J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

BJP to reward civilians who kill militants
Jammu, June 8
BJP national general secretary Vinay Katiyar said today that his party would give a reward of Rs 1 lakh to any civilian who killed militants.

BJP workers clash with the police during a demonstration in Jammu against the killing of Hindus by militants in Doda on Thursday. — PTI photo

Geelani’s supporters hold protest, seek his release
Srinagar, June 8
Supporters of breakaway Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani today demonstrated here to protest against his arrest in Jammu yesterday and demanded his release.

International human rights award for
J and K lawyer
Srinagar, June 8
A Kashmiri human rights activist, Pervez Imroz, has been awarded this year’s prestigious Ludovic Trarieux award, the past recipients of which include Nelson Mandela.

Soldier killed, grenade attack on 2 bunkers
Srinagar, June 8
Militants killed a soldier and attacked two roadside bunkers of the Central Reserve Police Force with grenades in Jammu and Kashmir overnight, official sources said.

BJP to reward civilians who kill militants

Jammu, June 8
BJP national general secretary Vinay Katiyar said today that his party would give a reward of Rs 1 lakh to any civilian who killed militants.

Speaking at a week-long “save Doda-save nation satyagrah” to protest against the killings of Hindus in Doda last month, Mr Katiyar said, “The BJP had taken this decision to give a befitting reply to militants and their designs.”

He accused the Congress-led government in Jammu and Kashmir of being hand in glove with the militants.

Senior leader Sahib Singh Verma too endorsed the party’s decision to reward those who kill militants. “The party will honour even those who happen to be workers of political parties, including the National Conference, Congress and People Democratic Party,” Mr Verma added.

Taking a dig at the Centre for increasing the prices of petrol and diesel, he said this would have a direct bearing on the common man.

Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, president of the Punjab unit of the BJP, in his address accused the Centre and the state government of failing to provide safety and security to life and property of the minority community in Jammu and Kashmir.

Later, Mr Verma and Mr Katiyar led a procession, which started from the parade ground, and courted arrest near the Civil Secretariat.

Participants shouted slogans against the Congress, its president Sonia Gandhi, state Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the UPA government.

As many as 2,500 BJP workers, including eight top leaders, courted arrest.

Prominent among those who courted arrest include Mr Verma, Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP state president Nirmal Singh, former Defence Minister Chaman Lal Gupta, BJP general secretaries Vinay Katiyar, Sardar Hardas Singh Grewal, besides member Sat Paul Jain. — UNI, PTI

Geelani’s supporters hold protest, seek his release

Srinagar, June 8
Supporters of breakaway Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani today demonstrated here to protest against his arrest in Jammu yesterday and demanded his release.

Meanwhile, the breakaway Hurriyat Conference and the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat have called for a general strike in Kashmir tomorrow in protest against Mr Geelani’s arrest in Poonch yesterday.

The firebrand separatist leader was arrested when he was heading for Poonch district to address a gathering there. He was shifted later to Central Jail in Jammu and remanded in police custody till June 29.

He has been charged with sedition by a court in Poonch and ordered in police custody five years after an arrest warrant was issued against him for ‘’inciting people against the Indian state, triggering communalism and fundamentalism while making a series of provocative speeches’’ in 2001.

Mr Geelani arrived in Jammu on June 1 on a week-long visit to Rajauri and Poonch districts to put before the people his party’s viewpoint regarding the Kashmir issue.

The supporters marched from Polo View to Lal Chowk here. They demanded release of 77-year-old Geelani, claiming that he had been ailing for sometime and his health condition was serious and deteriorating.

Mr Geelani’s supporters said they would continue protests till the separatist leader was released.

His arrest was an undemocratic act and demonstrated the high handedness of the authorities, they alleged. — UNI

International human rights award for J and K lawyer

Srinagar, June 8
A Kashmiri human rights activist, Pervez Imroz, has been awarded this year’s prestigious Ludovic Trarieux award, the past recipients of which include Nelson Mandela.

The award was constituted in 1984 by European lawyers in memory of French advocate Ludovic Trarieux, who in 1898 founded the French League for the Defense of Human Rights and the Citizens.

The Human Rights Institute of the Bar of Bordeaux, Brussels, and the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE) selected Imroz, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), on June 2 for the award, after a meeting in the Brussels Court’s House.

‘’This year’s award will be given to Pervez Imroz, a human rights lawyer and a civil rights activists in Srinagar, who, since the end of the eighties, has initiated and led campaigns for human rights in the context of grave violations, including killings, tortures and rapes or forced disappearances with impunity,’’ read the communique from the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, 2006. — UNI

Soldier killed, grenade attack on 2 bunkers

Srinagar, June 8
Militants killed a soldier and attacked two roadside bunkers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with grenades in Jammu and Kashmir overnight, official sources said.

However, the grenades did not explode and were later defused without causing any damage, they said.

The sources said militants hurled a handgrenade towards a CRPF bunker at Bombdamb in down town city today. It was later defused by the bomb disposal squad. Panic gripped the historic Lal Chowk area when militants threw a handgrenade towards another bunker.

Normalcy returned in the area after the bomb disposal squad defused it. An official spokesman said a soldier was killed in an encounter with militants at Dessa in Doda district of Jammu region. — UNI