J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

26 hurt in blast in valley
SRINAGAR, June 8 — At least seven persons were killed and 26 others were injured in separate incidents of militancy-related violence in Kashmir valley since yesterday.

Valley dumps rebels for jobs, faces backlash
JAMMU, June 8 — Militants have stepped up attacks on the police in Kashmir valley. During the past three days seven policemen were killed and six others injured. The militants also made yet another abortive bid to blow up the Police Headquarters in Srinagar when four grenades fired at the vital installation on Wednesday fell short.

Advani upbeat on Indo-Pak ties
LEH (Jammu), June 8 — Home Minister L.K. Advani today expressed optimism on easing of tension between India and Pakistan and said if the German wall could collapse there is no reason why two neighbours could not become friends.

Inquiry into Anantnag killing begins
SRINAGAR, June 8 — The Justice SR Pandian Commission of Inquiry has been recording the statements of witnesses regarding the Brakpora killings at the Dak Bungalow Khannabal in Anantnag district since Wednesday.

26 hurt in blast in valley
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, June 8 — At least seven persons were killed and 26 others were injured in separate incidents of militancy-related violence in Kashmir valley since yesterday.

At least 26 pedestrians were injured, three of them seriously, when militants hurled a grenade on a picket of the security forces in Sopore town of Baramula district today. The police said the grenade was aimed at a picket of the security forces at Iqbal Market, Sopore, but it missed the intended target and exploded on the road. Those injured have been shifted to a hospital. The seriously injured were shifted to Srinagar.

Two unidentified militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Tulkhan village, near Bijbehara in Anantnag district today. Till the last reports came in, the operation was still in progress. The police said security forces cordoned off the village early this morning on receiving specific information about the presence of militants. The militants opened fire on the search party from their hide-out, the police said.

One foreign militant belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Dardpora in the Lolab area of Kupwara district. He has been identified as Abdul Rahman Abid from Lahore, Pakistan. One AK rifle, three magazines with 69 rounds, a hand-grenade and a pouch were seized from the site of the encounter, a police spokesman stated here this evening.

Militants shot dead Hilal Ahmad Bhat of Bohri Kadal in interior Srinagar city this afternoon. Further details about the incident were awaited.

The police recovered the body of Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat of Chandpora, Harwan, from Nund Reshi Colony, Bemina here this morning. He is reported to have been a released militant.

With the death of the injured policeman at the shrine of Naqshband Sahib, Khanyar, here yesterday, the death toll has gone up to two. As already reported, militants fired at two police personnel on duty at the shrine at about 5.20 p.m. yesterday. A Head Constable, Mohammad Ramzan, died on the spot, while Constable Mohammad Moosa was seriously injured. He later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

According to a UNI report, SOG and security forces arrested five militants and seized arms and ammunition, including four AK rifles. A pistol and two grenades across the valley since last evening.

JAMMU (FOC): Six persons, including three Border Security Forces (BSF) personnel, were killed and five others were injured in three militancy-related violence incidents across Jammu region since last evening, a senior state officer told TNS here today.

According to the official, three BSF men were killed in a gun battle with the separatists near Copra hill in Udhampur district, 65 km to the east of Jammu late last night.

In another incident, one militant was killed and five security personnel of the Indian Reserve Police (IRP) were injured, three of them seriously, in an ambush near Gool-Arnas area of the district last evening, he added.

The critically wounded were airlifted to Government Medical College here today.

One militant was killed today by the security forces near Bhaderwah in Doda district, 173 km to the east of Jammu, the police said.

Meanwhile, according to a PTI report, militants shot dead two policemen on a motorcycle at Rathsun-Beerwah in Badgam district of Central Kashmir last night.

Militants also killed two policemen during an attack on a post in downtown Srinagar yesterday, an official spokesman said, adding a retired police Head Constable Abdul Samad, was gunned down by militants at Chingum-Chatroo in Doda district last night.

He said militants shot dead a woman in the Kalakote area of Rajouri district, while the body of an unidentified person was picked up from Trisan in Doda district today.

Six police personnel received gun-shot wounds when a group of unidentified militants attacked their picket at Kalimasta in Gool sector of Udhampur district last night, the spokesman said.

Valley dumps rebels for jobs, faces backlash
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, June 8 — Militants have stepped up attacks on the police in Kashmir valley. During the past three days seven policemen were killed and six others injured. The militants also made yet another abortive bid to blow up the Police Headquarters in Srinagar when four grenades fired at the vital installation on Wednesday fell short.

Senior police authorities attribute two motives to the militants strategy of targeting the police. First, the militants and their supporters have been unnerved by the success of the police in a series of operations carried out during the last couple of months. Not only this, the police has assisted the army and paramilitary forces in eliminating large groups of rebels and smashing their hideouts.

In fact the security forces have banked on inputs given by the police regarding hideouts and plans of the militants for their drives.

Secondly the on-the-spot recruitment drive launched by the Director General Police, Mr Gurbachan Jagat in Kashmir valley has evoked very good response from local youths with he Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, accompanying the DGP on several occasions to supervise recruitments.

Recently Mr Gurbachan Jagat decided to hold a recruitment rally in the interior of the city, once a forbidden area for such programmes because of the concentration of militants. The police authorities had not given any significant publicity to the recruitment programme as they were not sure of the success of the exercise.

But when the DGP reached the premises of a cinema hall closed since 1990, he was amazed to find several hundred youths waiting for the physical fitness test. Within a couple of hours as many as 206 local boys were recruited.

The news spread to other localities and by the evening large groups of youth from the militancy infested interior of the city started flooding police headquarters seeking jobs in the police. They even pleaded with the authorities that another on-the-spot recruitment rally be held in the interior of the city.

This show of eagerness to join the police unnerved militant outfits. The police authorities are of the firm opinion that the latest attacks on the police was aimed at dissuading local youth from joining the police.

The authorities said that when news reached the militant outfits that all the 206 youths selected for the post of constables had joined duty, militants killed two police personnel in the interior of the city in a crowded religious gathering in front of a historic shrine.

The recruitment drive has had such a salutary impact that even a staunch critic of the DGP, Mr Ali Mohammed Sagar, Minister for Public Works, publicly praised Mr Jagat for his bold stand of recruiting boys from the interior of the city to fight the militants.

At the same time Pakistani agencies have intensified their strategy of luring Kashmiri boys into militancy. In recent weeks more than 400 youths, some of them from Pakistan occupied Kashmir, have been enrolled in an arms training camp in occupied Kashmir. These boys are to be given training in fighting mountain warfare. Pakistani Army experts, some of them having received training in mountain warfare in China, have been engaged for imparting training to the recruits.

Official sources said that after receiving training in mountain warfare these boys would be deployed on the LoC for attacking Indian posts and villages. The idea behind it is to show to the world that armed intrusions or attacks on Indian posts were carried out by Kashmiri boys and not Pakistani troops.

Sources said Pakistani agencies plan to raise atleast one brigade strength unit of these youths, to repeat Kargils in other sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.

The strategy is being adopted after Pak agencies found the task of pushing in large groups of infiltrators difficult. Indian troops in turn have formulated a three-tier strategy under which infiltrators have to get past not only soldiers who have been on watch at the zero line but successive rings at the border villages. The Pak agencies, therefore, want to kick up a major border row so that militants can cross under cover of firing and shelling.

Advani upbeat on Indo-Pak ties

LEH (Jammu), June 8 (PTI) — Home Minister L.K. Advani today expressed optimism on easing of tension between India and Pakistan and said if the German wall could collapse there is no reason why two neighbours could not become friends.

“Let Sindhu river play the role of bringing two nations together,” he said after laying the foundation stone of Sindhu Ghat in Shey near here this afternoon.

He said “who knows one day Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan’s military ruler) may feel like having Sindhu darshan”, adding the rediscovered river has emerged as a symbol of national integration, peace and friendship.

Emphasising the need for cordial Indo-Pak relations, Mr Advani referred to Deendayal Upadhayay and Ram Manohar Lohia’s joint statement of their conception of confederation of the two nations and said what the two leaders had envisioned could be a reality some day.

“This is what the erstwhile Jana Sangh used to talk about Akhand Bharat,” he said, adding “it never meant attacking Pakistan to conquer it.”

Inquiry into Anantnag killing begins
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, June 8 — The Justice SR Pandian Commission of Inquiry has been recording the statements of witnesses regarding the Brakpora killings at the Dak Bungalow Khannabal in Anantnag district since Wednesday.

According to an official spokesman, 58 persons have so far submitted their affidavits before the commission regarding the incident. At the request of some organisations, the last date for submitting affidavits and other documents have been extended by 10 days from June 4, the spokesman added.

Mr Justice SR Pandian Commission was constituted in April to probe the killing of eight protesters at Brakpora, Bulbul Nowgam, on the outskirts of Anantnag town on April 3. The protest march was held by residents of the Brari-Angan against the killing of five residents, two days after the massacre of 35 Sikhs in the nearby Chithi Singhpora village.

The Justice Pandian Commission of inquiry was scheduled to submit the findings within a period of three months, over a month having already been elapsed. The state government had suspended the then DIG and SSP, Anantnag in this connection, and paid ex-gratia relief to the next of kith and kin of the eight persons killed in Brakpora on April 3.