Jammu, December 19
In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops opened indiscriminate fire in the Mendhar area of Poonch district this morning, killing a BSF jawan and injuring two other jawans.

“One of the BSF jawans has succumbed to his injuries, while two others have been hospitalised,” BSF DIG (G) JB Sangwan told The Tribune.

Official sources said the Pakistani troops resorted to an unprovoked firing on the Kranti post in the Krishna Ghati sector in the Mendhar area of Poonch district around 10.45 am today. Though the BSF also retaliated, three of its jawans were injured in the firing from the Pakistani troops, they added.

The sources identified the slain jawan as constable Mukesh Chand of 47 Battalion of the BSF, who died in a hospital at Poonch, while critically injured trooper J Ghai was later airlifted to the Military Hospital here in Satwari. The third jawan, Pawan Kumar, is recuperating at a Poonch hospital, they added.

The sources said the exchange of fire lasted for over15 minutes before the guns on both sides fell silent.

Jammu-based defence PRO Lt-Col Biplab Nath said the fire came from a stream (nullah) near the LoC and three BSF jawans guarding the Kranti post were injured.

“We would take up the matter shortly at the right quarters,” he said. It may be recalled here that India and Pakistan had mutually brokered the ceasefire in November 2003.

However, there had been 27 incidents of ceasefire violations till November 25 this year by Pakistan along the 739-km LoC.

Meanwhile, the security forces detected and defused two IEDs in the Dodasan area of Doda district. During routine patrolling, the security forces detected the IEDs by the roadside at Dodasan last evening. The explosives were later defused at a deserted place.

Srinagar, December 19
Militant killed two persons, including an NC worker, in Pulwama district last night and their bodies were recovered today.

Unidentified militants approached NC worker Mohammad Iqbal Dar when he was parking his car at his home at Dogripora village and abducted him yesterday. His body with throat slit was recovered at some distance from his house today. The brutal killing was obviously an attempt by the militants to terrorise people, the police said.

The police in association with CRPF and Army personnel had launched a massive search in the night to locate Dar, but could find his body only next morning. He was killed, the police said, as he was a soft target for militants and his association with the NC only made him more vulnerable as the ruling party is particularly hated by militant organisations of all hues for its long pro-India stand.

In another incident of similar kind, some militants turned up at the Rajpora house of Nazir Ahmad Chopan and persuaded him to come along with them as they said they had lost their way in the night. The militants later shot him dead. Pulwama SSP Kifayat Haider said Nazir was an overground worker of a militant outfit. “We have identified militants involved in his killing. I can’t disclose any thing more as a probe is underway,” he told The Tribune. The Hizbul Mujahideen is suspected to be behind the killings.

Official sources said Nazir had shifted allegiance to some other outfit and this irked his earlier militant masters. They might have killed him for this reason, the sources said. It was also a possibility that they suspected him of passing information to security agencies.

Nazir’s family told the police that the killers came late in the night and told him that they had lost their way. Nazir accompanied them and some bullet sounds were heard later. Locals found his body in the morning.

Jammu, December 19
The BJP organised a protest against the decision of the Central government to withdraw troops from the state here today. Led by state president Ashok Khajuria, BJP activists took out a rally from the party headquarters, which after passing through main bazaars of the city culminated at the City Chowk.

The BJP activists earlier entered into a scuffle with policemen when they tried to stop them from coming out of their office from the Kacchi Chowni area. The protesters crossed police barricades and later took out a procession that turned into rally at the City Chowk.

Khajuria, while addressing the protesters, said the Centre’s decision to withdraw nearly 30,000 troops from the state was yet another step against the wishes and aspirations of people. He said the decision to withdraw two divisions of the Army had exposed the pro-separatist approach of the present Congress-led UPA regime.

Jammu, December 19
A unique “medical corps” comprising 30 militants has been trained by Pakistani forces to take medical care of militants injured while infiltrating into the state or in encounters with security forces later.

Some of these are doctors, while others have the basic degree in medical science and have been trained to treat bullet injuries as well as save militants from frostbite in acute winter conditions.

DGP Kuldeep Khoda told The Tribune that a militant holding an MBBS degree was arrested in Srinagar in March this year. During investigation, it was learnt that 30 others were being specially trained. Later, intelligence reports also confirmed that a special “medical corps” was being raised.

Sources revealed that it was now that these trained medicos could be pushed into the Indian side and some may even have infiltrated already. With a long winter ahead, forces are already on a high alert against infiltration bids. It is unusual for the Pakistani forces to try to push maximum number of militants during winter.

At the most, one such trained doctor would accompany each group of militants. Just a few days ago, militants had reportedly crossed into the Gurez sector traversing snow, the sources said.

Already, over 20 major infiltration attempts have been made in the Jammu division in the last three months. The Central government also admitted in the Rajya Sabha two days ago that about 700 militants were active in the state.

Last year, a large number of militants had crossed even snow peaks, newspaper reports revealed. One of them suffered frostbites and was caught by people. The militants had worn white clothes so that they could pass over snow unnoticed.

The police and intelligence sources revealed that the militants had made many attempts to sneak into India in the Jammu division, but they may try to scale snowy peaks also.

Jammu, December 19
The Jammu State Morcha-Progressive (JSM-P) condemned the arbitrary, illogical and unjustified action of the state government for not issuing appointment orders to naib tehsildars selected by the J&K Selection Board on the false pretext of not having studied Urdu language up to Class X.

In a statement issued here today, the morcha said the SRO 178 dated June 3, 2003 was wrongly interpreted to stall the appointment of some of the selected candidates with prejudicial and interior motives.

The JSM-P appealed to the Revenue Minister and the Chief Minister to get issued appointment orders to all candidates selected by the State Selection Board irrespective of whether they had studied Urdu as one of the subjects in Class X or not.

“The biased, unjustified and discriminatory attitude of the authorities is going to create a great public resentment and it shall be a slur on the state government, which boasts of being impartial and genuinely concerned about the welfare of all sections and regions in the state,” the statement said.

Patnitop (Udhampur), December 19
Tourists visiting Patnitop, a popular hill resort, will soon have its first ATM facility, the only one in the entire stretch of 60 km on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway between Udhampur and Batote. The proposed facility is to come up adjacent to the tourist bungalow of the J&K Tourism Development Corporation at Kud, about 8 km from Patnitop.

The idea is the brainchild of Chief Executive Officer of the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) Dr Mohammad Akram Malik. The proposal is significant as despite being such a popular resort, it did not have this facility.

“After taking charge of the PDA this July, I was surprised to notice that no ATM facility existed at Patnitop, especially when the resort attracts roughly 3 lakh pilgrim tourists every year. So I approached J&K Bank to install the facility, which has been accepted,” Dr Malik said.

Pawan Gupta, a businessman from Delhi, who was in Patnitop along with his wife after paying obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, said: “It is strange that such a popular hill resort does not have any ATM machine in and around it. This facility should have been installed a long back,” he said.

In fact, the PDA chief had earlier approached the State Bank of India at Kud for the purpose, but was refused on the grounds of its viability. But vice-president of the J&K Bank Abdul Rashid saw merit in the proposal and agreed to go ahead. A technical team of the bank has already inspected the proposed spot. Dr Malik did not give the timeframe when the facility will finally become operational. “At this stage, I can only say that it will be installed as soon as we formally provide the space to the bank,” he added.

Jammu, December 19
Candidly admitting that his decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket was an “error of judgement”, former convener of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) Leela Karan Sharma today confessed that popularity he had gained during the two-month agitation was exploited by some vested interests for political gains.

“I admit without hesitation that my decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket was an error of judgement,” he said while replying to queries of mediapersons at a press conference. “The central leadership of the BJP had offered me ticket for contesting the Lok Sabha elections,” he disclosed, adding that “my aim to contest the elections was to raise the issues of Jammu in the Lok Sabha”.

Replying to a question regarding allegations that his election was deliberately sabotaged by some BJP leaders and funds meant for electioneering were not given to him, Leela Karan neither confirmed these allegations nor denied them. “I don’t want to comment on these allegations,” he replied.

Facing criticism from different quarters after he decided to jump into the electoral battle, the SAYSS leader hinted at disassociating himself from the BJP. “As far as fighting for the cause of Jammuities is concerned, I would not hesitate to even quit the BJP if circumstances demand,” he asserted.

Sharma, while addressing a press conference with two leaders from Ladakh namely Tsewang Dolma and Lobzang Stingin of the Himalayan Cultural Association, warned the Centre against succumbing to the separatists and other fundamentalist groups of the valley.

“The accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India is complete and nobody has a right to dilute the provisions of the Constitution. Article 370 is the only problem and it should be abolished ,” he said while referring to the ongoing quiet diplomacy with the separatists. He was of the opinion that by coining the new term “quiet diplomacy” the Centre had surrendered before the anti-national forces of Kashmir.

Jammu, December 19
Even as the NC is claiming have taken a revolutionary step to solve the unemployment problem in the state by announcing the much-awaited employment and welfare policy, the PDP has termed this policy as a cruel joke and a mere eyewash to hoodwink youth.

After going through the aspects of the employment policy, the PDP today reacted sharply and pinpointed loopholes in the much publicised policy.

Addressing a meeting of the youth who joined the PDP, former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed observed that it was all rhetoric and nothing concrete in the employment policy and the unemployed educated youth had been taken for a ride by the coalition regime.

This policy would create more despair than hope among the unemployment educated youth who had pinned their hopes on the new government as the ruling NC, during the Assembly elections, had promised to take revolutionary steps to create job avenues,” he observed.

The Mufti regretted that the unemployed youth felt dejected by the policy. He described the policy as a rehash of the existing and even some failed strategies earlier adopted by the successive regimes. There was nothing new in the policy and would neither promote an entrepreneurial culture nor employability of the youth.

He reminded the youth about the recruitment drive initiated by his regime. “Instead of taking political mileage, we streamlined the recruitment process and provided government jobs to as many as 80,000 youth of the state in a transparent manner,” he said.

The Mufti regretted that the government had failed to utilise the vast network of colleges, senior schools, ITIs and polytechnics established by the previous coalition to impart job-oriented education. He said unless we focused to convert these institutions into excellent skill-development centres, they would fail to serve the real purpose.

Jammu, December 19
Stressing on all round educational and personality development of students, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah yesterday called for nurturing children in such an academic atmosphere that they did not lose their childhood.

According to an official statement issued here, the Chief Minister emphasised that besides excelling in academics, extra-curricular activities were equally essential for the overall personality development of a child.

Addressing the annual day function of Jodhamal Public School, Omar said the present education system in the country had put children under a lot of pressure of achieving higher results in academics right from the early age.

“This in a way snatches childhood from kids which we have to ensure them while caring for their academics. As parents and educationists we have to evolve a system in which kids grow academically as capable persons,” he added.

The Chief Minister said, “The exposure of children to environment, nature and other day-to-day activities of life is imperative to contribute towards their all round development.”