Srinagar, December 8
An Army Captain and a militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit were killed in an encounter which began in the Sopore area of Baramulla district yesterday.

According to information, after getting information about the presence of militants in a house, the police and the security forces launched a search operation in Model Town of Sopore last evening.Three security force personnel, including a Captain and two policemen, were injured in the ensuing encounter.

The joint operation launched by the police, the 179 Bn of the CRPF and the 22 RR, was suspended late in the evening due to darkness. It was resumed early today.A fierce encounter took place between a militant holed up in a house and the security forces, resulting in the killing of the ultra,Abdullah, of the Lashkar-e-Toiba,belonging to Lahore.

The injured Captain,who was shifted to hospital here last night succumbed to his injuries this morning. The house was also damaged in the gunbattle.

Following the encounter, demonstrations were held in the Chhanakhan area of Sopore, officials said. According to the police, some miscreants resorted to stone throwing on the security forces in the Chhnakhan, main town and bus stand areas of Sopore.

The police, however, exercised restraint and chased away the protesters. There were no reports of any injuries.Demonstrations were also held in the Palhalan area near Pattan in Baramulla district after one person was injured in police action in the village today.

The district headquarters town of Baramulla also witnessed protests for the second consecutive day today against the death of a youth, Zahoor Ahmad Dar,in SKIMS Hospital here yesterday.

In a related development, the DIG, South Kashmir range, interacted with 400 released youths and their guardians at Police Lines in Anantnag today.

The DIG urged them not to play into the hands of anti-social and anti-national elements.The DIG added that a programme for counselling stone -throwing youth by a team of officers would be taken up soon.

Jammu, December 8
In the wake of the terror attack in Varanasi yesterday, the Jammu and Kashmir police has sounded an alert all over the state.

“Yes, an alert has been sounded in the state and security tightened,” IG, Jammu region, Ashok Kumar Gupta, told The Tribune. “Though from time-to-time we review security, in the wake of the Varanasi terror attack, the police has been put on a high alert, he added.

“Though we never came across sleeper cells of the Indian Mujahideen (which has claimed the responsibility for the Varanasi blast) in the state, the possibility of youth from Kashmir, who do petty jobs outside the state, having an association with the Lashkar-backed terror group cannot be ruled out,” sources in the counter-insurgency wing of the state police told The Tribune.

Terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir never used the word “Indian” in their nomenclature, but at the same time, the Indian Mujahideen also enjoyed the backing of Pakistan-based LeT, they added.

While security had been tightened, the sources expressed concern over the presence of a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar in various slums in the Jammu region.

“Though such illegal migrants reach the Vijaypur, Bari-Brahmana and Kanachak areas here in groups to cross over to Pakistan, they can be easily motivated for terror activities,” said a counter-insurgency officer.

“Of course, they were a cause of concern for us because being poor and foreigners, they could be lured into terror activities in lieu of money”, he added.

“In fact, backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), another terror outfit, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HUJI), which has a strong base in Bangladesh, pushes Bangladeshis into Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to use them as couriers,” the officer said.

Sources in the district administration here revealed that such illegal migrants, who worked as labourers in industrial areas and performed other petty jobs, had settled in various clusters in and around the winter capital.

It may be stated here that last year, the state police had sanitised industrial areas in Kathua, Samba, Bari-Brahmana, Gangyal and Udhampur areas of the Jammu region.

Jammu/Srinagar, December 8
The war of words has intensified between the two coalition partners, National Conference (NC) and the Congress, over the remarks of Minister for Health and Horticulture Sham Lal Sharma regarding discrimination against the Jammu and Ladakh regions.

Interacting with mediapersons after attending a school function here this afternoon, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “As far as the minister’s statement is concerned, due notice has been taken of it.” Obviously, referring to the Congress high command, he said the appropriate authorities had been sounded about the minister’s statement as well as the contents of his speech delivered at Bani. “If deemed, action will be taken in this regard,” he added.

Sham Lal, on the other hand, shifted all blame on Mustafa Kamal, a senior NC leader and brother of Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah. He said, “My outburst was in response to the venom being spit by Mustafa Kamal. I and many others in the Congress have been feeling concerned over some NC leaders freely criticising the Congress, particularly the Congress high command.”

Meanwhile, describing the recent statement of Congress leader and Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma regarding discrimination against Jammu and Ladakh as “unfortunate”, the National Conference (NC) here today asked responsible elements to exercise restraint for the smooth functioning of the coalition government.

An NC spokesman reaffirmed that the coalition government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was running smoothly and working for the welfare of people of the state. “The NC leadership has time and again reiterated its gratitude to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the support extended by the Congress high command in the running of the coalition in the state. The party is committed to the smooth functioning of the coalition,” he said.

The spokesman said Sharma had attempted to link his remarks to an earlier statement of a senior NC leader, Mustafa Kamal, who is younger brother of the NC president and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah. He pointed out that Kamal never made any remark or statement challenging the integrity of the state and was admonished publicly by Farooq Abdullah at Hazratbal on December 5 for making certain remarks about the Congress-NC relationship in the past.

The spokesman said Farooq had categorically told Kamal not to make any statement on the historical perspective of the relationship between the two parties in the larger interest of the smooth functioning of the coalition government and the welfare of the state.

He said the content and the context of the statement of the Health Minister was a matter of deliberation and discussion by the Congress high command and the NC had refrained from commenting on the controversial speech. The linking of the remarks with the NC or its leadership was absolutely unwarranted and uncalled for. Meanwhile, asking the government to come clean on the Congress minister’s remarks, MLA, Langate, Sheikh Rasheed has said the Chief Minister’s assertion that these were the minister’s ‘personal views’ was unsatisfactory.

Jammu, December 8
To lodge a protest against the failure of the government to provide seed and fertilisers to the farmers, BJP activists today tried to gherao Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir during his visit to the border town of RS Pura.

The BJP activists, who had gathered on the road, intercepted the minister when he was moving towards Chakroi in RS Pura. The minister listened to the grievances of the agitating BJP activists and assured them that adequate fertilisers would be supplied. He said already 300 quintals of additional fertiliser had been supplied this year to meet the demands of the farmers.

Though the BJP activists tried to block the road, they were not allowed to the do so. After the departure of the minister, the BJP activists resorted to shouting slogans against the government for its anti-farmers’ policies.

Later Mir visited the Seed Multiplication Farm here and took stock of the production and functioning of the farm. Spread over 761 acres, the farm produces breeder, foundation and certified seeds for multiplication and propagation.

The minister also visited the Potato Seed Development Farm at Kotli Mian Fateh in Bishnah. The 19-acre farm caters to the potato seed requirement of Jammu province.

On the occasion, the minister impressed upon the officers of the Agriculture Department to make an optimum use of land resources at these farms and adopt the latest farming practises to increase the yield. He specifically stressed on the adoption of organic manures, tissue culture and multiple cropping.

The minister was informed that the Kotli Mian Fateh farm was established to multiply potato seed varieties for subtropical areas under the Seed Plot Technique. He was told that the breeder seeds were multiplied at the farm for onward propagation. The multi variety seed farm at Chakroi was developed to multiply seeds in paddy, wheat, maize etc. for propagation as breeder seeds, foundation seeds and certified seeds.

Srinagar, December 8
Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla said here today the state government had initiated various measures for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.

Speaking at a meeting of revenue officers, he said residential quarters for them had been constructed at Sheikhpora (Budgam), Mattan (Anantnag), Veesu, Qazigund and Hall in Pulwama district.Bhalla said quarters would also be constructed at other places, and added a special employment package had been sanctioned for the educated Kashmiri Pandit youth under which 6000 would be provided employment in various government departments.

Bhalla said 1706 youth had already been given appointment letters.

The minister said 628 youth would be posted in Anantnag 164 in Srinagar, 175 in Baramulla, 201 in Kupwara, 135 in Pulwama, 111 in Budgam, 93 in Shopain, 38 in Ganderbal, nine in Bandipora and 141 in Kulgam districts.

Bhalla said the people of Kashmir had always upheld the traditions of communal amity and ideals of secularism. He said Valley residents were eagerly waiting for the return of their Kashmir Pandit brethren.

The minister stressed the need for filling vacant posts in the Revenue Department through recruitment agencies and DPCs for the smooth functioning of the department. He also disclosed that Rs 156.79 crore was released for disbursement among the farmers whose crops had been damaged due to recent hailstorm and rain.

He informed the department had launched a campaign to revamp the revenue infrastructure with the construction of office buildings for patwar khanas and niabats offices, SDM and Deputy Commissioners’ office complexes, a modern record room, residential quarters and the repair and renovation of the existing revenue building.

Jammu, December 8
Applauding two members of the State Finance Commission for expressing their dissent over the findings and recommendations of the Commission, the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) yesterday said the chairman of the panel acted in a biased and prejudicial manner by not incorporating ground realities in the report.

Addressing a press conference here, JSM leaders congratulated Swami Raj Sharma and Sonam Dawa, members representing the Jammu and Ladakh regions in the panel, for highlighting the discrimination against their regions and shooting off letters about their findings to the Chief Minister and all Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary and the Commissioner, Secretary, Finance, after chairman of the Commission, Mehmood-ur-Rehman, refused to accommodate their findings in the Finance Commission Report.

“The Chairman has overruled the findings and recommendations of these two members by casting a vote that he was not empowered under the J&K Finance Commission Act,” the JSM said.

It is important to mention here that the State Finance Commission was constituted to accommodate the aspirations of all regions of the state so to allot equal funds to all regions.

In their findings these members the Jammu and Ladakh regions were being discriminated against in all matters of development and allocation of funds right from the early fifties, as no rational criteria was adopted for the same.

“The Chairman of the Commission has exceeded his jurisdiction and acted in a prejudicial and biased manner. The Commission has utterly failed in its objective of ensuring equitable development of all regions of the state,” JSM leaders said, adding “The Commission, which was appointed to suggest ways and means of distribution of funds to meet the grievances of the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions, has unfortunately itself adopted the discriminative policy of the state government against these regions, thus perpetuating the injustice on the people”.

The JSM welcomed the recommendations of Swami Raj Sharma and Sonam Dawa that separate Autonomous Regional Development Boards for the three regions must be constituted in order to make the planning process more effective and people-friendly.

It also welcomed the recommendation that Ladakh be declared as a third region or division of the state with a separate post of Divisional Commissioner and some heads of the departments for key sectors. Meanwhile, the Citizens’ Forum, too, has hailed the action of the two members of the Commission. In a press statement issued here yesterday, forum president RK Chadha said it had been demanding for separate Autonomous Regional Development Boards so that none of the regions had any reason to complain.

Jammu, December 8
A joint delegation of the JKRTI Movement and the Sangharsh RTI Movement met Governor N N Vohra here today and submitted a memorandum of their demands.

The demands included the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners in the state without further delay; imparting training and awareness to Public Information Officers and Assistant Public Information Officers designated by the state government; reducing the application fee for seeking information under the Act; inclusion of the RTI Act in the academic curriculum at the school, college and university levels; publishing the Act in Urdu and Hindi languages and the protection of the RTI applicants.

Other demands highlighted by them included pro-active disclosure of information by all public authorities.

The Governor observed that while he would discuss their demands with the Chief Minister, they must continue their activism with zeal and honesty. The RTI activists comprised the Convener, Sangharsh, Balvinder Singh, Raman Sharma, Ayaz Mughal and advocate Nadeem Qadri.

Meanwhile, another deputation of the Freedom Fighters’ Association called on the Governor and submitted a memorandum of demands.

The deputation led by the president of the association, Atma Ram Sharma, demanded that their monthly pension be enhanced.

The Governor gave a patient hearing to the freedom fighters and assured that he would take up their demands with the government.

Jammu, December 8
The Poonch police today claimed to have solved a mysterious murder case within 36 hours of the crime by arresting a woman along with her paramours, who were involved in the killing of an elderly man on the intervening night of December 5 and 6.

A police spokesman said a report was lodged by Sultan Mohammed of Chaprian Sawjian, a nephew of the deceased, that his paternal uncle, Amir Din, had been murdered by someone during the intervening night of December 5 and 6. The police learnt through reliable sources that the wife of the deceased, namely, Zainab Bi, alias Munni had developed illicit relations with a neighbour, namely, Mohammed Ashraf Bhatt, a tailor, and she also had illicit relations with another person, namely, Moulvi Noor Din Sheikh of the same village in the past. The police swung into action and picked up the woman for questioning. During interrogation, she broke down and confessed her crime.