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Tuesday,
February 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Less
snowfall aids infiltrators 9 left in fray for Pampore seat India, Pak troops
exchange fire Shabir Shah taken into custody |
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Demand to shift
back records Border farmers to get full ‘relief’ Crackdown on unrecognised
professional colleges Jammu, February 10 The police seized five trucks last night carrying bovine animals on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Ramban, 180 km from here, according to official sources here today. On specific information about the smuggling of bovines to the Valley for the purpose of Id festival, the police set up a checkpoint at Ramban on the J and K highway, they said. Militant killed, 30 kg RDX seized Army rescues
7 villagers
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Less
snowfall aids infiltrators Mendhar (Line of Control), February 10 A senior Army officer told this correspondent that the pattern of infiltration has not changed this time because of negligible snowfall. Normally this is the brief period when the security forces have a breathing time as the infiltration is virtually reduced to a trick because all passes are blocked by snow. Poonch and Rajouri districts on the LoC in the Jammu division are now the hotspots of terrorism. Earlier terrorists used to infiltrate from here, but they maintained a low profile in the areas as it was a safe passage for them to the valley and Doda district. However, recent incidents of beheading three girls and some other persons who defied the diktats of terrorists, particularly on the Islamic dress code, have sent shock waves in these border districts. Sources said the Surankot area in Poonch district continues to be a tough place for the security forces as terrorists were being sheltered generally by local population. The Hilkaka area near here is being called the “liberated zone” by the sympathisers of terrorists. This is the launching pad for terrorists to reach various destinations around Shopian in the valley and Doda district. The recent killing of four terrorists in this sector has exposed the plan of Pakistan’s ISI to merge the splinter terrorist groups and set up another outfit of J&K National Liberation Army under the command of Amanullah Khan. This was the first killing of terrorists belonging to the outfit and a large quantity of provocative literature was recovered from the slain terrorists, who belonged to the Kotli and Nagial areas of Muzaffarabad in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). It is learnt that a large number of terrorists were being trained by the Pakistan army at various camps in and around Muzaffarabad. Some terrorists who were killed recently were engaged in recruiting local Muslim youths for terrorist training and a number of blank signed identity cards were recovered from them. The Lashkar-e-Toiba and Albadar outfits of terrorists are also becoming active in these border districts. However, there are indications that some of the terrorist groups have split in Pakistan, but are still determined to carry on their activities. |
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9 left in fray for Pampore seat Srinagar, February 10 The Congress, the Panthers Party and the CPM, alliance partners of the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, led by the PDP leader, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, have not fielded their candidates, while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, is pitted against the National Conference nominee and former MLA, Mushtaq Ahmad Kuchey. Others in the fray are Mohammad Yusuf Dar of the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD) and six independents. The PDP candidate, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, is the son of former MLA, Abdul Aziz Mir, who was killed by unidentified gunmen after Friday prayers at his native village, Konibal, in the Pampore area on December 20 last year. Setting at rest the speculations over his election to the Legislative Assembly from the Pampore constituency, which fell vacant due to the killing of the MLA, the Chief Minister did not file his nomination papers from the constituency. He is understood to have decided to get elected to the Legislative Council to meet the constitutional obligation for becoming a member of either of the two houses to continue as Chief Minister. The constituency has 51688 electorate, which includes 20925 female voters. Fiftyeight polling stations have been set up for the polls. The last elections to this constituency were held in the third phase on October 1 last year in which 11 candidates were in the fray. Late Abdul Azir Mir of the PDP was elected, who defeated the Congress candidate Mohammad Anwar by a margin of 705 votes. |
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India, Pak troops
exchange fire Jammu, February 10 Exchange of small arms intermittent firing between the two sides took place at several places along the international border in R.S. Pura, Samba and Arnia sectors last night without causing any casualty, they said. Pakistani troops targeted some border outposts in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district for about half an hour this morning, they said. The two sides exchanged heavy mortar shelling in the Bhawani sector of Rajouri district. Meanwhile, a police constable Mohammad Shafiq, seriously injured in shelling by Pakistani troops in Balakote yesterday, succumbed to injuries in a hospital here.
PTI |
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Shabir Shah taken into custody Srinagar, February 10 Mr Shah was detained at Dalgate while he was leading a group of over 100 persons to the UN office in violation of prohibitory orders, which are in force in the city. In the referendum addressed to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, a copy of which was distributed among the journalists, Mr Shah asked the global body to persuade the Centre to return the mortal remains of the JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat to Kashmir, for whom a grave has been kept empty at the Eidgah graveyard. Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in 1984 for the killing of Indian diplomat R. Mhatre in London, is buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
PTI |
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Demand to shift
back records Jammu, February 10 The removal of these documents to Kashmir has been detected by a committee headed by Prof Hari Om. The committees was constituted by the Education Minister, Mr Harshdev Singh, following complaints in this respect. It is being alleged that the documents relating to the Dogra rulers and thereafter have been removed from here with the “ulterior” motive to distort history. There were allegations that important documents were removed from the archives by influential bureaucrats who had themselves authored books based on the material. The shifting of these documents to Kashmir began in 1952 reportedly under the orders of the government. Prof Virender Gupta, co-Chairman of the Jammu State Morcha, has demanded immediate return of these priceless documents from the Oriental Research Library, Srinagar, to Ranbir Library here. The shifting of these documents reflects the “motivated” intentions of the government to distort history and deprive the people of Jammu of their golden heritage. |
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Border farmers to get full ‘relief’ Jammu, February 10 “The government has in principle decided to withdraw the order retaining one-third of the compensation due to the affected farmers living along Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in J and K”, Mr Sharma told a delegation of the farmers from the border region here. He has personally taken up the matter with the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who has agreed to withdraw the earlier order debarring the affected farmers to get full compensation of their losses. Farmers living on the borders could not cultivate their land following the laying of mines by the Army in view of the escalation of tension on the borders after the December 11 attack on Parliament. The Defence Ministry has agreed to pay compensation for the losses suffered by the farmers, Mr Sharma added.
PTI |
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Crackdown on unrecognised
professional colleges Jammu, February 10 A final decision on the closure of such colleges might be taken by this weekend when the data is received in the secretatriat. The Education Minister, Mr Harshdev Singh, told TNS here today that there were reports some B.Ed, engineering and other professional colleges had come up in the state without the approval of the state government or affiliation granted by any of the three universities. He had sought a report of such colleges and said these would not be allowed to function. He said such colleges had already been ordered not to make fresh admissions in this session before a green light from the government. Strict action would be taken in case the orders of the government were defied by making admissions. Many students from Himachal Pradesh, in particular, seek admission in the B.Ed colleges in the state every year and there were allegations that certain institutions were fleecing them or did not possess the required infrastructure for training them as teachers. Many of such colleges do not fulfil the specified requirements and even then were allowed to function all these years because of the backing of bigwigs. The minister said all private professional colleges had been asked to submit their status by this afternoon and it would be scrutinised within two days. Those colleges not fulfilling the specified standards would be liable to closure. He said 6,000 teachers would be recruited to achieve total literacy under newly launched Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Mr Harshdev Singh said the directors of education in the two divisions of Jammu and Kashmir had been empowered to grant recognition to schools up to the level of class V. Earlier, these powers were vested in the secretariat. |
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5 trucks carrying cattle seized Jammu, February 10 Five trucks carrying the animals were stopped by the police at the checkpoint, the sources said, adding that the drivers of the vehicles fled to the nearby hills. During searches, the police seized 55 bovine animals, which were being smuggled from the R.S. Pura area of Jammu district to Srinagar valley, the sources said. The police has registered a case and launched a manhunt to arrest the smugglers, they added.
PTI |
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Militant killed, 30 kg RDX seized Srinagar, February 10 An official spokesman said security forces killed militant Mushtaq Ahmad Qureshi in an encounter at Pajbai forest in Handwara area of north Kashmir late last night. One AK rifle, four magazines and 60 cartridges were recovered from the slain militant. He said security forces unearthed a hideout at Kurezi in the Banihal area today and recovered 30 kg of RDX, one UBGL, 23 UBGL grenades, 237 rounds of ammunition, two anti-personnel mines, one anti-tank mine. one IED receiver and 11 detonators.
UNI |
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Army rescues
7 villagers Srinagar, February 10 A Defence spokesman here said that troops of Kupwara Infantry Division received an information about the avalanche in which seven villagers were trapped near Dangidhar village in the Gurez sector near the LoC on Saturday. All seven were rescued following details provided by the villagers and the operation was over by evening. |
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