J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Militants behind bank robberies
Jammu, December 1
A special police drive has been launched in the Kashmir valley to unearth the mystery behind a sudden spurt in bank robberies. Police teams have been asked to find out whether the robberies were being committed by petty criminals or by militants, who had shortage of money. The special police drive, according to a senior government functionary, has been launched after three major bank robberies during the past one week.

Militant among 2 killed in blast
Jammu, December 1
A top Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant and the owner of a house, where he had gone to take food, were killed in a grenade explosion at Huddle near Chilli in Gandoh in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir last night.

Terror-hit widow begins building hut for self
Jammu, December 1
Disgusted over the discriminatory treatment being provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Government to the migrants of the terrorism-hit Poonch and Doda districts, Zubina, a widow, has started building a hut for herself at Belicharana on the banks of the Tawi, where she has been camping for the past 12 years, without any help from the Relief and Rehabilitation Department.

Militants behind bank robberies
M.L. Kak

Jammu, December 1
A special police drive has been launched in the Kashmir valley to unearth the mystery behind a sudden spurt in bank robberies. Police teams have been asked to find out whether the robberies were being committed by petty criminals or by militants, who had shortage of money.

The special police drive, according to a senior government functionary, has been launched after three major bank robberies during the past one week. In the first robbery, a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank was looted of Rs 16.47 lakh on November 22 which was followed by looting of Rs 90,000 from a branch of Ellaqui Dehati Bank in Anantnag district on November 24. On November 30 Rs 11 lakh were looted from a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank.

Reports had indicated that agencies across the border funded only foreign mercenaries forcing local rebels to make up for the cash crunch by looting the banks.

The police said soon after the major earthquake in various parts of PoK on October 8, between 400 and 500 militants crossed into Jammu and Kashmir from Uri, Machel, Karnah, Kupwara, Poonch and Rajouri.

Some infiltrators were said to have carved out hideouts in the interior areas of Srinagar. This has been the reason for the spurt in militancy-related violence and in the bank robberies.

Senior police officers, posted in Kashmir, explained that the tremor caused a lot of confusion in the border belts and militants took the advantage of it. Those who infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir wanted to ensure their survival after they found that the death and devastation in Muzaffarabad and its adjoining areas were on a bigger scale than the one witnessed in Uri, Tangdhar, Poonch and Rajouri on this side of the LoC

They said so long as Pakistani troops lent assistance to militants in infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir, the level of ingress would not be checked because of the difficult border terrain which had not posed any major problem for infiltrators despite raising of barbed wire fence on the LoC.

Making their opinion on the interrogation of some arrested militants, police officers said a number of agencies across the border were providing assistance by way of funds, arms and ammunition to militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir and to those waiting on the launching pads across the LoC.

They said the recent infiltration had been instrumental in ensuring rebirth of militancy in interior areas of Srinagar where during the past eight months, not a single major incident of gun, grenade or IED attacks had been registered.

Militant among 2 killed in blast

Jammu, December 1
A top Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) militant and the owner of a house, where he had gone to take food, were killed in a grenade explosion at Huddle near Chilli in Gandoh in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir last night.

Deputy Inspector General of Police of Doda-Udhampur Satvir Gupta said as Huddle was situated on the border of Himachal Pradesh and was very close to Chamba, security had been further stepped up along the Gandoh-Chamba border after the blast.

He said HuM militant Abdul Wahid and his associate went to the house of one Mohammad Hussain at Huddle last night and asked him to prepare food for them.

Militants often approach people in remote and inaccessible areas during winters in search for winter hideouts and food, as peaks witness heavy snowfall and it becomes virtually impossible for them to stay there, Mr Gupta added. — UNI

Terror-hit widow begins building hut for self
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 1
Disgusted over the discriminatory treatment being provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Government to the migrants of the terrorism-hit Poonch and Doda districts, Zubina, a widow, has started building a hut for herself at Belicharana on the banks of the Tawi, where she has been camping for the past 12 years, without any help from the Relief and Rehabilitation Department.

Her old hut and belongings were burnt by some miscreants who wanted her to vacate the land on which she had taken refuge after migrating from Gursain village, near Mendhar, in Poonch. The police refused to take any action against the miscreants, who were hand in glove with the cops, she alleged.

She said the Central and the state governments were taking care of only those who had migrated here from the Kashmir valley. While brick and concrete houses had been built by the government for the Kashmiri migrants, who were also being provided all other facilities, “we have not been given even one kilo of ration during the past 12 years”, she alleged.

“Why should there be any discrimination between the victims of same Pakistan-sponsored terrorism? Children of migrants from the valley are getting the best possible opportunities for studies and technical education in various parts of the country, but the children belonging to the Jammu region are being deprived of all such facilities,” she lamented.

However, she sees a ray of hope out of the recent order of the high court in which the government has been directed that the migrants of Poonch and Doda should be treated at par with those from the Kashmir valley.

She is waiting for the officials of the Relief and Rehabilitation Department to come to the Belicharana area to register a few hundred migrants, who have been living in unhygienic conditions for the past so many years.

Zubina’s two children watch their mother build a mud hut that will become their new abode. She is afraid of returning to her home place where she owns a small piece of land as her brother-in-law was recently killed by terrorists. “Who will provide safety to my children in the border village where terrorists rule the roost?” she asks.

Migrants from the Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts have been running from pillar to post since 1989 to get themselves registered with the Relief and Rehabilitation Department.