at their motives, thegunmen were overheard ragingat French President FrancoisHollande and his military inter-ventions in the Syrian civil war

against the Islamic State group."I clearly heard them say

'It's the fault of Hollande, it'sthe fault of your President, heshould not have intervened in

Syria'," he added.Suspicion immediately fell

on Islamic State jihadists, or Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as thelikely perpetrators of the coordi-nated assault which left at least

President hastily evacuated from stadium

128 massacred, 200 injured inbloodiest attacks across Paris

* France blames IS, vows to hit back

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 14: UnionMinister of State in PrimeMinisters Office Dr JitendraSingh while condemning theFrance Attack today said it isan eye opener for those havingsoft approach towards terror-ism.

"Incidents like FranceAttack must be condemned andI feel that it is an eye opener forthose who have soft approachtowards terrorism," Dr Singhtold reporters at the sidelines ofa Health Mela here this after-noon.

Dr Singh said, "somebodyhailing from this part of thecountry (Jammu and Kashmir)can feel the pain who had beensuffering due to terrorism sincelong."

"Whatever be the reason butstill such acts must be an eyeopener for those having soft tar-

get towards terrorism, the MoSsaid.

India has clear ideologytowards terrorism and evenPrime Minister Narendra Modihas on many occasions spoke onzero tolerance, he said andadded, "one must understandthat those who are perpetratorsof terrorism, will one daybecome victims of it."

On a query regarding anyassistance by India to France, DrSingh said, "it is the Ministry ofExternal Affairs who have totake a final call but though Indiaremained victimized of terroractivities, we understand it."

On Jammu and KashmirChief Minister MuftiMohammad Sayeed hinting atMehbooba Mufti taking over theState affairs, the Union Ministersaid, "we have an organisationalset up and mechanism in placeand it is upto high command andsenior leadership to take a call."

India for zero tolerancetowards terrorism: Dr Jitendra

LONDON, Nov 14:

Describing the barbaricterror assaults in France as an"attack on humanity", PrimeMinister Narendra Moditoday asked the UN to defineterrorism before it is too lateso that the world knows who isbacking terror and who isagainst it.

Condemning the terrorattacks in Paris that claimed 128lives, Modi said, "What hap-pened in Paris yesterday is anattack on humanity and theworld should accept that it is notan attack on Paris, not an attackon French citizens, not an attackon France but an attack onhumanity."

"It is an attack on humanitar-ian principles that is why all thepowers that believe in humanityhave to come together to con-demn such attacks. All pro-humanity forces should unite todefeat anti-humanity forces.They will have to fulfil theirresponsibilities," he said here atthe ceremony for unveiling thestatue of 12th century Indianphilosopher Basaveshwara.

Modi said whenever evilforces raise their head, reform-ers like Basaveshwara take cen-tre-stage.

On the third and final dayof his UK visit, Modi said, "It

is unfortunate that I amunveiling the statue ofBasaveshwara...At a timewhen my heart is filled withshock."

Modi called on the UN todefine terrorism before it is toolate so that it becomes clear whois siding with terrorism and whois fighting the menace.

He urged the UN memberStates to pass theComprehensive Convention onInternational Terrorism at theearliest.

"I would like the UN that iscelebrating its 70th anniversaryto not waste anytime in definingterrorism...The proposal is infront of it...So that we get toknow that who is siding withterrorism, who is helping terror-ism, who is backing terrorismand who is being targeted by ter-rorism, who are against terror-ism and who for humanity areready to sacrifice."

He stated that it was the"need of the hour" that world'spro-humanity forces unitebefore it is too late.

"And with unity isolate suchforces (anti-humanity) andchalk out a strategy to defeatthem," he said.

In a separate statement,Modi strongly condemned the

Terror assaults attackon humanity: Modi

Militant involved inkillings arrestedExcelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Nov 14:Police today arrested a HizbulMujahideen militant who wasinvolved in killings and recentincidents of firing on securityforces in Anantnag districtwhile the security forces opera-tion that was launched against agroup of militants in Kupwaraforests yesterday continued for2nd day today.

Police said that on a specific

Avalanche hits Army patrolparty in Siachen, Capt dies

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 14: An Army Captain lost his life while 15 othersoldiers were rescued after an avalanche struck a patrol party inSiachen Glacier in Ladakh sector.

“A patrol party of Army came under an avalanche in southernarea of Siachen Glacier yesterday,” Udhampur-based Defencespokesman Colonel S D Goswami said today.

A rescue operation was launched immediately and 15 soldierswere saved, he said.

Regimental Medical Officer Captain Ashwini Kumar could not besaved and his body was retrieved from under the avalanche, he said.

Capt Kumar, from 3 Ladakh Scouts, was a bachelor and hailedfrom Patiala in Punjab.

General Officer Commanding of the Army’s NorthernCommand Lt General D S Hooda has expressed grief over the lossof the officer, he said.

The spokesman said the Army Commander has conveyed hiscondolences to the bereaved family.

INSIDE WEATHER* Towards New J&K ...Page 8

Mufti invites IT firms to set up

parks in J&K ...Page 3

Deputy CM for time-bound

completion of ERA projects ...Page 3

Bali cautions officers against

slackness in implementing

projects ...Page 5

NC to launch agitation for

flood victims: Sagar ...Page 5

Indian spinners skittle SA for

214 despite AB’s 85 ...Page 14

JAMMU : Partially cloudy

TEMPERATUREMax: 28.9 Degree C Min: 12.7 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 89.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 61.0 per centSunset on Sunday: 05.32 p.m.Sunrise on Monday: 07.02 a.m.

KASHMIR:Partially cloudy.

TEMPERATUREMax: 16.4 Degree C Min: 6.8 Degree C

RELATIVE HUMIDITYRH-I (Morning): 85.0 per centRH-II (Evening): 55.0 per cent

LEH: TEMPERATUREMax: 14.5 Degree C Min: -1.3 Degree C

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Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed delivering keynote address at United EconomicForum Summit at Chennai on Saturday.

General view of the scene with rescue service personnel working nearcovered bodies outside a restaurant following terror attacks in Paris. (UNI)

Kashmiri women burn leaves and branches of trees to make charcoal in the outskirts ofSrinagar. The charcoal is used in Kashmiri fire pots (Kangris) during winters. -Excelsior/Amin War

(Contd on page 6 Col 1) (Contd on page 6 Col 5)

Education is most critical to uplift Muslims: Mufti*Calls for blending religious education with modern outlook

Excelsior Special Correspondent

GOA, Nov 14: The highprofile Delhi based think tankIndia Foundation is conduct-ing three day conclave herefrom tomorrow.

The conclave is slated todeliberate upon ‘Lessons fromCivilizations’ in a deeply intel-lectual pursuit involving manywell-known personalities fromIndia and abroad. Among otherswho are reported to be sched-uled to speak are US basedpolitical commentator DanielPipes, Tarek Ramadan, thegrandson of Hasan Banah,founder of the MuslimBrotherhood and Tark Fateh, theCanada based commentator andcommunicator who campaignsagainst Radical Islam.

Among Indian speakers areDefence Minister, ManoharParrikar, ex-CM of Goa, Jayant

Sinha, MoS Finance,Lakshmikant Parsekar, ChiefMinister of Goa, ChandrababuNaidu, Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh and NirmalaSitharaman, MoS Commerce.

Of particular interest is theslated keynote address onNovember 16 by MuftiMohammad Sayeed, ChiefMinister of Jammu andKashmir on the subject‘Kashmiriyat, JamhooriyatInsaaniyat’, the famous slogangiven by former PrimeMinister Atal Behari Vajpayeewhich was reiterated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi dur-ing his visit to Srinagar onNovember 7 this year.

Interestingly, the session ofthe J&K Chief Minister is beingchaired by Lt Gen Syed AtaHasnain (Retd), who is wellknown in J&K for his successful

Mufti to deliver keynote addressIndia Foundation’s 3-day

conclave at Goa from today

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(Contd on page 6 Col 3)

Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, Nov 14: The

National Investigating Agency(NIA) has decided to file mul-tiple charge sheets in August 5terror attack at Narsu nearSamroli in Udhampur districton Jammu-Srinagar NationalHighway instead of onecharge sheet in view of arrestsbeing made in the case at reg-ular intervals and manyaccused including driver ofthe tanker, who had driven themilitants to Narsu fromKulgam and woman militant,whose husband KhurshidAhmad Itoo was arrested yes-terday, eluding the investigat-

ing agency.Official sources told the

Excelsior that with about threeand half months having alreadylapsed after the attack, the NIAhas decided to file first maincharge sheet either by the end ofthis month or start of nextmonth and then continue to filesupplementary charge sheets asand when the remaining accusedwere arrested.

The NIA will file the chargesheets before the Special NIACourt in Jammu.

Sources said the NIA tookthe decision to file multiplecharge sheets as the arrestscontinued to be made in thecase and many accused were

still at large. While firstaccused, Mohammad Naved, aPakistani militant was arrest-ed on spot by the people onAugust 5, two accused includ-ing Khurshid Ahmad Itoo andFayaz Ahmad Itoo alias FayazWelder were arrested yester-day in Kashmir.

Many more accused includ-ing Fayaz Ashwar, driver of thetanker, who had driven the mili-tants along with arms and explo-sives from Kulgam to Narsu,Samroli on Jammu-SrinagarNational Highway and wife ofKhurshid Ahmad Itoo, who hadaccompanied her husband in thecar that moved ahead of thetruck passing on signals to truck

operator about movement of themilitants on the highway, wereyet to be arrested, sources said.

Apart from them, severalPakistani militants includingAbu Dujana, a top commanderof Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit,have not been arrested.However, Abu Qasim, who wasmastermind of the attack andLashkar chief of Kashmir, waskilled recently by the securityforces.

Entire case is being investi-gated by NIA SSP Atul Goel, anIPS officer of Jammu andKashmir cadre, who wasassigned the case a day after theattack and was instrumental in

Fayaz Ashwar remains key man still at large

NIA to file multiple charge sheetsin Samroli fidayeen attack case

Mohinder VermaJAMMU, Nov 14:

Contrary to the tall claims ofthe PDP-BJP CoalitionGovernment about strength-ening anti-corruption institu-tions to curb deep-rootedmenace, which has earned badname to Jammu and Kashmirin the country, the premieranti-corruption body of theState— VigilanceOrganization is headless dur-ing the past four and halfmonths. Moreover, the pro-posal regarding reorganiza-tion of this anti-graft body tomaximize its utilization and

obtain best possible results isgathering dust in the CivilSecretariat during the pastquite long time as a result ofwhich this organization is fac-ing acute shortage of theInvestigating Officers.

The State VigilanceOrganization is headed byDirector, an officer of the rankof Additional Director Generalof Police and senior level offi-cers function under him are IGPVigilance, DIG Vigilance andtwo AIGs—one looking afterPolicy matters and another func-tioning of the Headquarters.

The post of Director fellvacant on June 30 this year

when the then Director SheikhOwais Ahmed (ADGP) attainedthe age of superannuation. Onthe same day, the only post ofDIG Vigilance fell vacant fol-lowing superannuation of IPSofficer J L Sharma.

Since then the post ofDirector as well as DIG con-tinued to remain vacantbecause of the failure of thePDP-BJP CoalitionGovernment to appoint newIPS officers to man theseposts. “Though IGP Vigilanceis looking after the work ofpost of Director Vigilance yetthere is no justification behindkeeping the vital organization

entrusted with the responsibil-ity of fighting deep rootedmenace of corruption headlessfor four and half months”,official sources regretted.

Similarly, allowing the onlyDIG level post to remain vacantfor such a long time carries nojustification especially when tallclaims are being made aboutstrengthening the anti-corrup-tion institutions, sources furthersaid, adding “it is unfortunatethat many Cabinet meetingswere convened during the pastfour and half months but no stepwas initiated to provide newhead to the State Vigilance

Tall claims on strengthening anti-corruption bodies exposed

SVO headless during past over 4 months;restructuring proposal gathering dust

*Premier agency facing acute shortage of IOs

(Contd on page 6 Col 1)

(Contd on page 6 Col 5)

Newly wed couple among 3 killedExcelsior Correspondent

SAMBA, Nov 14: Three persons including a newly weddedcouple were killed and 12 others got injured, when the bus they

were traveling in, collided with a railwaybridge near Nanke Chak area on Jammu-Pathankote National Highway, here today.

The ill-fated vehicle bearing registration number JK02AW-0281 was on its way to Jammu from Billawar, district Kathua,when the driver while saving a scooterist lost control over thevehicle and it got collided with railway bridge near Nanke Chak,causing on the spot death of three persons including a newly wed-ded couple and injuries to 12 others.

After getting information, police team and locals rushed to thespot and started rescue operation. All the injured were shifted toDistrict Hospital Samba in police and other vehicles, from wheretwo critically injured including a 10-year old girl were referred toGovernment Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu foradvanced treatment.

(Contd on page 6 Col 3)

JKB profit up by 17.20%Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Nov 14: J&K Bank today posted net profit of Rs354.38 crore for Half-Year (H1) ended September 2015, up by17.20 pc from Rs 302.35 crore earned during the correspondingH1 of the previous financial year.

The Bank announced its reviewed H1/Q2 financial results fol-lowing approval of its Board of Directors at a meeting held heretoday.

Recording an increase of 13.53 pc for the second quarter, thebank registered Rs 195.62 crore as net profit against Rs 172.30crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

The total business of the Bank stood at Rs 108164 crore.The advances of the bank have reached to Rs 45721.91 crore

from Rs 45072.37 crore, while as the deposits stood at Rs62442.06 crore as against Rs 62972.35 crore recorded during thecorresponding period of the previous year.

The bank's other income for H1 rose by 21.57 pc for the quar-ter under review reaching Rs 262.14 crore as against Rs 215.62crore recorded during the corresponding period.

(Contd on page 6 Col 5)

Nitish to take oath on Nov 20PATNA, Nov 14:

Nitish Kumar, who along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, steeredthe Grand Secular Alliance to a landslide mandate of over two-thirds majority in Bihar Assembly poll, will be sworn in as ChiefMinister on November 20 for a third term along with his newCabinet.

Kumar, who was elected the leader of the Grand Alliance leg-islature party leader paving the way for his becoming the CM, toldreporters outside Raj Bhawan after meeting Governor Ram NathKovind that he will take oath as Chief Minister on November 20at 2 pm at Gandhi Maidan here.

Emerging from Raj Bhawan after about a 45 minute meeting,he said all the three parties of the alliance - JD(U), RJD andCongress would be part of his new Cabinet.

In reply to a question by newsmen as to how many Ministerswould take oath with him on November 20, Kumar merely said themaximum limit for Bihar House was fixed at 36.

(Contd on page 6 Col 7)

Hike in rly fares from todayNEW DELHI, Nov 14:

Railway fares for travel in the upper class categories will go upfrom tomorrow as a service tax levy of 14 per cent and a SwachhBharat cess of 0.5 per cent become effective.

According to a Rail Ministry circular, fares will go up by 4.35per cent for First Class and all AC Classes from November 15.There was a notification by the Government for imposing aSwachh Bharat cess on all taxable services on November 6.

"Service tax of 14 per cent and Swachh Bharat cess of 0.5 percent are chargeable on 30 per cent total passenger fare equivalenton 30 per cent of total passenger fare equivalent to 4.35 per centof the total fare on first class and all AC fares," the circular said.

However, the service tax will not be applicable for ticketsissued before November 15.

The levy will not be applicable for general and sleeper classtravel.

With the hike, AC-I fares on mail and express trains from New(Contd on page 6 Col 3)

* Pic on page 6

(Contd on page 6 Col 3)

(Contd on page 6 Col 1)