J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Top Hizb leader among 8 killed
JAMMU, Sept 11 — A top Hizbul Mujahideen militant and six other ultras were among eight persons killed while security personnel rescued five abducted youths in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, official sources said today.

Officials stay away from census work
SRINAGAR, Sept 11 — Census operations began in the Kashmir valley today in spite of threats by the Hizbul Mujahideen to use force to stop the process.

Dal Lake scam unearthed
SRINAGAR, Sept 11 — The Jammu and Kashmir Vigilance Organisation   has registered seven corruption cases against officials of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority  an organisation responsible for the restoration of the Dal Lake in Kashmir.

Panun Kashmir Movement submits memo to UN
JAMMU, Sept 11  — The Panun Kashmir Movement  has submitted a memorandum to the UN appealing to the world community that the issue of the displacement and resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits be recognised as a legitimate political concern in respect to the Kashmir problem.

PDP’s youth wing flays NC govt
JAMMU, Sept 11 — The youth wing of the People’s Democratic Party  headed by Mufti Mohammed, Sayeed, at its convention here today adopted, a resolution urging the central government to try to bring normalcy in the state.

Top Hizb leader among 8 killed

JAMMU, Sept 11 (PTI) — A top Hizbul Mujahideen militant and six other ultras were among eight persons killed while security personnel rescued five abducted youths in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, official sources said today.

One Shakeel Ansari, deputy provincial chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, injured in an encounter with security personnel on September 6, was found dead in a hut in the Kalmut forest area of Doda district.

Ansari and his brother Farooq Ahmed Bhat, who was killed in the encounter, were involved in the serial IED blasts on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway which killed six BSF personnel early this month, besides a number of other militancy related incidents, the sources said.

The sources said Ansari, who had fled with the help of his associates after being injured in the encounter, died for want of medical help which could not reach him due to security personnel patrolling the area. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition was seized from the hut where his body was found.

Four foreign mercenaries belonging to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), were killed in a night-long exchange of firing with security forces in Baramulla district, a Defence Ministry spokesman said.

Two militants were killed and one injured in an exchange of fire with army men in the North Loran area of Poonch where a militant hideout storing 10 kg of RDX, three high explosive bombs, two LEDs, 16 RPG rockets and a huge quantity of other arms and ammunition was unearthed.

One Army personnel was killed in an encounter with militants in a village in Rajouri district where a bridge suffered minor damage in an IED blast.

Security forces rescued five youths, abducted by militants and being taken to Pakistan for arms training, from Rajouri and Poonch district yesterday, the sources said.

Officials stay away from census work

SRINAGAR, Sept 11 (UNI) — Census operations began in the Kashmir valley today in spite of threats by the Hizbul Mujahideen to use force to stop the process.

The census is being conducted after a gap of 20 years. The last census was held in 1981.

Official sources said most government employees entrusted with the job remained away following threats by the Hizbul Mujahideen.

This correspondent after visiting a number of localities in the city did not find any enumerator on the first day of the 22-day operation.

A number of government employees who were asked to conduct the census told UNI that they could not risk their lives by going door to door without proper security arrangements.

The Director, census office, could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.

The government says it will go ahead despite the Hizbul Mujahideen threat.

The Hizb has imposed a ban on census saying that it will use force to foil the process.

An outfit spokesman said under the prevailing situation there was no possibility of a fair and credible census in Kashmir when a large population of the valley has migrated to other parts of the country. It said thousands in custody have gone missing.

Holding a census was nothing but a conspiracy against the majority community.

It has also appealed to people not to cooperate with census officials and on the other hand it has asked government employees to keep away from the move.

Former Union Minister Saif-ud-Din Soz has said the situation was not conducive to hold a census when lakhs of paramilitary forces and migrant labourers were staying in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Counting non-state subjects will change the Muslim majority character of the state which would have serious repercussions, he alleged.

Let the census be without counting non-state subjects or there should be only a head count without identifying the religion of a person, he added.

Dal Lake scam unearthed

SRINAGAR, Sept 11 (UNI) — The Jammu and Kashmir Vigilance Organisation (VO) has registered seven corruption cases against officials of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), an organisation responsible for the restoration of the Dal Lake in Kashmir.

A spokesman of the organisation said public funds worth crores allocated by the government for the integrated development of the lake had been misappropriated by officials of LAWDA through corrupt practices and financial irregularities.

He said preliminary inquiry had revealed that officials of LAWDA had indulged in large-scale irregularities and financial indiscipline and these facts had been corroborated by the scrutiny of records.

The spokesman added that the inquiry revealed that irregularities had been committed in the execution of the so-called integrated development-related work in and around the lake.

He said it further revealed that public money had been squandered by the corrupt officers in the implementation of the deweeding programme. At some places work had been shown to have been done only on paper and huge money withdrawn, through fabrication of records.

The inquiry further revealed that more than Rs 15 crore had been shown as spent on road building even though the road condition remained pathetic.

The spokesman said the purchases made by the authorities in connection with the development and beautification of the lake were another area where huge bungling had been committed. Sub-standard purchases were effected without any requirement or proper authorisation, he added.

He said since the preliminary inquiry had prima facie established the allegations of the misuse of official position, financial irregularities, commission of grave misconduct by indulging in corrupt practices in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy to loot the state exchequer, the Vigilance Organisation had formally registered seven first information reports (FIR) to unearth the whole Dal Lake scam establishing the involvement of many senior officials.

Panun Kashmir Movement submits memo to UN

JAMMU, Sept 11 (UNI) — The Panun Kashmir Movement (PKM) has submitted a memorandum to the UN appealing to the world community that the issue of the displacement and resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits be recognised as a legitimate political concern in respect to the Kashmir problem.

The memorandum was submitted to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, through the head of the UN military observer group for India and Pakistan here.

The memorandum has said due to the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley the issue of their settlement has assumed global significance which will have its ramifications on the whole community.

The displaced Kashmir Pandit community has pinned its hopes on the declarations, conventions, and directive principles of the world organisation.

According to the memorandum, Kashmiri Pandits have a claim and a right over the Kashmir valley greater than that of any other community now living in Kashmir. 

PDP’s youth wing flays NC govt
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, Sept 11 — The youth wing of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mufti Mohammed, Sayeed, at its convention here today adopted, a resolution urging the central government to try to bring normalcy in the state.

Expressing concern over the way the youth in Jammu and Kashmir the resolution called upon all government agencies and militant outfits to strive for resuming dialogue, which was the only way to established peace.

It bitterly criticised the National Conference government for its failure to resolve the basic problems of the people, including unemployment. It demanded a white paper on the pattern of recruitment adopted by the ruling National Conference since 1996 when it came to power.

It urged the state government to fill, 1500 vacant posts in different government departments immediately and sanction unemployment allowance for those who were yet to get jobs.

The resolution demanded the opening of more degree college in Jammu, sustenance allowance to the unemployed youths, reservation of seats for migrants from Doda and the Kashmir valley in professional colleges.

Hill resort Tangmarg to get facelift

srinagar, sept 11 (pti) — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has chalked out a programme aimed at improving the tourism infrastructure at the famous health resort of Tangmarg, 45 km from here, in north Kashmir.

He said land would be made available to the Madr-e-Meharban Trust for setting up a library-cum-reading room at Tangmarg for the benefit of the local educated youth.