J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

APHC (Abbas) favours return of Pandits to valley
Jammu, January 28
Favouring Kashmiri Pandits’ return to the valley leaders of the APHC (Abbas), who had their first round of talks with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in Delhi recently, have opposed the demand for a separate homeland for the minority community.

Jawan, 2 civilians killed in Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu, January 28
A jawan and two civilians were killed and two security personnel injured in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, official sources said here today.

Neonatal intensive care unit opened

Jammu, January 28 A neonatal intensive care unit was today inaugurated at the Military Hospital here by Lieut-Gen Ashok Kapur, GOC of 16 Corps. The unit has tertiary care facilities for the critically ill newborn bodies.
Lieut-Gen Ashok Kapur at the state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit of the military hospital at Jammu which was inaugurated by him on Wednesday. Dr H. L. Goswami, Principal of the medical college, Jammu, is also seen in the picture.

Border Security Force officials display ammunition and explosives seized from a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen dump in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Wednesday . Nearly 12,000 rounds of ammunition, three grenades and 2.5 kg of RDX explosive were seized at the village of Romu. — PTI

Srinagar-Jammu road closed
Srinagar, January 28
The Kashmir Valley was cut off from the rest of the country following the closure of the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to landslides at Ramban today, officials said.

Police uses tear gas to disperse protesters
Srinagar, January 28
The police fired tear gas and resorted to baton charge here today to disperse a group of people protesting against the arrest of six persons, including four members of a family, by security forces during an operation in Nishat, official sources said.

 Business page
J&K offers sops to industry
 Nation page
J&K HC Chief Justice

APHC (Abbas) favours return of Pandits to valley
Our Correspondent

Jammu, January 28
Favouring Kashmiri Pandits’ return to the valley leaders of the APHC (Abbas), who had their first round of talks with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in Delhi recently, have opposed the demand for a separate homeland for the minority community.

According to a senior APHC leader, the two issues cropped up during the dialogue and both of them related to the involvement of Pandit leaders in the talks and their return to the valley.

The APHC leaders agreed that Pandits were part of the Kashmiri’s social and political sphere and “we have no hesitation if their representatives are also engaged in the parleys.”

However, the separatists opposed the demand for a separate homeland for the minority community in the valley. Chairman APHC, Molvi Abbas Ansari, told this correspondent today that “We conveyed to Mr Advani that the creation of a separate homeland for Pandits will be against the spirit of the composite culture for which Kashmir has been known for ages.”

Molvi Ansari said “We are against rehabilitating Pandits in separate clusters. We want the two communities to live together as has been the case prior to the 1990 exodus.”

He said after the dialogue with the Deputy Prime Minister several Pandit leaders “met us in Delhi and most of them were against the homeland demand.”

The APHC Chairman said, “Once the sincerity of the Centre in continuing the dialogue further established we will issue a call to the migrants to return to Kashmir.” “We will play our role ‘in facilitating their return but the unfortunate part is that over half a dozen organistations, each claiming to represent the migrants, have been born during the past over one decade with the result the community is deprived of effective leadership.”

Jawan, 2 civilians killed in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu, January 28
A jawan and two civilians were killed and two security personnel injured in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, official sources said here today.

A patrol on its way to Surankote in Poonch district was ambushed by heavily armed militants at Malhan village last night, the sources said.

The troops retaliated the heavy firing and hurling of grenades by militants, in which one woman was killed while two security personnel were injured.

The militants had made the woman a human shield against the troops, the sources said, adding that the ultras later escaped under the cover of darkness.

People today protested against the killing of the woman, they said.

In another ambush, one jawan was killed in the Shadra Sherief area of Rajouri district last night.

In a separate incident, militants barged into the house of one Abdul Gaffar Sheikh in Chatroo village of Doda district last night and slit the throat of his son Farooq Ahmed, killing him. The militants later escaped from the spot, they said, adding security forces have launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.

A report from Baramula quoted official spokesman as saying that security forces killed a Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Abdul Junaid Gazi, a resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan, in an encounter at Nullah Zoonreshi Chowkibal in the frontier district of Kupwara today. One AK rifle, three magazines and three grenades were recovered from the militant.

Security forces busted a hideout at Krankshiva colony in Sopore and recovered one wireless set, one detonator, one IED, 11 grenades and about 200 rounds of ammunition last night.

The forces also arrested a militant carrying a hand grenade at Dawalatabad last night.

According to a report from Srinagar, the BSF today busted a hideout of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and recovered a huge quantity of ammunition and explosives, including 2.5 kg RDX.

Acting on a tip-off, BSF troops raided the hideout at Remu village in the wee hours and recovered 12,000 rounds of AK ammunition, 2.5 kg RDX and three grenades, a BSF spokesman said. — PTI, UNI

Neonatal intensive care unit opened
Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 28
A neonatal intensive care unit was today inaugurated at the Military Hospital here by Lieut-Gen Ashok Kapur, GOC of 16 Corps.

The unit has tertiary care facilities for the critically ill newborn bodies.

A spokesman for the Army said the state-of-the-art neonatal unit would help bring down the death rate. With this, the Military Hospital here has become the fifth modern centre for providing intensive care to the newborn babies. The unit has the capacity to handle 10 critically ill babies at one time. It has the facility to take care of premature and extremely sick babies with computerised round-the-clock visual monitoring.

The hospital here has the largest delivery rate per year among all Military Hospitals of the country. The unit has been awarded Stage II accreditation by the National Neonatology Forum and also recognised for training and research in neonatology.

Srinagar-Jammu road closed

Srinagar, January 28
The Kashmir Valley was cut off from the rest of the country following the closure of the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to landslides at Ramban today, officials said.

A police official told UNI that the highway, the only road linking the valley with the rest of the country, was closed to traffic this morning after landslides blocked traffic in Ramban area.

Rains in the area caused more landslides, delaying road clearance, he said, adding however that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) responsible for repairing the highway has put its men and machinery into work to make the highway traffic-worthy soon.

The official said that all vehicles that left Srinagar this morning for Jammu were stopped at Qazigund. Similarly, the vehicles which left Jammu this morning for Srinagar were also stopped on the other side of the highway.

No vehicle will be allowed from Jammu or Srinagar till all stranded vehicles, including truck carrying essential commodities, were cleared, he added. — UNI

Police uses tear gas to disperse protesters

Srinagar, January 28
The police fired tear gas and resorted to baton charge here today to disperse a group of people protesting against the arrest of six persons, including four members of a family, by security forces during an operation in Nishat, official sources said.

Security forces raided the Danpora and Brain localities of Nishat along Dal Lake late last night and picked up Abdul Hamid Hafiz, his wife Ateeqa Bano, cousins Bilal Ahmad Hafiz and Bashir Ahmad Hafiz, and Abdul Hameed Sheikh and Abdul Qayoom for unknown reasons, the sources said.

Protesting against the arrests, residents of the area today took to the streets and blocked traffic on the main road at Nishat, demanding immediate release of the “innocent civilians.”

The Station House Officer of police station, Nishat, reached the scene and tried to persuade the protesters to disperse with an assurance that he would take up the issue with the higher authorities to secure the release of the arrested persons.

However, as the protesters did not remove the blockade and insisted on immediate release of the arrested persons, the police fired a single tear gas shell and used batons to disperse them, the sources said.

Shopkeepers also joined the protest and observed a shutdown. The sources said senior police officers had reached the spot. — PTI