Kashmiri Pandits express concern
JAMMU, June 8 — Dr Agnishekhar, Convenor, Panun Kashmir, socio-political organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, has expressed concern over the callous attitude of the state administration towards their community.

2 killed in Pak shelling

BARAMULA, June 8 (UNI) — At least one Jawan was killed when Pakistani troops opened unprovoked artillery and mortar fire on Indian positions in the Uri sector last evening.

Official sources said that Pakistani artillery and mortar shelling was concentrated in the Lalpur area of Uri sector and a Jawan was killed when a shell burst near him.

Some shells also fell on the outskirts of Uri town but there were no reports of casualties or damage to property. A civilian was killed and another was injured in Gurez sector due to shelling by Pakistani troops earlier yesterday.

A woman was injured when the Pakistani troops resorted to medium intensity shelling on 20 border outposts and civilian areas in the Jammu region last evening.

Police told UNI here that the woman was injured in firing at village Garana in R.S. Pura sector in the morning.

Pakistani troops targeted the border outposts at R.S. Pura, Khour, Arnia, Ramgarh and Kana Chack sectors in the Jammu region.

The areas under attack included Gole Pattan, Panjore, Garora (Kanachak sub-sector), Jogwan Pallanwallah, Pargwal (Khour sub-sector), Pind, Chenaz, S.H. Way, Kaku-de-Kothey, Kudwal (Arnia sub-sector), Narayanpur, Chamlayal, Fatwal, Nanga, Majra (Ramgargh sub-sector), and Suchetgarh, Garana (R.S. Pura sub sector).

However, there were no reports of any casualties or damage to property. Indian troops retaliated.

SRINAGAR: Three persons, including two militants were killed in militancy-related incidents in different parts of the valley during the past 24 hours.

An official spokesman said the security forces killed one militant each at Aildar forest in the frontier district of Kupwara and Noorbagh in the city last evening.

He said two AK rifles, two magazines, two wireless sets, three grenades, 43 detonators and 100 grams of plastic explosive were recovered from the slain militants.

He said a civilian was killed in an encounter between militants and the security forces at Sigri Chatroon last evening. Another person was injured in a shootout between the forces and militants at Potha last evening.

He said forces seized one Pika gun, two AK rifles, 22 remote control devices, 30 grenades, one pistol, two rockets and 7.5 kgs of explosives during overnight operation across the valley.

The police achieved a major breakthrough by capturing a Pakistan-trained militant of outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen along with arms and ammunition at Bishnah village, about 20 km from here.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Jammu range) Ashok Gupta told mediapersons here last evening that the militant, Mohammad Sharief alias Abdullah from Andhra Pradesh, was found moving under suspicious circumstances by a police party from Bishnah police station. When challenged, he tried to run away but the policemen chased and caught him.

During interrogation Abdullah disclosed that he had crossed over to Pakistan twice from the Kathua area and got training in subversive activities there. He said he had hidden some arms and ammunition under Pindorin bridge, including two Chinese pistols, four magazines, 29 rounds, one grenade and 17 electric detonators. These weapons were shown to mediapersons during the Press conference.

10 militants held in Ladakh
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, June 8 — The police here claimed to have identified a new terrorist group in the Turtuk area of Ladakh and apprehended ten members of the gang on Sunday.

"A new terrorist group was to be floated in Turtuk for the purpose of sabotage and terrorism" in the area, a police spokesman stated here adding that this was at the instigation of the brother of one of the terrorists. Arms recovered from them include 11 AK rifles, 24 AK magazines, 741 rounds of AK ammunition, one pistol, three pistol magazines, 45 rounds of pistol ammunition, one AL silencer, two kgs of explosives, two hand grenades, four gelatine rods, six detonators and 10 meters of fuse wire.

The spokesman said that the recoveries were made at several places. The Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Mr Gurbachan Jagat who also visited the area on Monday along with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, inspected the weapons. He announced a cash reward for the police personnel who busted the gang.

According to the spokesman the police foiled an attempt of Pakistan and the ISI to spread militancy in the remote area with the arrests in Turtuk and its adjoining villages along the line of control. The spokesman added that Pakistan had trained the militants to spread militancy in the area to be followed by infiltration as in other parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the police claimed to have killed a top militant, Mohammad Aslam Wani alias Yaser, deputy District Chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit in Safakadal area of the city here last night. Mohammad Wani, son of Ghulam Mohammad Wani from Sutharan Beeru in Budgam district had crossed over to Pakistan for arms training in 1994 and returned last year.

Acting on specific information, Special Operations Group (SOG) Budgam raded a militant hideout at Safakadal here last night. The hiding militants opened fire on the search party resulting in injuries to a policeman. In the ensuing encounter, the militant was killed, while some of his associates escaped.

Tourist traffic to valley declines
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, June 8 — While there has been a sharp decline in the tourist traffic to the Kashmir valley there is no impact of the Kargil conflict on the rush of the pilgrims to the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi.

Prior to the conflict in the Kargil-Dras belt the daily arrival of the tourists in Srinagar used to be 3,000. This has declined to over 700 per day. Tourists officials said Kashmir has been receiving, prior to the rise of the insurgency in 1989, large groups of tourists from Maharashtra and Gujarat between April and May. When the Kargil conflict assumed serious dimensions on May 9 there was no immediate impact on the flow of tourists to Kashmir.
They said from June onwards Kashmir used to receive heavy tourist traffic from the North, especially from Delhi, Punjab, UP and Rajasthan. However, not many from these areas have turned up so far because of the war-like situation in Kargil and in other border areas.

Tourism officials said between January and May-end over two lakh tourists had visited Kashmir which was double the number registered last year. Out of this there were 6,000 foreigners. July-August usually remained a lean period as far as tourist traffic was concerned and "we hope to have a bumper tourist traffic during the September-October period," said officials.

They said there would not have been sharp decline in the tourist arrival had the authorities not closed the Srinagar airport for three days. The news regarding the closure of the airport for airlines traffic spread like wild fire all over the world making people believe that there was war in Kashmir. This led to the cancellation of reservations because tourists feared that they may get stranded in Srinagar.

Contrary to it there has been no impact of the Kargil conflict on the rush of pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra. Since May 9 the daily arrival of pilgrims to the shrine has ranged between 17,000 and 18,000. A government officer said when compared to the last year's daily arrivals there had been hardly a decline of 1,000 which was a normal phenomenon.

Rape allegation sparks protests

SRINAGAR, June 8 (PTI, UNI) — The alleged rape of a village girl by a BSF officer sparked a shut down in some areas of Srinagar even as the BSF said it had ordered a departmental inquiry.

The girl, hailing from Verigam village of Kulgam in Anantnag district, lodged an FIR at a local police station yesterday stating that the BSF officer took her inside a camp at Akhara Building here and raped her.

A BSF spokesman told PTI that the matter had been verified and the allegations could not be substantiated. However, he said, a departmental inquiry had been ordered into the matter.

He said a medical examination of the girl and recording of evidence before on executive magistrate would be done and the BSF sub-inspector would be subjected to a forensic test to establish the truth.

Official sources said, the agitated shopkeepers in at least dozen localities downed their shutters to register their protest against the alleged rape. They demanded stern action against the BSF officer.

Meanwhile business activities in Civil Line areas including Maisuma, Badshah Chowk, Lal Chowk, Kokerbazar and adjacent areas came to halt in protest against the alleged rape.

Reports of stone pelting on passing vehicles in the Civil Line areas were also received.

Demonstrators alleged that the BSF official took the victim to his camp by promising to give her a job and raped her there.

Kashmiri Pandits express concern
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, June 8 — Dr Agnishekhar, Convenor, Panun Kashmir, socio-political organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, has expressed concern over the callous attitude of the state administration towards their community.

In a statement issued here today, Dr Agnishekhar alleged that the state government was bent upon annihilating the already depressed community.

He alleged that relief agencies had become a "torture cell" for the hapless community. He also questioned the need of such relief agencies which were working in a total unethical manner which had been proved by the fact that for the past four months relief was pending.

"Irregular water supply and power cuts has put the people, especially children and old people to a lot of in convenience despite the fact that the ministers and officials concerned visited the people in migratory camps many times and promised improvement in these facilities, Dr Agnishekhar said.

Meanwhile, the government is committed for an early repatriation of Kashmiri migrants in wake of conducive condition in the valley.

This was stated by the Adviser on Minority Affairs to Chief Minister, Prof Satish Raina, during his visit to a migrant camp at Muthi here yesterday. He said without Kashmiri Pandits, the identity of Kashmir was incomplete.

Referring to the problems put forth by the migrants before the Adviser, Mr Raina said all pending payments on account of relief would be cleared within one week. Regarding the improvement in the supply of drinking water, electricity, medicare, besides sanitation, he issued instructions to the officers concerned to look into these and solve them on priority basis. He also directed them to have frequent visits to all migrant camps located in Jammu division.

With regard to employment to migrant youths Prof Raina said un- employed youths would be recruited in the Police Department.