Seminar ends
SRINAGAR, March 19 — A three-day national seminar on the millennium celebrations of multifaceted personality of Abu-Reihan Al-Biruni, organised by the Centre of Central Asian Studies of the University of Kashmir concluded here yesterday.

Plea for ordinance on land sale
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, March 19 — The President National Panthers Party, Mr Bhim Singh, has requested the Governor, Mr G.C.Sexena, to issue an ordinance banning transfer of land in the Jammu region. He has demanded that the ordinance should declare all land sale seeds executed during the past over two years as null and void.

In a statement issued here yesterday after touring several troubled areas of Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch districts for four days Mr Bhim Singh said in several militancy-infested areas people had been driven out of their ancestral villages after forcing them to sign land sale deeds.

He said he had interacted with 60 families who had fled from Parankot, Narkot and Budhal areas of Rajouri. Their women were raped by militants. They were forced to sign land sale deeds. He alleged that there were several hundred families, both Muslims and Hindus, in these three districts who had lost their houses and land in the "fake sale deeds."

Mr Bhim Singh urged the Governor to issue the ordinance in the interest of the nation and to foil the gameplan of the ISI which was bent upon evicting nationalists from the border villages.

The Panthers Party President berated the National Conference Government for not providing any succour to the migrants from the militancy- infested areas. He said during his tour he had met people tormented by hunger and poverty.

He has appealed to the Human Rights Commission to take cognisance of the plight of migrants from the border and hill areas of Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur districts. He added foreign mercenaries had started running their writ in these areas. He alleged that the situation had worsened after senior state officials in these areas had been found "in hand and glove" with militants. He said the state government had failed to protect the life and property of the people in these border areas.

Another film unit in J&K
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, March 19 — Amid bright sunshine in Kashmir, shooting of Hindi films has restarted. Raj Kumar Santoshi, is directing and shooting the film, "Pukar", with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit playing the lead roles, in the valley. Others in the cast include Danny Denzongpa Namrita Shirodkar, Girish Karnard and Govind Namdar.

The Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, played the clap boy to a shot of the film at Shankaracharya Temple here on Tuesday. Scenes and songs would be shot at the Dal Lake, Pahalgam and Gulmarg.

Bonny Kapoor, producer of the film, who is also here said it was his "dream to shoot a picture in Kashmir". "I have travelled a lot throughout the world, but could not find a better place for the shooting songs than Kashmir. He is accompanied by Latief Binny, a Kashmiri youth, as chief assistant director. Hailing from Cahdoora in the Central Kashmir district of Budgam, Latief has been associated with Bonny Kapoor for over eight years now. "That will help a lot in identifying the required locations" Bonny Kapoor said.

Some more film units are expected to visit Kashmir. Broadway cinema in the Batwara area was inaugurated here in August last year, after all cinema halls in major towns of the valley were closed down in the wake of militancy about a decade back.

Security agencies are on their toes to provide security to the film crew. The shootings take place in security zones only with the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force providing security to the crew members and artistes.

Dr Farooq Abdullah has been taking a keen interest in the visits of film crews to Kashmir for "giving boost to tourism". It was on his insistence, that Rattan Irani, who completed the shooting of his film, "Merey Apne" here last year, was provided with an assistance of Rs 10 lakh by the state government. A Telugu film unit also came here last year.

Surrendered militants
CM tells Army to be cautious
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, March 19 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has directed the Army and the police to keep a watch on those surrendered militants who had taken refuge in security camps or had infiltrated into the ranks of the security forces with a view to eliminating political leaders in the state.

Intervening during question hour in the Assembly here today, the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, informed the House that the government had given instructions to the security forces to keep a watch on what he called "Trojan horses" so that they were not able to kick up subversive violence or kill political leaders.

He said the ISI was trying to infiltrate militants who had surrendered their weapons into the police and other wings of the security forces. He said the state had faced a problem in 1990-91 because of internal sabotage in the police and hence the government had decided not to give jobs to the surrendered militants in the police. He said the Central Government had formulated a policy on the rehabilitation of the surrendered militants and accordingly, several hundred of them had been recruited in the paramilitary forces.

The Chief Minister said in order to avoid delays in the issuance of verification or character certificates to youths seeking jobs in government departments, the district police chiefs and the Deputy commissioners had been empowered to issue the certificates instead of the state Intelligence Department.

In reply to the main question tabled by Ms Mehbooba Mufti (Congress) and Mr Mubarik Gul (NC) the Minister of State for Home, Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, said 790 militants were lodged in jails and 162 had been rearrested. He said no militant had been lodged in jails outside the state.

He said 2,916 militants had surrendered, out of which 812 had been recruited in the BSF and the CRPF and 2,030 were working as special police officers. The others were working with various security agencies. In all, over 2,800 surrendered militants had been rehabilitated, but appointment orders could not be issued in several cases because of adverse CID reports. Some surrendered militants had been given permits to ply buses and certain others were being encouraged to set up units under self employment schemes.

In reply to a question by Mr Sagar Chand, Revenue Minister, Mr Ali Mohammad Naid said refugees from Pakistan could not be treated as permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir under the relevant provisions of the state Constitution.

Dr Farooq Abdullah, intervened to inform the House that the matter was a central subject and so far nothing had been done to settle the issue of refugees.

In reply to a question by Mr Abdul Kabir Pathan (NC) the Chief Minister said a Bill was being introduced in the state legislature for setting up an Amarnath Shrine board on the pattern of the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. He said though the government had a plan to widen the Baltal route to the holy cave, it would not allow Phalgam, the base camp for the annual yatra, to get sidelined as it would affect the economy of people.

Mr Lone informed the House that 66 encounters between the security forces and the militants had taken place in the Darhal constituency of Rajouri district during 1997-98 in which 45 civilians were killed. In these militancy related incidents, 56 militants and 13 security personnel had been killed. He said ex gratia relief for next of kin of those killed in militancy had been released.

The Finance Minister, Mr Mohammod Shafi, ruled out the possibility of giving any major concessions in the tax proposal for 1999-2000, on the plea that the state was facing a financial crunch.

He said though the tax proposals envisaged a revenue of Rs 565 crores, taxes which could yield Rs 91 crore alone had direct bearing on people. He said people living below the poverty line would not be affected by the tax proposals. Despite imposing taxes to the tune of Rs 565 crore, the budgetary deficit to the tune of about Rs 142 crore remained unplugged, he said.

When some members demanded the imposition of prohibition in the state, the Finance Minister said it was for the Centre to take a uniform decision on it. He said prohibition could not be imposed in a piecemeal manner and such experiments in Haryana, Gujarat and other states had failed.

The minister said since the Centre did not fulfil its commitment to assist plan and non-plan allocations, the state had to undergo acute cash crunch. The government was now committed to raise internal resources through imposition of additional taxes and through the recovery of sales tax and power tariff arrears.

5 killed, 3 injured in J&K

SRINAGAR, March 19 (PTI) — Five persons, including two militants and an Army jawan, were killed and three teenaged boys seriously wounded as militants blasted a vital road link in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday.

Security forces smashed a hide-out of militants and recovered explosives, including 9 kg of RDX, during anti-militant operations in the state, an official spokesman said here today.

He said certain militants abducted and later killed a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, Abdul Gaffar, in Badgam district of Central Kashmir yesterday.

A small bridge connecting Dobian with Batagund was blasted by militants by detonating an improvised explosive device at Laroo village in Pulwama district yesterday, he said.

He added that three boys received serious injuries when some explosive device, they were fiddling with, went off at Bafliaz in the border district of Poonch last night.

The boys were shifted to a hospital, he said.

Jammu: In an encounter with militants in Chitibas area of Mahore tehsil in Udhampur district yesterday, one militant was killed while another escaped. An Army jawan was also killed in the gunbattle, the sources said.

Troops killed one militant at Dara-Pingla in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district yesterday. The sources said.

In both these encounters the security forces recovered two AK-type rifles, five magazines, two hand-grenades, one radio set and some explosives from the two slain militants, the sources said.

Reports said militants beheaded a schoolteacher at Parat village in Poonch district on the intervening night of March 17 and 18.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops fired a rocket in Khour area of Akhnoor tehsil in Jammu region. The rocket missed its target and exploded at Naranpur village without causing any casualty or damage.

Seminar ends
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, March 19 — A three-day national seminar on the millennium celebrations of multifaceted personality of Abu-Reihan Al-Biruni, organised by the Centre of Central Asian Studies of the University of Kashmir concluded here yesterday.

The seminar was attended by scholars from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Hyderabad.

He was a companion of Mahumud Gaznavi, who invaded India in 1030AD, and a prolific writer.

The seminar was inaugurated by Prof A. Wahid, Dean Academics, University of Kashmir while the keynote address was presented by Prof Zafar Imam of the School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Prof M.Y. Qadiri, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir gave the presidential address.