M A I N   N E W S

Bid on Mufti: PDP councillor arrested

Srinagar, January 15
The Jammu and Kashmir police unearthed a militant plan to assassinate former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed when it arrested two militants of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT), including a Municipal Councillor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a partner in the coalition government.

PDP councillor from Zakoora Abdul Waheed Dar and Wahid Ahmad Dar, a resident of Hazratbal were arrested by the police.

A senior police officer said during the interrogation, the PDP councillor admitted that he had received training in PoK and was an active militant of Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA) in 1994. However, he was arrested and later released in 1995. Dar later joined the Congress in 1998 before shifting to the PDP, the officer said, adding that he later joined LeT.

The officer said Dar admitted that he along with other LeT militants made a plan to kill Mr Sayeed at Bakshi Stadium on Independence Day last year. However, they failed to execute the plan because of tight security arrangements.

One Chinese pistol with one magazine, five rounds of ammunition and six hand grenades were recovered from their possession, the official said.

Meanwhile, a youth died and another was seriously injured allegedly in the custody of security forces in Baramulla district where ultras shot dead a contractor today, official sources said.

Abdul Majid Parray of Inderkote village at Sumbal in the district was allegedly picked up by the Rashtriya Rifles alongwith another youth Fayaz Ahmad Bhat two days back, the sources said.

They were handed over to the police station Sopore reportedly in injured condition and subsequently brought here for treatment yesterday, the sources said, adding that Parray succumbed to his wounds at a hospital while the condition of Bhat was stated to be serious.

Alleging that the duo was subjected to third-degree torture, residents of the village today staged a protest, the sources said.

In another incident, the sources said, militants shot dead a contractor Nazir Ahmad Kalla outside his house at Kellar village in Pulwama district of south Kashmir today.

Four militants, including two foreigners of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), were killed in separate incidents in Poonch and Doda districts since last night.

A Defence ministry spokesman said troops were making searches at Kolian Mohalla in Poonch when two LeT militants fired at them.

In retaliatory fire, the troops shot dead both of them, the sources added. The slain militants were identified as Abu Saq and Abu Bilal, alias Pathan Afghani, both residents of Pakistan. — UNI, PTI