3 former ministers join NC
JAMMU, March 5 — Three former ministers, including one sitting MLA, and a number of workers and leaders belonging to the Janata Dal, the RJD, and the Awami National Conference, today joined the National Conference.

Harkat militant, 2 others killed
SRINAGAR, March 5 — A top militant of the banned Harkat-ul-Ansar was among three persons killed, while four ultras, including a foreigner, were arrested in the Kashmir valley since last evening.

Talks with LAHDC next week
SRINAGAR, March 5 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has invited representatives of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council for a dialogue in Jammu for finding an amicable solution to the differences between the council and the state government.

Probe into Netaji's death sought
JAMMU, March 5 — The Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal legislative Assembly, Mr Anil Mukherjee, has sought a fresh inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chander Bose and added that he had not died in an air crash in 1945.

3 former ministers join NC
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, March 5 — Three former ministers, including one sitting MLA, and a number of workers and leaders belonging to the Janata Dal, the RJD, and the Awami National Conference, today joined the National Conference. The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and the party general secretary, Shaikh Nazir Ahmed, welcomed the political leaders and said that it was a homecoming for them.

Those who joined the National Conference today included Mr Dilawar Mir MLA, Mr Abdul Rashid, Shaheen, president, RJD, and Mr Yasin Shah (all former ministers). Mr Mir and Mr Yaseen were Ministers in the Council of Ministers headed by Mr G.M. Shah, brother -in-law of Dr Farooq Abdullah, who with the help of the Congress had dislodged the Farooq-led government in 1984.

With Mr Mir, Mr Shaheen and Mr Yaseen and several of the Awami National Conference workers join the NC, Mr G.M. Shah's camp received a setback after it had become active in recent weeks with a view to engineering defections in the ruling National Conference.

In the 1996 assembly elections the Janata Dal had won five seats in the state. Three MLAs, Mr Jagjivan Lal, Mr Abdul Gani Malik and Mr Sat Pal Lakotra, had already crossed to the National Conference. With Mr Dilawar Mir joining the ruling party today there is only one Janata Dal MLA, Mr Jagdish Raj Dubey, left in the House.

Interestingly, the recent list regarding the seating arrangements of the members of the state assembly, issued by the assembly secretariat, has shown Mr Jagjivan Lal, Mr Abdul Gani Malik and Mr Sat Pal belonging to the Janata Dal.

Mr Dilawar Mir is an influential political leader and had nursed his Rafiabad constituency for the past several years. Mr Abdul Rashid Shaheen has been a Deputy Minister in the Council of Ministers headed by the late Sheikh Abdullah.

Informed sources said that Mr Dilawar Mir may be inducted in the Cabinet because for the National Conference the support of Mr Mir could be beneficial. In the past two years several hundred political leaders and workers belonging to the Congress, the Janata Dal and other groups had joined the National Conference, including Mr Janak Raj Gupta, a former MP, Mr R.S. Chib, Mr Rangil Singh, former ministers, and Mr Abdul Qadir Wani but all of them seem to have been lost in the ocean of National Conference. Will the new entrants meet the same fate?

Harkat militant, 2 others killed

SRINAGAR, March 5 (PTI) — A top militant of the banned Harkat-ul-Ansar was among three persons killed, while four ultras, including a foreigner, were arrested in the Kashmir valley since last evening.

A self-styled tehsil commander of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Ansar, Mohammad Usam Anjum was killed in an hour-long encounter when the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel raided a suspected militant hideout at Gadool-Gurnar village in Anantnag district last night, an official spokesman said here today.

A fireman, Sartaj Ahmad Lone, was killed and his colleauge Assadullah seriously wounded when militants fired on them near the Maisuma police station in the city today, he said.

Lone died at hospital, he said, adding that the motive behind the shooting was not immediately known.

Militants also struck at the idgah locality of downtown Srinagar where Tariq Guroo, a released ultra who was reportedly working with the special task force of the state police, received gunshot wounds.

The spokesman said the body of Bashir Ahmad Khan was fished out from the Jhelum at Zaldagar in Srinagar today.

Meanwhile, a foreign mercenary, Muhammad Sadiq of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was arrested from the Seri forests in the Nowshehra area of Rajouri district last evening, he said.

The security forces also arrested two militants of the outlawed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Tariq Ahmad Bhat and Parvez Ahmad Rather, from Karan Nagar in interior Srinagar yesterday.

Another militant was apprehended from Trenz village in the Shopian area of Pulwama district yesterday. Two grenades and 17 rounds were seized from him.

The spokesman said security forces seized a grenade launcher, 44 grenades, five remote control devices, five electric detonators and five time devices from two militant hideouts at Ningali in Baramula and Kachikote-Buhal in Rajouri yesterday.

Talks with LAHDC next week
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, March 5 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has invited representatives of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) for a dialogue in Jammu for finding an amicable solution to the differences between the council and the state government.

The meeting is scheculed to be held early next week involving representatives of the LAHDC and relegious organisations in Leh and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

This decision is also poised to end the month-long protest demonstrations in Leh following the holding of parallel Republic Day celebrations by the state government and the LAHDC.

Welcoming the government decision, Mr Thusptan Chhewang, Chief Executive Conucillor of the LAHDC, said the further course after the meeting. A public meeting is also scheduled to be held in Leh tomorrow which would be addressed by members of the council and representatives of various religious organisations.

These organisations include the Ladakh Buddhist Association, Anjuman-e-Imamia and the Christian Association. "Any decision to call off the protest dharna will be taken after tomorrow's meeting", Mr Chhewang told TNS.

At least 12 LAHDC members are scheduled to take past in the dialogue on Monday and Tuesday including members of the council and presidents of all three religious organisation — Buddhist Association, Anjuman-e-Imamia and Christian Association.

The first round of talks will be held with the Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitley, and the Commissioner, Ladakh Affairs, to seek ground for the meeting with the Chief Minister.

Since the National Conference Government took over in October, 1996, the LAHDC has been demanding a better deal and more flow of funds to the council for overall development of the district.

Probe into Netaji's death sought
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, March 5 — The Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal legislative Assembly, Mr Anil Mukherjee, has sought a fresh inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chander Bose and added that he had not died in an air crash in 1945.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Mukherjee said the West Bengal Legislative Assembly had unanimously adopted a motion on December 24,1998, urging the Centre to order a fresh inquiry to find out the whereabouts of Netaji. The J and K Government, he said, should also move a similar motion in the state Assembly.

He said the Centre should declassify all records, documents and files pertaining to the life of the great leader, and make those available to the research scholars and people interested in knowing about the leader. He alleged that the Centre lacked the political will to set up an inquiry and people, were still in the dark about the mysterious disappearance of Netaji.

Mr Mukherjee is also all-India secretariat member of the All-India Forward Bloc. He said the Netaji Foundation would organse a "Netaji Chetna Yatra" in the country. The yatra would be taken out from Manipur, Kanyakumari,Mumbai, Cuttack and Jammu and conclude at New Delhi on March 23 where all participants would observe Shaheed Bhagat Singh's martyrdom day and reiterate their demand for an inquiry into Netaji's death.

The yatra would be flagged off from here by the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah on March 18.