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APHC meeting on
Indo-Pak summit today 10 youths rescued from clutches
of militants
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Pilgrim issue: mahant threatens
fast 17.5 kg heroin seized at
J & K border
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APHC meeting on Indo-Pak summit today Srinagar, July 4 The meeting assumes significance in view of Indian and Pakistan Governments’ reported decision of turning down the 23-party alliance’s request for a meeting with Mr Vajpayee and General Musharraf. A spokesman of the APHC, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, said though the main agenda of the meeting is the Indo-Pak summit, other related matters would also be discussed. The APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, had recently said the executive committee of the 23-party alliance would meet to chalk out the strategy in case no reply was received from the two leaders to the amalgam’s letters seeking an audience before or after the summit meeting. He had offered no comments when asked about the reports that Pakistan had decided not to insist General Musharraf’s meeting with the Hurriyat leaders during his visit to India. However, he said, the APHC was awaiting an official announcement from Pakistan. The APHC Chairman had sent identical letters to Mr Vajpayee and General Musharraf, seeking an appointment before or after their summit meeting. Professor Bhat said the lasting solution to the Kashmir issue was possible only when all the three parties — Pakistan, India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir — sat together.
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10 youths rescued from clutches of
militants Jammu, July 4 It was a chance success. A naka party picked up one Mohammad Yusuf. It was after a sustained interrogation that he disclosed that 10 local youths were being given arms training by top activists of Lashkar-i-Toiba. Mohammad Yusuf himself was acting as a guide for the rebels and for the local youths. The Army and the police raided the hideout, on the information given by Mohammad Yusuf and rescued 10 local youths. The Army handed over the rescued youths in the age group of 14 to 19, to the police for further questioning. Parents of these youths were informed. They immediately rushed to the police station and requested for their release which was accepted. Defence Ministry authorities said this incident besides recent events in which at least eight more local youths were rescued from the clutches of the militants indicated that Lashkar-i-Toiba and other outfits had intensified the recruitment drive. Leaders of Lashkar-i-Toiba and other foreign-mercenary dominated rebel groups have realised that support of local youths was necessary to give teeth to the ongoing armed struggle. In fact, the Pakistani agencies have initiated a two-pronged strategy to recruit more militants to make up for the recent reverses of rebel forces met when more than 300 militants were killed in different parts of the state during the past over four months. Under this strategy, the rate of infiltration from across the border has again witnessed a sharp increase. Even officers of security agencies have confirmed that more that 800 to 1,000 infiltrators have sneaked into the state during the past six months. Secondly, the rebel leaders have been directed to use money power or threat to motivate local youths to join militancy. The fresh recruits were being given arms training in the forest belts of Doda, Kupwara and Poonch districts. Reports said the militants had been directed to intensify their strikes against security forces and against the soft targets to raise the level of violence. At the sametime, security forces have been asked to intensify their search under the seek and destroy plan to eliminate as many militants as possible which could force General Musharraf to realise that Pakistan’s proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir was on its last legs. |
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Pilgrim issue: mahant threatens
fast Jammu, July 4 Mr R.S. Tewari from Patna said: “We have not been disturbed by the militants. We have been dismayed by the state government which has refused to extend the date for the registration of pilgrims”. He said he had been visiting the holy cave for the past 20 years but he has never seen such a chaos in the registration of pilgrims. For the second consecutive day more than 500 pilgrims, including women, staged a demonstration in front of the Tourist Reception Centre, where the registration counter had functioned till June 26, demanding permission to visit the holy cave. Angry protesters said the government had fixed the limit of yatris at 3500 per day but during the past three days the number had ranged between 2100 and 3,000. They demanded that since there was scope for including at least 1,000 yatris, those who had already come to Jammu should be given the registration slips. The vice-president of the All-India Hindu Shakti Sena, Swami Girendranand Giri, in a statement said it was unfortunate that pilgrims, who had come from far-off places in the country, to Jammu were denied permission to visit the cave. He alleged that the registration period was too short to enable pilgrims to complete the process. He also alleged that even at this stage concerned government officials were charging Rs 500 per pilgrim for issuing registration slip. In a letter to the Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, who is also the Chairman of the Amarnath Shrine Board, he urged him to intervene and direct the Tourism Department to either extend the date for registration or at least allow those pilgrims to reach the cave who have landed in Jammu a few days ago. He condemned the government for stopping buses of pilgrims at Lakhanpur today. He said since only 1.05 lakh pilgrims had been registered there was scope for reopening the registration counter when last year more than 1.70 lakh pilgrims had visited the holy cave. Security deployment around the Tourist Reception Centre has been increased in view of threats from the pilgrims. |
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17.5 kg heroin seized at
J & K border New Delhi, July 4 Sham
Lal, alias Shyama, sarpanch of Dongre village, Yousaf Masih, alias
Pashi, of Chakrohi village and Kailash Kumari were arrested. A pistol, five cartridges and some fake documents were seized from their possession, a directorate note said here today. Raids by the directorate and the Jammu and Kashmir police at the hid-outs resulted in the seizure of 18 packets of high-quality heroin. The heroin had been received in two small rucksacks from three Pakistanis on the Indian side of the international border in Arnia sector. |
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