The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Pak again shells Indian posts, 2 BSF men hurt Shinde to visit forward areas on October 22 Ravi Krishnan Khajuria/TNS Jammu, October 18 At least two BSF personnel were injured after Pakistan Rangers opened heavy fire on eight forward posts and villages along the 191.5-km-long international border in the Samba and RS Pura sectors from 9 pm yesterday to 6 am today. This evening the Rangers again started pounding four Indian forward posts in Pargwal, RS Pura and Kanachak sectors of Jammu district. "We are responding to them in equal measure,” said a senior BSF officer. Pakistan troops also started firing on the Chajaman Gap post of the Army in the Balnoi sub-sector in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district, said an Intelligence source. However, the defence spokesperson was awaiting confirmation from the quarters concerned. The Rangers had yesterday shelled five Indian forward posts and villages in two sectors — RS Pura and Pargwal — injuring five villagers, including a woman and three children. “From 9 pm to this morning, they (Rangers) targeted eight of our posts - Paharpur and Pansar in Hiranagar, Suchetgarh in Samba and Jai Kishan, Jugnu Chak, Nawapind, Nikowal and Budhwar in RS Pura sector,” said a senior BSF officer. The Rangers used small arms fire, universal machine guns (UMGs), 82-mm mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) drawing an effective and strong retaliation from the BSF. “Two of our boys — constables Gagan Thakur and Hasda — were injured in Pakistani firing at Nikowal but they sustained minor wounds and are back on the job,” he said. “The situation is very tense on the border and we are alert to it,” he added. In the wake of the increased ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will visit forward areas along the international border on October 22 to review the security scenario. The BSF has the operational responsibility of the international border from Paharpur post on the J&K (Kathua)-Punjab border to the Chicken Neck area in Akhnoor subdivision. Ceasefire violations October 16: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire thrice in the Kamalkote forward area of Uri, Krishna Ghati and Bhimber Gali sub-sectors of Poonch district along the 744-km-long LoC and Mangu Chak and Khawada posts along the international border in Samba district targeting at least 31 Indian posts October 15: Lance Naik Mohammed Firoz Khan of 38 Rashtriya Rifles was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian forward posts in the Hamirpur-Balakote sub-sector in Poonch October 14: Pakistani troops had violated the ceasefire twice and resorted to firing in Poonch and Samba districts, leaving a BSF guard injured. Pak national held in Samba The BSF on Friday nabbed a Pakistan national in Ramgarh sub-sector of Samba district. "The Pak national has been identified as Afzal and we have recovered Rs 40 in Pakistani currency from him," said a BSF spokesperson. He is being subjected to questioning, said the spokesperson.
	LoC firing issue getting serious: CM Wants Centre to take up matter strongly with Pakistan Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 18 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today warned that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC), where a decade-old ceasefire has been shattered in recent months by a series of violations by Pakistani troops, is getting “serious”. Terming the ceasefire as the “most successful part of the peace process”, the Chief Minister said: “If this ceasefire breaks, it will be very difficult to contain it or to reinforce it.” Pointing out at the heavy firing by Pakistani forces along the border on Thursday, Omar said: “The way civilian areas were shelled yesterday, it does not seem their intentions are good.” “I would request the Government of India to take up the issue strongly with the Government of Pakistan,” he added. Pakistani troops opened heavy fire on at least five Indian forward posts and villages in the RS Pura and Pargwal sectors along the international border yesterday, injuring five villagers, including a woman and three children. “(I am) not able to understand, who is behind this and what is being thought while doing this,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function in here. Referring to the recent meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York, the Chief Minister said: “Recently, our Prime Minister and Pakistani Prime Minister met in New York. There they talked about ceasefire violations and it was decided that the Director General Military Operations (DGMOs) of both the countries will discuss the issue and find a solution. Instead of finding a solution, the issue is getting more serious.” Manmohan Singh had met Nawaz Sharif on September 29 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, and had insisted on restoration of peace on LoC as a precondition to move forward on the stalled peace process. Both the countries had agreed upon tasking the DGMOs of the two armies to chalk out a road-map to ensure effective enforcement of the ceasefire agreement along the LoC. Omar said New Delhi has already taken up the issue of ceasefire violations and now it depended on “how strongly” it is carried forward. “It is not like Government of India is ignoring the issue…we want the ceasefire to remain and people living in the vicinity of the border and the LoC to live comfortably. Today there is tension (along IB and LoC), which is not good for us,” Omar said. The ceasefire between India and Pakistan, along the LoC, is in danger, after a series of violations by Pakistani troops in recent months. The two neighbouring countries had agreed upon the ceasefire in November 2003. The Chief Minister, meanwhile, said Union Minister of Home Affairs Sushil Kumar Shinde will be visiting the region in “next two days” to review the situation along the international border (IB) and the LoC.
	Anti-Pak protests erupt in Jammu Tribune News Service Jammu, October 18 Anti-Pakistan demonstrations erupted in Jammu to protest against unprovoked firing by Pakistan army and Rangers yesterday in which several people including three children were injured in Pallanwala sector. Shiv Sena activists led by state president Ashok Gupta demanded a strong response from the Indian Army to the repeated violation of ceasefire by Pakistan on the LoC and the international border. "It is unfortunate that civilians are being targeted on the border and the UPA government is talking of peace. The Centre needs to understand that it is the poor people who are paying the price for weak policies of the leadership," said Gupta. "The recent attack in Samba has once again exposed Pakistan and its military; they deny every attack in India carried out by the terrorists, but secretly support such attacks to kill innocent people," he said. Workers of Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM), led by its president Sunil Dimple, opposed any talks with Pakistan till it closes down moral and material support to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. He appealed to the international community to declare Pakistan a terrorist country. He asked the Prime Minister to raise the issues of violation of ceasefire on the LoC, infiltration of militants and training camps in PoK. "For the last two decades, people of J&K have faced bloodshed at the hands of militants and there should be sustained crackdown against those who support militant groups," he said. For the last two days, the situation is tense on the borders and there is fear among the civilians that the Pakistan army has directly targeted civilian areas to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.
	Pak Rangers told to inflict casualties on BSF: Intel Ravi Krishnan Khajuria Tribune News Service Jammu, October 18 After the Border Security Force eliminated a couple of two Pakistan Rangers in retaliatory fire opposite RS Pura sector in Jammu yesterday, the top bosses on other side of the fence have ordered their men to take revenge and inflict casualties on the BSF. A top Intelligence source told The Tribune that following the killing of two Rangers in retaliatory fire of the BSF, an intercept revealed that a top officer of the Rangers asked his men to avenge the killings by neutralising 10 BSF men. “Yesterday, in the afternoon we intercepted the conversation in which a senior officer of the Rangers was heard ordering his formation commanders to avenge the killings of two Rangers by killing 10 BSF men,” he said. “That is why, there has been heavy firing along the 191.5-km-long international border, especially in the Hiranagar, Samba, RS Pura, Pargwal and Kanachak sectors,” the source added. The officer further said the heavy fire seems to be a well thought out plan of the Rangers to inflict casualties on the BSF and at the same time try to push ultras into the state. “Having failed to push ultras from the LoC, firing on international border seems to be a diversionary tactics,” he said. The source also said in the backdrop of heavy fire along the border, the BSF men have been taking all requisite precautions. “The Rangers are making tactical manoeuvres during night and so do the BSF,” he said. “Senior BSF officers are personally supervising the situation all along the international border and a fresh advisory has been issued to the formation commanders because the Rangers have been indulging into sniper fire before opening heavy fire on the BSF posts and villages,” the source revealed. He, however, added that the BSF men were now extra cautious to the sniper fire, as most of the times such fire cause casualty.
	Villagers in border areas fear they may get displaced again Ravi Krishnan Khajuria/TNS Najwal/Maljoda, October 18 A day after Pakistan pounded Indian forward posts and villages along the international border in the Pargwal sector of Akhnoor subdivision, fear was writ large on the faces of villagers in Najwal, Maljoda and Matkula, where normal life was thrown out of gear. “The shelling of this magnitude has happened after a decade. Yesterday, they (Pakistan Rangers) first opened small arms fire on our village for over three hours and then fired a mortar. The bullets whizzed past our houses,” said Prem Singh, a farmer in Najwal. “The fear of getting caught in Pakistani firing has again started haunting us,” he said while his wife Navital Devi added, “Today, we didn’t send our children to school and the BSF has also asked us not to go to our fields.” Pakistan has three posts Dera, Jangoora and Boor opposite Najwal, Maljoda and Matkula villages in India. The two-room decrepit house of Sham Lal of Najwal village, where an 82-mm mortar exploded yesterday, had blood stains and marks of splinters all over it. Sham Lal’s mother Melo Devi and his three children Rama Kumari (13), Asha Kumari (12) and Surjeet (12) had sustained splinter injuries. “A villager, Deepak Singh, took the injured in his car to Pargwal Hospital. The Pargwal police post in charge arrived at the village three hours after the incident,” said Risal Singh, Najwal’s naib sarpanch. Jameet Singh, a septuagenarian, lamented that no ambulance was kept in the village to meet any eventuality. Recalling the turn of events, Surekha Devi, who sustained an injury in the Pakistani firing at Maljoda, said she was working in a field when a bullet scraped her elbow. “Another farmer Bodh Raj, who was working in his field, rushed me to my house,” she said. Daleep Singh of Maljoda Village said, “Yesterday’s heavy firing on villages has scared us and we fear that we may get displaced again.” Intense Pakistani shelling before the ceasefire agreement between the two countries came into force in 2003 had uprooted hundreds of villagers from forward villages along the international border. Frightened by yesterday’s firing, minibus operators were not plying their vehicles today to the forward villages, Daleep said. Mohan Lal, a villager of Matkula, expressed regret that the state government had failed to provide them plots in safer zones.
	Rule of law paramount for democracy: Omar Three-day north zone regional judicial meet begins Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 18 The third north zone regional judicial conference on the “role of courts in upholding the rule of law” began in the city here today. The three-day conference being organised by the J&K High Court, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, and the J&K State Judicial Academy is being held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC). Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while speaking at the inaugural session of the conference equated the sustenance of rule of law with the sustenance of democracy, saying that the survival of the two depended on each other. Omar said the rule of law was paramount for democracy and could not thrive in a totalitarian system. The Chief Minister said the legislature, judiciary and the government had to jointly contribute to strengthening the rule of law. Chief Justice of the J&K High Court Justice M M Kumar while speaking at the conference said the rule of law was an idea which had been articulated in the Constitution more than 63 years ago. He said the declaration made in chapter three of the Constitution containing fundamental rights left no doubt that all men were created equal and that they were endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights which included life, liberty, justice and fraternity. “Freedom may be a gift from God but it necessarily requires to be secured on earth,” Justice Kumar said. “It is we the people of India who install the government which is for the people, by the people and of the people. Despite achieving great heights, the struggle to win freedom, justice and liberty still remains a distant dream for the teeming millions on account of their poverty, backwardness and lack of information about their own rights,” the Justice said. The judicial conference is aimed at unfolding the lacunas discovered while applying the principles of the rule of law. Referring to the objective of holding the conference, Justice Kumar said “we try to find solutions to the problems of high cost, delay and procedural bottlenecks” to make justice accessible to a larger number of people. Justice Kumar hoped that the conference would bring the administration of justice and the rule of law more close to the people of the region and provide inspiration to work tirelessly to achieve that objective.
	Niaz elected deputy legislature party leader Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, September 18 The Congress here today elected Mohammad Sharief Niaz, Member Legislative Assembly from Bhaderwah, as the deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Niaz was unanimously elected at a meeting of the party MLAs presided over by the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Saifuddin Soz. Except for Niaz and the Housing and Urban Development Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora, all other 15 MLAs of the party attended the meeting. Both of them were away in their respective constituencies, even as the newly elected leader arrived in the capital later this evening. “While Chaudhary Mohammad Aslam will continue to be the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Mohammad Sharief Niaz was unanimously elected as the deputy leader,” Soz told the Tribune after the meeting. He said Niaz was chosen as he was the senior most party MLA. A close relative of the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Niaz has been three-time MLA and a former minister. He stepped down as MLA Bhaderwah to pave the way for the election of Ghulam Nabi Azad to the Assembly after he took over as the Chief Minister in 2005. Niaz was the Minister for Power during the Congress-PDP coalition government. Niaz’s election as the deputy leader comes close on the heels of the entry of 15 new faces into the party. The party is, meanwhile, gearing up for the two events, one each in Srinagar and Jammu, for a formal entry of these leaders into the party fold after their names were recently announced. While the first event is being organised at the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters here on Sunday, the function to formally induct the members from the Jammu division will be held at the party headquarters in Jammu on Monday.
	Be ready with the contingency plan, says Deputy CM Jammu, October 18 In view of the recent firing along the international border in the Pargwal and RS Pura sectors of Jammu, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today asked the civil and police administration to be ready to deal with any eventuality. “The administration should be ready with contingency plan and all out efforts should be made to provide required aid to those injured in the inclement firing on the border,” DyCM said while addressing a public meeting in Pargwal village today. The meeting among others was attended by senior civil and police officers and panches and sarpanches. Tara Chand directed the concerned civil and police officers to be stationed in their areas and maintain close liaison with the BSF and the Army, so as to build confidence among the villagers and to promptly attend to any untoward incident in the area. Responding to the problems projected by the people, the Minister issued directions for ensuring round-the-clock availability of doctors and paramedical staff in the health centre, besides setting up of a mobile veterinary unit. Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister after arriving from Delhi drove straight way to the Government Medical College here and enquired about the health of those injured in yesterday’s firing. — TNS
	Sarang show leaves Srinagar spellbound Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 18 It was a treat for the audience, as the Sarang acrobatic team of the Indian Air Force (IAF), led by Wing Commander Ravi Pathak, performed at the Air Force Station, Srinagar, today. Chief Minister Omar Abdulllah was the chief guest on the occasion. The show was also attended by the senior Army and police officers. Air Commodore B Balachandran, Air Officer Commanding and personnel of Air Force Station, Srinagar, were also present during the function. The dignitaries complemented the acrobatic team for the powerful performance. Speaking on the sidelines of the function, Air Commodore Balachandran said the Indian Air Force has always assisted the government during any crisis. “Whenever we are directed for any assistance, we are always ready,” he said. The Air Commodore said the Air Force was also helping the Army in different operations through various means.
	3-day judicial meet begins Srinagar, October 18 The third north zone regional judicial conference on the “role of courts in upholding the rule of law” began in the city here today. The three-day conference being organised by the J&K High Court, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, and the J&K State Judicial Academy is being held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC). Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while speaking at the inaugural session of the conference equated the sustenance of rule of law with the sustenance of democracy, saying that the survival of the two depended on each other. Omar said the rule of law was paramount for democracy and could not thrive in a totalitarian system. The Chief Minister said the legislature, judiciary and the government had to jointly contribute to strengthening the rule of law. — TNS