Bandh hits life in Srinagar
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, May 28 — Life in the city was paralysed today in response to the Hurriyat's call for protest against "unwarranted use of force by the Army and the IAF" in the Kargil Sector of Ladakh Division, "endangering peace in region."

All shops and business establishments and educational institutions were closed. There was skeletal transport on city routes. Some major towns in the valley also observed a complete bandh in response to the APHC strike call. The call was endorsed by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association and separatists women's outfit Dukhtaran-e-Milat".

"The air strikes and the ground offensive has endangered peace in the region. A deadly war seems imminent. The international community must rise to the occasion and take measures for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute", a statement of the APHC here said. The High Court Bar Association called for UN intervention to stop "hostilities in Kashmir". Dukhtaran-e-Milat described the action in Kargil as an act of "aggression."

Meanwhile, tourists who had started coming in large numbers to the valley have cut short their programme in view of the Army action.

Reports reaching from Pahalgam, the most popular tourist destination, said the entire place looked deserted. Similarly, reports from Gulmarg said 70 per cent tourists had packed off. Several had cancelled their air tickets and bookings in Kashmir.

The police here this morning made public announcements at Lal Chowk and the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) warning against fleecing of tourists by taxi operators. The operators, according to reports, were charging at double the rate from the panic-stricken tourists keen to return to Jammu by road.

According to a PTI report, five activists of Dukhtaran-e-Milat were arrested when they made an attempt to hoist a Pakistani flag in the heart of the city.

The five burqa-clad Dukhtaran activists made their dramatic presence at Partap Park and tried to hoist the Pakistani flag. However, police personnel foiled their attempt and arrested them.

Colonel loses son, daughter in mine blast

SRINAGAR, May 28 (PTI) — Four persons, including a jawan and two family members of an Army officer, were killed and six others were wounded when militants blew up an Army bus with a landmine on Srinagar-Jammu national highway today, an official spokesman said.

The explosion took place at Gund near Banihal, 125 km from here, when militants detonated a landmine targeting an Army convoy which was on way to Jammu from Srinagar, the spokesman said.

Rifleman Puran Bhadur, a son and a daughter of Col M.S. Prakash and an unidentified woman, who were in the vehicle, were killed in the blast.

Six other occupants of the vehicle, including Colonel Prakash, were injured seriously, the spokesman said, adding four of the critically wounded were air-lifted to Udhampur Military Hospital.

Immediately after the blast, security forces laid a cordon around the area, suspending vehicular traffic on the highway for some time.

A hunt was on to nab the militants responsible for the blast, the spokesman said.