M A I N   N E W S

Mosque siege ends, all ultras shot
Keep off shrines, Lone asks ultras
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 12
All six militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, four of them foreigners, holed up in a mosque at Shangus in Anantnag district of south Kashmir, were killed during a 36-hour operation which concluded late last night. An Army jawan was killed while two were injured in the operation. An SPO (counter-insurgent) was killed in firing by the hiding militants on Sunday evening.

Damage has been caused to a part of the mosque where the armed militants were holed up since Sunday evening. The militants had to seek refuge inside the mosque after the security forces laid a cordon around the village. Taking advantage of the congested locality, the militants entered the mosque, reports here said. Repeated calls to the militants to come out in view of the sanctity of the shrine did not bear fruit. They continued to fire on the troops from the mosque.

Mediapersons, who reached Anantnag town, 50 km south of here, on way to Shangus, were stopped by the police from proceeding further. The whole area continued to be under the security forces. Reports said repair work on the damaged mosque was on, while outsiders were debarred from visiting the area.

The foreign militants killed in the incident have been identified as Abdul Razak, alias Abdul Mohammad, Divisional Commander of the Lashker-e-Toiba from Muzaffarabad, PoK, Abdul Ali Sofiof, Hafizabad, Pakistan, Abu Ilyas and Abdul Gazi of Pakistan. Two local militants were identified as Muzaffar Ahmad, alias Gazi of Narasangar, Kokernag and Intiaz Ahmad Sheikh of Mattan, both in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

A police spokesman said three militants were killed by snipers last evening. During the night, two militants tried to escape but were killed by the troops.

Two CRPF personnel and a member of a suicide squad of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed and three policemen injured in an encounter that ensued when militants attacked a police camp in Shopian town of south Kashmir, even as ultras bombed the house of a National Conference leader today.

Meanwhile, blaming the security forces for damaging the mosque at Shangus, where six militants were killed after a 36-hour operation, senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Lone today asked the militants to keep away from mosques and shrines.

“It is a tragedy that mosques are being desecrated at the hands of the security forces....militants also should keep out of such places,” Mr Lone said at a press conference here this afternoon.

Pak: summit after Vajpayee recovers

Islamabad, June 12
Pakistan said today it believed the planned summit with India would be held shortly after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s recovery from his recent knee surgery.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters at a news briefing that dates for Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to India, expected next month, were being discussed “through diplomatic channels’’.

“The visit will be shortly after (Vajpayee’s) recovery,’’ he said.

NEW DELHI: A high-level official delegation from Pakistan is expected to come here in advance of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s proposed historic visit in July to discuss various aspects of the visit.

“In the run up to General Musharraf’s visit to India, there would be an advance team discussing different aspects of the visit,’’ a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said here.

He, however, said no date had been finalised for the proposed visit of the Pakistan military ruler. “We will make the announcement as soon as the dates are finalised,’’ he added. Some Pakistani papers have reported that General Musharraf would pay a six-day visit to India from July 6, for which a formal announcement would be made after consultations with New Delhi. Reuters, UNI

Memorandum being readied for Musharraf

New Delhi, June 12
An estimated 50,000 people from Jammu and Kashmir will march in the Capital to present a memorandum to Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf, during his visit to India in July, demanding vacation of PoK and Gilgit regions.

Announcing this at a press conference here today, Panthers Party president Bhim Singh said the memorandum, to be signed by one million people from the state and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK), would ask General Musharraf to vacate all occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir. UNI

Pant briefs leaders on Kashmir visit

New Delhi, June 12
The Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir, Mr K.C. Pant, held a series of meetings with the leaders of political parties in the Lok Sabha and apprised them of his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Pant met Mr Raghuvansh Prasad, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Lok Sabha, and apprised him of the situation in the state, official sources said here today.

The sources said Mr Pant also met Chandra Vijay Singh of the Loktantrik Congress Party and Capt Jain Narain Nishad of Lok Jan Shakti.

Mr Pant briefed the leaders about his general perception of the people in the state and discussed the general problems faced by them.

These meetings were a part of meeting leaders of all political parties in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Earlier this week, he had met a Congress delegation. 

Meanwhile, a crucial meeting of the Hurriyat Conference executive committee would be held in Srinagar tomorrow to discuss the political situation in the valley in the wake of forthcoming Indo-Pak summit. PTI