J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

6 jawans killed, 36 hurt in bus accident
JAMMU, March 8 — At least six CISF jawans were killed and 36 others injured, some of them critically in a road accident near Banihal on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway today.

Hijbul 'battalion commander' killed
SRINAGAR, March 8 — A battalion commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was killed and several others were apprehended during search operations launched by the police and the security forces, while a large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from different parts of the valley since yesterday.

Walkout in J&K Assembly
JAMMU, March 8 — Three opposition members, Mr Bhali Bhagat, Mr Lal Singh and Mr Prem Lal staged a walk out from the assembly today in protest against unsatisfactory reply given by the Minister for Education, Mr Mohammed Shafi, to their supplementaries raised during question hour.

6 jawans killed, 36 hurt in bus accident

JAMMU, March 8 (UNI) — At least six CISF jawans were killed and 36 others injured, some of them critically in a road accident near Banihal on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway today.

Official sources told UNI that a CISF bus carrying 42 jawans was on its way from Srinagar to Jammu skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Nachi-Nallah in Banihal tehsil of Doda district this afternoon.

Six jawans were killed on the spot. Of the 36 injured, 25 are said to be in serious condition. The seriously injured have been airlifted to Udhampur military hospital.

Sources said the accident occurred when the driver of the vehicle lost control while negotiating a blind curve.

Rescue operations are on.

Hijbul 'battalion commander' killed
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, March 8 — A battalion commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen was killed and several others were apprehended during search operations launched by the police and the security forces, while a large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from different parts of the valley since yesterday.

A police spokesman said here today that Syed Aftab Anwar Andrabi, battalion commander of the Hizb-ul Mujahideen was killed in an encounter with the joint operations group of the police and the security forces at Tulbagh, Pampore in Pulwama district yesterday. One AK rifle, two magazines, 28 rounds, one wireless set, 8 kg of explosives, two IED circuits and a fake identity card were seized from the site of the encounter, the police said.

Giving details of the incident, the police said a police party assisted by the BSF and CRPF personnel raided a hideout in Tulbagh Pampore village last evening on the receipt of specific information. The hiding militants opened fire on the search party from the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, and in the ensuing encounter Syed Aftab Anwar Andrabi code Imtiaz, alias Farooq Radio code Saleem, of Drussu village in Pulwama district was killed. He was involved in a number of killings and an attack on the SHO, Pampore.

In another joint operation by the SOG and the BSF at Kavewa Romu in Pulwama district, one suspect was apprehended, the police said. He was identified as Abdul Aziz Hajam and a service revolver was seized.

The police apprehended Abdul Qayoom, a district commander of Al-Fateh during a search operation here yesterday. One AK rifle and some ammunition was recovered. The security forces also recovered 500 rounds of AK rifles during a search operations in Kupwara district. Two suspect, including an autorickshaw driver was arrested from the Batamaloo area today, the police said. One pistol was recovered from the suspect.

An IED damaged the shop of Ghulam Nabi Chapoo in Dooru Anantnag last night. The police has registered a case.

Walkout in J&K Assembly
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, March 8 — Three opposition members, Mr Bhali Bhagat, Mr Lal Singh and Mr Prem Lal staged a walk out from the assembly today in protest against unsatisfactory reply given by the Minister for Education, Mr Mohammed Shafi, to their supplementaries raised during question hour.

Syed Abdul Rashid of the NC had raised a question about the shortage of teachers which had resulted in the closure of several schools in the state. Mr Mohammed Shafi told the House that the Service Selection Board had been approached for selecting teachers and in case there was further delay in finalising the list of selected candidates the government would explore an alternative arrangement for filling the vacant posts.

The opposition members wanted to know the reason for banning ad hoc appointment of teachers when there were vacancies. The minister informed them that the Cabinet had taken the decision to ban ad hoc appointments. And when the members felt dissatisfied with the reply they walked out of the House.

Mr Ashok Sharma, Congress, walked out of the House in protest against what he described policy of discrimination adopted by the Minister of State for Home, Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Lone. In reply to a question Mr Lone had informed Mr R. S. Sharma of the Congress, Mr Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party, that new fire stations could not be set up because of paucity of funds. Several opposition members, including Mr Ashok Sharma, Mr Lal Singh, Mr Harsh Dev, were on their feet when one NC member informed the House that Mr Lone had set up three fire stations in his assembly constituency.

The opposition members protested against it and the minister assured the House that measures were afoot to set up fire stations which had been sanctioned over 12 years ago.

Mr Somnath and Mr Harsh Dev Singh shouted at the minister who could not give exact details on the allegations that a large number of youths had been absorbed in the police, fire services, jails, wireless centres in violation of the rules.

The Speaker, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil, suggested to the minister to give proper replies to the question and in case his department had given wrong or inadequate information those responsible should be punished. The minister assured the House that he would look into the matter.

The Minister of State for Power, Mr Ghulam Hassan Bhat, painted a grim picture as far as the availability of power in Jammu and Kashmir was concerned and said against the requirement of 5912 million units only 4624 million units were available.

Replying to a call attention motion tabled by Mr Ashok Sharma (Congress), Mr Bhat said power cuts had to be imposed when there was a gap of 1288 million units between the demand and the availability. He said generation from local power projects had dwindled because of meagre river discharge and the northern grid had also curtailed power supply.

He said the state had no resources to draw more power from the northern grid as the annual expenses on import of power had touched Rs 550 crore.

The minister informed the House that after two more power projects were completed in the next two to five years and enhanced supply from the northern grid was assured, the curtailment period would be reduced. He said at present the state was supplying power to the consumers at subsidised rates. Only against the cost of import at Rs 3 per unit the consumers would get it at Rs 2 per unit even after the second hike in power tariff.