 |
Tuesday,
August 13, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Attack on
security camp at Tral Gujjars
turning away from NC |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Yatra
suspended due to landslides Panthers
Party threatens stir 
|
|
42 kg
RDX seized from bomb factory
Srinagar, August 12 Acting on a tip-off, a police party raided a deserted house at
Gopalpora, about 12 km from here, and recovered 42 kg of RDX, 14 barrels of hydrogen peroxide, one drum of carbon tetrachloride, 98 cans of sulphuric acid, 128 bottles of nitric acid and 100 plastic pipes from a cellar well constructed under the house, they said. “Had the recovered explosives gone off even accidentally, it would have been enough to wreak havoc in a five-km radius from the site,” the sources said. One person was arrested in this connection, they said. A senior police officer, who headed the raiding party, told reporters that the explosives were meant to disrupt the Independence Day celebrations and that the civil secretariat was one of the intended targets. Militants attacked a security force camp with rockets and automatic weapons at Tral last night while, elsewhere in the state, four ultras were among five persons killed during the past 24 hours. An official spokesman said the militants fired rockets targeting a security force camp at Tral in South Kashmir district of Pulwama late last night. The rockets were followed by heavy firing with automatic weapons. One of the rockets exploded in the residential compound of Mr
Bashir Ahmad Khan, Assistant Development Commissioner, Pulwama, damaging his house. However, no one was injured. Security forces gunned down two militants at Bhangar Dhar Saroor while one ultra each was killed at Poonch and Margan Dhar last night. A large cache of arms and ammunition, including two AK rifles, three mortar bombs, nine grenades, one grenade thrower, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 100 rounds were recovered from the slain militants. He said the bullet-riddled body of Tariq Hussain was recovered from Champli Kishtwar last evening. Security forces arrested an ultra along with a grenade and a wireless set at Achabal Sopore.
PTI, UNI |
|
Attack on security camp at Tral Srinagar, August 12 An official spokesman said the militants fired rockets targeting a security force camp at Tral in South Kashmir district of Pulwama late last night. The rockets were followed by heavy firing with automatic weapons. One of the rockets exploded in the residential compound of Mr Bashir
Ahmad Khan, Assistant Development Commissioner, Pulwama, damaging his house. However, no one was injured. Security forces gunned down two militants at Bhangar Dhar Saroor while one ultra each was killed at Poonch and Margan Dhar last night. A large cache of arms and ammunition, including two AK rifles, three mortar bombs, nine grenades, one grenade thrower, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 100 rounds were recovered from the slain militants. He said the bullet-riddled body of Tariq Hussain was recovered from Champli Kishtwar last evening.
UNI |
|
Gujjars turning away from NC Jammu, August 12 The National Conference is well aware of the potential of the Gujjar and Bakerwal votebank. Consequently, the NC has cultivated senior leaders of this ethnic group from Kangan, Poonch and Rajouri. Prominent among Gujjar leaders who have joined the NC after quitting the Congress are Mian Bashir, Mian Altaf, Mr Talib Hussain, Mr Rafiq Hussain Khan and Mian Abdul Rashid. Peeved over the “stepmotherly treatment” meted out to the Gujjars during the past six years of the NC rule, several community leaders have threatened to support any party other than the NC in case the ethnic group is not given its due share in the Assembly. Haji Buland Khan, vice-chairman, Gujjar Advisory Board, had organised a Gujjar conference in Jammu and Srinagar simultaneously to bring about a reconciliation between the two sides, but in vain. Gujjar leaders say their votebank “can tilt the scales” in at least 15 of the 87 constituencies in the state. Gujjar and Bakerwal voters have a sizeable number in Poonch, Rajouri, Surankot, Mendhar, Inderwal, Gulabgarh, Nagrota, Pahalgam, Noorabad, Kangan, Shopian and Kulgam. They point out that between 1996 and 1999 more than 1,300 Class IV employees were recruited in the Department of Animal and Sheep Husbandry but Gujjar youth failed to get even 10 per cent of the share. The NC leaders have now started wooing Gujjar technocrats and bureaucrats so that they can be fielded as party candidates. Already a senior engineer, Mr Abdul Gani Kohli, has joined the NC. There are two Gujjars, Mr Mohammad Shafi and Mian Altaf, in the Farooq Cabinet. |
|
Yatra suspended due to landslides Jammu, August 12 The pilgrims were not allowed to proceed from the base camp of the M.A.M Stadium here as the road was blocked due to fresh landslides triggered by overnight rain, official sources said here. Efforts were on to clear the road at Nashri near Batote and at Ramban, they said, adding men and machines of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) were pressed into service. It was still raining in stretches of the highway, particularly in the landslides zones, making it difficult for the BRO personnel to speed up clearance operation, the sources said. The authorities had cleared the road near Ramban last evening and allowed one-way traffic from Kashmir valley to Jammu but fresh rains again caused the blockades, they said. Meanwhile, over 1000 pilgrims who left here yesterday, continued to remain stranded at Batote and Ramban. Besides, over 30 companies of paramilitary forces which were on their way to Kashmir yesterday on election duty also got stranded at various places on the highway, the only surface link between the Kashmir valley and the rest of the country.
PTI |
|
Panthers Party threatens stir Jammu, August 12 Mr Bhim Singh, chairman of the party, told mediapersons here today that 21 persons had been killed and 35 handicapped due to landmine explosions in Pargwal area of Jammu. Mr Bhim Singh said more than 25,000 persons in 28 villages had to flee their homes following tension on the borders. He took exception to the publication of electoral rolls in Urdu although a large number of electorate are not versed with the language, he added. Mr Bhim Singh alleged that many persons, who had died after 1988, had been included in the voters’ list. |
|
J&K poll: JD
(U) fears rigging Srinagar, August 12 The state unit of the party had recently held a dharna near Raj Bhavan in support of its demand. He alleged that the elections under the National Conference would be rigged, adding that it was unfortunate that some political parties supported the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
