J & K police strength to be raised
JAMMU, July 11 — In the wake of fresh challenges being posed by Pak trained militants, the police strength was being raised from 52,000 to over 60,000 by year end.

1 jawan, 20 Pak soldiers killed
JAMMU, July 12 — Despite easing of the situation on the Kargil front, heavy exchange of shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops continued at a number of places along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu division today, killing 20 Pakistani soldiers and one Indian jawan, a defence spokesman said here.

Blast rocks Srinagar; 7 killed in valley

SRINAGAR, July 12 (PTI) — At least three persons were wounded when a bomb went off inside a public toilet opposite Jammu and Kashmir High Court here this afternoon causing panic in the civil secretariat which is 100 yards away from the site of explosion.

Elsewhere in Kashmir valley, seven persons, including five militants and a security jawan, were killed in separate incidents, while militants torched a house since last evening, an official spokesman said here today.

Panic gripped the city today when a blast blew up a urinal on the main road leading to the civil secretariat causing injuries to three persons, including a constable of Tourist Police, the spokesman said.

Suspecting militants’ hand in the blast, the spokesman said a timer device was believed to have been used to trigger the explosion with the intention of targeting senior civil and police officials who use the road to reach their offices.

The office of the state Director-General of Police is also located adjacent to the civil secretariat, the spokesman said.

Official sources said, the blast was heard within a two-km radius of the site forcing people waiting at the nearby bus stop to run for life and shopkeepers to down shutters.

However, order was restored immediately after senior police and security officers reached the site.

No militant outfit so far has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Meanwhile, two unidentified militants were shot dead by security forces in an armed clash in the forest area of Trehgam in frontier district of Kupwara last evening, the spokesman said.

He said another militant, Abdul Hamid Ganai, fell to the bullets of security forces during search operations at Brathgund-Selu in Sopore area of Baramula last evening.

Security forces also killed a militant of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami, Mohammad Amin Ahanger in an encounter at Halsidar village in Dooru area of Anantnag district last night, the spokesman said.

He said an unidentified militant was blown to pieces when a land-mine he was trying to plant went off prematurely at Bazipora-Ajas in Baramula district yesterday.

Militants ambushed a security patrol at Mazbug in the same district last night, killing a jawan.

Body of a person identified as Abdul Rahim Dar was picked up by the police from Wagam in Pulwama district of south Kashmir today. The victim was reportedly kidnapped and later killed by militants late last night, the spokesman said.

JAMMU: Three hardcore militants and a Rashtriya Rifles (RR) jawan were killed and four others, including an officer, injured in a fierce encounter in Surankote area of Poonch district while militants gunned down two villagers in Rajouri district of Jammu region since last night, official sources said here today.

The sources told PTI that on specific information about the presence of militants in Derra forest area of Surankote tehsil of Poonch district, Rashtriya Rifle (RR) troops launched a cordon operation in the area last evening.

After two hours of search, militants hiding near a dense pocket of trees located on a hilltop, resorted to heavy firing on troops, sources said.

The troops took safe positions and returned the fire resulting in a fierce encounter which lasted for over three hours, sources said, adding three hardcore militants were killed while the rest fled.

The sepoy was identified as Senthil T of 16 Madras, sources said adding Captain Saurav Mandi, who led the operation party and constable Joginder Singh were among the four army personnel injured in the operation.

The sources said the militants, belonging to the Lashker-e-Toiba, could not be identified so far. A large quantity of arms and explosive material including three AK rifles, one sniper, one RPG, 5 magazines, two high power wireless sets, 7 grenades, 3 rockets and other explosives were recovered from the encounter site.

In a separate incident, militants gunned down a woman identified as Saifia Begum at Shadra Sharief in Rajouri last evening, sources said.

Militants killed another civilian Sunder Singh in Nanyal village in Noushera of Rajouri district, the sources said. They also set on fire a house before leaving the place.

Panel mobilises 8.79 cr for militancy victims
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, July 12 — The Jammu and Kashmir Rehabilitation Council for Militancy Victims is mobilising Rs 20 crore for its corpus fund to undertake various relief measures for those hit by militancy abetted by Pakistan during the past one decade. So far, Rs 8.79 crore has been mobilised.

Set up to help the militancy-affected families under various welfare schemes in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department, the council identifies the beneficiaries through its district-level committees functioning under deputy commissioners. The schemes are aimed at covering orphans, widows, girl students, handicapped persons, elderly persons besides providing help in the shape of artificial limbs etc.

A financial help of Rs 200 per month is provided to the orphan students at primary level, Rs 250 per month at middle level and Rs 300 per month upto plus two. During the past two years, 2,445 such students have been benefited all over the state.

As many as 1,411 widows were also provided financial help in the state during last one year of which 400 widows belonged to Srinagar and 284 to Kupwara district. In addition, 571, militancy-affected persons were provided with old age pensions.

The council also arranged remarriage of 48 women of whom 13 belonged to Badgam, nine to Baramulla and 10 women hailed from Udhampur district.

It organised six camps in the valley last year and provided artificial aids like tricycles, wheel chairs, upper and lower limbs, crutches and sticks to the handicapped persons. So far 412 handicapped persons have been covered under the scheme involving Rs 8.10 lakh.

The council released Rs 61.78 lakh to various districts for distribution among the victims identified as tehsil and block levels by the committees last year. Srinagar district got Rs 16 lakh and Udhampur district was provided Rs 10.85 lakh. The council has spend Rs 76.93 lakh during past two years.

J & K police strength to be raised
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, July 11 — In the wake of fresh challenges being posed by Pak trained militants, the police strength was being raised from 52,000 to over 60,000 by year end. The strength had been raised from 38,000 to 52,000 in the past three years, Mr Gurbachan Jagat, DGP, said speaking at the passing-out parade of the first batch of constables at the Police Training Centre, Talwara, in Reasi today. Mr Jagat said the state and central governments had been generous in modernisation of the police and a Rs 190 crore action plan had been cleared by the Centre. Courses for various levels of police ranks had been restructured so as to equip them fully to take on the militants.

Presiding over the function, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah asked the police to gear up for big role in maintaining internal security and combating militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said a heavy responsibility lay on the shoulders of the security forces to wipe out militancy and complimented the Indian troops for meeting the challenge posed by Pakistan on the border. Militants were targetting policemen in order to demoralise the force and create panic. He hoped people would continue to fight the militants.

Dr Abdullah wanted the police to remain vigilant and ensure that civilians were not inconvenienced during their operations against insurgents. He promised that policemen would be provided all facilities. He said ex-gratia relief had been raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh if any policeman got killed in action, the government would take care of his family and his wards would get preferential treatment in getting government jobs. The state administration was trying to bring ex-policemen on a par with ex-servicemen as far as perks and facilities were concerned.

1 jawan, 20 Pak soldiers killed

JAMMU, July 12 (PTI) — Despite easing of the situation on the Kargil front, heavy exchange of shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops continued at a number of places along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu division today, killing 20 Pakistani soldiers and one Indian jawan, a defence spokesman said here.

Pakistani troops continued to resort to mortar firing along the LoC in these two districts forcing Indian troops to retaliate appropriately.

Indian troops targeted all known militant concentrations in Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) since morning, he said, adding 11 militants were killed and two civilians injured opposite Krishna Ghati and Bimber Gali sub-sectors.

Four Pakistani soldiers were also killed and four others wounded opposite Noushera sector during the exchange of shelling.