Srinagar, February 9
The Kashmir valley continued to remain cut off from the rest of the country for the sixth consecutive day today by road surface following heavy snowfall, wreaking havoc in the upper reaches during the past one week. 

With an improvement in weather conditions since yesterday, air link was restored while the Indian Air Force airlifted 3000 stranded passengers to Srinagar from Udhampur and Jammu today.

A defence spokesman here said about 5000 passengers were stranded on the highway and to help the civil administration three IL-76 and three AN-32 air craft were pressed into service today. The Air Force has been working round the clock to keep the runway free of snow in readiness. Air Commodore Ramesh Goyal, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force base, Srinagar, has assured that all possible efforts were being taken to meet the present crisis. He added that the Air Force would carry out as many sorties as required to help the people.

Heavy snowfall and subsequent avalanches have so far resulted in the death of 13 persons across the valley while more than 1300 structures have been damaged, officials here said. At least 37 houses have been fully damaged while 1299 others have been partially damaged, the officials added. The road clearance was in progress though many villages at different places, mostly in the hilly areas were still cut off from the rest of the areas.

At least 73 structures were damaged by snowfall at Gulab Bagh, Qazigund and Kapran areas of South Kashmir, of which five were totally damaged. One person lost his life at Gulab Bagh while six others died due to snow avalanche at Kapran. Due to immediate action, 39 persons were rescued at Gulab Bagh who have been shifted to Middle School, Hellar Shahabad. This information was given to the Minister for Agriculture and Cooperative Abdul Aziz Zargar and Minister of State for Health Peer Mohammad Hussain during their visit to Anantnag and Kulgam districts to review the arrangements made to coupe with the situation arising due to heavy snowfall.

Regarding the availability of the stocks in view of the blocked highway, an official spokesman said that 1,382 kilolitres of petrol, 3,448 kilolitres of diesel and 2,713 kilolitres of kerosene was in the stock of various oil companies, besides 1,20,484 LGP cylinders were also available. This information was given at a meeting of the officers presided over by the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Taj Mohi-ud-Din.

Jammu, February 9
Amidst heavy snowfall and avalanches, the Army authorities have decided not to pullout its troops deployed in the frontier areas at the Line of Control.

Earlier this year, the Army had to face huge loss of life — one dozen soldiers and potters working for the Army in Uri and Machil sector of Baramulla and Kupwara district --- due to snow avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall in the areas at the LoC.

However, the Army authorities have decided not to vacate the bunkers at the forward posts along the LoC, as they don’t want to repeat another Kargil like situation.

Meanwhile, the Army had deployed its men on various inaccessible areas, out of which some have recorded snowfall of more than 15 to 20 feet, to carry out counter insurgency operations in the valley and to check the infiltration level.

There were unconfirmed reports that the Army would carry out a tactical withdrawal from such posts, without compromising with the security aspect. However, according to the sources the Army headquarters did not accept the idea of any such withdrawal saying that any such move would not be in the national interest.

Speaking to The Tribune, Srinagar-based PRO of the ministry of defence, Lt-Col A.K. Mathur said, “The Army is fully equipped to deal any such situation, if we can maintain round the clock vigil in Siachan at - 40°C then this snowfall is nothing as compared to that.”

“There is no point of troop withdrawal from any part of the LoC or any hostile areas, as all the scattered bunkers are well equipped to counter any type of climate,” he added. Though he said the Army has decided to minimise the use of civilian potters in such areas till the snow gets away.

Jammu-based PRO of the ministry of defence Lt. Col. S.D. Goswami, when contacted, said, “This inclement weather is just a temporary phase and the Army is well equipped to counter whatever the condition is weather natural or unnatural.”

Udhampur/Jammu, February 9
Residents of snowbound areas of Udhampur, Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar and Doda got a relief as after a week of incessant rains and snowfall, the sun shone bright in many parts of this mountainous belt.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had deputed his ministers and officers to assess ground situation in snow affected areas but teams could not land at number of places as huge snow was accumulated and even security forces could not make temporary helipads.

“We could not land at Basantgarh and Gool areas as helipads were accumulated with snow -ranges from 8 to 10 feet and most of the helipads were damaged due to heavy snowfall and incessant rains,” minister of rural development Jugal Kishore Sharma told The Tribune.

Sharma, who is camping at Doda after assessing the situation at Gulwandi, Latti, Mantalai, Mahu Mangat, Banihal, Panchari and Mahore areas of Reasi and Udhampur district, admitted that situation was grave as most of the roads connecting these areas were completely damaged or washed away. “It is too early to give full details of total loss as most of the areas are still inaccessible,” Sharma said.

Narrating the woes of people, the minister said civic amenities like water supply, power supply and communication have totally collapsed and in some areas people demanded immediate supply of essential commodities.

Another team led by minister of state for education, Ghulam Mohammed Saroori along with divisional commissioner Jammu Sudanshu Pandey and MLA Kishtwar Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo conducted aerial survey of the affected areas of Kishtwar belt. The team visited many places and interacted with the local population.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today undertook an extensive tour of some worst hit snow clad districts of Doda and Kishtwar to personally assess the situation and instill confidence among people living under extreme hostile weather conditions for the past week.

He had an aerial view of the Sherkhi village, which is under 17 feet of snow. The
Chief Minister feared that some villages might still be under snow and the damage was yet to be ascertained.

Accompanied by director general of police Kuldeep Khoda and principal secretary to CM, Anil Goswami, the Chief Minister flew to the towns of Bhadarwah, Kishtwar and Doda, besides having an aerial look of the inaccessible areas.

He interacted with people there to have the first hand feedback on the situation. He also made an aerial survey of adjoining villages of Thanala and Bhejja, which like rest of the habitations in the upper reaches, are totally cut off.

He said the visits by the teams would continue for a couple of days to make full assessment of the damages caused by the snowfall. He said directions had been passed on to the administration to obtain complete details, which, he added, would take some days.

Jammu, February 9
Leaders of various political parties today expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the state due to the heavy snowfall. The National Conference, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People's Democratic Party urged the government to take all possible measures to provide relief to the victims.

Former Chief Minister and the National Conference patron, Farooq Abdullah, while expressing grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the tragic incidents of avalanches in Qazigund, Kapran and the Ramsoon areas of the state demanded immediate relief and rescue operations to save life and property of the general public in snow-hit areas.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and Member, Parliament, Mehbooba Mufti has asked the government to extend all possible help to the people.

Mehbooba said the government must immediately release ex gratia to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the calamity. "Cash relief must also be provided to the families whose livestock and properties, including residential houses, got damaged due to the snowfall," she said and added that most of the affected people belong to the remote areas of the state living in highly impoverished conditions.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded shifting of patients from severely snow-affected areas in the Ramban-Doda and Kishtwar areas to the district hospital for providing them adequate medicare. The party also demanded that special teams alongwith adequate medicines should be sent to the snow-bound areas to provide medical treatment to the needy. The BJP also stressed upon the administration to take quick steps to air lifting of stranded passengers at Jammu belonging to these districts

Qazigund, February 9
The residents and over 500 truck drivers stranded here on the blocked Srinagar-Jammu National Highway due to heavy snowfall in the area since Sunday last have been witness to the nature’s fury and left to fend for themselves.

The shops and roadside dhabas, which usually have a brisk business with the normal traffic on the highway, continue to remain closed for the past few days with no snow clearance on the highway and other important roads in the area.

More than 200 trucks are lined up for the past these many days near this highway township, gateway to Kashmir, after the road was closed for traffic since Sunday last. However, no passenger vehicles are stranded on this stretch, which are not allowed in view of the safe distance of about 80 kms to Srinagar.

There was about 11 ft snow around Jawahar tunnel, about 20 kms ahead, six ft snow in Lower Munda and about three ft snow in Qazigund.

More than 1,200 vehicles, 1,000 of them trucks carrying essential commodities for the valley are stranded on the highway between Banihal and Batote, according to the officials.

The valley is reeling under shortage of essential commodities as a result of the continued closure of the highway, though officials claim that sufficient stocks were available in the valley. Many areas continue to remain cut off due to heavy accumulation of snow from the major towns and district headquarters across Kashmir. Life for the odd truck drivers stranded here is no different. Rubail Singh, a truck driver like hundreds of others on the highway, has been spending chilly nights in the vehicle on the roadside here.

He got two kg each of flour, rice and half kg of sugar from the local ration ghat, specially facilitated by the government for the arranged at Badragund near here. The permitted rate for the stock of these essential commodities is Rs 43, but many of his co-drivers claim that more rate even up to Rs 50 each were being charged from the "stranded customers".

They have no other alternative than to wait for the opening of the highway so that the lifeline to the valley is restored.

The residents of this highway township are up in their arms against the officials. “We have rescued those trapped in snow in Gulab Bagh,” said the agitated residents blocking the main road.

They claimed that the residents were the first to reach and rescue the residents of Waltengoo Naar near here two years ago. “The government departments only make payments for no work done in the rescue operations,” one of the residents alleged.

The agitated people demanded to stop the payments being made to the Roads and Works Department and others for the rescue operations. “We have cleared our roads by our own joint efforts,” cried one of the agitating people. 

Rajouri, February 9
At a time when even separatists have asserted that any killing of innocent persons either by security forces or militants is a human rights violation, unidentified gunmen believed to be militants last night killed a fisherman just a kilometre from Line of Control (LOC) near Pera village in Jhallas area of Poonch. 

The fisherman was the sole bread earner of the family comprising his wife, six daughters and two sons.

Police sources said Muhammad Sharief (50), son of Nawab Ali, was on his way back home from Poonch after shopping when some unidentified gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him. They said Sharief died on the spot after four bullets hit him in the chest area and his body was recovered by the police after some passerby spotted it at around 6 am in the morning. The passerby then informed the villagers who passed on the information to police, the sources added.

Sources further said Sharief left his house at 2 pm towards Poonch for buying some essential commodities and was returning home when some unidentified gunmen fired bullets at him at around 7.40 pm, just 100 metres from his village. They said that the police recovered four empty cartridges believed to be that of pistol bullets in the morning.

Haniefa Bi, wife of the deceased, told media-persons that earlier also her husband used to go to Poonch for buying essential commodities and sometimes used to stay for the night in the town. She said even yesterday at around 2pm Sharief left for Poonch for buying items of daily need, never to return and was killed by some gunmen. "In the morning some villager informed me that my husband was killed by gunmen in the evening hours", wailing Haniefa said. “He has left behind six daughters and two sons. He was our sole bread earner. How will we survive now?”

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Poonch, Jageet Kumar said the police was investigating.

This is the first incident of its kind on the outskirts of Poonch town after December, 2006. In December, 2006 some unidentified gunmen had killed a person in the Magnar area near Poonch.

Meanwhile, securty forces have cordoned off the area and have started search operations to nab the culprits.

Jammu, February 9
Director general of police Kuldeep Khoda today announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 for the police team who rescued 39 persons, including 6 men, 8 women and 25 children, from Butashandul, Qazigund, in south Kashmir who came under an avalanche on Friday morning. The rescue team was led by SDPO, Kulgam, Bashir Ahmad Dar and SHO, Qazigund.

Complimenting Dar and the police team for the courageous effort in rescuing civilians and rushing them to safer places, Khoda said the police was always ready to help people in emergencies and calamities.

He said the police party led by Dar rushed to the spot and saved the lives of people, despite heavy challenges and inclement weather. The locals have also lauded the role of the police party for their dedicated efforts in rescuing the trapped people.

Jammu, February 9
The Bharatiya Janata Party today accused the Congress-led collation governments at the Centre and the state of adopting a policy aimed at appeasing radicals by adopting "pro-militant and pro-fundamentalist" policies.

The executive committee of the Jammu and Kashmir state BJP which met
here today observed, "there is total uncertainty in the state which is the immediate fall-out of the unsettling and pro-militant and pro-fundamentalist policies being ruthlessly pursued by the Congress-led coalition governments at the Centre and the state with a view to appeasing radicals who have been openly flaunting their support to Pakistan".

The party alleged, “it is aimed at winning some minority votes at the cost of the paramount national interests, national unity and communal amity.”

The party alleged, “this government has not only brought shame to the
people, as also to the state by achieving for J &K the unique status of
the most corrupt state in India, with no less than 13 ministers, including the Chief Minister, involved knee-deep in corruption, but has also created an environment under which the subversives and killers operate with utmost ease and go scot-free".