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Protests continue in Kupwara; five hurt in police action
Need to halt excesses, says APHC leader
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Infiltration bid foiled, 11 militants killed
Pak team inspects Baglihar project
Six more Amarnath pilgrims die
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Protests continue in Kupwara; five hurt in police action
Trehgam (Kupwara), July 25 The entire Kupwara district is observing a four-day general strike in protest against the killing of three children mistakenly by the troops of the 6 Rashtriya Rifles in Bangargund village of Kupwara in north Kashmir on July 23 night. At least five protesters were wounded after the police opened fire in air to disperse them at the border town of Kupwara, sources said. Students also took out a demonstration in protest against the incident. The Chief Minister, for the first time, has conveyed serious concern to the Army Commander over the killing of the three youth — Bilal Ahmad Sheikh, Wasim Ahmad Wani and Shabir Ahmad Shah — and ordered an inquiry into the incident. He also cautioned the security forces and agencies to avoid, at any cost, such incidents in the future. The Chief Minister stressed that utmost care and restraint must be exercised while dealing with a situation to ensure that no harm was done to the innocent people. “The Vilgam incident is all the more unfortunate as the victims are young,” Mr Sayeed said and conveyed serious concern to General Officer-in-Commanding of 15 Corps Lt Gen S.S. Dhillon over the incident. The Army too has expressed regret over the incident and appealed to the people to adhere to the curfew timings prevalent in their area during night. However, the probe order and the Army’s regret has failed to pacify the protestors. They blame the Army and the state government for such incidents. Slogans of “Mufti Sarkar hai hai (Down with Mufti government), stop state terrorism and we want freedom” rent the air frequently. The mourners want strong action against the security personnel responsible for the killing. Yesterday, the demonstrators went on a rampage and first set ablaze to sewing machines in a welfare centre set up by the Army under the Operation Sadhbavna. Then thousands of
mourners marched towards the Vilgam where Shabir’s body was lying inside the premises of the police station-cum-CRPF camp. They forced open the gate of the police station, ransacked the premises, damaged two police vehicles, broke the railings of the garden and the window-panes.
— UNI |
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Need to halt excesses, says APHC leader
Jammu, July 25 Two days ago the APHC leaders were seemingly happy over the assurance dished out by the Union Minister of state for Home, Mr Sriprakash
Jaiswal, saying that invitation to the Hurriyat leaders for a dialogue would be sent shortly. This excitement is no longer visible when one talks with the APHC leaders. A senior APHC leader, Molvi Abbas
Ansari, today endorsed the statement of the party Chairman, Molvi Umar
Farooq, in which he had stated that “we are willing to talk to the Prime Minister but continued excesses being committed by the security forces needed to be halted before the two sides meet in Delhi.” Molvi Ansari told this correspondent today “We are not in a position to hold talks with the Prime Minister when the ground realities are far from conducive.” “We are being dubbed as Indian agents by groups of militants and hence we cannot rush to Delhi for the resumption of talks with the Prime Minister if the excesses by the security forces continued,” he said. Weeks ago a senior APHC leader, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, had stated that they were ready to talk to Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, without imposing any condition. However, the Kupwara incident has forced them to impose a condition. Inside reports said that the APHC leaders have felt jittery over the latest statement of four rebel groups, Al
Arifeen, Al Nasreen, Farzandani Milat and Save Kashmir Movement, in which they had accused the Hurriyat leaders of giving colour to the Indian Government’s heinous map in Kashmir.” The rebel groups, while dishing out threats to Pandits if they attempted to return to Kashmir, had asserted that the APHC leaders’ “false assurances won’t save Pandits from our attack.” These groups had made known their opposition to the Hurriyat-Pandit interaction. It is in this context that the APHC leaders want the ground situation, vis-a-vis violation of human rights, in Kashmir to improve which alone can ensure meaningful dialogue with Mr Manmohan Singh. |
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Infiltration bid foiled, 11 militants killed
Srinagar, July 25 Elsewhere in the state, security forces shot dead eight militants, including three Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commanders, as another militant surrendered overnight. Official sources said the troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC) noticed a group of militants sneaking into this side from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the Machil sector. When challenged and asked to surrender they opened fire and threw hand grenades. Troops, who had already taken positions, retaliated and killed all three militants. The sources said security forces had again launched a massive search operation in the woods to eliminate the remaining militants, if any. Troops during a week-long operation in Gurez sector killed 15 militants, highest since the infiltration from across the border started after snow started melting on the passes. About 40 Pakistani infiltrators have been killed during the past one month on the Jammu and Kashmir borders by the security forces. A Defence Ministry spokesman said acting on a tip-off, troops launched an operation at Surankote area of Poonch district. He said when the troops were making searches, militants opened fire which was returned and in the ensuing exchange of fire lasting over two hours, the troops shot dead three LeT commanders. The militants were identified as Abu Shadakh
Allahabadi, Abu Aksha Sain and Abu Dalal, all Pakistanis. Three AK rifles, five magazines, 96 rounds, two satellite phones, one radio set and two hand grenades were seized from the slain militants. In another incident, security forces and police in a joint operation killed two militants at Dev Chatra in Doda district of Jammu region last night. One AK rifle, two magazines, 23 rounds of ammunition, one wireless set and three UBGL were recovered from the slain militants, the spokesman added. Two more militants were shot dead by the security forces at Shopian in Pulwama while another was killed at Kralpatheri in the frontier district of Kupwara last night. Three AK rifles, ten magazines, 158 rounds of ammunition, 10 hand grenades, one wireless set and Rs 10,000 were recovered from the slain militants. He said militants shot at and wounded one Ghulam Ahmad Mir at Putrigam Pulwama last night. He was later hospitalised. A militant surrendered before the security forces at Sangrama in Baramula district last night.
— UNI |
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Pak team inspects Baglihar project
Jammu, July 25 The team led by Mr S.J. Ali Shah, Commissioner of the Indus Water Treaty in Pakistan, focussed on the internal set-up of the dam. Pakistan has raised objections to the construction of the project on the Chenab. Mr Shah said the team had come to study the design of the project and height of the dam. The team visited the project on the advice of R.Lafft, Swiss expert, who has been nominated arbitrator by the World Bank. A team of Indian officials led by Mr D.K. Mehta, Commissioner of the treaty in India, jointly inspected the project, India has claimed that it did not violate the Indus Water Treaty while constructing the Baglihar project. With two other hydel projects, Salal and Sawlakot downstream, there was no threat of floods in Pakistan due to the construction of the project. Meanwhile, a BJP leader and a former Union Minister, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, has demanded that the power project should be executed early. In a statement, he alleged that Pakistan was creating hurdles in the execution of the project because of animosity towards India. He said the delay in the execution of the project had escalated its cost and people were deprived of electricity. Mr Gupta said the Indus Water Treaty was detrimental to the interests of the people of the state as they were not in a position to take benefit of the rivers flowing from here. |
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Six more Amarnath pilgrims die
Srinagar, July 25 Sanjay Suha of Kanpur (UP) and Nandita Deta of West Bengal died due to cardiac arrest at Baltal base camp en route the 3, 880- metre cave shrine this morning, the sources said. They said four sadhus died en route the shrine in the past couple of days. Thirty pilgrims, including 10 sadhus, have died natural death since the yatra began on July 9. — PTI
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