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Friday,
August 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Division
of Jammu and Kashmir opposed Recce of
crash site carried out Chharri
Mubarak leaves for cave shrine |
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| CRPF to
replace BSF by November Srinagar, August 7 The process of handing over counter-insurgency operations exclusively to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Kashmir will start in a phased manner by November and be complete the process in the next two years. Security
beefed up
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Division of Jammu and Kashmir opposed
Kargil, August 7 “We will not allow the trifurcation of the state,” the 23-member KADHC told Central interlocutor on Kashmir N.N. Vohra at a meeting here. Talking to UNI, KAHDC’s Asghar Karbalayee said the members told Mr Vohra that the people of Kargil would remain part of the united Jammu and Kashmir and will fight any move to divide the state on communal basis. “We also oppose the Union Territory status demand and will not be a part of that demand. We told Mr Vohra let the LBA and other organisations in Leh demand UT status, but the people of Kargil will remain with Kashmir,” he added. However, he said, the people of Kargil favoured greater Ladakh with Gilgit, Baltistan and Askardu, now under Pakistan, as its part. Mr Karbalayee said the members told the Central interlocutor that the Kashmir issue has to be resolved after taking into consideration the aspirations of the people of the state. The people of Kashmir valley should be involved in any dialogue process to resolve the issue, he added. “We told Mr Vohra about the daily shelling from across the 140-km-long border which has resulted in mass migration from the villages near the Line of Control in Kargil and Dras,” Mr Karbalayaee said. He said the council members demanded a flag meeting be arranged with the Pakistan army so that the shelling across the border stopped. “We also brought to his notice that border migrants of Ladakh district are not being paid anything while those from the Jammu region are given Rs 1600 per month besides ration and other facilities.” Mr Karbalayee said the “Centre’s discriminatory attitude” towards Kargil was also highlighted during the meeting. “There is no air traffic between Kargil and rest of the country...no radio and television stations. There is also discriminating in allocation of funds. Our long-pending demand for a tunnel at Zoji-la to make the Srinagar-Kargil highway all weather road has not been met so far,” he added. Funds for Kargil’s Islamic institutions on the pattern of Buddhist organisations of Leh was also demanded, he said. Mr Karbalayee said delegations of different political parties and religious organisation also met Mr Vohra and expressed same sentiments. “They too expressed their opposition to division of the state and the UT status demand,” he added. Mr Vohra is on a week long visit to Leh and Kargil to meet the representatives of different political, social and religious organisations. He had held meetings with the
LBA, the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council, the Leh Union Territory Front and the Christian, Muslim and Sikh organisations in the past five days in Leh.
— UNI |
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Recce of crash site carried out Jammu, August 7 Col H.S. Chauhan, Director of the mountaineering institute, told TNS over telephone from Manali that Mr Sharma was leading a team of trekkers which spotted the body while on an expedition to the Chandra Bhaga-13 peak on the glacier. He said the IAF helicopters hovered around the crash site to assess the situation so that coordinated efforts from extricating the bodies and the wreckage of the AN 12 flight 534, which had crashed during its flight to Chandigarh from Leh on February 7, 1968, could be made. He said the recovery of the bodies and the wreckage would mainly be done by the IAF and the Army, but the mountaineering institute would assist them with professional trekkers. The IAF helicopters made three attempts but could not reach the spot yesterday because of bad weather. Meanwhile, kith and kin of the IAF and Army personnel killed in the crash were keen to know more details about the discovery of the crash site and were keen that the authorities should do something soon to retrieve the bodies. The recovery of the body of sepoy Beli Ram has revived their hopes. An engineer, Mr S. Ram
Narendera, contacted TNS on telephone from Chennai and informed that his father, Flt Sgt. A.D.
Somasundaram, was a radio signaller on the ill-fated flight. Mr Narendera was seven years old when the crash took place. |
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Chharri
Mubarak leaves for cave shrine Srinagar, August 7 The Governor,
Lieut-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), who is the Chairman of the Amarnath Shrine Board, was among those present when the holy mace left Dashnami Akhara here this morning.
Chharri Mubarak was accompanied by a group of sadhus. According to an official spokesman, with the arrival of 497 yatris from Jammu today, a total of 1.48 lakh pilgrims have paid their obeisance at holy ice lingam of lord Shiva. The yatra will conclude on August 12 on the occasion of Shravan
Purnima, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan. Chharri Mubarak, which reached Pahalgam this evening, will reach the holy cave on the morning of August 12. After starting its journey from Dashnami Akhara under tight security this morning,
Chharri Mubarak was taken to Durganag temple, near here. From there the holy mace was taken to Shiva temples at
Awantipora, Beijbehara, Anantnag and Mattan. The holy mace will start its journey from Pahalgam on August 9 for
Chandanwari. Chharri Mubarak will reach Sheshnag on August 10. The next day the holy mace will be taken for a holy dip at
Panjtarni. The concluding ceremony will be held on August 12. |
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CRPF to replace BSF by November Srinagar, August 7 Stating this here yesterday, Mr
G.M. Srivastava, IG, CRPF, said the force was fully geared up to take up the assignment in view of its past performance in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in the country. He said the equipment and gadgets required for the anti-militancy operations were available with the force. In the first phase, the replacement would be made in Srinagar areas, while it would be gradually extended to the countryside, depending upon the assessment of the situation and the availability of the manpower. Mr Srivastava said the recruitment to match the requirements had already been completed. The IG added that most of the other security forces — the BSF, the ITBP and the SSB — would be relieved of the operations. Presently, the CRPF has 199 companies, including three women’s companies, in Kashmir. Of these only 12 per cent troops have been engaged in the operations, the IG said. |
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Security
beefed up Srinagar, August 7 |
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The
month-long Amarnath Yatra entered its final phase today with Chharri
Mubarak, the holy mace of Lord Shiva, led by Mahant Deependra
Giri leaving for the base camp of Pahalgam enroute to the holy cave
shrine.
In video (
