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Friday,
August 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Five
militants, two jawans killed 4 killed
in Pak firing
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Militant
leader Zaffar Akbar arrested Geelani-led
political forum soon? Prankote
massacre: police officer hails court verdict Pahalgam,
Laripora to be tourist villages, says Mufti J&K
Govt seeks more grants Probe
ordered into ‘custodial death’
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Five militants, two jawans killed in valley
Srinagar, July 31 In a gunbattle with security personnel, three Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in Choormarg forest of Baramula district, a police spokesman said here. The militants identified as Mohammad Akbar Adakar, Haq Nawaz Jangli and Zaffar Jameel Khan hailed from Lahore. A Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Mohammad Usman, a resident of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was killed in an armed clash with security forces at Dardsun village in Kupwara district. Another Pakistani militant was shot dead by security forces at the Jeevan post near the Line of Control in Kupwara. Militants fired on a patrol party of the Rashtriya Rifles in the Kalaroos area of the district killing a sepoy Daneshwar and ambushed another group of security personnel in Mendhar sector of Poonch district in which a jawan lost his life. A bullet riddled body of Mohammad Aslam was found in the Shopian area of Pulwama district, the spokesman said. Ultras exploded an improvised explosive device at Budhan in Udhampur district targeting security personnel patrolling the area in which one jawan and one civilian were injured. A possible tragedy was averted with the timely detection of a powerful IED planted by militants under a culvert at Dangerpora on the outskirts of the city last night. Four militants — two of Tehreek-e-Jehad-i-Islami and one each of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Toiba — surrendered to security forces at
Bandipora, while two other Hizb-ul ultras were arrested from Badgam and another from a hideout here during the period.
— PTI |
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4 killed in Pak firing Jammu, July 31 Reports say residents of many villages on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district are planning to migrate to safer places as the Pakistanis have been resorting to indiscriminate firing of mortars and small arms on the villages for the past five days. Sources said the firing was being done apparently to push the nearly 3000 terrorists who have been trained by the ISI and also to disrupt the fencing on the international border and the LoC. A security force officer said the Pakistani troops were firing in these areas to divert the attention of the Indian soldiers by engaging them in an exchange of fire and facilitating the terrorists to take advantage of the high corns in the fields to infiltrate into this side. Abdul Majid, who was injured due to the Pakistani firing in the Chingus area, said people there were living under constant fear. Moulvi Basharat said residents of his village had hoped that they would live in peace as Pakistan had started responding to the initiatives of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but the action of the Pakistani troops had belied their hopes. |
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Attacks
scare pilgrims Jammu, July 31 While decline in the number of pilgrims bound for Amarnath shrine in the Kashmir valley was considerable, but the fall was marginal in case of Vaishnodevi shrine in the Udhampur district of Jammu although the explosions at Katra on July 21 were aimed at scaring these pilgrims. The Army camp was attacked a day after, on July 22. The pilgrimage to Amarnath was every year being disturbed by terrorists by striking at one place or the other in the state in the month-long period of the “yatra”. Initially, the number of pilgrims leaving for Amarnath shrine daily was more the then ceiling of 3200 persons, but after the two terrorist attacks the number these days was hovering around 1200. The scenes of people struggling for getting themselves registered for the pilgrimage here have disappeared. The government had initially decided to allow only 3200 persons to proceed every day towards Amarnath shrine as was recommended by an official committee which looked into the death of a number of persons due to bad weather a few years ago, but lot more than that number were somehow managing to reach the shrine. As many as 3423 pilgrims were allowed to proceed for Amarnath shrine from here on July 21 at the night when terrorists attacked Vaishnodevi-bound pilgrims at Katra and 3294 in the wee hours of July 22, the day when the Army camp was attacked. However, their number started declining from July 23 when 2494 pilgrims proceeded. The number came down to 1172 on July 28 and 1173 on July 29. The figure of 3200 has never been touched after the attack and 1233 pilgrims left for Amarnath shrine this morning from here. The number of women and children going for the pilgrimage has considerably come down. On the other hand, the number of pilgrims reaching Vaishnodevi shrine every day was hovering around 24,000, but has these days come down to around 17,500. However, Shrine Board officials pointed out that the number of pilgrims visiting Vaishnodevi shrine was higher compared to last year. |
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500 villagers migrate Jammu, July 31 These persons belong to the Sumna Bhata, Gangna, Hilna, Ajna and Kutna villages. The local people were providing food to the agitating
villagers. |
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Militant
leader Zaffar Akbar arrested Srinagar, July 31 Akbar, popularly known as Zaffar Abdul Fateh and a close associate of slain former Hizbul Chief Commander Abdul Majid Dar, was arrested from the Bagh-e-Mehtab locality and taken to an unknown destination, they said. Akbar was leading the Dar group after the assassination of the pro-dialogue leader in the Sopore area of Baramula district in March last. The sources said he was arrested as several cases were pending against him. Addressing a press conference on July 23, Akbar had announced his decision to give up the gun and join politics for a peaceful
resolution of the Kashmir issue. A day after the press conference, Hizbul spokesman
Junaid-ul-Islam disowned Akbar. — PTI |
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Geelani-led political forum soon? Srinagar, July 31 Syed
Geelani, who had developed differences with the separatist conglomeration of the Hurriyat Conference over the past couple of months due to People’s Conference’s role in elections, has been staying away from the
Hurriyat. He has been criticising the Hurriyat over its role in the last Assembly elections and had launched a month-long mass-contact programme early this month. The new political forum by former APHC chairman may come alive after the Friday, meet at Tral in south Kashmir. The meeting will also mean mustering of the people’s support from north, central and south areas of the Kashmir valley. Senior leaders of the
Jamaat, according to sources, following the election of its new chief or ‘amir’, Syed Nazir Ahmad Kashani are of the view that it had lost its image as an organisation preaching religion and education. They opine that the Jamaat had become like any other political party, the view which is being fully supported by Syed
Kashani. The new forum, according to sources, will be led by Syed Geelani and include ‘politically minded’ leaders of the
Jamaat. The outline of the new forum is being formulated and would be made public after consent from the
Jamaat. Jamaat-e-Islami, is yet to nominate its representative to the APHC. The absence is due to objections raised by Syed Geelani and also due to election of its new chief. |
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Prankote
massacre: police officer hails court verdict
Jammu, July 31 “I am satisfied as the verdict has instilled confidence among the people of the state by showing that those involved in brutal killings cannot go unpunished”, Mr
Raina, who is presently the Superintendent of Police at police control room in Jammu, told reporters here. “No culprit can go scot-free if the case is investigated properly... My hard labour has bore fruit and I am happy over this development,” he said. Mr Raina said the verdict would encourage other police officials to investigate and follow up cases properly so that no criminal or anti-national goes scot-free. Mr Raina, who at the time of incident was sub-divisional police officer, Reasi (Udhampur), completed investigation within five months. An Udhampur court, in its verdict on July 29, 2003, convicted the main accused Manzoor Ahmed and awarded him life imprisonment.
— PTI |
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Pahalgam, Laripora to be tourist
villages, says Mufti Srinagar, July 31 Chief Minister M.M. Sayeed said here that Pahalgam and Laripora, two hill resorts in South Kashmir, would be developed as tourist villages to be used as paying guest houses. Reviewing progress of ongoing development projects at Pahalgam and other areas of Anantnag district, Mr Sayeed also said that a scheme would be worked out under which the local people would be assisted in turning their residences into guest houses for tourists. He said Pahalgam tourist resort would get a facelift and all the ongoing works would be completed at the earliest keeping in view limited working season. He also called for formulating a comprehensive plan for drainage system for Pahalgam. In all, Rs 1.72 crore were released yesterday to the Pahalgam Development Authority. Mr Sayeed said a scheme must be formulated for providing free cooking gas connections to the people of far-flung areas living adjoining the forests who largely depended on wood for meeting their energy requirements. He said 50 LPG connections would be provided to the locals of Aru free of cost on an experimental basis under the scheme. The population of 1722 souls of Pahalgam (the village of shepherds) village adjacent to Laripora with a population of 2962 is a neglected. People have pinned hopes on the “improvement in the situation which attracted more local and domestic tourists” this year. This is in addition to the increasing number of Amarnath pilgrims, who drive through the villages by the banks of Lidder to Chandanwari for trek to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath. This valley at an altitude of 7200 feet from sea level is covered with tall pine tress and the snow-clad mountains and has got its name in Kashmiri from Pahal (shepherd) and Gam (village). Two streams, one from Sheshnag spring on way to holy Amarnath cave, and the Kolahoi glacier meet near the village to form Lidder stream. The slopes around are not suitable for paddy cultivation, where only maize and potato are grown. Though some of the villagers have government jobs, peasants depend on tourism, which has suffered a setback in the past over a decade. |
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J&K Govt seeks more grants Srinagar, July 31 Briefing mediapersons over the issues taken up with the visiting Finance Commission, the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain
Beigh, said here today that the two sectors adversely affect the financial structure of the state. He added that the shortage of power had crippled infrastructural capacity while debt affected the fiscal figures. “Our problem is that we do not have funds. We are caught in a catch-22 situation”, Mr Beigh said adding that the same was conveyed to the commission, led by Dr C.
Rangarajan. Elaborating, he said that funds were required for the cleaning of the Dal lake and rehabilitation of 6,000 families. Mr Beigh pointed out that as part of the debt-reducing strategy the government sought a higher share in the Centre’s debt swap scheme to reduce interest burden and had also decided to move to the RBI’s ways and means advance facility for meeting overdraft. He said of the Rs 2,200-crore plan outlay for the last financial year, Rs 1,600 crore went into debt servicing, leaving only Rs 600 for development. Referring to the power sector, the Finance Minister said the state was saddled with a deficit of around Rs 1,500 crore per annum, while there was a demand for the purchase of power worth Rs 1,800 crore. Elaborating on the modernisation in the power sector, the Finance Minister held that three districts of Srinagar, Jammu and Budgam were being taken up under the first part of the project. The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who presented the state’s financial requirements before the commission, focused on development and unemployment. The commission also interacted with the representatives of various political parties and heads of local bodies. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representatives, led by its president, Mehbooba Mufti, and the Congress delegation, led by Bashir Ahmad Magray apprised the commission of the problems being faced by the state. |
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Probe ordered into ‘custodial death’ Srinagar, July 31 Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Hakeem Mohammad Yasin, while addressing a gathering at Mr Bhatt’s residence, said the Budgam Deputy Commissioner has been asked to conduct an inquiry and submit the report within 15 days. The minister said efforts were being made to ensure that human rights’ violations did not take place. He directed the Budgam district administration to provide ex gratia to the affected family.
— UNI |
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