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Omar favours
Ramzan ceasefire CM: plan to bring
back displaced Pandits
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Seven militants
killed Crackers to
silence guns BJP to observe
Jammu bandh Infantry Day on
Oct 27
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Omar favours Ramzan ceasefire Srinagar, October 24 He asked the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to tread the path of ceasefire once again ahead of the holy month of Ramzan on the pattern of previous such ceasefires over three years ago to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue. Addressing a press conference, the former Union Minister of State for External Affairs said that a dangerous move had been made by inviting only the “moderate section” of the Hurriyat Conference for talks. Replying to questions, Mr Omar Abdullah said the
process of dialogue had been made “exclusive and will lead nowhere”, adding that the separatist Hurriyat Conference did not represent every Kashmiri. All Kashmiris should be made part of the dialogue, Mr Abdullah emphasised adding that the offer of dialogue should have been made to both sections of the APHC. He also appealed to the government to invite other separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mr Shabir Ahmad Shah and Mr Mohammad Yasin Malik, for dialogue. He said the National Conference was for dialogue with both political and militant leaders to make it broad-based. The National Conference Patron and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, also joined the meeting later but refused to comment. Mr Omar Abdullah said the National Conference had been taken into confidence on the issue of dialogue with the separatist Hurriyat Conference. Mr Omar Abdullah urged the Centre to have a dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the issue between the two neighbouring countries. He, however, said that no dialogue with Pakistan could take place “without the guns being silenced” in the state. |
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CM: plan to bring back displaced Pandits Srinagar, October 24 “A majority of the Kashmiri migrants living in different parts of the country, including Jammu, have expressed the desire to return to the valley,” the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said today. Interacting with a seven-member delegation of the National Commission for Minorities’ Committee on Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, headed by Mr Moosa Raza here, Mr Sayeed said most of the Pandits had enlisted themselves for the purpose. “It is our endeavour to resettle them in clusters gradually for which a conducive atmosphere is being created,” he added. The Chief Minister said the coalition government had drawn up a comprehensive plan in this regard which would be submitted to the centre shortly. Mr Raza and other members of the delegation apprised Mr Sayeed of the problems being faced by the migrants.
— UNI |
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Seven militants killed
Jammu, October 24 Security forces launched a search operation to track down a group of heavily armed militants who fired on an operation party in Malika-Darhal forest belt of Rajouri early today, they said. The militants fired a rifle grenade and opened heavy fire on troops, who cordoned them from all sides. In the ensuing encounter, which was still on, two top Pakistani militants of the LeT, including its platoon commander Aslam Bhai, were killed around 1.30 pm, the sources said. Two Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militants, identified as Abu Hamas hailing from Pakistan and his local associate Faree Ahmad of Kugam were killed in a fierce encounter with Rashtriya Rifles troops at Vaihloo-Choudharygund village in Shopian of Pulwama this afternoon. Troops laid a cordon around the village in the wee hours which was followed by a fierce gunfight between the militants hiding in a house and the search parties. The house was damaged in the encounter, sources said. Two AK assault rifles and some ammunition were seized from the slain ultras. Militants tossed a grenade at a parked vehicle of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office at Anantnag in south Kashmir at 12.25 pm, damaging the vehicle. A BSF jawan, Ravi Kumar of 58th Battalion, suffered splinter injuries in the explosion. Two unidentified militants were killed and a soldier injured in another encounter at Kumkari in Kupwara district last night. One more militant was killed in Banihal area of Doda district today. Security forces found a civilian moving at Samani village in Rajouri district in wee hours today and asked him to stop and produce his identity. But he fled, prompting the troops to open fire in which he was killed. He has been identified as Bhagat Ram. Security forces busted two militant hideouts in Surankote and Mendhar areas of Poonch district last evening.
— PTI |
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Crackers to silence guns Jammu, October 24 Fire crackers, candles and sweets are being carried to border post by soldiers for celebrating the festival of lights. During the past two days, shops in this city have been thronged by the men in olive green. Sweet sellers say that 20 per cent of the sale has been to soldiers. Official sources say soldiers had not missed Divali even during the 1999 Kargil conflict, though the celebrations were low key. Explains a BSF officer “Soldiers on either side of the border silence their guns during Divali and
Id-ul-Fitr and Id-ul-Zuha.” He says after lighting candles and offering prayers a group of soldiers, carrying white flags, will cross the border and hand over sweets to Pakistani troops. The gesture is reciprocated during Id celebrations. Another Defence Ministry official said: “We have instructions to celebrate the festival in groups, so that no post remains unmanned.” Raj Kumar, a resident of Hamirpur village in Akhnoor sector, who had come to the city for shopping, said, “At least for the next 36 hours we will have respite from the exchange of fire on the border.” |
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BJP to observe Jammu bandh
Jammu, October 24 “The coalition government is pursuing militant-friendly and anti-Jammu policies and the BJP is left with no option but to observe a bandh for a day in the Jammu region,” the state president of the party, Dr Nirmal Singh, said here. If the government failed to mend its ways, bandhs would be organised in other parts of the state also, he said. “The present government is worse than the previous one led by Dr Farooq Abdullah. Its misdeeds need to be thoroughly exposed. It has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the Jammu region, who are being discriminated against,” Dr Nirmal Singh told a BJP meeting here. “It is denying opportunities to the people of the Jammu and Ladakh regions and giving full protection to persons with doubtful credentials,” he alleged. “He said: “Several PDP and Congress ministers and MLAs are involved in anti-national activities and the policies of the present government are extremely harmful to the nation as well as the people of the Jammu and Ladakh regions.”
— PTI |
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Infantry Day
on Oct 27 Srinagar, October 24 The day marks the first Indian infantryman setting foot on Srinagar airfield to commence the operations in Jammu and Kashmir
against Pakistani incursion. |
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Accusing the Central Government of making a
dangerous move by inviting only a Section of the Hurriyat Conference for talks,
the National Conference President, Mr Omar Abdullah, here today called for a
Ramzan ceasefire to create a conducive atmosphere for the process of dialogue.
