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Lashkar strike plan foiled
Mufti disapproves of Mehbooba’s action
Strike hits life in valley
Massacre survivors keep away
from voting
Girl from Poonch crosses into PoK
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11 shepherds killed in snowfall
Jammu, May 5 More than 20,000 nomadic Gujjars and Bakkarwals were trapped in snow while they were proceeding to summer pastures on mountains along with their livestock. Reports of the loss caused due to the adverse weather have started pouring in as relief and rescue teams of the Army have started reaching the affected areas. Reports said that as many as 57 cattle have also perished because of bad weather. Army formations around the affected areas have swung into action to provide relief to stranded persons. As many as 3560 shephards, including several women and children, have been provided treatment for various cold related ailments by Army doctors. More than 28,200 sheep and goats have been provided treatment by veterinary doctors. The snowfall and torrential rains trapped the shepherds and their livestocks that had started reaching the high pastures from the plains of Jammu. The worst affected places were Nilhal, Didamgali, Bal, Poshmal, Ban, Burzatopa, Gambhiri, Bagla, Kotolgawa, Mandugala, Kesri Hill, Kauri Hill, Ratanpur, Kharimarg, Zaban and Fagu. Gujjar and Bakkarwal families, caught unawares in the snow, have suffered heavy causalities of livestock apart from the loss of personal belongings and rations. An Army spokesman said the formations and units operating in the districts of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Udhampur had swung into action to provide humanitarian aid. A large number of task forces and patrols had been despatched to all affected areas, alongwith medicines, rations and doctors. He said 3260 kg of flour, 110 kg of tea, 185 kg of sugar, 2500 kg of rice, 120 kg of pulses, 400 blankets, 160 kg of refined oil and medicines worth lakhs of rupees had been distributed among the affected families by the task forces. The Nagrota-based Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) had provided utensils and clothes for distribution. |
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Srinagar, May 5 State’s Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took the salute at a march past in the secretariat
complex by the police and Home Guards. Later, Mr Sayeed told reporters that his government would give a thrust to the state’s reconstruction with focus on basic amenities like sewerage, roads and water supply schemes. The reconstruction of the state has already been set in motion and the Asian Development Bank package for the state would boost it, he said. Mr Sayeed, who admitted to an anti-incumbency factor in the state and called it “universal phenomenon”, however added that the opposition National Conference did not have any issues. He asserted that the parliamentary elections in the state were more transparent than the Assembly elections of 2002. The civil secretariat and other move offices were closed in Jammu on April 24 under the bi-annual durbar move. The durbar move was started by the Maharajas of the state before independence. The exercise costs Rs 10 crore annually and involves movement of truckloads of files between Jammu and Srinagar every time the government shifts.
— PTI |
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Jammu, May 5 Abu Kasha alias Bashir Ahmad Khan, (31) resident of Okara in Pakistan, was one of the top commanders of the outfit detailed to engineer terror strikes in five Indian cities besides targeting top political leaders and vital installations in the country, top Defence sources told PTI here today. Documents recovered from the terrorist, slain on April 14, revealed the plans of the outfit to spread terror not only in J and K but across the country as far as Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad and Bangalore, they said. Kasha had plans to carry out major terrorist acts with his four suicide squads in the near future as he had threatened people to boycott elections or face consequences, they said. Kasha, who was operating as commander J-K, south of the Pir Panjal range (Jammu division), was responsible for planning and coordinating strikes against important political leaders, security forces and vital installations across India. In view of severe losses suffered by terrorist outfits in the recent past and considerable decrease in infiltration of fresh terrorists from Pakistan, Abu Kasha was shifted to the valley as the regional operational coordinator to coordinate Jehadi outfits in the entire valley, especially in wake of Lok Sabha elections, they said. Responsible for numerous attacks, Abu Kasha escaped after an encounter in Anantnag in south Kashmir on March 27 while two of his associates were killed. Kasha earlier created a scare amongst advocates in the state when he accused them of “not being appropriately inclined towards the welfare of foreign terrorists”, they said. Abu Kasha is reported to have graduated from the Ad-Dawah science college in Muridke, Pakistan. The institution is being run by Lashkar chief Mohammad Hafeez Sayeed, sources said. He was responsible for having motivated a very large number of youth to join Jehadi outfits. Kasha had been employed as one of the trainers at Muzaffarabad training centre of Lashkar called the Um-Al-Qura camp, they said. The movement of Abu Kasha was monitored from the time he left Jammu for carrying out attacks to disrupt the political process in the valley, sources said and added that on receiving information of a meeting of senior LeT commanders, a hideout in Malpura Hajan was raided. A search of the area led to the recovery of weapons and provisions as well some clues in a letter addressed to Abu Kasha. The terrorist killed near Jhelum river close to Malru-Shalateng in Parimpora on April 14 morning. The killing of Abu Kasha, the third most experienced commander of LeT is major blow to his own outfit and to the hierarchy of terrorists in J and K, especially at a juncture when they were joining hands to coordinate activities prior to the elections.
— PTI |
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Mufti disapproves of Mehbooba’s action
Anantnag, May 5 “It is the right of every citizen ... if there is any bogus voting, we should check it. But the only thing is may be she (Mehbooba) was not authorised to do it (lift veil),” Sayeed told NDTV in Anantnag after casting his vote. “... she says the woman who was supposed to be a voter was not a genuine voter,” he said, quoting his daughter, and added, however, that “it is the institution which matters, the Election Commission of India, and law should take its own course. We welcome it (EC decision).” Earlier, he told reporters that “investigation will be carried out into the incident and action taken accordingly”. Ms Mehbooba lifted the veil of a burqa-clad woman voter at a polling booth in Srinagar on April 26. A case was registered against her on the directions of the Election Commission yesterday. Bijbehara: Mr Mufti Sayeed commended the Election Commission’s efforts to check bogus voting in the state. The Chief Minister said the
erstwhile ruling party, the National Conference, was known for indulging in bogus voting but this time the malpractice was completely checked, thanks to the EC.
— PTI, UNI |
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Strike hits life in valley
Srinagar, May 5 The strike coincided with the commencement of elections in Anantnag constituency of the state and reopening of civil secretariat and other offices in Srinagar after six months of functioning in Jammu. Bustle was missing in the main market in Srinagar, and Baramula and Kupwara districts of north and Badgam district of Central Kashmir today as shopkeepers observed a shutdown. The strike was called by both factions of the Hurriyat Conference and the Kashmir Bar Association and supported by separatist organisations and militant outfits. Work in government and semi-government offices was also affected due to non-availability of transport. Educational institutions, banks, courts and other
establishments also remained closed. |
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Massacre survivors keep away
from voting
Muthi Camp (J&K), May 5 The cold-blooded massacre had taken place on March 24, 2003, sometime after the last Assembly elections in which people of the hamlet had voted for the present State Home Minister, Mr Abdul Rehman Veeri. The survivors, who number 32, said soon after the massacre, a lot of promises were made to them by the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti and even Veeri himself. “We decided not to vote today as we have been shunned both by the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir and the Centre,” said Mr M.L. Bhat, who lost three members of his family in the massacre.
— PTI |
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Girl from Poonch crosses into PoK
Jammu, May 5 The police said Khalida Pravez crossed over to PoK last night from an unmanned area. Her house is not far-off from the Line of Control. Khalida’s parents reported this to the police today. Meanwhile, a Pakistani, was held by the Border Security Force from the R.S. Pura sub-sector of Jammu two days ago. Asif Khan of Pakistan had come on a bicycle to this side of the International Border from near Bakarpur outpost of the BSF. He was handed over to the local police, a BSF spokesman said.
— UNI |
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