Jammu, July 14
About 24 persons, including six Army soldiers, were injured in a clash between Army personnel and hundreds of youths who had come to the recruitment drive in Rajouri district today. Trouble erupted at Palma where the recruitment rally was being organised by the Territorial Army. Reports reaching here said infuriated over a baton-charge the youths also torched a Gypsy vehicle and a motorcycle.

Trouble started when the some aspirants levelled allegations of favouritism and indulged in vandalism. In a bid to control the situation, Army personnel cane-charged the aspirants and the action resulted in a stampede in a limited space, said reports.

Infuriated over the cane-charge, the youths pelted stones at the Army personnel and also torched an Army Gypsy vehicle, besides a motorcycle. Ultimately, the police had to be called in to restore law and order, said the reports.

The rally was being organised in the premises of the Romeo Force headquarters at Palma. As soon as the youth started protesting in front of the main gate of the Romeo Force headquarters at Palma, the Army jawans cane-charged some of them.

The protesting candidates then went on a rampage and the chaos continued for about three hours. The reports said 18 youths, who had come for recruitment, were injured while six Army jawans were injured in stone throwing.

Subsequently, Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, GA Khawaja and SSP, Rajouri, Romesh Jalla reached the venue and asked the Army authorities to cancel the recruitment process till further order and conduct the rest of the recruitment drive at the tehsil level.

However, despite repeated attempts the officer concerned could not be reached for his comments.

Jammu, July 14
Tension continued in the Ghulabgarh area of Padder in Kishtwar district, as the enraged public gheraoed IG, Jammu Zone, Ashok Kumar Gupta and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pawan Kotwal today and shouted anti-police slogans outside the police station there.

The enraged people also tried to enter the police station even after the authorities urged them to desist from doing so. Seeing the situation worsening, the police resorted to a cane-charge resulting in injuries to some protesters and police personnel. However, no senior police officer was injured.

The tension started brewing after two girls of Class XII went ‘missing’ after the local police had detained them on Monday evening. The police claimed that the girls along with a boy were found indulging in an immoral act on the banks of the Chenab and arrested. However, it claimed the girls and the boy were released after preliminary questioning the same evening.

The matter came to light when the boy narrated the incident to his parents, who talked to some locals and the news spread like a wild fire.

After the girls went missing, their family members along with a large number of locals protested outside the police station alleging the police was responsible for their disappearance. They also demanded the suspension of the SHO and other officers, who had detained the girls. The public had taken the SHO and a naib tehsildar hostage for nearly two hours yesterday.

Doing a damage control exercise and to pacify the enraged people, the police has attached the SHO, Farooq Ahmed, and an enquiry has been marked into the incident.

All senior officers, including the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP, and some politicians visited the police station to take stock of the situation.

Sources said the footwear of the girls were found lying near the river but so far the whereabouts of the girls were not known. Till the filing of the report, the protest were continuing.

Jammu, July 14
The rude behaviour of Manmohan Singh, an imposter who posed as a political adviser to the Prime Minister at Katra yesterday, and his quarrel with an Assistant Manager of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board over the dinner bill led to his arrest, a senior police officer said here today.

The officer said all arrangements were made for the VVIP’s visit after receiving information from a liaison officer of the Punjab Police that Manmohan Singh accompanied by his 10-12 aides and family members would come to Katra from Amritsar to pay obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on Monday evening.

“We had arranged everything for the VVIP’s visit and he could have returned undetected had he not quarrelled with the official of the shrine board over the dinner bill. The quarrel over this petty matter created a doubt in the mind of the shrine board official and he narrated the incident to the higher authorities, which informed us. When the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in New Delhi was contacted it was revealed that Manmohan was a cheat and he had nothing to do with the PMO. He was also wanted in a criminal case in Delhi,” said the officer.

He said the Katra police arrested him immediately but later he got bail. Meanwhile, the Katra police informed the Delhi Police, which arrested him and took him to Delhi in a case registered against him for allegedly beating an official of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) there.

The officer said all others accompanying him were released after legal formalities. He further said the police was also informed that the VVIP would visit his relative’s house in Nanak Nagar here before leaving for Katra. “On the Punjab Police’s request all arrangements were made at the house of the VVIP’s relative and security officers were deployed there too,” said the officer.

The street leading to House number 104, Sector 11, Nanak Nagar, of Shamsher Singh, a motor mechanic and relative of Manmohan Singh, was also cleaned and welcome signs installed by the civil administration to give a warm welcome to the VVIP. The residents of the locality were surprised to see so much hustle and bustle on the street, which otherwise remains empty, on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, Shamsher Singh, a relative of the accused who along with his wife accompanied him to pay obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, told The Tribune at his house here that the accused was his relative from in-laws’ side and he had never met him before.

“We received a telephone call from Manmohan Singh that he would visit our house on Monday. And after coming here, he requested us to accompany him to the shrine. We agreed to accompany him but had to face insult in the end,” said Shamsher.

He further said he had nothing to do with Manmohan. “We are living a simple life and have no ill designs in our minds,” he added.

However, the state government has taken a serious note of the episode and has directed all officers to verify the credentials of all VVIPs visiting the state.

Jammu, July 14
A faction in the Congress has taken a serious note of being ignored in the all-party meeting, which was convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday to discuss the situation in Kashmir.

The dissidents, who owe their allegiance to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, have charged the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, Saifuddin Soz, with adopting a pick-and-choose policy in the selection of Congress leaders for participation in the all-party meeting.

The anti-Soz faction has criticised Soz for not inviting Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Choudhary Mohammad Aslam to the all-party meeting as the representative of the Congress.

Charging the PCC chief with not taking all factions into confidence before the meeting, the dissidents in a joint statement said, “The height of autocracy can be gauged from the fact that neither the CLP leader nor the Deputy Chief Minister were taken into confidence before the crucial meeting. More shocking is the fact that the PCC leadership preferred not to invite the CLP leader and the Deputy CM for the meeting.”

Senior leaders of the Congress, including Mohammad Aslam, P. Namgyal, Abdul Gani Vakil, Haji Nisar, Gulchain Singh Charak, Suman Bhagat, Gharu Ram, Janak Raj Gupta, Haji Ali Mohammed Bhat, Jehangir Mir, Subhash Gupta, Vaqar Rasool, Ashok Kumar and Naresh Gupta, issued the joint statement.

The leaders of the dissident group have decided to take up the matter with the party high command, as according to them, there was a need to evolve consensus on all vital issues as the state was passing through a crucial situation. They especially mentioned that the Congress had an important role to play in the present circumstances and there must be consensus among the party leaders.

“It is unfortunate that the present leadership in the Pradesh Congress is not interested in taking other factions into confidence while taking decisions on important issues,” the statement said, adding, “The party leadership in the state preferred not to call any meeting of the representatives of the party executive before accepting the invitation for the all-party meeting.”

They further pointed out that the Congress leadership, especially UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, has always advised for discussions and debates on even trivial issues at the party level before taking a stand on any issue. “This spirit has gone missing due to the attitude of the present Congress leadership in the state and it is not only this time but also the leadership has been doing this since day one of its assuming the office and thereby, causing irreparable damage to the party,” they stated.

Jammu, July 14
After the security forces gunned down 54 militants, including 20 top-ranked commanders, this year and locals desisting from espousing “jehad”, not only the jehadi ideology but also terror training has taken the backseat in terror camps across occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

“In the absence of local support, a desperate Pakistan now is handing over weapons to fresh recruits and trying to push them into the state to revive militancy,” said a senior Army officer.

Though a group of Lashkar militants succeeded in killing one of our officers in Mendhar yesterday, Pakistan, it seems, had relegated the jehadi ideology and its real criminal psyche had come to the fore, he added.

Interrogation reports accessed by The Tribune substantiated the claims of the officer. A 16 year-old youth, Muzaffar Ahmed, alias Adil, a resident of Koti in Doda, who joined the Lashkar-e-Toiba, was always treated like a porter and was never given a weapon. Nabbed on June 2, Adil used to work as a labourer before joining the outfit on April 24 this year. He initially worked as an overground worker of militants and then joined the LeT for money and a luxurious lifestyle, which never came his way.

“I was impressed by the lavish lifestyle of Lashkar militants like Abu Ukasha, Salman, alias Habib of Keshwan, and Javed, alias Hurera of Beoli, who used to frequent my village,” reads his interrogation report quoting Adil. “But I was never given a weapon and was always used like a porter,” it further reads.

Adil told his interrogators that constant pressure by the security forces, besides the waning local support delivered a major blow to the Lashkar ultras in the region.

“Similarly, 17-year-old Irfan Ahmed, alias Abu Ashiq, also a resident of Koti in Doda and a Class IX dropout, was never given any specific training in handling weapons,” said the officer. His father and three brothers worked as labourers in Himachal Pradesh and he had four sisters. Sheer poverty drove this youth to take up arms, the officer added.

Jammu, July 14
The security forces today continued scanning the Beri Rakh forests in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district after a group of heavily armed militants, believed to be of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), killed a Major and injured a Colonel, besides five soldiers last night.

“The search operation is on to track down the ultras and in fact the troops were able to establish contact with them during the day,” Brigadier General Staff of 16 Corps, Brig Satish Dua told The Tribune.

“In the gunfight last night, we lost Major Amit Kumar Thenge (28), while Colonel Ajay Katoch and five soldiers identified as Signalman Dinesh Kumar, Signalman Satinder Kumar, Naik Jasbir Singh, Sepoy Sunil Kumar and Rifleman Basharat Hussain sustained injuries,” he added.

Condition of the Colonel and injured soldiers was stated to be stable. Dua, however, refused to confirm reports about the killing of the two militants in the gun battle. “Until the operation is over and we actually retrieve the bodies from the site of the encounter, I can’t confirm the report,” he said. “It’s a thickly forested area and the troops are trying to hunt them down,” said the officer.

Official sources said though intermittent firing between troops and ultras continued till 4 pm today. The sources said a group of four to six Lashkar terrorists were hiding in the Beri Rakh forests in Mendhar, 230 km from Jammu, where troops of 37 Rashtriya Rifles had launched an operation since July 11.

“Armed terrorists, believed to be four to six in numbers, resorted to heavy firing and also lobbed grenades on the approaching soldiers. Though the latter also retaliated, but by then Major Amit had sustained serious splinter injuries, while Colonel Katoch and five other soldiers were also injured,” they said.

The sources said going by their guerrilla warfare tactics, it appeared that the ultras belonged to Lashkar outfit, armed with sophisticated weapons. Poonch district SSP Manmohan Singh said though the security forces carried out searches today in the thickly forested area and also resorted to preventive fire, but success so far eluded the troops.

Meanwhile, security forces gunned down a Lashkar commander in Kishtwar district today. Brig Satish Dua said the slain ultra was identified as LeT’s district commander Mohammed Ishaq Bhat, alias Atiq, who was gunned down after a brief encounter in a hideout in the jungles of Patnazi in Kishtwar. The Kishtwar police in several cases wanted the slain ultra.

Jammu, July 14
Gynecologist Dr Parekh Rana at the sub-district hospital, Sunder Bani, showed her helplessness by writing on the admit card of an expectant mother that she would not be able to take a trial labour of the patient due to the non-availability of an anaesthetist at the hospital. The patient was then referred to the SMGS Hospital, Jammu, on Monday.

Though it was a normal delivery on Tuesday, the need for an anaesthetist arises in emergency cases in which surgery had to be performed. Besides, two more patients from Kishtwar, Sayara Begum, resident of Chatru and Nisha Devi from Dinakpur were referred to Jammu on the same evening, unmindful of the fact that they were not emergency cases. Both women delivered normal babies last evening.

The attendants to the patients from Kishtwar hospital had a nightmarish experience of healthcare facilities at district level. Before coming to Jammu on a hired taxi, they were referred to district hospital, Doda.

In both the cases, their families had to spend at least Rs 10,000 each as transport charges. In both the cases, the families were not economically well off. These are not isolated cases, wherein normal delivery cases are referred to main maternity hospital of the region Shri Maharaja Ghulab Singh (SMGS) hospital, Jammu.

Such patients, referred by ‘lackadaisical’ gynecologists at the district hospitals, have been increasing the burden on the already understaffed SMGS hospital, which has also been struggling for space.

“When a patient comes to us, we cannot deny her entry on humanitarian grounds. But the question is that how efficiently the district hospitals have been playing their role,” said a supervisory doctor at SMGS hospital, adding, “At the labour ward, it’s a routine that two patients are accommodated on a single bed.”

“Just because there is no anesthetist, a gynecologist at district hospital does not get absolved of duty. For an institutional delivery, most of the hospitals in our state do not meet the specifications. That way, deliveries cannot take place there,” he said.

“The department will have to work out some mechanism to ensure that only emergency cases are referred here. There should be some sort of accountability on part of the doctors at district level also and for that matter, supervisory mechanism will have to be spruced up,” he said and added, “Given the space constraint, we have been attending to a patient load that needs more manpower and infrastructure support.”

Srinagar, July 14
The All-Parties Sikh Coordination Committee has taken exception to the recent killings of at least 15 teenagers, including a nine-year-old boy and a young woman, allegedly by the police and the security forces in Kashmir.

In a statement here today, the coordinator of the committee, Jagmohan Singh Raina, demanded compensation for those who suffered during the recent turmoil. He also urged the security forces to show the maximum restraint so that peace was restored. The continuing curfew restrictions in different areas of the Valley led to problems for the common man, he added.

Jagmohan said the committee had been urging the state and Central governments to bring permanent peace to the Kashmir valley. He held that during a meeting with the Prime Minister here last month the committee impressed upon him for a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue so that normalcy was restored.

Jagmohan held that the recent trouble had once again hit the tourism industry in Kashmir, which had started to get a good number of tourists. “But, now Srinagar looks like a lifeless city with empty streets, closed shops and deserted shikaras amid the heavy presence of the security forces,” he stated.

Jammu, July 14
Facing criticism from different quarters for not effectively taking up the “nationalist” viewpoint in the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to discuss the prevailing situation in the state, the BJP today started a damage-control exercise and disassociated itself from the controversial resolution passed in the meeting.

“We have already dissociated ourselves from the resolution, which was passed in the meeting regarding inquiry into the killings of the stone throwers in Kashmir,” said state president of the BJP Shamsher Singh Manhas while addressing a press conference here today.

“Conducting an inquiry means shifting the blame on the security forces and we will not accept any such move,” he said.

The BJP president stoutly defended the decision of his party to attend the all-party meeting and argued that there was no reason to boycott it.

“We attended the meeting and strongly put forth our viewpoints,” he said and flayed the PDP and the Panthers Party for not attending it.

Srinagar, July 14
Barring downtown Srinagar, restrictions were lifted from the entire Kashmir valley today while normal life continued to remain adversely affected in response to the separatists’ bandh call in protest against the human rights violations.

A day after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and leaders of other mainstream parties paid floral tributes to the martyrs of July 13, 1931, amid tight security arrangements here yesterday, the restrictions were lifted from the entire Kashmir valley. However, these remained in force in the areas under four police stations of Khanyar, Nowhatta, MR Gunj and Safakadal to avoid any untoward incidents.

APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq continued to be under house arrest, while a number of other senior leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, were under detention. Meanwhile, normal life across the Valley was paralysed in response to the bandh call by the separatists. All shops and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. However, private vehicles and auto-rickshaws plied in some areas. Most of the educational institutions were also closed due to lack of transport.