2 killed, 10 held in valley
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 23 — Two persons, including a woman, were killed and seven others injured in separate incidents of militancy while the security forces have arrested at least 10 suspects and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition in search operations.
Haleema, wife of Bashir Ahmad Sheikh, was killed after she had been abducted by suspected militants in Kupwara district. A police spokesman said here today Haleema was abducted from her house at Aloosa, Kralapora in Kupwara. Later, her body was recovered from Sutipora by the police. Suspected militants shot dead Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Seriwarpora near Zangam in Baramula district yesterday.
The police here said the security forces launched a search operation in Krala Mohalla, Barkati Mohalla and Rangar Mohalla in the Safapore area of Baramula early today. During the search operations, security forces personnel were fired upon by the hiding militants. The fire was returned. Till last reports came in, the exchange of fire was going on. Further details were awaited.
Earlier, the security forces during search operations in nearby Takia locality of Safapore, 30 km north of Srinagar, seized five AK rifles, 15 magazines and other arms and ammunition.
Militants hurled a grenade on a vehicle of the Shaheed Gunj police station at Hari Singh High Street late last evening. Five pedestrians were injured. They were hospitalised. There were no reports of any damage to the vehicle.
The Border Security Force (BSF) achieved a major success today when it arrested five dreaded militants of the Hizbul Momineen from Khanda village of Budgam district. One of these is stated to be an ex-supreme commander of the Hizbul Momineen.
A BSF spokesman said here acting on intelligence information 103 Battalion of the BSF carried out raid operations under command of Commandant Virender Kumar at Khanda village and apprehended Ghulam Mohammad Mir, alias Gulshan Abbas, code name Ali. He was earlier apprehended by the Delhi police about two and a half years ago. After his release he came to the Kashmir valley to reorganise the Hizbul Momineen. At the time of his previous apprehension, Ghulam, Mohammad Mir had a band of 100 militants and was "supreme commander" of the Hizbul Momineen.
The spokesman said further raids were conducted and four others were apprehended. They have been identified as Mohammad Zafar Mir, code name Mujtaba. Ali Mohammad Mir, alias Sherdil, Mohammad Issaq Ganai, code name Babar, and Mohammad Yousuf Mir, code name Sultan, all residents of Khanda, Budgam.
Four AK rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition were seized.
The Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police at Baramula arrested two militants, who have been identified as Ahad Bhat and Showkat Hussain. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was seized at their instance from a hideout. These included two AK rifles, eight magazines, 100 rounds, seven Chinese pistols, seven pistol magazines, 30 pistol rounds, 12 Chinese grenades and three rocket boosters.
The police here yesterday intercepted an autorickshaw near Baghi Mehtab Chowk in which three persons were boarding. Two of them managed to escape and one, namely Gulzar Ahmad Sheikh of Ratnipora in Pulwama district in South Kashmir, was arrested. Three dummy pistols and one nine-inch knife were seized from his possession. He is being interrogated. The police also arrested one person, identified as Yousuf Zargar of Beeru in Budgam district. He was reported to have been collecting money in the name of the Special Operations Group. An amount of Rs 2000 was recovered from his possession, the police said here today.

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Education plays an important role in promoting all-round development of mind and body but education is becoming very costly day by day and has forced the students, particularly belonging to poor families of remote areas, to discontinue their studies after leaving school. The J&K was the only state in India where free education from primary to degree classes was being imparted. Education in J&K was cheaper and the students while seeking admission in colleges had to pay nominal fee but soon this concession was withdrawn. Now there is a steep rise in admission fee. In Udhampur colleges, the fee for arts and commerce subjects which was previously Rs 400 has now arisen to Rs 1300. Similarly fee for non-medical and medical subjects has been increased to Rs 1400 from Rs 450 and Rs 1500 from Rs 500, respectively.
There are two colleges located in Udhampur district, one for boys and another for girls where hundreds of students belonging to remote hilly areas like Gool Gulab Garh. Arnas, Mohore, Latti and Dudu Basantgarh come to seek admission every year. Apart from educational expenses, they have to bear additional expenses of board and lodging too. Because of inadequate hostel facilities, the majority of students prefer private accommodation. With the rise in fee and other expenses, the education for outside students at Udhampur has become very costly. The enrolement in colleges has marked decline in view of the enhanced fee. The poor students belonging to remote areas are worst-hit with substantial rise in fee.

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Gordi is a beautiful village and block headquarter of Ramnagar tehsil of Udhampur district. The village though exists in Ramnagar, it has no direct road link with that. It has been provided link through Barmin Gordi road with Udhampur. The people intending to go to Ramnagar for attending courts and other cases pertaining to the Revenue Department have to travel via Udhampur. The long journey thus causes them tremendous strain. The Gordi Barmin road is fair-weather and during rainy seasons it remains disrupted for days together. As a result the people have to travel on foot from Gordi to Ramnagar for attending court and revenue cases.
The people of Gordi area have been demanding the construction of 4 km road from Gordi to Ramnagar via Dalsar for long. This would also cut short the journey from Gordi to Ramnagar, but the state government has paid no head to this genuine demand of the people. It is imperative that 4 km road from Gordi to Ramnagar via Dalsar should be taken up for construction.

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Erratic supply of potable drinking water has become a routine affair in Udhampur town during summer months. The crisis starts mostly during May and June. During these months this year, the taps ran dry and the people had to face acute paucity of drinking water. Some overhead tanks have been constructed which cater to water needs of the people in some areas whereas upward colonies have almost gone dry. However, there are some areas which are fed with booster but for short period.

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Rapid increase in population and migrants population staying in town may be the cause of scarcity of water, but there is negligence on the part of P.H.E. authorities, as there are major leakages in pipes and water constantly flows down in lanes uselessly and gets wasted. If these leakages are plugged, there can be some improvement in water supply. The people have been pleading for augmentation of water supply by launching a new gravity water supply scheme from the upper Tawi near Chenani, but the project is still lingering on for want of funds. There is also approval for the construction of two overhead tanks in upper localities of town, but these are not executed for shortage of funds.