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Militants
kill NC worker, 3 kg RDX seized Move to
train women to check militants’ attacks
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NDF
chief Kabuli to contest from Srinagar Seat-sharing
row: Azad in Jammu Victory
of sports, says Mufti Sayeed 26
Bangla nationals held in J&K
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Militants kill NC worker, 3 kg RDX seized Srinagar, March 25 Security forces arrested three militants of the Pakistan based
Lashkar-e-Toiba along with two AK rifles and one wireless set at Donadi area in Kishtwar today. Militants shot dead Ghulam
Mohiuddin, a contractor, near Jamia Masjid Pulwama today. A boy Zubair Ahmad was killed and another boy injured in a blast at Nareian Hari Budha in Poonch district of Jammu region last night. The injured were hospitalised. Troops in a search unearthed a hideout and recovered three kg of RDX, six grenades, one wireless set, one mine with fuse, three electric detonators, one AK magazine, six pencil cells and 32 AK ammunition rounds, he added. Security forces and the police in a joint operation busted a hideout at Kulgam and seized two AK magazines and 32 rounds today while six RDX sticks, five grenades, two detonators, two magazines and 20 rounds of ammunition were recovered at Mendhar last night. Militants today shot dead a National Conference worker in the Shopian area of Pulwama district in south Kashmir, official sources said. He was identified as Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar, a contractor by profession. Dar was fired at from point blank range causing serious injuries to him. He was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to the wounds. Civilian identified as Ghulam Mohiuddin Khan was injured when he was caught in a crossfire between militant and police at Sonabrari in Kokernag area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir this afternoon. Six persons, including two militants and two soldiers were killed while security forces busted two hideouts and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition including RDX in Jammu and Kashmir in the past 24 hours. Official sources said an encounter took place at Sonabrari-Kokernag in South Kashmir district of Anantnag this afternoon. Sources said so far two militants and two soldiers had been killed and a civilian injured.
— UNI, PTI |
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Move to train women to check militants’ attacks Jammu, March 25 Official sources said that 300 VDC members, who had assisted security forces in the operation, work with the police and the soldiers for preventing groups of militants from ‘conquering” the Hill Kaka area. The Army authorities have appreciated VDC members for providing inputs on the movement, hideouts and the plans of the militants in area adjoining to Hill Kaka area and in the sensitive belts of Surankot and
Mendhar. The Government and the security agencies are contemplating to train able-bodied women so that separate defence committees were raised for halting rebel attacks on women and
attempts to extortion. Official reports said that the experiment of raising women VDC was being carried out in Rajaouri district and the response from women has been encouraging. Minister of State for Defence Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, has repeatedly suggested to the Union Home Ministry to initiate measures to equip VDC members with sophisticated weapons. He has conveyed to the Union Home Ministry that majority of the VDC members did not receive a penny for months and with .303 guns it had become difficult for them to fight rebels having assault rifles and other sophisticated weapons. A move is afoot to give preference to VDC members in recruitment in Territorial Army. |
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600 companies of central forces for poll Jammu, March 25 This would perhaps be the largest strength of the security forces being deployed anywhere in the country for the elections. The Chief Electoral officer, Mr B.I. Nimesh, told mediapersons here today that the ministry of home affairs would provide 58 companies (40 of the BSF and 18 of the CRPF) for election duties. The ministry had also indicated that rest of the forces would have to be marshalled from the security forces already deployed within the state. These included 254 companies of the CRPF, 233 of the BSF, four of the CISF, 27 of the ITBP and 24 of the SSB. He said that every step would be taken to make the elections free and fair. Mr Nimesh said that 5,449 voters of the Hazaratbal segment of the Srinagar constituency would travel by boats to cast their votes in eight polling stations that have been set up in the Dal Lake. A polling station had been set up at Tarkundi in the Mendhar area of Poonch district just for three voters. The highest polling station, 17000 ft. above the sea level had been set up at Pastan in the Ladakh constituency. The polling parties would have to travel on foot a distance of 30 km to reach the Hankar polling booth in Leh. Those on polling duty at Uhagagar and Bhandar in the Bani segment of Kathua would have to trek a distance of 25 km. He said that the entire polling would be on electronic voting machines and 36,000 employees from within the state would be put on election duty. The polling parties and election material would be carried three days in advance in the IAF helicopters to the 14 snowbound polling stations of Ralakung, Phema, Rangdum Juldoo and Tashi Stongday in the Kargil district and Shaday, Stak, Shun, Ralakung, Kargiak, Tangzay, Tasta, Yougar and Chah in the Zanskar segment. He said that 7218 polling booths would be set up in the state for an electorate of 63,76,872. Out of this, 29,04,736 were female. The Jammu constituency had the largest number of 18,51,838 voters, followed by 13,48,721 in Udhampur. Srinagar had an electorate of 10,53,733, Anantnag had 99,89,05 and Baramulla had 94,09,98 voters. The Ladakh constituency had the smallest number of 1,82,677 electorate. The figures relating to the total number of electorate indicated that the two constituencies of Jammu and Udhampur in the Jammu division had an electorate of 32,00,559, while the three constituencies, Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag in the Kashmir valley had a total number of 29,93,636 voters. |
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NDF chief Kabuli to contest from Srinagar Srinagar, March 25 At a press conference here today Mr Kabuli said that his party would watch the other five constituencies of the state and a decision to field candidates would be taken at a proper time. Mr Kabuli, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar as a candidate of the National Conference in 1984, had been associated with the BJP for some time and later formed the J&K National Democratic Front. Appreciating Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, the NDF leader criticised the National Conference and the PDP-Congress coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. He alleged that false promises were made by the coalition government in the name of common minimum programme and the healing touch policy. Mr Kabuli claimed that the promises of eradication of unemployment, disbanding of the STF of the Police, end to custodial killings and release of detainees proved to be hollow slogans of the government. Mr Kabuli also criticised the policies of the National Conference, which he said failed to fulfil promises made to the people. He referred to the fate of Autonomy resolution, which could not be implemented despite the party having two-thirds majority in the Assembly when the resolution had been passed. He also expressed concern over the role of the NC and the coalition parties over the Permanent Residents (Disqualification) Bill 2004, that had been put into cold storage. Referring to Indo-Pak relations, the former MP said that his party supported the peace talks and government-to-government and people-to-people confidence-building measures. He, however, claimed that the impact was yet to be felt on the ground. |
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Seat-sharing row: Azad in Jammu Jammu, March 25 After his arrival, Mr Azad
summoned all ministers belonging to the Congress to the PCC headquarter to discuss the situation. He was scheduled to hold a separate meeting with Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, in the evening. He was likely to meet Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed to persuade him to let the Congress contest the Baramula seat in Kashmir to enable the party make its presence in the valley. The Congress and the PDP have named their candidates for Baramula and if there was no truce between the two parties; the NC was bound to benefit. A difficult situation has developed for the Congress with Mr Bhim Singh of the Panthers Party announcing that he would contest the election against Congress nominee, Lal Singh, Health Minister, at Udhampur. The BSP, that was sharing power here, has also named its candidates for the Jammu and Udhampur seats. The Congress high command reportedly despatched Mr Azad here to sort out the issue with the Mufti who was adamant that the Baramula seat should be left for his PDP that was also contesting other two seats in the valley. The Mufti and Mr Azad might also try to
persuade Mr Bhim Singh not to complicate the matter by jumping into the fray. |
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118 voters’ names deleted from rolls in Leh Jammu, March 25 Reviewing the preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll here yesterday, District Election Officer Satish Nehru said the names of 118 dead voters, including 67 women, were deleted from the list. He appealed to the general voters to get their names deleted in case if there was any duplication.
— PTI |
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Victory of sports, says Mufti Sayeed Jammu, March 25 “It is the victory of sports and the series will go down in the history as
harbinger of amity and peace in the subcontinent,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the 50th meeting of the J&K Sports Council here this morning. Mufti Sayeed said while both teams played excellent cricket the friendly atmosphere at the Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore, was the real thing to watch. The passion for the game was transformed into an ocean of goodwill and amity for each other never seen before, he said. The Chief Minister congratulated the Indian team for playing top class cricket and winning the series. At the same time , he praised the spirit of the rivals. He expressed happiness over the game of cricket supplementing the serious efforts at the political level to foster better ties between India and Pakistan. The Chief Minister referred to the warm reception and hospitality the Indian team and cricket fans of India received in Pakistan. He said while Indians won the
series, Pakistanis had won the hearts of the Indian people. He said the urge of the people on both sides was to have cordial and tension free relations. The Chief Minister had a special word of praise for spectators at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, where the final match was played yesterday and said they burst crackers when the Indian team hit the winning stroke. “This could not have been thought of earlier”, he said and hoped the current phase of mutual trust and friendship between the peoples of the two countries would be further cemented. |
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26 Bangla nationals held in J&K Jammu, March 25 According to sources, Border Security Force (BSF) personnel intercepted a group of Bangladesh nationals and foiled an exfiltration attempt near the border at Bahinallah outpost in the Hiranagar area of Kathua district today morning. All 19 Bangladeshis, including five children and six women were arrested, they said, adding nothing incriminating was recovered from them. They were later handed over to the police for further proceedings, they added. In another incident, BSF troops arrested seven Bangladesh nationals at Chilyari Border Outpost in the Samba border belt last night, they said, adding they too were handed over to the police.
— PTI |
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