Advani visit Kargil, Anantnag
SRINAGAR, June 30 — The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani visited Kargil and other areas of Jammu and Kashmir today after he arrived here on a two-day visit of the trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir.

Troop movement: advantage ultras
JAMMU, June 30 — The killing of 40 persons, including four securitymen, in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours has made it clear that militants have taken advantage of the shifting of 40 battalions to the border.

Fighting against odds in Kargil
KARGIL, June 30 — The difficult war being waged in the icy, desolate and rocky mountains of Kargil, to evict the enemy from Indian territory is a tribute to the bravery of the Indian soldier who is carrying out the assigned job without high expectations.

Farooq threatens war against Centre
SRINAGAR, June 30 — Expressing concern over the Centre's attitude towards economic crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has threatened to declare a war against the Centre after the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Advani visit Kargil, Anantnag
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, June 30 — The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani visited Kargil and other areas of Jammu and Kashmir today after he arrived here on a two-day visit of the trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier Mr Advani was received at the airport by the Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, the Chief Minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah, and the Minister of State for Home, Mr Mushtaq Ahmad Lone. The Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitly, Director-General, Rashtriya Rifles, Lt-Gen Avtar Singh, the Principal Secretary, Home, Mr C. Phunsong, and DG of Jammu and Kashmir Police were also present on the occasion.

The Home Minister addressed public meetings at Sankoo and Minji villages and the troops in the Kargil. Later he visited Udhampur to meet the injured soldiers undergoing treatment at the Army base hospital.

He also visited Anantnag today, where at least 12 members of a particular community were killed by unidentified militants yesterday. The Home Minister took stock of the situation arising out of the killing.

Before returning to Delhi tomorrow the Home Minister is also scheduled to visit the Karnah area of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, close to the Line of Control and other areas along the LoC which included Keran and Karnah, Machil sectors in Kupwara district and Uri in Baramula district.

Assuring the displaced persons of all assistance from the Centre, Mr Advani said the people of Dras would return back to their homes only when the situation improves. He said their expenses would be met by the Centre.

He announced a grant of Rs 2 crore from the Prime Minister to be provided to the Chief Minister for taking care of the displaced people of Kargil.

Troop movement: advantage ultras
From M L Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, June 30 — The killing of 40 persons, including four securitymen, in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours has made it clear that militants have taken advantage of the shifting of 40 battalions to the border.

Since the withdrawal of 40 battalions from within the state not more than 11 battalions of the para-military forces have reached the state. Against this more than 800 militants equipped with highly sophisticated weapons have sneaked into the state from across the border in recent weeks.

The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, had announced in Jammu recently that 26 battalions of the para-military forces would be sent to Jammu and Kashmir for taking care of the internal security.

Intelligence agencies had sent reports to the state government and the Centre that with the outbreak of armed conflict in Kargil militants would create severe internal security problem. However, no followup done.

Experts are of the view that if at least two fresh battalions were not sent immediately militants could step up their strikes.

That the militants would intensify their activities in the state following the outbreak of Kargil conflict was understandable. But the way they massacred 17 people, belonging to one community, in Morha Bachai in the Surankot area of Poonch, and 12 people, all hailing from Bihar and working as labourers at Sandu village in Anantnag district in South Kashmir indicates that militants, especially the foreign mercenaries, were keen on creating internal security problems so that reinforcement was not sent to the border.

The massacre of 17 Muslims in the Surankot area has been the result of growing feud between two factions of pro-Pak militant outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen. The rivals have been calling one another as security forces, moles. Those who had lost four colleagues earlier in operations launched by security forces eliminated 17 people, some were close relations of militants belonging to the rival group.

There is no iota of doubt that the tug of war between counter insurgents and pro-Pak militants having spread to the Poonch-Rajouri belt. And reports from the Kashmir valley revealed that militants gunned down 12 Hindu labourers from Bihar in retaliation to the killing of 17 Muslims in the Surankot area.

The massacre of 29 people in Sandu in Anantnag district and in Morha Bachai village in Surankot was the result of rivalry among the militants and part of their plan to retaliate the killing of Muslims in Poonch, and the one each in Doda and Udhampur is directed to foment internal unrest.

Fighting against odds in Kargil
From A.S. Prashar
Tribune News Service

KARGIL, June 30 — The difficult war being waged in the icy, desolate and rocky mountains of Kargil, to evict the enemy from Indian territory is a tribute to the bravery of the Indian soldier who is carrying out the assigned job without high expectations.

Our jawans are fighting on heights ranging between 14,000 feet and 18,000 feet. In places like Dras the temperature falls to as low as 60° below zero in the hills and 40° in the plains during the winter. The area is devoid of all vegetation and offers no protection to the men operating there.

The atmosphere is rarified and even minor exertion makes one gasp for breath. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to carry loads. A jawan has to carry his rifle, backpack survival rations and a heavy flak jacket when he climbs up the mountain to tackle the enemy. To maintain one man on top, two to three men are needed below for back-up.

The Indian jawan is fighting for the name of the Indian Army, the country and, of course, his battalion or regiment. The least the nation can do is to provide him with the best equipment available in the world to enable him to do his job more effectively and efficiently.

Unfortunately, this has not been happening for quite some time past. The Army Chief, Gen. V.P. Malik, said as much at his press conference in New Delhi the other day.

Defence requirements have remained neglected since 1986. Even the rifles being used by the Army are of 1960’s design. They are cumbersome to carry and load and shoot only one round at a time. Even the INSAS rifles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) — and which are still scarce in the field — are regarded as somewhat inferior to AK-74 rifles wielded by the Pakistan-trained forces in the North-East and Kashmir theatres.

Indian troops still use metal helmets of World War — I vintage that protect only the top of the head and not the sides. They need to be replaced with lighter Kevler vests and helmets together with night vision goggles.

Similarly, the Indian communications equipment was outdated. A soldier equipped with modern means of communications can now remain in contact with his base HQ all the time, relaying back both audio as well as visual information constantly.

Similar deficiencies have been shown up in other fields also such as the use of remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) for reconnaissance which are being put to extensive use by Pakistan along the LoC.

Farooq threatens war against Centre
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, June 30 — Expressing concern over the Centre's attitude towards economic crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has threatened to declare a war against the Centre after the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Answering questions at a television press conference here last evening, Dr Abdullah said: "I am going to declare a war against the Centre after the election process is completed and a new government comes into power". He held the execution of a mega power project in the state could not be launched due to the financial crunch even as the Centre had earlier given a counter-guarantee for this project.

The Chief Minister made it clear that the Centre did not come up with the counter-guarantee for the Kishen Ganga power project. He also blamed the central government of not releasing the salaries of the migrant employees under security related expenditures (SRE). He added that the state was left with no other option than to "declare a war" against the Centre in the absence of any financial support from the Centre despite the latter's repeated assertions in this regard.

Dr Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir was faced with acute financial crisis due to the seven-year-long Governor's rule in the absence of an elected government. There was no money with the state government for payment of salaries to its employees. There was no other option than to generate resources and for that purpose the financial assistance from the Centre was a must. But the Chief Minister regretted that the Centre did not pay any heed to its repeated demands for such an assistance to get it out of the financial quagmire.

In reply to a question, the Chief Minister said the Centre's approach towards Jammu and Kashmir was lukewarm as compared with Maharashtra. He pointed out that the Centre's approach towards Maharashtra was "generous" as "it was their own government in Maharashtra".

He said the power tariff would be again hiked in view of the overburdened debts in the power sector. The consumers in the state, particularly in Kashmir, did not pay power tariff in view of the militants' diktats for at least seven years till the National Conference government took over in 1996. In order to mobilise the recovery of power tariff to compensate the debit in the power sector the state government had announced amnesty packages.

Syed Abdul Rasheed, Minister of State for Power, who was also present on the occasion, pointed out the state owed Rs 600 crore to the Centre in the power sector only. Out of this, an amount of at least Rs 100 crore was outstanding with the security forces and the department itself owed Rs 37 crore. The Chief Minister said measures to check pilferage would be taken in Jammu and Srinagar cities where electric meters were being installed.

Dr Abdullah, who also holds the tourism portfolio, said the Kargil situation had given a severe jolt to the tourism flow to Kashmir. He added that there was hope of revival of tourism during autumn months when tourists from West Bengal start pouring into the valley. He also expressed the hope that a good number of tourists would be visiting the Amarnath cave shrine this year. So far, at least 1.50 lakh tourists had already visited the valley between April and June this year. He said the decline in tourist inflow was also due to the closure of Srinagar airport.