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Jethmalani favours pull-out of troops from valley
Three militants, CRPF jawan
among 6 killed in valley
PDP condemns killing of innocent people
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Hopes of POW’s wife revives after 36 years
Jammu road blocked
2 labourers dead
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Jethmalani favours pull-out of troops from valley
Jammu, March 11 Mr Jethmalani, who was addressing reporters here, said differences between the ruling coalition partners, the Congress and the PDP, on the issue were “unfortunate and avoidable”. It is in the interest of democracy that the Army returns to the barracks which was the only course to safeguard democracy from military coups. He said there should be no objection in scrapping the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). It was for the cabinet to decide whether the time was opportune for taking these steps. He visualised the time had come when a settlement to the Kashmir problem was actually near solution and what was required was political will. Pakistan did not have this problem because President Pervez Musharraf was capable of enforcing his will. However, being a multi-party democracy, India faced two-fold problem while taking any such decision. Every decision of the government is weighed in terms of votes relegating merit to secondary position. Whenever the government takes a few steps, the opposition calls it a “sell-out” even when in power they would also have done the same thing. Mr Jethmalani said India should not lose the opportunity of solving the Kashmir problem with Musharraf on the scene in Pakistan. Once he disappears, settlement of Kashmir will not be possible in the next 50 years. He stressed we should give Musharraf some concessions to sell to his people the idea that he has hammered out an honourable solution for Kashmir. India should reciprocate without delay and avoidable criticism to the good steps he has taken. Common man on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) was yearning for peace. He approved the idea of joint management of Kashmir to the extent of constant interaction on various issues between the two governments, but was not in favour of some constitutional arrangement. Mr Jethmalani said his proposals for the solution of Kashmir problem were acceptable to Pakistan and were in line with the consensus we had arrived at one time with the Hurriyat leadership. As a result of this a joint statement saying that both parties would give up their extremist positions was issued. Another part of the settlement provided that all displaced Kashmiri Pandits and others would return to their homeland and rehabilitated with full security and honour. Mr Jethmalani said his latest proposals include that both sides of the border will restore full democracy and maintain it. While on this side we have only to maintain democracy, but on the Pakistani side it has not only to be restored but also to be maintained. Rights of minorities should be safeguarded. Both sides will provide autonomy to their respective areas which means that those subjects which are now in the union list but are directly and substantially not connected with foreign affairs, defence, currency and communications shall have to be switched over to the state list. He suggested that experts should draft the constitutions for both sides of Kashmir and they may utilize services of experts from outside. This should take the shape of international treaty between India and Pakistan. The present LoC will not be a border to fence the two populations, but will be only a line of administrative convenience through which free movement of goods, trade and bona fide residents would be allowed.
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Three militants, CRPF jawan
among 6 killed in valley
Srinagar, March 11 Protest demonstrations were held at Aripal, Tral, about 40 km from here in Pulwama district today against the alleged killing of two civilians at the hands of the security forces last evening. The residents alleged that the two were killed in an indiscriminate fire by the troops during a search operation. The Defence PRO, however, denying the report, said the civilians were killed due to indiscriminate firing by three fleeing militants, who had been chased by the troops and trapped. Those killed have been identified as Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Jehangir Ahmad Malik, both of them government employees. Three militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit were killed after a night-long encounter with the police and the security forces at Naibugh, Tral, near Awantipora, today. Acting on a specific information, the police launched a search operation in the village on Saturday afternoon. The militants, hiding in the house of Ghulam Mohiuddin, resorted to indiscriminate firing ensuing the encounter that continued throughout the night. Those killed were identified as Shabir Ahmed of Naibugh and Mohammed Altaf Khan from Batnoor Tral, while the identity of the other militant was being ascertained, the police said. The house of Ghulam MohiudDin, where the militants were hiding, suffered damage during the encounter. Two AK-47 rifles, eight magazines, 199 cartridges, two grenades, one mobile phone in damaged condition, one wireless set and two mobile chargers were recovered from the site of encounter. CRPF constable Hemant Kumar Sharma was killed and another injured when unidentified militants hurled a grenade on their post at Noorbagh here last evening. The constable succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital and his associate head constable is undergoing treatment at the SKIMS, Soura. His condition was stated to be out of danger, a CRPF spokesman said. The police busted a militant hideout at Thokerpora Rohmu in Pulwama district and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from it. The recoveries include one AK-56 rifle, 10 magazines, 15,000 cartridges, five pistol magazines, two wireless sets, four UBGL grenades, five Chinese grenades, one pistol, one revolver, 4 kg of explosives, one full bag of IED batteries and a telescope slide. |
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PDP condemns killing of innocent people
Jammu, March 11 In a statement issued here today, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, said it is time for the Central government to respond to the situation caused by frequent recurrence of such unfortunate incidents. The latest incidents should be seen as the direct result of the lack of accountability for the security forces of which some elements take a refuge in the special powers granted to them to fulfill their personal ambitions by killing the innocent civilians. It is obvious that recent enquiries by the government and institution of cases against those involved in some staged killings have failed to serve as a deterrent. The Central and the state government must take a serious note of the incidents as the same are taking place at a time when J&K is in the focus of the media and world focus in view of the surfacing of recent incidents of kill-for-cash. Reiterating her party's demand for replacement of security forces by the local police for internal security duties and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Mufti said the incidents involving loss of innocent lives only underscore the urgency to accept these proposals to rebuild the peoples' confidence in the system. The PDP President said the people of J&K were tired of violence of all kinds and it is time that practical measures as demanded by her party were taken without loss of time. The public opinion in the State would no more be satisfied by half measures like holding of enquiries or threat of disciplinary action against the violators of law as is evident from the daily and numerous processions and demonstrations over such incidents all over the State.
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Hopes of POW’s wife revives after 36 years Jammu, March 11 When a team of mediamen visited her residence today in Nanak Nagar, Nirmal Kour and her children were engaged in filling the form for securing passports. Nirmal Kour said: "I have been told by Delhi to submit the details and documents so that travel documents could be
prepared. "She said this message was received after India and Pakistan agreed to allow families of those POWs, whose whereabouts are not known, to visit Pakistan and trace them. With moist eyes she
said: "It was December 1971 when Assa Singh went to the battlefield. He was deployed in Chhamb sector of Jammu as a member of the Five Sikh Light Infantry. " She had received a message, after the war ended, from the Ministry of Defence that her husband had achieved martyrdom while fighting. However, her hopes were revived when an Indian soldier, also held as POW, had phoned her that he had met Assa Singh in a hospital where he was shifted from the jail after he had taken ill. She recalled that another Indian, belonging to Purmandal near Jammu, Bhogal Ram, too had informed her after he was released from his detention in Pakistan that Assa Singh was alive in the Kot Lakhpat Jail,
Lahore. "My frantic messages to the Army authorities did not receive any response," she said adding that "I hope I will be allowed to visit Pakistan where I could search for my husband." Devinder Kour, Assa Singh's elder daughter, recalling the moments before her father left for the battlefield
said: "He dug a bunker on the premises of our house and purchased packets of eatables, including gur and
channa, besides water pitchers saying that if the conflict was heightened we could spend some days in the bunker and live on gur and channa." That stage did not arrive but Assa Singh was taken as a prisoner of war." She said she had to face odds while rearing seven
children, including five daughters and two sons. Except for meager pension no relief was granted to me by the government." Her elder son Baldev Singh is an
autodriver.Two of her children are clerks in a central government office. She has one satisfaction that her children are married. "Even though 36 years have elapsed since he left I shall be the happiest person if I am able to get united with my
husband," she said. Her daughter Ravinder Kour said: "When my father left for the battlefield I was not born. I was born four months after his deployment on the border."
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Jammu road blocked
Srinagar, March 11 The fresh rains triggered landslides and shooting stones at Penthal, the most troubled spot on the highway, Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Traffic Mohammad Amin Shah said. The authorities have allowed only one-way traffic on the highway for the past three months to avoid any risk. Today one-way traffic was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu. The DIG said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) pressed into service sophisticated machines and men to clear the road linking the Kashmir valley with rest of the country. He said as soon as the highway reopens, all the stranded vehicles will be allowed to move towards Jammu.
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2 labourers dead Srinagar, March 11 They were identified as Feroz Ahmad of Parimpora and Mohammad Asif from Chadoora, Budgam district and were reportedly handling carbonated chimney at a shop in the Fruit market.
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Jammu, March 11
For the 70-year old Nirmal
Kour, a fresh hope has dawned on her and her seven children after she received a phone from the Ministry of External Affairs suggesting her to submit details of her background so that required travel documents could be prepared for enabling her and her children to travel to Pakistan in search of her husband, Subedar Assa Singh, who was taken as a prisoner of war by the Pakistani troops in 1971.
