Jammu, April 3
There is resentment among dentists here against the failure of the government to establish an office of the State Dental Council for which a notification was issued last year.

The dentists have to go all the way to Srinagar to get themselves registered or get their registration renewed as the council is permanently stationed there.

However, the state government issued a notification on April 16, 2004 ordering the office of the council shall move with the Secretariat during the winter to Jammu and in summer to Srinagar.

The shifting of the office of the council here in winter was provided for in the rules of the State Dental Council that were framed last year.

The dentists complain that the authorities were hesitant to implement the order.

Not only the dentists, but also those concerned with dental hygiene and mechanics were also facing similar problems in getting themselves registered with the council.

Jammu, April 3
Sikh organisations here have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to let them visit Gurdwara Chatti Padshahi at Muzaffarabad when the bus service between Srinagar and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is introduced.

These organisations held a meeting here today under the chairmanship of Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser, Bhai Kanhaiya Jee Nishkam Seva Society, and demanded that a joint delegation of all religious bodies be sent to Muzaffarabad.

The organisations appreciated the efforts put in by Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed in normalising relations between the two countries.

They demanded that the road link between Poonch and Bagh subdivision of PoK also be reopened. Other road links, including the Suchetgarh-Sialkot road, should also be opened.

Among those who participated in the meeting were Mr Amar Singh, President, Sikh Welfare Society, Mr Narbir Singh, president, Shiromani Youth Akali Dal, and Mr Jagdev Singh, president, state Akali Dal.

Srinagar, April 3
A ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worker and seven militants, including two belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohmmad (JeM), were killed while security forces busted three hideouts and arrested two militants in Jammu and Kashmir overnight.

An official spokesman said militants shot at and critically wounded a PDP worker Zahoor Ahmad in his Telbal house last night. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he died.

Security forces gunned down two JeM militants in an encounter at village Zahid Bagh in south Kashmir district of Pulwama last night.

The encounter ensued when a search party of the security forces was attacked by the militants who were hiding there.

In a similar encounter at Baba Khader Trenz in the same district, security forces killed three militants.

He said an encounter took place today at Krisail village forest in Baramulla district of North Kashmir in which two militants were killed. — UNI