Akhnoor, January 15
The Army said today militants training infrastructure across the border was still intact and the training camps were actively providing arms training to a large number of militants, who were lined up to infiltrate into India with a “mission”.

“We have no report of militant training camps being closed down on the other side of the border,” said Lt Gen PC Bhardwaj, GOC of the Udhampur-based Northern Command.

The statement attains significance in the wake of the growing tension between the two nations after the Mumbai terrorist attack and India building up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. However, according to the Army, Pakistan had so far failed to dismantle terror infrastructure on its soil.

Gen Bhardwaj said the closure and reopening of militant training camps on the Pakistani soil and their shifting to other places was a routine exercise that had “happened in the past as well”.

Gen Bhardwaj, who was talking to the media on the sidelines of the investiture ceremony of the Northern Command, said the Army had increased its vigil along the line of control and was keeping an eye on the developments across the border.

Asked to comment on the number of militants active in the state, Bhardwaj said around 600 to 800 militants were active and security forces were out to neutralise them.

“Different security agencies have their own spectrum of information and according to the Army there are around 600 to 800 militants active in the state,” he said, adding that “last year alone the security forces gunned down 335 terrorists.”

He said various militant outfits operating in the state, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, were working in close coordination. “All these tanzeems (outfits) work in a synchronised way,” he said.

Commenting on infiltration from across the border, the GOC said it had seen a remarkable decline “due to vigil on the border.” He said a large number of trained terrorists were waiting for an opportunity to sneak into India. However, he held the alertness of the Army was responsible for the decline.

Earlier speaking at the investiture ceremony, the GOC said the “Army would continue to foil enemy’s plans”. “Terrorism is a global menace and our country is also a victim of it,” he said.

He distributed 74 gallantry awards among officers and soldiers, two awards were given posthumously.

Srinagar, January 15
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said here today that his government was focusing on a 100-day comprehensive programme and find out “practical solutions” to solve problems of the people in various sectors, including power, water, health and education.

Talking to mediapersons on his maiden visit to the valley after taking over as Chief Minister, Omar said the government would work for overall development of the state. He assured that his government would fight rampant corruption in the state. Holding that the state had the dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state, Omar said it would not be possible overnight to make it the second most honest one.

Omar held that cross-LoC trade was incomplete without two important factors of telephonic communication and money transfer that lacked in the recently started trade across the LoC. Though no decisions between India and Pakistan were reversed in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, there was no forward movement either.

Earlier, interacting with traders’ representatives here, the Chief Minister said efforts would be made to develop the industrial sector in the state in a big way. He said local entrepreneurship would be encouraged to realise this objective. Entrepreneurship skills needed to be further upgraded. He called for cultivation of cash crops along with traditional farm products.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday asked for the creation of a buffer stock of electric transformers for immediate installation in place of damaged ones for maintaining uninterrupted power supply.

Presiding over a meeting in Srinagar to review the power scenario in the Kashmir valley, he said a lot of work could be done in this connection. He instructed the officers concerned to e-mail to him the status of damaged transformers on a weekly basis every Monday, indicating the number of damaged transformers, their place of installation etc.

Omar Abdullah called for setting up of a timeframe to undertake repairs of the damaged transformers. He issued instructions to reactivate the departmental workshops where damaged transformers were repaired.

The Chief Minister asked senior officers of the Power Development Department to submit proposals aimed at bringing about an improvement in the transmission and distribution of electricity. He assured that viable proposals would receive due consideration. He directed senior functionaries to make the field staff more responsible and responsive to people's problems.

Udhampur, January 15
Facing revolt from his own party men, Congress leader and chairman of the Udhampur Municipal Council Ashok Gupta said today that he would take up the matter with the party’s national leadership and ask for action against the Congress councillors who had joined hands with the BJP to dislodge him from the post of MC chairmanship.

On the other hand, the Congress rebels asserted that they would not succumb to the pressure tactics of Ashok Gupta and would continue their struggle until the latter relinquished his post.

Ashok Gupta, who has obtained a stay order from the Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal to continue as chairman, today called on senior Congress leaders in Jammu and brought the matter to their notice for disciplinary action against four party councillors who signed the BJP-sponsored no-confidence motion. While Gupta was pressurising the party leadership to take action against the rebels, he was also holding meetings with the dissidents to placate them.

Gupta claimed that he still had the majority in the council as two Panthers Party members, one Independent and five Congress members were with him. “I will prove the majority when asked by the authorities concerned”, he told this correspondent. He said he would take up the matter with Congress national president Sonia Gandhi, PCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to expose the Congress members, who were conniving with the BJP to dislodge him from the MC chairmanship.

Jammu, January 15
The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today reacted strongly against the announcement of election schedule for four RS seats from the state in three phases by issuing three different notifications for the seats.

JKNPP chairman Bhim Singh described this move by the Election Commission of India as “provocative, discriminatory and biased” against the people of the state.

He urged the Election Commission to remove this constitutional discrimination by holding a single biennial election to the Council of states from Jammu and Kashmir as is being done in the case of Kerala Rajya Sabha election.

He questioned the constitutional legitimacy to fill four seats in the Rajya Sabha from the state in three different notifications when all four seats were lying vacant since November 2008. The Panthers Party today filed a review petition before the EC, urging it to hold election to four Rajya Sabha seats in one biennial election. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Legislative Council, Jammu and Kashmir, has accepted the resignation of Bhim Singh from the Legislative Council.

Jammu, January 15
Governor NN Vohra today administered the oath of the office to senior legislator Choudhry Mohammed Aslam as the Pro-tem Speaker.

Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, and Minister for Finance, Law & Parliamentary Affairs Abdul Rahim Rather were among others present at the brief swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhawan here this morning.

Earlier, Tara Chand had resigned from the post of Speaker on January 5 before being sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in the 10-member NC-Congress government.

Aslam, who got elected from Surankote in Poonch district, was elected Leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Aslam has held key posts like the Assembly Speaker and Rajya Sabha member in the past.

Srinagar, January 15
The portrayal of an Islamist woman by Bollywood siren Bipasha Basu could be amusing for many but not for the orthodox woman herself, who has been left fuming and served a legal notice on the makers of ‘Lamha’, which stars Sanjay Dutt and Basu.

Rightwing Aasiya Andrabi, whose parochial views of Islam at times puts her mentor Syed Ali Shah Geelani in a shade, claims that Basu, known for her steaming roles in ‘Jism’ and ‘No Entry’, is the last actress "to be compatible with her religious virtues" and wants that the movie's shooting be stopped till her "clearance".

A strong votary of Kashmir's merger into Pakistan, Aasiya was recently released from jail after being detained for months due to her campaign against the elections.

The legal notice, which is unlikely to be much of a legal hurdle for the film's shooting, claims that film director Rahul Dholakia had "promised" Andrabi that the script would be provided to her.

Dholakia "reneged" on his promise and went ahead with the shooting. The movie is curremtly under shooting in Kashmir.

Dholakia has denied the allegations and said Basu's role has nothing to do with Andrabi and, for that matter, any separatist leader's life.

"It's a story of the suffering of Kashmiri people in the past two decades," he said. As a large part of the movie is to be shot in the valley, he has met separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to clear the murky air.

However, Andrabi remains a harsh critic, and many say her strident noises have only made it more likely that people, at least in Kashmir, would compare Basu's role with her.

During the previous shoot of the movie, Basu had left Kashmir in a huff over security concerns and has returned after solid assurances from officials.

Srinagar, January 15
Two days after Farooq Abdullah took over as president of the ruling National Conference, his sister Khalida Shah, was elected president of the Awami National Conference here today. She was unanimously elected president at a working committee meeting of the party, first after the death of ANC founder and her husband, GM Shah, here on January 6.

Talking to mediapersons after her election, Khalida Shah said her party would continue to work for resolving the problems of people. She stressed the need for an end to the tension in the Indo-Pak relations, saying that friendly relations between the two neighbours were important for restoration of peace in the region.

She asked the people in all three regions of the state to rise above party politics and unite for an end to their difficulties.

Earlier, the executive committee meeting resolved that the party would endeavour hard for the final resolution of the Kashmir issue. It added that intra-Kashmir talks would be held to thrash out a possible solution, adding that all separatist and mainstream leaders would be involved in the exercise

“All formulae would be deliberated upon and a possible solution to the Kashmir issue as per the aspirations and wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir presented before India and Pakistan, ” the resolution adopted by the working committee said.

The resolution revealed that an “undisclosed autonomy report” prepared by late G M Shah and Ghulam Nabi Kochak in early eighties in Sheikh Abdullah’s ministry would be made public. It also sought the appointment of a state subject as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and reducing the term of the Assembly from six to five years.

The ANC sought withdrawal of special powers to the security forces, information about disappeared persons and the plight of detainees in jails within and outside the state.

The ANC, which failed to open its account in the maiden attempt during the recent Assembly elections, had also resolved to highlight the alleged irregularities in these elections.

Srinagar, January 15
Condemning the unrelenting Israeli attacks on the Palestinians, former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has expressed dismay over the failure of the world community in preventing the loss of innocent lives in the region.

For the past 20 days, the world was watching as a mute spectator the mass execution of innocent Palestine civilians, including hundreds of women and children by the tyrannical Israelis, Mufti Sayeed said in a statement from New Delhi today.

He said the international community in general and the Muslim countries in particular must take immediate concrete action to prevent further loss of innocent lives in the region. He asked the international community to break its silence on the Israeli onslaught.

Mufti said there was no military solution to the conflict and Israeli attacks on civilians were a brazen violation of the basic tenets of the civilised conduct.

The former Chief Minister said the blockade of UN-sponsored ceasefire in the region by the Bush administration had unravelled the worst kind of US double standards on the issue. He said as a responsible and influential secular democratic republic, the Government of India could play a crucial role in preventing death and destruction in the region.

Udhampur, January 15
A middle-aged woman was hacked to death by unidentified persons near Reasi late last night. The woman has been identified as Kaniz Fatima, 45, of Panasa village, 5 km from Reasi town.

This was the second murder in the district during the past 24 hours. A teenage girl, Neelam Kumari, was brutally murdered near Udhampur yesterday morning.

According to the police, the woman went to her field to collect grass for cattle last evening. She was reportedly kidnapped by the assailants, who killed her with an axe and threw her body in the field.

As Kaniz did not return, her family members approached the police and lodged a missing report. The police started the search for her. However, a badly mutilated body of Kaniz was found from the field late last night.

Locals say a property dispute might be the reason behind the gruesome murder. The family of the deceased has a dispute over a piece of land with another family of the same village. Meanwhile, the police has picked up two persons for questioning.

Srinagar, January 15
The police killed a senior Al-Badr commander in an encounter which started in Handwara district yesterday.

Officials sources said today that Tamim, a top-ranking militant in police files, was killed in the wee hours today. The gunbattle had begun after the security forces surrounded a village in Handwara last evening following a tip-off on the presence of militants.

North Kashmir's DIG Abdul Gani Mir, however, said they were still verifying the identity of the militant and it would be premature to name him or his organisation. But official sources confirmed that the deceased was Tamim.

Meanwhile, the police has apprehended four overground Hizbul Mujahideen in Kangan(Ganderbal). They were identified as Sonaullah Bhat of Nunar, Reyaz Ahmad Bhat of Nunar, Manzoor Ahmad Khan of Wurpash and Javeed Ahmad Khan of Wurpash.