Srinagar, November 2
Three persons, including a BSF jawan, were killed and two others injured in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

A BSF jawan was killed and two others were injured when unidentified militants fired upon them at the posh Regal Chowk on Residency Road here this afternoon. The incident, which took place at about 3 p.m., created panic in the Lal Chowk area when there was a heavy rush of the students coming out of four major educational institutions around. The two other jawans injured in the attack have been shifted to the hospital.

Suspected militants kidnapped a shawl weaver, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, from his house at Drug Teng, Kangan, about 40 km from here, and killed him last night. His body was found hanging on the outskirts of the village, the police said.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead Puneet Pal Singh of the Khwaja Bagh area at the District Hospital, Baramula, today.

The security forces apprehended an upper ground worker of militants at Khuri Mawar, Handwara, in Kupwara district and handed him over to the police.

Srinagar, November 2
The PDP President, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, has said that the agenda for a peaceful, dignified and realistic solution to the Kashmir problem would be pushed forward with sincerity, saying it was not any “agenda of Delhi or Pakistan”.

This was in overt reference to NC President Omar Abdullah’s remarks made on self-rule here yesterday. Addressing a day-long party convention, Ms Mufti said that the PDP had come into existence just to plead the right cause of people of Jammu and Kashmir to live dignified life and achieve long-lasting peace in the state.

Acknowledging the generous financial assistance extended by the Central Government for rebuilding infrastructure and rejuvenating the state’s sluggish economy, she, however, stressed the need for complimenting it with sustained political initiatives to evolve a consensus on the need for resolving the problem through peaceful means.

Ms Mufti sought a joint, concerted and comprehensive effort to make Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh politically stable and economically strong and integrate it with the developing global market economy. She said: “Initiatives taken during the past four years of coalition government in the state have transformed the public mindset in the sub-continent and laid the foundation for reconciliation and cooperation”.

Referring to the self-rule formula being put forth by her party, she said that it was most viable solution to solve Kashmir tangle.

Jammu, November 2
Following five cases of killing in which nine soldiers and one colonel lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir in the past one week the Indian Army authorities have decided to send additional more psychiatrists to the state for screening of soldiers in all units.

This was stated by Director General Medical Services of the Indian Army, Lt Gen. L.P. Sadhotra, to mediamen in Jammu on Friday.

He said in the last one year 12 such cases were registered in Jammu and Kashmir. Gen Sadhotra said “our analysis had revealed that 0.3 per cent cases were stress related and the 99.7 per cent due to domestic factors.” He said in domestic factors land disputes, matrimonial discord and property dispute were on the top.

Replying to questions he said more counsellors would be sent to Jammu and Kashmir to screen every soldier in all units and those having symptoms of initial stage of stress would be given treatment in hospitals.

He said the Indian troops had been trained to “handle stress” and hence it was wrong to attribute difficult work conditions to increasing case of killing. Referring to spurt in fragging (a soldier killing a fellow soldiers) cases he said “it is a coincidence and hence no need to read a pattern in it.”

Gen. Sadhotra said instructions had gone to the field commanders that they should improve the man management skills and the process of interaction between the officers and the soldiers. He said there was need for the civil administration to cooperate with the Army authorities. Explaining this he said that there were a large number of soldiers who had been bogged by property disputes and matrimonial discords and here the civil administration “need to expedite the decision on the property dispute cases because soldiers cannot get leave beyond a prescribed limit.”

He said in the past “our recommendations to the district administrations carried weight” but now soldiers are ignored by the civil administration. He said break-down of the joint family system had cast additional burden on the soldiers and he cannot have time to look after cases of property disputes for a long period.

In the past four years there have been 400 reported cases of suicides and over 40 cases of fragging in India. What seems to have made the Army authorities to send counsellors to Jammu and Kashmir is sudden increase in fragging cases. It started on October 21 when three soldiers were killed in Rajauri district of Jammu and later on October 23 one soldier killed two and later committed suicide in the same district. On October 27 a soldier committed suicide in Poonch under mysterious circumstances which was followed by the killing of one soldier and wounding of another by an Army jawan in Udhampur. This was followed by the killing of an officer of the rank of colonel on the outskirts of Srinagar on October 31.