BJP: no normalcy in J&K till migrants return
NEW DELHI, Jan 20 — BJP today said normalcy in Kashmir would not be visible till Kashmiri migrants returned with "feeling of security" and "peace of mind" and assured the displaced people that the party was "with them in their hour of plight"

Eight militants shot dead
TNS and agencies

SRINAGAR, Jan 20 — Eighteen persons, including eight Pakistan-trained militants, a constable of the Jammu and Kashmir police and two special police officers were killed and six wounded in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening.

Militants struck in Srinagar, targeting a police constable even as the security forces arrested three militants and smashed three hideouts in the state during the period.

Five Pakistan-trained militants were killed in a gunfight at Chunt-Waliwar near Ganderbal on the outskirts of Srinagar. The encounter followed a tip off that some militants had come to their homes for Id-ul-Fitr celebrations.

Five assault rifles and a radio set were recovered from the site.

Troops gunned down a foreign mercenary involved in the massacre of 27 persons belonging to a minority community at Prankote in Reas tehsil of Udhampur district in Jammu region last year.

One person was killed and two were injured in a mine blast at Bagla Dhar village of Poonch district yesterday. Militants killed a man in Gaggar Sula village of Udhampur district last night. The police recovered the body of a postman from a nullah in Doda district.

Militants, armed with silencer-fitted revolvers, shot at police constable Mohammad Hussain at the crowded Nowhatta Chowk in downtown Srinagar today. He was rushed to hospital where he died.

Militants shot dead a man and critically wounded a boy at Danderkhah in Batmaloo area of central Srinagar. The boy was rushed to Soura Medical Institute.

Militants shot at and critically wounded two persons at Kulgam in Anantnag district today. Later, one of them died in the hospital. A woman, who was injured in a firing incident at Anantnag yesterday, succumbed to her wounds in the hospital today.

Bullet-riddled bodies of two special police officers, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat and Mohammad Ramzan Mir, were recovered from Datinag in Anantnag last night.

Two militants were gunned down at Lalpora-Lolab in the frontier district of Kupwara in a chance encounter. Troops raided hideouts of militants in Srinagar, Kupwara and Baramula and seized a gun, a pistol, an improvised explosive device, a remote-control device, two wireless sets, three silencers and a large quantity of ammunition.

BJP: no normalcy in J&K till migrants return

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (PTI) — BJP today said normalcy in Kashmir would not be visible till Kashmiri migrants returned with "feeling of security" and "peace of mind" and assured the displaced people that the party was "with them in their hour of plight".

"There will be no normalcy in Kashmir till the migrants return with honour. But before they return, they have to have a feeling of security and peace of mind," Senior BJP leader and MP Sushma Swaraj said at "holocaust day" function here organised by the Kashmiri Samiti to commemorate the start of migration from Kashmir on this day in 1990.

Stating that no deadline could be defined for the migrants’ return, she expressed optimism that "that time will come some day."

She criticised the intellectuals of the country for raising their voice for human rights of terrorists but ignoring the migrants "who have undergone worst kind of human rights abuse."

Kashmiri Samiti President CL Gadoo said the BJP-led central government was being "persuaded" and "reminded about its promises" made to migrants about their rehabilitation.

He ruled out migrants’ return in the prevailing situation in Kashmir and said "we want to go back but not to that Kashmir where there is hardly any rule of law, where militants still rule the roost."

3 BSF men killed

JAMMU, Jan 20 (PTI) — Three Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and four others critically injured in a head-on collision between two trucks near Dayalachak on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway yesterday, the police said today.

The deceased were identified as Dhyan Singh (head constable), Baljinder Singh and Jagdish Singh (both constables), it said. The injured — three BSF personnel and a civilian — were admitted to a nearby hospital. They were reported to be in a critical condition.