The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Road transport corpn employees, children stage march Srinagar, March 28 Employees of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation along with their children today staged a march here in support of their demands, including release of salaries pending for the past several months. The children, many of whom were wearing school uniforms, were carrying black flags and placards seeking intervention of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chief Justice of state’s High Court Justice Bashir Ahmad Khan on the issue so that salaries are released to their parents, sources said. Before marching in a procession through Residency Road up to Lal Chowk, the employees along with their children assembled at the SRTC headquarters. “We have been forced to bring our children on the roads as the authorities have paid no heed to our genuine demands. The failure of the authorities to release our salaries over the past several months have put a question mark on our future,” leaders of the employees Abdul Hameed and Abdul Rashid Wani said. They demanded pension benefits after retirement, release of salaries and other allowances on monthly basis at par with other government employees or Rs 15 lakh in case an employee opted for voluntary retirement scheme. The placards being carried by the children read ‘save our future’ and ‘lift the ban on child labour’ to enable them to assist their families in the hour of crisis. — PTI
	2 Pak militants among 3 killed Three women detained Srinagar, March 28 Security forces killed two foreign militants, averted a major tragedy when they recovered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) from a passenger bus and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including explosives, in Jammu and Kashmir overnight. Militants abducted one person Nazir Hussain and killed him by slitting his throat at Argi in Rajouri district of the Jammu region late last night. An official spokesman said a foreign militant Fazul-ur-Rehman, who was injured in an encounter at Kandi, Kupwara, recently, died. His body was recovered from the forest area this morning. He said an encounter took place at Timrannar forest in Poonch district this morning in which a foreign militant Abu Rehman was killed. One AK rifle and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militant, a resident of Subha Sarhad, Pakistan. According to a sources, security forces busted a hideout and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 7 kg explosive, five AK magazines, 559 rounds of ammunition,65 UBGL rounds, 8 UBGL grenades, 27 detonators and one wireless set at Tral in Pulwama district. However, no one was arrested. A defence ministry spokesman said a road opening party (ROP) of the Army during a routine checking of vehicles near Azad Gunj, Baramulla, about 55 km from here, found a pressure cooker. When it was opened, an IED was found inside with a timer and a detonator. Later, the passengers were taken to a safer place, he said. The entire area was immediately cordoned off and the IED was later defused by the Army, he said. He said three suspected women, travelling in the bus, were detained and handed over to the police for further questioning. The spokesman said because of tight vigil, militants were now using women and children as couriers to take arms and ammunition and explosives from one place to another. — UNI
	1400 working days lost to militant-sponsored strikes Srinagar, March 28 Over 1,400 working days were lost due to strikes sponsored by separatists and militants in the Kashmir valley since the eruption of militancy in the state in early 1990s. A total of 1,463 strikes were observed in the valley between January 1990 and February 15, 2007. The highest number of 207 strikes were observed in 1991 when militancy was at its peak. The year 1990 accounted for 198 strikes followed by 148, 139 and 122 in 1992, 1993 and 2001, respectively, the report said. It said four strikes were observed this year up to February 15, while the number was 25 last year — the same as 1998 and 2004. The year 2005 accounted for the lowest number of 18 strikes followed by 24 in 1999, the report said adding ‘97 strikes were sponsored in 1994, 89 in 1995, 95 in 1996, 72 in 1997, 41 in 2000, 77 in 2002 and 58 in 2003. Frequent strikes by separatists and militants came under attack from various quarters as students and businessmen were the worst hit. However, the number of strikes started showing a decline trend from 2004, the year when moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq entered into a dialogue with the Centre as part of its efforts to seek a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. Strikes on Republic Day and Independence Day, February 11 (the day when JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat was hanged in Tihar Jail in 1984), May 21 (death anniversary of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq), July 13 (martyrs day), and October 27 (the day when troops landed for the first time in Kashmir to repulse Pakistani attack in 1947) have become a routine since 1990.
	Using polygraph, brain mapping for crime detection Srinagar, March 28 Buoyed over the success of unearthing fake encounters using the latest technology, the Jammu and Kashmir police now has started modern techniques of polygraph and brain mapping to extract information from an accused. An official spokesman said a major breakthrough was achieved in Kulgam on February 11 when the police busted a module of the Hizbul Mujahideen involved in subversive acts by apprehending Reyes Ahmed Dar, alias Bulla Dar, along with his associates Jehangir Ahmed Ganai, alias Bilal, Sabeel Javeed, alias Shanu Khan, Mohammed Yousuf Ganie and Habibullah Itoo, alias Habloo. To prove their involvement and in view of the Supreme Court directions on a petition titled D.K. Basu v/s state of West Bengal and also to apply a scientific approach, the police referred Bulla to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Bangalore for polygraph, brain mapping and narco-analysis tests, he added. During tests, Bulla admitted to his involvement in militancy-related incidents which indicated that overground workers of militants were involved in subversive activities in the state. With this, the spokesman said several militancy-related cases in Anantnag district had been solved. The spokesman said it was the fist instance in the history of the Jammu and Kashmir Police that militants had been referred to places outside the state for narco-analysis tests. He said the group was tasked to carry out attacks on security forces on the Srinagar-Jammu highway under the command and control of Hizb district commander Reyaz Ahmed Deva. The spokesman said the modus operandi of the group was to disturb and target the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only road link connecting the valley with the rest of the country. The group indulged in subversive activities such as firing at Bader Gund on December 3, 2000, in which two women, Shamima and Rukhsana, residents of Chowkibal in Kupwara, were wounded, grenade attack at Qazigund in which civilian Mohammad Rafiq Khan was injured on September 21, 2002, planting of an IED at Nipora on the highway, which was defused by security forces, attack on an Army convoy at Ponigam on the highway in which civilian Mushtaq Ahmed Rather, and troops were wounded on November 11 last year and firing on November 27, 2006, in which a militant identified as Abu Aksa, was killed.
	PDP meeting put off to March 31 Tribune Reporters Jammu, March 28 The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed the crucial meeting of its political affairs committee (PAC) that was to be held at Srinagar tomorrow to discuss whether to be part of the ruling coalition in J&K or not. The decision to postpone the meeting to March 31 was taken in the evening when almost all members of the highest decision making body of the party had landed at Srinagar. Party sources said the meeting had been postponed as patron Mufti Sayeed was unable to reach Srinagar as he was busy deliberating the issue of phased pullout of troops from Kashmir, repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and vacation of orchards and agriculture lands occupied by the armed forces in the valley. The ministers belonging to the PDP would however not participate in the meeting of the cabinet tomorrow.
	Mufti’s ‘important’ announcement today Srinagar, March 28 The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, is expected to make an important announcement here tomorrow following differences with its ruling coalition partner, the Congress party. The Mufti, who has been demanding the withdrawal of troops from Jammu and Kashmir, held meetings with Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi recently. — TNS