Bhat, Geelani under house arrest
JKLF chief Yasin Malik detained
Srinagar, February 18
The police today detained two senior leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, including its chairman and senior executive member Mohammad Yasin Malik, while Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Gani Bhat and another member have been placed under house arrest since last evening. Malik was detained by the police at the Srinagar airport on his return here from New Delhi.

Pakistanis plan peace trip





Kashmiri youth burn a tyre in protest against the killing of civilians by the security forces on Sunday. — Photo Amin War

Pak ban on collections by ‘jehadi’ groups
Islamabad, February 18
The Pakistani military regime has directed all provincial governments to clamp a ban on public collection of funds by jehadi groups and open display of weapons by their activists, according to a media report here.

Massive poll bandobast
46 held for illicit distillation
Majitha, February 18
Even as un-precedented security arrangements have been made for the crucial byelection, scheduled to be held tomorrow, the police has made a number of raids on the houses of history sheeters after a decade of normalcy returned to once a hotbed of militancy.

• Punjab page: SAD will win Majitha byelection, says Dhindsa
  

NHRC rejects plea in mass cremations case
New Delhi, February 18
The National Human Rights Commission has turned down the request to enlarge the scope of the Punjab mass cremations case to the entire state but ruled that inquiry would be conducted in all the 2,097.

Pawar heads NCDM panel
New Delhi, February 18
The National Committee on Disaster Management today decided to set up a working group headed by Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar to recommend long-term measures for tackling natural calamities.

’Home away from home Jammu, February 18 Despite security pickets having been established in all 129 villages that have Sikh families in the Kashmir valley a majority of 50,000 Sikhs have started setting up what is called “second home”. After the massacre of 36 Sikhs in Chattisinghpora village in South Kashmir in March last year, several hundred Sikh families have purchased land and built houses in Jammu and the adjoining areas.