Robbers’ gang busted
SRINAGAR, Dec 7 — The police has arrested eight members of an 11-member gang in Baramulla, and recovered gold worth Rs 4 lakh.

9 militants killed in J & K
SRINAGAR, Dec 7 — At least nine militants were killed and a policeman injured and four residential houses were gutted in separate incidents of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

Govt, PSU staff strike work
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 7 — For the second day today work in government offices and public sector undertakings remained paralysed following a pen-down strike by the employees. Several government offices work a deserted look after mid-day as a majority of employees left the the offices.

The employees have been demanding release of two instalments of dearness allowance (DA) and arrears of the Fifth Pay Commission hike in salary. Only the personal staff of ministers and senior bureaucrats were attending to work, while the other employees struck work.

Employees of public sector undertakings also went on a strike in protest against the delay in releasing fresh instalments of COLA (cost of living index). Work in hospitals and educational institutions too was affected. Teachers boycotted their classes.

The agitating employees held massive demonstrations to press their demands.

The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, said that since the state government had no money it was not possible for it to accept the demands of the employees right now. The government expected funds from the Centre but they would be spent on urgent development works. He said that the moment the centre released additional funds for meeting the wage arrears and dearness allowance the state would meet the demands of the employees.

The Chief Minister said that the state was faced with a serious cash crunch, it was planning to withdraw government vehicles from bureaucrats and reduce the strength of the employees. He suggested to the employees to understand the difficulties being faced by the government.

Meanwhile, the President of the National Mazdoor Conference, Mr Subash Shastri, urged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to intervene and persuade the Union Finance Ministry to release additional funds to Jammu and Kashmir so that the employees' genuine demands were conceded.

BSF recovers arms cache
From Our Correspondent

KATHUA, Dec 7 — The BSF recovered an arms and ammunition cache from the forest near Mawa village in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district yesterday.

The recovery included two bags of AK ammunition, 28 cartridges, explosive material, 9 RDX slabs, six detonators two hand-grenades and nine batteries.

Earlier, the BSF noticed the movement of terrorists near Mawa village. The BSF challenged them and the militants opened fire. The jawans later held them. The arrested militants have been identified as Sarfraz Ahmad of Pakistan and Charanjit Singh.

The interrogation of the militants led to the seizure of arms.

Robbers’ gang busted
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Dec 7 — The police has arrested eight members of an 11-member gang in Baramulla, and recovered gold worth Rs 4 lakh.

A police spokesman said there were various complaints of robberies and dacoities from old Baramulla town and its adjoining locality, Kanli Bagh Sangri Colony. As many as five FIRs were lodged by the complainants from these areas about dacoities and robberies by masked gunmen. The total amount thus robbed was Rs 6,13,000 since July last.

Special teams to investigate into these cases have been constituted.

Those arrested have also handed over 582 gm of gold worth Rs 4 lakh to the police, according to the police. The police has already launched manhunt to nab the other members of the gang.

The police has also identified brokers and goldsmiths in Srinagar and other places in the valley involved in the sale and purchase of stolen golden ornaments.

9 militants killed in J & K
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Dec 7 — At least nine militants were killed and a policeman injured and four residential houses were gutted in separate incidents of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

A police spokesman said here that two foreign militants were killed in an encounter with security forces at Wattal Bagh near Ganderbal, about 25 km from here, today. One Special Organisation Group personnel was also injured in the encounter.