J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Grenade blast kills two in valley
Srinagar, March 20
Two persons were killed and two others wounded in a grenade blast at Victory Crossing Khanyar in the downtown city this afternoon. Official sources told UNI that unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade towards a security force vehicle this afternoon. However, the grenade missed the vehicle and exploded on the roadside, injuring four persons.

J&K ASSEMBLY
Govt to get tough with enemies: Mufti
Jammu, March 20
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, today said that his government would deal with militancy with an iron hand. Making a suo-motu statement in the Legislative Assembly before question hour, the Chief Minister said the government had been reviewing the situation and appropriate action taken at all levels.

Swami visits massacre site
Jammu, March 20
The Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, has expressed concern over the indications of grouping of a number of terrorist outfits to strike terror in Jammu and Kashmir and said the security forces were prepared to face the challenge.

Help farmers diversify, Mufti’s call to scientists
Jammu, March 20
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today called upon agriculture scientists to draw up a programme for the diversification of farm activities to sustain higher production and for better returns to the farmers.

Grenade blast kills two in valley

Srinagar, March 20
Two persons were killed and two others wounded in a grenade blast at Victory Crossing Khanyar in the downtown city this afternoon.

Official sources told UNI that unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade towards a security force vehicle this afternoon.

However, the grenade missed the vehicle and exploded on the roadside, injuring four persons.

The injured were removed to hospital where one of them was declared brought dead. Another injured also died this evening.

However, people alleged that security forces posted in the nearby bunkers also resorted to firing after the blast, causing injuries to two persons, including the one who died in the hospital.

This was however, denied by officials. They said security forces fired some rounds into the air in self-defence.

One of the injured who died was identified as Mohammad Afzal Choudhry, the sources said.

Another seriously injured person, Mohammad Ashraf who had received a bullet injury in his head, was referred to Soura Institute of Medical Sciences for specialised treatment, they said.

The other three injured persons were discharged after first-aid, they added.

JAMMU: Security forces today claimed having busted two militant hide outs in Doda and Poonch districts in Jammu division and recovered arms and ammunition from them, official sources here said.

One of the hideouts was busted in Basti area of Bhaderwah town of Doda district wherefrom the security forces recovered three Chinese hand grenades, four Ak-47 magazines and 60 cartridges.

Another hideout was busted in Hari Marote area of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district during a search operation. Recoveries from it included two improvised explosives devices and one .12 bore rifle, the sources said.

In another incident, militant fired on security forces in Chitrali forests of Kandi area in Rajouri district last night, the sources said, adding the fire was returned by the security forces and the militants fled.

While fleeing, the militants set on fire the cowshed and dry grass belonging to Des Raj in the area, they said. UNI, PTI

J&K ASSEMBLY
Govt to get tough with enemies: Mufti
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 20
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, today said that his government would deal with militancy with an iron hand.

Making a suo-motu statement in the Legislative Assembly before question hour, the Chief Minister said the government had been reviewing the situation and appropriate action taken at all levels. “It will not dither on taking strong action against anti-national elements,” he added.

The Chief Minister assured the House of firm action against “such enemies of peace” and said, “the crucial time for them has approached and I hope they would see the writing on the wall and respond positively to the dialogue initiated by the government” he said adding this was not only the best but the only option available to everybody who wanted to serve the interests of the state. Let no one be in doubt about that he asserted.

The Chief Minister said security forces were not complacent and 214 militants, including 74 foreign mercenaries were killed and 66 arrested in this year and the arms and ammunition included 189 AK rifles 47, pistols, revolvers, 45 RPGs, three pika guns, two rocket launchers, 78 kg of RDX, 710 hand grenades, etc.

The Chief Minister said that spring was the reinforcement time for militants and this year too they were using the Rajouri-Poonch corridor for infiltration due to delayed heavy snow in the higher reaches, he added.

The Security forces on the Line of Control (LoC) were alert and had foiled 10 attempts of infiltration since January this year. Many of them were killed but reports indicate that 140-150 militants, mostly foreign mercenaries spread to inaccessible areas of Poonch, Rajouri and Doda and stepped up activities. The reports indicate that these militants had plans to target protected persons, bus stations railway station and minority inhabitations, he said.

The Mufti referred to seven incidents of militancy from the killing of owner of a shop at main Rajouri chowk in an IED blast to attack the police picket at Ind in Gool in Udhampur on the night of March 15/16 in which 13 persons, including 11 policemen/SPOs and two civilians were killed and 28 weapons taken away by militants.

He said the post was manned by 28 policemen. In addition to a VDC (village defence committee) comprising 28 members. However, militants with sophisticated weapons outnumbered the personnel.

On the recent terrorist attack at Ind village, the Chief Minister said that the intelligence inputs suggested that the attack on Ind Police picket was in retaliation to the killing of Amanullah, a self-styled commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit in an encounter on February 25.

He referred to the visits of the Governor, the DGP, IGP-Jammu and his visit on March 16 and 18 and said that operations had been launched to neutralise the militants responsible for the attack and to take steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents. The security grid in the area is being strengthened by deploying one more company of the IRP, Additional VDCs and SPOs.

Swami visits massacre site
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 20
The Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, has expressed concern over the indications of grouping of a number of terrorist outfits to strike terror in Jammu and Kashmir and said the security forces were prepared to face the challenge.

Mr Swami was talking to mediapersons here after visiting the Indh village of the Gool area where terrorists recently killed 14 persons, including 11 policemen.

He said about 20 terrorists of suicide squads belonging to different outfits had attacked the village with a new technique. They outnumbered the policemen in the picket. He described the terrorist attack as a challenge which “we were prepared to tackle.

Mr Swami said following the killing of a dreaded terrorist and the divisional commander of an outfit in the Gool area by the security forces, reports were received that the terrorists might retaliate in some area which was not specified.

He ruled out that the incident was a fallout of the disbanding of the special operation group (SOG) of the police by the state government. The terrorists struck whenever they were demoralised or wanted to show their presence on the orders from across the border, he said.

He said the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan was continuing but the Indian Government was determined to completely check it. Many steps had been taken to tackle the menace and a separate division for border management headed by a Secretary had been created in the Home Department.

The lighting and fencing of the border and installation of sensors seemed to be the remedy coupled with increasing the manpower on the border, reducing the distance between border posts, raising watch towers and use of hypersensitive equipment, he said.

He said the withdrawal of the BSF from the routine duty in the towns was a policy decision on the basis of the recommendations of four task forces and the group of Ministers that one single force should man the border. The BSF would be withdrawn in a phased manner and other force would simultaneously be deployed, he said.

The Minister said the deployment of security forces would be further increased in the sensitive areas in view of the terrorist strike at Indh. The people in the area were demanding the deployment of the Army or the BSF. The Army was trying to track down the terrorists involved in the incident.

He said by appointing Mr N. N. Vohra as the interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre has fulfilled its commitment of initiating the peace dialogue following the Assembly elections in the state.

He said signals from the Hurriyat indicated that they were inclined to holding talks as they had postponed their meeting.

Earlier, Mr Swami held a meeting with senior police officers, security forces and intelligence agencies to review the security scenario.

Help farmers diversify, Mufti’s call to scientists
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 20
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today called upon agriculture scientists to draw up a programme for the diversification of farm activities to sustain higher production and for better returns to the farmers.

The Chief Minister was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day national symposium on sustainability of farm production and value addition in the context of WTO here today.

The seminar was organised by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu in collaboration with Indian Agricultural Universities Association (IAUA).

The Chief Minister said farm scientists should come out of the ivory towers and guide the farmers adopt new technologies for optimum results from farm and allied sectors. He said this could be achieved by blending indigenous knowledge with innovative techniques. “Our scientists have to help the farmers to bring production level of different crops on a par with Punjab and other advanced states’, he added. He praised young agriculture technocrats’ role in taking a lead in it.”

The Mufti said that the country had made big strides in foodgrains’ production and now faced the problem of plenty and storage of foodgrains had become more expensive. This he called for value addition of agriculture and allied sectors.

Referring to horticulture potential in Jammu and Kashmir, the Mufti said this resource base should be tapped in hilly areas of Jammu like Bani, Basohli and Kathua. He said a technology mission for horticulture development was in the pipeline from the Centre and it would help develop this sector. He said food processing industry would be encouraged in view of huge fruit production.

He said steps should be taken to promote olive oil production as it had ready market at the international level. He called for agricultural scientists’ help to drawup revival of agriculture and horticulture for socio-economic uplift. He said Jammu and Kashmir could not benefit from the new technology due to ecological and topographic disadvantages and we have to achieve higher production without disturbing the eco-system.

The President, IAUA and Vice-Chancellor, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Dr S.B. Singh in his presidential address highlighted judicious utilisation of natural resources with diverse agro-climatic conditions, human resource and available technology know-how in the country for optimum and quality agriculture production.