Srinagar, July 3
One pilgrim was killed and seven others injured, two of them seriously, by shooting stones, 700 m away from the Amarnath shrine last night.

According to Madan Mantoo, director, Public Relations,Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), the two seriously injured pilgrims were taken from the cave shrine to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, for specialised treatment.

He said the body of pilgrim Devidy Brady (40) of Silchur, Assam, was brought to Baltal this morning. Chief executive officer, SASB, Dr Arun Kumar, coordinated the airlifting of the seriously injured persons to Srinagar. The other injured persons were being treated locally, he said, adding that the cost of airlifting the pilgrims had been borne by the board.

The police here said a woman pilgrim died and 10 others, including four locals, were injured due to landslides near the holy cave. The deceased woman was identified as Nebedita Devri Bhorai (35), wife of Ajay Dwevedi Bhorai from Guwahati, Assam.

The injured yatris from outside the state are Malika Verma Deka from Guwahati, Assam, Rajkumar, son of Vinod, from Gorakhpur, Anil Kumar from Haryana, Vinod Kumar, son of Krishan Kumar, from Sonepat, Danoj Varma, son of Rajesh Kumar, from Punjab, and Dilbagh Singh of Haryana. The injured locals are Mohammed Yousuf Ganie, Shamim Ahmed and Bashir Ahmed,both from Ashmuqam, Anantnag, and Bilal Ahmed of Pahalgam. The condition of Malika Verma and Raj Kumar was stated to be serious, the police said.

Srinagar, July 3
The agitating electropathy graduates, three of whom had threatened suicide after climbing atop a BSNL tower here yesterday, called off their stir today after an assurance from union health minister A.Ramadoss, who was here on an official visit.

Though J and K Electropathy Doctors Association president Ashfaq claimed that the minister promised their delegation to get electropathy recognised by the Indian System of Medicine (ISM) in a month, official sources said the minister only promised to look into their demands. "The health minister told them there were demands from various quarters for the recognition of many forms of medicine, and he can't just go ahead and recognise electropathy," an official present during the minister's interaction told The Tribune. Ramadoss told the delegation he would deal with their demands as a one-off case and see what his ministry could do.

However, officials were relieved as the graduates, 292 in the state, ended protest, which had often embarrassed them as the protesters took to begging and shoe-shining to press demands.

After the yesterday's drama, political parties also joined and Panthers Party chairman Bhim Singh slammed the Congress-PDP government at a press conference here for not even listening to their grievances. Hurriyat (G) chairman Ali Shah Gilani said the government was spending crores to renovate the residences of the Chief Minister and ministers, but it did not have money to provide jobs to these youths.