tribuneindia... Jammu and Kashmir

J A M M U C
& CK A S H M I R

Tuesday, July 28, 1998

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12 militants killed in Poonch
JAMMU, July 27 — Nine foreign mercenaries and a woman collaborator were among 12 militants killed in encounters with the security forces in Poonch district of the region, the police said here today.
Registration for yatra stopped
JAMMU, July 27 — The state government has stopped the registration of pilgrims to Amarnath cave after it exhausted the quota of 75,000 pilgrims.
10 kg IED found on yatra route
SRINAGAR, July 27 — The security forces today averted a tragedy when an explosive device (IED) was detected.

When clerks shortened their career
JAMMU, July 27 — They have moved from pillar to post in search of justice. So far they have not been heard despite the sword of "premature retirement" hanging over them. This is the story of about 150 employees of the State Financial Corporation (SFC) who would be retiring at the age ranging between 50 and 52 years.

12 militants killed in Poonch
JAMMU, July 27 (PTI) — Nine foreign mercenaries and a woman collaborator were among 12 militants killed in encounters with the security forces in Poonch district of the region, the police said here today.
Five foreign mercenaries were killed and three militants injured in an encounter with security forces in the Malhot area of Surankote today, Inspector-General of Jammu region Kuldeep Khuda said.
Five militants, including one Afghan and four Pakistani nationals, were killed in the Bari Behak area of the district.
The militants belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), he said, adding that one of the slain district commander was identified as Abu Adil alias Shaji of Kabul.
He said the half burnt body of a woman was recovered from their hideout. She was believed to be a collaborator of LET.
A large quantity of arms and ammunition were also found during the search, Mr Khuda said.
In another operation, troops gunned down a civilian who had crossed the border from Pakistan yesterday.
The security forces spotted Farooq Ahmed Bhat, a diploma engineer from Ganderbal in Kashmir, crossing the border and in the ensuing exchange of fire he was killed.
One AK-47 rifle, some improvised explosive devices and a radio set were recovered from him.
SRINAGAR: The security forces averted a possible tragedy with timely detection of powerful RDX explosive at nerve centre of the city while militants shot dead three persons in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening.
Twelve militants were arrested and some arms and ammunition were recovered from them in Kashmir during the period, an official spokesman said here today.
He said a police patrol detected a polythene bag containing RDX explosive weighing one kg and a time device near taxi stand Lal Chowk in the heart of the city today. The device, planted by militants, was neutralised, he said.
He said militants shot dead a surrendered militant of Harkat-ul-Ansar at Kilhotran-Gandoh in Doda district last night.
He said militants gunned down a man near Peer Panchal mountains in Pulwama district of south Kashmir yesterday.
He said a youth was killed when a hand grenade which he was carrying in his hand exploded at Gulmarg health resort in Baramulla district last evening.
Six militants from Srinagar, two from Anantnag and another from Baramulla were arrested during anti-militant operations yesterday.
An AK assault rifle, six kg of RDX fitted in iron pipes, a mine weighing 9.5 kg, four grenades and some ammunition were seized during the operations.
The BSF has arrested three militants, including a self-styled battalion commander of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, a BSF spokesman said here today.
An improvised explosive device was recovered during the operation.
The BSF intelligence wing had received information about the presence of the Hizbul Mujahideen battalion commander in Habbakadal area of Srinagar, he said, adding that it had conducted a raid and arrested Muzzaffar Ali Kapra.
Kapra’s interrogation led to the arrest of two suspected militants and recovery of the device from a house in the area.

Registration for yatra stopped
Tribune News Service
JAMMU, July 27 — The state government has stopped the registration of pilgrims to Amarnath cave after it exhausted the quota it had fixed.
Over 75,000 pilgrims were registered in Jammu and other stations till today and the registration would be reopened if the government increased the quota.
According to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr B.S. Jaswal and Inspector-General Police, Mr Kuldeep Khuda, the registration in Jammu has been closed and pilgrims, scheduled to visit the cave by August 8, the last day of darshan of the ice lingam, had already been registered.
They did not agree with reports that pilgrims had to face problems on account of delay in registration and due to paucity of funds. There were a number of private guest houses and dharamshalas in Jammu where pilgrims were lodged comfortably.
However, eyewitness accounts said that pilgrims had to face a lot of inconvenience owing to meagre and limited facilities available for registration and for medical examination.
Pilgrims were unhappy with the arrangements and said that more registration clerks and medical teams could have been put on duty.
UNI adds: With the 21st batch of 4410 pilgrims leaving Jammu early this morning for the Amarnath shrine in 195 vehicles, the number of pilgrims for the Amarnath yatra has crossed the 90,000 mark today.
An official spokesman said here yesterday that till Saturday 71,411 pilgrims had darshan of the holy lingam while 59,312 pilgrims have returned back after performing the pilgrimage.
With 10 more batches of pilgrims still to go for holy glimpses of the sanctum sanctorum, the number of pilgrims joining the annual pilgrimage might rise to 1,20,000.

10 kg IED found on yatra route
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 27 — The security forces today averted a major tragedy when 10 kg of improvised explosive device (IED) concealed under a heap of stones was detected in Pahalgam today disrupting the movement of pilgrims to Chandanwari for about two hours.
A BSF spokesman told TNS that the troops with the help of a sniffer dog detected electric wires protruding out from underneath a heap of stones on the roadside near Pahalgam. The bomb disposal squad of the Army was called to defuse it.
The pilgrims' traffic on the Pahalgam-Chandanwari road was stopped soon after the detection of the IED was confirmed. The traffic remained suspended for about two hours.
This is for the first time that such a huge quantity of explosives was detected in the 20-day old yatra to Amarnath. Earlier four IEDs were also detected in the Pahalgam area. Pahalgam is the base camp of the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath. The motorable road upto Chandanwari leads to further 32-km trekking route to the Amarnath shrine.

When clerks shortened their career
Tribune News Service
JAMMU, July 27 — They have moved from pillar to post in search of justice. So far they have not been heard despite the sword of "premature retirement" hanging over them. This is the story of about 150 employees of the State Financial Corporation (SFC) who would be retiring at the age ranging between 50 and 52 years.
The mischief was done at the clerical level years ago when it was stated that the employees of the SFC would retire after the completion of 33 years of service. There was no mention about the age for retirement. Scores of employees had joined the corporation quite young and all of them would be retiring within next six to eight months after they had completed 33 years of service.
Such rules do not exist in any other public sector corporation or undertaking. What has added to the miseries of these employees is that they are not entitled to pension and as such they have been expecting a fair deal from the government by bringing them at a par with other state government employees and those working in other public sector undertakings as far as age fixed for retirement is concerned.
During the past several years, employees of the SFC have been meeting all bigwigs in the corporation and in the Finance Ministry but despite assurances nothing has been done. On several occasions the issue of early retirement of these employees had been kept on the agenda of the board meeting. Either the agenda was changed at the eleventh hour or it was not discussed at all or someone removed the papers concerned from the agenda.
The employees have renewed their appeal to the board members, especially Finance Minister Mohd. Shafi, requesting him to consider their case with sympathy so that they were given a fair deal.