Army chief in Udhampur; 7 killed as Pak shelling continues
JAMMU, Aug 1 — Following heavy Pakistani shelling on the border villages and pickets during the past four days, the Army chief today flew to Udhampur, headquarters of the Northern Command, to discuss the situation with senior Army functionaries and the civil and police authorities.Making a departure from the set practice, the Governor participated in a discussion

Militants massacre 4 villagers
JAMMU, Aug 1 — Four members of a community were killed and two were wounded in the upper reaches of Udhampur today.

A 'sarkanda' border outpost
Somewhere on the international border: From a distance it looks like a small hamlet with thatched shanties. But when one reaches the entry point one is amazed at the way BSF jawans have built a model border outpost (BOP). This is the first outpost of its type in India.

Army chief in Udhampur; 7 killed as Pak shelling continues
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 1 — Following heavy Pakistani shelling on the border villages and pickets in Uri, Kargil and Kupwara sectors during the past four days, the Army chief, Gen V.P. Malik, today flew to Udhampur, headquarters of the Northern Command, to discuss the situation with senior Army functionaries and the civil and police authorities.

Making a departure from the set practice, Governor Girish Chander Saxena participated in a lenghty discussion in Udhampur though in the absence of the Chief Minister who is in London, the senior-most minister should have been invited to the high-level meeting.

The state was represented, besides the Governor, by Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitley and Director-General of Police Gurbachan Jagat.

While the Army chief was discussing the border situation with the senior Army commanders, Pakistani troops continued to pound several villages in Uri, Tithwal, Karnah and Kargil areas.

Six civilians including Zahooruddin, Shamina and Shamshad, were killed at Uri and Tithwal, Rampur area of Uri witnessed heavy shelling. An Indian soldier was killed at Tangdhar and six civilians were wounded.

Defence Ministry sources said while shelling in Uri and Tithwal Sectors was heavy, the intensity of Pak firing had reduced a little in Kargil and Kupwara Sectors.

Accompanied by Director-General of Military Operations, Lieut-Gen I.K. Verma, the Army chief was received by Lieut Gen S. Padmanabhan, GOC-in-Chief, Northern Command. On his arrival, General Malik visited Dhruva and paid homage to 6,574 martyrs of the command. Lieut Gen S. Padmanabhan briefed the Army chief on the security situation in the state as well as the line of actual control (LAC).

General Malik held a detailed discussion with the Governor, Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police. It was agreed that agencies across the border would continue to destabilise the state through the "ISI-orchestrated proxy war" as it was the only low cost option. Measures had to be taken to foil the Pakistani gameplan. The state officials suggested to the Army chief that additional steps should be taken to check infiltration and arms smuggling from across the border. Within the state a multi-pronged operation was a must for preventing militants from coercing people to support insurgency.

During the meeting, an action plan was formulated under which different security agencies would cooperate and launch joint operations against the militants hiding in the hilly belts. The Army chief is said to have been requested by the state for additional deployment of troops in the hilly belts of Doda district for smashing the hideouts of militants.

General Malik was informed that unseating militants from the Kishtwar Himalayas could ensure peace in Udhampur district and in the upper reaches of South Kashmir's Anantnag and Pulwama districts.

Reports said the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police informed the Army chief about the difficulties civilians faced in different border villages in Uri, Kupwara, Keran, Karnah and Kargil. They sought Army help so that various wings of the civil administration remained functional and the Army medical teams assisted state medical units in attending those injured in Pakistani shelling.

General Malik is said to have assured the state team that there was no reason for worry and "my boys" were strong enough to foil any mischief from across the border. General Malik, before his departure for Delhi tomorrow, will visit certain forward areas and address the troops.

Militants massacre 4 villagers
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 1 — Four members of a community were killed and two were wounded when militants barged into a house in Sildar Dhoke village in the upper reaches of Udhampur today.

Reports said a group of unidentified gunmen swooped on the thinly populated village and opened fire, killing four on the spot. Inder Singh managed to save his life after he sustained two bullet wounds. He is being shifted to Udhampur hospital.

Additional police and paramilitary forces have been rushed to the area to carry out search operations against the killers

Elsewhere, at least three persons were killed in militancy-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir where troops arrested 17 militants, including Mohammad Altaf, alias "Azam Inqalabi", self-styled chief commander of Operation Balakote, since last evening, an official spokesman said today.

The spokesman said three militants, including Inqalabi, one of the pioneers of militancy in the state, were arrested by troops during various raids in Srinagar last evening.

Inqalabi was arrested from his Nageen residence, the spokesman said, adding a pistol and ammunition was recovered from his possession.

Twentysix civilians were wounded in a powerful grenade explosion as the security forces foiled militants' attempt to set off an explosion in the state during the period.

An unidentified person was killed in the exchange of fire between ultras and security forces at Garipora-Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara. Four remote-controlled devices were recovered from the encounter site.

Militants abducted and later shot dead two persons, Abdul Rasheed and Faqir, in Surankote area of Poonch district in Jammu today, official sources said.

A self-styled district publicity chief of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, Mushtaq Ahmad, was apprehended by the police in Pazalpora-Bijbehara in Anantnag district last night. A pistol and a wireless set were recovered from him.

In a major anti-militancy drive, troops arrested 13 militants in Bhaderwah town of Doda district yesterday and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition.

Militants clashed with the security forces and the police at Mattan and Hajigam-Serigufwara in Anantnag district last evening. However, none was hurt.

The security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from militant hideouts in Kupwara and Anantnag districts.

A 'sarkanda' border outpost
From M. L. Kak
Tribune News Service

Somewhere on the international border: From a distance it looks like a small hamlet with thatched shanties. But when one reaches the entry point one is amazed at the way BSF jawans have built a model border outpost (BOP). This is the first outpost of its type in India.

The outpost has been here for several years. The BSF jawans had set up a tented BOP. Often rain and winds would uproot the tents and cause discomfort to the border guards. As the exercise of replacing the torn tents was a cumbersome process, jawans, hailing from Rajasthan, hit upon a plan of utilising tall "sarkanda" (Canna Indica) for building durable huts for them.

A BSF Assistant Commandant, Mr Narain Singh, hailing from Rajasthan, discussed the matter with his commandant, Mr M.S. Malik, and apprised him of the success of using sarkanda for building huts by villagers in Rajasthan and in the north-east. The matter was debated and after it was found that construction of huts with sarkanda would involve no extra expenditure, Mr Malik constituted three teams of BSF jawans. One team was assigned the task of cutting the tall sarkanda, which grew in abundance on the 187-km-long international border in the Jammu sector, another team had to carry the sarkanda to the BOP and the third team was asked to build the shanties. Within six months a miracle was performed with a new BOP which is comparatively secure against rain, storms, heat and cold.

The only improvement the BSF jawans brought about in the building of the sarkanda huts was that some asbestos sheets were fixed under the roof to ensure that the roofs did not leak during the monsoon. And whenever the jawans are tormented by the summer "loo" they splashed water on the roof and on the sides of the hut to bring down the temperature inside.

Imagine what we have on the border. Three well-maintained barracks for the jawans, one big kitchen, one storeroom and one guest room. You have dining and drawing rooms, cool in summer and cosy in winter, and the jawans have not to travel distances to ease themselves or take a bath or carry bowls stuffed with hot food to the dining room from the kitchen. Everything is within the cluster of sarkanda shanties and the BOP is now called a sarkanda post. If you ask any BSF jawan or a villager about the post by its original name they show ignorance.

If the BSF jawans have made use of the tall sarkanda by building the huts, the very plant has created problems for them. Infiltrators and arms smugglers have taken advantage of the tall wild grass to hide. Invariably the border crossing has been possible because of sarkanda cover. At several places the BSF jawans and the villagers have made repeated attempts to remove sarkanda but the grass had reappeared as its growth is quicker than paddy or wheat.

Experts could explore the possibility of utilising sarkanda for building huts even for the people but it needs a lot of improved technology as the dry sarkanda can prove inflammable with one spark or with a grenade explosion even at a long distance. If sarkanda huts close to the border could prove risky, the experiment could be started in areas slightly ahead of the border villages.

The sarkanda walls could be used for concealing the activities of the troops on this side of the border. It has been seen that Pakistani troops prevented the Indian paramilitary forces from scaling the BOPs by firing at the base of the post. The sarkanda could be used as a shield against observation of movement of the troops on this side of the border. Such an exercise could minimise the expenses incurred on purchase of tents and on construction of barracks.