Mercenary, cop among four killed

SRINAGAR, Oct 5 (PTI) — Four persons, including a foreign mercenary and a policeman, have been killed and eight injured as militants triggered two explosions and blasted a house in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening.

Militants attacked a police picket established to safeguard members of the minority community even as 14 suspects, including a self-styled group commander of the Harkat-ul-Ansar, were arrested in the state during the period, an official spokesman said here today.

He said a foreign mercenary associated with the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Tringa-Basa village of Arnas in Udhampur district last night.

An AK assault rifle, a wireless set, a map, a grenade and some ammunition was seized.

Militants detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Dooligam-Banihal in Doda district yesterday killing a policeman and injuring three others. Eight suspects had been taken into custody for questioning, he said.

Militants shot dead a surrendered militant of Al-Jehad outfit in Doda last night.

One person was killed in the exchange of fire between militants and security forces at Gujjar-Patti in the Bandipora area of Baramula district in north Kashmir today.

The spokesman said five persons, including three security personnel, were wounded in a grenade explosion at Tibetian Colony in the Idgah area of Srinagar last evening. The grenade was lobbed by militants aimed at a security picket in the area, but it missed its target and exploded on the road, he added.

He said militants bombed a house at Chivdara-Beerwah in Badgam district late last night. No one was residing in the house.

Police personnel deployed for guarding members of the minority community at Nadigam village in Pulwama district repulsed a militant attack on their picket last evening. The militants attacked the picket with sophisticated weapons but the cops retaliated forcing militants to escape. No one was hurt in the shootout, the spokesman said.

He said two militants each were apprehended in Srinagar and Doda district while another militant associated with the Muslim Jaanbaz force fell in the dragnet of the troops at Watlab in Baramula district yesterday.

Three AK assault rifles, a pistol and two grenades were recovered from the captured militants, he said.

He said security forces raided an abandoned militant hideout at Banderkote in Kupwara district and recovered 16 rifle grenades and two hand grenades.

A self-styled group commander of the Harkat-ul-Ansar, Bashir Ahmad Mato, was arrested in the Nowhatta area of downtown city last night, a BSF spokesman said today.

Pandits oppose govt move to shift
migrants to valley
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 5 — The Kashmiri Pandit Political Steering Committee (KPPSC) comprising five main organisations of the displaced families, has rejected the government move to shift migrants back to the valley on the plea that the current security situation was not conducive to their return.

The KPPSC made it clear that the displaced families were keen to return to Kashmir but in the absence of any political and constitutional package they would resist any government pressure to move them from the plains to Kashmir.

The chairman of the KPPSC, Mr A.N. Vaishnavi, who was assisted by Dr Agnishekhar, Mr Ashwani Chrungoo, Mr T.N. Khosa and Mr H.N. Jattu, told newsmen here today that they were opposed to the government plan of shifting the displaced families from camps in Jammu and Delhi to camps in Kashmir.

"We are not sand bags to be thrown from one camp to another," the KPPSC leaders said. "We want to return to Kashmir which it was when we had been forced to migrate and not the valley where ethnic cleansing is still one of the features of the security scenario," they declared.

They blamed the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, for trying to "incite" the people of Jammu. In some of recent statements he had said that the people of Jammu "cannot tolerate the migrants for long."

The KPPSC leaders were highly critical of the BJP government at the Centre. They alleged that he had shifted its stand on Kashmir and the migrants after it entered into an "alliance" with the National Conference. The leaders said that before coming to power the BJP had supported the cause of the Kashmiri migrants and had exploited "our plight" for winning the elections. But after coming to power it had changed its policy and was supporting the policy of Dr Farooq Abdullah on the issue.

They said they wanted at least quasi permanent settlement in Kashmir and opposed the government move to carry them back to be lodged in what might ultimately turn out to be concentration camps. They blamed the BJP for having opted for the policy of "territorial regionalism" in place of its earlier preference for "cultural nationalism."

The committee leaders warned the government of serious consequences if it continued to woo a small section of opportunists within the community who were trying to act as "middlemen" in arranging the return of a handful of families to Kashmir. They said it was unfortunate that neither the Centre nor the state government bothered to discuss the issues of the return of the migrants to Kashmir with main Pandit organisations. Since the return of migrants was an important issue the government should have opened a dialogue with the genuine organisations of the displaced families.

The KPPSC leaders wanted the Centre mainly of the machinations of the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who was taking the Centre for a ride by organising the return of the displaced families in a piecemeal manner simply to "fulfil his political end. "They said a serious exercise was called for before the displaced families were "ordered" to pack up and return to Kashmir. The security environment should be improved to such an extent that VIPs were able to move about without a security cover. Proper rehabilitation scheme should be formulated and guarantees regarding religious, political and economic rights for the minority community given before the modalities for their return were enforced.