M A I N   N E W S

Sena activists lathicharged
Jammu districts declared ‘disturbed’
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 9
The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet today declared all six districts of Jammu region as disturbed areas under the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990.

A decision to this effect was taken here this evening at a special meeting of the Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

The six districts declared disturbed are Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu, Doda, Udhampur and Kathua.

With this, all of Jammu and Kashmir, barring Ladakh, has been brought under the Act.

The Act was promulgated in the Kashmir valley in 1990.

Curfew restrictions were reimposed in Jammu and Kishtwar towns and six-hour relaxation was given in Bhaderwah town today. Additional companies of security forces were deployed in the old city of Jammu to enforce curfew restrictions strictly.

Despite tight measures groups of activists belonging to the Shiv Sena and some youths defied the curfew restrictions and held a demonstration in the city chowk area. The security forces swung into action and resorted to a lathi-charge and lobbed teargas shells. Five activists were injured in an hour-long exchange of stones and tear gas.

The entire city wore a deserted look with work in most of the government offices, banks, educational institutions and the courts totally paralysed.

Activists of the Jammu Joint Students’ Federation under the leadership of Rajinder Jamwal staged a demonstration and torched effigies of the Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, who was described as the “Chief Engineer” of the massacre of innocent people. The federation leaders shouted anti-Farooq and anti-Advani slogans while demanding their resignation.

The ABVP, the Shiv Sena and BJP activists set ablaze General Musharraf’s effigy near the city chowk.

A senior police officer said curfew restrictions, which were relaxed for three hours last evening, were reimposed in Jammu as some activists of the Shiv Sena had stoned some shops and had plans of taking out processions in the city which could destabilise peace. He said these restrictions were reimposed in Kishtwar town after people belonging to two communities indulged in sloganeering in their respective places of worship yesterday.

The curfew restrictions were relaxed from 4 p.m. “till further orders,” according to a spokesman of the police. He said in case there was no untoward incident the relaxation may continue till late evening.

Meanwhile, the Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, and the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, today convened a meeting of the prominent citizens of the city in Raj Bhavan. The meeting was attended by several senior politicians, leaders of trade and commerce and intellectuals. During the meeting the citizens expressed concern over the marked deterioration in the law and security situation following step-up in militancy related violence. Leaders of trade and commerce complained that frequent bandhs and now the dose of indefinite curfew restrictions had affected business and the flow of pilgrim tourists to Jammu and Katra.

These citizens wanted additional forces to be deployed in sensitive areas of the Jammu region for tackling the activities of the militants. They demanded fencing of the entire railway station and strengthening of the security cover in the crowded markets and bus stands.

The Governor and the Chief Minister assured the citizens that with renewed measures by the security forces which had been equipped with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act the activities of the militants would be blunted. They said all the grey areas were being given special attention so that militants dared not carry out armed strikes. In addition to this the Railway authorities were preparing a plan for sanitising the railway station and the Jammu-Samba rail track against militant operations.

Mr Saxena and Dr Abdullah requested the citizens to ensure that no individual or any section of mischief mongers tried to kick up communal trouble. He said Pakistan wanted communal virus to hit Jammu and Kashmir and people had to guard against this.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader, Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA, has accused both Dr Abdullah and Mr Advani of failure to handle the security affairs in Jammu and Kashmir. He demanded that both of them should quit immediately and said in case they continued to hold to their chair the situation in the state would witness further deterioration.

In the meantime with two more persons, including a woman, succumbing to injuries, the death toll in the shootout at Jammu railway station on Tuesday rose to 13, an official spokesman said today.

Jawan A.S. Ravi of Rashtriya Rifles and Harnam Kaur of the Chak-Salaria area of Jammu died in the hospital last night, he said.

SRINAGAR (PTI): Seven persons, including three militants, were killed in separate incidents and a hideout was busted in the Kashmir valley where a militant surrendered before the police since Wednesday night, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

He said three unidentified militants were killed near the Line of Control in Kupwara sector of North Kashmir on Wednesday night. Two AK rifles, two RPG launchers, two grenades and some ammunition were seized from them.

The police picked up the body of Bashir Ahmad from Tumina forest in Kupwara on Thursday, the spokesman said, adding that they fished out the body of a Bihari labourer from the Jehlum at Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar on Wednesday.

An employee of the Roads and Building Department was also killed by unidentified gunmen and his body recovered from Frislan-Pahalgam in Anantnag district on Wednesday night, the spokesman said.

He said the body of another person, yet to be identified, was recovered by the police from Kurinar in Kupwara.

The spokesman said a militant of Al Fateh Force, Abdul Rashid Khan surrendered before the special operations group of the local police at Gujarnar-Malangam of Baramula district on Wednesday. The militant handed over a rifle, its magazine and 20 rounds to the authorities.

The Army seized a huge quantity of arms and explosives from a militant hideout which was busted during search operations at Boniyar forest in Baramula on Wednesday night, he said.

Meanwhile, normal life was disrupted in parts of Srinagar on Thursday following a strike call given by a students association in protest against alleged discrimination in the Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) selection, alleged harassment of Kashmiri students outside the state and alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The strike was called by Alama Iqbal Students Movement. However, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Federation criticised the sponsors of the strike and appealed to people not to observe the strike.