J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Indian, Pak troops to honour truce
Jammu, August 18
Indian and Pakistani troops have resolved not to violate ceasefire on the Line of control. Stating this, the Commander, 16 Core, Lieut-Gen T.K. Sapru, told visiting mediamen at Nowshera in the Rajouri sector on Thursday that the “decision to honour the spirit of ceasefire was taken at a meeting of the brigade commanders of the two sides recently.”

Cultural complex almost ready
Jammu, August 18
A state-of-the-art auditorium complex representing all three regions of the state, the first of its type in the country, is nearing completion on the campus of Jammu University.

State -of- the- art auditorium which has been built on the campus of Jammu University.

CRPF jawan among six killed
Srinagar, August 18
Six people, including a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan and four militants, were killed while security forces averted a major tragedy in Jammu and Kashmir overnight.

Indian, Pak troops to honour truce
Our Correspondent

Jammu, August 18
Indian and Pakistani troops have resolved not to violate ceasefire on the Line of control. Stating this, the Commander, 16 Core, Lieut-Gen T.K. Sapru, told visiting mediamen at Nowshera in the Rajouri sector on Thursday that the “decision to honour the spirit of ceasefire was taken at a meeting of the brigade commanders of the two sides recently.”

He said the flag meetings were organised after the recent exchange of fire in the Abbaspur sector of Poonch.

General Sapru claimed, “Our troops did not violate ceasefire. Two persons were spotted by our troops across the border who opened fire on our picket. The fire was retaliated and if two persons were wounded, we do not know.”

Referring to the level of infiltration from across the border, he Sapru said, “The rate of ingress is not alarming but continued on the level that existed in the past.” He said, “Our troops are on a high alert for checking infiltration.”

He did not agree with the police version on the level of ingress, saying that no big groups of militants had sneaked into their territory in recent weeks.

He said, “In May-June, militants had made a series of bids to infiltrate into our territory from across the LoC, but our soldiers had foiled those attempts.”

The visiting mediamen experienced total lull on the border with villagers and soldiers in a relaxed mood. Army doctor Ankur Gupta posted at Nowshera to look after the health of the troops said, “I am without work. Soldiers posted in the sector enjoy their stay and hence do not complain of any biological or stress-related problem.”

He said the soldiers of a Sikh regiment were all jolly and tough fellows and had kept stress and other ailments at arm’s length.

Farmers were seen tending bumper maize crop which they would be harvesting within the next fortnight. Moti Ram, a farmer said, “We have been farming without any hindrance during the past two years. Between 1999 and 2003, we suffered heavy losses because we could neither sow nor harvest any crop in the light of exchange of heavy fire between the two sides.”

Children in the border villages were seen playing in the open fields till late evenings. Rachpal, a student of Class IX, said, “Prior to the ceasefire, we used to remain indoors hours before the dusk shadows fell on our villages.” 

Cultural complex almost ready
S.P.Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 18
A state-of-the-art auditorium complex representing all three regions of the state, the first of its type in the country, is nearing completion on the campus of Jammu University.

The complex, besides an auditorium with a seating capacity of 1260, will have an art gallery, museum and mass media centre. Most of the construction work has been completed and the internal ceiling is being given final touches.

The stadium has been named after the great Dogra General Zorawar Singh.

The Kashmir valley has been represented in the complex by naming the museum with rare artefacts after Noor-ud-Din Noorani. The glimpses of Ladakh can be seen in the 5062 sq.ft. art gallery which has been named after the great scholar Rin-chen Zang-po.

Prof Amitabh Mattoo, Vice-Chancellor of the university, told TNS that Rs.16 crore had been spent on the complex. No other university in the country had such an auditorium on its campus.

The five-storeyed auditorium complex has become a part of the skyline of this city of temples as it commands an excellent view on the banks of river Tawi that divides the old and the new city.

The idea of constructing the complex was conceived by Prof.Mattoo about three years ago.

The auditorium has a hydraulic stage which can be manoeuvered according to the requirement. The complex is built over a plinth area of 70,008 sq.ft.

Mr Sat Pal Sahni, a famous journalist of the state, has displayed many historic pictures of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Gaffar Khan and many other leaders with their autographs in a separate corner of the museum.

The art gallery and the museum have a better collection than Kala Kendra in which the state government has sunk crores of rupees. The idea is that the students of the university get an opportunity to have a glimpse of their history, art and culture within the campus.

The art gallery has a collection of paintings by Jogen Chowdhury, Pranam Singh, Shamshad Hussain, Amitava Das, Viren Tanvar,Arpana Caur, Harshwardhan Sharma, Raghu Neware and several other local artists who have been given an exposure.

It is proposed to shortly open a mass media centre in the complex to train students in TV, print media and photo journalism. It will have a TV station and an FM radio station besides a printing laboratory.

CRPF jawan among six killed

Srinagar, August 18
Six people, including a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan and four militants, were killed while security forces averted a major tragedy in Jammu and Kashmir overnight.

An official spokesman said a CRPF jawan, who was shot at and critically wounded by militants at Koker Bazar, yesterday, died in a hospital.

He said militants entered the house of one Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh at Beerwah in the central Kashmir district of Badgam and shot him early this morning.

Security forces gunned down a militant in an encounter at Shah Nagri in the frontier district of Kupwara today during a search operation.

He said three more militants, Abu Abdullah, a resident of Pakistan, a self- styled area commander, Khadam Shah, alias Abu, and Abdul Rashid, were killed in a fierce encounter at Dachan Gool in Udhampur district last night. Two soldiers were also injured in the encounter.

Two ultras surrendered along with arms and ammunition at Bandipora last night.

One Abdul Ahad Mir was injured during firing at Haram Shopian in South Kashmir, the sources said.

Security forces today averted a major tragedy when they detected a powerful Improvised Explosives Device (IED) planted by militants at a crowded bus stand at Batmaloo.

The IED, kept in a gift pack, was later defused by the bomb disposal squad.

A militant was arrested in the same area by the police before he could lob hand grenades there last evening. Two live grenades were recovered from his possession. — UNI