J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

ISI plan to restructure UJC
Jammu, January 31
Upset over the rift between the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen, Pakistani agencies, especially the ISI, plan to restructure the United Jehad Council (UJC), an apex body of the rebel outfits which is monitoring and controlling the activities of militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

News agency editor killed
Srinagar, January 31
Two militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces while a civilian was killed and at least 15 others (according to UNI 21) were injured in two separate explosions in the Kashmir valley today.

Land scam in Pulwama
Srinagar, January 31
The revenue authorities in Pulwama district have unearthed a land scam involving crores of rupees in which two revenue officials have allegedly transferred nearly three acres of government land to 13 families of which the department has no record.

ISI plan to restructure UJC
M.L. Kak

Jammu, January 31
Upset over the rift between the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen, Pakistani agencies, especially the ISI, plan to restructure the United Jehad Council (UJC), an apex body of the rebel outfits which is monitoring and controlling the activities of militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan-based UJC is headed by Syed Salahuddin. In 2000, when the chief commander (operations) of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Abdul Majid Dar, announced a unilateral ceasefire, Salahuddin fell out with his trusted lieutenant.

The result of the tussle between Salahuddin and Dar has caused a vertical split in the Hizbul Mujahideen. A faction of this outfit is keen to re-establish its hegemony in Jammu and Kashmir which it had lost after the split and following the rise of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as the main rebel group receiving full financial and moral support from across the border. Recently, Hizbul Mujahideen activists entered into an armed duel with Lashkar activists in the Kokernag belt of south Kashmir in which a Lashkar man was killed. And the Lashkar-e-Toiba has dished out a threat to the Hizbul Mujahideen warning it against attempts at weakening the ongoing armed struggle.

Reports reaching here from across the border reveal that the ISI is planning to replace Salahuddin by Ghulam Rasool, alias “General” Abdullah, as chief of the UJC. “General” Abdullah owes allegiance to the Jamaitul Mujahideen. He had escaped from SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, where he had been admitted for treatment during his detention in the Srinagar jail. After his escape he crossed over to Pakistan and the ISI and various rebel outfits welcomed him.

Reports say that the ISI is keen on befriending Dar and he could be motivated to readopt a pro-Pakistan line provided his arch rival, Salahuddin, is removed from the UJC. The Pakistani agencies have realised that placing all their eggs in the basket of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jash-e-Mohammad has not proved helpful in giving teeth to the armed campaign against the Indian forces.

Although the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jash-e-Mohammad enjoy full support from the agencies across the border and their activists have weapons and explosives, their leadership has not been in a position to secure as much people’s support as Hizbul Mujahideen activists used to enjoy. Since the Hizbul Mujahideen has local youth among its supporters, it has more acceptability in the valley than the foreign mercenary-dominated Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jash-e-Mohammad.

Reports say that the agencies across the border are keen on strengthening the anti-India movement in Jammu and Kashmir for which the support of Hizbul Mujahideen activists has become necessary. Another report says that Dar has been invited by senior functionaries of the rebel outfits based in Pakistan so that differences can be sorted out. 

News agency editor killed
Tribune News Service and Agencies

Srinagar, January 31
Two militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces while a civilian was killed and at least 15 others (according to UNI 21) were injured in two separate explosions in the Kashmir valley today.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead Parvaz Mohammad Sultan, a journalist here in his office-cum-residence at Partap Park, near here, this evening.

Official sources said two gunmen entered the first floor of the Partap Park flats, housing journalists at 6 p.m. and killed him from a very close range with a silencer-fitted weapon.

Sultan, who was hit in the face, rushed out of his room but collapsed on the road.

He was taken to a hospital in a critical condition where he succumbed to injuries.

Sultan was Editor of a local news agency Nafa and represented a national daily Quami Awaz, besides several other local Urdu newspapers in the Kashmir valley.

The police said two unidentified militants were killed in an encounter at Nadigam, Shopian in Pulwama district, during a search operation. Two AK rifles and five magazines were recovered from the slain militants.

One pedestrian was killed and nine others were injured when suspected militants hurled a grenade on a convoy of the Army at Lal Chowk in Anantnag town this afternoon. However, the grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside killing Riyaz Ahmad Ganai and injuring nine others (according to UNI 15).

Three security force personnel and three civilians were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion near Kotamorah Pattan in Baramula district today afternoon, the police said.

Land scam in Pulwama

Srinagar, January 31
The revenue authorities in Pulwama district have unearthed a land scam involving crores of rupees in which two revenue officials have allegedly transferred nearly three acres of government land to 13 families of which the department has no record.

A detailed report on the scam was sent to the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama Naseema Lanker said.

According to the report, the two revenue officials transferred 2.9 acres of government land at Galandar and Pampore to 13 families for crores of rupees, but there was no record of the transfers in the Deputy Commissioners Office, official sources said.

The new owners of the land felled thousands of trees planted by the forest department and sold these. They also extracted soil reportedly worth Rs 2 crore from the land, the sources quoting the report said. PTI