J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Raksha Bandhan with jawans
Jammu, August 19
Raksha Bandhan was celebrated with a difference on the border Akhnoor sector when a group of girl students from the SOS village today tied rakhis on the wrists of soldiers.

Militants kill two in J&K
Srinagar, August 19
Militants killed two persons, while the security forces arrested two ultras and busted a hideout in Jammu and Kashmir overnight, an official spokesman said today. He said militants hanged to death Reyaz Ahmad at Khari Banihal in Doda district of Jammu region last night.

Heavy rush for B.Ed admissions
Jammu, August 19
Admission in the B.Ed colleges affiliated to Jammu University will this time not be an easy task as the number of those seeking seats has almost doubled as against that of the last year.

Amarnath yatra concludes
Srinagar, August 19
The two-month Amarnath yatra concluded with special prayers at the shrine in the upper reaches of Pahalgam today. The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Lt Gen S.K. Sinha retd, also the Chairman of the Amarnath Shrine Board, along with other offered prayers amid the chanting of hymns.

Raksha Bandhan with jawans
M.L. Kak
Our Correspondent

Jammu, August 19
Raksha Bandhan was celebrated with a difference on the border Akhnoor sector when a group of girl students from the SOS village today tied rakhis on the wrists of soldiers.

Carrying packets of sweets, the orphans from the school travelled from Jammu to the border for celebrating the festival. Most of these orphans had lost their parents in militancy-related incidents in the state.

Preetai and Diksha,students from the SOS village, said: “We are delighted to tie rakhis on the wrists of soldiers who not only guard the border but also look after the security of civilians.”

Diksha said: “We have tied rakhis around the wrists of soldiers who have pledged to save our honour and lives.”

K. Sharma and Dinesh Kumar, two Army jawans, felt excited with rakhis on their wrists. They said: “We would have missed our sisters living in far-off villages had the girls from the SOS village not turned up to tie rakhis around our wrists”.

The SOS children received gift packets from the jawans. Major S.C. Chaturvedi said, “Such functions boost the morale of our jawans.” Others said the function had been celebrated first time since 1999.They said it was the result of the peace process that “female inmates of the school could travel to the border and celebrate Raksha Bandhan with the Army jawans”.

Militants kill two in J&K

Srinagar, August 19
Militants killed two persons, while the security forces arrested two ultras and busted a hideout in Jammu and Kashmir overnight, an official spokesman said today. He said militants hanged to death Reyaz Ahmad at Khari Banihal in Doda district of Jammu region last night.

Militants shot at and wounded Riyaz Ahmad Mir at Poskar Khag in Badgam district last night. He was shifted to hospital where he died today.

Gulzar Ahmad Koka was shot at and wounded by militants at Kanigam in Pulwama district. He was hospitalised, the spokesman said.

The security forces arrested two militants along with one improvised explosive device (IED), one AK magazine and 38 rounds at Kokernag while one hideout was busted in the Kehnu forest in Poonch last night. One wireless set and 140 rounds of ammunition were seized from the hideout. — UNI

Heavy rush for B.Ed admissions
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 19
Admission in the B.Ed colleges affiliated to Jammu University will this time not be an easy task as the number of those seeking seats has almost doubled as against that of the last year.

There is a beeline of admission seekers from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan in the 64 private B.Ed colleges here which have 14,000 seats.

Mr Rajive Gupta, Director of College Development in the university, told The Tribune that more than 35,000 forms have been sold so far and 31,000 of these have been submitted with August 22 being the last date for depositing the forms. Against this, only 19,000 applications were received last year.

The university has this time fixed that only those candidates would be eligible to apply who had secured a minimum of 45 per cent marks at the college level. Earlier, there was no such criterion.

Amarnath yatra concludes
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 19
The two-month Amarnath yatra concluded with special prayers at the shrine in the upper reaches of Pahalgam today. The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Lt Gen S.K. Sinha retd, also the Chairman of the Amarnath Shrine Board, along with other offered prayers amid the chanting of hymns.

Nearly four lakh pilgrims paid obeisance during the two-month period.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine board, Dr Arun Kumar, the cash offerings were approximately Rs 3 crore silver and gold ornaments were still to be valued.