Major arms haul; NC leader shot
SRINAGAR, Oct 1 — The Army recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition when it smashed a major hideout of militants during a four-day-long operation in Duniwar forests of Baramula district this week.

Lok Shakti nominee joins BJP
SRINAGAR, Oct 1 — The Lok Shakti candidate from Anantnag parliamentary constituency, Mr Abdul Rashid Bhat, yesterday joined the BJP along with several others activists and retired from contest in favour of the BJP nominee, Mr Shoukat Hussain Wani.

Candidates protest
KATHUA, Oct 1 — Youths of this district who had come from far-flung areas for interview for the posts of village level worker, supervisor laboratory assistant and library assistant were shocked not to find their names on the list prepared by the SSRB, Jammu.

Teachers not paid salaries
KATHUA, Oct 1 — Teachers of Government Degree College here protested today against the non-payment of the salaries and arrears for more than three months. The agitated teachers submitted a memorandum of demands to the college Principal and urged him to get their three months salaries released and pay the arrears.

Major arms haul; NC leader shot
Tribune News Service and PTI

SRINAGAR, Oct 1 — The Army recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition when it smashed a major hideout of militants during a four-day-long operation in Duniwar forests of Baramula district this week.

The recoveries, which included war-like stores of arms and ammunition, rations, clothing and utensils, were displayed before mediapersons at Wataragam in Rafiabad block of Baramula district of north Kashmir today. "This was apparently a major hideout of the militants plan for this area", a Defence spokesman said.

The stores of arms and ammunition included 15 RPG rockets, two rocket launchers, 80 anti-personnel mines, nine-boxes of IED with remote control, 41 IED devices, 11 AK rifle grenades, three sealed boxes of AK ammunition and 2160 rounds and a host of other ammunition. The rations included one quintal of sugar, three quintals of flour, one quintal of rice in addition to huge quantity of kerosene and mustard oil and other items. The ration stores were full of blankets, woollen clothings, utensils and miscellaneous items. According to the officials, these stores were sufficient for use by a large number of militants for the coming winter.

The defence spokesman here said that a patrol party of the 28 RR of Sector 10 deployed in the area recovered a limited quantity of ration and clothing on Saturday last. "Consequently detailed searches were carried out on subsequent days which resulted in the discovery of large quantity of Ammunition, explosives, besides rations", the spokesman of the sector said.

The 28 Battalion has been deployed in the Rafiabad area since August, 1996. The Battalion has been actively involved in fighting militancy in the area since then and has achieved a lot of success. The unit was awarded the GOC-in-C Northern Command unit appreciation in January this year for Rafiabad.

In May this year the battalion was moved for Operation Vijay and was the first unit, to be deployed in the Mushkoh valley, Dras sector. The unit was then deployed for Amarnath Yatra. It was on September 1 that the unit was redeployed in Rafiabad for counter-insurgency operations.

Elsewhere in the valley, 11 militants, were killed in separate incidents of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday. With the death of eight militants in Kupwara district yesterday, the toll in the area during the past two days has gone up to 16.

A police spokesman said here this evening that eight militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Kathwara forests in Machchil sector of Kupwara district on Thursday. A large quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter.

In another search operation in the same area at Milyal forests, a large quantity of arms and ammunition was also recovered.

Two militants were killed in Baramula while another militant was killed in Srinagar district. The police here said that one militant of Hizbul Mujahideen was killed at Ferozepore nullah, Batpora in Baramula district on Thursday. As many as 30 rounds of ammunition and eight hand grenades were recovered from the site of the encounter. A foreign militant was killed while two security jawans received injuries in an encounter at Zaloora near Sopore in Baramula district.

Militants shot dead Nazir Ahmad Bhat at Ashtingo village in the Bandipore area of Baramula district last night.

A released militant, Bilal Ahmad Beigh, alias Babloo, was killed by militants at Arampora, Qamarwari, here today.

Militants kidnapped and killed Manzoor Hussain at Sangla, Surankot, in Poonch district last night.

 JAMMU: Three civilians were killed by the militants in the Rajouri and Surankot area of Poonch during past 12 hours.

The police said a group of militants barged into the house of Nizamuddin in the Gharad area of Rajouri and pumped bullets into his ear, killing him on the spot. In another incident, five militants intruded into the house of one Farooq Hussain and first beat him with lathis and later pumped three bullets at him, killing him on the spot.

The Army recovered a headless body, wrapped in a gunny bag, at Maidaana in Surankot area of Poonch. Later, further search operation led to the recovery of the severed head.

Lok Shakti nominee joins BJP

SRINAGAR, Oct 1 (PTI) — The Lok Shakti candidate from Anantnag parliamentary constituency, Mr Abdul Rashid Bhat, yesterday joined the BJP along with several others activists and retired from contest in favour of the BJP nominee, Mr Shoukat Hussain Wani.

Announcing the decision, Mr Bhat appealed to voters in his constituency, scheduled to go to polls on October 4, to vote in favour of the BJP as it was the "only party which could solve the problems facing the people of Jammu and Kashmir", a statement released by the Pradesh Lok Shakti said.

Mr Bhat and other top leaders of the Lok Shakti here, including General Secretary Javid Ahmad Bhat, also announced their decision to join the BJP state unit.

Senior BJP leader in Kashmir, Dilawar Ahmad Naiku, welcomed the Lok Shakti leaders into the party.

Two-pronged policy helps Army
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 1 — The iron fist-against-the-militants and velvet glove-for-the-people policy adopted by the Army in Poonch and Rajouri districts has helped the troops to demolish several hideouts of insurgents.

As a result of this policy, during the past 12 months, as many as 250 militants, most of them foreign mercenaries, were eliminated in Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur districts.

The counter-insurgency operations were streamlined by Maj-Gen G.S. Negi, GOC of the formation, who emphasised the need for a friendly face for the local people and a tough visage for the infiltrators from across the broder.

The troops, since their involvement in counter-insurgency, launched a series of operations in these three districts, leading not only to the killing of 250 insurgents but also the recovery and destruction of large quantities of arms, explosives and ammunition.

It was under the guidance of General Negi that the Army carried out social welfare works which ended the alienation of the local people, whose cooperation enabled the troops to smash scores of militant hideouts.

Within weeks of the launching of the counter-insurgency operations, the local people realised that the Army has not only come to fight militants but also to serve the people.

While one wing of the troops remained busy in tracking down the militants, the other was engaged in improving civic amenities in the backward areas of Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur. Within a period of less than a year, Operation Sadbhavana bore fruit and the people felt happy over the way the Army carried out repair work of several roads in these sectors.

In certain areas, passenger transport services had been suspended because of the bad condition of several roads. The Army swung into action and soldiers and engineers renovated important roads in the districts.

The Army completed water supply schemes at 12 places, installed solar lighting at 15 locations and constructed passenger sheds at four spots. It built toilets at 48 places, for which the womenfolk were appreciative. Improvement and renovation of five school buildings and two children parks were also done.

A series of medical camps were organised in the remote areas, including Fatehpur, Darhal, Mandi and Budhal.

While most of the projects and social welfare activities were carried out by the troops without any financial help from the state government and the people, in several areas the Army assisted the district administration in road repair work and in other development avtivities.

General Negi has instructed his jawans and officers to work in such a way that the people saw the human face of the Army.

Candidates protest
From Our Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct 1 — Youths of this district who had come from far-flung areas for interview for the posts of village level worker, supervisor laboratory assistant and library assistant were shocked not to find their names on the list prepared by the SSRB, Jammu.

The candidates gathered in front of the venue of the interview, shouted slogans against the Chairman of the SSRB and the ruling National Conference.

Later the police was called to ask the candidates to leave the venue.

They alleged that the SSRB had violated the criteria as fixed in its recruitment notification.

But now vide notification dated September 15 only candidates with 61 per cent and above marks in matriculation were eligible and no preference had been given to B.Sc and M.Sc students.

Meanwhile, the local Jagruk Naujawan Chhatra Morcha and unemployed Youth Association have condemned the new recruitment policy of the SSRB.

Teachers not paid salaries
From Our Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct 1 — Teachers of Government Degree College here protested today against the non-payment of the salaries and arrears for more than three months. The agitated teachers submitted a memorandum of demands to the college Principal and urged him to get their three months salaries released and pay the arrears.

They threated the administration and higher authorities of Education Department that in case their demands were not met they would launch an agitation.

Dr R.L. Verma, Principal, assured them that he has written to the Education Commissioner, Education Minister, and Director, Higher Education.