J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

3 CRPF men, 2 militants killed in Fidayeen attack
Srinagar, November 23
Three CRPF personnel were killed and four others injured in a suicide attack by militants at a camp of the security forces housed in a cinema hall here this afternoon. The two suicide militants were also killed in the retaliatory action.

PoK-based Jehad Council rejects surrender offer
Srinagar, November 23
The Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council, an umbrella organisation of several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, has rejected Army Chief General J.J. Singh’s surrender offer to militants.

Held for graft JAMMU: The Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested a woman social welfare officer, Kousar Naqashbandi, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 500 from a widow. A spokesman for the VB said the officer demanded bribe from Fatima, a resident of Qazipora in Tangmarg, for releasing a relief amount sanctioned to her by the government. — TNS Felicitated JAMMU: The Governor, Lieut Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), on Tuesday honoured the Fame Gurukul winner, Qazi Tauqeer, at the Raj Bhavan here. — TNS

3 CRPF men, 2 militants killed in Fidayeen attack
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 23
Three CRPF personnel were killed and four others injured in a suicide attack by militants at a camp of the security forces housed in a cinema hall here this afternoon.

The two suicide militants were also killed in the retaliatory action.

The police here said that two armed militants tried to storm into the camp at Firdous cinema in the Hawal area of the city at about 2.45 p.m. by lobbing grenades and firing on a joint patrol party of the CRPF and the police.

Taking cover of a vehicle, the militants managed to enter the camp, but their bid was foiled by eliminating both of them on the spot. Two AK rifles, eight magazines and eight hand grenades were recovered from the site of the encounter.

The injured were two CRPF personnel, a policeman and a civilian, the police said.

The CRPF men killed in the incident have been identified as Head Constable Rugha Ram, Subhash Singh and Constable V.P. Chandran. One of them died on the spot, while the two others succumbed to their injuries on the way to hospital. The entire operation was over within 50 minutes, a spokesman of the CRPF said.

This follows a series of stepped-up incidents since the change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir this month, and is the second suicide attack since last week.

Elsewhere, suspected militants fired upon and injured Manzoor Shafi at Bandipore in Baramula district last evening, the police here said.

The police detected and defused a hand grenade at Hari Singh High Street here last evening.

PoK-based Jehad Council rejects surrender offer

Srinagar, November 23
The Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella organisation of several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, has rejected Army Chief General J.J. Singh’s surrender offer to militants.

“We did not take up arms for perks and privileges. We will never go for a sell-out,” UJC Chairman Syed Salah-ud-Din said in a statement to the media here.

Salah-ud-Din, who also heads the Hizbul Mujahideen, the single largest indigenous militant group operating in Jammu and Kashmir, dismissed the Army chief’s suggestion to militants to lay down arms and join the mainstream.

“For the past 58 years, India has been trying to hush up the Kashmir issue. But they (India) will never succeed in it,” he said.

On November 21 at Charunda in Uri near the Line of Control (LoC), Gen Singh appealed to militants to abjure violence and join the mainstream and also promised them of suitable rehabilitation.

“If they (militants) shun violence and join the mainstream, we will rehabilitate them suitably. After all the misguided youth are also part of our family,” he added.

Gen Singh said those militants, who surrender and adopt the path of peace and reconciliation would be absorbed in the armed forces.

The Army chief said militancy had ruined lives of people of the state.

“The gun has brought only death and destruction in Jammu and Kashmir. There will be peace and progress in the state only when the militancy ends... Let us all resolve to move on the path of peace and prosperity,” he added. — UNI