M A I N   N E W S

Ultras plan attacks in J&K
NC members to be target, hint intercepted messages
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 26
Radio messages intercepted by the Army in Jammu and Kashmir point out that members of the National Conference and village heads who decide to participate in the forthcoming Assembly elections will be specifically targeted by militants holed up in the state.

Sources here disclosed that the militants had decided to target political activists and had set their eyes on August for carrying out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir. The only motive behind these feared strikes would be to disrupt the Assembly elections.

One of the intercepts picked up by the Army said, “Agast ke doran tufani action karne hain jor par. Nesnal kanfarence ke membran ke ghar par her pandrah din bad grenade yah sel hamlah karen. Jo log nesnal ke kartah bante hain unke khilaf istehar nikal kar dhamki den”.

(There has to be strong action in August. The houses of members of the National Conference have to be targeted by throwing hand grenades after every 15 days. Workers of the National Conference should be openly threatened by bringing out posters against them.)

Another intercept said, “Hizbul Mujahideen ne alan kiya tha ki jo bhi shakas namiyad election main hissa lega usko mot ke ghat utar diya jeyega. Esi silsile main district Doda ke Bhadarwah elaka saran mein ek sarpanch Manga Amir ko uske mantaki anjam tak pahuncha diya gaya kiyon ki usne election mein hissa leney ka alan kiya tha.”

(The Hizbul Mujahideen had announced that whoever took part in the elections would be killed. In the same context Manga Amir, a village head in Bhadarwah of Doda district, was killed because he had announced that he would participate in the elections.)

The sources said these were some of the intercepts pointing to the danger which the people wanting to participate in the elections were facing at the hands of the militants backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to reports, besides the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) now one of the factions of the Hizbul Mujahideen has also become active at various places. With a difference of opinion between leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen, the faction with the backing of Pakistan-based Syed Salahddin is active here.

The three militant groups were also helping out Al-Qaida and Taliban cadres who had reached the northern areas of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to make further advances. Reports suggest of the Al-Qaida and Taliban cadres present in the Gultari region were being provided help in regard to the terrain and language.

Vice-President Krishan Kant dies of heart attack

New Delhi, July 27
Indian Vice-President Krishan Kant, 75, died of a heart attack on Saturday, hospital officials said.

Kant was admitted to a New Delhi hospital Saturday morning after he complained of severe chest pain.

“He is dead. He was brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at 7:40 a.m. (0210 GMT) after a heart attack,” a spokesman at the institute told Reuters. Kant died about an hour after being admitted.

Kant's five-year term as Vice-President, a largely ceremonial post, was due to end next month.

The Indian Vice-President is also the presiding officer of the Upper House of the Parliament.

The Cabinet is holding an emergency meeting on Saturday over Kant's death.

Kant, who was Governor of Andhra Pradesh before he became Vice-President, fought for Independence from Britain.