J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

11 injured in attack on CRPF convoy
Srinagar, February 28
Eleven persons, including five CRPF personnel, were injured today when militants hurled a grenade on the CRPF convoy at Bijbehara, home town of the Chief Minister, official sources said.

Houses condemn terrorist attack
Jammu, February 28
Both Houses of the legislature here today unanimously condemned the terrorist attack at the public meeting of the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, yesterday at Beerwa in the Kashmir valley. A reference to the attack was made as soon as both Houses assembled this morning. Opposition members also expressed concern over the attack.

Bandipura SHO shifted; curfew relaxed
Srinagar, February 28
Curfew was relaxed for one hour this evening in the tension-ridden Bandipura area of North Kashmir where one person was killed in police firing on Thursday.

Govt depts on defaulters’ list
Jammu, February 28
The Power Development Department is on the list of defaulters in Jammu and Kashmir as Rs 1.41 crore was standing as arrear of electricity tariff against it. A sum of Rs 670 crore is outstanding as arrear against government departments and consumers in the state.

27 more B’deshis held for exfiltration bid
Jammu, February 28
The BSF foiled an exfiltration bid and arrested 27 Bangladeshis near the Indo-Pak border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir last night, sources said.

YOUR TOWN

Jammu Srinagar

A Kashmiri Shia Muslim girl watches a Moharram procession in Srinagar on Saturday. — Reuters

	DGP to probe Bandipura firing February 28, 2004
	General fears nukes may fall into wrong hands February 27, 2004
	General sees threat to stability in Central Asia February 26, 2004
	NC disrupts House proceedings February 25, 2004
	NC resents CM’s absence from House February 24, 2004
	NC to go it alone, yet to finalise nominees February 23, 2004
	Congress to focus on unemployment February 22, 2004
	7 Pak militants killed in Poonch February 21, 2004
	Assembly witnesses noisy scenes February 20, 2004

Killings may mar peace process
Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 28
The recent incidents in Bandipura have led to difficult situation for the Jammu and Kashmir Government in its measures for initiating peace process.

Even as the security agencies have been asked to adopt people-friendly approach and regard the human rights, there have been several incidents that roused the public anger against the human rights violations in the valley recently. The Abbas faction of the Hurriyat Conference also put the government in tight position on its threat to withdraw from the dialogue process already initiated by it with the Centre.

The Hurriyat warning came last week, which raised questions over a series of incidents of alleged human rights violations this month. This followed Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s instructions to security forces to adopt people-friendly approach and avoid human rights violations.

In view of the recent incidents the centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir, Mr N.N. Vohra, is also expected to visit Kashmir next week amid a threat to the Centre-APHC dialogue process. The first round of the process took off on January 22 when a five-member APHC delegation met the Deputy Prime Minister. The Opposition National Conference had raised doubts over the dialogue process as according to it the Hurriyat was faced with internal problems. Out of the five-member delegation that participated at the meeting with Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Fazal-ul-Haq Qureshi has already withdrawn, while Mr Bilal Lone is facing the crisis within the party.

Mr Moulvi Abbas Ansari, Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, referred to many incidents of human rights violations that had taken place this month and threatened to pull out of the dialogue process in case these incidents were not stopped. He had referred to the killing of five civilians at Chithaybandi, Bandipura early this month, followed by alleged custodial death of a youth in the Tral area of Pulwama district and the killing of a civilian at Narabal near here, reportedly being the relative of a militant.

After these incidents, the alleged torture of some civilians at Kudara (Erin-Sumlar), Bandipura, provoking demonstration in the main township on Thursday, led to a youth’s killing in the police firing. It had aggravated the already tense situation in Bandipura

There was another incident of an alleged custodial death of one person at Aham-e-Sharief in the area that coincided with Chithaybandi.

The police exhumed a body and sent its sample for DNA report on the insistence of the family members of a Gujjar youth of Panar village. The family members alleged that the youth was missing after he was picked up by the security forces, a day before the security forces claimed to have killed a Pak militant, Zia-ul-Haq, who was later buried at Hodabal near Aham-e-Sharief, Bandipura. While the DNA report is awaited, the family members claimed that it was the body of the youth.

Though DGP Gopal Sharma will probe the incident of police firing, the question mark over the “healing touch” policy of the Mufti government has remained wide open. There has been a widespread resentment against these incidents in the area. It was reflected here yesterday also when several separatist leaders were prevented by the police from taking out demonstrations against human rights violations. Mr Shabir Shah, Mr Mohammad Yasin Malik and at least six activists of the Awami Action Committee of Mr Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, were held by the police at different places yesterday.

11 injured in attack on CRPF convoy

Srinagar, February 28
Eleven persons, including five CRPF personnel, were injured today when militants hurled a grenade on the CRPF convoy at Bijbehara, home town of the Chief Minister, official sources said.

Elsewhere, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant identified as Mohmmad Sharief was killed by Lashkar ultras in Udhampur district on Friday. — PTI

Houses condemn terrorist attack
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 28
Both Houses of the legislature here today unanimously condemned the terrorist attack at the public meeting of the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, yesterday at Beerwa in the Kashmir valley. A reference to the attack was made as soon as both Houses assembled this morning. Opposition members also expressed concern over the attack.

Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma announced in the Assembly that security for political leaders and activists would be beefed up in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections.

He said the leaders would not be deterred by such actions of terrorists. The Legislative Council, while expressing deep anguish and concern over the incident, complimented the people of Beerwa for disapproving such senseless acts and staying on at the public meeting.

There was a heated exchange between the Agriculture Minister, Mr Abdul Aziz Zargar, and Mr Bashir Ahmed Naaz (NC), as the latter alleged that the PDP was trying to politicise the issue. The situation was prevented from worsening due to the intervention of the Chairman of the council, Mr Abdul Rashid Dar. National Conference members walked out of the Assembly twice during question hour as they were not satisfied with the reply of the government to questions pertaining to unemployment and recruitments in the police.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister informed Depinder Kaur that the state human rights commission received 713 complaints from October, 2002, to January, 2004.

Bandipura SHO shifted; curfew relaxed

Srinagar, February 28
Curfew was relaxed for one hour this evening in the tension-ridden Bandipura area of North Kashmir where one person was killed in police firing on Thursday.

SHO Manzoor Ahmad has been shifted to Anantnag district in South Kashmir. — PTI

Govt depts on defaulters’ list
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 28
The Power Development Department (PDD) is on the list of defaulters in Jammu and Kashmir as Rs 1.41 crore was standing as arrear of electricity tariff against it. A sum of Rs 670 crore is outstanding as arrear against government departments and consumers in the state.

In a written reply, Power Minister, Mohammad Sherif Niaz informed Mr Jugal Kishore (BJP) that arrears amounting to Rs 1.29 lakh were outstanding against the Development Commissioner (Power) in Srinagar.

The major amount of arrears were against the government departments that owed Rs 382.26 crore. The arrears against the consumers were to the tune of Rs 287.76 crore. The PDD had to realise arrears worth Rs 103.43 crore from the private consumers in Jammu and Rs 184.33 crore in the Kashmir valley.

27 more B’deshis held for exfiltration bid

Jammu, February 28
The BSF foiled an exfiltration bid and arrested 27 Bangladeshis near the Indo-Pak border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir last night, sources said.

BSF troops guarding the international border observed some movement near the Chadwal border belt in Kathua district last night, they said, adding that the entire area had been cordoned.

The troops challenged a group of people, who were trying to exfiltrate to Pakistan. All of them surrendered to the troops.

Those arrested comprised 17 men, eight women and two children. Nothing incriminating was found from them.

Earlier, 35 Bangladeshis were arrested yesterday from Bali Nallah in Kathua. — PTI