J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

“Mercenaries don’t want peace”
SRINAGAR, Nov 27 — Claiming that local militants in Jammu and Kashmir wanted to “give up their way of life”, Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat said here today that foreign elements wanted “to keep the pot boiling”. He said that people’s desire for restoration of peace was getting stronger in this trouble-torn state.

BSF jawan dies in accidental blast
SRINAGAR, Nov 27 — A BSF jawan was killed and civilian wounded in two accidental explosions in the Kashmir valley, where two militants were arrested and a cache of arms and ammunition seized barely hours before the implementation of the Ramzan ceasefire, an official spokesman today said.

“Mercenaries don’t want peace”
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Nov 27 — Claiming that local militants in Jammu and Kashmir wanted to “give up their way of life”, Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat said here today that foreign elements wanted “to keep the pot boiling”. He said that people’s desire for restoration of peace was getting stronger in this trouble-torn state.

Addressing mediapersons here, the DGP, who has been appointed DG, Border Security Force (BSF), said offensive operations against all militant groups in the state had been suspended. “If we are attacked, we will definitely retaliate”, he said in reply to a question.

Mr Jagat, who was appointed DGP of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in February, 1997, relinquishes his office on November 30 to join as Director-General, BSF. Lauding the role of officers and jawans of the J and K Police, Mr Jagat said it was one of the finest police forces in the country with the most experience in fighting militants. He lauded the role of the Chief Minister who had contributed to the uplift of the force.

At least 250 police personnel had lost their lives while fighting militants during the past two years, Mr Jagat said. The police was always at the forefront in anti-militancy operations.

Eversince Mr Jagat joined about four years ago, efforts have been made to galvanise and modernise the police force with special priority on providing better communication, transport and accommodation facilities to the police personnel.

As part of the modernisation process, Internet services are being used to connect all district SSPs with the police headquarters. Special attention is being paid to the upgradation of the police telecom system in the state. Around Rs 6 crore have been spent on upgradation of security equipment in the past four years.

As part of the strengthening process, six battalions were raised under Mr Jagat’s initiative, resulting in the creation of 8,034 posts of constable. Besides the government sanctioned four DAR companies for each police district and 114 border police posts, which further resulted in the creation of 2,278 posts.

A large number of militants were killed or apprehended and arms and ammunition recovered with the strengthening of the SOG, or the Special Task Force carved out of the police force.

In these operations, 4580 militants were killed and 3618 apprehended. The recoveries included 5813 AK rifles, 2346 pistols, 108 sniper rifles, 30 SIRs, 182 machine guns, 13724 grenades, 3128 kg of RDX and 2096 IEDs.

BSF jawan dies in accidental blast

SRINAGAR, Nov 27 (UNI) — A BSF jawan was killed and civilian wounded in two accidental explosions in the Kashmir valley, where two militants were arrested and a cache of arms and ammunition seized barely hours before the implementation of the Ramzan ceasefire, an official spokesman today said.

The special operations group of the local police arrested a militant, Manzoor Ahmad, in Badgam district of Central Kashmir today.