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Thursday,
February 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Hurriyat strike tomorrow
Shabir Shah taken into custody Woman killed in Pak shelling |
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Crackdown on land mafia too? 3 ultras killed in Valley BJP’s charge on demolitions Two killed in workshop fire
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Hurriyat strike tomorrow Srinagar, February 5 “We call for a general strike on Friday against Kashmiris being ruthlessly either hanged or sentenced for life, against Kashmiris being put behind bars and subjected to inhuman treatment and against the hardening of attitudes in Delhi”, said Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, at a press conference here this afternoon. He held that Kashmiris were being punished for no fault of theirs. Expressing solidarity with all those under detention, Professor Bhat sought early shifting of the jailed APHC leader in Ranchi, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to a hospital for treatment of cancer. However, a UNI report from Ranchi said the separatist leader was taken to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital in Mumbai for specialised treatment this afternoon. Mr Geelani was shifted from the Birsa Munda Central jail where he has been lodged for the past eight months under the Public Safety Act. He was referred to TMH for further medical investigations and treatment after being diagnosed with malignancy of cancer by attending doctors, the report from the Jharkhand capital said. Back in Srinagar, the APHC Chairman held that the ‘just struggle’ launched in Jammu and Kashmir was rooted in history while the entire world recognised it as a ‘freedom struggle’. He added that any reference to it as a terrorist act was ‘irrelevant and mischievous’, adding that those associated with it were not punishable. Professor Bhat also criticised the statement of the Deputy Prime Minister Mr L.K. Advani, describing the Hurriyat Conference as a ‘proxy of Pakistan”. He held that the APHC was neither the proxy of India, but only the representative of Kashmiris. He said the APHC was talking the language of Nehru and Gandhi for a just settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the state and under the UN resolutions. Evading queries on the recent visit of the British Ambassador in India, Mr Rob Young, without meeting the Hurriyat leaders, Professor Bhat said the former had urged both India and Pakistan to resolve the issue. Replying another question over the recent visit of the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatimi, who was the chief guest on Republic Day, the Hurriyat chief said the Muslim world favoured a just solution to the vexed Kashmir issue. The APHC Chairman blamed the government for unleashing a reign of terror in the state. He also referred to the killing of a PDP MLA, Abdul Aziz Mir, at Pampore last month and said it was the “habit of the Government of India to blame us only”. Professor Bhat also referred to the revelations made by a former militant and NC legislator, Javed Hussain Shah, blaming the police for unleashing terror in the state. The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the APHC Chairman said, was no different from his predecessor, having been unable to disband SOG of the state police and release all political prisoners. Professor Bhat held that the APHC had “decided to take up pragmatic, realistic and imaginative position to resolve Kashmir dispute”. He asked both India and Pakistan to come forward and realise the reality and appealed to the world leadership and international human rights bodies “to ensure that justice is done and justice seems to have been done”. |
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Shabir Shah taken into custody Srinagar, February 5 Shah was leading the procession towards the local office of the UN Military Observers group at Sonawar from his Rajbagh headquarters when the police intercepted the marchers, including some women, near zero bridge and asked them to disperse, the sources said. However, the processionists, who were chanting pro-freedom slogans and carrying banners demanding release of political detenues and an end to the alleged human rights violations, were lathicharged when they refused to disperse on their own, the sources said. Later, Shah, along with his 12 party activists, including vice-president Moulana Abdullah Tari, was taken into preventive custody by the police and lodged at Rajbagh Police Station. The abortive attempt to take out the procession by the JKDFP coincided with the Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed in Pakistan today. Meanwhile, a spokesman of the JKDFP condemned the police action and said several people, among the processionists, were injured in the lathi charge.
PTI |
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Woman killed in Pak shelling Jammu, February 5 According to official sources during the past two days, over 25 civilians and two soldiers had been wounded in the firing and shelling. At least 12 civilian structures had suffered partial damage. Defence Ministry sources said the Pakistani troops used MMG, mortar guns and other small arms to pound several Indian villages. The sources said yesterday that the Pakistani forces resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling from across the Naushehra sector in Rajauri to provide fire cover to a group of infiltrators. The Indian troops retaliated killing two infiltrators. The police confirmed that several civilians, including four women, were wounded in Digwar, Dholeri and Khari and Karmara villages of
Poonch. |
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Crackdown on land mafia too? Jammu, February 5 The PDP-led coalition government launched the drive against encroachers first in Srinagar and has now razed many illegal structures here. However, opposition parties, including the BJP and the Jammu State Morcha, have accused the government of harassing small traders and not taking action against influential persons who have encroached on government lands. It is worth appreciating that a beginning has at least been made by any government to remove encroachments. Earlier, such measures were taken only during the President’s rule when Mr Jagmohan was the Governor. The previous National Conference government kept its eyes and ears shut as the mafia grabbed government land in the two cities in particular. Residential colonies have sprung up in the forest areas with some of the then VIPs also constructing their palatial houses in the forests. It is to be seen as to in what manner the Mufti government pursues pending cases against these influential violators of law in the courts. Jammu is not only facing the menace of encroachments, but also building laws are being flouted by influential persons. However, the violators go scot-free as such constructions are generally regularised through compounding by the municipal council. Not a single illegal building in posh localities has ever been demolished. Streets in the post localities of Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar have been reduced to lanes as plot holders have encroached on either side of the roads on the pretext of creating green belts. The High Court a few years ago had ordered removal of such strips, but the authorities have miserably failed to take any action.
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3 ultras killed in Valley Jammu, February 5 In the retaliatory action, both the ultras were gunned down, the sources said, adding that the house the militants hid in as well as adjoining houses, caught fire during the encounter that continued till last evening. Bodies of the militants were still under the debris and efforts were on to recover them, the sources said. In another incident, the security forces killed one militant in the Bhimber Gali sector of Rajouri district early yesterday as he tried to infiltrate into the Indian side. Recoveries from the slain militant included one 8mm semi- automatic assault rifle, one 60mm mortar and one 7.62mm pistol, the sources said. |
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BJP’s charge on demolitions Jammu, February 5 The BJP has expressed concern about the removal of hawkers who have been paying the rent regularly to the Municipal Committee. The party alleged the illegal structures of supporters of the Congress were not touched. It demanded that those whose shops had been demolished should be rehabilitated. |
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Two killed in workshop fire Srinagar, February 5 The fire broke out when the workshop employees were engaged in welding a component of the tanker, they said. Two employees, Shabir Ahmad Shangar and Mohammad Rafiq Ahangar, were killed on the spot. Rayees Ahmad Peer and Rafiq Ahmad Mir, who were at the workshop at the time of the incident, suffered serious burn injuries and were admitted to a hospital, the sources said.
PTI |
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Bangladeshis held in J&K Jammu, February 5 Noticing
some movement along the IB near the Kanachak border out post around
3.30 p.m., the BSF troops challenged them and cordoned off the area,
the sources said. The arrested Bangladeshis were later handed over to
the police, the sources added. PTI |
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