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Cop,
militant among 5 killed Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, Aug 13: Even as tension is building up with tight security arrangements being made for Independence Day celebrations, three civilians, one militant and a Police constable have died in different incidents of violence in Kashmir valley since last evening. With just a day left to the I-Day celebrations, security forces have fanned out to prevent any possible militant strikes in the Valley. As hundreds of vehicle checking and physical frisking points have been set up in the capital city and other district headquarters, anti-sabotage units and sniffer dog squads of Police and security forces scanned every inch of the Bakhshi Memorial Sports Stadium—venue of the main I-Day function in the Valley. Authorities have put up barriers and closed the movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the streets passing through close vicinity of the stadium. Even the official vehicles are allowed after thorough scrunity of and physical frisking of drivers. There are grave apprehensions that militant of three formidable pro-Pakistan guerrilla organisations may attempt to strike on the venue of I-Day celebrations or the participants en route to the Stadium. Senior officials, however, expressed full confidence this evening and asserted that the saboteurs would not get even a minor chance to strike. They said that militants from a distant place may be able to fire a couple of rockets or rifle grenades in air but the celebrations would not be disturbed anywhere in the Valley. Amid intelligence reports that militants could attempt to cause a car-bomb blast for making some news, Police and paramilitary forces have been checking all vehicles, including two-wheelers and three-wheelers, since Saturday last. Meanwhile, militants have again struck in Budgam district and gunned down two civilians in a passenger bus at Kanihama, on Srinagar-Tangmarg road today. Official sources told EXCELSIOR that two militants boarded passenger bus, No: JKE-9030, at Kanihama Chowk, at 0845 hours this morning and fired pistol shots on two commuters, killing them on spot. They have been identified as Ghulam Mohammad Wani S/o Abdul Ahad Wani of Loolipora and Abdul Ahad Parray S/o Mohammad Sultan Parray R/o Bon-Makahama, Magam. Yet another civilian of Beerwah area, namely Ghulam Nabi Mir S/O Ali Mohammad Mir of Humchipora, has been fired upon by militants at the crowded Batmaloo Bus Stand. With critical injuries, he was rushed to hospital. In broad daylight movement, militants have been eliminating informers of security forces and anti-militancy civilians in the central Kashmir district of Budgam since last fortnight. Over a dozen of such individuals have been killed in Budgam-Beewah-Soibug belt in the last two weeks, beginning with the killing of prominent counter-insurgent, Mushtaq Pal, of Daharmuna, Soibug. Days after his killing, alongwith his bodyguard, at Shalimar, militants re-established a base in Soibug after seven years of peace and gunned down three persons on Friday afternoon. On Sunday, two persons were killed in broad daylight at Haran and Garend Khurd. Sources said that militants lobbed a hand grenade on security forces at Safapora Chowk last evening, causing death of a civilian, Abdul Rashid Mir S/o Mohammad Rajab Mir. Reports from south Kashmir said that during last night, militants shot dead a Police constable, Mohammad Altaf Ganai S/o Ghulam Mohammad R/o Gudder, Kulgam. Sources in north Kashmir said that early this morning, security forces and SOG Kupwara eliminated an unidentified militant in an encounter at Tanga Bahak, in Lalpora area of Lolab, in Kupwara district. |
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Day light strike in Poonch
School Excelsior Correspondent POONCH, Aug 13: The militants kidnapped three Government teachers from a school in broad day light this afternoon from village Arai in Mandi area, about 32 kms from here but released them late tonight. Day-light kidnappings had triggered a wave of panic in the entire Poonch town with people taking to streets protesting the kidnappings. Official sources identified the teachers as Kirpal Singh and Dwarka Nath Raina, both residents of Poonch and Rashid Ahmed Tantray, a resident of Mandi. They said a group of five militants struck in Government High School, Arai at about 1300 hours today and lined up all eight teachers. They sought their identity and later confirmed it with the attendance register. Militants had allowed five teachers of majority community to leave the school and kidnapped three others. While two kidnapped teachers belonged to minority community, the third belonged to a particular sect of majority community. Militants had whisked away all three teachers to an unidentified location in the presence of school staff and students. Staff raised an alarm soon after the armed militants left the school premises and informed security forces and police, who swiftly came into action. At about 2100 hours tonight, the militants released all three teachers unharmed. They reached Mandi from a forest area, where they were taken by the militants and were brought to Poonch town late tonight by the police. Tension, which prevailed in the town in the aftermath of kidnappings, was defused after the recovery of teachers. This was for the first time that the militants had struck in broad day light in a Government school and kidnapped the teachers in this border district. Three lecturers were killed by the militants some years back in Gool area. As soon as the report of teachers’ kidnapping reached the town, people came out of their houses and shops. Over 2000 people gathered in the Bus Stand and shouted anti-militancy and anti-Pakistani slogans. Police and para-military were deployed in full strength in the town and outskirts to ward off any untoward incident. Staff and students of the school told police that militants were five in number. Two of them looked like locals while three others were believed to be foreign mercenaries. Each of them was carrying an assault rifle and a grenade in their hands. They, however, didn’t touch the students. Staff and students of the institution were busy in making arrangements for Independence Day celebrations when the militants struck. Students were carrying out a rehearsal of the programmes while the teachers were supervising them. A tri-color, which was to be unfurled in the school premises on August 15, was also torn off by the militants before fleeing from the spot, the sources said. Meanwhile, in other militancy related incidents across this district, a patrol party of security forces and police was fired upon by the militants at Rish Wali Dhok in Loran area of Surankot this morning. Security personnel returned the firing. Fierce exchange of firing continued for about one hour. All militants, involved in the ambush, managed to escape but left behind some explosive material and ammunition, which was seized by police. Recovery included one anti-personnel mine, one pair fuse, one pair mine wire, 35 electronic detonators, two hand grenades, one pistol silencer, four pistol rounds, two pencil bombs, two battery switches, six kg explosives and a wireless set. Another search operation was carried out by army and police at village Ushad Mankat in Hari Gala area of Mendhar tehsil late last night. A hideout of the militants was destroyed in the operation. One IED, weighing three kg, four detonators, two hand grenades, three magazines and 270 rounds of AK rifle were recovered from the hideout, the sources said, adding that no arrest could be made. |
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Aga Mehmood, Mushtaq
Lone being elevated Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, Aug 13: In the third cabinet reshuffle of the National Conference government, three new Ministers are being inducted into the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. Swearing in ceremony is all set to take place at Raj Bhawan here, at 5.00 p.m, on the eve of Independence Day. Highly-placed government sources disclosed to EXCELSIOR that Minister of State Education, Aga Syed Mehmood, would be elevated to the rank of a Cabinet Minister so as to give proper representation to Shia community. After Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari’s expulsion, there was no Shia Minister in Dr Farooq Abdullah’s cabinet though Aga Mehmood and Qamar Ali Akhoon existed as Ministers of State. Minister of State Home, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, is also being promoted to the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He is likely to retain the portfolio of Law and Parliamentary Affairs. In order to give representation to Rajouri district, Dr Abdullah has decided to induct MLA Darhal, Chowdhary Mohammad Hussain, as an MoS. He is the seniormost legislator who has been an MLA for the last four decades. After the expulsion of Mohammad Sharif Tariq, there was no Minister from Rajouri district, in Dr Abdullah’s Council of Ministers. Poonch district is getting its first representation in the form of Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, MLA Surankot, who is also being inducted as an MoS. In the wake of the falling health of Minister of Social Welfare, Bashir Ahmed Kichloo, MLA Doda Khalid Najeeb Suharwardee is also being sworn in as an MoS. Engineer-turned-legislator, Najeeb is the son of one-time prominant NC leader late Maulana Atta-Ullah Suharwardee. Reshuffle of portfolios is also likely to be announced on Tuesday evening. |
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Software support to
militants has been the real problem Excelsior Special Correspondent NEW DELHI, Aug 13: Declaring Jammu division as disturbed and giving special powers to the armed forces is being trumpeted as some sort of an achievement by the rulers from New Delhi to Srinagar. An impression is sought to be created over the electronic media that Disturbed Areas Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act would prevent incidents like the one that occurred at Jammu railway station and shook the whole country. Buzzword, during the last few years, was the hawkish L K Advani’s "pro-active policy" which has disastrously failed in Kashmir valley where both the extraordinary laws have been in force since July 1990. While brushing their failures under the carpet, one after another, senior officials as well as the ruling politicians have been hailing the number of militants killed as achievement. The process, according to them, is going to deplete the men and material sources among the militant camps and, consequently, restore peace in the form of a 1988-like situation. With all the Kashmir strategists in New Delhi and Srinagar counting the numbers and identifying the so-called trends in insurgency, an intelligent Pakistan has succeeded in maintaining a particular level of disturbance in Jammu & Kashmir. It is now common man’s perception in the State that if 100 militants are killed in a particular month, 100-plus are pushed in through different infiltration routes. Even senior security officials do admit that only 10% of the infiltrators do get killed while sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir. According to various intelligence reports, since 1996, Pakistan has maintained the level of 2,500 militants in Kashmir and another 1,500 in Jammu. Infiltrations and exfiltrations are launched accordingly so that, at any given point of time, there was around 4,000 active militants in the State. Frequency of encounters and the number of militants killed do simultaneously indicate the level of militants’ recruitment, mobility and manoeuvring in the State. In spite of favourable ground realities in Kashmir and Jammu on certain occasions, New Delhi’s strategists have never dared to disturb the tremendous software support which the state’s guerrilla camp has been enjoying since day one of bloodshed. In today’s date, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s rhetoric that India has the "stamina, capacity and will" to combat the cross-border terrorism, has no credibility. It has to be accepted that the Congress regime frittered away all the golden opportunities to settle the Kashmir issue as per the Indian aspirations. During the last 53 years, India has not been able to retrieve over 55% of the Jammu & Kashmir territories, which have been under Pakistan’s and China’s occupation. With some fluctuations, insurgency has remained unabated in Kashmir for about a decade and, by the Government’s admission itself, it has engulfed the whole of Jammu region. That Pakistan’s nuclear bomb is a significant deterrent and India can never wage a full-fledged war with the neighbouring country is evident from the Kargil. All denominators —USA’s limited scope of influence over Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf’s option of allying with China and the state of recent Agra fiasco—indicate that cross-border terrorism would continue in Jammu and Kashmir and India’s hardware-centric policies would not alter the situation an inch in the given backdrop of software support to militancy on Indian soil. Introducing sophisticated guns, raising more battalions of BSF, Rashtriya Rifles and J&K Police and enforcing the Arms Forces Special Powers Act have all been witnessed in the Valley since 1990. Thousands of youth, as also women and children, have been killed—some in gun-battles and cross firing, some in custody. And, paradoxically, all those ‘great’ men who indoctrinated, recruited, financed, provoked, instigated, patronised, glorified—and lastly buried—the poor young men, have themselves grown into towering political leaders, human rights activists, mediapersons, Hawala kings, etc etc. While SOG and security forces have been killing the poor indoctrinated youth, senior politicians and bureaucrats from New Delhi to Srinagar have been providing Z-category security, bullet-proof cars, passports and all other privileges to the militancy’s political mentors on Indian soil. This is now pretty clear that ever since their release in April 2000, the separatist politicians have not only frustrated all initiatives of peace—from Hizbul Mujahideen’s cease-fire to the Agra summit—but they have also openly raised the Jehad passions, secretly eulogised the militant killings and stoutly inspired thousands into the militant ranks. Immediately after the separatist leaders organised grand funerals for Hizbul Mujahideen’s slain commanders, Masood and Mustafa Khan, 300 Kashmiri boys, in the age group of 15 to 20, have disappeared in Tangmarg and Shopian localities. All these are believed to have joined the militant camps and picked up guns. There have been no instructions to the authorities to discourage such grand pro-Pakistan shows in the Valley. As many as 55 Kashmiri youth, on their exfiltration missions, have been apprehended on LoC during the last three months. At least 400 are estimated to have crossed over to the PoK as Urdu newspapers in Srinagar are replete with advertisements of "Ealan-e-Gumshudagee". It was during this period that a many separatist leaders were allowed to go on anti-India missions abroad and at least two of them returned while openly kissing the Pakistani soil on Lahore airport. While the software support to militants from the separatist leaders is understandable, a many politicians in the mainstream camp have been cursing the STF and security forces, levelling allegations of custodial killings, maintaining silence over the killings and blasts by militants, visiting the homes of the militants killed in gun-battles, recommending their cases for ex gratia munificence, pressuring the security forces for the release of the detained militants and emphasising that the Centre should talk to the Hurriyat and militant commanders. These include veterans like the one-time Home Minister of India Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammad Shah and BJP’s J&K vice president Abdul Rashid Kabuli. Even as few mainstream leaders like Sheikh Abdul Rehman (BSP), Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami (CPM), Ghulam Rasool Kar (Congress) and Maulvi Iftikhar Ansari have been forceful and unequivocal in their anti-Pakistan and pro-India statements, over 90% of the leaders in Kashmir valley have either chosen to remain silent or gifted one or the other support to insurgency. In the entire National Conference, Dr Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar and a few men like Ali Mohammad Sagar, Ch. Mohd Ramzan, Mian Altaf and Sadiq Ali have dared to issue anti-militant or anti-Pakistan statements. Others, including Ministers, have been publicly denigrating the counter-insurgents as "renegades", eulogising the militants as "Mujahid (crusader) and Shaheed (martyr) and naming the turmoil as "Tehreek" (movement). In order to remain in the militants’ "good books" and to ensure the safety of their own family members, friends and relatives, most of the ministers and leaders have been gifting away contracts, supply orders and also clandestine appointment orders to the militant’s relatives or other overground workers. All the high profile detained militants are lodged in Srinagar Central Jail (considered to be the most comfortable) even as ordinary criminals are dumped in dark cells at infamous interrogation centres. While the institutions of Legislature, Judiciary and Executive have been militant-friendly, media has not lagged behind. Publishing pro-militant editorials and paid advertisements (often carrying threats and indoctrination for anti-India Jihad) has been an old allegation of the so-called nationalist elements. But, in recent times, this militant-soft approach has reached menacing proportions even on the official electronic media. Srinagar Doordarshan and Radio Kashmir have been prominently carrying the interviews of senior Hizbul Mujahideen commanders like Majeed Dar. But the viewers were stunned when there was no mention of the Budget the day it was tabled in the legislature. Instead, there was the Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s detailed interview in the DD news bulletin that evening. While the J&K High Court Bar Association has had no hesitation in becoming a Hurriyat constituent, trade unions too have been assiduously fighting for the Azadi cause and embarrassing the Government on the alleged human rights abuse. Hundreds of Government employees have been found directly involved in militancy and even killings and blasts. None, barring some Policemen, has ever been dismissed from service. It is an open secret in Kashmir as well as Jammu that scores of underground Government employees have been smoothly receiving their salaries at home. Dossiers have been gathering dust in the State Home Ministry and office of Director General of Police. Uninterrupted flow of money, through Hawala and other channels, from New Delhi and several foreign countries to Kashmir has served as fuel to the vehicle of insurgency. As money makes the mare go, none in the officialdom has ever asked the separatist ideologues and overground activists one-odd question about the sources of their funds. |
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PM pulls up RAW leadership From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Aug 13: In a significant turn of events, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has called for a discreet inquiry into what is termed as "highly unwarranted" leakage of "classified" information by unidentified personnel of the country’s vital spy arm, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to certain media persons. A newspaper group’s obvious reference was to the RAW when a story was put out, revealing the contents of a ‘secret’ report of the Cabinet Secretariat. Cabinet Secretariat, which is operating directly under the Prime Minister, has administrative and operational control over the Research and Analysis Wing. Hence, Mr Vajpayee, according to sources, cannot be faulted for his ire against what is termed as "irresponsible" persons of the RAW. After the story on a "top-secret" Cabinet Secretariat report was recently circulated by the newspaper group, the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, Mr Brajesh Mishra, took up the matter with the Cabinet Secretary. Sources informed EXCELSIOR that Mr Brajesh Mishra’s "hurried" consultations with the Cabinet Secretary were prompted by the reported expression of displeasure by the Prime Minister at the "highly unwarranted" leakage of "classified" information to certain media persons. The RAW leadership, sources said, was lambasted by the Prime Minister for its inability to prevent the leak. If the newspaper group’s story on the issue were to be believed, the "top-secret" Cabinet Secretariat report emphasized that while Pakistan also should be made to bleed, no talks with Pakistan could succeed unless India improved its bargaining position with Islamabad. Second, the leaked portion of the report does not favour top-level political contacts-that is, between Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan’s military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf. While highlighting the "fact" that there was no change in Islamabad’s hardline attitude towards India, the report has suggested Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in the given situation. According to the leaked inputs, the Cabinet Secretariat-RAW, to be precise-Agra summit has helped Gen. Musharraf and given him legitimacy. The report is said to be in three parts-Implications of the Agra summit, Lessons from Agra and The future strategy. At a time when the Prime Minister, sources divulged was under pressure to effect certain necessary changes in the RAW, he received a letter from a Rajya Sabha member exposing the dwindled strength of the RAW personnel in key Indian missions abroad. In his three-page letter, the Rajya Sabha member, Mr Rajiv Shukla, made a pointed reference to the RAW’s ‘non-planned’ expenditure having mounted to Rs 700 crores and said that the agency’s presence in Pakistan is less than half of its sanctioned strength there. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretariat cannot deny the fact that as against the dwindled presence of RAW men in Indian chancery in Pakistan, undercover ISI agents in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi far outnumber their counterparts in the Indian mission in Islamabad. What is reported to have surprised Mr Vajpayee is Mr Rajiv Shukla’s exact figures of Pakistani and Indian secret agents in either country. The Prime Minister’s attention has been drawn to an equally disturbing scenario: RAW has a bare minimum presence in Bangladesh, China and Sri Lanka. In Dubai, which is considered to be another hotbed of anti-India elements, RAW is said to be having only four officers to snoop on an army of ISI-sponsored underworld dons and hawala racketeers. Why are the RAW operatives allowed to prefer destinations in the West and the USA? According to some reports, the RAW has a 12-member contingent in Washington, in addition to those manning outposts in New York, San Fransisco and Chicago. RAW’s budget and performance cannot be reviewed by Parliament. Hence, Mr Rajiv Shukla is reported to have demanded the institution of a Cabinet Committee, or a high-powered panel under the Cabinet Secretary, to suggest its revamp. And his another demand: A financial adviser requires to be appointed to monitor RAW’s secret expenses. |
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Justice Kuchai to
head 3-member commission Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, Aug 13: Taking immediate note of the grave irregularities in appointment of the Faculty staff at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Government of Jammu & Kashmir today constituted a 3-member commission of inquiry. In a series of investigative stories early this month, EXCELSIOR had exposed these irregularities. According to highly-placed official sources, the State Government took serious note of the irregularities exposed by EXCELSIOR and, after a week of deliberations in the top echelons of power, it was decided that the same would be investigated by a 3-member committee of inquiry. While as the former Jammu & Kashmir High Court judge, Justice G A Kuchai, would head the inquiry, former Principal of Government Medical College, Dr Girija Dhar, and IGP Security, J&K Govt, Mohammad Ashraf Bedar, have been nominated as its members. After over three decades of impressive service in the State judiciary, Justice Kuchai has retired as Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Human Rights Commission while as the veteran medical academician Dr Girija Dhar, who worked as a member of the State Public Service Commission for several years, is now Chairperson of the State Women’s Empowerment Commission. Mr Ashraf Bedar, reaching superannuation this month end, is a senior Police officer of great reputation and integrity. |
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Blasts rock Gool, Marmat Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Aug 13: Two jawans of security forces were killed and another seriously injured in three powerful explosions in Gool and Marmat areas of Udhampur and Doda districts today. Official sources said two explosions rocked village Tangan Top, about three kms west of Gool in quick succession at 0830 hours today. Second blast occurred after five minutes to the first explosion. A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Kulbushan Kumar was killed in the first explosion. No casualty was reported in the second blast. Both the blasts were triggered with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Sources said the first blast occurred when a jawan of BSF patrol party walked over it. Jawan died on the spot while other members of the patrol party escaped unhurt. While the soldiers were shifting their dead colleague from the spot, another explosion occurred at a distance of about 150 meters. It failed to cause any casualty or damage. BSF jawans, assisted by local police, launched a search operation around Tangan Top soon after the blast. The militants couldn’t be traced. Sources said the ultras, suspected to be locals, appeared to have escaped after planting the IEDs. Another IED explosion rocked hilly and remote village of Batugal in Marmat area of Kishtwar tehsil in Doda district at 1215 hours today killing an army soldier and wounding another critically. The powerful two kg IED had been planted by the militants under a kucha road, where army was conducting routine patrolling in search of the militants. Sepoy D S Natrajan, who was in fore-front of the patrolling, died on the spot while his colleague Narsingh Raju was seriously injured. The injured jawan was immediately rushed to army hospital by the soldiers. Army have started a search operation in the hills of Batugal and surrounding villages, where the militants were suspected to be hiding after planting the explosive device. Bodies of deceased army and BSF jawans were in the process of being shifted to their native towns after completion of formalities. Meanwhile, Machail yatra comprising about 4000 devotees including women reached Atholi this evening. The yatra was being escorted by security forces and police. SSP Doda Ashkoor Wani led the police team, headed the pilgrimage, upto Atholi. Beyond Atholi, the team will be led by DySP Ashok Sharma. Authorities have made tight security arrangements for the pilgrimage in view of enhanced threat of Pakistan-trained militants. Yatra was progressing smoothly, the sources said. |
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2 Lashkar ultras arrested from Cantonment area LUCKNOW, Aug 13: The Uttar Pradesh Police tonight arrested two Lashker-e-Toiba militants, who had planned to strike on the eve of Independence Day, from Cantonment area here and recovered 12kg of RDX and several weapons from them, a senior police official said. The Special Task Force (STF) of state police picked up Altaf Hussain Ali alias Abdul Rehman, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar adjoining Faizabad district and Salim Qamar of Azamgarh from near a petrol pump in the vicnity of the army’s Central Command when the duo was moving in a mini-truck. The militants confessed during interrogation that they had planned to set off the explosives at strategic locations in the capital and other parts of the State on the eve of Independence Day, Senior Supterintendent of Police B B Bakshi said. The militants had masterminded a powerful bomb blast in a Jeep in Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya in May last, he said. Besides the 12 kg RDX, the STF personnel seized one Chinese-made pistol, 140 cartidges, five detonators, nine timers and circuit wires. Police are on the look out for another person who is believed to have accompanied the two ultras to Lucknow. Police officials said police teams have been despatched to neigbouring States to nab some other ultras who are suspected to have fanned out to create disturbances on the Independence Day. Preliminary interrogation of the two arrested ultras revealed that their few more accomplices had spread to other places in Uttar Pradesh as well as neighbouring States, the officials said. Interrogation of the ultras revealed that they were in touch with their "commander" Imran. It was, however, immediately not known whether Imran was in India. Altaf said he had received training in Pakistan and had visited that country recently, police officials said. Senior STF officials were interrogating the two ultras, they said. The entire State was put on high alert following the arrest of the two ultras. (PTI) |
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Hurriyat not united on Kashmir’s future NEW DELHI, Aug 13: CPI(M) today said the Hurriyat Conference was "not united" on the future of Jammu and Kashmir and demanded that the State be provided maximum autonomy within the ambit of Article 370. "The Hurriyat Conference is not united on the future of J and K, with some of its constituents wanting to go with Pakistan and others wanting independence. We have to fight them politically," party general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet told reporters at the end of the three-day central committee meeting here. Criticising the Vajpayee Government for its "refusal" to consider granting of maximum autonomy to the State, he said the Government "seems to believe that by reliance only on administrative and security operations, the problem in J and K can be solved". Calling for a democratic solution to the problem, Surjeet said alienation of the people in the Kashmir valley could be ended only when the Centre provided "maximum autonomy within the ambit of Article 370" and added that the party would launch a campaign on these issues next month. It also alleged the Centre was "failing" in its duty to take adequate measures to protect the lives of the citizens there. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 13: India today asserted it will continue to press on Pakistan to show sensitivity to New Delhi’s concerns on cross-border terrorism and actually show action on the ground that it was addressing it if progress has to be made for improving bilateral ties. "Pakistan has been made well aware of our position that it has to stop sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir," an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson told reporters in response. She was asked about reports in a section on the Pakistani media that Islamabad was willing to discuss the issue of terrorism. "We don’t comment on reports in the Pakistani press", she said. Asked when the two sides would meet again, she said the dialogue process with Pakistan would continue but no specific dates have been fixed for the next meeting. India’s "serious and fundamental concerns" on cross-border terrorism were firmly put across by Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer to her Pakistani counterpart when they met in Colombo last Friday on the sidelines of the SAARC meeting. Pakistan, she said, was well aware of the fundamental importance India attaches to this issue and the need for Islamabad to address it "if progress has to be made towards improvement of bilateral relations." "We will continue to impress on Pakistan the need for it to show sensitivity to our concerns and actually show action on the ground that it is addressing it," she said. (PTI) |
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Excelsior Correspondent KATHUA, Aug 13: Para-military CRPF and police have started an operation in village Sarara in Billawar tehsil of this district for five suspected militants, who were noticed in the village last night. Search operation was going on in full swing till tonight, official sources said. They said a group of five suspected militants, all of whom were armed, was seen by a group of shepherds, who sounded police. A large number of police and para-military personnel were involved in the operation. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 13: Senior Hurriyat leader and JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik was today arrested and sent to judicial custody for failing to appear before a Delhi Court twice and leaving the country without the Court’s permission. Additional Sessions Judge V K Jain ordered his arrest and subsequent remand till September four for not appearing before the court earlier this year. The Court also said Malik, who was away to the United States and United Kingdom, had not sought prior permission from the Court before leaving. In his order, Jain said "the accused has, for quite sometime not been appearing in police station as per the direction of Supreme Court. The accused thus committed breach of conditions, whereby bail was granted to him." The order said "he was also required to send information in writing before going abroad. No such information was given by the accused either to this court or to the police station before he left India." However, in view of his health condition, the Judge ordered that "the Superintendent of Central Jail shall ensure that the accused is provided all necessary medical treatment by qualified doctors. "If the accused requires consultation or treatment at any specialised hospitals, he shall be provided the same without any delay." The Judge also ordered that the accused shall also be entitled to apply for bail, for his medical treatment requires in the US. The court is trying Malik under section three and four of terrorist and disruptive activities (prevention) act. The court had earlier issued notice to the counsel for jklf chief for forfeiture of his surety bond as the latter had failed to appear before it despite issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants. Malik, who had left India on March eight for specialised treatment, is facing trial for allegedly funding terrorist organisations in the case in which four other accused were sentenced to five-year imprisonment. The accused, who were sentenced, were Mufti Mehrajuddin, Sheikh Gulam Mohammed, Mohammed Yaseen Bhat and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias "Latram". Zargar is one of the three militants who were exchanged with the hostages of IC-814 passengers on Decemeber 31, 1999. Malik, who returned from abroad on July 25 after undergoing a surgery, had appeared before the Court and the matter was posted till today. Malik, who was accompanied by vice president of JKLF Javed Ahmed Mir in the Court, was shifted to Tihar Jail after the order. (PTI) |
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