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| Monday,
October 16, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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ISI targets people talking peace 5 ultras killed
in J&K KCCI refutes Maneka’s
claim BJP a loser in row with
RSS Jail-break: senior
officer held |
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ISI targets people talking peace NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (PTI)— In a bid to take over the command and control of Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir and check those wanting a ceasefire, Pakistan’s ISI has asked militants of various other outfits to target and neutralise “elements” favouring a peace process. The first such targeted killing took place in Baramula (north Kashmir) when militants shot dead Noor-ul-Amin, a confidant of Hizb Chief Commander Abdul Majid Dar, official sources said. The sources, quoting wireless intercepts and revelations from arrested militants, said Amin, who was a Jamaat-e-Islamia member, had openly supported Dar’s desire for peace when he announced a unilateral ceasefire offer on July 24. They said Pakistan, after ensuring effective takeover of the Hizb in their country by taking over its command and handing it over to Islamabad-loyalist outfit Jamaat-e-Islamia, was now “eying” such a takeover of the outfit on this side of the border. The sources feared more such attacks elsewhere in the valley. They said threats to people like Mr Fazalul Haq Qureshi, the official interlocutor appointed by the Hizb for talks with the Centre during its unilateral ceasefire offer in July last, had increased. Mr Qureshi, who declined the offer of security cover by the Jammu and Kashmir Government, has since been shifting from one place to another, the sources added. In order to prevent any such clashes in future, the security agencies were keeping a close watch on the activities of militants besides giving a “shadow cover” to likely targets, official sources said. The sources said even Hurriyat leaders could be targeted as some militants would try to target them and later put the blame on the security forces. The Hurriyat leaders have been declining to take the security cover but the state government still keeps some guards outside the residence of these leaders and tail them whenever necessary. This is yet another indication that Pakistan has lost confidence in Kashmiris and is now relying more on foreign mercenaries.  |
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SRINAGAR, Oct 15 (PTI) — Eleven persons — six security personnel and five militants — were killed while the security forces scuttled attempts by Pakistan to push ultras into Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday. Militants launched a grenade attack on a security picket in Sopore, while four militants laid down arms in the state during the period, an official spokesman said here today. Three security personnel were killed and two others wounded when militants ambushed an Army patrol at Bider in the Mandi sector of Poonch district today, he said. Security forces retaliated and heavy exchange of fire between militants and security forces continued for some time. An unidentified militant and two securitymen were killed in a gunbattle in Udhampur district yesterday, he said, adding that a securityman, injured in a militant attack in Srinagar, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital last evening. He said security forces intercepted a group of Pakistani infiltrators at Thandi-Kassi Sadyal in border district of Rajouri last evening which sparked off an encounter between the two sides. A Pakistani intruder was killed, but the other members of the group slipped back into the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the deceased militant, he said. The spokesman said another attempt by Pakistan to send armed militants into Jammu and Kashmir was foiled when the troops killed two intruders at the border outpost at Majar in the Ramgarh sector of Jammu last night. An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces during search operations at Malkan village of Surankote in Poonch district yesterday, he said. He said four militants surrendered to the security forces in the poonch sector yesterday. A militant was nabbed along with two grenades from Chaklipora-Achabal in Anantnag district, while the security forces apprehended four militants in Nachnala-Makerkot in Doda district yesterday, he said.
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SRINAGAR, Oct 15 (PTI) — The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has refuted Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi’s reported statement that only a handful of Kashmiris were engaged in shahtoosh trade. Ms Maneka’s Gandhi’s claim that the number of weavers engaged in manufacturing shahtoosh shawls as 100 was far from truth while conservative estimates said more than three lakh persons were involved in various production processes of this craft, a KCCI spokesman said in a statement here today. Reacting to the reply by Ms Maneka Gandhi to a Kashmir University student questioning the grounds of her support for the ban on shahtoosh and its likely fallout, he said the minister’s claim that the recent ban on shahtoosh was unlikely to create economic crisis in Kashmir had been proved wrong. “In fact right from the day of the ban, the condition of the people engaged with different processes of its manufacture and trade has become pathetic, particularly widows, destitutes, orphans and the people living below the poverty line,” the spokesman said. He said the KCCI had all along been impressing upon all concerned that wool of the dead animal was of no use and could not be used as raw material for making shahtoosh shawls. |
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BJP a loser in row with
RSS
JAMMU, Oct 15 — As a result of groupism and confrontation with the RSS leaders the state unit of the BJP is losing its shine in Jammu and Kashmir. A stage has reached that the party failed to complete organisational elections on time. The election of office-bearers for the BJP’s district and tehsil units in the Jammu region, which was completed recently, revealed inherent tussle between the BJP and the RSS and among various groups operating within the organisation. For the past three months the party has not been in a position to elect President of the State unit. And Mr D.K. Kotwal continues to hold the post of President of the state unit of the BJP. In 1996 Assembly elections the BJP had won eight seats and due to rift among the legislators there has been no consensus over a candidate who would be elected as the Party President, More than three candidates are keen to contest for the President’s post and each one belongs to different lobbies in the organisation. Besides this, the RSS, which too it a divided house, is eager to see its man installed as the BJP President. The RSS-BJP confrontation has gradually affected the equation the two main units of the Sangh Parivar had in the Jammu region. Senior most leader of the RSS, Mr Indresh Kumar, and Mr Bhagwat Swaroop, who remained organising secretary of the RSS for several years, do not see eye to eye with each other. Another development that weakened the BJP in the Jammu region is elevation of Prof Chaman Lal Gupta to the post of Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation. Prof Gupta, during the time headed the organisation, the BJP remained a force to reckon with in the Jammu region. Though Prof Chaman Lal Gupta continues to be in constant touch with the party affairs in Jammu, the role couple of BJP MLAs have been playing had damaged the party’s image. These two MLAs have secret understanding with the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, from whom they were able to secure several favours. This has resulted in the confusion in the BJP and other constituents of Sangh Parivar. People watch with interest the way senior BJP leaders have been securing favours from the ruling National Conference on one hand and on the other the RSS, the BJP and the VHP have been repeatedly demanding dismissal of the Farooq government and imposition of the President’s rule. Keen watchers of the BJP’s internal politics feel amazed over the way the BJP leaders in the state have been fulminating against the National Conference which continues to be a constituent of the NDA government in the Centre. A number of BJP leaders have stated that when the Assembly elections were held in 1996 and later during the Lok Sabha poll in 1999 there was no alliance between the BJP and the National Conference. “Hence we are free to praise or lambast the Farooq regime”, said one BJP leader. A faction in the RSS and in the state unit of the BJP are trying to reduce the importance of Prof Chaman Lal Gupta in the organisation in Jammu and Kashmir. Inside reports said that since Prof Gupta has remained a consistent critic of the Chief Minister, senior National Conference leaders have befriended several BJP leaders including two MLAs and one MP to form a front within the BJP against Prof Gupta. However, these effort have failed because Prof Gupta has carved out a vast constituency in the Jammu region. During the celebration of BJP’s one year in office a massive rally was organised in support of Prof Gupta in Kathua. Prof Gupta’s supporters say that if the high command did not give a free hand to him in shaping the destiny of the BJP in Jammu the organisation would have to face stiff opposition from the electorates in the Jammu region during the next elections. Prof Gupta had played a key role, when headed the party, in establishing the BJP unit in Kashmir. Large number of Muslims besides Gujjars in the state had joined the BJP to the discomfiture of the Congress and the National Conference. After Prof Gupta found that his “friends” in the party were hatching conspiracies against him he did not take much interest in strengthening the BJP unit in the Kashmir valley. Observers are of the opinion that if the high command did not take firm steps in curbing groupism, the BJP may go down in Jammu and Kashmir. The state unit of the Congress had three PCC chiefs during the past six years but groupism has accentuated to such an extent that many senior leaders are waiting for an opportune time to quit the party and join either the PDP or the National Conference. |
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Jail-break: senior
officer held JAMMU, Oct 15 (UNI) — The Jammu and Kashmir Police yesterday took an Assistant Superintendent of Jail and three constables into custody for their alleged involvement in the escape of a contract killer from the high-security Kishtwar jail on Friday. Akhtar Husain, hailing from Doda, was in the jail for killing Doda district National Conference president Munshi Qudratullah in July this year. The police said Assistant Superintendent Abdul Rashid and constables Sharik Husain, Bodh Raj and Niaz Ahmad had been suspended and taken into custody for their alleged involvement following a preliminary inquiry conducted by senior police officers. |
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