Clashes erupt in J&K over Pandit ‘townships’
SRINAGAR: Police lobbed tear gas shells after protesters pelted stones and clashed with security forces on Friday in Srinagar over the Centre’s proposal to set up “composite townships” to rehabilitate Kashmir Pandits, displaced from their homes due to insurgency.
Sources said supporters of the separatist group, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), clashed with police at Lal Chowk, the iconic city centre in the state’s summer capital, forcing the police to retaliate.
The clashes came a day before a shutdown in the Valley, called by separatist groups and supported by the United Jehad Council, based in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir.
Separatist groups have reacted angrily to the BJP-led NDA government’s proposal which chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed denied in the state assembly on Thursday.
The BJP is a ruling ally in the state, the first instance of the saffron party sharing power in the Muslim-majority state.
Meanwhile, home minister Rajnath Singh hinted that there was no going back on the plans for separate townships for Pandits in the Valley, described by Sayeed as “Israeli-type settlements”.
At present, there are about 62,000 registered Kashmiri migrant families in the country, who had moved out of the Valley to Jammu, Delhi and other parts of the country.
The police said scores of protesters led by JKLF chief Yasin Malik took to the streets after Friday prayers and marched towards Lal Chowk for a planned sit-in protest. NEW DELHI: The Modi government has barred governors from stepping out of their state without presidential approval and has restricted them from spending more than 73 days outside the state on official visits.
“No visits shall be undertaken without obtaining the prior permission of the President or in emergent or extra-ordinary circumstances, without prior intimation to the President’s Secretariat,” the new 18-point set of rules notified by home ministry joint secretary Kumar Alok on 10 February said.
In case of last-minute travel plans, governors will have to explain the “compelling reasons” for the trip. The requests for permission to travel outside the state will have to be sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan anywhere between one week to six weeks before the date of travel, depending on whether the tour is official or private and the destination Seek advance permission from President’s Secretariat with finalised itinerary 7 days before domestic trips 6 weeks for foreign visit (No provision for relaxation on emergency grounds)
Get political clearance from
is in India or abroad.
Every request will also have to be marked to the Prime Minister’s principal secretary Nripendra Misra and home minister Rajnath Singh.
To ensure Raj Bhavans do not pass off private visits as official, the governors will also have to send their detailed itinerary to the President for every official visit — domestic or foreign — and keep Rashtrapati Bhavan posted about any changes.
The provisions — incorporated in the Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules 1987 — also restrict governors from travelling on official visits for more
Seek advance permission from President’s Secretariat 2 weeks before tour outside state
6 weeks before foreign visit
than 20% of the days in a calendar year.
The new rules were notified after several instances of governors abusing their privileges came to light.
Former Gujarat governor Kamla Beniwal — who was sacked within weeks of transferring her to Mizoram last year — has been the most prominent. One of the grounds for her removal was that she had used the state aircraft to travel to her home state, Rajasthan, on nearly 53 occasions. The public exchequer footed the bills as her office classified these visits as official. But there are others as well.