J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Harkat to step up attacks on Army
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit has claimed the responsibility of the attack on a transit camp of the Army at Sonarwani, Bandipore in Baramula district in which at least six Armymen were killed on Sunday night.

Amarnath yatra remains suspended
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The movement of pilgrims from Chandanwari, Baltal and other stages on the trek to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath was suspended today due to bad weather conditions in the area.

Steps to check spurious pesticides
Drug testing lab at Lakhanpur
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government will establish a drug testing laboratory at Lakhanpur to check the possibility of importing spurious pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers in the state by unscrupulous elements.

J&K announces bus fare concessions
SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has announced a 50 per cent concession in fares for various categories of passengers in both the State Road Transport Corporation and private transport buses.

4 jawans killed
JAMMU, Aug 1 — At least four jawans of GREF were buried alive when a landslide fell on their barrack in Poonch district this morning. 

Attack on pilgrim camp; 1 ultra shot
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 1 — Militants’ bid to attack a yatra counter centre and take hostage some of the Amarnath pilgrims was today foiled by the security forces resulting in the killing of Abid Hussain, a militant. Another militant was stated to have been beaten up by people and was injured.

The police, however, said one militant was killed and another wounded in the retaliatory fire by the security forces.

Eyewitness accounts said a militant hurled three grenades which exploded on the premises of Hari Singh High School behind the Tourist Reception Centre. Since the school was being used as the registration centre for Amarnath pilgrims there was a big group of pilgrims waiting for registration but no one was hurt. The militant opened fire from his assault rifle and Bharat Sharma, a police official spotted the rebel and shot him dead.

Passersby reported to the police that there were four militants who came from two directions to storm the school and attack the yatris. The police and the paramilitary forces cordoned off the area and an exchange of fire and the grenade blasts rocked the city.

Shopkeepers on the Residency road closed their business establishments for several hours. Parents were seen collecting their children from schools.

Later a column of the Army was pressed into service to nab the militants. One report said the remaining militants might have mingled with local people. The security forces carried out door-to-door search operations.

Two helicopters were pressed into service to spot the remaining three militants. The security forces broke open the locks of some of the houses to see if militants had taken shelter there.

Anil Gupta, a pilgrim from Patna who was standing in the queue in front of the registration centre said, “When the first grenade exploded we all fled to safer places.” He said the attack on the school premises was meant to kill them.

He said one of the militants wore a mask. The police authorities said besides Bharat Sharma, constable Kishen Lal also opened fire on the militant. Kishen Lal fired more than six rounds which killed the militant.

Briefing newsmen Divisional Commissioner Anil Goswami, DIG Dr S.P. Vaid, and SSP M.A. Anjum, after spending couple of hours in the area, said the militants had, in fact, targeted the police and the CRPF picket which had been set up to provide security at the pilgrim registration centre.

They said one militant was killed and one assault rifle, some ammunition and documents were seized from him.

Search operations were on and the security forces had been directed to search all incoming and outgoing vehicles in the city. The security had been tightened in the area, they said.

The situation was under control and the registration of pilgrims had not been affected, they added.

Harkat to step up attacks on Army
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit has claimed the responsibility of the attack on a transit camp of the Army at Sonarwani, Bandipore in Baramula district in which at least six Armymen were killed on Sunday night.

According to a statement, the attack was in retaliation to the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Hizbul Mujahideen about a week ago. Its spokesman claimed that two suicide bombers, Abu Zakrama and Abu Zar stormed the Sonarwani brigade headquarters of Rashtriya Rifles and “returned safely”. He added that militants of the outfit had been directed to intensify attacks on the security forces.

While the Army had suspended its operations against the Hizbul Mujahideen, these are continuing against all other militant outfits which included the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Harkat-ul-Ansar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Al-Barq. The Army and other security forces had been concentrating on the militants outside the areas “dominated” by the Hizbul Mujahideen, a senior Army officer told newsmen here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Harkat ul Mujahideen militant outfit, having its bases in Pakistan, has expressed concern over the ceasefire announcement of the Hizbul Mujahideen. A statement issued by the outfit here said the militant organisations would continue to fight till the withdrawal of the Indian security forces from Kashmir. He said political language was beyond the grasp of the Indian leadership and it was only the gun that could internationalise the Kashmir issue. Rejecting the Hizbul claim that it was the only active outfit in the valley, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen spokesman said its decision had for-reaching consequences. He said any group or organisation, irrespective of its strength and stature, would not be tolerated if it damaged the cause of the movement.

The spokesman said the outfit was an international organisation and was operating for the honour and victory of the subjugated Muslims in the world. This organisation had condemned the ceasefire world over. All other militants outfits operating in Kashmir had also criticised the Hizbul for this ceasefire”. he added that Harkat would intensify its attacks and form more fidayeen (suicide) squads.

Amarnath yatra remains suspended
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The movement of pilgrims from Chandanwari, Baltal and other stages on the trek to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath was suspended today due to bad weather conditions in the area.

This was for the second consecutive day today that the movement of pilgrims was stopped from Chandanwari and Baltal due to the heavy rain. However, the downward movement of the pilgrims was allowed yesterday to clear the route and avoid any untoward incident along the track.

According to an official spokesman, no pilgrim would be allowed to proceed from Jammu tomorrow to facilitate the clearance of stranded yatris from various stages on the hill-track, including Pahalgam, Chandanwari and Baltal-Sonmarg.

With the death of another pilgrim, Hari Lal Chaudhary (65), a resident of Mokhulla in Madhya Pradesh, due to cardiac arrest at Chandanwari today, the death toll during the past 20 days of yatra went up to 14.

Another batch comprising 2928 pilgrims arrived here in 115 light and heavy vehicles from Jammu today.

Steps to check spurious pesticides
Drug testing lab at Lakhanpur
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government will establish a drug testing laboratory at Lakhanpur to check the possibility of importing spurious pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers in the state by unscrupulous elements. The existing testing laboratory at Agriculture Complex, Srinagar will also be upgraded to make it in tune with the present-day requirements of the orchardists.

This was announced by the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ch Mohammad Ramzan, at a joint meeting of the representatives of various fruit growers associations and senior officers of the Horticulture Department here yesterday. The meeting was convened to take stock of the problems of fruit growers of the valley.

The minister said the government had taken several measures to give a boost to the horticulture sector adding that the government was vigorously pursuing with the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to give status of industry to this sector which is the mainstay of state’s economy. He also announced that a unique market intervention scheme would be launched in the state soon with the central assistance to provide adequate market cover to the fruit growers. The proposed scheme, besides protecting the growers from the exploitation of middlemen, would help growers fetch better remuneration for their low grade (C&D) quality fruits and stabilise the market of fruits in the mandis outside the state. He said the valley at present had two fruit processing plants one each in the public and private sectors with an installed capacity to process 50,000 tonnes apple culls and every effort would be made to utilise their full capacity this year. He said five more such units were required to be set up in the valley to consume two lakh tonnes of low-grade apple available in the valley.

Divulging on various plans of the government for marketing of various horticulture produce, the minister said auction sheds and shops would be bought in various fruit markets of the country where fruit growers of the state would be able to sell their produce directly to the consumers through open auction. The Horticulture Produce and Marketing Corporation (JKHPMC) would be provided margin money to procure fruits directly from the growers. He said 18 fruit mandis were being set up in various districts of the state for promoting horticulture in a big way.

The minister said NABARD had sanctioned a special lending scheme for fruit growers for a construction of cold storages. The scheme offered a subsidy up to Rs 50 lakh. He enjoined upon the growers to take full advantage of the scheme and construct cold storages in their respective areas. In addition, he said, the government proposed to introduce at massive level cold chains for transporting and management of perishable items like cherry, pear, strawberry etc to other mandis from the valley. 

J&K announces bus fare concessions
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Aug 1 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has announced a 50 per cent concession in fares for various categories of passengers in both the State Road Transport Corporation and private transport buses.

According to a notification issued here by the Regional Transport Officer, Kashmir, the categories include physically handicapped or disabled persons (having identity cards attested by medical officers), freedom fighters, thalassemia patients along with one attendant, cancer patients, deaf, dumb and blind persons (provided they hold a duly certified card), students travelling from their places of residence to their educational institutions and back once a day (provided they produce a valid identity card of the institution) and war widows for travelling through the state (subject to the production of the bonafide identity card from Zila Sainik Board).

4 jawans killed

JAMMU, Aug 1 (UNI) — At least four jawans of GREF were buried alive when a landslide fell on their barrack in Poonch district this morning. An official spokesman said the landslide fell on a barrack at GREF headquarters in border district of Poonch this morning, resulting in four of its employees being buried alive.