The Tribune...Jammu and Kashmir

J A M M U C& CK A S H M I R

Friday July 10, 1998

weather n spotlight
today's calendar

APHC sees tempo
in its favour
JAMMU, July 9 — "What we have not been able to do for ourselves, the state government is doing for us." This is the cryptic remark by a senior xAll-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader on the "repressive measures" adopted by the state administration against the Opposition in Kashmir...

BSF officer of Hisar
killed in valley
SRINAGAR, July 9 — At least four militants, including two foreign mercenaries and an Assistant Commandant of the Border Security Force (BSF), have been killed in separate encounters in the Gulgam area of Kupwara district since yesterday...
J&K panchayat poll
in November

Mystery shrouds
IED recovery
JAMMU, July 9— Mystery shrouds the recovery of three IEDs which were defused on the Pahalgam-Amarnath cave route on Wednesday following conflicting versions on the recovery...

Yatris perform pooja at Pahalgam temple
SRINAGAR, July 9 — Chanting Vedic mantras, priests performed Bhoomi Poojan and Dhwaja Rohan ceremonies...

APHC sees tempo in its favour
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service
JAMMU, July 9 — "What we have not been able to do for ourselves, the state government is doing for us." This is the cryptic remark by a senior xAll-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader on the "repressive measures" adopted by the state administration against the Opposition in Kashmir.
According to him, keeping senior Hurriyat leaders under house arrest, the lathi charge on Islamic Students League activists, who took out a procession in connection with Id-ul-Milad Nabi yesterday, and members of another procession led by Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah and denying permission to APHC leaders to visit the Hazratbal shrine on Friday have built a tempo in favour of the Hurriyat and other Opposition parties.
Another APHC leader, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, who is under a house arrest, told TNS: "I am for a peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue and against the destruction of India and Pakistan."
"By keeping me and other Hurriyat leaders under house arrest, the government may not be able to achieve anything".
He said he had sent messages to different quarters suggesting Indo-Pakistan dialogue in which representatives of the people of Kashmir were included so that a settlement could be worked out in the interest of peace.
However, government sources blamed the separatists for trying to "destabilise" peace in Kashmir adding that the heavy tourist traffic to the

valley and the people's indifference towards the activities of militants and other separatist outfits had unnerved the APHC leaders and they were trying to "stage mock shows" in the guise of processions and marches to Hazratbal.
The sources said after eight years, normalcy had returned to Srinagar and "we cannot allow APHC leaders or others to hijack peace." The government is "upset" over the way state Congress leaders, especially leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, have started "denigrading" the Special Operation Group (SOG). What has surprised the government is the way certain state Congress leaders have been lending direct support to the separatists, especially the APHC.
According to Prof Bhat, if the government claim that peace had returned to Kashmir was correct, how could it be destabilised by democratic activities. By adopting a "fascist" approach towards the Opposition, the state government was inviting trouble for itself and the people would soon react against the government, he said.
Supporters of Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah are enraged over the way Mr Shah was not allowed to hold a public rally at Lal Chowk. Some of them said that on the one hand the government claimed that it had succeeded in restoring democracy in the state and on the other, it had adopted strong measures to scuttle democratic activities.
Prof Bhat said possibly the government wanted to divert the attention of the people from the real problems, both economic and political, by coming down heavily on APHC leaders. He said he had little hope of getting permission for holding a public meeting in Srinagar on July 18.
The government, at the same time, is determined to prevent separatists from disturbing the peace in Kashmir by "engineering small protest rallies". Official sources said the valley had suffered death and destruction and "we will not allow the secessionists to cause further ruination of Kashmir."

Mystery shrouds IED recovery
Tribune News Service
JAMMU, July 9— Mystery shrouds the recovery of three IEDs which were defused on the Pahalgam-Amarnath cave route on Wednesday following conflicting versions on the recovery. While senior police officials in Anantnag district described the incident as not being serious because three "empty shells" has been recovered, the official spokesman said that on the basis of the intelligence agency reports, three IEDs had been recovered on the route which were defused.
The spokesman said that the recovery was made by the Road Opening party which startes its exercise before the pilgrims leave Pahalgam for the holy cave.
The 46-km route from Pahalgam to the holy cave has been handed over to the Army and the BSF for sanitising the area and keeping a strict watch on the militants. In fact, one week prior to the leaving of the first batch of pilgrims from Jammu to Pahalgam on July 5, companies of the Army and the BSF had been despatched to the area to carry out search operations in order to ensure that neither militants nor any mines or IEDs were planted on the mountain route.
If after 15 days, three IEDs are recovered on the route, it is a major security failure. Right from day one, the troops and jawans of the BSF should have carried out a regular road opening exercise and sniffer dogs pressed into service to detect mines or IEDs. The three IEDs recovered and defused had the potential of causing a major tragedy as the pilgrims move in groups.
Eyewitness accounts rule out the possibility of having recovered empty shells as during the past over three months or more, there was never any major encounter in the area in which the Army used shells against the militants.
Official sources said that this year, the exercise of sanitising the area was started late. Even in peace time this exercise, including guarding the water reservior at Pahalgam, used to be carried out one month before the yatra. Sources said that guarding of the reservoir had not been done so far.
The sources said that reports received from different quarters had indicated that a group of militants had visited the mountain area a week before the Army moved to Pahalgam and the cave and they may have planted the IEDs. Since June 30, the entire area right from Pahalgam to the holy cave has been kept under Army and BSF surveillance and as such planting of the IEDs in recent days was not practicable. Those who hold this view say that these IEDs may have been planted more the 15 days ago and if had they been planted in recent days, it was a major lapse on the part of the security forces.
Observers here suggest that effective surveillance and intensive search were needed right from Pahalgam to the holy cave to search for other explosives. The militants who had planted the three IEDs would have not felt satisfied with such a small number.
One thing positive about the incident is that thousands of pilgrims on way to the cave remained unperturbed and continued their trek over the hilly route.

Yatris perform pooja at Pahalgam temple
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 9 — Chanting Vedic mantras, priests performed Bhoomi Poojan and Dhwaja Rohan ceremonies at Pahalgam today as part of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage. A large number of sadhus and pilgrims were present during the rituals which were performed after eight years.
Pooja was also performed by sadhus and pilgrims at the historic Martand temple on the way to Pahalgam.
Addressing the congregation, Mahant Deependra Giri, head of the Dashnami Akhara Trust, which looks after the annual yatra, said that people of the Kashmir valley, irrespective of their caste and religion, had cooperated and encouraged the pilgrims during the yatra.
He appealed to the people of Kashmir to preserve the age-old tradition of communal amity and make the yatra a grand success.
The mahant expressed happiness over today's Bhoomi Poojan and protested against the state administration for not having made proper arrangements for today's poojan ceremony.
He announced that free langars had been set up at Dashnami Akhara and Sarin Akhara, Srinagar, for Sadhus who planned to visit to holy cave of Amarnath.

J&K panchayat poll in November
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 9 — The much-awaited panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled to he held from November 12 and will be completed in four weeks.
This decision was taken at a meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah here today. The elections are being held after a gap of two decades as the last elections were held in 1978.
Announcing the decision, the Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitly, said the Cabinet took this decision after reviewing the preparations and other related requirements for holding the elections.
The elections will be held for 2,683 panchayat halqas comprising 22,967 constituencies of panches and sarpanches. Of these, 2,683 will be constituencies for sarpanches and 20,286 for panches. In the Kashmir Division there will be 11,814 constituencies, including 1,454 for sarpanches, while there would be 11,153 constituencies in the Jammu Division, 1,227 of these for sarpanches. Each panchayat halqa will have a sarpanch.
According to an official spokesman, the maximum number of 295 panchayats halqas will be in Jammu district followed by 262 in Doda and 258 in Baramula district.
The panchayat elections will be conducted under the supervision of the Chief Electoral Officer. The state government has already got the permission of the Election Commission for the same. In all other states, panchayat elections are conducted by the State Election Commission.
Unlike in the past, panchayat election in the state will be held for the first time by the secret ballot for which polling stations will be set up on the pattern of assembly and parliamentary elections. Since the constituencies in the panchayat elections will be small, both in terms of area and the electorate, a large number of polling booths will be set up for the purpose. Their number will be around 20,000.
In the last eleciton panches and sarpanches were elected by show of hands.
The revised electoral rolls for the recent parliamentary elections will be valid for the panchayat elections as well. The elections will be fought on a party basis.
The election authorities will issue a notification 45 days before the polling date. The counting of votes will be held in the respective constituencies, preferably on the same day.

BSF officer of Hisar killed in valley
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 9 — At least four militants, including two foreign mercenaries and an Assistant Commandant of the Border Security Force (BSF), have been killed in separate encounters in the Gulgam area of Kupwara district since yesterday.
Two foreign mercenaries were killed in an encounter with the joint operation by the Border Security Force and the Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, have been identified as Shaheen and Darya Khan. The security forces have recovered six AK rifles, one pistol and a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the site of the encounter.
The spokesman said that Vijay Ahuja, an Assistant Commandant of the Border Security Force (BSF) was killed while engaging the dreaded militants in an encounter in Gulgam forest early this morning. Two jawans had also received minor injuries last evening, while Vijay Ahuja from Hisar in Haryana fought valiantly and laid down his life in the operation. One AK 47 rifle, one pistol and two rifle grenades were recovered from the site of the encounter early this morning.