Jammu, June 15
The recent increase in the incidents of militants lobbing hand grenades is seen as a part of renewed terror tactics with multiple aims.

According to intelligence sources, the militant groups active in the state have been instructed to use grenades and improvised explosive devices (IED), so as to inflict maximum damage without coming face-to-face confrontation with security forces.

“The recent spurt in violence in the state is the part of their (militants) strategy to scare people from taking part in the upcoming Assembly election slated to be held at the year end,” a source said.

The maximum number of grenade attacks was reported during the Assembly elections in 1996 when 792 attacks took place. In last Assembly elections, which was said to be a comparatively peaceful election, 437 grenades were lobbed to keep the voters away from taking part in the poll process.

Meanwhile, to keep an eye on the activities in and around the militancy prone areas, the security agencies are planning to install latest equipments, like close circuit cameras.

Bomb disposal squads plus latest communication gadgets with secrecy devices have also been kept ready to deal with any eventuality.

“The most important part to check the incidents of violence is to break the link between militants and over ground workers. Also other anti-national elements who oppose elections need to be house arrested or kept under surveillances,” the source said.

Security forces have killed 85 militants since January this year. The militants outfits are said to be in a panic, so to raise the moral of their cadre militants, they might try to attack heavily guarded areas. Yesterday’s grenade attack near the civil secretariat complex in Srinagar is said to be a beginning, the source said.

Though the Jammu-based PRO of the ministry of defence Lt-Col S.D. Goswami said they have been keeping a constant vigil, he admitted that throwing a grenade on “innocent civilians” is an easy task for a militant.

“We are keeping a constant vigil and we will counter all anti-national activities and intensify our efforts in the coming days,” Goswami said.

Jammu, June 15
BJP president Rajnath Singh today renewed his party’s demand for abrogation of Article 370, granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir, at the BJP’s ‘Satta Parivartan Rally’ here.

Addressing the rally, the BJP chief said the special status had failed to yield desired results in the areas of development, unemployment and poverty.

“Had the status helped in alleviation of poverty and generation of employment opportunities in the state I would have favoured it forever,” Rajnath Singh said.

“However, even after 60 years of Independence, the state, which is grappling with militancy for the last two decades, has achieved little in terms of development. The scenario on poverty and unemployment hasn’t changed either,” he added.

The BJP, he said, strongly advocates abrogation of Article 370, which would pave the way for making the strife-torn state an integral part of India.

“We would like to see Jammu and Kashmir rapid strides in development along with other states of the country,” Rajnath Singh said.

Coming down heavily on the Congress, he said the Congress had “ditched” the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Congress has failed to counter terrorism. There are no strict laws to tackle the menace of militancy and the security forces are demoralised,” he added.

Rajnath said while intelligence agencies had been demanding strict laws to weed out terrorism, the government didn’t pay heed to it owing to vote bank politics.

He also condemned Union home minister Shivraj Patil for comparing the case of Sarabjit with that of Afzal Guru. “If such people are at the helm of affairs, could you expect that terrorism will be wiped out,” he wondered.

Lashing out at the Congress-PDP coalition for failing to address the problem of unemployment, Rajnath Singh said while the state’s unemployed engineers were resorting to dharnas seeking jobs, the government was promising over one lakh jobs in the last six months of its tenure.

“The coalition government didn’t do anything for five and a half years and was promising jobs a few months ahead of elections,” Rajnath Singh added.

He also flayed the state government for its “failure to attract private investment.” “Even a small state like Chhattisgarh has drawn huge private investment and figures among the top two states in the country,” he added.

The BJP chief criticised the UPA government for spiraling inflation. “The rising prices of essential commodities have broken the back of the common man.” He claimed that the previous NDA government had bridled inflation for six years in succession.

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar, senior BJP leader R.P. Singh, state BJP president Ashok Khajuria, BJYM president Amit Thaker and MLA Jugal Kishore were also present.

Srinagar, June 15
The police believe that three grenade blasts in Srinagar yesterday were a well-
coordinated attack carried out by local cadres of one or more militant organisations.

With elections approaching and the valley, especially Srinagar, showing signs of its old buzzing self with thousands of tourists thronging its sites, officials believe that militants are determined more than ever to trigger off terror acts to make their presence felt.

“Even a single successful high profile strike would send a strong single on election eve. Terror groups are desperate to ensure that polling in election is not high,” an official said.

As the militants’ capabilities have been reduced greatly over the years, they have started coordinating their resources to make their impact felt.

DIG MS Lone told The Tribune that the police are “at it and we will shortly get the accused behind the blasts.”

Three persons were injured in these blasts and all injuries were caused by one grenade while two others exploded unharmed.

The area where the blasts occurred are basically in old Srinagar city and separatist feelings are more palpable here.

“It may be possible that some fringe organisation carried out the blast with the help of some local boys who are not really active militant but more of sympathisers,” a senior official said.

The police have launched a massive operation in city and scores of people, including migrant workers, have been rounded up for questioning.

Curiously, no militant organisatation has claimed responsibility for the attack even more than 24 hours after it occurred.

Srinagar, June 15
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has imposed a ban on smoking in public places with immediate effect, a senior officer of the state Drugs and Food Control Organisation said here today.

He said the ban would remain in force in all public places not only on smoking, but on the advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products and their sale to minors in the state.

The officer said anybody caught smoking in public place will not only have to pay a fine, but can be awarded imprisonment up to two years or both.

He said the ban has been imposed under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (prohibition of advertisements and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act 2003, which was passed by Parliament in April 2003.

The state government has prohibited smoking in public places, direct or indirect advertising of cigarettes or other tobacco products and their sale to people below the age of 18 years.

He said the food inspectors of the Drug and Food Control Organisation have been given powers to take action against the offenders in their respective area of jurisdiction.

The Act also prohibits the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products to a person below the age of 18 years and in an area with a radius of 100 yards of educational institutions.

However, Kashmir Citizen Council (KCC) general secretary Imdad Saqi expressed apprehension over the success of the ban.

He said polythene has been banned but thousands of quintals was still being imported into valley openly.

Saqi said shopkeepers and others use polythene everywhere without any checking as all those responsible for imposing the ban on polythene are directly or indirectly involved in the trade. — UNI

Udhampur, June 15
Even as the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party (JKNPP) and the BJP are hesitating to come out openly in support of the demand of a separate state for Jammu, the Shiv Sena today announced to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections on a statehood plank.

Addressing a press conference, state president of the Shiv Sena, Ashok Gupta, said a separate state for the Jammu region would be the poll plank for the party.

“Without getting rid from the yoke of the Kashmiri rulers, development of Jammu is not possible”, Gupta said and quoted figures how the Jammu region had been ignored by the successive state governments.

Gupta was of the opinion that a separate state for Jammu region was the only solution of all problems.

“For the past 60 years, people of Jammu region have been facing discrimination
and it is high time to launch a decisive battle against this step-motherly treatment”, he said.

Calling upon the people of Jammu region to come under a single platform, he said the Shiv Sena had decided to contest elections on maximum seats of Jammu region.

The Shiv Sena president, who was in Udhampur in connection with strengthening the organisational structure in the district, claimed that there was a strong wave in favour of the party.

The weathermen said heavy to very heavy rains would continue intermittently with lightning and the thunders for next 24 hours. — UNI

Srinagar, June 15
The militancy-hit Kashmir valley, which once saw an exodus of students in pursuit of higher studies, is now witnessing a revival in its education scene.

Not only are local students preferring to stay back but those from other states are also making a beeline in educational institutions here.

The change in the security situation and improvement in educational standards of the state are responsible for many students staying back in valley, Abdul Rehman Dar, a retired administrator in the state’s Education Department said.

While Kashmiri students regularly moved out to Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and even Russia to pursue higher studies since the eruption of militancy in the state in the early 1990s, the trend has somewhat reversed in recent times.

Now students from neighbouring states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are flocking to the valley in pursuit of higher education.

The improvement in the education standards is visible in the decisions taken by educationists like Dar, with regard to his own children in a span of six years.

“I sent my elder son abroad for management studies in 1998 for obvious reasons, but the younger one completed his law from Kashmir University in 2005,” Dar said.

He said many parents used to send their children abroad especially to Russia, and to other places in India like Bangalore and Mumbai in 1990s, in order to escape the ongoing violence in the valley.

“Grenade attacks, cross firings and random arrests do not present an ideal situation for students. One was not sure whether their children will return home in the evening ... Hence the decision to send them outside the state was the safest option,” he said.

The standards of education had also dropped drastically during the peak of militancy in the state. Mass copying had become the order of the day in the 1990s as many of the examinees were gun brandishing people, Shahnawaz Malik, a teacher, said.

While the average pass out rate before 1991 was only around 20 per cent, almost 100 per cent passed the secondary school examination in the valley in 1991.

Today, there are more than 120 colleges affiliated to the Kashmir University, with a student roll of 77,000.

“More than 12,000 of the enrolled students belong to states other than Jammu and Kashmir,” a university spokesman said. — PTI