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Tuesday,
January 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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JKHRF
chief, JKLF vice-chief held
Jawan
killed in IED blast 5 youths
detained in search operations |
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BJP seeks regional
council for Jammu ANC for tripartite
talks on Kashmir Cold, power cuts
add to hardship
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JKHRF chief, JKLF vice-chief held Srinagar, January 20 Official sources said Mr Untoo and Mr Mir along with their supporters, raising slogans against alleged state terrorism, were marching towards the United Nations Military Observers (UNMO) office at Sonawar when they were taken into custody. Earlier, Mr Untoo had announced a peace march from his office at Exchange road to UNMO office in the protest against the security forces’ alleged excesses. “We want to draw the attention of the world towards the plight of those held in different detention and interrogation centres in and outside the state,’’ Mr Untoo said before his arrest. He claimed that thousands of youths were languishing in different jails for years without proper trial. They were being deprived of their rights by the authorities, he alleged. Mr Untoo also expressed concern over the deteriorating health condition of former Chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, lodged in Ranchi jail for the past eight months. “We demand that all detainees in and outside the state jail including Mr Geelani should be shifted to state prisons immediately,’’ he added. The HRF chairman alleged that despite court orders, several detainees were not being released by the authorities. Besides Mir and Untoo, those taken into custody included Ghulam Nabi Najar, Ghulam Nabi Wasim, Abdul Rashid and Mohammad Ashraf Salfi (all activists of the human rights forum). The procession was planned to attract the attention of the world bodies towards the alleged ill-treatment meted to the detainees in the jails in and outside the state. Untoo told reporters before his arrest that the government flouted the norms and even did not care for the court orders which had clearly stated that the detainees languishing in various jails should be brought back and lodged in the state jails. He said the health of several detainees including senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had deteriorated in the jails outside the state.
PTI |
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Jawan killed in IED blast Srinagar, January 20 The police detected the IED on the main road near a gurdwara at
Awantipora, about 30 km from here. It was planted in a bouquet and was defused. Traffic on the highway remained suspended for several hours in this connection. In another incident one jawan was killed while another was injured and the vehicle in which they were travelling damaged when an IED planted by militants exploded near Baramula today. The police here said the explosion took place near the Government Degree College, Baramula, on the Srinagar-Baramula highway at 2.20 p.m. Eye witnesses said residents of the nearby locality were beaten up by the security forces following the explosion. Several were even rounded up by the security forces in this regard. Seventeen bus passengers were injured when militants hurled a grenade at the main chowk,
Kulgam, Anantnag district, yesterday. It exploded beneath a passenger bus. Militants shot dead an Assistant Sub-Inspector of the police, Mushtaq Ahmad, and his son Mudassir and injured his nephew at Gundi Qaisar village near Bandipore in Baramula district yesterday. The police recovered the body of Ghulam Rasool Dar at Zainapora in Pulwama district today. One girl was injured when a militant hurled a grenade towards her house at Chuntwaliwar in Ganderbal area of Srinagar district. The police claimed that Ishad Ahmad Khan was apprehended while lobbying the grenade. The police and security forces recovered one revolver, a wireless set, three AK magazines, four hand grenades and 20 detonators from a hideout at Chee in Anantnag district. Meanwhile, the security forces gunned down six militants, including three Pakistani infiltrators, in Jammu region overnight. The body of Abdul Rehman
Khanday, a government employee, was recovered at Mattan in south Kashmir district of Anantnag today while the body of a woman was recovered at Ganderbal last evening. A BSF spokesman said the troops manning the LoC saw some heavily-armed intruders trying to sneak into the country at Dundagala area last night. When challenged, they opened fire on the troops. In the following gun battle three ultras were shot dead. In another encounter at Mahore area in Udhampur district the troops shot dead three militants early today. Acting on a tip-off the troops launched a pre-dawn operation in which three ultras were killed, the spokesman said. The security forces shot dead two militants at Plange in Thanamandi area today. Two AK rifles, five magazines and four hand grenades were recovered from them. |
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5 youths detained in search operations Srinagar, January 20 The youths were detained for questioning during search operations by the police and paramilitary forces at Gogjibagh, Mmahjoornagar, Rambagh and Solina localities, in the vicinity of Bakshi Stadium, the venue of the main Republic Day function in the Kashmir valley, the sources said. Houses were searched by the security forces during the operation but nothing incriminating was found, the sources said.
PTI |
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Lover lobs grenade at girl’s house Srinagar, January 20 Irshad Ahmad Khan, a resident of Chuntwaliwar village of Ganderbal, was arrested after he lobbed a grenade at the house of Saifuddin Dar in the same village last night injuring his daughter — the sister of Khan’s friend. The sources said Khan, whose brother is associated with a counter-insurgent group, attacked Dar’s house after he refused to marry his daughter to him. When Khan came to know that the engagement ceremony was in progress, he reportedly stole a grenade from his brother and headed towards Dar’s home, they said. The grenade fell inside a chimney restricting the damage to the house and causing injuries to Dar’s other daughter. The police has registered a case against Khan, the sources said.
PTI |
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BJP seeks regional council for Jammu Jammu, January 20 “We want a regional council to be set up in Jammu also and this step will fulfill aspiration of the people of the region”, party leader and Union Minister Chaman Lal Gupta told reporters. If the demand was not met, the BJP would launch an agitation, he said. A regional council in Jammu on the pattern of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), was an old demand of the people of the region as well as the BJP, Mr Gupta said. He, however, lauded the PDP-led government in the state for the empowerment of the LAHDC, Leh and announcement of Kargil council as “a pro-people step” and said the Centre would support it as far as good governance was concerned. Condemning militant threats to women on a dress code and their activities, Mr Gupta said the state government should take steps to restore confidence among the people. The newly elected state party president Nirmal Singh asked BJP workers to gear up for the panchayat, local bodies and Municipal elections.
PTI |
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ANC for tripartite talks on Kashmir Srinagar, January 20 Addressing party functionaries here today, Mr Shah said attempts to force any decision on the Kashmir issue on the people of the border state would not help restore peace. The former Chief Minister said it was high time that all concerned parties sat together to hammer out a lasting solution to the vexed issue once and for all. He added that the people of the state should be given an opportunity to decide their future to escape this turmoil. Today’s meeting was aimed at gearing up all party units for the coming conference on Jammu and Kashmir in March, 2003, the ANC leader said.
UNI |
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Cold,
power cuts add to hardship Jammu, January 20 Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, after taking over had ordered that power curtailment will not be more than four and a half hours, but the power plays truant for more than seven hours. For a couple of days power cut was reduced from nine hours to four and a half hours, but again the power cuts are prolonged. The power cuts at night have also been resumed. People cannot use heaters in the absence of power. It is being said that the Centre has cut power quota of the state because due to shortage in generation. |
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