Three militants killed in Anantnag

SRINAGAR, Dec 27 (PTI) — Three militants, including a self-styled battalion commander of Harkat-ul-Ansar and an Afghan national, were killed, while four ultras were arrested and one surrendered in Kashmir valley since yesterday.

Certain militants damaged one electric transmission tower and attacked the house of a surrendered militant, an official spokesman said today.

The three militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Bijbehara village in Anantnag district last evening. They were identified as Rahil Ahmed, self-styled battalion commander of Harkat-ul-Ansar hailing from Muzafferabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Afghan national Sadam Hussain and Ghulam Mohammad, a local militant, the spokesman said.

Three AK rifles and a wireless set were recovered from them, he added.

The spokesman said four militants, including a self-styled district commander and section commander of an extremist outfit, were arrested from a hide-out in Srinagar and a rifle, two magazines, 42 rounds of ammunition, two improvised explosive devices and a grenade recovered from them.

He added that one Pak-trained militant surrendered before the security forces in Baramulla yesterday and handed over a pistol and some ammunition to the authorities.

Militants blasted a bomb at Mir Bazaar-Qazigund on the Jammu and Kashmir national highway and damaged an electric transmission tower yesterday.

According to the State Power Controller, the transmission tower of 132-kv line was supplying 100 mw of power to the valley and the power supply in the region would remain affected till its repair, he said.

Meanwhile, a major tragedy was averted when the security forces recovered and defused one solar-activated device from the busy city chowk in Rajouri district of the Jammu region today.

The spokesman said militants fired at the house of surrendered militant Ghulam Nabi Jan at Machhama-Tral in Polwama district last night but police guards deployed there returned the fire and foiled the attack.

The Security forces raided and destroyed two militant hide-outs at Surmarg-Ladurnar and Kalaroos in the frontier district of Kupwara last night, the spokesman said, adding that a rifle, nine rockets, five rocket boosters, 20 detonators, two hand grenades, 1500 kg of ration items and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered.

Call to promote religious tolerance
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 27 — A five-day all-India inter-university national integration youth camp opened here today with a call to the youth in particular and the people in general to promote religious tolerance and respect for multi-ethnic, cultural and linguistic society which alone could foil the machinations of the destabilising forces from across the border.

Participants in the jampacked university auditorium gave a standing ovation to the Tibetan spiritual supremo, the Dalai Lama, when he entered the hall for opening the camp. He, along with intellectuals and ministers, lit a lamp which they said was the lamp of India's unity in diversity.

When the Dalai Lama rose to speak he wanted to know from the participants, drawn from various states in the country, whether they would like to listen to his speech in "broken English" or in translated version. Participants wanted the spiritual leader to speak in English. He began his speech in the Tibetan language and immediately someone in the audience was on his feet saying, "Sir we want you to speak in broken English." The Dalai Lama give a smile and said, "I will do so. I open my speech in my language. It is a formality I have to fulfil." There was a thunderous applause from the audience.

The Dalai Lama had a dig at Indian politicians saying that they talked and thought about their states. "When they get power, they think of their families," he said adding that they do not know that if the country "suffers, the states too will suffer. If the states suffer, families will suffer."

He wanted the politicians to think about global problems and issues. India, he said, was no doubt a self-sufficient country but it needed a lot of material from other countries. Other countries, too, required some materials from India and as such no country could exist in "isolation".

While referring to the gap between the rich and the poor and between the developed countries and the underdeveloped or developing nations, the Dalai Lama said "the gap is morally wrong." He suggested to countries across the globe to remove this gap which had been the result of geographic, climatic and economic factors. Countries which had suitable geographic and climatic conditions produced more agricultural and industrial products allowing them to be rich.

Year roundup

NC govt's claims 'hollow'
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Dec 27 — While the previous governments in the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir made claims of curbing militancy at the end of every year, the National Conference government, in spite of its tall claims on various fronts, has very little to console the common man in Kashmir.

After completing 25 months in office, the Farooq Abdullah government published a plethora of "achievements", "despite continuing proxy war and other constraints". Even as militancy is reportedly raising its head again, the State has throughout the year faced financial constraints, thereby curtailing the long-awaited process of reconstruction of damaged structures, employment generation, putting back on rails the education system and the overall development process. Corruption, favouritism and nepotism have been the most common practices adopted by the National Conference government during the year. In spite of the "achievements" made by the government after completing two years in October, the people have disqualified the claims made by the government. The selective killings of National Conference activists at the hands of militants across the valley during the recent months has also unnerved the party. Militancy also seems to be rising in the Jammu region. This is despite the claims of the Central and State governments regarding "lack of local support to militancy" in Kashmir.

"This and much more we did despite the continuing proxy war and other constraints", states every list of achievements issued by the government in these two years. It says: "We are determined to do more in the coming years and steer the State to new heights of development and progress with the continued cooperation of the people", adding that there was a decline of 23 per cent in militancy-related incidents during the past two years as compared to the previous two years. However, there has been an increase in militancy-related incidents, in which mostly foreigners have been killed. Foreign militants have made it to the Capital city during the recent months, which has raised eyebrows in security circles. At least four such fierce encounters with foreign militants have taken place during the past two months, the last one resulted in the killing of four foreign militants and a local militant at Qamarwari on Thursday. "Overall situation in Kashmir is more relaxed and comparatively normal today than two years ago", says the government, but it is coupled with unabated searches and encounters in rural areas, where people are subjected to search operations and identification parades. There seems to be no respite to them.

Not much has been achieved in the reconstruction of damaged bridges and government and school buildings. Out of a total of 412 bridges, only 71 have been reconstructed, while work is going on at 87 such bridges. In the education sector, while the state government claims to have put it back on the rails, most schools lack buildings. Only 466 school buildings have been completed while work on 171 is going on. This is out of nearly 900 structures damaged during militancy.

New organisation in Jammu formed
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 27 — A new organisation, Jammu United Forum (JUF), was formed here today to see the implementation of its 18-point programme. It is headed by Mr Bansi Lal Gupta, a newspaper owner, and has a 12-member team.

Mr Gupta told newspersons here today that the misuse of funds by politicians, their failure to fulfil their commitments and promises and growing unemployment, poverty and electricity and drinking water crises had forced him and a group of intellectuals and industrialists to float a new organisation which would campaign against the political, social and economic maladies.

Its aim was to revive all sick industrial units, seek strict enforcement of rules for recovery of tax arrears from big houses, relief from electricity load shedding and the introduction of crop-insurance scheme.

He said the JUF would also campaign for giving jobs to unemployed youths, release of dearness allowance in favour of employees from time to time. It would force the authorities concerned to increased Assembly seats in the Jammu region by 15 and the Lok Sabha seats by two in view of the area and the increase in the population.