Kashmir’s instigated violence: Who benefits?

The current evidence in Kashmir is that the Valley is on fire, with serious widespread discontent and repeated protsts against alleged human rights violations by the security forces fanning violent demonstrations, resulting in mayhem and death. But this is only a partial, possibly distorted, reflection of the situation fanned by the mass media. Till a week ago, the Kashmir Valley was having one of its best tourist seasons in years. People from the rest of the country thronged the place, packing its hotels, restaurants, shops, shikaras and scenic spots. Buses and tourist taxis raced from one destination to another.It was difficult to get an airline reservation to Srinagar and, if available, it was at an astronomical cost. Any change in flight travel plans would make an even more serious dent on your wallet. The option was to return home by bus.There is no doubt that business – handicrafts, hospitality and tourism – was booming. Ordinary people in Kashmir were pleased by the extra work and income that such an invasion from out of the state brings. And they were hoping for continued normalcy, so that they could go on with their normal lives and earn a decent living. Now, who would want to disrupt that?The reality is that ordinary Kashmiris are sick of the disruptions and bandhs that plague the state and in the end impoverish them. They are also sick of the politicians who encourage such disruptions.The people are smart enough to know that many politicos have a vested interest in the continuing violence, have bled the state white and taken money from all sides, while ensuring their children enjoy luxurious sanctuary abroad. If the violence ceased, and Kashmir secured the normalcy essential for development and the betterment of its people, politicians of various hues would be out of business, like the terrorists.It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the pattern of instigated violence. A group of youths is encouraged to start pelting stones at the security forces to ensure retaliation. At some point it forces the latter to do so, either with stones, tear gas or bullets. Sometimes the shells or bullets injure protesters or even kill. The perpetrators have now manufactured a full-blown incident, which they can beat the state and the Indian government with, and milk politically.This pattern is repeated time and time again, mainly in Srinagar but elsewhere in the Valley as well. By and large in Srinagar the violence is contained within a small area in the heart of the town, while the rest of it goes about its business. But it does get worse.It is not often that voices of sanity dare speak out against the disruptors, possibly fearing a militant’s bullet to their head. Criticism of human rights violations by the Jannu and Kashmir Police or Indian security forces, whether deserved or not, comes fast and furious from all quarters. There is not a murmur about worse atrocities against ordinary Kashmiris by terrorists and Pakistani sympathizers.But people are fed up and some are beginning to take a public stand. There is every reason to believe they have the support of the silent majority in the Valley. Even editorials in newspapers, otherwise critical of India, have begun to question the politics of hartals.As the Greater Kashmir newspaper observed, “…the real concern right now should be this: Is it any way working to the advantage of the people? If not, why should this situation persist……. So our major and dominant concern should be to find ways that could stop this mayhem. Going beyond the conspiracy theories and moralistic assessment of stone pelting, people who matter in this situation must sit down and work for some solution. We cannot afford dying every day. We cannot afford going on strikes every day. If we have problems here, which we certainly have, there must be some way other than this to fight them out”.A private citizen, Ghulam Jeelani, was moved to put out a large advertisment in the newspaper titled “Beyond the Politics of Hartals”. Among other things he said: “However, it is also a fact that the frequent hartals bring the normal life to a grinding halt as no economic activity takes place. The daily wagers, the labourers who eke out their living after putting in hard labour, find it impossible to earn enough for their sustenance on a hartal day…….“It is for those who claim to be in the leadership role to introspect and dispassionately assess the impact of frequent hartals,” he continued, ending with the critical question: “Finally, who gets benefited out of the interruptions due to frequent hartals?“Somebody has to answer this vital question some day.”Jeelani has it right. Someone is clearly benefiting from the frequent disruptions, hartals and fatalities. And it is neither Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, for whom the knives are out, nor the people of the Kashmir Valley.
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SCR to run 32 special trains till July 31

Hyderabad, Jul 1: To ease the passenger rush, South Central Railway will run 32 special trains between Secunderabad-Guntur, Secunderabad-Mancheriyal and Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam from July 2 to July 31.Ten services of special trains on the Secunderabad- Guntur-Secunderabad route, 18 services on the Secunderabad- Mancherial-Secunderabad route and four services on Hyderabad- Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad route, will be run, a SCR release said here today.Train No 0714 (A) Secunderabad - Guntur special train will depart Secunderabad on Fridays, 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th July at 2250 hrs and would arrive at Guntur by 0445 hrs next day. In the return direction, Train No 0713(A) Guntur-Secunderabad special train will depart Guntur on Saturdays, ie., 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st July at 2200 hrs and would arrive Secunderabad at 0400 hrs next day. En route these special trains will stop at Nalgonda, Miryalguda, Nadikudi, Pidugurala and Sattenapalli in both the directions.Train No 0752 Secunderabad-Mancherial special train will depart Secunderabad on Tuesdays and Fridays, i.e, 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th, 20th, 23rd, 27th and 30th July at 0530 hrs and would arrive Mancherial at 0935 hrs same day. In the return direction, Train No 0751 Mancherial-Secunderabad special train will depart Mancherial on Tuesdays and Fridays, i.e., 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th, 20th, 23rd, 27th and 30th July at 1030 hrs and would arrive Secunderabad at 1430 hrs same day. En route these special trains would also stop at Bhongir, Aler, Jangaon, Kazipet, Uppal, Jammikunta, Potkapalli, Odela, Kolanur, Peddapalli and Ramagundam in both the directions. These Special trains will comprise of ten general second class and two second class luggage cum brake van coaches totaling to twelve. Train No 0748 Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam special train will depart Hyderabad on Fridays ie. 2nd and 9th July, 2010 at 1930 hrs, arrive/depart Secunderabad at 1950/2000 hrs and arrive Visakhapatnam at 0830 hrs on the next day. In the return direction, Train No 0747 Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad special train will depart Visakhapatnam on Saturdays ie. 3rd and 10th July at 1910 hrs, arrive/depart Secunderabad at 0815, 0825 hrs and would arrive Hyderabad at 0850 hrs next day Enroute, these special trains will also stop at Kazipet, Warangal, Khammam, Madhira, Vijayawada, Eluru, Tadepalligudem, Rajahmundry, Samalkot, Annavaram, Tuni, Anakapalli and Duvvada in both the directions, the realease said.
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Halt for Krishna express at Malkajgiri extended

Hyderabad, Jul 1: South Central Railways has decided to continue the stoppage of Krishna Express at Malkajgiri till December 31.Train no 7406-7405 running on Adilabad-Tirupati-Adilabad route will continue to stop at Malkajgiri in both the directions, a SCR release said here today.Meanwhile, the Malakavemala Passenger halt station on Dharmavaram-Madanapalle section of Guntakal division on South Central Railway has been reopened for a period of one year from June 28, 2010 till June 27, 2011, the release added.
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2 new missile units in Andhra Pradesh by BDL

Hyderabad, Jul 1 : In a major boost to India's strategic and tactical missile capabilities, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), the only missile maker of the country, will put up two new facilities in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore.The Andhra Pradesh government had suggested a 500-acre site at Ibrahimpatnam and a 600-acre stretch at Lepakshi in Anantpur to meet BDL's expansion of integrated guided missiles programme. The allotment and transfer of the land to BDL is in the process, a top BDL source said.Chief Minister K Rosaiah had announced that BDL officials had a meeting yesterday with him on the logistic support for their expansion schedule. ''They (BDL) will make huge investment in the two new missile manufacturing facilities,'' the Chief Minister today said while releasing the State's new industrial policy for the year 2010-2015, seeking to attract Rs 75,000 crore investment and 25-lakh jobs over the next five years.BDL has two facilities at Kanchanbagh here and at Bhanoor in Medak district which is a special weapon system facility. Besides anti-tank missile Nag, BDL was commissioned to provide variants of Prithvi Missile to the three wings of Indian Armed Force.
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Govt blamed for improper representation in Almatti FRL

Hyderabad, Jul 1 : Former Union Minister and Senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya today blamed the Andhra Pradesh Government for not effectively representing the case against the Karnataka government regarding the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of Almatti dam in the Water Tribunal.In a statement here, he said the approved FRL of Almatti dam was about 519.60 feet though the existing FRL was about 520.20 feet. ''Karnataka Government does not agree to this point...the only alternative is to request the Survey of India to conduct the survey again to verify the present FRL of the Almatti Dam.'' He criticised State Irrigation Minister Ponnala Laxmaiah for stating there was no loss to the state. ''This is deplorable and shameful; unless the government takes this issue seriously and fights out in the Tribunal on justified grounds, we may have to cut a sorry figure again.'' Mr Dattatreya also asked the Rosaiah Government to take seriously the issue of the Maharashtra Government erecting gates on Babli Projects by fighting it out in the Supreme Court and ensure that gates on Babli Project are demolished. The Chief Minister should see that Telangana does not become a desert, he added.
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Bypolls to all 12 vacant Assembly seats in AP on July 27

New Delhi, Jul 1 : By-elections to all 12 vacant Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh will be held on July 27, the Election Commission announced today.

Earlier, bypolls were to be held to ten seats -- Sirpur, Chennur (SC), Mancherial, Yellareddy, Nizamabad (Urban), Koratla, Dharmapuri (SC), Huzurabad, Siddipet and Warangal West Assembly constituencies. The Election Commission, in its June 21 order, decided against holding the bypolls to two Assembly seats - Vemulawada and Sircilla - as the election petitions against the winning candidates in last year's elections were still pending in court. The High Court, however, yesterday ordered that by-elections to Vemulawada and Sircilla Assembly constituencies have to be held along with the other 10 segments that are going to the polls on July 27.The court passed the orders on a petition by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) challenging the decision of the Election Commission not to hold bypolls to Sircilla and Vemulawada Assembly constituencies in view of some election petitions pending in the court. ''Now, the Commission has decided to hold by-elections to fill the two vacancies, Vemulawada and Sircilla Assembly constituencies also, along with the 10 clear vacancies already announced,'' the poll watchdog said today.
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South West monsoon active over Telangana, rain in other regions too

Hyderabad, Jul 1 : Southwest monsoon has been active over Telangana, with rain occurring at many places and at a few places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh while isolated rain occurred over Rayalaseema.Rainfall recorded in cm: Dowlaiswaram and Tadepalligudem 8 each followed by Sriramsagar 7, Met department said today.The other chief amounts of rainfall recorded in cm are Chodavaram and Eluru 6 each, Adilabad, Medak, Mahabubabad, Mangalagiri, Narayanakhed, Navipet and Peddapuram 5 each, Jagitiyal, Metpalli Khanapur and Nirmal 4 each, Khammam, Nizamabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Achampet, Armoor, Nizamsagar, Kaikalur, Mudhol, Utnoor, Prathipadu, Rajahmundry, Ramannapet and Tanuku 3 each, Visakhapatnam, Avanigadda, Gudivada, Bhimavaram, Boath, Bodhan, Kamareddy, Madnoor, Dubbak, Ramayampet, Elamanchili, Jangaon, Repalle, Salur, Srungavarapukota and Satyavedu 2 each.Moderate to rather heavy rain/thundershowers would occur at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and in the districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam of Telangana. Light to moderate rain/thundershowers may occur at a few places over Rayalaseema and in the remaining districts of Telangana.A spell of rain/thundershowers would occur in parts of the city.Maximum and Minimum temeratures would be around 33 and 23 degrees celsius respectively, it added.
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ATC denies permission for Naidu to fly

Hyderabad, July 1 : The Air Traffic Control (ATC) Thursday denied permission to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to fly in a helicopter due to bad weather.The leader of opposition had to cancel his visit to Warangal and Ongole towns as ATC refused permission to his chopper to take off from here in view of bad weather. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president was to fly to the towns to attend marriages of the children of two party leaders, party sources said. This is the first incident where ATC has denied permission to a VIP to fly after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) framed new safety rules for VIP operation of planes and helicopters. That followed the death in a helicopter crash of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR. Naidu enjoys Z-plus category security and is protected by the Special Protection Group. According to the new rules, no flight would be allowed when "weather conditions are not conducive to safe operations". YSR and four others were killed when the chopper that had taken off from here for Chittoor district crashed in bad weather in Kurnool district Sep 2 last year.
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2 new missiles units in Andhra Pradesh: CM

Hyderabad, Jul 1 : Two new missile manufacturing facilities will be set up in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah announced here today.The new units similar to the Bharath Dynamics Limited (BDL), country's premier missile making facility, will be located with ''huge investment,'' the Chief Minister said, while releasing the state 2010-2015 new industrial policy here.''We had a discussion with Defence authorities yesterday and the locations for the new missile manufacuturing facility are be identified,'' the Chief Minister said, indicating that huge investment would be coming to the state. He, however, did not indicate the location for the new facilities.
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