J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

APHC leaders to visit Pak in January
Jammu, December 28
All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders plan to visit Islamabad next month to discuss with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf his ideas, for settling the Kashmir issue. The leaders had preferred resumption of talks with Delhi before leaving for Islamabad but more than six months have passed when they had met Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

in mourning

Relatives wail over the killing of a driver Mukhtar Ahamed in cross firing with militants and security forces in Shopian, south Kashmir in Srinagar on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Amin War

IAF provides jobs for quake-affected
Urusa, December 28
After having provided succor to people of Jammu and Kashmir devastated by a powerful earthquake which rocked north India last year, the IAF has now provided a source of employment to some persons from the effected areas.

3 militants killed
Srinagar, December 28
The Army foiled an infiltration bid and shot dead three armed infiltrators on the LoC in Uri sector in north Kashmir early this morning.

• 25 hurt in accident

• Umar returns

APHC leaders to visit Pak in January
M.L. Kak,
Our Correspondent

Jammu, December 28
All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders plan to visit Islamabad next month to discuss with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf his ideas, for settling the Kashmir issue.

The leaders had preferred resumption of talks with Delhi before leaving for Islamabad but more than six months have passed when they had met Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The Hurriyat leaders have decided to apply for permission to fly to Pakistan.

According to a Senior APHC leader, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, “we have yet to finalise the date for our visit.” He said today “the APHC executive committee will meet after its chairman, Maulvi Umar Farooq returned from his visit to the United States of America.” Mr Ansari said delay in finalising the date for the visit had also been the result of the demise of elder brother of a former APHC chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat.

The APHC leader said, to a question, “I cannot say whether I shall be able to accompany my party colleagues because my passport has not been renewed.”

He sounded bitter “a couple of my relations across the border had died and others were very sick but my request for the renewal of the passport to enable me to visit my relations had not been conceded.”

The APHC leaders made it clear “whenever we are allowed to visit Islamabad it will not be confined to sightseeing. We shall be on an important mission of discussing various solutions for the Kashmir issue with establishment in Pakistan.”

These leaders said “on our return we could discuss the issue with the Government of India because we want the problem, which is key to peace in Kashmir, get settled as soon as possible.”

The Hurriyat leaders hoped the Government of India did not create any hurdles “in our plan of visiting Pakistan.” They said during “our last meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Secretary in Delhi we had been invited by him to visit Islamabad and our visit to Pakistan followed by the resumption of the dialogue with the Government of India could ensure our participation in the peace process.”

IAF provides jobs for quake-affected
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Urusa, December 28
After having provided succor to people of Jammu and Kashmir devastated by a powerful earthquake which rocked north India last year, the IAF has now provided a source of employment to some persons from the effected areas.

“We have already enrolled a number of people from Urusa in the IAF as non-combatants,” a senior IAF officer told The Tribune. “Since education standards in these remote areas as not so high we are unable to enlist them as combatants. We are doing what we can,” he added.

The Air Force had adopted Urusa village, the last Indian village on this side on the Line of Control in Baramullah district, along with clusters of habitats surrounding it. Besides undertaking immediate relief and rescue operations, it had undertaken large scale rehabilitation and reconstruction work in this area. This is also for the first time that the IAF is undertaking re-construction work in Jammu and Kashmir

Urusa lies just about a kilometer-and-a-half from the LoC, a little before Kaman Post and Aman Setu, the recently opened crossing point for Indian and Pakistani travelers. Most of the villages in this area are virtually inaccessible. The IAF carried out 1226 sorties to airlift 2500 tones of relief material and evacuate 480 casualties.. The IAF carried out works worth about Rs 30 crores from within its own resources, which was over and above government aid.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi today handed over a mini hydel project and the building of a high school in Isham, near Urusa, to the state government. The school has been reconstructed by the Air Force and study material has also been provided to the students.

Addressing the gathering, the Air Chief impressed upon the students that education was the single most important factor in their lives. It was only with education that they could tackle various situations effectively and look up to attaining new heights. Referring to the reconstruction of flattened villages, he said that with joint efforts amongst those involved, all difficulties and hurdles can be overcome.

He said that it was felt at the apex level in the Air Force that the first and foremost thing to do after initial rescue operation was to restore the education system and ensure that schools started functioning at the earliest.

Jammu and Kashmir minister for public distribution and animal husbandry, Mr Taj Mohi-ud-din, who was also present on the occasion, said that the Air Force has not only delivered what it promised, but has contributed more for the rebuilding and rehabilitation of quake affected areas than it earlier committed to do. The services, he added, had provided more relief material to affected people than any other organisation of NGO.

3 militants killed
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 28
The Army foiled an infiltration bid and shot dead three armed infiltrators on the LoC in Uri sector in north Kashmir early this morning. Two others were killed and three injured in separate incidents while three suspected militants were apprehended in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

A police spokesman said here the security forces foiled an infiltration bid from across LoC at Dakki post Banali in Boniyar area of Uri sector early this morning. Three AK rifles, four magazines with 310 rounds, one pistol two magazines, 10 rounds, 12 hand grenades and a wireless set were recovered from the site of encounter.

Unidentified militants shot dead Shahnawaz Ahmad War alias Naza (25) in his house at Nadihal, Rafiabad in Baramula district last evening.

Suspected militants abducted and shot dead Mohammad Ashraf from Seel Dhar at Hajam Nagar in Udhampur district of Jammu division yesterday.

Three inmates of a house were injured when they were beaten up with rifle butts by unidentified militants who intruded into the house of Abdul Gaffar Khan at Brinner Lamad, Qazigund in Anantnag district last night. The scuffle ensued when the inmates resisted the attempt of kidnapping his son, Dilawar Khan, the police said. The militants escaped after resistance and resultant scuffle.

Two suspected militants were apprehended, with the recovery of two wireless sets, by the police at Doorsa Lolab in Kupwara district of north Kashmir yesterday.

One suspected militant of the Al-Bader outfit was apprehended by the security forces at Wadwan in Budgam district yesterday, from whom two hand grenades and a wireless set were recovered.

25 hurt in accident

Jammu, December 28
At least 25 persons were injured when a bus skidded and fell into a ditch near Loran in Poonch district today.

The bus was on its way from Loran to Poonch town in the border district when it met with the accident this afternoon due to some ‘technical failure’, the police said. — PTI

Umar returns
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 28
Separatist Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq returned here after two-week tour abroad, during which he visited London, Oslo and Ireland. This was his “diplomatic mission” to attend various forums and deliberate on the long-pending Kashmir issue, an APHC spokesman here said.