Srinagar, April 16
Four civilians and a police constable have been killed and another injured in separate incidents in the Kashmir valley since yesterday.

A major tragedy was averted with the timely detection of a liquid IED in Pulwama district today.

Two civilians were killed and another injured when unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on a private vehicle at Mohanvij, Kakapora in Pulwama district yesterday. Farooq Ahmad Wani died on the spot while Shakoor Ahmad Dar was injured. The injured was rushed to a hospital at Pampore where he was declared brought dead.

The police here said that the incident took place when some unidentified militants fired at a car resulting in injuries to its driver, Tariq Ahmad Mir, a daily wage earner in the PHE Department.

He was carrying a police party on its way back to Kakpora police post, after investigation of a case.

The police could not retaliate the fire due to the presence of villagers on roadside, a police spokesman said here.

Unidentified militants attacked Ircon engineers, who were on a visit to railway construction site at Naina Bhatpora in Pulwama district.

A constable, Bishen Das was killed in the shootout. However, two engineers, Hilal Ahmed and Kishen Kumar escaped unhurt. The militants fled away after the incident.

The bodies of two unidentified persons were found from the Kursoo Rajbagh bundh, here this morning.

A major tragedy was averted by the alert troops of the CRPF and the police when they spotted a liquid IED in the Tral area of Pulwama district today. The area was sealed and civilian population evacuated to avert any untoward incident.

Jammu, April 16
Hectic activity towards hammering out a solution to the Kashmir problem is on the cards next week when, besides the round table conference of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, two other high-profile meetings will be held for the purpose.

These conferences have generated a lot of interest, particularly among the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are yearning for peace because of the 17-year- long turmoil created due to cross-border terrorism.

All this has started following the recent meeting of heads of the Saarc countries in Delhi in which Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, was also present.

The US-based Pugwash has organised a two-day conference at Cochin on April 22 and 23 to discuss Kashmir. Several leaders from this side of Kashmir and the occupied Kashmir (PoK) are expected to attend the meeting.

Some Kashmir-based top separatist leaders, who have said no to the Prime Minister’s round table conference, are expected to fly to Cochin to participate in the Pugwash conference.

Besides various aspects of the Kashmir problem, the conference will focus on issues which could result in peace and cooperation across the Line of Control (LoC) to go forward.

Manmohan Singh has convened the third round table conference on Kashmir in New Delhi on April 24. The recommendations of four of the five working groups are expected to be discussed at the meeting in which leaders of the mainstream political parties and other representatives will participate.

Although chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged the separatists to utilise the opportunity to put forth their views, they are unlikely to go there. The separatist leaders, reports point out, are in no mood to become part of the other crowd.

Panthers Party leader, Bhim Singh, has also organised the second round of the “heart- to- heart” talk between leaders of both sides of the LoC in Delhi on April 27 and 28. The first round was held in September 2005.

According to Bhim Singh, a contingent of politicians and intellectuals led by Sardar Abdul Qayyum, chief of the Muslim Conference, will attend the “intra J&K heart-to- heart talks”.

On the other hand, various political parties continue to build pressure on the Centre to invite the separatists separately for talks and also initiate the dialogue process with Sallahudin, Pakistan-based chief of the United Jehad Council which is spreading terrorism in India.

Rajouri, April 16
The Rajouri police today said that it had arrested an Army jawan impersonating as a militant while two of his accomplices escaped at Dudhasan Bhalla village in Thanamandi, here late last night.

Police sources said Mukesh Kumar of 40 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) stationed at Loran Mandi in Poonch, along with his accomplices, Muhammad Khursheed and Shakeel Ahmed (both from the territorial army), impersonating as militants, entered the house of Muhammad Ayoub at Dudhasan Bhalla village and asked the family to prepare food for them.

"After having dinner they started teasing women of my family. However, after midnight they left the house and went to some other place in the village. They told us that they belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and had recently crossed over to this side", said Ayoub.

The villagers telephoned the police which arrested one of the members of the fake militants’ group while the two others escaped.

Udhampur, April 16
Functioning of schools in far-flung of areas of the district exposes tall claims of the state government of bringing revolutionary changes in the education sector during the past four years.

As many as 1,325 posts of teacher/master are lying vacant in different schools of the district. Due to the non-availability of teachers, drop-out cases have been increasing manifold every passing year. Many schools have registered 0 per cent result in matriculation and middle standard examinations.

Keeping in view the political considerations, many new schools have been opened and many more upgraded during the last four years but most of these schools are facing paucity of staff. There is a shortage of teachers in almost every zone of the district, but the situation is worse in Chenani, Panchari, Chasana and Dudu Basantgarh areas, where a majority of schools are virtually defunct due to the non-availability of staff.

Deputy education officer (DEO), Udhampur, Baldev Singh Salarai admitted that the non-availability of teachers had been badly affecting the functioning of the schools in far-flung areas. Salarai revealed that 600 posts of teacher, 375 of master and 350 of lecturer were lying vacant in the district. The worst affected were far-flung and hilly areas. The DEO further admitted that some schools in urban areas were over-staffed as most of the teachers managed their stay in cities and towns.

Out of total 1,662 schools in Udhampur district, 40 are higher secondary, 104 high, 412 middle and the remaining primary schools. Only 104 schools are located in urban or semi-urban areas and others all are functioning in rural areas. The schools, which are located in urban areas, are over staffed while majority of the schools of rural areas are under staff.

Former education minister Harsh Dev Singh, who is representative of Udhampur district, blamed the “wrong policies” of the present dispensation.