Srinagar, November 29
The police today thwarted an attempt by militants of the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) to sneak into Srinagar city by gunning down three ultras, including a foreigner, on the outskirts of the city.

Giving details of the encounter, the second major in just over a month, the police said the three LeT militants,who were riding a motorcycle and attempting to enter the city ostensibly for killing policemen, were challenged at the Qamarwari police post and in the ensuing encounter, constable Mohammad Ashraf Shah lost his life, but only after the three ultras were killed.

The militants were part of an LeT team holed up in the Pattan area of North Kashmir and attempting to sneak into the city for killing policemen.This modus operandi has been used by the LeT earlier as well. A resident, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, who was also injured in the crossfire, was hospitalised.

Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Shiv Murari Sahai, said a pistol, a grenade and some other ammunition were recovered from the spot.

Earlier, three militants of the Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit were killed in a fierce gunbattle at Maloora, 5 km from the Qamarwari area, on October 21.

Sahai said the militants were making attempts to disturb peace in Srinagar, but so far the security forces had foiled their plans.

Asked about the number of militants active in the city, he said there were no ultras in the summer capital.”The militants come from other parts of the Valley, strike in the city and go back," he said. Sahai said the LeT received a major setback as two of its top commanders, Abdul Rehman and Muslim Zaraar, were killed in an operation in the Handwara area of Kupwara district on Saturday. Zaraar, alias Muslim Bhai, was active in Sopore and Rafiabad belt of Baramulla district, he said.

To a question, Sahai said around 150 militants were active in three north Kashmir districts of Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara. They had used the recent unrest in the Valley to regroup and reorganise their ranks, he added.

Meanwhile, police personnel,including senior officers,paid homage to constable Mohammad Ashraf Shah,who was killed while fighting militants here today.

A guard of honour was held in Shah’s memory on the lawns of the Police Control Room,which was followed by the laying of wreaths on the body, a police spokesman said.

A resident of the Lar area of Ganderbal district, Shah had joined the police in 1997 and was with the Qamarwari police post at present. 

Jammu, November 29
The Government has decided to formulate comprehensive conservation projects for twin lakes of Mansar and Surinsar with a special focus on the restoration of the habitats and expansion of green cover in the surroundings of the two prestigious water bodies.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the Minister for Forests and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmed, to review the functioning of wildlife and forest departments.

The minister said Rs 3 crore had already been earmarked by the Government of India for the conservation of the two lakes, but there was a need to chalk out a long-term planning for their conservation which were facing great threat from climate change and other factors. He asked the department to formulate the projects after proper study and consultation, if needed, so that the project plan on its implementation yields desirable results.

Stressing the need for keeping a provision in the proposed project for the involvement of the public, Mian Altaf said broad-based consultation and inclusion of suggestions from every quarter would go a long way in evolving a comprehensive project plan. He wished to go through the project himself before it was sent to the Government of India for approval.

Earlier, the meeting was informed that Rs 3 crore had been allocated under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Programme for taking up conservation works of the twin lakes. It was made out that so far Rs 86.50 Lakh had been released, out of which Rs 62.50 lakh were expended during the last two years on the execution of various works at the two lakes. The meeting was informed that Plan of Operation of Rs 99.50 Lakh had been prepared for the current year and submitted to the Government of India for the release of funds.

Altaf also directed the Wildlife Department to handover the compensation money to those who became victim to the incidents of man-animal conflict in various parts of the state.

The Minister also asked the wildlife authorities to put in place all measures in the venerable parts of erstwhile Doda district, Poonch and Rajouri to check the incidents of man-animal conflict. He also inquired of the progress made on the proposals of setting up of zoos in twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests PC Kapoor; Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Life), Jammu, U Pachnanda; Wildlife Warden, Jammu, Tahir Shawl; and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

Jammu, November 29
Former state BJP president Ashok Khajuria said today that the BJP leaders and elected party representatives would continue to boycott all functions to be chaired or attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as well as his ministerial colleagues in the government.

Criticising the National Conference (NC) and the Congress for advocating the rehabilitation of Kashmir youths who had crossed over to the PoK for arms training, Khajuria apprehended that such a step would have dangerous consequences with regard to the security of the state and the country.

He appealed to the people of Jammu to socially boycott the Chief Minister and his fellow ministers. He said under a conspiracy, hundreds of acres of forestland was being illegally occupied by some persons with the backing of NC and Congress leaders, which may disturb the social fabric and communal harmony in the Jammu province. The BJP would never allow them to succeed in their nefarious designs, he added.

“The youths, who had gone across the border before and after 1990 have got arms training in camps in Pakistan. There is every possibility that their return could prove disastrous for the people of the state.”

The BJP leader said the nationalist forces had to wake up and defeat such designs that could undermine the sovereignty of the country. Khajuria lamented that the Congress representatives, particularly from the Jammu province, in the Legislature had been endorsing the policies of the NC by maintaining silence. “The NC and Congress representatives from Jammu seem to have abdicated the national interests for remaining in power,” he added.

“The BJP will not sit silent and will continue its struggle to defeat the machinations of the forces, which are overtly or covertly trying to disintegrate Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of the country,” Khajuria said.

Jammu, November 29
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today visited the Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) and interacted with students and the faculty.

“The present age is the period of science and technology,” he said during the interaction. Agricultural experts and subject matter specialists had to ensure that new established trends of modern farming were popularised and universalised in the state, he added.

Omar said the university should also address agronomic requirements of different zones in the state. “Our variegated topography and geographical phenomenon coupled with diverse climatic conditions require an area specific approach on the cultivation front,” he said and asked the university to focus on this unique feature in their research programmes.

He went around various departments, besides taking a view of the cultivation of new and high yielding seed varieties of various crops produced by the university. He also inspected poly-houses and the seed processing centre.

Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST, Jammu, Dr B Mehra, in a power point presentation, gave a detailed account of the academic activities, financial standing, infrastructural development and research programme of the university.

The Chief Minister was also apprised of the research work conducted by the university in the fields of animal and sheep husbandry, sericulture, horticulture, floriculture, apiary, olive, saffron, zeera, chilgoza, mushroom, morchilla esculenta (Guchhi), hazelnut and medicinal plants.

Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla and Minister of State for Agriculture Javid Ahmad Dar were accompanying the Chief Minister.

Jammu, November 29
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today stressed on the setting up of government-run drug stores in all districts to ensure the availability of quality medicines at affordable prices to people.

“There should be provisions under the state Drug Policy for establishing and running such drug stores competently for the larger benefits of general public, especially the poor,” he said.

Chairing a high-level meeting here to take stock of various aspects of the Draft Drug Policy formulated by the Health and Medical Education Department, the Chief Minister said the policy should be urgently placed before the Cabinet for a review and approval.

He asked for the constitution of a committee under the Chief Secretary to formulate a comprehensive scheme for the establishment of drug stores in the state for supplying low cost, high quality generic medicines to the people universally.

Omar said a befitting drug policy that takes care of all aspects of procurement of quality medicines and its supply was the need of the hour. “Soon the policy will be approved and put in place,” he said.

The Chief Minister emphasised the importance of the procurement of quality medicines as per the requirement of the hospitals. He highlighted the need for strengthening the drug laboratories in the state so that drug analysis and tests of national and international standards were carried out in these laboratories. “The government is concerned about checking the sale and supply of spurious and sub-standard medicines in the market and in this connection a unified approach has to be evolved involving all stakeholders in the field,” he asserted.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma; Minister for Medical Education RS Chib; Minister of State for Health Javid Ahmad Dar; Chief Secretary SS Kapur; Principal Secretary to Health and Medical Education RK Jerath; Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister BB Vyas; Commissioner/ Secretary, Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey; Director of the SKIMS Prof Abdul Hamid Zargar; Principals of medical colleges of Jammu and Srinagar; Directors of Health Service, Kashmir and Jammu; Drug Controller and other senior officers.

Srinagar, November 29
Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohi-ud Din today directed the engineers of the Power Development Department (PDD) to put in place measures to check distribution losses and power pilferage. He also asked them to ensure that people get an adequate supply of electricity during winter in Kupwara district. He also asked the District Development Commissioner, MS Rather, to monitor the implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna in the district.

The minister was chairing a review meeting of the District Development Board at Kupwara today. He asked the PDD to put dedicated staff on the job and make them accountable for the distribution of energy so that the chances of pilferage and theft were checked, an official spokesman said.

Taj took a detailed and sector-wise review of the execution of the district plan. He was told that a Rs 94.25 crore plan was fixed for the district for 2010-11 and out of which Rs 49.13 crore had been spent till date, which constitutes 51 per cent of the total allocation.

The minister impressed upon the officers of the district administration to implement the schemes and meet targets within the stipulated time so that the benefits of the schemes reach people. He asked the officers present to frame plans in consultation with the elected representatives of the areas concerned.

Taj asked the District Development Commissioner to monitor the proper and timely implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes in the District. He also reviewed the arrangements made for the winter in the district, particularly snow clearance from major passes and roads of the district.

Minister of State for PHE and Tourism Nasir Aslam Wani, who is also the vice-chairman of the board, said the district had a good potential for setting up industrial units. He said the area had good quality marble reserves, which needed to be exploited.

Wani asked for reinvigorating the marble industry in the district by obtaining expert advice to generate employment at a large scale.

Earlier, the District Development Commissioner said out of the several centrally-sponsored schemes in operation in the district, Rs 67.98 crore were expended on various Economic Reconstruction Agency sponsored projects. He said under the ARWSP Rs 12.09 crore was spent and 75 schemes were under implementation in the district, besides 32 road projects worth Rs 46.63 crore under the Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojna. 

Jammu, November 29
On successful completion of a counter-insurgency operation by troops of the Romeo Force and the Special Operations Group in the Muri Marha forest area of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district on November 25, the GOC, 16 Corps, Lt-Gen Rameshwar Roy, today visited the area to take stock of the situation.

He was received by the GOC, Romeo Force, and the SSP, Poonch, Manmohan Singh.Several prominent citizens were also present.

On November 25, the security forces had killed three hardcore militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and also recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

After a short briefing by the GOC, Romeo Force, and the CO, Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, on the conduct of operations, Roy interacted with all those who had taken part in the operation, including personnel of the SOG, Surankote, and the Territorial Army (H&H).

Roy complimented the Romeo Force and all troops who participated in the successful operation conducted in the thickly forested and difficult terrain located in the high-altitude area, resulting in the elimination of three hardcore militants of the LeT.

This operation was an example of bravery, resilience and tactical acumen displayed by the troops in an extremely inhospitable terrain which makes the conduct of such operations extremely difficult and challenging.

While interacting with the local population, General Roy stressed the need for maintaining peace, harmony and stability in the area to usher into prosperity and development.Terming the elimination of three hardcore LeT militants as a major blow to the militant outfits and machinery, the Corps Commander exhorted the people to support the security forces in complete eradication of militancy from the area.

He assured them of full cooperation and assistance by the security forces in all endeavours which the people of the area might undertake so that prosperity was ushered in at the earliest.The General also complimented the people of Surankote for maintaining calm and harmony and not falling into the trap of subversive elements. In the last six to eight months, the Romeo Force has done a commendable job in eliminating militancy in the area and bringing life to near- normal.General Roy advised the people to take advantage of the situation to bring further development and prosperity in the region.

Jammu, November 29
A Delhi court today sent the dreaded terrorist and divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Mohammad Abdullah Inqlabi, on three days of transit remand to Rajouri.

A police party led by SHO, Budhal police station, SD Singh, which had filed a petition in the court to get the custody of the terrorist from the Delhi Police to work out some murder, kidnapping and extortion cases, was today allowed by the court to take Inqlabi to Rajouri for three days.

Confirming this, Farooq Qesar, DSP (Operations), Rajouri, said, “Inqlabi is being brought to Rajouri and he will be reaching here tomorrow morning, as the court has sent him on three days’ transit remand (till December 2) to Rajouri.”

Inqlabi involved in almost 20 killings, including an attack on the Draman police post in which three SPOs were killed, was arrested on November 14 in Delhi. He was active in anti-national activities since 2000 and nearly 13 criminal cases had been registered against him at various police stations in the state.

Earlier, Inqlabi was brought to Rajouri on November 25, as the Delhi police came to the state to bust his hideouts and nab his accomplices. One of his hideouts was busted and some arms and ammunition were recovered at that time.

Jammu, November 29
Even as the Army claimed scanning of a forest area in Gujjar Jattain Dhar area of Poonch district to track down a group of militants believed to be five in number, the police said the operation was called off today. Last night, the Army troops had launched an operation in Gujjar Jattain Dhar area in which a sepoy, Rajvinder Singh, had sustained a bullet injury in his lower abdomen. The injured jawan was shifted to the garrison hospital in Udhampur.

But sources in the police said the operation was today called off. “The Army and the Special Operations Group had jointly launched the operation in which a soldier was injured in the brief exchange of fire last night, but it appears that the ultras have managed to escape,” said a senior police officer, on the conditions of anonymity.

Acting on a tip-off about the presence of five militants in Gujjar-Jattain Dhar forest belt of Mendhar tehsil, we had launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area last night, he said.

The ultras had fired on the troops who retaliated and in the brief exchange of fire one of our soldiers had sustained injuries, said the Army sources.

They, however, claimed that search operation was on to neutralise the ultras.

Jammu, November 29
A Hizbul Mujahideen militant surrendered to the security forces at Kalai in Poonch district today.

The militant surrendered to the Commanding Officer of 27 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion of the Romeo Force and SSP, Poonch, Manmohan Singh along with an AK-74 rifle, two magazines and 49 rounds of AK rifle.

Thirty-two-year-old Abdul Majeed, alias Farooq, who is married and has three children, had joined militancy in 2006. He belongs to Baramulla district and had crossed over to Poonch through the Pir Panjal range.

“Following sustained operations by the joint teams of the Romeo Force and the police, the terrorists have been on the run in Poonch and Rajouri districts,” said defence sources, attributing the surrender by the militant to constant pressure by the security forces on the militants.

The elimination of three hardcore top-rung LeT terrorists in Poonch by the Romeo Force and the SOG, Surankote, last week has created panic in the surviving militants, they added.

“Though fear of getting killed in an encounter is always there, other factors like family pressure, realisation of the futility of militant cause (taking innocent lives in violent activities) and an assurance of an honourable return to the national mainstream by the security forces motivated Abdul Majeed to surrender with his weapon and shun violence,” the sources said

Jammu, November 29
The Panun Kashmir headed by Dr Ajay Chrungoo today called upon the people of the nation to actively contest separatists’ campaigns anywhere and everywhere in the country.

While addressing a press conference here, Chrungoo expressed concern over the “campaign” started by the separatist forces to solicit support for their “seditious objectives” in different parts of the country.

He warned that any legitimacy accorded to the campaign of preaching and promoting sedition under the cover of freedom of expression would be disrupt the national unity.

The members of the Panun Kashmir said the separatists in the state were not fighting any battle of ideas but were essentially working to impose a religious hegemony to destroy the potential of a society for ideas and creativity. They added that the separatist ideology in the state had nothing to do with the principles of freedom.

“They are using the tolerance of a liberal society to perpetuate intolerance,” said Chrungoo. He added, “Separatism in the state is essentially a regressive campaign to destroy the freedom of people and create an Islamic state.”

Jammu, November 29
Dr Sudershan Kumar, Associate Professor-cum-Senior scientist, animal reproduction, gynaecology and obstetrics, the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), RS Pura, participated in an international symposium at Pantnagar,Uttarakhand, on November 12.

The three-day symposium that was held on biotechnologies for optimisation of reproductive efficiency of farm and companion animals to improve global food security and human health, started on November 10.

Dr Kumar presented his research paper on Bovine Infertility entitled “Comparative Efficacy of Immunomodulators for Endometritis in Cross-bred Cows”, in the symposium which was attended by at least 250 scientists from Belgium, Hungary, Afghanistan, and other parts of Asia.

Jammu,November 29
As a gesture of goodwill, the Army today repatriated a Pak youth via the Tattapani crossing point to Pakistan.

The youth, Faisal Mehboob, son of Mehboob Hussain, had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district on November 22.

As a gesture, he was handed over to Pakistan Army officials today,said an Army officer. While handing over the youth, the Army also gave gifts for his family.

Srinagar, November 29
The Srinagar-Leh National Highway, which was closed last week due to snowfall, was today reopened to allow stranded vehicles on either side of the Zojilla Pass, officials said.

The divisional administration of Kashmir has sought the help of the Border Roads Organisation, which maintains the only road link between the Ladakh region and the rest of the state, in clearing the snow from the road, the officials said.

They said the snow-clearance operation was completed yesterday and vehicles from Kargil were allowed to pass the Zojilla Pass, 107 km from here, towards Srinagar.

The officials said the passengers and vehicles stranded at Srinagar would be allowed to return to Kargil tomorrow if the weather permitted. — PTI