Wednesday, 30 Mar 2011, SRINAGAR KASHMIR (J&K)
False allegations against ABC activist
Srinagar, March 29: Allegations against an activist of Animal Birth Control (ABC) in a news report published Monday could not be substantiated with pertinent testimonies. This newspaper had reported that the state authorities were dithering over dog culling due to pressures from Animal Welfare Board of India which as per the source input had intervened to manage Rs 7 Cr sterilization project for the said activist. While the newspaper stands by the premise of the report about SMC’s reluctance to go for dog culling, the allegations, which crept into the report through a citizen journalist, are withdrawn for unverifiable information.
28 March 2011
The Editor
Rising Kashmir
Srinagar
Re : False, malicious and defamatory news purposely carried by you – for intimidation and causing threat to physical safety, irreparable harm to my reputation and wilful abuse to my prestige and social standing.
Dear Editor,
You have published a motivated and scandalous headline titled “NC Man turns animal lover to grab 7 crore project” in your newspaper Rising Kashmir today i.e 28 March 2011.
You have alluded by implication and inference in ways manifest and indirect that I as a person who “is neither a politician nor an animal life enthusiast” stand to benefit according to you by “grabbing a 7 crore project” for the proposed dog sterilisation in Srinagar. “Politician” or “animal enthusiast” why should it be Rising Kashmir’s concern to be judge on my predilections and vocations? Who gave you that right? The corrupt and inept people at whose bidding you have rested your woefully deficient perspective and prudence are the ones threatened most by my campaign and this slander makes no difference to it. In crossing the Rubicon of propriety at their behest you have allowed slander to pass as news that shall in the coming days attract you the scrutiny of the Press Council of India for sure.
The mischievous piece has obviously been carried with a pre-determined malafide intention to intimidate, blackmail and wilfully cause irreparable harm to my social and political reputation. You would not be unaware that I am also a state protectee. In view of the raging public sentiment attached to it, your patently motivated news item has portend for my security and in fact has already resulted in threats to my physical safety as well. Police cases are being lodged for this separately. Please be informed that in case you do not immediately substantiate the news item falsely carried by you with proof I shall be forthwith instituting damages for Rs one crore against the newspaper, its editor and all those associated with perpetrating this propaganda besides lodging appropriate criminal cases under section 503, 504, read with sections 499, 500, 501, 506 and 507 of the IPC at your cost and responsibility. This is without prejudice to my legal rights as the aggrieved and affected.
Contrary to the concocted impression you give in the pack of lies cheaply sensationalised as news by you, I am an animal rights activist and political analyst of credibility whose association with the ruling NC is only incidental to his activism as both. My works as an animal rights activist are a matter of appreciation and record in India and abroad over the past eight years or so. I have never ever been recipient of any governmental or non-governmental aid all along. How does the question of my benefiting by 7 crore arise? I have consistently been advocating application of proven scientific methodology for effective dog population control measures in Kashmir along the lines practised in the rest of India so that the people could be given the reprieve they want. Much to the consternation of some corrupt and sentimental elements in the J&K bureaucracy, I have brought about an institutional arrangement Govt to Govt for effective dog control between the State and Central Govt agencies as part of my social commitment and contribution. Where then is the question of grabbing a 7 crore contract? Yes, I stand vehemently for dismantling and doing away with the SMC hegemony in dog population control and its effective management by professional veterinarians, civil society and experts instead. Unwilling to concede its money making turf or shed its ineffective monopoly this has discomfited the Municipal Corporation officialdom no end, that has over donkeys years developed a vested interest in an open ended, ineffective and unaccountable purchase and administration of dog poison worth crores. Multiple cases filed by me past few years against its top officials were investigated and found true by the State Vigilance Organisation and the SMC hierarchy is now desperately gasping to wriggle out of the burden of their past misdeeds. J&K is the only state where dogs are periodically killed and yet the only place where there numbers have geometrically progressed to crisis levels. Why? The AWBI though you have run your imagination amok does not grant any contracts or largesse nor operate through individuals like me but has a pan India policy and fiscal procedure standardised by the Union Forest Ministry to be applied in situations like Kashmir.
You are forthwith advised to publish a strong and clear rebuttal and unconditional apology for your damaging and concocted story according it equal and prominent space if not more on the same page and place where you allowed the false headline to hog attention and create sensationalism in the first place today. You may seek refuge under relevant parts of my notice above for the retraction to have context, be sufficiently and unequivocally forceful and articulate.
Sincerely yours
( JAVED IQBAL SHAH )
Political Analyst
Animal Rights Activist & Writer
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THE DAILY RISING KASHMIR, 28 MARCH 2011, MONDAY, SRINAGAR KASHMIR (J&K)
