 |
Kashmir integral part of India: Vajpayee MUMBAI, June 19: In crucial remarks ahead of the Indo-Pak summit, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an ‘integral part’ of India and this position would remain ‘unchanged’ during his proposed talks with Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf next month. ‘Our stand is clear... Kashmir is an integral part of India. What we will be discussing would be one third of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan (PoK) during the proposed talks’, Vajpayee told a news conference prior to his departure for New Delhi at the end of his two-week stay in the Breach Candy Hospital where he underwent a successful right knee joint replacement surgery on June seven. On the issue of PoK, he said ‘we will try to find a solution to this in our parleys’. The venue and dates of the much-talked about summit would be finalised in a day or two, he replied to a query. Asked about the slashing of the defence budget by Pakistan, Vajpayee said ‘it is negligible and not connected with the proposed talks’. ‘Both the countries are spending on defence preparedness and not on development and this issue would also be taken up during the proposed talks’, the Prime Minister said. Asked about his ‘achievable dream’ through this summit, Vajpayee quipped ‘tension-free relations’. To a question, he said ‘I am an optimist and I have invited Gen Mushrraf in the hope that the talks would create a proper climate and promote good neighbourly relations between the two countries. Vajpayee, who arrived at the conference venue in a wheel-chair, said he would be convening an all party meeting prior to his talks with Gen Musharraf and invite suggestions to review India’s relations with Pakistan and decide on the future strategy. Vajpayee said at present both the countries had to spend a lot on weapons and defence preparedness and the proposed talks would explore the ways to devote these resources to developmental purposes. Asked why the Government deviated from its earlier stand that it would not hold talks with Pakistan unless cross-border terrorism was stopped in Kashmir, Vajpayee said ‘there had been peace on line of actual control and less violence in the Valley that prompted us to take the peace initiative’. (PTI) |
|
Musharraf-Vajpayee summit in Agra NEW DELHI, June 19: Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf will visit India for three days from July 14 and the summit meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be held in Agra. "At the invitation of the Prime Minister, Chief Executive of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharraf and Begum Musharraf will visit India from July 14 to 16," a spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry said announcing the broad schedule for the summit. "Their stay in India will include a ceremonial welcome in Delhi, a retreat in Agra, where discussions will be held between the two leaders, and a visit to Ajmer Sharif," he said. Details of the visit were being worked out, he added. Official sources said substantive discussions between Vajpayee and Musharraf would take place in Agra. They said that after Musharraf’s arrival on July 14 there would be some interaction between the two leaders in Delhi. Musharraf would fly to Agra after the ceremonial reception on July 14. Sources said the dates and venue for the summit were finalised at a meeting the Prime Minister had with his Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer soon after his return from Mumbai. (PTI) |
|
No confidence
expressed in leadership Excelsior Legal Correspondent JAMMU, June 19: Expressing no-confidence in the leadership, a big section of Bar Association Jammu including young lawyers, today called off the ongoing strike against the opening of Fast Track Courts and decided to attend the courts from tomorrow. The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting attended by many lawyers of Jammu Bar Association, who expressed high dissatisfaction the way the issue of strike was tackled and prolonged by the leadership. The members while calling off the strike, passed a no-confidence resolution against Jammu Bar president, D S Saini so as to pave way for the next Bar Association election as early as possible. The copy of the resolution was signed by over 55 lawyers and the same faxed to newspaper offices late this evening. As per the resolution, the members said that a high dissatisfaction was expressed the way the things were handled during the strike period. The sufferings have been beyond proportion, it was pointed out. The members pointed that there was no purpose to continue with the strike as large number of lawyers including their seniors were already appearing in High Court and other lower courts. "It is in the wake of the aforesaid backdrop, we bring this resolution for calling off the strike and pass no confidence motion against Bar president so as to pave way for next election", the resolution said. It called upon the executive to announce the date for Bar election under the leadership of vice president of Jammu Bar Association. In this regard, a meeting of the House has been called for tomorrow. Meanwhile, young lawyers of Jammu in a meeting held under the presidentship of Ajay Singh Manhas discussed the situation that some of their senior counterparts have resumed the work and started appearing in the courts. During the meeting, the names of all those senior lawyers who appeared in the courts, were pointed out. The members while expressing surprise the way things were moving, said that it was shocking that while on one side senior lawyers were supporting the agitation, on the otherhand they were appearing in the courts. It was pointed that in the larger interest of the institution , the lawyers will resume the work. Former Bar president Jammu and Advocate A K Sawhney in a statement faxed to this office late tonight, also termed the continuing of strike as " futile ". In a statement, Mr Sawhney while giving the long list of all those Advocates who appeared in the courts today, said that "it will be futile to continue with such agitation which is only for the sake of the agitation" Mr Sawhney said that he met the Chief Justice to clarify various points on the issue of Fast Track Courts and appealed to all the lawyers to accept the appeal of Chief Justice Dr B R Saraf to resume the work in the larger interest of the institution. It may be recalled here that Jammu lawyers resorted to strike and stayed away from the courts in protest against the opening of Fast Track Courts in Jammu region. A pressure was built up so as to revoke the order of the Chief Justice Dr B P Saraf. The lawyers even held demonstrations, blocked traffic and burnt effigies. Despite building up of pressure, the High Court authorities continued with the plans of opening of Fast Track Courts in order to provide speedy justice to the people. While no such strike was observed in Kashmir valley as the lawyers there welcomed such courts, it was only in Jammu that lawyers decided to stay away from the courts. Even Mufassil Bar Associations like Samba openly supported the opening of these courts and called upon Jammu lawyers many a times to call off strike. |
|
Pak defence reduction 'modest, misleading' NEW DELHI, June 19: Pakistan’s first ever reduction in defence spending was today viewed with scepticism by security analysts in India who described it as "too modest" and borne out of Islamabad’s economic compulsions rather than the craving for a favourable climate ahead of the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit. Pakistan’s military regime yesterday announced reduction in defence outlay by two billion rupees as compared to last year and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said developmental spending will be increased by 0.4 per cent. "Pakistan took the step because of economic difficulties rather than any real good intention," Mr K Subrahmanyam, convenor of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), told UNI. Asked whether Islamabad would be able to take diplomatic mileage out of this move in view of next month’s summit, Mr Subrahmanyam said: "We would be stupid enough to allow Pakistan to make a diplomatic score out of it. We should tell the international community the real reasons behind reduction in Pakistan’s defence spending." "The reduction is mainly because of Pakistan’s fragile macro fiscal indicators and pressures of international lending agencies like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank," said Commodore Uday Bhaskar, Deputy Director of Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). Pakistan is faced with huge external debt, currently pegged at about 38 billion dollars. "The decrease was inevitable as Islamabad kept an eye on the bridge loans from IMF and World Bank," he said. Both Mr Subrahmanyam and Cmdr Bhaskar recalled how the P V Narasimha Rao Government had effected reduction in India’s defence outlay in 1991 when New Delhi faced a severe Balance of Payments (BoP) crisis. Cmdr Bhaskar described the reduction as "too modest" considering Pakistan’s expenditure in percentage terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). "The figures are misleading ... Two billion rupees in a total of more than Rs. 150 billion amounts to virtually nothing." "We should not make much of this reduction, but as the first ever such step by Islamabad it does have a positive element in terms of the regional security environment," the security analyst said. Director of United Services Institution Lt Gen (retd) Satish Nambiar found it a "symbolic" gesture not only to the lending institutions but also to the people in the subcontinent. "Musharraf can now say that he would come to India not only with an open mind but also with an open heart." He also pointed out the hidden defence expenditures that are not shown in budgets by Islamabad. "We should not forget the long term defence projects Pakistan has with China including joint ventures with flexible repayment schedules. These aspects are not shown in the budget," Gen Nambiar said. Defence Ministry officials were also sceptical about Islamabad’s intentions, saying a major chunk of defence spending in Pakistan did not get reflected in the budget. "For example, in the 1999-2000 budget, the Musharraf regime cleverly put military pensions under the civilian account thereby reducing the official defence outlay. But in reality it raised the budget from Rs. 119 billion to Rs. 133 billion rupees as the defence pensions accounted for Rs. 26 billion," said an official. Pakistan’s defence spending over the years as a percentage of the GDP has been much higher than India’s. New Delhi’s defence hike of 13.8 per cent in 2001-2002 (Rs. 62,000 crore) constituted 2.4 per cent of the GDP while Islamabad’s 1999-2000 defence outlay stood at 4.4 per cent. During the BOP crisis, India had reduced defence spending for a few years in a row after 1989-90 when it was 3.17 per cent of the GDP. In successive years until 1992-93, defence spending was brought down to 2.88, 2.65 and finally 2.49 per cent of the GDP. (UNI) |
|
Intrusion bid foiled
in Mendhar Excelsior Correspondent POONCH/RAJOURI, June 19: Army and police today killed three militants in three separate operations across Mendhar and Surankot tehsils of Poonch district overnight. An infiltration attempt was also foiled by army in Mendhar sector. Official sources said army soldiers detected an infiltration attempt by the militants taking place from village Langiot in Balakot area of Mendhar sector in wee hours of this morning. As the militants, numbering between five to seven, came within Indian territory on the Line of Control (LoC), they were challenged by troops and asked to surrender. However, the militants opened heavy firing on army and tried to force their way into general area. Cross-firing between army and militants was also joined by Pakistani troops, who made every possible attempt to push the infiltrators. In the resulting encounter, army killed one militant while others fled back to Pakistan taking advantage of covering fire given by Pakistan army and darkness. There was no report of any casualty on army side in cross-firing. One AK-56 rifle with one magazine and five rounds, two hand grenades and Rs 545 in Pakistani currency were recovered from the possession of slain militant, who has been identified as Jumma Khan alias Abu Ali of PoK. Intruding militants were activists of Huji outfit. Alertness displayed by army successfully thwarted the Pakistan-backed infiltration attempt of militants. On the basis of an information given by police, army and police launched a joint search operation in Upper Kasblari area of Mendhar tehsil at 1600 hours this evening. Security personnel stormed a militants’ hideout, which had been identified by police, and gunned down one militant on the spot. There were reports that another militant escaped from the hideout and fled into a forest area. Army and police were hunting the absconding militant. One AK-47 rifle, two magazines, 12 rounds and one wireless set was recovered from the hideout, which was smashed by army during the operation. Sources said the third encounter took place between army and militants in Mehandiwala dhok in Surankot tehsil this afternoon. This encounter too was based on police information and lasted two hours between 1100 hours to 1300 hours. In the operation, a hardcore militant of a new outfit Lashkar-e-Islami (LeI) was eliminated. He has been identified as Sarfaraz Waqar, a resident of Rawalpindi. From him, one AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 112 rounds, four hand grenades and one pouch were recovered. Two associates of Sarfaraz Waqar reportedly escaped during the exchange of firing and were being chased by army. Waqar was stated to be a ‘commandeer’ of newly floated Lashkar-e-Islami outfit. |
|
1668 more yatris
registered in Jammu Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, June 19: As this year’s Baba Amarnath yatra is coinciding the summit between India, Pak Governments and in view of the last year’s militants attack on pilgrims at Pahalgam and a registration counter at Jammu, the State Government is going to take no chance and it has made the fool proof security arrangements for the pilgrims from Jammu Base Camp to Cave Shrine. To oversee security arrangements the DIG CRPF Mr S C Kukreja who is also Nodal Officer for Jammu province along with a team of senior officers today visited the Moulana Azad Stadium the Base camp for the pilgrims and other places in the City where the yatris will be accommodated. He also visited the registration counters at TRC. He was also accompanied by the Commanding Officer of the 79 Battalion, K R Banjara and Deputy Commandant, 136 Bn, Vinay A Prakash, besides other officials of the CRPF. As usual there will be camp security, escort security and operation security besides the every pilgrims entering the M A Stadium will be subjected to thorough check by the security personnel to avert any untoward incident. This was stated by an official spokesman here today. When contacted the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jammu Mr B D Sharma who is over seeing the yatra arrangements said the authorities are not going to take any chance and to make the arrangements fool proof the adequate number of security guards will be deployed this year. While the Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Mr G A Peer who is also the Yatra Officer said there will be an increase in the deployment of security forces on the track from Pahalgam to Cave Shrine. He said Government is going to take no chance this year in view of the last year’s incident and added the security has been tightened and fully beefed up this year. The deployment of security forces consisting of army, BSF, CRPF and JKP will be more as compared to last year. He said the heights enroute the Cave Shrine as usual will be manned by army while CRPF will be deployed at camps and langer. Besides there will be adequate deployment of BSF and JKP. Regarding the other arrangements he said various civil departments will be pressed in service for this purpose. The Deputy Commissioner said the yatra track which was restored by Pahalgam Project Organisation is presently through from Chandanwari to Holy Cave and from Pahalgam to Chandanwari has been metalled by widening at different places by the R&B Department. He said during the yatra the camps will be set up by the different departments at various places right from Qazigund to Cave Shrine and at every camp 20 to 25 employees will be deployed. Besides the Government has also formulated a contingency plan to meet any emergency, he added. He said 35,00 pilgrims will be allowed for darshan of the Icy Lingam at Holy Cave daily. This is as per the recommendations of Gupta and Mukherjee Committee. The Committee had recommended that 28,00 yatris be allowed to have pilgrimage via Pahalgam track while 700 via Baltal. Taking this figure in calculations the total number of yatris to have the darshan during the month long pilgrimage will not exceed over 1,2000. But in case of increasing rush and fair weather conditions the decision can be modified and four to five thousand pilgrims can also be allowed to have darshan daily, the DC maintained. Mr Peer said registration counters for yatris have been opened at Srinagar TRC, the registration of Poniwalas, Dangi Walas and labour will start at Chandanwari in next week . However, the Baba Amarnath Yatri Niyas while expressing its displeasure over the arrangements today alleged that situation has not even improved since the formation of Baba Amarnath Shrine Board. Dr Rama Kant president of the Niyas in an informal chat with this reporter, expressed his total displeasure over the arrangements made by the Government and demanded that paramilitary force personnel be deployed with JK Police enroute the Cave Shrine for the security of the pilgrims. He said no representation has been given to the Sanatan Dharam Sabha and Baba Amarnath Yatri Niyas in the Board, which is a cause of concern to the Hindus of the State as both organizations have remained associated with the yatra for years together. Expressing his anguish against Government for maintaining stock silence on current registrations Dr Rama Kant warned agitation in case the current registration counters were not opened in Jammu. He said the registration rush will certainly increase and there is every possibility that the figure of pilgrims visiting the Holy Cave this year will exceed to two lakh. He also took the Shrine Board to task for not conducting any meeting of the NGOs and other Hindu bodies for reviewing the yatra arrangements at Jammu. The arrangements for boarding and lodging of pilgrims should have been started by now but it seems that Government is sleeping over the issue he alleged. Meanwhile , it was yet another hectic day at the registration counters here today where 1668 yatris have been registered to have pilgrimage on different dates next month. Giving this information, Mr D S Manhas, Deputy Director Tourism said out of this 1412 are male and 256 female. This is the highest number of pilgrims registered at Jammu counters since the registration started on June 10. With this the total number of pilgrims registered here has exceeded to 12,000. Mr Manhas said 1397 pilgrims will be allowed to leave via Pahalgam while 271 will be allowed via Baltal routes to have the Darshan of icy Lingam at holy cave situated at an altitude of over 1400 feet. Meanwhile Mr Kukereja expressed his satisfaction over the procedure being adopted for the registration and held detailed discussions with the incharge officer, Deputy Director, Tourism, Mr Dhanantar Singh Manhas. Before arriving at TRC, DIG inspected security arrangements and the deployment of the CRPF at the M A Stadium, Jammu, the base camp for the yatra. Later, the nodal officer was briefed by Deputy Commandant, Vinay Prakash regarding the security arrangements at the TRC, M A Stadium and other related places in the Jammu city. |
|
Civilians thrashed, 3
hospitalised Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, June 19: Militants triggered a powerful explosion at village Chanjlu, about two kms from Banihal town this morning killing an army jawan and critically wounding a Subedar. Five civilians were beaten-up and injured while three others were arrested by security forces in the aftermath of blast. In another incident, the militants gunned down a civilian in Thathri area of Doda district. Official reports said army personnel were carrying out a search operation in village Chanjlu in interior Banihal this morning following reports that three to four militants had taken shelter in the village. However, the army search party walked over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), planted by the militants, resulting into an explosion. Two army soldiers were seriously injured in the blast. One of them succumbed to his injuries. Deceased jawan has been identified as Naik Amrik Singh and the injured as Subedar Jagdeep Singh. Injured Subedar was immediately airlifted to Udhampur and admitted in the Command Hospital. Subedar lost his arm in the blast. A police party from Banihal led by SDPO Rupinder Kumar Chalotra rushed to the scene of explosion and started searches alongwith army for the militants. Reports said after the blast army personnel started house-to-house searches anticipating that the militants might have been hiding in the houses after planting IED on the route of search party. Troops had confirmed reports that a section of local people had helped ultras in planting the explosive device. A couple of jawans went berserk after seeing the body of their deceased colleague and beat-up civilians. Five civilians sustained injuries and three of them had to be hospitalised. Three other civilians were arrested by security forces and handed over to local police. Civilians admitted in the hospital have been identified as Bashir Ahmed, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din and Shakeel Ahmed while the civilians taken into custody included Showkat Ahmed Dar, Mohd Issaq Dar and Mohd Sharief. MLA Banihal Mohd Farooq Mir later approached senior army officers, who pacified the agitated jawans. Meanwhile, army continued a search operation in Chanjlu and adjoining villages for the militants. However, the ultras remained untraced when the reports last came in this evening. There were reports that a brief encounter also took place between army and militants but the latter managed to escape. Meanwhile, unidentified militants kidnapped a civilian Mukhtiar Ahmed from his house in Thathri last night and took him to a forest area, where he was shot dead. Body of the civilian was recovered from a forest area this morning by police and handed over to his family. |
|
More arrests likely in plot to blast US embassy NEW DELHI, June 19: Delhi Police today said more arrests were likely to be made in Udaipur in Rajasthan and Bihar in connection with the recent unearthing of a conspiracy to carry out blast at the United States embassy here even as the American sleuths have sought some more information from the city police in the case. Police officials said cops had been rushed to Rajasthan and Bihar to effect some more arrests so that full ramifications of the conspiracy, hatched allegedly at the behest of international terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, was unravelled. The police arrested three persons including a Sudanese national Abdel Raouf Hawash and his Indian accomplice Shameem Sarvar, a religious teacher here and Abbas, a car mechanic in Udaipur. Police claimed that the accused persons had confessed to involvment of some more persons in Udaipur and Bihar to carry out the blast. Police said the three, who were planning to carry out the blast at the embassy around August as a reminder of attacks carried out in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, were planning to hire some girls for carrying out the blast in the high security embassy. However, the trio had told police that so far they had been unable to find any female recruits for carrying out the "mission", the officials said. Meanwhile, Delhi Police has been contacted by officials of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who requested them to furnish more details about the case. The police officials said efforts were on to identify an Iranian national, who was supposed to provide technical know-how to Hawash. The Sudanese national has revealed during interrogation that he was to receive help from the Iranian national in fitting the explosive in the car, which was to be provided by Abbas. Police had also recovered six kg of high-explosive RDX and some pre-fabricated Improvised Explosive Devices from Hawash and Sarvar, when they were arrested from Nizamuddin area of south Delhi on June 15. The officials said efforts were also on to confirm whether Dhaka was also to be a target of the alleged terrorists for carrying out a blast at the US embassy there. (PTI) |
|
No formula on Kashmir expected from coming Indo-Pak summit NEW DELHI, June 19: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf will not discuss any formula or proposal on Kashmir during their summit meeting next month as the proposed talks do not have any structured agenda, sources said. Commenting on proposals on Kashmir in circulation in the media the sources said there would not be any sea change in India’s position and the agenda for the talks would be dictated by realities of bilateral relations. "The two countries have not gone to the level of discussing issues like soft borders as both have not abandoned their positions." "If the two countries get back to a road identified by the Lahore process, it would help wipe out some of the emotional effects of the Kargil conflict," the sources added. Admitting that the major focus of talks would be on the "core issue" (Kashmir), they said India never backed out from discussing the issue, but in the context of bilateral relations as a whole. The Kashmir issue had to be discussed at a political level. The process of deciding the venue and the date for the summit had not been finalised yet and would take some more time. The Government had received some suggestions in this regard from the Pakistan Government which were yet to be considered. "Once the date and venue are finalised, the officials of the two countries would get engaged in finalising other aspects. The sources said absence of patience and continuing distress were two main problems faced by the two countries. The talks are not being held under any pressure as the Indian Government had made its position very clear on this subject. However there are expectations that the summit meeting may lead to more people-to-people contact between the two countries paving way for some liberalisation of the visa regime. Meanwhile, India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Vijay Nambiar, who was in Delhi for cosnsultations on the coming visit of Gen Musharraf, met External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer and Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra. Mr Nambiar said the summit was not expected to bring any path-breaking results. In an interview with the Kairali television Mr Nambiar said the visit itself was going to be a big achievement. If India and Pakistan were able to re-establish confidence and re-start the Lahore process after the dialogue, it itself would be a very good achievement. About the legitimacy of discussions with a military ruler Mr Nambiar said India had dealt with military regimes in Pakistan earlier also. "We are not really concerned about who is the leader but their view towards India and to what extent they are willing to work in a productive way is more important to us. I think even a military regime can establish the broad parametres for foundations for good relations." He said that after Kargil one could not go ahead as if everything was normal. After the tremendous expectations generated in Lahore, Kargil destroyed the trust. Mr Nambiar said in the interview to be telecast this evening that the main objective of the discussions would be to induce confidence between the two countries. There was an urgent need to increase people-to-people relations between the two countries and for this the primary step was to relax visa restrictions between the two countries. "If we could re-establish the consulate at Karachi through this discussion, that would be a great achievement." The agenda would include all questions including Jammu and Kashmir. "We would like to have a comprehensive talk but at the same time we know that Pakistan will insist on Kashmir." He said the discussions would be confined to certain mutually agreeable points. Discussions on trade etc. Would follow after that. "At present we would like to have dialogues at the highest level, the rest will follow after that." Mr Nambiar said there was a political compulsion for Pakistan to soften its attitude towards India in the emerging global economic scenario. This was true for India also. "Kashmir problem has become a major hurdle for the development of this region and this talk is one of the positive fallouts of globalisation." (UNI) |
|
Rs 3.60 Lakh looted,
official injured in bank dacoity Excelsior Special Correspondent SRINAGAR, June 19: In their continued strike on militants, after withdrawing six-month-long unilateral ceasefire, security forces today eliminated eight militants of pro-Pakistan Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Kashmir valley, while losing an officer in an operation at Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector. Highly-placed official sources in north Kashmir told EXCELSIOR that expecting an attempt of nocturnal infiltration, troops of 5-Mehar laid an ambush at Brathpathri, Lachhipora, near LoC in Uri sector late last evening. A thick group of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants fell in the trap and six infiltrators died in the nightlong encounter. A Lieutenant of Army, namely Mahesh Chandra, also got killed while as Major Vijainta Merchant sustained injuries. He was rushed to the brigade hospital of Uri where doctors described him stable. While as four of the militants killed remained unidentified, two more were identified as Ali Mohammad Mir R/o Mayan and Abdul Gaffar Lone R/o Lachhipora. Defence sources said that troops recovered 4 AK-56 rifles, 2 pistols, 2 wireless sets, 20 rifle grenades, 2 hand grenades, one cylinder barrel gun and 3 canter bombs from the site of encounter. Even as the operation concluded this evening, troops fanned out in several localities to look for other members of the group who are believed to have escaped. Reports available from Kupwara said that on the basis of a specific information, troops of 1/4 Gorkha Rifles and SOG Kupwara raided a militant hideout at Dardsun village, near Trehgam. During the operation, a fierce encounter took place between the holed up militants and security forces. Sources said that two militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen got killed. They were identified as Ansari Dawood and Mudassar-both residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Two AK-56 rifles, 17 rifle grenades and 5 hand grenades were recovered from the spot. This evening at 5.20 p.m. militants targeted a convoy of Rashtriya Rifles 21 Bn, with a powerful landmine blast, at Gorihakhar, near Handwara. It missed the intended target and failed to cause any damage. A culvert was, however, damaged badly. Bank dacoity Official sources said that this afternoon at 1.30 p.m. two scooter-borne gunmen appeared at the branch of Kamraz Rural Bank at Panzinara, on Srinagar-Sumbal Road. They whipped out a loaded pistol and made an attempt to plunder cash. As the lady manager was absent, cashier-cum-clerk Muzaffar Ahmed Bhat of Warpora and others put up resistance. However, a gunman fired upon Muzaffar, who was incharge manager at the moment, and left him wounded. Having terrified the officials, the armed dacoits decamped with cash worth Rs 3.60 Lakh and disappeared from the spot. Murder over water Meanwhile, reports from Anantnag said that a farmer, Ghulam Hassan Khan of Jablipora (Bijbehara) died in a clash with fellow farmers over the distribution of irrigation water during last night. According to the FIR, Khan got killed when two fellow villagers struck a blow of baton on his head. The accused Mohammad Yusuf Sofi as also his sons, Tanvir and Sabzar, have gone underground to escape arrest. |
|
|
NEW DELHI, June 19 : Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi had a meeting with Congress president and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi today and was understood to have discussed with her the visit of Gen Pervez Musharraf to India next month. "It was one-to-one meeting between the High Commissioner and Sonia Gandhi lasting about 20 minutes", Party spokesman Anand Sharma said. He, however, declined to divulge the details of the talks. Ever since Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee invited Gen Musharraf to visit India for summit talks, Qazi has been meeting leaders of various political parties here. Qazi had met last week the Speaker of the Lok Sabha G M C Balayogi. After his meeting with Balayogi had stated that "Gen Musharraf is coming here with an open mind and is willing to discuss various issues." The Pakistani High Commissioner had separate meetings with CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader A B Bardhan before he met Balayogi. (PTI) |
|
Summit will benefit India, Pak and region: US WASHINGTON, June 19: The United States today expressed the hope that the summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf would produce results beneficial to both the countries and the people of the region. "Any time leaders of two great countries like India and Pakistan discussed issues of enormous complication, it has got to be a good thing, and I hope this conversation will produce results that will benefit both the nations and the people of the region," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said after talks with visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. In New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry today announced that Musharraf will visit India for three days from July 14 and the summit meeting with Vajpayee will be held in Agra. Powell said he discussed with Sattar the forthcoming Indo-Pak summit. "I hope the two leaders will be forward looking and I am sure they would try to identify a direction which will lead to a solution which will be acceptable to the Kashmiri people," Sattar said after the meeting. Powell also discussed Taliban issue at great length besides talking on sanctions and "how one gets through the process of eventually lifting them." "We will be dealing with all these issues as we move forward in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation," Powell said. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday just before a meeting between Sattar and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, "the United States fully supports the July 14 meeting between India and Pakistan." Fleischer also said "fully normal relations" with Pakistan require restoration of democracy in the country. "The administration is committed to building a mutually beneficial bilateral relationship with Pakistan. The administration is looking forward to a return to democracy that will permit fully normalised relations," he said. (PTI) |
|
JKLF urges Pak to give up claim over J&K ISLAMABAD, June 19: JKLF (Amanullah Khan faction) today said that Pakistan should give up its claim over Jammu and Kashmir and instead press for the "independence" of the State. "Pakistan should give up (its claim over Jammu and Kashmir) and press for independence to the State and at the same time retain the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for itself," chairman of the Pakistan-based Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Amanullah Khan said in a statement here. He said Pakistan was not in a position politically, economically, militarily and diplomatically to claim Kashmir from India. Commenting on the statement by former Interior Minister Shujaat Hussain, who said Pakistan should give up claims over getting the entire Kashmir but press for independence for Kashmir, Khan said Hussain demonstrated strong moral and political courage by accepting the bitter realities. "UN resolutions on Kashmir were too old and too defective to be implemented, to the extent that the very UN was no more interested in implementing them," Khan said. (PTI) |
|
India rejects Pak proposal to involve Hurriyat NEW DELHI, June 19: India today once again rejected Pakistan’s suggestion to involve the All Party Hurriyat Conference in the dialogue, stating its a non issue Reacting to Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar’s proposal to involve the 23-party conglomerate in the talks, a spokesperson of the Foreign Office said the proposed Vajpayee-Musharraf summit reflects larger picture of reconciliation and dialogue . Pakistan Chief Executive’s visit is in the bilateral context, which will cover whole range of bilateral issues covering entire Jammu and Kashmir She said the agenda of the talks will be dictated by realism. The focus is on how to address entire gamut of issues The spokesperson dismissed press reports that the venue and date of the summit has been finalised. They are in the process of finalisation, she said. (UNI) |
|
Mahajan Sabha affairs Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, June 19: Mr S P Langer, who took over as president of Mahajan Sabha, Trikuta Nagar, after his retirement as Estates Officer, SICOP, Jammu in 1999, unopposed, has obtained various landmark achievements during his tenure as president of the Sabha for about three years. While talking to Excelsior Mr S P Langer deposed that from the very first day of his taking over as president, he starved hard to carry forward the programmes as envisaged by Late Lala Hans Raj Mahajan, the founder of mahajan Sabha Jammu viz solemnizing day marriages, reducing expenditures on marriages that too without dowry and the like. Mr S P Langer expressed gratitude to the inhabitants of Trikuta Nagar who donated generously for Mahajan Yatri Bhavan coming up at Haridwar. He also expressed special gratitude to the people of Biradari hailing from Trikuta Nagar, who came out voluntarily and made generous donations for the programmes undertaken by the Mahajan Sabha regarding providing help to the community widows and the students hailing from the poor strata of Biradari, who otherwise were finding it hard to pursue their studies further. Mr Langer said interest free loan would be provided to students of Biradari who wish to go for higher studies with the condition that they would repay the same at their own convenience. Last year Mahajan Sabha Trikuta Nagar Jammu had presented a silver sword to the Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah as a token of appreciation for fighting the militancy in the State. Mr Langer said after completion of his tenure, he did not contest again and instead managed to get the new incumbent elected un-opposed as the new president of the Sabha. |
|
|
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
