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Srinagar, June 27 A National Conference leader and a Lashkar-e-Toiba LeT militant were among four persons killed in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir where two persons were kidnapped today, a police spokesman said.
Militants killed in encounter
Railway project will be done on time:
minister
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Hurriyat welcomes Pakistan statement
1,000 Amarnath pilgrims in
Jammu
Geelani’s faction appoints office-bearers
Srinagar, Muzaffarabad road reopening sought
Political detainees being ill-treated, alleges
Bar
Suspended BJP leaders’ case sent
to panel
Handloom exhibition opens in
Leh
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Srinagar, June 27 Militants showered bullets on National Conference block president Bashir Ahmed Shah around 2.35 pm near Khag bus stand in Budgam district of central Kashmir today. Shah, a resident of Nagbal-Khag and contractor by profession, was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, the spokesman said. He said a militant owing allegiance to LeT, Manzoor Ahmad, was killed during an encounter with security forces at Chaklipora in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district today. A civilian, Fayaz Ahmad, was killed during exchange of fire between security forces and militants a Keshwan in Doda district yesterday. He said militants kidnapped two person —Mohammad Maqbool Magray from Handwara in Kupwara district and Mohammad Amin Wan from Rampora in Anantnag district — today. The spokesman said the police arrested three suspected militants from Magam area of Budgam district in central Kashmir yesterday and seized two hand grenades and five metres of cordex from them. He said the security forces also seized a UBGL (under-barrel grenade launcher) with three grenades and 50 kg of explosives from an open area in Baramulla. Meanwhile, Ahsraf Bibi, a 60-year-old woman who was critically injured in yesterday’s massacre at Poonch, succumbed to her injuries at a hospital today, taking the death toll to 12. JAMMU: Two jawans were among four persons injured in three explosions in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir last night, official sources said today. Naik Dulbir Singh of 13 Sikh Regiment was critically injured when a grenade he was fiddling with exploded at Dutta post near the Line of Control, they said. In another accidental grenade blast in another border outpost, Sepoy Jaspal was injured. Two civilians, Manga Shiekh and Hamid Shiekh were injured in a landmine explosion in Loran-Mandi area. —
PTI |
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Militants killed in encounter
Anantnag, June 27 The police said those killed in yesterday’s encounter near a mosque and shrine at Litter in Pulwama district belonged to Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami. They have been identified as Basharat Ahmad, alias Gazi Mukhtar, alias Imran, from Kulgam area of Anantnag district, and Zahoor Ahmad Mir, alias Jahangir, from Shopian area of Pulwama district. Two AK rifles, four magazines and a wireless set have been seized from the site of encounter. Police sources said the two were involved in an attack on security forces at Bugund in Kulgam area last month, in which the Imam of the mosque was killed and the mosque partially damaged in a night-long operation. The militants gave the slip to the security forces and escaped with one of them injured. The police has confirmed that the militants involved in Pundir brothers’ killing belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba, while the outfit has denied any involvement in the crime. |
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Railway project will be done on time:
minister
Jammu, June 27 On his return, Mr Jaiswal told mediapersons here that the main demand of the villagers was that the members of the Village Defence Committees (VDC) should be equipped with sophisticated arms and ammunition to counter the terrorists. He said morale of the villagers was high despite 12 of them having been shot dead by terrorists and 10 getting injured. He described the attack as one of desperation of the terrorists who were nervous because the security forces had succeeded in checking infiltration from Pakistan. Mr Jaiswal said the Centre was seriously considering the issue of providing sophisticated weapons to the VDCs in Jammu and Kashmir that were doing an excellent job to check militancy. He said the killing of an engineer of IRCON by terrorists at Pulwama was aimed at delaying the project that would provide a rail link to Kashmir with the rest of the country. He said the Centre would provide adequate security for the project workers and not allow the work to suffer. The rail link would be completed on time. He hoped that a way out would be found to the dispute over the duration of the Amarnath pilgrimage. The Centre would provide adequate number of security personnel for the pilgrimage. Earlier, the minister reviewed the security scenario at a meeting with officers of the Army, BSF, CRPF and state police. |
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Hurriyat welcomes Pakistan statement
Srinagar, June 27 “We welcome the statement of Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman according the principal party status to people of Kashmir. But the words should be followed by deeds that match them,” the Chairman of Hurriyat, Maulana a Mohammad Abbas
Ansari, said in response to Pakistan’s statement at the end of the first round of Foreign Secretary-level talks between New Delhi and Islamabad in the Capital. He said the representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir should be taken into confidence for a lasting solution to the dispute. The resolution of the Kashmir issue was possible only when the basic party also approved of the solution, he added. Harping on the United Nations
resolution on the Kashmir issue as the “best possible” solution to the dispute, the Chairman of the rival faction, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, however, welcomed the statement as “realistic and according to ground realities”. Implementation of UN resolutions are the “most practical”, “most acceptable” and “most peaceful” way of resolution to Kashmir issue, but ripartite talks can be the next best alternative, Mr Geelani, who met visiting Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar in Delhi yesterday, said. He said talks could prove fruitful only if New Delhi showed some flexibility in its “rigid” attitude towards Kashmir by taking initiative for the talks. “Past experience shows us that Delhi has talked much without any follow-up. There has been no change in its attitude.” —
PTI |
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1,000 Amarnath pilgrims in Jammu
Jammu, June 27 “As many as 1,120 Amarnath pilgrims arrived from different parts of the country on Saturday and today for the pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Lord Shiva at Amarnath from July 2”, a spokesman of the yatra committee said. He said the yatra, as per the decision of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, would commence on July 2 and “if the state government stops us, the law and order problem due to agitation, would be the responsibility of Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed, who has interfered in the Hindu religious board”. The state government has curtailed the period of the yatra to one month, beginning July 29 and there are demands that it be extended to two months. Four Congress ministers have also quit the Mufti Sayeed government over the issue. The spokesman said most of the pilgrims were travelling under the banners of Shiv Sena, Goraksha Samiti and local organisations like the Jammu Paryatan Vikas Mandal, Taxi Union, Vishva Hindu Parishad and Hotel Association. Some of them were stopped by the police at railway stations but later let off, he said. The committee has made arrangements for their board and lodging. Of them, nearly 700 have left for the Vaishno Devi shrine and would commence the yatra from there, he said. —
PTI |
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Geelani’s faction appoints
office-bearers
Srinagar, June 27 Aga Syed Hussan Budgami and Saidullah Tantray have been appointed provincial chairmen of Kashmir and Jammu divisions, respectively, an HC spokesman said here. HC Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani would head the Political Affairs Committee, he said. Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Azam Inqilabi, Dr Ghulam Muhammad Hubi, Muhammad Shafi Reshi, Muhammad Yousuf Mir, Hakeen Abdul Rashid and Ziaud-Din Bukhari are the other members. The HC has also constituted Legal, Human Rights and Press cells, he said in a statement. He also appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross
(ICRC) to take note of the plight of detainees languishing in various jails. —
UNI |
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Srinagar, Muzaffarabad road reopening sought
Kupwara, June 27 He raised this demand during his PDP convention in this border district. He said a solution to the Kashmir issue was not easy, but dialogue was the only means. Stressing on the importance of opening the road, Mr Sayeed said greater interaction between the people on either side of the Line of Control would help develop a congenial atmosphere for amity and friendship between India and Pakistan. Mr Sayeed said he favoured not only the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, but also the Suchetgarh-Sialkot road, which would lead to free movement of people, resulting in ending of misperceptions on either side. He said people had a yearning for peace and wanted more road communication between the two countries. “During my recent visit to Ladakh, people demanded the opening of the Kargil-Skardu and Leh-Mansarovar roads,” he said. The Chief Minister said the element of accountability and transparency had been introduced in the administration, with recruitment made in the fairest possible manner. About his party, he said it had been formed to mitigate the sufferings of the people and steer them out of the uncertainty and pessimism nurtured by the previous government through its long misrule. Among those who attended the convention were PDP President and MP Mehbooba Mufti, Agriculture Minister Abdul Aziz Zargar and Kupwara district president of the PDP Mohammad Sultan Panditpuri. —
PTI |
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Political detainees being ill-treated, alleges
Bar
Srinagar, June 27 Earlier, association members, led by its chairman, Mian Abdul Qayoom, had visited various detention centres in the state after seeking court permission to know the condition of detainees. Mian Qayoom said here yesterday that Shabir Ahmad Dar had died in Kot Balwal Jail, near Jammu, on June 7 due to the lack of medical facilities. He said Dar had been ailing for over two months and not provided with adequate medical care. When his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to a hospital, where the negligence of doctors led to his death, he alleged. He described as baseless the claims that Dar had died due to some other reasons. Referring to the detention of seven Kashmiris in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Mian Qayoom alleged they had been kept under inhuman conditions in small cells in the “high security” ward. He said inmates had told the visiting team that a detainee, Mushtaq Ahmad Gilkar of Doda, had died a few months ago in the jail due to the lack of proper medical attention. He also referred to the condition of Anjum Zamrooda Habib from Anantnag, a separatist leader of the APHC, lodged in Tihar Jail. He said Zamrooda had been lodged along with 562 women and children, who were mainly involved in immoral trafficking or drug peddling. Anjum, a political detainee, had been arrested along with Shabir Ahmad Dar in Delhi a few years ago. The Bar members alleged that the separatist political detainees belonging to Jammu and Kashmir and others from PoK, Pakistan and Afghanistan were ill treated in jails outside the state. They held that foreigners were languishing in jails and no steps were being taken to repatriate them. |
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Suspended BJP leaders’ case sent
to panel
Jammu, June 27 During the meeting, the party leaders were informed that two of the six leaders suspended from the organisation had sent their replies to the show-cause notices. A senior party leader said, “We waited for three weeks, but no reply was sent to us from the other four, including the leader of the camp, Mr Chander Mohan Sharma.” He said Mr Sharma wanted the date for filing his reply to be extended on three occasions. “When no reply was received, we decided to refer the case to the displinary committee,” he said. A dissident leader said, “We are in touch with senior party leaders in Delhi. It is on their instructions that we have delayed our reply.” Asked whether the party leadership would take a lenient view of the matter, the BJP leader said, “It has been made clear in the party’s national executive committee meeting recently that discipline has to be maintained at any cost.” This indicated that the loyalists were determined to throw the six dissidents out of the organisation. Three senior BJP
leaders, including Mr Arun Jaitley and Ms Sushma Swaraj, are said to be in favour of reconciliation in order to prevent erosion in the BJP in Jammu. Party leaders were of the opinion that one of the reasons for the BJP debacle in Jammu during the recent Lok Sabha poll was the tussle between the loyalists and the dissidents. These six leaders, including the senior vice-president of the
party, were suspended on the charge of anti-party activities during the Lok Sabha poll. The loyalists had informed the party high command that these dissidents had campaigned in favour of the Congress candidate in
Jammu, a charge which the dissidents had refuted. |
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Handloom exhibition opens in Leh
Leh, June 27 The exhibition is financed by the Handloom Development Corporation of India. More than 12 stalls of handicrafts and handlooms have been set up. They include those of the Handloom Training-cum-Production Centre, Leh and Kargil, Ladakh Environmental Health Organisation, Leh, Kytpa Handloom and Handicrafts, Leh Ladakh Women Alliance, Leh Self help Group of Basgo and Chuhot, Ladakh Ecological, Development Group, Leh, Jhelum Valley Destitute Industrial Cooperative Society (ICXS) Badgam Kashmir, Handloom Pashmina Training Centre, Basoli Kathua, Handloom Woollen Weaving ICS, Samba Jammu and Kashmir Fabric Marketing Society, Srinagar. The minister said the Ladakh region had a large potential for the promotion of handicrafts and handloom products owing to its rich heritage and traditions. Therefore, Ladakhi handicrafts products needed to be exploited through a viable market. Besides, unemployed youth could establish their own income generating units under the ambit of this sector which could lead to boost the economic status of the people of Ladakh. Member of Parliament Thupstan Chhewang said the rich Ladakhi handicrafts needed to be preserved and promoted to maintain the traditional values of Ladakh. In this scientific and modern age the Ladakh handicraft products have their importance in view of the area’s harsh climatic condition. The Member of Parliament stressed on establishing an exhibition-cum-shopping complex in Leh to provide common marketing for local handicraft products. He asked the District Administration and Director Handloom to take up the matter for the early setting up of the shopping complex so that Artisans of Ladakh could benefit from their products. The Deputy Commissione, Leh, Tashi Dorje, the Special Secretary to government Labour and Employment Safi-ud-Din and Director Handloom D.K. Sharma were
also present on the occasion. —UNI |
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