Jammu, March 17
Security and intelligence agencies have warned of more militant strikes in near future in the state, particularly Kashmir valley, apparently to create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in an election year.

Sources pointed out, there was a regular pattern in the attacks by the militants on the security forces. These were being carefully planned and they (the militants) were trying to ensure to cover most of the areas. If they attacked in South Kashmir today, they ensure that a similar attack was carried out in north Kashmir, the sources added.

However, the sources said, the Army and the security forces always had an upper hand in militant-attack incidents. It was only yesterday that the Army lost one senior officer of the rank of Lt-Colonel. However, the Army and the security forces had managed to eliminate all militants involved in the attacks.

Quite a number of top militants have been killed so far. The security agencies are also not convinced about the claims of United Jihad Council chairman Sayeed Sala-u-din that the council will not use violence in enforcing the election boycott. The agencies are

quite cautious because they feel it more as a strategy on part of the UJC chairman than any sincerity towards a democratic process.

Even if the UJC chairman was sincere then it indicates his loosening hold over the militant operations in Kashmir valley. The security agencies are of the opinion that in any case there is all likelihood of the continuation of the violence in more pronounced manner.

Moreover, the way the mainstream political parties have started carrying out their activities, involving hundreds of people, would certainly not be to the liking of those who are opposed to the elections.

Under these circumstances it is difficult to believe that the militants will remain neutral. That is why the incidents of violence are taking place regularly and might increase in frequency as the election process picks up.

Jammu, March 17
The ongoing struggle in Tibet has got support from the separatist leaders of Kashmir, who stressed that it was the right of the people of Tibet to decide about their future.

Speaking to The Tribune, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammed Yaseen Malik said, “Yes, we definitely support the people of Tibet as they are suffering and deserve the right to decide about their future.”

The separatists who had been fighting against the Indian rule in Kashmir valley said the problem which had erupted between Tibet and China should be resolved peacefully. “We want that peace should be given a chance. Both China and Tibet should resolve the issue with the process of dialogue,” chairman of The Democratic Freedom Party, Shabir Ahmed Shah said.

Denouncing the ongoing violence and bloodshed in Lhasa, Shah said, “We are against any type of violence where innocent people get killed, it may be in whatever part of the world.”

When asked to comment on what he felt about China’s control over Tibet, Shah refused to comment, “I cannot comment anything on that. But China is our neighbour and we want peace in every part of the world,” Shah said.

He said people in Kashmir had also been fighting against India’s rule and that the world community had also favoured the stand of separatists. “We are ourselves entangled for the past 60 years. Our voice is being raised at various platforms, our issue is in the United Nations (UN) and recently a resolution was passed by the OIC in our favour. The world community has also recognised our struggle for independence,” Shah said.

He said the ongoing conflict in Tibet and the loss of innocent lives was not in the best interest of the region. “Violence of any form is bad and we condemn the killing of innocent people in any part of the world,” he added.

Jandrola (Poonch), March 17
It may sound bizarre, but it is true. At a time when the state government is seeking to improve power generation in the state, the Electricity Department is attaching electric wires to trees instead of electric poles. This has given sleepless nights to residents who constantly fear of being electrocuted, especially in rainy days.

Residents said only one pole was available for attaching wires, whereas 10 electric poles were needed. They rued that the department overcame the deficit by attaching electric wires to trees at Mannua, Batungi and Kikar. They also complained that since electric wires were attached to trees, there were cases where people had been electrocuted.

“Four years back there was severe damage to electric poles due to snowfall. After that we were expecting that the department would replace the poles. But instead they attached electric wires to green trees. It is always dangerous,” said Lal Hussain, a resident and a retired forester.

“We feel scared as there is danger of electric shock especially during the rainy season,” he added. He said on many occasions, the Electricity Department had been urged to provide electric poles, but to no avail. Surprisingly, this is not the only area here where the Electricity Department has attached wires to trees. The department seems to follow the same practise in Gali Naag, Sathra and Arai villages.

Villagers rued that the Electricity Department was endangering the lives of people by attaching wires to trees. They said there had been more than 24 instances where villagers had suffered electric shocks from these trees. “In Sathra in 2005, a farmer Muhammad Sharief was electrocuted after getting an electric shock from a tree. Similarly, in Arai area, a youth died of electric shock in February,” said Aejaz Ahmed Jan, a local National Conference leader.

All efforts to contact the Electricity Department authorities proved futile. However, deputy commissioner, Poonch, Bishan Dass Sharma told The Tribune that the matter would be looked into. “I will personally look into the matter. We will ensure that electricity poles are set up in these villages as soon as possible,” he assured.

Srinagar, March 17
Union minister of state for commerce, Jairam Ramesh, today said the trade between both parts of Kashmir divided by the Line of Control (LoC) could begin as early as in 90 days.

Ramesh said the Union government was waiting for the new government to take over in Islamabad and the trade of items in nine approved categories would start after both the parties inked a deal. He added that the formalities of the deal had been worked out by both the parties.

He said the approval of cross-border trade by Pakistan was an indication of the softening of Pakistan's rigid stand on the valley. In the past, Pakistan had often showed its reluctance for measures like these, while calling for reaching a political solution on the Kashmir issue with India first. “They had shown positivism on their proposal and I must say that it took me by surprise,” Ramesh said soon after the inauguration of an International Trade Centre in Pampore in south Kashmir.

He said the trade across the LoC would be round the clock and would provide a boost to the valley's industry. India had sent a list of 14 categories of items which would be traded and Pakistan has approved on nine of them. Ramesh said it would cover 95 per cent of the goods proposed by the state government. The approved list of items include Kashmiri handicrafts like carpets, rugs, shawls besides, silk products, woodworks, famed cuisine and fruits. Ramesh was accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir bank chairman Haseeb Drabu, a key person in economic revival plans of the troubled state, also announced plans to replace 40,000 carpet looms in the valley with modern plants, which would increase productivity and quality. It would cost over Rs 85 crore, he said.

He added that 75 per cent of it would come from the Central government and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, while the rest would be given as soft loans by the bank to the beneficiaries.

The trade centre, which would come up in two years at the cost of Rs 49 crore, would make Kashmir join places like Chennai, Guwahati, Banagalore and Kolkata which boasted of similar centres. The valley, which lacks industrial infrastructure abysmally, could exhibit its products at the Centre which would also serve as a meeting point for prospective investors.

Srinagar, March 17
Amidst somberness caused by casualty of a senior Army officer and a jawan in yesterday's encounter in Sopore, anti-insurgence officials said they had received a shot in the arm with the killing of Hafiz Nasir alias Hamza alias Haider, who they said was chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the valley.

A sharp mind behind a number of militancy incidents in the valley, including killing of a number of civilians, who he thought were harming his cause, in Sopore, Hafiz had been active in valley for close to 10 years, official sources said. He was made "operational chief" of Pak-based LeT only last year after his "successes" in executing their operations and building local networks. If LeT has been a consistent nuisance for security forces in North Kashmir, a major blame lay with him, an official said.

Some officials said he was accompanied by one more ultra in Chatlura village when they cordoned the duo, but another ultra is suspected to have fled during the operation. However, they got their most wanted man.

During the cordon, Hafiz opened fire injuring some personnel and, though he was injured in retaliatory fire, he managed to run from his hideout and took shelter in another place. The 22 RR of the Army pressed its tracker dog into service and it successfully led them to his place of hiding. Lt-Col M S Kadam, who was commanding his unit, took a peek into the house through a window and was shot by the hiding ultra. An Army jawan, Pradeep Kumar, also laid down his life.

The Army today bode its last farewell to the deceased officer and jawan as Lt-Gen PC Bhardwaj, GoC-in-C, Northern Command, paid floral tributes to them at a somber ceremony in BB Cantt War Memorial. The Army commander along with GoC, 15 Corps, Lt-Gen Mukesh Sabharwal, Chief of Staff, 15 Corps, Major-Gen D S Thakur and other senior officers laid wreaths amidst sound of 'last post' on bugle calls, a defence spokesman here said.

Paying tributes to the officer, the Army said Lt-Col Kadam followed the trails of the militant after injuring him and spearheaded the operation. "He fought with total disregard to his life and care for his injuries and engaged the terrorist," it said. Sepoy Pradeep Kumar closely following Lt-Col Kadam was also injured in gun fight, but prevented escape of the fleeing militant, it said. 

Srinagar, March 17
Welcoming the government’s decision to accelerate the process of recruitment through a fast track mechanism, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned that there should be no compromise on established procedures and institutions.

“While speeding up the recruitment process is imperative, it should not, however, be achieved at the cost of merit and fairness or dilution of established procedures and institutions”, PDP president Ms Mehbooba Mufti said at a public meeting in Kupwara today.

She said utmost care should be taken that the recruitment procedure did not provide reason for suspicion or allegations that could hamper the anti-corruption drive launched by the government or seem to compromise its credibility. Ms Mehbooba on Saturday had launched a mass contact programme in Kashmir valley eyeing the next Assembly elections.

“While implementing the proposed employment package, it would be very important that the government sticks to the highest standards of fairness and transparency,” Mehbooba said. She added that the politicisation of recruitments, prior to the establishment of the coalition government in 2002, had proved to be counter-productive, both for the then government and the society.

She said no transparent and fair recruitment system in place, government jobs had, during that period, become a commodity rather than merit. “This became one of the reasons for the downfall of our predecessors,” she said and added that the PDP would not allow such practises to be repeated again.

Ms Mehbooba said the coalition government should be satisfied over the fact that, immediately after 2002, it streamlined the recruitment procedure to a great extent. “Though the desired speed is still to be achieved, but the selection process at all levels of recruitment has been fair, transparent and judicious,” she said. She added that even contractual appointments had been conducted through a very fair system.

Srinagar, March 17
The Kashmir valley has begun to be abuzz with election fever much ahead of the Assembly elections to be held in the state later this year, as many more political parties are expected to join the brigade to woo voters.

Even separatists have geared up their boycott campaign while moderates and hardliners have clearly drawn the lines, both keeping the resolution of Kashmir a main issue in the process of electing people’s representatives.

These elections will be different as compared to the past two elections, when in the first case only the National Conference was the main contender in 1996 and in the second had to face a challenge from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2002.

It is not going to be only the two former Chief Ministers, Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (PDP) in the next elections, but quite a number of other parties. This may be in addition to the traditional role of the Congress, which, however, under the present arrangement heads the coalition government with the PDP in the state under their common minimum programme since 2002. How the two coalition partners, the Congress and the PDP, work out the next election strategy, which still is not clear, is expectedly to go on the prevailing lines.

Recent developments have shown that two more political parties, the Awami National Conference of former Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammad Shah and a Third Front led by the expelled PDP leader, Ghulam Hassan Mir, will be posing a challenge to the major political parties.

Shah, who arrived here yesterday, formally announced the decision to participate in the next elections after a gap of two decades. His main agenda to woo the voters has to be the resolution of Kashmir issue on the plank of holding an intra-Kashmir conference here this summer.

Mir had also been a minister in the Shah’s cabinet in 1984. He has also indicated the constitution of a Third Front against the ruling coalition partners, though his supporters have described his expulsion as unjustified.

While the opposition National Conference, seemingly complacent over the ground in Kashmir, has intensified its campaign in Jammu region, the PDP formally launched its mass contact programme in the valley on Saturday.

Hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani reiterated his stand on the boycott of the elections. He said while addressing his supporters that those participating in the elections would deceive “martyrs”, adding that “sacrifices” made by the people of the state would not go in vain.

Militant organisations had already made it clear that they would not force the boycott of elections on gunpoint. Geelani’s parent organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami, has however, declared that it would not go for door-to-door election boycott campaign. The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also called for election boycott in the state.

Jammu, March 17
The ongoing demonstration by various departments and by educated unemployed youth could prove costly to the ruling coalition government in the upcoming Assembly elections to be held later this year.

The strike by employees of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) has entered the second month, despite repeated assurances by the transport minister to solve their problems. Employees of the SRTC allege that none of their demand had so far been fulfilled.

The agitation of unemployed engineers of the state has also entered its 351st day, whereas unemployed ITI electrician diploma holders have been protesting for the past 348 days. The migrants of Doda are also spewing fire against the present government for ignoring their plight. Surprisingly, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad hails from the same district.

The main opposition party, the National Conference (NC) has started criticising the present coalition government and termed it as the “failure to fulfil its promise of providing one job in each family.”

Recently, a senior leader of the NC said, “The state under the rule of the present coalition government is in a mess. Everyone in the state is protesting against the government as it failed to fulfil its promises made to the people.”

Experts in Jammu say the present state government would have to face the anti-incumbency wave in the upcoming Assembly elections. “The common man would question that if the state government had not doing anything for its own employees, than how would it look after the common people. Employees of the SRTC are on strike, clerks are on strike, teachers are protesting, unemployed youth have been protesting for almost one year. This would send a negative impression in the mind of the common people,” said Vikram Singh, a political expert.

Recently, NC president and member of parliament (MP) Omar Abdullah had lambasted the state government over the increased unemployment problem in the state. “The past four years have witnessed all promises of providing employment to one member of each family falling flat,” Omar had said.

Omar also said that a lot of courage was required for making promises. He said hollow promises made during the last Assembly election had not been fulfilled so far. “Our party believes that the problem of unemployment could be solved only by chalking out a comprehensive policy for taping the existing potential in all sectors,” he added.

Dagwar Tervaan-Near LoC (Poonch), March 17
Leave aside hike in rent that the defence ministry is studying for private lands under its occupation, the Army has even failed to fully compensate farmers whose land was mined after the Kargil war.

Majority of the villagers here whose sole occupation for sustenance is farming said even as the defence ministry might be contemplating to hike the rent of the private lands but it had failed to give them full compensation for the land under mines after the Kargil war. They allege that though the army compensated them for the initial two years after 2003 for mining their land after the Kargil war but it has not paid the compensation after that and their land still remains mined.

"Though up to two years (till 2005) after our land was mined the Army gave us the compensation since we couldn't do farming on the land. After that they never compensated us and even have not demined our land", complained Muhammad Sharief whose 20 kanal lands are mined. "Since they have not demined our land, we cannot do farming on it. Our survival has become a question mark", he added. He further said repeated representations to the administration had failed to yield results as they passed the buck to the army authorities.

Another villager, Muhammad Din, whose 12 kanal lands still remain mined, lost one of his legs in the mine blast shares the feelings of Muhammad Sharief. "Sahib, the Army didn't compensate us for the past about three years. Since farming is our sole occupation for earning bread and butter, our survival has become difficult.They are not de-mining the land nor are paying the compensation", said Din, whose son Muhammad Hanief the only other male member too lost his leg in a mine blast while he was cutting grass.

Defence spokesman Lt-Col S.D.Goswami told The Tribune on phone from Jammu that the army authorities were in constant touch with the civil administration on the matter. "The compensation would be paid through the civil administration as per the merit of the case,” the spokesperson said.

However though none of the senior officers commented on the issue, but sources in the civil administration said that the army has not taken up the matter of compensation to these farmers whose land has been mined. 

Jammu, March 17
National Conference (NC) patron Dr Farooq Abdullah has expressed happiness over over the improved living conditions of displaced Kashmiri Pandit migrants who have been allotted newly constructed flats.

Farooq yesterday visited the newly constructed building for Kashmiri migrants at Muthi, on the outskirts of the Jammu city and interacted with the inhabitants of the camp, who recently shifted from the one-room makeshift accommodation after more than 18 years.

The NC patron expressed happiness that the living conditions of Kashmiri migrants had improved. However, Dr Abdullah further asserted that even the concrete building constructed by the government was not the end of miseries suffered by Kashmiri migrants who were living in exile.

“The only way to provide relief to migrants is to ensure their early return to their motherland,” Dr Abdullah said .

Udhampur, March 17
Although the police authorities are tightlipped over the data extracted from a laptop recovered from the possession of a militant, information technology (IT) experts, who were roped in by cops from different parts of the country, have successfully decoded sensational information fed in the instrument.

Highly placed sources in the police disclosed that while decoding the date, IT experts were succeeded in establishing identities of some influential people whose code names were fed in the laptop to hide their identity.

“Some more arrests are expected within days as IT experts have successfully extracted names of sympathisers of the militants from the laptop”, the police sources said. They also added that exuded confidence information gathering from the instrument would help in smashing the Laskher-e-Toiba (LeT) network across the state.

The sources further informed that following questioning of the arrested militant, some suspects had already been picked up by the police for interrogation.

Pertinent to mention here that the state police had arrested a hi-tech militant of the LeT outfit from a village of Bhaderwah area in Doda district. Identified as Shabir Ahmed, the police had recovered a laptop and pen-drive from the possession of the arrested ultra, who was running a shop in Bhaderwah.

It is believed that the laptop belongs to Abu Umar, commander in chief of the LeT, who was gunned down by the security forces on July 18, 2007.

Srinagar, March 17
The Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti (KPSS), a forum of the community in the valley, has sought setting up of a special task force to look into all aspects of the survival of this miniscule population who chose not to migrate in the wake of militancy.

Nearly 3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits migrated from the valley with the eruption of militancy early in 1990’s. Most of them have been living in different parts of the country and many at the migrant camps in Jammu and Udhampur in pitiable conditions.

The representatives of Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti claimed that their number had come down from about 20,000 to mere 4,000 as of now during the past eight years.

Addressing a press conference, a senior leader of the samiti, Moti Kaul blamed successive governments for not taking any adequate measures to mitigate the sufferings of the community in the valley.

He added that the individual and temple properties of the community were not being taken care of and the negligence of the government agencies led to the disappointment among the community members who stayed back in the valley.

He also referred to various issues like the temple bill and report on the migration of Pandits that had been allegedly put in the cold storage and held that “vested interests” were at work much to the disappointment among the community members in Kashmir.

“The Pandits in the valley are convinced that unless they are given legitimate space in socio-cultural sphere, their issues and problems will never be properly addressed”, Sanjay K. Tickoo, president of the KPSS said. Demanding the setting up of a task force to look into all aspects of the survival of the Pandits, Tickoo said

“We want to make it clear that the Pandits in the valley will no more tolerate the discrimination and negligence shown by the administration.”

He said the Pandits continued to be discriminated at all levels like employment, support to setting up of small business, education or proper housing.