Change of guard hits hotel traders
JAMMU, Sept 28 — Change in ownership of a five-star hotel housed in former Kashmir Maharaja's palace overlooking the Dal Lake in Srinagar, has changed the fortune of nine traders whose business establishments have been razed to the ground.

Girl killed in rocket attack

SRINAGAR, Sept 28 (PTI) — A girl was killed and two persons injured in a rocket attack by militants while four people lost their lives in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening, officials said here today.

They said the rocket was aimed at a security camp at Magam in Handwara area of Kupwara district but it missed the target and exploded in the civilian area instead.

In another mortar shell explosion in Anantnag district a boy was killed and four others suffered injuries, they said.

The officials said while the Army Jawan, Arjun Singh Thapa was found dead inside his barrack at Kuligam-Lolab in Kupwara, the two militants were killed in clashes with security forces at Dhanna Jaranwalla village in Rajouri and near the Line of Actual Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu region.

Security forces arrested five militants and seized an AK assault rifle, a disposable rocket launcher, three anti-tank rockets, four rockets, 20 remote control devices, 65 electric detonators and four hand grenades, they said.

Meanwhile, 15 people including seven security men were injured in an encounter last night in Rajouri district, when militants ambushed a security search party at Fatehpora village and escaped, officials said.

At least two persons were injured when Pakistani troops fired artillery and mortar shells from across the border on Indian positions in Hiranagar and Keran sectors last evening.

An official spokesman said Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked shelling in Hiranagar sector last evening. He said some of the shells exploded in civilian areas, resulting in injuries to two persons.

Keran sector in north Kashmir also came under artillery and mortar attack. However, no one was hurt.

About 150 persons have lost their lives and hundreds of buildings and houses been damaged as a result of shelling by Pakistan troops from across the border in Jammu, Poonch, Kargil, Kupwara and Baramulla sectors since January this year.

Krishan Kant arrives in Srinagar
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Sept 28 — The Vice-President, Mr Krishan Kant, accompanied by his wife, arrived here today on a three-day visit to the Kashmir valley.

The Vice-President is scheduled to address the convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology tomorrow.

The convocation is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre. This is the second convocation being held at the centre since last year. The President, Mr K.R. Narayanan addressed the convocation of the University of Kashmir here in November last year.

Due to militants' activities in the valley no convocations were held by the two universities of the state during the last eight years. The University of Kashmir held convocations at the Hazratbal campus before eruption of militancy.

Mr Krishan Kant is visiting Jammu and Kashmir for the first time as the Vice-President. He was received at the Awantipora airport by Governor G.C. Saxena and the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah. The Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Chief Secretary were also present at the Awantipora airport.

Later he flew to Srinagar by a helicopter. At the Nehru helipad here, the Vice-President was given a warm reception. The Speaker Legislative Assembly, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil, members of the Council of Ministers, legislators and senior officers were present.

Two UN officials hurt in firing
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Sept 28 — Two officials of the UN Military Observers Group (UNMOG) were injured on Sunday in "Indian retaliatory fire" in the Neelam Valley across Kupwara sector Indian Defence Ministry sources say Pakistani troops have resorted to heavy shelling of villages and defence pickets in Kargil, Uri and Kupwara sectors over the last several months. But in order to escape responsibility for starting the border row Pakistan tried to rope in officials of the UNMOG whenever the Indian troops try to silence Pak guns.

The Defence Sources explained that whenever officials of the UNMOG are on the move troops deployed on both sides of the Indo-Pak border are informed of their movements so that they do not face any inconvenience. They said that Pak field commanders had violated the established norms and allowed UNMOG officials to move into Neelam Valley even though their soldiers across the border had anticipated retaliation fire from the Indian troops after villages in Kupwara sectors were rocked by Pak shelling.

When the Indian troops opened fire a shell hit the wheels of a jeep in which the UNMOG officials were travelling and two of them received minor injuries. The Pak field commanders then blew the incident out of proportion to malign India.

It may be mentioned that during the last 13 years India has refused to recognise the UNMOG officials because of their allegedly partisan role. New Delhi had even requested the UN Secretary General to withdraw the UNMOG but Islamabad insisted on retaining the UN officials. The state government functionaries are of the view that had the UNMOG authorities played an impartial role they could have sent detailed reports on the actual situation on the Indo-Pak border in the context of the ongoing Pak proxy war.

The UNMOG, the government says, has never taken note of large-scale infiltration and arms smuggling from across the border and had failed to fulfil the task for which they had been sent to the border.

Change of guard hits hotel traders
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Sept 28 — Change in ownership of a five-star hotel housed in former Kashmir Maharaja's palace overlooking the Dal Lake in Srinagar, has changed the fortune of nine traders whose business establishments have been razed to the ground.

These traders have been moving from pillar to post in search of justice after they were not allowed to operate when the hotel was reopened in 1997-98. From the famous Hotel Oberoi it is now Kashmir Grand Palace with the owner of the building, Dr Karan Singh, and the state government entering into a new lease deed with a Delhi-based businessman.

The Oberoi Palace Traders Association is bitter over what it calls a "deliberate" attempt by the ruling political circles in Srinagar to deny them the right to reopen their shops after a gap of nine years. The association in a press note has said that with the rise of insurgency, traders were forced to close their business establishments when the hotel doors too were locked. For all these years, they have had no face hardships. The association stated that when moves were afoot to reopen the hotel, they had expected a fair deal from the new owners and the state government.

It said, "We, the nine traders, were neither allowed to reopen the shops for paid any compensation for the heavy losses we have suffered". According to the Secretary-General of the association, "What is shocking is the way the state authorities assisted the new management of the hotel to demolish our shops and destroy and plunder all the valuables goods that had been left inside the shops when they were closed in 1989 because of militancy."

The association has demanded that the entire sale and lease deed and the circumstances which led to the present plight of the traders be investigated by the CBI and by the Directorate of Income Tax.

It has called for the central government's intervention so that the new management of the hotel is forced to restore to the traders the "position and the possession" of the shopping complex along with the goods that had been plundered while breaking open their shops. It has also called for immediate steps for sanctioning adequate compensation for the loss caused due to the demolition of the shops.

The association has lamented the way the state government has ignored its "genuine" claim for compensation when all others who had been hit by militancy had been assisted in reopening their business establishments.

It has urged the Centre to direct the CBI to probe into the "benami" land transaction connected with the change of guard at the hotel which has deprived the state government of earning revenue through stamp duty on the transaction