Jammu, September 20
Leaders of various Sikh organisations in Jammu and Kashmir have “castigated” Mr Parkash Singh Badal, President, Shiromani Akali Dal, for having accepted a donation of Rs 8 lakh from Indian Tobacco Company (ITC).

At an emergency meeting here yesterday, which was presided over by Mr S.S. Wazir, former president, state Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, the Sikh leaders, while describing the act as “unpardonable as it had hurt the religious sentiments of the community in the country and abroad”, demanded immediate resignation of Mr Badal from the presidentship of the SAD.

The Sikh leaders requested Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti to summon Mr Badal to Akal Takht where he gets reprimand. They called upon senior SAD members to seek Mr Badal’s resignation from the presidentship of the organisation because he had “thrown the Sikh maryada to the winds by accepting a donation from a tobacco company.”

The meeting, which was attended, besides others, by Mr Narbir Singh, president, Shiromani Youth Akali Dal, Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser, Bhai Kanahya Nishkam Sewa Society, Mr Paramjit Singh, president, AISSF, and Mr Amara Singh, chief of Sikh Welfare Society, requested members of the Punjab Assembly to raise their voice on the floor of the House so that Mr Badal was not allowed to use the organisation, for “for fulfilling his political aspirations.”

Jammu, September 20
While terrorists killed a woman and chopped an ear of a villager, the security forces shot a commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and arrested a conduit of terrorists who was engaged in supplying logistics to them in Doda district.

Reports said terrorists barged into a house in Beli-Gandoh village of Doda and shot Razia Begum. They also chopped an ear of Abdul Gani in Sembol village of Doda. Gani managed to escape and reach a hospital for treatment.

In a joint operation in the wee hours today, a joint team of the Army and the police shot Javed Ahmad, a tehsil commander of the JeM, in the Marwah area of Doda.

Javed was one of the most-wanted terrorists and was listed in the “A” category, Mr Manohar Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, said.

The police in Doda arrested Javed Sofi, a terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), who recently tossed a grenade on a procession, killing two persons and injuring 67.

During interrogation, he admitted to supplying wireless sets to terrorists in various areas. He collected 23 wireless sets, a satellite phone and Rs 30,000 from Mohammad Qasim and handed these over to Shabir Ahmed Itoo, district commander of the LeT, and other militants.

The SSP said Sofi also admitted to collecting 18 SIM cards of mobile phones, 20 mobile sets and a large quantity of recharge coupons from Mohammad Ashraf in Bhaderwah and delivered these to Shabir, district commander of the LeT.

He was also working as a courier and guide for terrorists for a long time. He was earlier arrested in 2000, but was bailed out.

A report from Srinagar said troops killed two militants of the LeT and recovered a war-like store in the Kashmir valley overnight, a Defence Ministry spokesman said.

He said the troops received information that a group of militants was hiding in the woods at Bapura in Baramula.

However, when the troops were sealing the area, militants opened fire and also hurled hand grenades. The fire was returned and in the two-hour-long fierce clash, two militants of the LeT were killed. Two AK rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered from them.