Panthers Party holds talks with Congress
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party is holding talks with the Congress for possible seat sharing in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll in the state, National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh said today.

Bofors gun proved its mettle: Army
JAMMU, Aug 1 — The Bofors gun was the weapon most extensively used in Operation Vijay and it has proved its efficacy and efficiency in the limited war in Kargil, the Army said today.

"80 per cent land-mine victims are civilians"
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — As many as 26,000 persons are killed or wounded by land-mines every year of which 80 per cent are civilians, including children.

Plan to disrupt ID function foiled
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — With timely recovery of 10 powerful improvised explosive devices from a militant hideout here yesterday, the Border Security Force has succeeded in thwarting militants’ plan to disrupt the forthcoming Independence Day functions in the state capital, a senior BSF official said here today.

PDP to announce candidates on Aug 6
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The newly-formed Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party will announce its candidates for all six parliamentary constituencies in the state on Friday, party President Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said.

Old Secretariat building gutted
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — Offices of the Sales Tax Commissioner, State Life Insurance, Deputy Director Accounts and Treasury and Printing were destroyed in a big blaze that destroyed a building at the old secretariat yesterday, a Fire Services spokesman said today.

Panthers Party holds talks with Congress

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 (PTI) — The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) is holding talks with the Congress for possible seat sharing in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll in the state, National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh said today.

The party’s working committee will meet at Udhampur on Tuesday to decide about participation in the elections and alliance with secular parties, he told newsman here.

Mr Bhim Singh, who was here in connection with a three-day national integration camp at Pahalgam, demanded installation of a "neutral" government in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure free and fair elections claiming a majority of the people had lost faith in the present National Conference (NC) government.

Without demanding dismissal of the Farooq government, he said the Governor under the Constitution could replace the present regime by an all-party government in the state to restore the "shaken confidence" of the people in democracy and democratic norms.

He alleged that the ruling parties at the Centre and the state had entered into an "unholy marriage" to deny voting rights to the "unregistered migrants" in the state in the coming elections.

As many as 1 lakh persons from Jammu-Poonch constituency, more than 20,000 voters in Kargil and 20 per cent voters from Udhampur-Doda constituency, who had migrated due to Pakistani shelling and firing, had not even been registered and would be denied voting rights unlike other migrants who had been registered.

Bofors gun proved its mettle: Army

JAMMU, Aug 1 (PTI) — The Bofors gun was the weapon most extensively used in Operation Vijay and it has proved its efficacy and efficiency in the limited war in Kargil, the Army said today.

Keeping these guns and other equipment serviceable was a Herculean task for the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME), and as spares were available only in limited quantities for the Bofors guns due to the ban on the original equipment manufacturer, the entire maintenance was done through "cannibalisation", a Defence spokesman said here.

The wear and tear was pronounced due to the effectiveness of the weapon system and the recycling of defective guns in the shortest time was critical, spokesman Lieut-Col S.P.K. Singh said in a brief from Northern Command Headquaters at Udhampur, 66 km from here.

Naib Subedar Nageshwar Mahto of the EME sacrificed his life while repairing a Bofors gun in the Dras sector as defects in the gun needed to be repaired at the gun positions, he said.

The tyres of the gun and scannia (used for towing the gun) cost Rs 2 lakh each in foreign exchange and a gun with damaged tyre is immobile and cannot fire as the recoil shock of the weapon cannot be absorbed by these tubeless tyres, he said.

The spokesman said technicians of the EME also maintained Army aviation helicopters, which were critical during Operation Vijay.

The task was extremely difficult due to paucity of critical spares, he said, adding these flying machines were old and occasionally some parts were required to be worked at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and then recycled.

The flying operations stressed the machine due to the operations at high altitude and hits by enemy fire and the "downtime" of a machine for maintenance and repair was reduced in terms of time by over 300 per cent in spite of the lack of spares and recycling of parts which was a challenge for the EME, the spokesman said.

EME tradesman operated with the Infantry Units to ensure the serviceability and restore user confidence in its firing capability, he said, and added Kamlesh Singh and Sheshnath Singh Yadav died while ensuing the serviceability of missile launchers during the capture of Tololing.

"80 per cent land-mine victims are civilians"

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 (PTI) — As many as 26,000 persons are killed or wounded by land-mines every year of which 80 per cent are civilians, including children.

Even as nations are spending huge sums of money on anti-personnel mine victims, an estimated 110 million land-mines are at present deployed in 70 countries, particularly in the developing world, a paper read out on effects of land-mines on humanity and environment during the 18th regional conference of the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday.

Besides the loss to human beings, anti-personnel mines rendered large tracts of land useless for farming and grazing, the paper said.

The conference, organised by the Global Green Peace Kashmir and the Indian Institute of Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection, was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, P.L. Handoo and the First Secretary to the High Commission of Canada in Delhi.

"If the use of anti-personnel mines are stopped tomorrow, at the current rate it would take 1100 years to clear the mines already planted around the world", it said.

The worst-affected areas are Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Iraq, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam.

The organisers said the conference attended by a large number of students, was aimed at generating awareness about the hazardous effects of anti-personnel mines on humanity and the environment.

Plan to disrupt ID function foiled
10 IEDs seized

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 (PTI) — With timely recovery of 10 powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from a militant hideout here yesterday, the Border Security Force (BSF) has succeeded in thwarting militants’ plan to disrupt the forthcoming Independence Day functions in the state capital, a senior BSF official said here today.

"The aim of the militants was to plant these IEDs at various places in Srinagar to create panic and also to cause harm to security forces,’’ BSF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) B N Kabu said.

Mr Kabu told reporters at the headquarters of 100 battalion of the BSF at Soura on the city’s outskirts where the IEDs along with a remote control, five electronic timer circuits and 10 electronic detonators have been put on display, that the devices were seized from a militant hideout at Anchar Lake near Soura following specific information by the Yousmarg team of the BSF intelligence.

Acting on the specific information, a BSF party raided the militant hideout late last night and recovered the 10 prepared IEDs along with other accessories, the BSF official said.

Terming the seizure as a "major achievement", the DIG said besides foiling militants’ attempt to disrupt Independence Day functions, it had saved a number of human lives also.

However, he said no one had yet been arrested in connection with the recovery but efforts were on to apprehend them.

PDP to announce candidates on Aug 6

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 (PTI) — The newly-formed Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (JKPDP) will announce its candidates for all six parliamentary constituencies in the state on Friday, party President Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said.

The names of the candidates will be announced after a meeting of the PDP working committee on that day, the Mufti told a public meeting at Tangmarg, 45 km from here, yesterday.

He said his party would demand dismissal of the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) government in the state after the parliamentary elections as the NC would "lose" all six seats in the state.

The Mufti, who resigned from the Congress recently, said his party’s main agenda was to mould public opinion in the country to force central leaders to initiate "an unconditional dialogue with the people of Kashmir".

He claimed the formation of the PDP "is seen by the masses as the beginning of a new chapter in Jammu and Kashmir as various healthy political outfits have joined our ranks in the past few days".

Old Secretariat building gutted

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 (PTI) — Offices of the Sales Tax Commissioner, State Life Insurance, Deputy Director Accounts and Treasury and Printing were destroyed in a big blaze that destroyed a building at the old secretariat yesterday, a Fire Services spokesman said today.

The fire originated from the Sales Tax Commissioner’s office after office hours around 6.30 p.m.

Senior officials, including Director (Fire Services) Ghulam Ahmed Bhat, reach the spot situated in the heart of Srinagar.

The spokesman told PTI 19 fire engine tenders and nine potable fire engines were commissioned and it took nearly three hours to completely put off the fire.

Two firemen received injuries while fighting the blaze. An award of Rs 5,000 has been granted to the firemen who prevented the fire from spreading to adjoining buildings which houses the offices of election officials, he said.