Farooq for status quo on Kashmir
NEW DELHI, Dec 12 — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today asserted that the only solution to the Kashmir problem would be through observance of territorial status quo by India and Pakistan.

• Cong seeks action against Farooq

Militants gun down NC block chief
SRINAGAR, Dec 12 — Three persons, including a block president of the National Conference, have been killed in separate incidents of militancy in Kashmir since yesterday while the security forces have apprehended five militants and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition during search operations.

Troops damage over six Pak bunkers
JAMMU, Dec 12 — Indian troops have foiled a Pak plan of capturing defence posts in the Keran sector, west of Srinagar, when in their retaliatory fire they damaged more than six Pakistani bunkers in the past 24 hours.

Farooq for status quo on Kashmir

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (PTI) — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today asserted that the only solution to the Kashmir problem would be through observance of territorial status quo by India and Pakistan.

"Let us hold on to what we have in Jammu and Kashmir. Let them (Pakistan) hold on to what they have. Let us forget the past to ensure peace and stability in the region,’’ he said at the concluding session of an international conference on "Terrorism: Threat to the 21st Century" here.

Dr Abdullah said a solution has to be found to the Kashmir problem, which not only threatened peace and stability in the region but also crippled development process, through true discussion and not through war.

Citing the example of German unification, he said if capitalists and communists could come together "why cannot India and Pakistan do it.’’

He said the menace of terrorism in the region must be wiped out as it caused sufferings to the people. "Terrorism will die when the two hearts will meet,’’ he said.

The huge money spent by Pakistan in sponsoring terrorism and that by India in countering it could be utilised for development purposes and for providing education, health care and other facilities to their people, he said.

Dr Abdullah said it would be tough to eliminate state-sponsored terrorism since a number of countries which are behind the menace would always try to obstruct initiatives regarding peace and stability.

He said a number of countries manufacturing arms and ammunition have been earning a lot by selling their products to terrorist outfits in various parts of the world.

Referring to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, he said many terrorist elements sent by Islamabad have found sanctuaries even in Nepal.

Pakistan should realise that it would never be able to acquire even an inch of Jammu and Kashmir by sponsoring terrorist activities, he said, adding that whenever skirmishes take place between two countries, Muslims in India suffer.

Terrorism can be wiped out and peace established only through positive political will on the part of the leaders to save mankind from destruction.

The two-day conference was organised by the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies.

Congress seeks action against Farooq
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 12 — The Congress Legislative Party Chief Whip (J&K), Mr Ashok Kumar Sharma has urged upon Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to fulfil his commitment made in the last assembly session to appoint class IV employees from the block level.

In a statement issued here today the Congress leader said 80 per cent population lived in the rural areas and only 20 per cent lived in the urban areas and as such the distribution of resources should be proportional.

Mr Sharma added that the government move to recruit class IV employees from out of the blocks after the statement of the Chief Minister was against the principles of governance. He urged upon the Speaker to initiate proceedings of the breach of privilege of the House against the Chief Minister, the ministers concerned and heads of department.

Army resents lack of link roads
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 12 — "In the absence of link roads we have to move on our legs for carrying out operations against the militants in the alpine forest belts of Rajouri, Udhampur and Poonch", remarked a senior Army officer supervising operation "seek and destroy" in the three districts.

To him troops operating in the two border districts of Poonch and Rajouri have enough manpower and weapons but rugged and rough terrain has made the Army operations against the insurgents a "difficult task". "We launched the operations in the first week of November and have achieved results. But these operations have been slow," say Defence Ministry sources.

With the deployment of three additional brigades the Army has eliminated 53 militants, most of them foreign mercenaries in the Rajouri-Udhampur-Poonch belt in the past 45 days. The sources treat it a significant achievement as the troops cannot raid militant hideouts in one go. Due to the difficult terrain and in the absence of motorable roads the troops have to march and scale mountains, which are between 9,000 feet and 12,000 feet high and it takes anything between eight hours and three days. As such, the operations are slow and in certain cases fruitless because by the time the troops reach the hideouts, militants get enough time to escape.

Sources say that during recent civil-military liaison conference the Army authorities drew the attention of the civil administration towards the absence of link roads. The state authorities have been informed specifically about the need for linking Poonch and Rajouri district headquarters with tehsil and block headquarters and, in this connection, specific mention was made regarding the pitiable condition of road arteries.

The sources said since the Army did not want civilians to be killed nor harassed, a "go slow" strategy had been adopted and specific operations against the militant hideouts were being carried out. Earlier, the security forces used to cordon off village or a locality and carry out identification parades which would invariably invite the displeasure of people. At certain places the security forces would bring down passengers from the buses and carry them along while undertaking road opening exercise to keep the roads free of IED explosives.

Of late the Army has been attacking a hideout only after they receive specific information. The result has been that against the killing of 53 militants only two civilians lost their lives, one in a grenade explosion and another in the crossfire. This has prompted a large number of people in Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur to help the Army in providing them information about the militant plans and their hideouts.

Though the Army has taken several measures for strengthening the intelligence agencies belonging to the police, the BSF, they continue to bank on the cooperation of the locals. The Army authorities are not ready to accept as true reports that large groups of foreign mercenaries are camping in Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur. There are indications that the number of militants in these areas has swelled in the past six months which has been the main reason for spurt in the militancy related incidents. However, the Army authorities are of the view that not more than 250 hardcore militants are active in the three belts.

They say that judged by the difficult terrain and the guerrilla tactics adopted by the insurgents "it is not possible to finish insurgency in one night. "When we have seen that militants are on the run, it is not wise to chase them and kill them because in such exercise there is the danger of civilian casualties. We went to avoid it," said senior army functionaries.

They expect the state administration to step in by way of building roads, school buildings and by augmenting the work on different development projects. As these functions are minimal in the region there is an impression that people feel disillusioned. This has to be tackled effectively and once people feel the benefit of development works, they will gladly cooperate with the security forces in the "seek and destroy operation".

The Army authorities are optimistic about the return of normalcy and peace in the disturbed areas of Jammu region soon provided the state government increased the tempo of development work.

Militants gun down NC block chief
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Dec 12 — Three persons, including a block president of the National Conference, have been killed in separate incidents of militancy in Kashmir since yesterday while the security forces have apprehended five militants and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition during search operations.

The police here said that suspected militants intruded into the house of a National Conference block president, Mohammad Ramzan Wani, today. The militants opened fire on the inmates injuring Mohammad Ramzan Wani. He died while being shifted to hospital.

In a similar incident, militants intruded into the house of Mohammad Maqbool Shah at Arabal, Dooru in Anantnag district. They opened fire on the inmates, killing Mohammad Maqbool Shah on the spot and injured his son. He is reported to have been president of the local Beopar Mandal.

A jawan of the security forces was killed when militants opened fire on a patrol party at Mattan Chowk in Anantnag town yesterday. The jawan died while being shifted to hospital.

Militants shot at and injured Abdul Hamid Bhat at Ziarat Batamaloo here last evening. He is reported to be a released militant.

A mine planted by militants exploded near a filling station in Bandipore yesterday. However, there was no damage, the police said.

Two militants surrendered before the security forces in Kupwara district. Two rifles, some magazines and 80 rounds of ammunition were recovered. Another militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba surrendered in the Kokernag area of Anantnag district yesterday.

The Jammu and Kashmir police apprehended three suspects from the Hangalgund area of Kokernag in Anantnag district. The security forces apprehended two militants of Al-Umar Mujahideen outfit from Srinagar. They have been identified as Bilal Ahmad Beigh, alias Babloo, and Aamir Khan, alias Usman. One pistol, a magazine, six rounds of ammunition, three rifle grenades, one hand grenade, a detonator and 1.5 kg of explosives were recovered, the police said.

The security forces recovered a hand grenade and 60 rounds of AK ammunition from Kupwara.

Troops damage over six Pak bunkers
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 12 — Indian troops have foiled a Pak plan of capturing defence posts in the Keran sector, west of Srinagar, when in their retaliatory fire they damaged more than six Pakistani bunkers in the past 24 hours.

Official sources said Pak troops had been pounding Indian hamlets in the Keran sector with mortar and artillery shells since yesterday. There was no damage on the Indian side except that about 200 persons fled to safer places.

As the Pak firing continued for several hours Indian border guards hit back with medium-range gun fire in which over six Pak bunkers were damaged. Reports reaching here said an unspecified number of Pak soldiers were injured.

The sources said firing from across the border which stopped during the night resumed early in the morning.

According to these sources, the Pak troops resorted to unprovoked firing on the Indian pickets and villages providing fire cover to militants who were to be pushed into Kashmir and to avenge the loss of two posts and killing of seven Pak soldiers in the Indian retaliatory fire across Bijehama in the Uri sector on December 3.

Reports said Indian troops all along the Line of Actual Control had been directed to take strict measures for silencing Pak guns to frustrate Pak plan of carving out fresh infiltration routes for the militants.