Jammu, October 1
An Army jawan yesterday sustained injuries when militants believed to be two in number opened fire at a patrol party in Rajouri district.

The incident happened near the Salampura area in the Dera Ki Gali belt.

SSP, Rajouri, RK Jalla said a foot patrol of the 48 Rashtriya Rifles was on its way to Manyal Gali when two militants opened fire at the soldiers, injuring one of them.

In fact, the troops had observed the movement of militants in the area and they had opened the fire, which resulted in a gunfight, said the SSP.

In the ensuing gunfight a soldier was injured, he said. Thereafter, the militants managed to escape, taking advantage of the thickly grown maize fields, he added.

Sources said soon after the incident troops launched a cordon and a search operation. additional reinforcements were also rushed to the area.

However, Jammu-based Defence PRO Lt-Col Biplab Nath feigned ignorance about any such incident.

Srinagar, October 1
Eight militants were gunned down by security forces even as a cop laid down his life in two separate incidents in Kupwara and Ganderbal today.

Five militants were killed as the Army today foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Macchil sector of Kupwara district, defence sources said here.

The Army troops launched a counter-infiltration operation at Maidan Behak-Ringmala in Macchil sector near the LoC, 125 km from here, following information about an infiltrating column of militants.

The militants were challenged by the troops and asked to surrender. However, the heavily-armed ultras opened fire which was retaliated by the Army, triggering a fierce gunbattle, the sources said.

Five militants were killed in the operation, they said, adding a cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the spot.

The operation was still in progress as the Army troops are sifting through the forests to look for any remnants of the infiltrating column, the sources said.

According to Army, more than 400 militants are waiting on the other side of the LoC in occupied Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate into the Valley before the onset of the winter.

The Army and the BSF have intensified patrolling and vigil along the LoC to foil any infiltration attempts by militants.

Meanwhile, three militants and a policeman were killed in an encounter in a forest area in Ganderbal district, defence sources said.

The gunbattle broke out yesterday at Chak-Akhal, 45 km from here, when security forces launched a search operation to track down the hiding militants.

They said three militants had been killed in the encounter while a policeman also laid down his life. Three other security personnel had been injured since last evening in the operation which was still on, sources said. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militant could not be ascertained immediately, they added. — PTI

Jammu, October 1
In a major achievment, security forces smashed a militants’ hideout in the Dacchan area of Kishtwar district and seized some arms and ammunition yesterday.

Official sources said acting on a tip-off a joint team of the Rashtriya Rifles and the police smashed a hideout in the Dacchan area of Kishtwar.

They said the troops seized two .12 bore single barrelled guns, two 7.62 mm pistols, three rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, 288 rounds of AK ammunition, 24 kg of explosives, one Chinese HE 36 grenade, one UBGL grenade, four Chinese grenades, 14 gelatin sticks, one radio set with antenna, one Kenwood radio set with antenna and one blanket.

Kud (Udhampur), October 1
After remaining in limbo for about three years, the much-hyped Patnitop Aerial Passenger Ropeway project finally got a push as the district administration and the Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board yesterday held a public hearing required for environment clearance for its construction.

Fed up with the procedural delays, the area residents, including public representatives at the panchayat level, raised no objections. Rather they demanded an early start of the project perceived to help improve the economic lot of people, especially the youth in terms of employment generation in the predominantly hilly area. On part of the government, the project would help boost tourism.

Chief Executive Officer, Patnitop Development Authority (PDA), Dr MA Malik informed that the proposed ropeway would cover a distance of 2.6 km between Kud and Karlah in the famous hill resort of Patnitop in Udhampur district. Originally, the estimated cost of Rs 52 crore is subject to revision due to delay in its execution. The ropeway would have an intermediate terminal at Sangot between Kud and Karlah.

Its design is complete and would take about 18 months to complete since the day of starting construction. When operational, the distance between Kud and Karlah would be covered in 15 minutes. Moreover, it had the potential of generating employment for about 150 persons, said Hari Romesh of the executing agency. He made a detailed presentation of the project on the occasion.

Additional Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Rajinder Singh presided over the hearing. Environmental expert from Jammu University Dr AK Raina and pollution control board District Officer TS Chib were among others present. The proceedings were videographed as well as manually recorded. The same would be put up before the Central environment authorities. The execution of the project would get underway after its approval.

Jammu, October 1
Taking a strong exception of the statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah regarding the deaths of stone-throwers in the Valley, the BJP today regretted that Omar Abdullah had been behaving like the Chief Minister of the Kashmir Valley only and had no concern for people of Jammu and Ladakh.

In a statement issued here today, BJP state president Shamsher Singh Manhas reminded Omar that he was the Chief Minister of the whole state and not of the Valley only.

“As a responsible Chief Minister, Omar should treat all three regions and its people equally without any preferential treatment to a particular region,” Manhas said and added the statement had sent wrong signals in Jammu and Ladakh and the Chief Minister should apologise for the same.

Manhas reminded Omar Abdullah that the recent cloudbursts in Ladakh consumed about 500 lives, besides causing damage to public as well as private properties worth crores of rupees. “Thousands of people are still waiting their rehabilitation in Ladakh. It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister did not express any heart-felt sympathy towards them. Perhaps it is so because they did not belong to the Valley or a particular faith,” he pointed out.

Charging the Chief Minister of working on regional and communal lines, the BJP chief said his party had been repeatedly raising the issue of discrimination with the Jammu and Ladakh regions.

Manhas also charged the Chief Minister with adopting the pro-Kashmir approach like his predecessor, who neither expressed any sympathy towards nor deemed it necessary to compensate adequately any of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the 2008 Amarnath land row. 

Jammu, October 1
Who is the SSP of Samba. If one asks this question to any top police officer, he names JL Sharma as the present SSP, but as per the official website of the J&K Police Raghubir Singh is the SSP, Samba.

More than two months have passed since the then SSP, Samba, Raghubir Singh, was transferred and the then SSP, PCR, Jammu, JL Sharma, took charge in his place. Still the official website of the state police -- www.jandkpolice.org -- is showing Raghubir Singh as SSP.

It may be mentioned here that Raghubir Singh was transferred from Samba district on July 26 this year on the charge of dereliction of duty in the wake of the bovine smuggling case when Samba district had faced a curfew-like situation. People had come on the roads to protest against the district administration and the police.

People had demanded the SSP and the Deputy Commissioner to be transfer, which was later supported by ministers.

The lackadaisical approach in updating the website is not only bringing a bad name to the police, but also giving wrong information to the public.

This is not the lone case where the official website of a government department has not been updated. Earlier The Tribune has reported a number of times about wrong information being provided on the official website of the J&K Government - www.jammukashmir.nic.in.

Jammu, October 1
Shangrilla Higher Secondary School today celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Nation.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal of the school Sureshta Khajuria expressed her views about Mahatma Gandhi and motivated the students to follow the path of satyagarh and non-violence.

She said Mahatma Gandhi’s fight against untouchability, emancipation of women, colonial and racial discrimination are still remembered today.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Fine Art’s Society organised on spot portrait making competition in the school.

The competition was held in the presence of Suresh Sharma, general secretary of JAKFAS.

The students of different age group participated in the portrait-making competition and in a debate competition also.

Meanwhile, Government College for Women (GCW) in Parade and GCW in Gandhi Nagar today organised functions to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti.

Both colleges celebrated the day with great zeal and enthusiasm.

In GCW, Gandhi Nagar, while paying rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, students presented cultural items to mark the day. An inter-college quiz competition and a Khadi fashion show were also organised to celebrate the day.

The students of JD Institute of Fashion Technology presented a show of garments made in Khadi fabric.

This was done to promote Khadi and to familiarise the new generation about the fabric that formed the backbone during our freedom struggle.

Collection of Khadi garments were showcased by two women and a man on the Indian and Indo-western themes.

The garments were designed by young and upcoming fashion designers of JD Institute.

Jammu, October 1
Help Age India organised a function in connection with International Day for Older Persons here today.

Minister for Medical Education and Sports RS Chib was the chief guest.

The address of welcome was delivered by the manager of the state chapter of organisation, Sunita Santoshi, followed by a lecture of project officer, Help Age India, Rajesh Sharma.

A national-level survey report on, “Economic and Health Survey on India’s Oldest Old” was also released on the occasion.

President of the All-J&K Senior Citizens Welfare Council KK Gandotra and secretary of Old Age Home, Amphalla, Vijay Bagotra also spoke on the occasion.

Srinagar, October 1
Describing unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir as the "biggest challenge", Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said efforts were on to engage the maximum number of youths in the government sector.

"My government is endeavouring to engage more and more youths in the government sector, besides working for expanding employment generation as a whole," Omar said while responding to a question in the Legislative Council.

He said unemployment in the state was a big challenge and the legislature and the government were equally concerned about it. According to official figures, the state has over five lakh unemployed youths.

"The government is keen to fill posts on the fast track and provide job opportunities to the youth in the government sector. All departments have been directed to give priority to the process of referring vacant posts to the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Service Selection Recruitment Board (SSRB)," Omar said.

The government had referred 1,888 gazetted posts to the PSC and the commission filled these vacancies besides clearing backlog of nearly 1,400 posts, he added.

Similarly, he said SSRB had made 14,611 selections as against the 10,993 posts referred to it, thus also clearing the backlog.

To a query, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said the government had created 20,000 new posts and was in the process of streamlining the recruitment process. All government departments had been directed to refer vacancies every January, he added.

The enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment Act, 2010 would further improve the pace of recruitment process, he added. Rather said the government was monitoring the functioning of recruitment agencies regularly and "it is due to this constant monitoring that a large number of vacancies have been made this year as compared to last year, which is exemplary," he claimed. — PTI

Srinagar, October 1
Five militants were killed as the Army today foiled a major infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Macchil sector of Kupwara district, defence sources said here.

The Army troops launched a counter-infiltration operation at Maidan Behak-Ringmala in Macchil sector near the LoC, 125 km from here, following information about an infiltrating column of militants.

The militants were challenged by the troops and asked to surrender. However, the heavily-armed ultras opened fire which was retaliated by the Army, triggering a fierce gunbattle, the sources said. Five militants were killed in the operation, they said, adding a cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the spot.

The operation was still in progress as the Army troops are sifting through the forests to look for any remnants of the infiltrating column, the sources said.

According to Army, more than 400 militants are waiting on the other side of the LoC in occupied Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate into the Valley before the onset of the winter.

The Army and the BSF have intensified patrolling and vigil along the LoC to foil any infiltration attempts by militants.

Meanwhile, three militants and a policeman were killed in an encounter in a forest area in Ganderbal district, defence sources said.

The gunbattle broke out yesterday at Chak-Akhal, 45 km from here, when security forces launched a search operation to track down the hiding militants.

They said three militants had been killed in the encounter while a policeman also laid down his life. Three other security personnel had been injured since last evening in the operation which was still on, sources said. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militant could not be ascertained immediately, they added.

Meanwhile, September has been one of the most successful months for the Army in the Kashmir valley as it eliminated 42 militants in the month.

Srinagar-based spokesman for the Army Lt-Col JS Brar said, “The Army has continued to focus on relentlessly conducting counter insurgency operations on the LoC as well as eliminating militants in the hinterland.”

“In September alone, 42 well armed and trained militants, both local and foreign, were eliminated in the counter terrorism operations conducted by the Army,” he said. He added a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also seized during the month.

“In the successful encounters, a large quantity of warlike stores, including assault rifles, pistols, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, IEDs, detonators, mines and sophisticated communication equipment have been seized by the Army,” Lt-Col Brar said. He added the magnitude of the success in a single month had been unprecedented in the recent years.

“The vigilant troops along the LoC have intercepted, engaged and eliminated 16 militants and while conducting joint operations with the special operations group of the J&K Police based on actionable intelligence killed 26 militants in the hinterland. The synergy between the security forces has resulted in these result-oriented encounters,” Lt-Col Brar said.

Significantly, despite the prevailing law and order situation, the counter-terrorism operations were conducted with a surgical precision and professionalism. 

Srinagar, October 1
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said tight security arrangements were made across Kashmir to prevent any untoward incident following the verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the Ram Janmabhoomi case.

Responding to the issue raised by some legislators in the state Assembly here today, the Chief Minister said some restrictions were imposed to prevent any loss of life or damage to property. He sought the cooperation of parties and people in this regard. “We will try to minimise pressure and restrictions,” he said.

Omar regretted the inconvenience faced by journalists today to reach the Assembly due to a heavy checking. He said strict restrictions were sometimes imposed to protect life and property and any inconvenience caused by such action was regretted.

While the Chief Minister was making the statement in the Assembly, policemen beat up a photojournalist, Merajuddin, a cameraman with AP TV, when he was on his way to office. Merajuddin and Mufti Islah, a reporter with CNN-IBN, travelling in their vehicles were stopped by the police at Burzulla for checking. The policemen refusing to honour their identity cards and curfew passes beat up Merajuddin, who was injured and admitted to the nearby Bone and Joints Hospital.

Earlier, legislators Harsh Dev Singh, MY Tarigami and Hakim Yaseen raised the points regarding the seizure of newspapers and restrictions on the movement of mediapersons before the start of Question Hour. Omar said there was no direction from the government to stop the distribution of newspapers today.

“When the points were raised in this regard by the legislators in the House, I asked for details from the DGP and others concerned. I have been informed that two vehicles carrying newsprint were stopped in Kothibagh police station area early this morning for checking the print material to avoid the circulation of any inflammatory matter. However, the vehicles were allowed to move after necessary checking. I have been informed that this was done to prevent any untoward incident following the Allahabad High Court verdict,” he said.

The Chief Minister added that whether any such action was needed or not was being ascertained and a complete report from the officers concerned had been sought.

Jammu, October 1
More than 100 volunteers from several government, non-government and social organisations, besides officers of the NCC, were felicitated at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Jammu, today in connection with National Blood Donation Day.

Minister for Medical Education RS Chib was the chief guest on the occasion whereas principal of GMC Prof Rajinder Singh was the guest of honour. Head of the blood bank TR Raina was also present.

Chib felicitated and lauded the regular blood donors at the hospital. In his keynote address, the minister stressed upon donating voluntarily.

Speaking on the strike of students at Indira Gandhi Government Dental College, Jammu, Chib said demands of students had been accepted by the Union Health Minister.

“We will take everything into consideration so that students don’t suffer academically,” he added.

Jammu, October 1
A workshop on “recruitment and selection process” was organised at Business School on the Bhaderwah Campus of Jammu University.

The workshop was aimed at the overall personality development of the students. The modules discussed in the workshop included personal interview, group discussion, curriculum vitae formulation tips and management games.

The event began with the welcome speech of the in charge of the MBA Department, Dr Umesh Choudhary. The proceedings of the workshop were conducted by the students of MBA III, Mayank Sharma, Shivam Mahajan, Anuj Sadotra and Rajesh Kotwal.

The event was attended by the academic coordinator, faculty members of the MBA Department and students. 

Srinagar, October 1
Responding to the issue raised by some legislators in the state Assembly here today, the Chief Minister said some restrictions were imposed to prevent any loss of life or damage to property. “We will try to minimise pressure and restrictions,” he said. Omar regretted the inconvenience faced by journalists today to reach the Assembly due to a heavy checking. 

While the Chief Minister was making the statement in the Assembly, policemen beat up a photojournalist, Merajuddin, a cameraman with AP TV, when he was on his way to office. Merajuddin and Mufti Islah, a reporter with CNN-IBN, travelling in their vehicles were stopped by the police at Burzulla for checking. The policemen refusing to honour their curfew passes beat up Merajuddin, who was injured and admitted to Hospital.