 |
Pak army
continues to push foreign militants: Brig Patil Excelsior Defence Correspondent BALNOI (LoC), Dec 26: Alert jawans of JAK Rifles foiled a massive infiltration attempt of a group of Pak trained militants and gunned down six of them on the Line of Control near Balnoi in Mendhar area of Poonch sector today. A Junior Commissioned Officer and a jawan also lost life during operation. Brig V K Patil, who was himself supervising the operation told media-persons at the site of encounter that Pakistani troops were pushing groups of heavily armed infiltrators to this side of the LoC. He said it was very very difficult to cross over to this side and was not possible to get into this side of the LoC without the assistance of Pak Army. Giving details of the operation, Brig Patil disclosed that a night patrol of alert soldiers of KG Brigade, noticed the movement of a group of armed militants near the Line of Control at some distance of Roshni Post during early hours today. The alert jawans who noticed about nine to ten intruders moving inside the LoC, allowed them to move deep inside and challenged them in a nullah. The militants opened firing and lobbed grenades on the army troops. The encounter commenced and a jawan and two ultras were killed in the first hour of the gun-battle. Three more were killed during mid- day today as hide and seek battle continued between the militants and soldiers in the forest. He said some more militants were trapped by the troops who were still engaged in fighting with them around 3 pm. The search operation in the adjoining hamlets was also in progress and the army had sealed the entire areas. The sound of gun-fire was being heard from the nullah at some distance from the site where bodies of slain militants were lying when the media team arrived there. The media observed the live operation from the close range. The sound of grenade blasts was also heard. Hardly half an hour later the media team left the spot, another trapped militant was eliminated by jawans. A JCO who was seriously injured during encounter also succumbed while being shifted to hospital. Another Army official disclosed that jawans of JAK Rifles were first to spot the intrusion around 2 A.M. and also lost a soldier—Rajneeh Kumar hailing from Ramgarh in Samba. He said in the very first contact, a jawan was critically injured in grenade attack and later succumbed to his injuries. He had married hardly seven months back. More than hundred soldiers of specially trained ‘Ghatak Company’ were involved in the operation and the trapped ultras were being chased. He disclosed that after their guide was killed, the ultras lost the track and they ran towards different directions and subsequently were eliminated by the soldiers who had covered them from different surrounding locations. Five Ak-47 rifles, four grenades, ten magazines, large quantity of ammunition, wireless set, eatables, medicines and some Indian and Pak currency, cigarettes besides other incriminating documents were recovered from their possession. All of them were believed to be foreigners while a young boy of hardly 16-17 year old was seemed to be their guide. None of them could be identified properly but they belonged to Lashker-e-Toiba outfit as discovered from the documents, he maintained. Hardly, a week ago, three Pak infiltrators were gunned down while crossing over to this side. Five were killed in Surankot area recently. It indicated that trend of infiltration is increasing and the Pak Army was supporting them actively. He also disclosed that Pakistani soldiers from a nearby post opened unprovoked firing when the group of intruding ultras were moving ahead just to divert the attention of the Indian troops. The weather was not clear and it was partially cloudy. In some areas it was raining during day. He said the ultras mostly try to take the advantage of darkness or the inclement weather and try to infiltrate into the Indian territory. |
|
Nirmal Singh replaces Kotwal as BJP chief Excelsior Special Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 26: Dr Nirmal Singh is the new chief of Jammu and Kashmir BJP, replacing Mr DK Kotwal. Formal announcement, in this connection, has come from the BJP president, Mr M Venkaiah Naidu. The national executive of the BJP, which met in the Union capital the other day, approved Dr Nirmal Singh’s appointment. This move is regarded significant in the context of the existence of groupism in the J&K BJP, with one faction loyal to Prof Chaman Lal Gupta. Appointment of Dr Singh as the BJP chief is also significant as it was approved by the party national executive following the debacle the BJP received in the recent Assembly elections in J&K, particularly in the Jammu province. Mr DK Kotwal submitted his resignation soon after the poll results were announced. He was, however, asked by his bosses in Delhi to continue till his successor is appointed. Dr Nirmal Singh, a known RSS pracharak, hails from Basohli tehsil. Dr Singh, who is presently Reader in the Department of History, Jammu University,is regarded a political heavyweight in his organisation. He shot into prominence during the 1975 Emergency, when he was jailed. Later, in 1978, he was again jailed during the Poonch agitation. Insiders divulged that as the BJP High Command was keen on having a "young and dynamic" person as the new party chief in the troubled State of Jammu and Kashmir, the choice of Dr Nirmal Singh became inevitable. After the formal announcement of his appointment as the new party chief in J&K, Dr Singh told EXCELSIOR that his priority number one would be what he termed as "servicing and tuning" of the BJP machinery in the State. Nor is it all. He will strive to ensure security in the two "neglected" regions of the State, namely, Jammu and Ladakh, and also promote political participation of the two regions. Dr Nirmal Singh regretted that the successive Governments in J&K had ignored Jammu and Ladakh regions for no fault of theirs. And as he highlighted the relevance and need of a regional council for Jammu, Dr Singh chose to leave it to "Kashmiri leadership" to spell out what kind of support they would like to have from "our party". BJP vice-president and former MLA, Mr Ashok Khajuria, when contacted for his views on the appointment of Dr Singh as the new party chief,said that considering the "fact" that he (Dr Nirmal Singh) "is young and dynamic and has leadership qualities", it can be expected that the party would register improvements under his stewardship. |
|
People should persuade militants to shun violence: Mufti Excelsior Correspondent SURANKOTE, Dec 26: Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today called upon the people to persuade local militants to shun the path of militancy, saying that this has only brought a trail of agony and wanton destruction in the State. Addressing hundreds of people, who had gathered here on his arrival to meet the Gunthal militancy victims, Mufti Sayeed said that innocent people are being killed. ‘Time has come when the people should also use their influence, whatever little they have, on the militants and make them to leave the gun’, he added. Explaining the policy of his coalition Government, the Chief Minister said the history stands witness that no problem was ever solved through gun. Dialogue is key to all the problems. He said his Government has taken initiatives to seek unconditional dialogue from the Centre to solve the problem. ‘Our endeavour would be to restore peace with dignity’, he said, adding that it is the duty of the people also to help creating a situation conducive for dialogue. Referring to the problems of the people, the Chief Minister announced that his Government would consider giving NAC status for Surankote in view of increase in the population. Various measures will be taken to improve the condition of Sub-District Hospital, Surankote. Besides sanctioning additional ambulance, the Chief Minister suggested that pending selection by the PSC, arrangement should be made for having a physician and pediatrician for the hospital on contractual basis. One ultra sound machine was also sanctioned for the hospital on-the-spot. He also ordered that the sanitation conditions of the hospital should be improved. Referring to the demand for employment, the Chief Minister explained that he has already taken up with the Prime Minister for sanctioning an employment package for Jammu and Kashmir. The youth will be recruited in army, para-military forces and police for which special recruitment drive has been sought from the Centre. He explained that with poor financial resources, the State Government will not be able to absorb many in the State Government services. However, teachers can be absorbed in programmes like Sarvashikhsha Abhiyan and total literacy programme initiated by the Government. The matter regarding upgradation of Surankote-Poonch road has already been taken up with the Border Roads Organisation for expediting the work on it. The Chief Minister said the Auqaf Islamia will be asked to fence the graveyard as demanded by the local population. Earlier, Mr Gulam Nabi Azad, MP in his brief speech, expressed concern over the killing of innocents by militants and said that the people had to be mobilised to check unfortunate incidents. The security forces and the police have been directed to nab the ultras. He said that today’s visit was to offer condolences and giving healing touch to unfortunate families, whose three sons were brutally killed by militants. He said he will come again to discuss their problems. Ms. Mehbooba Mufti, MLA was also present. Earlier, the Chief Minister reviewed the security situation with Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ejaz Iqbal and SSP, Mr Kamal Saini. |
|
Do politicians
discriminate between red and white blood of Kashmiris? From Ahmed Ali Fayyaz SRINAGAR, Dec 26: As both, mainstream as well as separatist politicians, have been thriving over 13-year-long era of bloodshed in Jammu & Kashmir, no political party has shed even the proverbial crocodile tears over the cold-blooded carnage of three members of a family at Gopalpora. As already reported, a Government schoolteacher, Mohammad Shafi Wani, and both of his sons—Zahoor Ahmed Wani and Jehangir Ahmed Wani—were shot dead by unidentified gunmen at their residence, in Srinagar outskirts of Budgam district last evening. Since the assassins are widely believed to be members of a Pan-Islamist guerrilla organisation, politicians have strictly stuck to the wisdom "silence is the best policy". All the nouveau riche Hurriyat leaders, whose entire structure of politics is based on "human rights violations", Hartal and condemnation, remained totally indifferent to the "white blood" that spilled in the Budgam hamlet. A full-page statement that came out from the Hurriyat headquarters today does not make even a passing reference to the Gopalpora killings. It sheds plenty of tears over the arrest of Al-Omar supremo Mushtaq Latram’s brother, over the interrogation of several relatives of militants etcetera. But the statement, which can fetch money and favours from across the border, has conveniently ignored the Gopalpora killings. A Hurriyat activist, Javed Mir, made yet another enactment of "protest" over a Delhi court’s pronouncement of death sentence over three Kashmiris held guilty in the Parliament attack incident. He, however, did not dare to utter a single word over the gory episode that shook hearts in Srinagar and Budgam districts. All the prominent Hurriyat leaders, who claim to be the "real representatives" of Kashmiri people, enjoyed their day in cosy bungalows and luxurious cars. The moment they learned that it was an act of militants, they adopted silence as their best policy. Democratic Freedom Party chief, Shabir Ahmed Shah—otherwise known for condemning everything around—was also silent over the triple murder that occurred in close vicinity of his Rawalpora mansion. His estranged separatist colleague and chairman of National Front, Nayeem Khan, too was not heard or seen over the Wednesday carnage anywhere in the Valley. High Court Bar Association, which takes pride in introducing itself as a constituent of the separatist Hurriyat Conference and organising seminars and protests over "human rights violations" was also deaf and dumb in case of the Gopalpora family. So were the self-styled human rights activists, Mohammad Ahsan Ontoo and Pervez Imroz, who have carved out a niche for themselves in Kashmir’s lucrative politics of protests and condemnations over the last several years. None should blame men like the former Chief Justice Mufti Bahauddin Farouqi, who have since taken retirement from this kind of dirty politics. While as the Peoples Conference chairman, Sajjad Gani Lone, was the one-odd politician from the entire separatist camp, who showed guts to condemn the massacre, from the whole mainstream political camp it was none but the NC leader and MLC, Abdul Qayoom, who came out with a word of condemnation. Significantly, the ill-fated family actually belonged to Qayoom’s Chrar-e-Sharif town. Failing to perform as the state’s major political party, Omar Abdullah’s National Conference did not bother to issue a statement of condemnation. Though the former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah is untraced and Omar has been sticking to his ministerial bungalow in New Delhi—even after his resignation has finally been accepted—none of the NC leaders present in town bothered to utter a word of condemnation. Even after losing power, NC is the largest political party in the State Assembly with 29 members. Its firebrand leaders like Ali Mohammad Sagar, Maulvi Iftikhar and Ghulam Nabi Shaheen are still lipping the wounds of their party’s defeat in the September elections. Interestingly, witnessing the arch rival PDP taking electoral dividends by making pro-militant statements and selling the green colour of their party flag in Kashmir, die-hard guerrilla-bashers like Dr Abdullah and Sagar have been advised by their colleagues to sit calm. After the results were over, a section of their party leadership made point that speaking against militants and Pakistan had isolated the NC from the common man. Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Congress party has been rather generous in condemning the killings committed by militants in the State. However, this has been observed with marked interest that none of the Congress leaders bothered to condemn yesterday’s killings. Alongwith his power ally Azad, the ruling PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, were also in Kashmir yesterday as well as today. Crying over the death of civilians and militants killed by Task Force and Army has become the Muftis’ mark of identification in Kashmir’s politics since 1996. The Chief Minister as well as the PDP’s rudaali enjoyed the day at Gulmarg and returned to Jammu today without paying a visit to the Gopalpora family. The massacre had occurred virtually in the Mufti’s backyard in Nowgam-Chadoura belt. Nothing was heard today of the ebullient PDP MLA (Chadoura) Javed Mustafa Mir, who attempted to become a hero on account of the death of a mason in Police custody early this month. Mir had not only forced the Government to announce a magisterial inquiry into the death of the poor mason, but it was he who even locked the Police station where the poor man had been found dead. The young Chadoura MLA, whose politician father was killed by Hizbul Mujahideen and the militant brother by BSF, seems to be in a misplaced dilemma over the red and white colours of the blood of his fellow Kashmiris. Hence the silence?
|
|
One killed, one
injured; pilot bails out SRINAGAR, Dec 26: A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed on a house near the local air base here, killing a father and injuring his son, as the IAF ruled out "any external action" for the mishap. The aircraft crashed at 1425 hours as it was coming in to land at the Srinagar airport after an "operational sortie" but the pilot, Flying Officer B K Singh, bailed out. Singh, who broke his left arm, was rushed to the hospital and was out of danger. The aircraft crashed on the house of Ghulam Ahmed Ganai in Lalgam village of Budgam district, about four kilometres from the airport. While Ganai was killed, his son was injured and their house which caught fire was completely destroyed, air force sources said. Quoting preliminary information available, IAF spokesman Squadron Leader R K Dhingra said in Delhi that the possibility of the aircraft being hit by a missile or ground fire was ruled out. His comments came in the backdrop of security forces recovering Pakistani-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile ‘Anza’ from militant hideouts in border district of Kupwara recently. Dhingra said "a court of inquiry has been ordered into the accident to see whether the mishap was caused by a bird-hit or technical or human error". He, however, ruled out "any external action" for the crash. The aircraft which had a normal sortie of 30-35 minutes would have flown almost over the entire northern Kashmir area bordering Pakistan. Both Ganai and his son were rushed to the army base hospital, where the father was declared dead, sources said. Senior police and security officials have reached the spot and a cordon has been laid around the village, they said. The MiG-21, which crashed, was of the Type-75 variant. As many as 17 of these aircraft have crashed this year alone, with the parliamentary standing committee on defence repeatedly asking the Government to phase them out. The aircraft entered service in the IAF in late sixties. The Government has ruled out phasing out of these warplanes saying that massive upgradation of the MiGs was underway with Russian, French and Israeli collaboration. Under the project, estimated to cost Rs 1200 crore, 125 MiG-21s of the BIS version are being upgraded in stages, with the first upgraded squadron having already entered service with the IAF. (PTI) |
|
Minor reshuffle in army top brass NEW DELHI, Dec 26: In a minor reshuffle of the top Army echelons, Lt Gen B D Thakkar has been named the new Director General of Military Operations at the Army Headquarters here. He succeeds Lt Gen S S Chahal, who has been moved as Commandant of the National Defence College. Lt Gen J J Singh, who has the rare distinction of commanding a Strike Corp, has on promotion taken over as the Commander of the Army Training Command in Shimla, it was officially announced here. The reshuffle in the Army top brass comes in the wake of formal takeover as Army Chief by Lt Gen N C Vij on January one. Vij, after laying a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate, would be given a guard of honour in the lush green lawns of the South Block before formally taking over as the 29th chief of the Army Staff. (PTI) |
|
|
NEW DELHI, Dec 26: Senior IPS officers S C Choube and R C Agarwal were today appointed Directors General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) respectively. Choube, a 1966 batch IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh cadre, is currently DG ITBP and will succeed T N Mishra who retires by the end of the month, a Home Ministry spokesman said. A 1968 batch UP cadre IPS officer, Agarwal is at present Special Director of Border Security Force (BSF) and will come in place of Choube. (PTI) |
|
Govt has failed to fulfill pre-poll promise on SoG: Hurriyat SRINAGAR, Dec 26: Hurriyat Conference today accused PDP-led Government in Jammu and Kashmir of having failed to fulfil its pre-poll promise to disband the Special Operation Group of police which continued its "terrorism". "The reign of terror of the SoG has intensified of late and the State Government finds itself helpless to arrest this trend", a Hurriyat spokesman said today. He said counter-insurgent group of the local police has "intensified its drive against the innocent kins of those wanted by police" and the ruling party leaders have failed in their attempt to provide relief to the victims. The spokesman said two brothers Firdous Ahmad Magray and Tariq Ahmad Magray of downtown Srinagar were languishing in the interrogation centre of SoG for the last eight days. SoG also arrested their brother-in-law Mohammad Rafiq Wani yesterday for no fault of his, he said. Despite the pleas of their aggrieved mother in all fora including the State Human Rights Commission, her children and son-in-law continue to be detained by the SoG, the spokesman said. He claimed PDP vice-president Mehbooba Mufti intervened in the matter but to no avail. (PTI) |
|
|
Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 26: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani will arrive here tomorrow to take stock of the security situation in the State. Advani is scheduled to address a meeting of the Unified Headquarters which will take stock of the security situation and assess anti-militancy operations in the State, they said. The Unified Headquarters, responsible for anti-insurgency operations in the State, is headed by the Chief Minister and includes Commanders of the 15 Corps and the 16 Corps besides police and Intelligence officials. It will be Advani’s first official visit to Jammu after the installation of the PDP-Congress coalition Government in the State. Defence Minister George Fernandes is also likely to attend the meeting. Advani will also inaugurate a new terminal building complex and a runway at the Jammu civil airport. Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain will join the inaugural function. The old runway was used by AB-320 aircraft with load restrictions and will be extended to facilitate operation of B-737-8-aircraft without load any restrictions. Runway lights will be provided to facilitate night operations. The Airport Authority of India has spent about Rs 18 crore on the project. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |