J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Army ready to face Pak threat: General
Nagrota, September 4
Though the sudden escalation in the level of violence on the border and within the Jammu region and in Pakistan firing on the Indian villages and posts is a matter of concern, the Indian security forces are prepared to meet any challenge form Pakistan.

Kisan body’s plea to Centre on J&K drought
Jammu, September 4
Chairman, All Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Union, Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA, has urged the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to release Rs 1850 crore drought relief, grant exemption to farmers on loans upto Rs 50,000, treat Jammu and Kashmir as a special category state and check fiscal mismanagement in the state.

5 cops dismissed for cowardice
Srinagar, September 4
The Station House Officer (SHO), Dooru, Inspector Ghulam Hyder, and four constables were today arrested for meekly laying down arms in front of militants. A case has been registered against them.

Sikh bodies welcome Badal’s stance
Jammu, September 4
Several Sikh organisations in Jammu and Kashmir have welcomed and supported the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal’s, offer of unity to other Akali Dal groups.

Soldiers on guard on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Soldiers on both Indian and Pakistani sides exchange fire across the LOC almost on a daily basis. — Reuters photo

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a leader of Kashmir's main separatist alliance, speaks at a news conference in Srinagar on Tuesday. Geelani, former chairman of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference and head of the Jamat-e-Islami party, urged women in the strife-torn region on Tuesday to adopt a strict form of Islamic dress but said he opposed using violence to coerce them.— Reuters photo

Mandru Khan, a militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, with his wife and sister during a surrender ceremony, where five local youths of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Fateh, Harkatul Mujahideen and Tehreek-e-Jehadi Islami outfits surrendered before the Army at Mansbal, 25 km north of Srinagar, on Tuesday. — Photo Amin War. 

Army ready to face Pak threat: General
Tribune News Service

Nagrota, September 4
Though the sudden escalation in the level of violence on the border and within the Jammu region and in Pakistan firing on the Indian villages and posts is a matter of concern, the Indian security forces are prepared to meet any challenge form Pakistan.

“We have adequate man and machine power to retaliate and foil any Pakistan gameplan,” said Lieut-Gen J.B.S. Yadava, GOC, at a press conference in this garrison town today.

Saying that the level of Pakistan firing on the border and infiltration had increased, General Yadava disclosed that during the past two months, the Pakistan troops had used heavy-calibre weapons and mortars to pound our villages. They had fired over 1,285 mortar shells against none between January and May last.

He said the rounds from heavy-calibre weapons and small arms too had increased from 916 in May last to over 33,000 in the last month.

General Yadava said 98 infiltration attempts had been made on the LoC and the International Border during the past six months. As a result of it, 187 intruders had been killed on the border against 62 during 1999.

He disclosed that during the past 12 months, out of 932 militants killed in the Jammu region, 610 were foreign mercenaries. This indicated that Pakistan was banking on these mercenaries to ensure the survival of “terrorism”.

He explained that after Pakistan failed to grab Jammu and Kashmir through three wars, it was using proxy war as another tool for laying its hand on the state. He said that Islamabad’s interest in Kashmir was not its people but its rivers. Pakistan wanted full control of the river basins for toning up its economy as the Indus Water Treaty has not allowed it a free hand to use the water of the three rivers that flow from Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan.

In reply to a question, General Yadava said that the BSF was doing a good job of checking infiltration from across the International Border (IB) and raising a fence on the IB. He said that when the need arose, the Indian troops would assist the BSF in completing the project.

He made it clear that if the Pakistan side created any major problem in the fence raising, the Indian Army would step in and retaliate. He said that the Indian team had made it clear to the Pakistan side at a meeting of the field commanders in Jalandar that India had the right to carry out any defence work on its territory and if there “is any major interference, we will react”.

He said deploying Indian troops on the IB would be like falling prey to Pakistan machinations and added that the BSF was fully equipped to meet any threat on the IB.

He defended the extension of Armed Forces Special Powers Act to the Jammu region, saying that when the troops were deployed to carry out anti-terrorist operations, they should have powers to seize, arrest or search persons and premises, the powers that the people and the paramilitary forces were enjoying.

He said that the Indian Army was the best in the world as far as the question of respecting human rights was concerned. He said that many allegations of human rights violations against the Indian troops had been found to be baseless and false. When these allegations were found true, action was initiated against the erring officials.

The General asserted that the campaign against the extension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to the Jammu region had actually been launched by the separatists and their supporters.

Referring to the border situation in the Jammu region, the Corps commander said, “We have the right to retaliate. We exercise this right to defend ourselves against the infiltrators and their supporters.” He added, “If the other side fires a mortar, we retaliate with a mortar fire, if they use high-calibre weapons, we too do it.”

General Yadava explained that the rise in the level of violence and infiltration was the result of three factors: First Pakistan wanted to alter the status of the International Border, extending from Kathua to Akhnoor, by giving it a shape of disturbed border. Second, it was keen to make up for the heavy losses of militants at the hands of security forces by pushing more rebels groups into the Jammu region. And third, Pakistan “wants to wear us out, particularly the Indian Army, affect our economy and ultimately force us to accept.

He declared, “We are there to foil the Pakistan gameplan.” He said that Pakistan-aided militants had realised it and had started targeting unarmed people.

He suggested that unarmed people living in isolated villages in far-flung areas be encouraged to live a community life by grouping themselves in fewer villages which could be given protection by the security forces and if this was done, armed attacks on the soft targets could be restricted.

In reply to a question, he said that a recommendation has been sent to the Unified Headquarters for further strengthening the Village Defence Committees, which were doing a good job. Later, if the need arose, Kishtwar Scouts, on the pattern of Ladakh Scouts, could be raised in the troubled Doda district to fight militancy.

Kisan body’s plea to Centre on J&K drought
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 4
Chairman, All Jammu and Kashmir Kisan Union, Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA, has urged the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to release Rs 1850 crore drought relief, grant exemption to farmers on loans upto Rs 50,000, treat Jammu and Kashmir as a special category state and check fiscal mismanagement in the state.

Mr Sharma said that in the name of financial crunch the NDA and ruling National Conference in the state had diverted from fixed targets in 1997-98 as per the report of CAG.

He added that the state was facing serious drought, particularly in Jammu division.The Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, assured in the Legislative Assembly to give relief to the farmers. A package of Rs 1850 crore had been prepared and sent to the centre and a special team of Ministry of Agriculture visited the affected areas and agreed that there had been a massive loss to the farmers.

5 cops dismissed for cowardice

Srinagar, September 4
The Station House Officer (SHO), Dooru, Inspector Ghulam Hyder, and four constables were today arrested for meekly laying down arms in front of militants. A case has been registered against them.

Yesterday, the militants accosted the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, who was going to Batgund in Dooru accompanied by a medical team, the SHO and four constables following reports of a diarrhoea epidemic in the village, and asked them to lay down arms.

The SHO and the constables did so without putting up a fight.

The state police chief has taken serious view of the matter and ordered their arrest for indulging in an act of cowardice.

The arrested constables are Hilal Ahmad, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, Showket Ahmed and Mohammad Jaffer.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Khalid Najeeb Soharwardy, accompanied by DGP Ashok Suri, visited Doda and took stock of the situation arising out of the militant attack on the district Police Lines last night, in which one policeman was killed and eight others injured. UNI

Sikh bodies welcome Badal’s stance
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 4
Several Sikh organisations in Jammu and Kashmir have welcomed and supported the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal’s, offer of unity to other Akali Dal groups.

The President of the state Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, Mr S.S. Wazir, said here today that several Sikh leaders belonging to different organisation in Jammu and Kashmir have emphasised the need for unity in the Akali Dal in the interest of people not only in Punjab but in the entire country.

Mr Wazir suggested to Mr Badal that he should not impose any condition while making a bid for unity among all sections of the Akali Dal. He said that by announcing that he would not appear before Akal Takht, Mr Badal was imposing a “condition.”