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Thursday,
January 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Militancy
victims cremated amid tension
India, Pak
should avoid war: JD (U) Govt hikes
relief outlay for migrants |
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| 55.56 lakh
visited Vaishno shrine in 2001 Jammu, January 2 A large number of pilgrims are reaching Katra, the base camp for the onward journey to the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi despite the mercury plummetting and the entire Shivalik mountain range reeling under a severe cold wave.
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Militancy victims cremated amid tension Jammu, January 2 Enraged by the massacre of innocent civilians, a large number of protesters had brought the six bodies to Geeta Bhavan in Poonch town yesterday. Despite persuasion by the district administration, the protesters refused to allow the cremation of the bodies unless the government came out with a definite policy on the security to minority community. The demonstrators criticised the district administration and demanded the setting up of more security pickets in sensitive areas of the district. The protesters resorted to stone-throwing on the police and stoned police vehicles and the car of the Deputy Commissioner. During the visit of a ministerial team this morning, the demonstrators again indulged in stone-throwing in which more than five policemen were injured. The police resorted to a mild lathi charge to ensure the safety of the ministers. The protesters relented on the ministerial team’s intervention and allowed the cremation of the bodies. The Poonch town observed complete bandh for the second day today. The ministerial team assured the agitators that 26 battalions of paramilitary forces were being sent to Jammu and Kashmir and more forces would be sent to the district for counter-insurgency operations and providing a security cover to people in villages. Meanwhile, Champa Devi, wounded in the militant shooting and admitted to Jammu Medical College, said two militants in Army fatigues had entered their house. “We were told that they were Armymen and when we invited them to have dinner one of them demanded to increase the volume of the television set. As we did it, the militants ordered seven of us to come out of the house. They stabbed some of us and then opened fire leaving five dead on the spot and one succumbed to injuries in the hospital,” she said adding that with first fire she fell down with a bullet wound and militants might have taken her to be dead. In another incident at Kurali village in Rajouri, security forces eliminated three militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba in an encounter. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered from them. |
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India, Pak should avoid war: JD (U)
Srinagar, January 2 “War should be avoided at all costs as any war in the present circumstances would be catastrophic since both countries have nuclear weapons,” general secretary of the state unit of the Janata Dal (U) G. M. Shah told newsmen here. He also said “Pakistan should hand over the terrorists to India so that a congenial atmosphere was created for a dialogue.” Mr Shah also called for a ceasefire between the militants and the government as no winners have emerged in the bloodshed and Jammu and Kashmir now needed people-oriented development and welfare. The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, scheduled for September-October this year, should be held under Governor’s rule to ensure a free and fair poll, he demanded. Mr Shah also demanded immediate restoration of the STD and ISD facilities in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Govt hikes relief outlay for migrants Jammu, January 2 According to the Minister for Rural Development, Mr Ajay
Sadhotra, out of this fund the government has placed an order for the purchase of 10,000 tents for the migrants. Besides a separate order has been placed for the purchase of 10,000 blankets. He said during his visit to various migrant camps he found that people were facing many difficulties, including weather-related problems. He said to begin with the government had sanctioned supply of 7 kg of flour and 2 kg of rice per head for 15 days free of cost. To a question Mr Sadhotra said in case there was delay in the delivery of tents either the school vacation would be extended to enable migrants to prolong their stay in school buildings or some alternative way would be evolved so that camps and schools ran simultaneously. He said even with limited resources the state administration had taken all possible steps to provide relief to the migrants. He said more than 60,000 persons had migrated from border villages in
Poonch, Rajouri, Akhnoor, Samba and R.S. Pora sectors. Meanwhile the National Panthers Party, led by Prof Bhim Singh, has in a memorandum to the Governor, Mr
G.C. Saxena, demanded immediate supply of free ration to the migrants, besides medicare services. The party has also called for government steps to provide safe shelter to the migrants, fodder for their cattle and weapons to the people to defend themselves against militants. |
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55.56 lakh visited Vaishno shrine in 2001 Jammu, January 2 About 33,000 pilgrims from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country paid obeisance at the shrine on December 31 last, a senior official of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said here today. During the last week of December, about 1.23 lakh pilgrims reached Katra for visiting the shrine, he said, adding that 55.56 lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2001. Since the constitution of the shrine board, a number of facilities, including accommodation, transportation, banking, and medical aid have been provided to the pilgrims. Special centres had also been set up in different states for providing information to the tourists, he said. The Department of Tourism had also launched a comprehensive campaign in Katra and surrounding areas by organising several programmes throughout the year, he added.
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