Jammu, September 21
The Army today formally started a probe into the killing of four porters in a “fake” encounter by some Army personnel in the Lolab valley of Kashmir recently.

The relatives of the four porters, who had gone from here to Srinagar in search of job in the Army, are being carried to Srinagar tomorrow for identifying the bodies that will be exhumed in their presence.

Sources said that members of the families of the killed porters had been asked by the Army to be present at the identification process. The DNA samples of the killed would be sent for examination in case it was required.

The four persons had gone to Kupwara in search of job where they were promised to be recruited as porters by some Army personnel. However, in a bid to get rewarded, certain officers allegedly stage-managed an encounter with terrorists and killed them. Arms and ammunition with Pakistani markings was placed beside their bodies.

The hoax got exposed when a soldier wrote an anonymous letter to a relative of one of the killed porter naming the officers and troops who had killed them.

Lt. Gen. Hari Prasad, who was at that time the Army Commander of the Northern Command, announced that the matter would be probed and strict action taken against the guilty.

This is not for the first time that such allegations have been made against the reward seeking Army officers. An incident of alleged fake encounters filmed at the Siachen glacier had recently rocked the Defence Ministry. 

Srinagar, September 21
The Suryakiran Formation Aerobatic Team of the Indian Air Force today set ablaze the skies of Srinagar with their various acts of dare devilry spanning from inverted runs to the ‘heart loop’ and wingovers.

During the 20-minute show which left the audience spellbound, the pilots flied the machines at a relative speed of 1000 kmph and performed the ‘heart’ manoeuvre.

The first half of the show saw the pilots indulging in turns, wingovers, loops and barrel rolls in various nine aircraft formations while in the second half, the formation split in two groups to carry out a variety of manoeuvres like splits, level and rolling crosses and inverted runs.

A defence spokesman said the display team normally operates between the speeds of 200-600 kmph and flies within the height band of 30 to 1500 metres. “There is no room for error or doubt and such split second precision demands peak performance from both the man and the machine he is flying,” he said.

As the youngest nine aircraft aerobatic team in the world, the Suryakiran team has completed nine years of displaying aerobatics and in appreciation for its consistent performance since 1996, the Chief of Air Staff awarded the ‘unit citation’ to the team in October, 2004.

The Suryakiran team is the first unit to receive the award.

The SKAT team has participated five times at the Bangalore Aero-India international air show besides displaying its skills at Colombo and flew the tricolour at Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore, where impressive display generated tremendous amount of goodwill for India and the IAF, the spokesman said. — PTI

Jammu, September 21
In view of forthcoming change of chief ministership in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi will visit Srinagar in the first week of next month to address a state-level delegates session of the party.

Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed is scheduled to step down in early November and the Congress has to install its own man to head the government in the state. As per agreement between the PDP and the Congress, both parties are to head the government by rotation.

PCC president Peerzada Sayeed said that the date for her visit is being finalised but it might be on October 4 or 5. She will address the concluding session of the two-day conference.

Initially, it was said that Ms Gandhi might invite senior leaders of the party to Delhi to discuss the issue of change of the government, but now she has decided to meet the grass-root level leaders. Besides legislators, members of the PCC, District Congress Committees (DCCs), block presidents, corporators, councillors of all three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and also heads of the organisations of the party have been asked to participate in the delegates’ session.

This indicates that Ms Gandhi would take into confidence village-level leaders of the party into confidence on the issue. So far Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister, appears to be front-runner for the Chief Minister’s post.

The issue was expected to be discussed in the yesterday’s meeting of the PCC executive here, but it could not be as AICC general secretary Mrs Ambika Soni cancelled her visit at the last minute.