Jammu, March 21
The state unit of the BJP has decided to field its candidate from the Bhaderwah Assembly constituency and is toying with the idea of contesting one of the three seats in the Kashmir valley, where byelection is to be held on April 24.

The BJP president, Dr Nirmal Singh, said here today that the party had decided to contest the Bhaderwah seat from where the Congress was fielding Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. He said the party leaders of the provincial unit in the valley were keen to field a BJP candidate from one of the three seats in Kashmir where also the byelection is to be held on April 24.

In reply to a question, Dr Nirmal Singh said : "We have been campaigning for a leader from Jammu to be the Chief Minister and the installation of Mr Azad,who belongs to Doda district of Jammu, as head of the government has fulfilled our demand and desire. But that does not mean we should not field our party candidate against him."

When asked whether fielding a BJP candidate would make Mr Azad's task of winning the election easy, as in the presence of the National Conference candidate the opposition votes would get divided, the BJP chief said "it can be the other way round also. The decision of the NC to contest the Bhaderwah seat may result in a cakewalk for Mr Azad".

He said the party had not yet decided to whom it would give the ticket, adding that we wanted D.K.Kotwal, a former BJP president, to be the party candidate from Bhaderwah but he had shown his unwillingness to contest the byelection.

In reply to another question, Dr Nirmal Singh said "we may not have a strong base either in Rafiabad, or in Sangrama or in Pattan, where the byelection is to be held, but as an organisation that believes in the sanctity of elections and democracy, we may field a BJP

candidate from one of the three seats.This could provided the party a chance to strengthen its base among the people in Kashmir".

Jammu, March 21
While taking a strong exception to the recent statement of Mr Harcharan Singh Josh, a member of the National Commission for Minorities, in which he had stated that Sikhs were part of Hindus, several Sikh leaders of Jammu and Kashmir have appealed to Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of Akal Takht, to summon him and expel him from the community.

At a meeting held here today, which was presided over by Mr SS Wazir, a former president of the state gurdwara prabandhak board, the Sikh leaders urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to sack Mr Josh from the Commission as he had not only underplayed the sacrifices committed by the community and the Sikh Gurus but showed that he (Josh) was a "stooge of the Congress."

The Sikh leaders said Mr Josh had been appointed a member of the Commission as he was a Sikh and the Sikhs were a minority community.

The meeting was attended among others by Mr Narbir Singh, president, Shiromani Youth Akali Dal, Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser Bhai Kanahiya Nishkam Sewa Society, Mr Paramjot Singh, president, AISSF, and Mr Amar Singh, president, Sikh Welfare Society.

The Sikh leaders wanted Mr Josh to resign from the Commission as he had a “dubious past” and had been "deputed by the Congress for justifying Operation Bluestar in 1984 in foreign countries." They appealed to the Prime Minister to appoint a Sikh leader of integrity and honesty in his place as member of the Commission. 

Jammu, March 21
CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami today stressed the need for a credible and institutionalised process for resolving the Kashmir issue.

Mr Tarigami, who was talking to mediapersons here after his recent meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said Jammu and Kashmir should be allowed to emerge as a federation and the Centre should restore constitutional and political rights under Article 370. Autonomy should be granted to all three regions i.e. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to remove the sense of discrimination.

The CPM leader said during his stay in Islamabad, where he participated in the conference of PUGWASH, he met General Musharraf twice and found a “lot of flexibility” in his attitude to solve the issue. He said the General was not rigid on the “self-rule” formula he proposed recently and was ready to discuss its substance and other such proposals.

Mr Tarigami said a common consensus had emerged in the subcontinent for peace and resolution of the disputes through a dialogue. He said a noticeable change had come in the attitude of Pakistan, which had so far been describing the separatists as the true representatives of Kashmiris.

The Pakistani leadership had now realised that the aspirations of all communities and regions have to be respected to find a lasting solution to the problem, he said, adding that another consensus that had emerged among different political parties was that division of the state on the basis of religion would not be allowed.

Mr Tarigami demanded that troops should be withdrawn from areas, including Srinagar, where the level of militant violence had reduced and police should be deployed there.

Srinagar, March 21
A top commander was among four militants killed by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir overnight, official sources said.

They said security forces and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police launched a joint operation at Bandipora in north Kashmir early today.

However, when the troops were about to storm a particular house, they came under heavy fire from militants. Security forces also retaliated and in the fierce clash a HuM commander, Ashfaq Ahmad, alias Gujjar, was killed.

Ashfaq, a listed militant active in the north Kashmir for the past seven years, was wanted in a number of killings and other militancy-related incidents. One pistol, two hand grenades, one magazine and eight rounds were recovered from the slain militant.

However, a police press note issued this evening said he was a Jaish-e-Mohammad commander

In another operation, security forces killed an HM militant at Keller Rajpora in an encounter in south Kashmir district of Pulwama.

The encounter ensued after a search party was attacked by the militants. One AK rifle and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militant identified as Mohammad Rafiq.

An official spokesman said an encounter took place between militants and security forces at Chajja man post in Poonch district of Jammu region. Two militants were killed in the encounter, he said adding two AK rifles, four magazines, five grenades, two water bottles, one satellite phone, one wireless set and Rs 4,000 were recovered from the slain militants. — UNI

Srinagar, March 21
Traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was resumed this afternoon.

The highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with rest of the country, was closed for vehicular traffic yesterday due to landslides and shooting stones, official sources said.

About 2,500 vehicles, including trucks loaded with essential commodities, were stranded on both sides of the highway.

Sources said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) had cleared the landslides. — UNI