Development Council for Kargil by June
Govt delegates powers to Ladakh autonomous panel

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29: In a major political development, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition Government has mandated Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) to accord administrative approval up to Rs 5 crores.

This can be done without necessity of obtaining techno-economic feasibility from the Government, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, said here on Sunday.

The move to equip LAHDC with administrative and executive powers was formally approved by the State Cabinet at its meeting on Saturday. The meeting was chaired by the Chief Minister.

Mufti Sayeed told a news conference at his official residence this morning that under section 42(2) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, executive powers shall be delegated to the LAHDC for allotment, occupation, efficient use and management of land.

Section 33 of the LAHDC Act, he disclosed, would be suitably amended to vest the powers of general superintendence and control over the employees of the Council in the executive councillors as well. The Mufti let it be known, at the same time, that the Superintending Engineer and the District Development Commissioner of the district would be exceptions to such amendment.

Under the new arrangement, the Chief Executive Councillor will have the status of Cabinet Minister with salary and perks of Cabinet rank Minister. According to the Chief Minister, Executive Councillors will have the status of Deputy Minister "for purposes of protocol only" in Leh district. These councillors will be given salary equivalent to the salary of an MLA. Councillors would be given consolidated salary of Rs 6,000 each per month.

Mufti Sayeed also disclosed that section 4(2) of the LAHDC Act, 1997 would be amended to the effect that out of four members to be nominated by the Government from the religious minorities and women in the district, two will be nominated by the Government and two by the Chief Executive Councillor.

In terms of section 11 of the Act, the District and Sessions judge, Leh, shall be appointed as an ‘Authority’ before whom members of the council shall subscribe an oath. He would be, according to the Chief Minister, designated as an ‘Authority’ in terms of section 12 for redressal of grievances arising out of election disputes. He will also be designated as an ‘Authority’ in terms of section 20 of the LAHDC Act before whom an appeal against the order of removal of a member can be filed.

The Chief Minister announced that the State Government had decided to set up Autonomous Hill Development Council for Kargil district as well. The new panel, he said, would be in place by June 30 next year.

The Chief Minister revealed that decisions in relation to delegation of administrative and executive powers to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council were taken after a series of meetings with concerned leaders from Ladakh. He said that his Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, played a notable role while handling a series of matters during the meetings.

That the Chief Minister’s press conference was only meant to make public the new arrangement for the trans-Himalayan region became an open secret when Mufti Sayeed bluntly refused to field any question from the scribes immediately after he read out a written statement on the subject.

The Mufti, of course, allowed LAHDC’s Chief Executive Councillor, Mr Thuptsen Chewang, to make a brief statement on the Cabinet’s decisions in relation to LAHDC. But the Chief Minister wound up the deliberations immediately after a journalist wanted Mr Chewang’s reaction on the demand for Union Territory status to Ladakh.

No sooner did Mufti Sayeed get up from his chair than others, including the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, Prof. Bhim Singh of the Panthers Party and Mr Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami of the CPI(M), besides some senior Government officials including the Chief Secretary, Dr SS Bloeria, also got up. "Some other time, I promise", was the Chief Minister’s assurance when some mediapersons sought to make him answer questions on other issues.

Mr Thuptsen Chewang termed as "historic" the Mufti Government’s decision, stating that it would go a long way in the development of the area and meet regional aspirations of the people. He expressed the hope that similar steps would be taken to meet the regional aspirations of other people in the State.

Even as the Ladakhi leader refused to comment on whether the development would dilute or end the demand for separation of Ladaklh from the rest of the State, he placed himself on record as saying: "It is a very good start in the direction of fulfilling aspirations of the people of three regions of the State".

Mr Chewang argued that demands for separation emanated from "injustice and a feeling of not being part of development process". He was of the view that if similar steps were taken for other regions to address their aspirations, then the Kashmir problem can get resolved.

The CPI(M) leader, Mr Yusuf Tarigami,said that the Government had fulfilled the promise made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the common minimum programme (CMP).

Plans on to restrict Pak nationals to 3 cities

NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Reflecting the current chill in its relations with Pakistan, India plans to restrict Pakistani visitors to three cities and undertake a drive to round up those who have overstayed in the country.

Government is also considering a proposal to get undertakings from local sponsors of Pakistani visitors in order to hold them responsible for the whereabouts of their guests till the time they left the country, Minister of State for Home Vidyasagar Rao told reporters here.

Expressing concern over increasing cases of Pakistani nationals overstaying or going underground in India, he said all State Governments have been empowered by the centre to identify, nab and deport those staying in the country beyond the time permitted in their visas or had gone missing.

"The State Governments have also been asked to launch special drives to nab those Pakistani nationals staying here illegally. State police forces and the foreigners registration offices have been empowered to nab and deport them," he said.

However, he said Government was also contemplating granting citizenship on humanitarian grounds to aged persons who had their kins here or those women who got married to Indian nationals on a case to case basis.

Rao said of a total of 11,208 cases of Pakistanis who had entered India legally but were overstaying, as many as 2,324 among them had staying without trace.

"You need only one Osama bin Laden to cause a disaster," he said adding it was found that 90 per cent of Pakistanis seeking Indian visas were furnishing false addresses.

While the practice of "100 per cent pre-verification" of Pakistanis seeking visas would continue, the ministry was also going to install computer software at points of entry and exit in different parts of the country so that information about foreigners were available to concerned authorities all over the country, he said.

Following the Simla agreement, India and Pakistan had signed an accord on issuance of passports which entitled nationals of both countries to visit a maximum of three places. The accord also restricted the issue of visas only for meeting relatives or for diplomatic purposes.

However, New Delhi had unilaterally increased the number of places which could be visited by the Pakistanis to 12 and had also started issuing tourist visas, Rao said.

The proposal now was to restrict the maximum number of places to three as before, he said, adding that stoppage of granting extension on tourist visas was also being considered. (PTI)

Pak Kashmir Committee calls for new initiative from Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: Putting a question mark on the future of Pakistan’s Kashmir Committee, its chairman Abdul Qayyum Khan has admitted its failure in coming up with a new approach to resolve the Kashmir issue and called for fresh initiatives from President Pervez Musharraf in the light of taking over of the Mufti Government in J and K.

In a letter to Musharraf, released to the media here, Qayyum, also former Prime Minister and President of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), said that though the convening of the committee a year ago by Musharraf was a great initiative, it was bogged down with the "half century of conventionalism on the part of bureaucracy."

He said the new Government in Jammu and Kashmir led by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed called for "serious and timely" attention.

"It has to be a multi-dimensional approach, from timely relief to political initiative.... I shall be eagerly looking forward to your guidance," he wrote to Musharraf.

About the performance of his committee, Qayyum said "except for a few productive visits at home and abroad the committee has nothing to offer as its credit."

"If this inaction has to continue for some time more the very commitment becomes a question mark and the entire blame will rightly be put on me as chairman. More so because I cannot shift or escape the blame," he said.

Qayyum, considered a moderate, is the first Kashmiri leader to have been appointed as the chairman of the Committee, which was revived by Musharraf last year. The committee is comprised of several journalists, intellectuals and political leaders.

It was not clear yet what prompted Qayyum to write the letter. The committee, which remained inactive in recent months, also appeared unwilling to take an active stand on its approach to Indian Kashmir Committee headed by Ram Jethmalani.

Qayyum said the committee lacked general direction, adding "I have been seeking guidance from chief executive’s office and other relevant quarters about future of this committee.

"Whether or not the committee will exist, and in what shape; And whether or not it is any more required; Whether or not it has to play any proactive role, I however, find it embarrassing to continue as a sleeping partner, nor I want to suddenly break off."

Qayyum said though the appointment of the committee was a "great initiative" by Musharraf, the system did not permit it to take any initiatives. "It pre-supposes only defensive and reactive response but not proactive approach."

"This bring us to a drastic self-contradiction. The situation demands initiative but short of your person, we seem to be scared to initiatives only lying in wait for an opportunity to react. This in fact defeats the very purpose of this committee. We are bogged down in half a century old conventionalism while this committee is absolutely an unconventional concept," Qayyum said.

Stressing that it was important to win the media war on the Kashmir issue, he said "whereas needless to mention the Indian side whose working on Kashmir has ever since been consistent, target oriented and objective, while all said and done we have only been beating about the bush and remain contented over your imaginary achievements.

"I am sorry to acknowledge that for reasons I cannot lay claim to any step forward, so far, nor there seems to be any future possibility." (PTI)

2002, a momentous year—II
Terrorism and turmoil in public mind

From Pushp Saraf

New Delhi, Dec 29: If the ‘fair, free and credible’ elections in Jammu and Kashmir have given a reason for celebration, there is no end yet in sight to the scenes of mourning. Terrorists, in their latest misadventure, are beheading innocent women and children in the Jammu hills after having violated the sanctity of the Raghunath Temple. The death also continues to chase those who made the credible elections possible by actively participating in the democratic exercise in the face of bullets.

Clearly, the terrorists and their wire-pullers across the Line of Control are in panic that their threats to boycott the elections have had no effect. They are, therefore, desperate to make their presence felt. People’s Democratic Party legislator Abdul Aziz Mir from the saffron (totally different from the context in which it is politically understood elsewhere in the country) land of Pampore is the latest martyr to the cause of democracy.

National Conference Minister Mushtaq Lone was eliminated at the peak of the election campaign. Their assassinations are the grim reminders that terrorists are on the prowl. What, however, needs to be noticed that even in such fearful atmosphere ordinary people no longer stay in their homes to weep in isolation in the memory of their colleagues and leaders; they come out in thousands to join the funeral processions. The number of those who turned up to bid a tearful farewell to Mir perhaps far exceeded those who had actually voted for him.

Similar outpouring of emotions was witnessed at Mushtaq Lone’s funeral. Somewhere, clearly, the public mind has been touched, it is in turmoil and unhappy that it has little control over the happenings around it. It is no more as frozen, like the snow on top of the mountains, as it was in the early stages of militancy when the people would not even move and dare go near the bodies of the victims of the terrorist violence lest they offended the perpetrators of the heinous crime. People in Kupwara district — the home district of Abdul Ghani Lone —had turned up in strength to exercise their franchise in the Assembly elections. Quite a few of the local inhabitants went on record to say that by casting their vote they wanted to give a rebuff to Pakistan for having engineered the killing of their hero. The members of the Lone family brushed aside all pressure, including that of the multi-party Hurriyat Conference, to disown the Lone supporters who figured in the electoral battles.

At the time of his murder, Lone was pleading for a unity of hearts, and just before his assassination at the Idgah ground, was learnt to have passed on a piece of paper to the Mirwaiz emphasising the need for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh unity. People did not take kindly to his killing, and responded through ballot at the first available opportunity. It is generally believed that Kupwara district, which figured in the first phase, set the trend for successful polling in the last elections spread over four phases. That only one of Lone supporters won is not the correct index of popular support the memory of the hero of rural Kashmir had evoked. Contrast this public response to the earlier years of militancy and one would find that there has been appreciable change. The response in the Valley was one of shock, anger and anguish when first Yusuf Halwai of the National Conference and then Tikka Lal Taploo of the Bharatiya Janata Party was killed. Gradually, the fear took over, particularly if the victims of the terrorists happened to be the members of the Kashmiri pandit community.

Why, the people even feared to go to the grave of their tallest leader, Sheikh Abdullah, swearing by whom they had grown up over the years. In some cases, they devised novel methods to convey their anger over the killings. It was shocking, for instance, when the Muslim friends of Lassa Koul took out a procession holding placards blaming then Governor Jagmohan for the assassination of the highly popular director of Srinagar’s Doordarshan Kendra. Everyone knew it was not true and that the actual killers were the militants. Yet, the fear had tied their tongues. Top political leaders themselves followed the militants’ dictates to quit the National Conference. Not only merely that; they had followed to the hilt the ‘orders’ to publish announcement about their resignations in local newspapers. However, things are slowly changing.

The realisation that they have been taken for a ride for rather too long has slowly grown. It had begun first with violent clashes between the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front and the Hizbul Mujahideen, representing different ideologies, and then come into the open with differences in the HM with an influential section of the Valley-based leadership opting for peace talks much to the consternation of Moulvi Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, Muzaffarabad-based Kashmiri chief of the organisation. Local women, constituting backbone of Kashmir’s agrarian society, have stood up valiantly against threats to wear burqas and at a great risk to their personal well-being.

Now, the women in Rajouri and Poonch districts are being forced to adopt this medieval practice and abandon their studies. Expressing his anger and anguish over the anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, Prof J.S. Bandukwala, who teaches nuclear physics in Vadodara’s M.S. University and was saved by his Hindu neighbours, has made many pertinent observations in an article. Referring to the ideal role for the Muslim society, he writes inter alia: ‘...Every Muslim boy and girl must get the best and highest education possible...Women have to be treated with maximum respect and dignity. Triple talaq must be treated as un-Islamic. The whole foundation of Muslim society should rest on our women ...’ Apparently, the terrorists, motivated by a misconceived jihad, don’t believe in this. Women have always contributed richly to the social, political and cultural prosperity of Kashmiri society.

Be it Habba Khatun or Lalded in the none-too-distant past; or Begun Akbar Jehan (mother of Farooq Abdullah) or Zainub Begun (sister of late Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq), who organised the Women’s Resistance Force against Pakistan’s invasion in 1947, recently. Viewed in this context, Mehbooba Mufti’s emergence as a top politician should be regarded as a welcome development. There are a large number of women from the State occupying positions of influence in education, bureaucracy and even in police.

No more the women are in a mood to return to the ‘purdah’ system, although the pressure on them can’t be denied. Jammu city continues to make a great contribution to resist terrorism. People of the city have boldly encountered the terrorists’ strategy to create communal divide. After having failed to generate tension by throwing bombs on religious congregations outside the Raghunath Temple and Khatiqan Talab mosque, the militants this year entered the holy percincts of the Temple itself and created bloodshed. That they have once again failed to achieve their nefarious objective is a tribute to the people of Jammu.

There is hardly any politician who has not praised the patience and the spirit of secularism shown by the people of Jammu who have also accepted from 1947 onwards their brethren from either side of the Line of Control to live with them. Even refugees from Muzaffarabad, who should have normally settled in the Valley, have been accommodated in Jammu. It is, however, a misplaced propaganda that the rising terrorist violence in the Jammu hills and the Valley is linked to Mufti’s ‘healing touch’ policy.

An impression is being sought to be created in certain quarters — more so after the attack on the Raghunath Temple — as if blood-thirsty foreign terrorists are being set free by him. This is unfortunate because the people who are being released, after adopting due judicial procedure, are local Kashmiris whether he is JKLF chairman Yasin Malik or his close aide Bashir Bhat. Criminal cases against them have not been withdrawn. What is the harm if the misguided youth (many of them including Yasin have disowned violence) are given a chance to further improve their conduct?

Anybody who has interacted with them knows that they are political people and need to be dealt with — and, if inevitable, isolated — politically. To find fault with Mufti on this score is not logical at this early stage. After all, on April 8, 1964, Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq as the Prime Minister (the designation then of the popular head of the State) had released Sheikh Abdullah from the jail with eventually beneficial results.

Admittedly, there is a qualitative difference in the situation in 1964 and 2002; the gun is freely used now as the arbiter in some cases and it has to be ruthlessly silenced — nowhere Mufti has indicated that he is averse to firmly tackling the perpetrators of terrorism. So far as the attacks on the Raghunath Temple in Jammu city and Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) are concerned, the cause lies somewhere else, across the LoC. To link them with the release of the militants is to overlook the real threat.

After all, no militants are being released in Gujarat; yet, the Akshardham Temple witnessed unprecedented bloodshed. However, the most pious of intentions some times flounder on the ground of practical realities. This might happen to the well-meaning ‘healing touch’ policy if terrorists are allowed to get away with gruesome killings of innocent citizens in the upper reaches. They need to be stopped. Otherwise, Mufti would find his options limited and the militants, who have been set free, will have to regret having encouraged a vicious culture which does not belong to the soil. This might also have again have an adverse impact on the public mind which is eventually in a mood to revolt against the vicious cult of the gun.

Delhi has vague Kashmir policy Political experiments in J&K should stop: Shah

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 29: The National Conference, presently the main opposition party in Jammu and Kashmir, has taken the Centre to task for pursuing vague and incoherent policy in the sensitive State since the Indo-Kashmir link was brought about in 1947.

Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, a leading stalwart of the National Conference and Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly, has, in fact, warned that things won’t improve as long as the Centre continued to pursue what he termed as "inconsistent, vague and unsteady" policy on Kashmir.

Reacting to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr LK Advani’s announcement about the Centre’s readiness to initiate talks soon with the elected representatives in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah said that his party welcomed the Government of India’s intention to address the Kashmir problem and help stop what he described as "unabated killings, atrocities, arson and bloodshed the people have been witnessing in the State since 1989".

As Mr Shah attacked the successive Governments at the Centre for pursuing a policy or methodology which made the Kashmir issue "more vexed and complex", he called for measures to ensure "a concrete, firm and sincere" policy on J&K in the first place and, on the other hand,to cry a halt to the policy of conducting "political experiments" in the State. He decried the tendency to make J&K a "laboratory for testing various doctrines".

In this connection, the National Conference leader urged the Vajpayee Government to make clear its plan in relation to the nature and structure of dialogue process it wanted to initiate with the elected representatives in the State in the initial stages. He argued that the present political scenario warranted that the Centre should define its policy without confusion.

Raking up the autonomy issue, Mr Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah regretted that confusion had been allowed to grow as a result of two developments, namely,the rejection of the National Conference Government’s autonomy report by the Vajpayee Government, and the talk of talks with elected representatives and others on the Kashmir issue.

The National Conference, Mr Shah assured, was not against any such dialogue. "But we want that people should not be fooled by diplomatic phraseology and ambiguous statements", he said and proposed to the Centre: "Come forward with a concrete proposal, National Conference will support it at all levels".

Strongly defending his party’s autonomy package for the State, Mr Shah defined his party as "actually pro-people", stating that whatever the attitude of critics towards it, the National Conference "does not dance on the music of god-fathers".

Mr Shah was of the opinion that leaders at the helm of affairs in New Delhi as well as in J&K "are actually in pursuit of initiating a dialogue on internal autonomy but have not enough courage to announce it in clear terms". He said that had the Centre accepted his party’s autonomy proposal for dialogue earlier, it would have served as a platform to interact and discuss with various opinion groups and resolve the issue amicably.

In a statement issued here, Mr Shah lamented: "Since the Central Government did not want to give credit to the National Conference, they closed the doors without applying mind".

Surrendered militant main accused in Mir's killing

SRINAGAR, Dec 29: A surrendered militant Niyaz Ahmad Sheikh alias Kinga is suspected to be the main accused in the killing of PDP MLA Abdul Aziz Mir, a senior Jammu and Kashmir police official said today.

Superintendent of Police, Awantipora, Vijay Kumar, said five persons were yesterday arrested in connection with the murder and during their interrogation the name of the surrendered militant, a resident of Konibal, the native place of Mir, came to fore as the main accused.

Efforts were on to nab Kinga who is abscounding, he told PTI.

Police yesterday arrested Nissar Ahmad Gani, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat and Mitha, all from Konibal, and was interrogating them.

Mir was shot dead by a gunman while coming out of a mosque after offering Friday prayers on December 20. (PTI)

Pak frees Azhar from house arrest

MULTAN, Dec 29: Pakistani Police complied today with a controversial court order to free Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of the banned Islamic militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, from house arrest by withdrawing police guards placed around his home over one year ago.

Azhar quickly left his home for parts unknown. Police said they were complying with a court ruling in favor of Azhar issued Dec. 14.

"Following the removal of the police guard, Maulana Masood Azhar left for an unknown place after midnight," police official Sikandar Hayat, told the Associated Press by telephone from Bahawalpur, where Azhar’s home is located, 800 kilometers west of Islamabad and 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Multan.

Azhar and other leaders of Pakistan’s often violent Islamic groups were ordered jailed in December 2001, soon after a Dec. 13 attack by Islamic militants on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, which left 14 people dead.

Azhar was ordered released after the High Court in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, rejected a Government request to extend his detention by three months. No charges have ever been brought against him. Pakistani law allows terror suspects to be held for up to one year without charges.

Azhar’s release follows a similar order last month by the Lahore High Court to free Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the former leader of Lashkar-e-Toiba. Saeed had resigned from Lashkar-e-Toiba just before the group was banned and he became the leader of a new group, Jamaat Al-Dawat. (AP)

Vij to take over as Army Chief tomorrow

NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Lt Gen Nirmal Chander Vij is set to take over as the Chief of Army Staff on the retirement of Gen S Padmanabhan on Tuesday.

Lt Gen Shantonu Choudhary, presently the General Officer Commanding (GOC)-in-Chief of the army training command, will be the new Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

A Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) meeting will be held here tomorrow to bid farewell to Gen Padmanabhan, who is also currently the chairman of the COSC. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh will take over as the Chairman of the COSC.

Official army sources said that Gen Padmanabhan, who is retiring on Tuesday after 42 years of distinguished service, will lay a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti and attend a guard of honour before leaving for Chennai.

Lt Gen Vij, who takes over from Gen Padmanabhan, will formally assume the charge on January one. He will be the Army Chief for two years and one month.

Born in January 1943 at Jammu, Lt Gen Vij joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1959 and was commissioned into the Dogra Regiment on December 11, 1962. During his long and distinguished career spanning 40 years, he has worked in a variety of command, staff and instructional appointments. He has the distinction of commanding two corps - one being a strike corps and the other dealing in counter-insurgency operations. He was also the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) during the Kargil conflict.

In another top level appointment in the Army, Lt Gen S S Chahal, presently the DGMO will take over as Chief of the National Defence College, New Delhi.

Lt Gen B S Takhar, presently GOC of 10 Corps, will take over as the DGMO.

Lt Gen J J Singh will take over as GOC of Army Training Command.

Lt Gen V K Dhir will be the Director General of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers.

Lt Gen T S Pathak takes over as the head of the 1 Corps.

Lt Gen Rajinder Singh will be the head of the 3 Corps.

Lt S K Jain, who headed the court of inquiry ordered by the army into the Tehelka revelations, will retire on December 31. (UNI)

SP’s PA killed in Pulwama

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 29: Unidentified gunmen, believed to be militants, have shot dead the personal assistant of a Superintendent of Police in south Kashmir district of Pulwama. Militants also attacked the residence of a National Conference leader in Pampore but failed to cause any damage.

Official sources said that late last night three unidentified gunmen barged into the residence of Assistant Sub Inspector (ministerial), Bashir Ahmed Ganai S/o Ghulam Mohammad Ganai at Hef-Shirmal village in Pulwama district. They kidnapped him on gunpoint and 500 Mts from his home he was shot dead. Residents, rushed him to Bijbehara hospital and he succumbed to injuries midway.

Bashir Ahmed was PA to SP Awantipore, Vijay Kumar. He had left his office at 1700 hours and was present at his home when the gunmen appeared and asked him some questions before abduction. According to the family members, two of the gunmen seemed to be Gujjars and third one was speaking chaste Kashmiri. Bashir had been posted as PA to SP at Awantipore since 1999.

Meanwhile, at midnight last, militants fired several shots towards the house of NC’s defeated candidate, Ghulam Nabi Bhat, at Kadalbal in Pampore town. His Police guards retaliated and the militants escaped.

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