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Saturday,
January 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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3 killed in J&K; red alert sounded Dutch men’s bodies handed over to Embassy
‘No hardcore militant
arrested in PoK’ Conversion of LoC into border ‘only solution’ |
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Tree falls on post,
3 jawans killed Traders’ stir against power
cuts Destroy training camps
in Pak: ABVP NPP urges EC
to reconsider Jammu-Poonch poll
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3 killed in J&K; red alert sounded Jammu, January 18 A Patwari (revenue official) was killed during an exchange of fire between militants and security forces in the Gool area of Udhampur district yesterday, they said. The militants, however, escaped due to the dense fog, they said adding that security forces were searching the area to track down the ultras. In a separate incident in the same area, two teenaged boys were injured when militants hurled a grenade at a house last evening. They said while the house was damaged in the attack, the two injured had been hospitalised. In the Haran area of Poonch district, a civilian was brutally assaulted by some militants, the sources said. Militants also set ablaze a house in the Darhal area of Rajouri district. A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan sustained bullet injuries, when Pakistan Rangers opened heavy machine gun fire on a BSF foot patrol near Galar Border Out Post in the Samba sector of this region this afternoon. BSF sources said a BSF foot patrol was returning to the post after a routine patrol and as they reached near it, the Pakistani Rangers opened unprovoked fire upon them causing bullet injuries to constable L. Ganaiya. A BSF jawan was killed and another injured when suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants ambushed a BSF search party at Tambundh in Udhampur district of Jammu early this morning. Meanwhile, security in the city has been beefed up following yesterday’s blast here and in view of intelligence reports that militant outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad may try to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. A red alert has been sounded in Jammu and Kashmir and police officials have been asked to maintain round-the-clock vigil, they said. Following reports of the presence of suicide squads, raids had been carried out at several places in the walled city and passengers leaving for the Capital were being checked, they said, adding that 27 suspects had been taken into custody. SRINAGAR: The police and security agencies have stepped up security to thwart any “nefarious designs” of militants ahead of the Republic Day celebrations here. The security forces have launched house-to-house searches, particularly in the areas around Bakshi Stadium, the venue of the celebrations here. Several suspected persons have been picked up during these searches in the areas around the stadium. The Minister of State for Home, Mr Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardy, presided over a series of meetings with senior civil administration, police and security officers to finalise the security arrangements. |
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Dutch men’s bodies handed over to
Embassy Srinagar, January 18 The bodies were handed over to Mr Mahieu, an attache at the Dutch Embassy, who arrived here yesterday. The officials had detailed meetings with the police and security officers over the circumstances in which the two had been killed, allegedly in a retaliatory fire by two BSF personnel here on Sunday. Mystery shrouded the circumstances in which the two Dutch tourists, staying in a houseboat at Dal Lake here, were shot dead after a week-long stay here. They were identified as Ell Bakiowli Ahmad and Ell Hassnowi
Khaliq. Two BSF jawans were injured when assailants “armed with daggers” injured them early on Sunday morning. Mr Ashok Bhan, the Inspector-General of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Kashmir zone, told TNS that the investigations into the killings had already been concluded. “The two Dutch nationals had a criminal intent to kill the two BSF jawans”, who were injured in the incident. The “past record” pertaining to the conduct of the two youths also led to the conclusion that their behaviour was “not satisfactory”. The IGP also referred to the statements given by Ell Bakiowli Ahmad to a website. As already reported, Ell Bakiowli Ahmad, according to a Dutch newspaper, had “given 781 statements between the end of August and December 9, 2001 under nickname Lucky Luke on Internet site maroc.nl”. One of these statements read: “What are we going to tell Allah when He asks us what we were doing when the kafirs slaughtered our Muslim brothers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Chechnya”. Translated copies of the newspaper report were made available to the local press here on Wednesday. Mr
Mahieu, an attache at the Dutch Embassy in New Delhi, to whom the bodies were handed over, declined to talk to the Press on the issue. For the past three days, the bodies were kept at the mortuary of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) here. These were shifted from the institute early this morning to the police control room before being taken to the airport. |
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‘No hardcore militant arrested in PoK’ Jammu, January 18 So far, the arrests have been limited to only the conduits of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), highly-placed security sources said here this morning. The ISI was yet to arrest any trained hardcore militant, they said. “Pakistan knows that US Secretary of State Colin Powell is currently in India, and to register its sincerity of liquidating terrorism emanating from its soil, has made these arrests. But recent inputs suggest that none of the hardcore cadres of these outfits have been apprehended so far and thus we have no reason to be elated about the arrests,” they said. The sources said what remains to be seen of Pakistan’s commitment was how many hardcore cadres it rounded up. It was feared that some of the militants who had committed ghastly crimes in Jammu and Kashmir were safely lodged in PoK, to be assigned more such tasks. “Having said this, we, however, state that the graph of militancy has taken a downward spiral in the valley in particular and Jammu and Kashmir in general, for which there are other reasons,” the sources said. The decline could be attributed to tightening of anti-militancy operations. The SOG of the Jammu and Kashmir police had notched up some successes in the recent past, the sources said. Moreover, heavy snow in the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal Ranges, coupled with icy winds and inclement weather, had multiplied the agonies of the hit-and-run guerrillas. Heavy snow had blocked passes. The decrease in the insurgency-related incidents could also be due to unprecedented deployment of troops along the Line of Control which had plugged isolated porous areas.
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Conversion of LoC into border ‘only solution’ Jammu, January 18 Addressing students and people at the annual day function of Sainik School,
Nagrota, Dr Abdullah today wished to convey to Islamabad that there was no scope for any compromise on Kashmir. By breeding hatred in the subcontinent and by encouraging proxy war Pakistan would never be able to grab Kashmir. It was because of the Pak machinations that India had to take all measures on the borders with Pakistan to crush the perpetrators of crossborder terrorism. War clouds continued to hover over the Indo-Pak border. The Chief Minister said it was intriguing that on the one hand Pakistan cried hoarse over peace and dialogue on the other it engineered blasts. One such blast was witnessed in Jammu yesterday, in which innocent people got killed. Pak shelling and firing had resulted in the displacement of a large number of border villagers. Migration from the border areas had created a new problem for the people and the government and still Pakistan was posing itself as an agent of peace. Dr Abdullah said if Pakistan continued with such cowardly acts it would lead to war and nothing else. He said de-escalation on the border would begin only after the Pakistan President implemented his assurances and stopped aiding and encouraging cross-border terrorism. |
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Tree falls on post, 3 jawans killed Srinagar, January 18 A Defence Ministry spokesman, Lieut-Col Mukhtiar Singh said in view of the heavy snow at Gulmarg, Banihal, Sonamarg, Baramula, Kupwara and Dras, the areas located 2500 metres above sea level might experience avalanches. People living in the higher reaches in Doda, Poonch, Rajouri, Kupwara, Baramula, Anantnag, Pulwama, Sopore, Kargil, Leh, Udhampur and Kishtwar had been advised to move about with adequate precautions. He said the SASE had reported that 150 to 200 cm of fresh snowfall had been recorded in most of its observatory locations. In the Karnah sector a post with about 12 security personnel was swept away in an avalanche last evening. While one soldier of the GREF died on the spot, three others, including two porters, suffered serious injuries in the accident. The others were rescued. In another incident in the same sector, three soldiers died when a huge tree fell on a guard post. In 53 sector, a patrol party went missing because of heavy snow and poor visibility, but later it was rescued. Two jawans of the search party received frostbite and were hospitalised. Meanwhile, about 30 “kothars”, dwelling hutments of Gujjars, were buried in an avalanche in the Karnah and Keran sectors early this morning but no one was injured. The occupants had migrated to the plains.
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Traders’ stir against power
cuts Jammu, January 18 Several hundred traders staged a dharna on the road demanding regular power supply and harsh measures against militants. The protesters said that militants had succeeded in planting an IED in the Kanak Mandi area yesterday during the period when there was no power supply. The demonstrators said whenever power supply was snapped as per the daily load-shedding programme, militants managed to strike under the cover of darkness. In yesterday’s explosion one person was killed and more than 10 were wounded. Various social and political organisations have blamed the BJP-led NDA Government and the National Conference regime for irregular power supply to the militancy-affected state. The protesting traders said that while the government spends several hundred crores on security- related matters, it ignores the issue of improving power supply. |
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Destroy training camps
in Pak: ABVP Jammu, January 18 At a function organised by the ABVP here today to discuss cross-border terrorism several ABVP and RSS leaders urged the government to launch an open war to end the menace of militancy. Mr H. Datatriya, organising secretary, ABVP, Mr Indresh Kumar, an RSS leader and Mr Romesh Pappa, general secretary of the ABVP, said there was no other alternative for India but to destroy all training camps. These leaders expressed concern over the plight of refugees from Pakistan and occupied Kashmir who have not been provided any substantial help for leading a comfortable life during the past 54 years. They said since 1947 border villagers had been facing inconvenience, harassment and even death due to intermittent Pakistani firing and shelling on the Indian villages in the Jammu sector. They said during the past 20 days more than a lakh villagers had migrated to safer places and the government had done nothing for their welfare. Speakers at the function said the action taken by Pakistan President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, against terrorists and religious extremists was an eyewash and meant to appease the US Government. India should not succumb to his gameplan and remain alert and hit back to end the problem once for all. |
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NPP urges EC
to reconsider Jammu-Poonch poll Jammu, January 18 Party legislator Harsh Dev Singh said nearly 2 lakh people had fled the border areas in the wake of heavy shelling by Pakistan and taken refuge in camps elsewhere. Under such circumstances, the EC should reconsider holding the byelection, he said. Mr Harsh Dev Singh slammed the BJP and the National Conference (NC) for favouring the by-election, saying that it suited them as in the absence of genuine voters, they could rig the election for a favourable outcome. On the decision to send 40 parliamentarians abroad to explain India’s position on Kashmir, Mr Harsh Dev Singh questioned how many of these MPs were actually well-versed with the ground realities. Instead representative of any party having representation in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly should be sent to explain the position.
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