Jammu, March 11
Several separatists have started supporting the Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill.

When the Assembly adopted, the controversial Bill unanimously a week ago, a former chairman of the APHC (Abbas), Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, refused to comment on the issue. He stated that he had nothing to do with an issue that had been debated in the state legislature.

However, after Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmed Shah and JKLF vice-president Javed Mir aired their views on the matter while supporting the 77 year old law, the chairman of the APHC (Abbas), Molvi Abbas Ansari, today announced his support to the Bill.

He told this correspondent: “It is my personal belief that the women marrying non-permanent residents should be divested of the right to inherit or purchase immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Mr Shah and Mr Mir have said the anti-Bill reaction was part of a move to dilute the special status of the state.

Meanwhile, several Sikh organisations have criticised the PDP-led state government for supporting the daughters’ Bill and have described it as “black legislation.”

At a meeting held here today, leaders of various Sikh organisations appealed to the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, to withdraw the Bill.

Jammu, March 11
Four Army personnel were killed and 10 others injured, seven of them critically, when boulders came down crashing on their vehicle in Rajouri district, official sources said here. An Army vehicle carrying 14 persons, on their way back from a forward defence location, was hit by boulders falling from a cliff in the Kalal area last night.

Four personnel died on the spot.

Javid Ahmad Dar was shot at Payer-Jageer village when he was working in his orchard, reports reaching here said.

The boy’s death triggered protest demonstrations by the locals who took to streets demanding action against those involved in the “cold-blooded murder.”

The residents alleged that the troops shot the boy without any provocation.

A police party rushed to the village as agitated residents assembled on the main road and marched towards Tral township, the reports said.

The protesters, numbering nearly 5,000, were demanding a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Taking serious note of the self-immolation by a teen-aged girl after being allegedly raped by a counter-insurgent with Rashtriya Rifles in north Kashmir, the State Human Rights Commission today directed police to arrest the accused within 24 hours.

The SHRC, taking suo motu cognizance of news reports about the alleged rape of the girl and her subsequent suicide, directed the Ganderbal Senior Superintendent of Police to arrest the accused within 24 hours and submit the compliance report to the commission.

The commission also directed the Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, to furnish a detailed report about the incident within a week. The girl was abducted from her house at Naidkhai in Sumbal area of Baramula on February 28 and allegedly raped.

Baramula, March 11
A soldier was killed and five civilians injured in an accident at Delina on the Baramula-Srinagar road in north Kashmir today.