40 civilians, 4 cops injured in Bandipore blast
11 militants killed in massive combing operations

From Ahmed Ali Fayaz

SRINAGAR, Dec 1: Taking full advantage of the militants’ sagging morale due to the developments in Afghanistan, security forces have eliminated eleven more militants in Kashmir valley since last evening. Unidentified persons have caused a grenade blast at the crowded bus-stand of Bandipore and left 44 persons injured.

Even as militants are believed to be planning major strikes, this time in Jammu region, to keep the morale of their cadres, security forces have launched major combing operations all over Kashmir valley. The brigade-level operations, being carried out to establish dominance in the militant strongholds, are directly being coordinated and monitored by the Corps Commander Lt Gen J R Mukherjee, who has himself been visiting spots in his helicopter. The operations, according to highly-placed Defence sources, are being conducted to foil the militants’ attempts of suicide strikes as also to take timely advantage of the Afghanistan-related psychological developments.

Since the developments in Afghanistan have dampened the spirits of the entire Jehadi camp, security forces have apprehensions that militants could plan major strikes in order to keep up their morale in Jammu & Kashmir. It was in the aftermath of Pakistan’s Kargil fiasco that three Jehadi organisations introduced the Fidayeen strikes on formations of security forces and other vital installations in July 1999. Once the security forces have fanned out of their camps and launched what may the precursor of an "Operation Night Dominance", frequency and efficiency of the Fidayeen strikes has dwindled fast. This has apparantly reduced the militants’ manoeuverability in Kashmir valley.

Today Army’s 68 Brigade conducted a massive combing operation in Handwara forest areas of Kupwara district, killing 8 militants upto the evening. In the beginning, troops of 14-Rajput eliminated two militants at Zab Giripora, Magam. While the residents said that a "district commander" of Al-Barq was among the two militants killed, Defence sources insisted that it was Lashkar-e-Toiba’s "Ameer-e-Aala" of Kupwara, Abdur Rehman Wani alias Ibrahim S/o Mohammad Jamal Wani and his body-guard who was a resident of Khumriyal village. Sources said that some houses gutted in the armed clash with militants. However, residents alleged that 20 residential houses were set on fire by security forces during the operation which, they pointed out, was an indication that troops had suffered damage. Officials maintained that only two militants died in the gunbattle.

In the nearby Wagat village, troops of 21-Bihar eliminated five militants who were all believed to be members of Hizbul Mujahideen. In another adjoining village, Palpora, troops of RR 24 Bn eliminated a top-wanted militant, Ghulam Nabi Dar alias Feroz Amin. Defence sources claimed that he was Hizbul Mujahideen’s "battalion commander" who had been active for the last 11 years. Feroz, according to sources, had planned and executed hundreds of strikes including the one in which Brigadier Sherdil and a Commanding Officer of RR 21 Bn had been killed in Rajwar belt.

Late night reports from north Kashmir said that the operation was still in progress and the whole forest area was being combed.

Ealier during last night, troops of RR 36 Bn and SOG Anantnag eliminated two local cadres of Hizbul Mujahideen in an encounter in Achhabal forest area . They have been identified as Mohammad Rafeeq Ganai S/o Abdul Gani Ganai R/o Moripora, Achhabal, and Tariq Ahmed Lone S/o Gani Lone R/o Harpora. In a separate gunbattle, troops of RR 07 Bn and SOG Anantnag eliminated a Pakistani militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba, Sameeullah, when militants fired upon a patrol of security forces at Kaharpora, in Kokernag area of Anantnag district.

Reports from Budgam said that gunmen appeared at Dhalwan, in Chrar-e-Sharif area, and shot dead a former militant, Imtiyaz Ahmed Dar S/O Mohammad Akram Dar, at his home. Another person, Farooq Ahmed Ganai of Chrawni, has reportedly been kidnapped by militants.

44 injured in blast

Informed sources in north Kashmir said that this afternoon, at 1430 hours, someone hurled a hand grenade at the crowded Taxi-stand of Bandipore. Apprarently, there was no target like Army, BSF or SOG. While as some officials held militants responsible for causing the blast, residents widely believed it to be the "reprisal of counter-insurgents" against whom they had staged a demonstration on Friday. They told reporters that nobody other than Ikhwanis would have resorted to this kind of bloodshed. As already reported, on Friday a mob had shouted slogans against Ikhwanis and ransacked the Ikhwani-turned-NC activist Javed Shah’s office at Bandipore.

Official sources told EXCELSIOR that in all 40 civilians and 4 Policemen sustained splinter injuries in today’s explosion. Five persons, rushed to Srinagar hospitals with critical injuries, have been identified as selection grade constable Mushtaq Ahmed, Manzoor Ahmed Shah of Khayar, Farooq Ahmed Mir of Panhar, Nisar Ahmed tantray of Ayatmulla and Manzoor Ahmed Shah of Kaloosa.

Sunday Special
Festering controversy of Kashmir
KPs, Karan Singh in news in Pakistan

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Kashmiri Pandits and Dr Karan Singh have, without any provocation, become the subject of discussion in different political and academic and media circles in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s influential English daily, Dawn, has, in fact, set the tone and tenor for discussion on senior Indian leader and former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh, and Kashmiri Pandits.

Clearly, material to the Pakistani publication was provided, though not directly, by a Kashmiri Pandit, currently based in New Delhi. His name is Omkar Razdan. His book titled The Trauma of Kashmir: The Untold Reality, which Dawn got reviewed by Karamatullah K Ghori, served as the instrument for initiating discussion on Dr Karan Singh and Kashmiri Pandits.

The Karachi-based office of Oxford University Press has undertaken the responsibility of distributing Omkar Razdan’s book in Pakistan. Karamatullah has, significantly, highlighted one basic aspect of Pakistani society, namely, the absence of freedom of expression. He has given full marks to Omkar Razdan for having called a spade a spade.

"That is the courage of conviction which comes only by living in a democratic society", Karamatullah says and adds: "One wonders if a Pakistani journalist or investigator will have the gumption to one day write a similar book on the divisiveness that the purveyors of religious extremism and intolerance are rapidly spreading into body politics of Pakistan as well as Kashmir".

Omkar Razdan cannot be faulted as he laments the fact that the uprising of the Kashmiris has led to the expulsion of Pandits from the Valley. They have since been made refugees in their own land. Razdan likens the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits to the dispossession of the Palestinians from their homes and hearths by the Jews who occupied their lands by brute force. That comparison, according to Karamatullah, may not go down well with his Pakistani readers.

Karamatullah says: "But as much as one may sympathise with Razdan’s sensitivity on the creation of a Pandit diaspora, the Kashmir saga does not have a simplistic façade. It is a tragedy compounded over the decades by the follies and foibles of a number of characters many of whom were themselves Kashmiri Pandits".

Dr Karan Singh laments, for instance, that Kashmiri Pandits ruled the roost in Delhi for at least four decades of Independent India. Omkar Razdan has quoted Dr Karan Singh as saying: "When Mrs Indira Gandhi went to discuss the Kashmir issue with late Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in Shimla, in 1972, she was accompanied by four Kashmiri Pandits. She did not think of even a single representative from Jammu region. Such has been the domination of Kashmir and its Pandits over the national scene. It is for the first time in post-Independent India that Kashmiri Pandits have receded from the helm of affairs in New Delhi".

During an interactive discussion with Razdan, Dr Karan Singh let it be known: "My father (Maharaja Hari Singh) neither wanted to accede to India nor to Pakistan. He was thinking in terms of an independent Kashmir, which would have stayed as a zone of peace between India and Pakistan".

On confronting Dr Karan Singh with the argument that dilution of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was an articulation by State Assembly which came into being as a result of the rigged elections, he remonstrated that rigging engineered by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was the rigging done in the very first election. And Dr Karan Singh told Razdan that he had fallen out with late Mr DP Dhar on this issue when he had told him (Mr Dhar) that 72 out of 75 seats could not be won by his party without rigging.

Dr Karan Singh recalls that one of the Pakistani Prime Ministers, probably Mr Ghulam Mohammed, had, at one time, accepted the cease-fire line in Jammu and Kashmir as the international border. In his write-up carried by Dawn, Karamatullah K Ghori has stated: "While that may or may not be true, this line of thinking is said to be actively under consideration with some of the recent power brokers in Islamabad".

The festering controversy of Kashmir has, it can be said without any fear of contradiction, spawned reams of literature on the subject. But Omkar Razdan’s book, Karamatullah insists, is a refreshingly different book from the run-of-the-mill stereotype ones churned out by writers on both sides of the India-Pakistan border.

Omkar Razdan has already incurred displeasure of a set of Kashmiri Pandits for his pro-Muslim views. But he has found an admirer in Pakistani commentator, Karamatullah. Doubts, if any in this regard, have been set at rest by Karamatullah himself with his observation: "Razdan can speak with authority of an insider about India’s massive security presence in Kashmir, which is at the root of the suffering of the Kashmiris. Razdan has painstakingly identified India’s draconian military-security measures which comprise the Gestapo-like knock on the door of the unsuspecting at midnight, indefinite detention in custody of a corrupt officialdom, torture and crass humiliation".

Calling himself an ‘eyewitness to the soul-deadening experiences’ of Kashmiris ever since Independence, Omkar Razdan says in his book: "The indifference consistently shown by India to the political aspirations of the long suppressed masses finally enabled Pakistan to engineer an armed revolt, particularly in the Valley of Kashmir. The country (Pakistan) that was rejected by Kashmiris first in 1947 and later in 1965 during its armed incursions into the Valley now claimed their loyalties".

Fencing along Jammu IB improved version
of Punjab border: IG BSF

From Gopal Sharma

SAMBA, Dec 1: Inspector General of Border Security Force Jammu Frontier, Mr Vijay Raman has said that fencing work along International Border is an improved version of fencing along Punjab border with Pakistan.

Talking to this reporter at a forward border post in Samba sector along Basantar river late Friday evening, Mr Raman said taking into consideration the earlier mistakes committed and the deficiencies observed during execution of fencing work along Punjab border, the fencing pattern has been improved a lot here in the Jammu and Kashmir state. The efforts have been made to remove all the shortcomings which were felt in Punjab.

Though the project cost has gone high as compared to Punjab border fencing per kilometer but all the necessary measures and precautions are being taken care of during execution of work in this most vulnerable sector of the region. He said the height of the pillars of barbed wire fencing remains the same (ten feet) as it is along Punjab border, but the foot of the pillars in the ground are made concrete and the concrete flooring is being done about seven feet in width along the fencing platfarm. It will make more difficult conditions for the smugglers and other border crossers/ enemy agents to carry on any sabotage or to indulge in any subversive activity.

One more additional advantage of this pucca flooring has been observed with the fact that it will not allow to grow/ mushroom any bush and plant under the barbed and cobra/ ring wire fencing. There has been provision to pass high electric current through the middle line of the fencing, especially during nights. The fencing infact is being done in three rows. The inner and outer row of the fencing will have ten feet height with 22 wires while the middle one will be about four feet along with ring wire. Tall flood light poles have been erected all along the fencing which lits about 200 meters of the area observing clear movement of any type during pitch dark nights.

Showing fencing work along the river bed area, the IG said the longest strip of fencing along Jammu border measuring about 8 kms out of the total of 17 kms has been completed so far in this area of Samba sector. Only 90 metres of the river bed area has been left in the Basantar river bed, because during floods, the fencing will wash away as it has been experienced in Punjab. The massive vigil by the mobile patrols and the surprise nakkas have been organised in this narrow passage round the clock.

Later, briefing media-persons immediately after inaugurating flood-lights system completed along two and half kilometer area of Basantar, the IG said by the end of March 2002, the fencing work along 50 kms area and the flood lights along 85 kms area of this 187.5 km International Border will be completed. At this time, the work has been simultaneously started at several different points in Kanha Chak, R S Pura, Samba and Hiranagar area.

Replying to a question he said in last ten days, there has been considerable decrease in the intensity of firing in this sub-sector. "We are encouraging farmers of this border belt to carry on their activity of agriculture up to zero-line and in some areas like S M Pur and Nanga in Ramgarh and Arnia, the farmers have started agriculture work closer to the IB. Our jawans never fire on the farmers working on that side closer to the border and Rangers too, allow the farmers on our side to work in the fields because they know that their own people can also face the same fate if they do the same."

Responding to a question on reaction from Pakistani side over fencing work by India in Jammu sector, the BSF Jammu Frontier chief quipped," They are very annoyed over the execution of fencing work and they have strongly objected to it during bi-annual meet of senior BSF officials and Pak Rangers held in Lahore in the recent past. While we consider it as International Border, they (Pakis) claim it as working boundary which is not the fact, " he maintained.

The Pakistani Rangers are still carrying on sabotage activity along IB and in the recent past as a sabotage mission, they blew up at least our thirty fencing pillars in Kanha Chak area of Akhnoor and also in Samba sector. " We will never be perturbed over their activity of sabotage and the work which is being carried out by the BSF itself, will be continued effectively," he added.

The IG said the fencing will cost about Rs 21 lakh per kilometer including flood-lights fitting. Earlier, the cost was around Rs 24 lakhs and we plan to reduce it up to Rs 20 lakhs. In Punjab the project cost component was considerably low say about thirty to forty percent. But we can say without any iota of doubt that this fencing is better in many ways than Punjab.

He disclosed that one kilometer area is being completed with an average of 24 days and it is being reduced to approximately twenty days. Earlier, the CPWD agency took up the job about four years ago but abandoned in view of heavy resistance/ firing from Pakistani side. And moreover, they were not prepared to take up the task again due to risk of firing. Therefore, BSF took up this challenge and the work is being carried on smoothly about 300 mts to 600 mts inside the International Border. Mr Raman further claimed that no casualty has been suffered by the BSF or the labourers so far during execution of work since January this year. He further clarified that the compensation for the land of farmers used by BSF for fencing, will be paid to them in due course of time. The State Revenue authorities are accessing the land measurements and accordingly, the farmers will be paid the compensation.

Responding to another question regarding time frame of completion of the job, Mr Raman said no time frame can be committed for the projects of this kind because it again depends upon the situation. However, we have resolved to finish it by the end of year 2003. The BSF commenced the task on January 14, 2001 and it is our motive to carry it to the logical conclusion, the IG maintained.

When asked about any information about army build-up on Pakistani side of Indian border belt in view of developments in Afghanistan and uproar in Pakistan, the IG said some intelligence inputs have been received in this connection from the other side but there was not much army movement in past few days observed on that side. "We have not increased forces along border in our side but vigil has been intensified all along the IB in this sector in view of the several incidents of infiltration, he added.

US targets Kandahar, hunts for Laden

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: US warplanes today carried out one of the fiercest bombings so far targeting Kandahar and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network in hills as anti-Taliban forces closed in on the only remaining militia stronghold raising the spectre of bloody street battles with thousands of Taliban troops ordered by their supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar to fight to the death.

International pressure mounted on Northern Alliance to break a deadlock in talks in Bonn to set up an interim administration in Afghanistan.

As the US bombers pounded Kandahar, Taliban claimed to have shot down an American warplane which was promptly denied by Washington.

Acknowledging that Kandahar came under heavy bombardment overnight and today, former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad Abdul Salam Zaeef said the militia would never surrender to the "forces of infidels."

"We have decided to defend Kandahar to our last. We will not hand over Kandahar to anyone," Zaeef was quoted as saying by Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

"Our leadership prefers death over humiliation. Mullah Omar has ordered everyone to fight and not to bow before the forces of infidels," he said.

Reports reaching from the war front said the US warplanes attacked Al Qaeda network targets in the hill areas hunting for bin Laden.

Zaeef said Taliban shot down an American jet over Kandahar but a Pentagon spokesman quickly denied the claim and stated "central command has informed me that all our aircraft are accounted for."

Captain Mike Halbig said "Taliban is back to what they have been doing for quite a while — making lots of claims."

With nearly 1,000 US marines dug in at a desert base within striking distance to Kandahar, anti-Taliban forces were closing in on the city with Pushtoon leader Hamid Karzai claiming to be 25 km northwest of the militia stronghold.

Several thousand Pushtoon fighters led by former Governor Gul Agha Sheerzai are massed close to Taliban-held airport south of Kandahar.

Agha told BBC he was negotiating with senior Taliban commanders to persuade them to surrender. "Even the Taliban who are still in Kandahar city do not want to fight and are in favour of peace and national unity."

Stating that the military campaign in Afghanistan has entered "an even more dangerous phase", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington that America would oppose any deal to give Taliban leader Omar either amnesty or safe passage out.

US Vice President Dick Cheney said hunt for bin Laden was focussing on Tora Bora caves in the east of Afghanistan. "We have narrowed the amount of space inside Afghanistan that he feels safe in," Cheney said.

Bin Laden is believed to have built a fortress complex 350 metres beneath the mountains, guarded by hundreds of his fighters.

"I think he is probably in that general area," Cheney said.

Northern Alliance came under intense international pressure to break the impasse in negotiations on Afghanistan’s political future by coming up with names of people it wants to have in an interim administration.

Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for the UN-sponsored talks being held in Bonn, said all other Afghan factions participating in the negotiations have already prepared their lists and efforts were on to persuade Northern Alliance to do the same.

Northern Alliance leader and former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani has refused to nominate candidates complaining that the alliance delegates had been pressured into agreeing to things that he found unacceptable.

Rabbani, who is in Kabul, also objected to a multinational peacekeeping force for Afghanistan saying that if the world community insisted on such a force, they should number not more than 200.

A delegation of former Afghan King Zahir Shah and two smaller exile groups have already prepared their lists, which UN mediators want to lock in while the participants are on neutral ground in Germany. (PTI)

Afghan ultras may cross over to India: Advani

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Union Home Minister L K Advani today expressed apprehensions that terrorists operating in Afghanistan may cross over to India following the defeat of Taliban and called for utmost vigilance on New Delhi’s part.

"We have to be vigilant against the risk of terrorists engaged in terrorism in Afghanistan, who have now come to Pakistan, spilling over into our borders. We have to be wary and vigilant," Advani told PTI after addressing the 36th raising day function of the Border Security Force (BSF) here.

He, however, said after September 11, there is a "universal feeling of revulsion" against state-sponsored terrorism.

"This has provided us with an opportunity to stamp out terrorism from our country. It is upto us to convert this challenge into an opportunity," Advani said.

Earlier, addressing BSF personnel, he said the ongoing developments in Afghanistan has raised several "question marks" about what shape the future will take in the war-torn country and what would be its impact on Pakistan.

"The future developments may deepen our problems or ensure that Pakistan loses its potential to create trouble in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

"Our security forces should realise that we can convert this challenge into an opportunity and uproot terrorism forever," the Home Minister said.

He said after the terror strikes in US, "India’s war against terrorism has become the world’s war."

Advani said after September 11 terror strikes, "those countries which were not able to gauge the gravity of terrorism in India realised that it had to be wiped out globally."

The Home Minister said discussions were on with the Finance Ministry to provide comprehensive housing facilities to BSF personnel and their families.

He also announced Rs one crore as immediate allocation for the purpose.

Advani said if India can excel global standards in the fields of education, health and security, "then we can make 21st century India’s century."

Earlier, the Home Minister presented gallantry medals to several persons including widows of martyrs, who laid down their lives fighting terrorists.

In his address, BSF Director General Gurbachan Jagat said a modernisation plan of the force has been finalised under the guidance of the Home Ministry, which will be implemented in phases.

While pointing out to the manpower shortage in the force on account of anti-insurgency duties, he said the endeavour will be to focus on more and more technological aids.

An excellent parade including a breathtaking performace by BSF daredevils on motorcycles marked the celebrations attended among others by Home Secretary Kamal Pande and senior officials of BSF and other para-military forces. (PTI)

Bandh in Bani for 2nd day
Mob gheroes Deputy Speaker’s house

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Dec 1: Mob including school students today gheroed the residence of Deputy Speaker and MLA Bani Ghulam Hyder Malik while a complete bandh was observed in Bani town for second day today in protest against the killing of a Congress (I) leader Daya Ram by the terrorists yesterday.

School students joined by local youths marched to the residence of Hyder Malik and shouted slogans. After over half an hour protest, the mob dispersed peacefully. Police maintained a tight vigil on the protesters.

Another demonstration was held by the people in Bani town to protest the political killing in a day-light strike by the terrorists on Thursday afternoon.

A complete bandh was observed in Bani town for second day today. All shops, rehris and business concerns remained closed in the town. Transport, however, plied.

Call for the bandh had been given by all political parties.

Addressing the protesters, the political leaders Prem Sagar Aziz, Hem Raj Verma, Pawan, Advocate and Lal Chand criticised Bani police for allegedly working ‘under pressure’ of a political leader and not initiating any action against the terrorists.

They demanded deployment of army in Bani to flush out the terrorists. They threatened that people will be forced to take to streets if the operation was not started immediately.

Meanwhile, the political leaders including Jaswant Singh alias Billa Shah, Uttam Chand, Tara Chand and Beopar Mandal, Kathua president Vikram Singh Jasrotia have also condemned the killing of Daya Ram and demanded immediate action against the terrorists.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Bani convened a meeting this afternoon to discuss the situation.

Omar, Laden head for separate ways

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: They were comrades in arms, enigmatic figures who incarnated the threat of global terrorism. But with the world now closing in, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar appear to be going their own ways.

Nobody can say for certain where the two men are hiding as they try to elude pursuing US-led forces. But the suspected terrorist mastermind and his Taliban protector clearly have different fugitive styles.

Omar, the reclusive supreme leader of the Islamic militia, claims to be standing firm in their southern spiritual stronghold of Kandahar, rallying his scattered troops and vowing a fight to the death.

Bin Laden has kept a low profile, making public remarks only twice since the September 11 attacks on the US, once in a tape distributed for broadcast and once in an interview with a Pakistani journalist.

A one-time honored "guest" and major financial backer of the Taliban, the Saudi millionaire turned militant appears to be on his own as he flees US wrath for Sept 11 attack.

After a series of confusing statements, the Taliban now say with some consistency that they have no idea where bin Laden is. Moreover, they say he has dropped out of contact.

"There is no relation now. There is no communication," Omar’s spokesman Syed Tayyab Agha told foreign journalists at a press conference 10 days ago in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak.

The diverging paths of the two men have not been lost on the Americans who see disintegration of the Taliban regime as key to pinning down bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday called Omar a "dead-ender" who "is determined to try to re-energise Taliban, to get the Taliban fighters to consolidate somewhere and to kill people."

He said the austere Sunni cleric and his fundamentalist troops were trying to either hang on to Kandahar or, if they can’t do that, to "get in the mountains and wait their time and come back."

Bin Laden, on the other hand, "is in a secure location somewhere attempting to deal with his network in whatever way he does," Rumsfeld said.

"Bin Laden clearly has a different interest," he said. "He uses Afghanistan as a lily pad, a place to be, a place to go out and kill other people around the world, to manage his Al-Qaeda network."

US officials believe the 44-year-old bin Laden may be hiding out either in the mountains around Kandahar or in a elaborate complex of caves near the city of Jalalabad.

If the two men now find themselves uncomfortably in the cross-hairs of the powerful US military, they got there by very different routes.

Bin Laden is the scion of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate who died in a helicopter crash and left him 80 million dollars when he was 11. Omar, said to be in his late 30s, was brought up in religious schools.

They fought alongside one another in the jihad, or holy war, launched against the Soviets who occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. When bin Laden was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for his criticism of the royal family and the Americans, he came to Afghanistan and reportedly contributed arms, cash and men to the Taliban. (AFP)

Sonia lambasts BJP on POTO

LALITPUR (UP), Dec 1: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for promulgating the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), saying it seemed the BJP needed it more than the country.

Addressing a Kisan Maha rally here, Ms Gandhi said controlling terrorism did not require any new law but a strong will power and clear intentions "POTO is undemocratic and is only meant to harass the common people," she said.

With obvious reference to Defence Minister George Fernandes, the Congress president said the BJP, which always talked of morality, had given the charge of Defence Ministry to a person against whom investigation was underway in a controversial issue.

Ms Gandhi said the Congress never thought of "power." Its main concern was the unity and integrity of the country and to make the future of the youths more fruitful.

The leader of the opposition, criticising the BJP, warned the people that the party was remembering "Ram" once again even though it had "ditched" the God. "What will happen to the people of the country under their regime?," she asked.

Calling upon the people to raise the problems being faced by the country, she said, "Hanumanji had to show his strength against the evil".

Terming Bundelkand the region of "saints and fakirs", the Congress president said it was unfortunate that even after more than 54 years of independence, the region had been neglected and the people deprived of the basic civic amenities.

Other leaders who spoke at the rally included Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ms Mohsina Kidwai. (UNI)

Shake-up in police finalised, order on Monday

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 1: The State Government today finalised a major shake-up in Police Department after two days of meetings. A formal order to this effect would be issued on Monday.

Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that transfers involved most of the DIGs and district SPs.

They said the transfers were yesterday discussed in a meeting attended by Minister of State for Home Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardhy, Chief Secretary Mr Ashok Jaitly, DGP Mr A K Suri and Principal Secretary Home Mr C Phunsog. However, they couldn’t take a final decision on the transfers.

Today morning, Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah called all of them and asked them to finalise the transfers, the sources said, adding the list was finalised late this evening and will be issued on Monday.

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