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Wednesday,
June 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Govt seeks more paramilitary forces
‘Police fired in retaliation’ BJP calls for scrapping Art 370 |
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY Minister forced to defer question Hurriyat dissensions evoke little interest Two Hizbul militants killed in Rajauri 1,250 cops promoted out of turn Protest against youth’s detention Army chief visits forward areas Jawan killed in Pak shelling Dutch envoy meets Yasin Centre okays project to save Dal Lake
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Govt seeks more paramilitary forces Jammu, June 10 Official sources said initially the state had demanded five battalions of the paramilitary forces and so far not a single company had been sent to the state. The Union Home Ministry is said to have conveyed to the state government that it was not possible to withdraw security forces, deployed in other sensitive areas in the country, and send them to Jammu and Kashmir. The state government later requested the Union Home Ministry to accord sanction for raising three battalions of the police but however sanction had been given for raising only one battalion. A senior police officer said recruitment to the police battalion would start soon. At a recent meeting with senior functionaries of the Union Home Ministry in Delhi, a state police team emphasised the need for sending additional forces for providing foolproof security cover to the pilgrims to the one-month long Amarnath yatra starting from the middle of next month. The Union Home Ministry has been informed that it would be risky to withdraw the BSF, the CRPF and the police companies from their present position to the routs between Jammu and the holy cave. During the past several years, the security of Amarnath pilgrims has been entrusted to the police, the paramilitary forces and the Army. However, this time the Army authorities may not be able to make available more than a battalion of troops as most of its troops has been deployed to check infiltration from across the LoC and on busting ultras’ hide-outs in the hilly areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Pulwama, Shopian, Kupwara and Anantnag. According to another police officer “the problem with Union Home Ministry is that it accords sanction to the raising of new police battalions in phases.” He explained that “against the demand for five battalions the ministry gave sanction for only one battalion and in the next year for another battalion.” He said: “When it takes more than a year for training new recruits we have to face problems during the cooling period.” He hoped that the order for raising seven battalions of the territorial Army for Jammu and Kashmir were implemented within this year so that by the middle of next year “we have sufficient forces to take on the militants in areas where the security pickets and camps have not been yet established.” |
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‘Police fired in retaliation’ Srinagar, June 10 Making a statement in the two Houses of the legislature on the incident, the minister said the action was prompted when a stone-pelting mob of around 2000 to 2500 persons attempted to snatch a service rifle of a constable deployed with the SDPO, Shopian, who had gone to the spot for the verification of a complaint lodged by two women with police station, Shopian. In the Legislative Assembly, the matter was raised by Mr M.Y. Tarigami, while Mr Ghulam Hassan Khan sought the assurance from government about the non-recurrence of such incidents in future. Mr Baig said as per available reports, two women reportedly approached Shopian police station yesterday with a complaint that some personnel of the first RR who have set up a frisking point at Veel (Choudhary Gund) village, 4 km from Shopian town, during the course of frisking, usually resort to beating up male passengers and eve-teasing the women folk. On the receipt of the complaint, he said, the SDPO and the SHO, Shopian, are reported to have proceeded to the spot for the verification of the complaint. On reaching Choudhary Gund village a mob of 2000 to 2500 persons reportedly pelted stones on the police party. Some of them also attempted to snatch the service rifle of constable Aijaz Ahmad, deployed with the SDPO. Miscreants also fired a burst towards the police party, which reportedly returned the fire in self-defence causing superficial bullet injuries to three persons, Mudasir Ahmad, Arif Ahmad Wagay and Firdous Ahmad Malik, residents of Choudhary Gund, he added. |
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BJP calls for scrapping Art 370 Jammu, June 10 A BJP delegation, led by the party chief in the state, Dr Nirmal Singh, submitted a memorandum to Mr Vohra here this
morning and strongly opposed the politics of autonomy, separatism and communalism. They demanded some foolproof mechanism to end terrorism and constitutional instrument which empowers the exploited people of Jammu and Ladakh to compensate for the heavy political and economic losses they have suffered at the hands of the Kashmir-dominated governments. The Article 370, providing a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, should be scrapped so as to unite the state with the rest of the country. The memorandum demanded that the people of the Jammu region should be given a definite political instrument invested with legislative, executive and financial powers, as this was the only solution available to end the discontent and despair. The displaced Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs should be given a dispensation in which they could lead a dignified life, move freely and enjoy the fruits of democracy. The BJP demanded that POTA should be enforced in Jammu and Kashmir and the Army and paramilitary forces be given full powers to eliminate the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. The special operation group (SOG) of the police should be immediately revived and persons with doubtful credentials removed from the police and civil administration. It claimed that the ruling PDP and the separatist Hurriyat Conference do not represent the legitimate
aspirations of the people of the state and their influence was confined to certain pockets in the valley. A delegation of the Janata Dal, led by its president, Mr Dhan Raj Bargotra, also submitted a memorandum to Mr Vohra, demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the Wazir, Sikri and Gagenderagadkar Commissions for removing the imbalances in the Jammu region. The memorandum demanded that corruption should be checked and equal financial grants should be provided to the three regions of the state. There should be transparency and accountability in the governance. |
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY Srinagar, June 10 Responding to the supplementaries raised by several members on the question of Mr Prem Sagar Aziz in the Legislative Assembly today, the Chief Minister said that the financial position of the government was not so bad as to hinder appointing required staff wherever necessary and such arrangements could be made on a contractual and consolidated basis. Mr Mufti Sayeed stressed the need for rationalising the services of the daily wagers for seeking optimum services from them for the PHE schemes. He said the daily wagers had to be made accountable by not allowing them to work as domestic help. The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Mula Ram, said the coalition government had introduced a series of reforms to improve the image of the Social Welfare Department, adding that the tendering system had been introduced for the procurement of standard nutrition material for the under-privileged children. He said 21 lakh children would be provided nutrition cover under the ICDS scheme in the state, for which 7500 more Anganwari Centres were proposed to be set up in the next two years. This will help provide employment to 15000 educated unemployed women. The Minister for Education, Mr Harsh Dev Singh, said no staff had been given for the schools upgraded last year and the current year. He said the posts as per the prescribed pattern had not yet been sanctioned for the higher secondary schools of Surensar and Rabta upgraded last year. The Forest Minister, Mr Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Sofi, said complaints against any officer/official of the IWDP, Rambiara, had been attended. He said a detailed report of the works executed would be submitted to the House shortly. The minister said that the World Bank representatives inspect the works periodically and the accounts were being audited by the financial management, technical consultant as well as Accountant-General, J&K. |
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Minister forced to defer question Srinagar, June 10 Speaker Tara Chand deferred the question after Mr Dev Singh said full information would be provided to the House after two days. The trouble started when the minister in a written reply to Mr Ansari’s question said no school in the Pattan Assembly constituency was understaffed. The minister said some teachers posted in the schools situated in the constituency had been re-deployed on security and family grounds, but it had not resulted in the closure of any school. Mr Ansari challenged the answer provided by the Minister, alleging that he was misleading the House. “I, therefore, move a privilege motion against the minister and the officers for submitting wrong information to the House,’’ he said. Mr Ansari said seven schools were understaffed and in some schools, where over 200 students were on the rolls there was only one teacher. On this, the minister said the coalition government had decided to review all cases of redeployment of teachers. When the minister said it was the previous government who had re-deployed teachers, Mr Ansari said: “If our government had done anything wrong it is your duty to correct it.’’ Mr Dev Singh said he would submit a detailed report on the issue in the House after two days. The Speaker deferred the question till the minister could provide a detailed answer. Later, Mr Anwari did not press for privilege motion.
UNI |
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Hurriyat dissensions evoke little interest Jammu, June 10 “We are least bothered about whether Mr Geelani is retained as a member of the APHC Executive Committee or is thrown out of the conglomerate”, said an officer of the rank of Additional Secretary. He said: “We are disillusioned with the performance of mainstream political parties and now we have lost faith in the strength of the APHC in bringing people out of the present turmoil.” The common man is aware of the internal dissensions in the APHC. A police officer said: “If today the bickering is the result of a conflict between the Peoples’ Conference and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, it can be owing to another reason because the constituents of the conglomerate have remained under one umbrella out of convenience rather than conviction.” People’s attitude towards the mainstream political parties is not any different, “We still feel that the Chief Minister is keen on solving people’s problems and providing a healing touch to those affected by militancy. But he has been handicapped by the attitude of the coalition partners who keep indulging in leg-pulling,” said a trader. What has intrigued Kashmir watchers is the gradual fading away of interest in the proposed India-Pakistan talks. “Since Delhi has imposed a precondition that Islamabad should first end aid to crossborder terrorism, the chances of Indo-Pak talks taking off in the near future seem dim,” said another trader. |
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Two Hizbul militants killed in Rajauri Jammu, June 10 Police sources said acting on a tip-off that some ultras were hiding at Mora Bagla, the forces launched a seek-and-destroy operation. As the personnel zeroed in on their target, the militants opened fire on them. In the following encounter one ultra was shot dead. The slain ultra was identified as Aslam Sailabi, a Pakistani national. One AK rifle, three magazines, one UBGL, one UBG and some ammunition were seized from his possession. Three security personnel were injured in two IED explosions in Doda and Poonch districts in J and K, officials said here today. Suspected militants planted a powerful IED at Punda-Doda in Doda district which went off around 9.30 p.m. last night injuring two jawans of a patrol party moving in the area, the sources said. In another IED blast, a BSF head constable was injured in Poonch district yesterday, the sources said. SRINAGAR: The self-styled “finance chief” of the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Fhulam Nabi Wani, alias Moulvi Farooq Anwar, a resident of Nowhatta in Srinagar, was arrested along with his close associate Nissar Ahmad Dar, alias Irfan, of Naidkadal from their hideout in the Batmaloo area in central Srinagar on Monday, a BSF spokesman said. During interrogation the duo revealed that they were entrusted with the job of reviving the outfit in the valley by luring former militants with cash incentives by their PoK-based leaders. Some explosives and a number of incriminating documents were recovered from the militants, the spokesman said. A self-styled district commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen and six other militants were among seven persons killed while the security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours. An encounter took place at Sopar-Magam Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara during a search operation on Monday night, an official spokesman said, adding that self-styled commander Tahir Mehmood, who was a resident of PoK, was killed. In another operation, the security forces gunned down five militants during an encounter at Dingla Top on Monday night. Five AK rifles, nine magazines, 500 rounds of ammunition and Rs 10,000 were recovered from the ultras. A militant of the Jaish-e-Mohammad Abdul Aziz, alias Junaidullah, was killed in an encounter at Arah Kellar on Monday night. The militants had kidnapped and later killed Rashpaul Singh, the spokesman added. Meanwhile, one militant surrendered along with one pistol, a magazine and eight rounds at Ganderbal on Tuesday. The security forces also unearthed a hideout at Karnah and recovered large quantity of arms and ammunition, including eight AK rifles, 28 magazines, 5,736 rounds, 34 pistols, four revolvers, 988 pistol rounds, 64 assorted grenades, 317 UBGL grenades and 67 anti-personnel mines. The forces also recovered 15 UBGL grenades, 15 Chinese grenades, 3 RPGs, 3 IEDs and six detonators at Dubjinar in the frontier district of Kupwara on Monday.
UNI, PTI |
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1,250 cops promoted out of turn Srinagar, June 10 The promotees included five Deputy Superintendents, 85 inspectors, 22 Sub-Inspectors, 89 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 23 Head Constables and 820 (selection grade) Constables, the minister said in reply to a question by Tariq Hameed Kara (PDP). He said 1255 out-of-turn promotions had been granted on the basis of performances in anti-militancy operations, whereas two promotions were made from the security wing of the former Chief Minister. One officer was promoted out of turn on an ad hoc basis. The main criterion for granting out-of-turn promotions to the police personnel was successes achieved during operations against hardcore militants.
PTI |
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Protest against youth’s detention Baramula, June 10 Official sources said hundreds of people, including a good number of women, took to the streets and blocked the main road near Drugmulla in protest against “continued detention” of a youth, Abdul Majeed Lone. The demonstrators alleged that Lone was arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG), Srinagar, on Sunday night and taken to some unknown place. Demanding his release, the demonstrators said on the one hand the government claimed to have disbanded the SOG, but on the other, “they (SOG) are still conducting operations and harassing innocent persons”.
UNI |
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Army chief visits forward areas Srinagar, June 10 The Army chief, who toured forward areas, told the media before leaving for New Delhi in a military helicopter. “Operation Sarp Vinash is going on exceedingly well and as planned, but there has been no let-up in cross border terrorism.” The operation has as its focus on the Hilkaka area of Poonch district where, straddled between thick forests and the mountainous terrain of Pir Panjal, militants had set up well-equipped camps. The Hilkaka areas forms part of the transit route for militants between the Line of Control and Poonch and Doda districts.
OC |
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Jawan killed in Pak shelling Jammu, June 10 Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling in Kanatee, Bhawani, Noushera, Jangard, Makri, Kaladl, Pathri Gali, Mankote and Mendhar on civilian and defence locations along the LoC in the Rajouri-Poonch sector. The shelling, which continued till 1420 hours, resulted in collapse of a bunker in which an Army jawan was killed in Mankote (Poonch) and a civilian injured at Kanatee (Rajouri).
PTI |
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Dutch envoy meets Yasin Srinagar, June 10 A JKLF spokesman said the Kashmir issue was discussed at the meeting. However, the sources said, Mr Malik told the ambassador that the separatists wanted a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue through a meaningful dialogue among the parties concerned.
PTI |
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Centre okays project to save Dal Lake Srinagar, June 10 Describing development of the lake as a priority area of the coalition government, he said the government would not allow any further encroachment of the lake and the existing ones would be removed in a phased manner.
PTI |
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