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Greater Kashmir

SRINAGAR | July 15, 2014, Tuesday

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Journalist meeting
Hafiz Saeed triggers row

Centre rules out
changes in AFSPA in JK
New Delhi, July 14: The
Narendra Modi government
is understood to have ruled
out changes in the controversial AFSPA in Jammu and
Kashmir and favoured its
continuation in the present
form in the state.
The decision in this
regard is understood to have
been taken at a meeting of
the Cabinet Committee on
Security headed by the Prime
Minister recently, sources
said here. The CCS discussed
changes suggested by the
Administrative Reforms Commission, they said.

The Army had also given
its opinion in the matter and
had opposed the repealing
or dilution of the law in any
form and stated that it was
required for it to operate in
the state, sources said.
Even though Jammu
and Kashmir has been relatively peaceful in the recent
past except for the cease
fire violations along the
Line of Control (LoC), the
Army feels that it is more of
"absence of violence" rather
than establishment of peace
there.
Several groups and polit-

ical parties in Jammu and
Kashmir and north eastern
region have been demanding
either repeal or amendment
to the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA)which
has been in force in some of
the disturbed regions in the
country.
Defence Minister Arun
Jaitley had also visited
Jammu and Kashmir to
analyse the situation in the
state and had visited the forward locations there.
He had stated that any
decision on revoking AFSPA
will depend on the progress

in the situation in the state
over a period of time.
On the need for AFSPA,
Army Chief Gen Bikram
Singh had stated that it was
"an enabling" act as it "gives
Army additional powers to
operate in an environment
which is marked by very
high degree of uncertainty
and complexity and an
asymmetric environment
where you cannot differentiate between a friend and a
foe as the terrorist merges
with the backdrop and hides
amongst the locals."
PTI

December 16 gangrape, murder case:

SC stays execution of 2 convicts
New Delhi, July 14: The
Supreme Court today stayed
till further orders the execution of death penalty of two
of the four convicts in the
December 16 gangrape and
murder case.
A bench of justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and N V
Ramana said since the death
sentence of other convicts
have already been suspendedby this court, the same
order has to be passed.
It stayed the execution
of Vinay Sharma (21) and
Akshay Thakur (29), who
were convicted along with
other two-- Mukesh (27) and
Pawan Gupta (20)-- whose
death sentence has already
been stayed.
Vinay and Akshay had
moved the apex court seeking a stay on their execution
and reversal of the Delhi
High Court verdict upholding their conviction and the
punishment.
The court proceedings

also witnessed some confusion as the bench queried
whether it could hear the
plea in the light of observation made by Chief Justice
R M Lodha that the cases of
death convicts be heard by
not less than three-judge
bench.
The bench called for
Supreme Court registrar
who said no such notification has been issued so far
in this regard. The bench
then went ahead with the
hearing and passed the stay
order.
The Delhi High Court had
on March 13 this year upheld
their conviction and award
of death penalty by terming
the offence as "extremely
fiendish" and "unparallelled
in the history of criminal
jurisprudence" and said the
"exemplary punishment" was
the need of the hour.
It had also said if this
case was not "the rarest of
rare cases" then "there is

likely to be none".
Besides seeking setting
aside of the High Court verdict, Vinay and Akshay, in
their appeal, have sought a
stay on their execution as an
interim relief.
The petition has said the
judgement be set aside as
there was no "substance or
material piece of evidence"
and there were contradictions in the depositions of the
victim and her friend, who
had accompanied her in the
bus, about the offence and the
offenders.
The petition has said
the testimony of the SDM
cannot be relied on as she had
deposed that the victim was
"comfortable, happy and willing to record her statement."
"Whether a patient who
is on ventillator...Can be
happy and comfortable?," it
has said.
Disputing the veracity of
the dying declaration of the
victim, it has said she was

not fit enough to record her
statement and hence, the
statement made through gestures cannot be relied upon.
"The High Court failed to
appreciate before awarding
death sentence to appellant
Vinay Sharma that he was
juvenile at the time of the
incident...," it has said.
The 23-year-old paramedic, on the night of December
16, 2012, was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six persons in a moving bus in South
Delhi and thrown out of the
vehicle with her male friend.
She later died in a Singapore
hospital on December 29.
Prime accused in the case
Ram Singh was found dead in
Tihar Jail in March last year
and the trial against him was
abated.
The sixth accused, the
juvenile, was on August 31,
2013 convicted and sentenced
to a maximum of three years
in a reformation home by the
Juvenile Justice Board. PTI

New Delhi, July 14: A row
erupted over yoga guru Ramdev's close aide Ved Pratap
Vaidik's meeting with Hafiz
Saeed with Congress today
seeking to corner the government inside and outside Parliament over whether it had
given its approval.
The government on its
part distanced itself from the
meeting and declared it had
nothing to do with the journalist "directly, indirectly or even
remotely" and asserted there
was no sanction from its side.
"There is no Track-2 or Track-3
diplomacy involved," it added.
Vaidik had met the chief of
Jamaat-ud-Dawa, said to be the
parent organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT), in Lahore on
July 2 while touring Pakistan
along with a group of journalists and politicians invited by
a peace research institute. As
the Congress demanded his
arrest, Vaidik defended his
parleys with Saeed, saying he
has been meeting all kinds of
people and that it was a "simple
thing" for him.
He also rejected suggestions by Congress that he
might have acted as government's envoy, saying he was
"nobody's envoy but my own".
The meeting generated
heat in Parliament with Rajya
Sabha witnessing two adjournments during Question Hour.
Congress members in both

Houses sought a detailed statement from the government
on the "purpose and motive
behind the meeting with
India's most wanted terrorist".
They created uproar
in Rajya Sabha forcing two
adjournments during Question Hour, as they and their colleagues in Lok Sabha, as well as
those from their allies, sought
to know whether the journalist
had sought government's permission before meeting Saeed
and who facilitated it.
They demanded a statement by either the External
Affairs Minister or Home
Minister saying this was "a
serious matter concerning
national security".
In Rajya Sabha, Leader of
the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said for
India, Saeed was a terrorist
and indeed involved in terrorism against India.
Government has nothing
to do with "directly, indirect-

Army Chief felicitates
photographic officer
Jammu, July 14: Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh, who is on a
farewell visit to Jammu and Kashmir ahead of his retirement,
today felicitated a photographic officer besides appreciating the
contribution of various other personnel.
Gen Singh decorated Shib Narayan Acharya, Photographic
Officer of Public Relations Office, Ministry of Defence, Jammu
with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Commendation Card and Badge
on the spot for the selfless dedication to the country and his professional work rendered to the organisation, a defence spokesman
said here. Gen Singh also appreciated the services of the staff of
PRO (Defence), Jammu. The Army Chief is visiting various Army
formations before he retires on July 31. PTI

ly or even remotely" with any
journalist meeting Saeed, he
said, adding "government has
not sanctioned permission
to anyone for meeting him
(Saeed)."
Congress members also
demanded the arrest of the
journalist, with their leader
Digvijay Singh seeking to
know from Jaitley if the meeting had government's sanction.
"I want to clarify that
we don't approve any such
activity(meeting with Saeed),"
Information and Broadcasting
Minister Prakash Javadekar
said, as he accused the Congress of being desperate."For
the government, there is no
change of stand as far Hafiz is
concerned. For India, Hafiz is
an accused in the terror attack.
He is a terrorist who conspired
to attack India," Javadekar told
reporters outside Parliament.
The Minister also said
there is no "Track-2 or Track-3
diplomacy" involved. 		
PTI

Train service to
Katra formally
begins
New Delhi, July 14:
Train service to Katra,
the base camp of Mata
Vaishno Devi shrine from
the national capital today
formally began with the
AC superfast Shri Shakti
Express embarking upon
its maiden journey from
here.
"The 18-coach AC train
departed for Katra at 5.30
PM from New Delhi railway station here and the
corresponding service
from Shri Mata Vaishno
Devi Katra station would
start at 10.55 PM tonight,"
said Neeraj Sharma,
Northern Railway spokesperson.
He said the train has
received an overwhelming response and was fully
occupied.
The daily service is
expected to be a great
convenience for the passengers desirous to travel
between New Delhi and
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi
Katra stations.
The train will depart
daily from New Delhi at
5.30 PM to arrive at Shri
Mata Vaishno Devi Katra
at 5.10 AM the next day.
On its return leg, it would
depart from Shri Mata
Vaishno Devi Katra at
10.55 PM daily to reach
New Delhi at 10.45 AM the
next day.
PTI

Rasm-e-ChahaRum
Ali Mohammad Bhat of Bemina Housing
Colony, 25 1/A near Masjid-e-Ibrahim
passed away on Sunday July13
evening. His Fateh Khwani will be held
at the Masjid-i-Ibrahim graveyard on
Wednesday July 16 morning at 9:30 AM.
Women coming for condolences
are requested not bring any fruits or
anything else.
Bereaved

| 9419001873/ 9086111020

AL-HAYA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION & ISLAMIC RESEARCH CENTRE

Below mentioned performances has
ANNUAL
2013-14
been done by the organisation
REPORT
from the last holy Ramadan to till date:

01. By the grace of Almighty Allah our organisation has taken
on 350 families in concealable way, which is being served in
terms of monthly HOUSE HOLD commodities, monthly
required MEDICINE and to carry out the expenses of
EDUCATION for the poor and needy students.
02. During the current year nearly 6000 patients which mostly
included elderly people, children and women have been given
free consultation and free medicines by the medical centre
department and free medicines which costed nearly Rs.9,
72,125/- have been distributed among the patients. Besides
this, the said department has provided unanimous agreed
amount to the poor and needy patients who have been
involved in fatal diseases like cancer, kidney problems,
cardiac problems, hepatitis (C) for the treatment.
03. Organisation has also forwarded a generous helping hand
in performing Simple Nikah of some downtrodden sisters,
and some high respected families have been EMPOWERED to
such extent that they have become self reliant and self
supportive.
04. The deptt.of natural disaster and natural calamity has
provided BASIC AID to 32 re victim families in quick and
responsible way during the current year.
(For complete details of the above, you may visit the office of
our organisation at any time.)
Now you will be pleased to know that the ATHROUT
TRUST has got the trust registered with the State Govt

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