Sayeed to visit Delhi today
JAMMU, May 6 — A senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed, will visit Delhi tomorrow to brief party leader, including Ms Sonia Gandhi, on the latest political situation in Jammu and Kashmir and on the strategy the Congress needs to adopt during the Lok Sabha elections.

Fruit growers to try luck in politics
SRINAGAR, May 6 — An association of fruit growers and dealers in Kashmir has decided to contest all three Lok Sabha seats in the valley.

Sayeed to visit Delhi today
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, May 6 — A senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed, will visit Delhi tomorrow to brief party leader, including Ms Sonia Gandhi, on the latest political situation in Jammu and Kashmir and on the strategy the Congress needs to adopt during the Lok Sabha elections.

Informed party sources said Mufti Sayeed had been invited to Delhi to work out a plan for the Congress — whether it should contest the six seats in the state on its own or lend support to some Independent candidates. The most important decision the Congress is to take in consultation with the Mufti is the future of Professor Saifuddin Soz, who was expelled from the National Conference for voting against the motion of confidence in the Lok Sabha which resulted in the fall of the Vajpayee government at the Centre.

The sources said Professor Soz had been keen to ensure support from the Congress as he planned to contest from the Baramulla constituency as an Independent candidate. It was under the Mufti's guidance that Professor Soz met Ms Sonia Gandhi to enlist her support. The matter would have been settled a week ago but the desire of Mr Ghulam Rasool Kar, a former PCC chief and who had won the Baramulla seat in the 1996 poll, to contest on the Congress ticket had warranted a debate among senior party leaders.

According to those sources, the Congress general secretary, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, who happens to be close to Dr Farooq Abdullah, has not favoured the Congress move to support Professor Soz. His opposition is understandable because with the support of the Congress Professor Soz can give a tough fight to the national Conference candidate. The Mufti has already conveyed to senior party leaders in Delhi that Professor Soz, who was instrumental in pulling down the BJP-led government, deserves full backing from the Congress and that too, when people in the Kashmir valley have hailed Professor Soz's stand on the motion of confidence.

The Mufti is said to have informed the party leaders that Mr Kar is not a heavyweight candidate as was the case 1996 when the National Conference had boycotted the Lok Sabha poll. Since Mr Kar is the senior most Congress leader from the state the Mufti has left it to the AICC leadership to persuade Mr Kar to withdraw from the poll fray.

Another point to be discussed in Delhi is the eagerness a former Chief Minister, Mr G.M. Shah, has shown in seeing his son, Mr Muzaffar Shah, fielded or supported by the Congress from the Srinagar constituency. In 1998 Mr Muzaffar Shah had approached his maternal uncle, Dr Farooq Abdullah, for fielding him as a National Conference candidate from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Dr Abdullah had turned down Mr Shah's request and fielded his son, Mr Omar Farooq, from the Srinagar constituency. This had further widened the distance between G.M. Shah and Dr Abdullah.

Since the Congress has a one-point programme of serving a blow to the National Conference in the ensuing elections it would have straightway supported Mr Muzaffar Shah but a former Congress MP Mr Aga Syed Mehdi, has already conveyed to the AICC leadership that he had decided to contest from the Srinagar constituency. Mr Mehdi had won in 1996 in the absence of the National Conference in the field and had lost the 1998 poll by a small margin.

If left to Mufti Sayeed he would support the candidature of Professor Soz from Baramulla and Mr Muzaffar Shah from Srinagar because that would help the Congress supported candidates to get support from several other political groups.

Much importance is attached to the Mufti's visit to Delhi because at-least the AICC leadership will make a final selection of party candidates for Jammu and Kashmir. Professor Soz postponed his visit to Kashmir after came to know that Mufti Sayeed he was scheduled to visit Delhi. The two will have a meeting in Delhi before Mufti Sayeed will meet Ms Sonia Gandhi and other leaders.

Despite gradual erosion in its strength, the National Conference continues to be a force to reckon with. Hence, the Congress can pose a problem to the National Conference provided it is able to make the right selection of candidates.

NC leader gunned down

SRINAGAR, May 6 (PTI) — Militants gunned down National Conference leader Ghulam Hassan and wounded his son and servant near his house in Tral town of south Kashmir last evening.
Elsewhere in the Kashmir valley, four militants and an Army jawan were among seven persons killed and six structures gutted in the militancy-related incidents while two militants were arrested since last evening, an official spokesman said here today.

He said a group of militants, who were disguised as armymen, called out the district president of the National Conference for Pulwama, Ghulam Hassan Bhat, from his house at Dadisar village of Tral on the pretext that their "commander’’ wanted to meet him.

As Hassan stepped out of the house, the militant leader, who was wearing the uniform of an Army officer, fired a full burst from his AK assault rifle on the National Conference leader killing him on the spot, the spokesman said.

He said the NC leader’s son Sheeraz Ahmad Bhat and a servant, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Gujjar received bullet injuries in the indiscriminate firing as they were following Bhat out of the house.
They were rushed to a hospital, he said.

A hunt had been launched by the police and other security agencies to nab the militants.

No militant outfit has claimed the responsibility of the killing.

JAMMU: Meanwhile, Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing at the Jogwan and Palanwallah border outposts (BoP) in the Khour sector late last night. Indian troops also retaliated. However, there were no reports of any casualty or damage to property, a police spokesman said here on Thursday.

He said while the police this morning recovered the body of Gian Chand from Chani-Sanasar village, a militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Rajouri district last evening.
He said the security forces apprehended a militant Asmat Ali of Pakistan from Nowshera last evening and recovered an AK 56 rifle, four hand grenades, three rifle grenades, three wireless sets, 15 magazines and over 500 rounds across the Jammu region during an overnight operations.

Two Kashmiri militants were killed in a retaliatory action by troops after they ambushed a search party at a village near Hamairay in Baramulla district last evening, a Defence Ministry spokesman said here today.

Two AK assault rifles, three magazines with 32 rounds, 12 grenades and a wireless set were seized, he said.

The official spokesman said six structures, two residential houses, two cow-sheds and two kitchens, were damaged in a gun-battle between militants and security forces at Dab village in the Wakoora area of Ganderbal on the outskirts of Srinagar last evening.

An armed clash took place when the jawans of the Special Operations Group of the local police along with security forces raided the villages in search of militants last evening. Both sides exchanged heavy fire, but no loss of life was reported, the spokesman said, adding the militants escaped.

Fruit growers to try luck in politics

SRINAGAR, May 6 (PTI) — An association of fruit growers and dealers in Kashmir has decided to contest all three Lok Sabha seats in the valley.

The decision to try their luck in politics was taken at a meeting of the association at Sopore, 55 km from here, yesterday, association president Mohammad Subhan Lone said today.

He said his candidates would have no connection whatsoever with any political party.

In reply to a question, he said the decision to contest the elections was taken as politicians had always turned a blind eye to the problems being faced by the fruit industry in the state.