268 guerrillas killed in post-Kargil action
SRINAGAR, Oct 28 — In its intensified offensive against guerrillas after the Kargil conflict, the Indian Army has killed 268 militants, the majority of whom have been identified as foreign mercenaries, according to the government.

NHRC directive on relief
JAMMU, Oct 28 — The National Human Rights Commission has directed the Union Home Ministry to submit its recommendations regarding relief and compensation to the 1971 non-camp refugees from Chammb by October 31,1999.

401 ultras killed within 2 months
JAMMU, Oct 28 — As many as 401 militants, including scores of foreign mercenaries, were killed by Indian troops in the Pir Panjal ranges during the past over two months.

268 guerrillas killed in post-Kargil action

SRINAGAR, Oct 28 — In its intensified offensive against guerrillas after the Kargil conflict, the Indian Army has killed 268 militants, the majority of whom have been identified as foreign mercenaries, according to the government.

Army troops have foiled 30 infiltration attempts from the Pakistani side, apprehended 64 guerrillas and recovered 490 weapons in the past three months, the Defence Ministry said in a statement released here.

In September, 145 guerrillas were killed, the highest tally in any one month in three years, said a defence spokesman. The Army has killed more than 100 guerrillas so far in October, has recovered 170 weapons and, in the course of continuing searches and combing operations, has destroyed 533 hideouts in the woods.

Defence sources said pressure on guerrillas would continue before the first snowfall so they were unable to make their underground hideouts but remain on the run as locals are also at present avoiding giving them shelter.

Indian troops launched two operations in October to flush guerrillas out of their hideouts in the forest — Operation Kaziranga in the northern Kupwara district of Kashmir Valley and Operation Shakti in the difficult Pir Panjal mountain range dividing Kashmir from the Jammu region.

The state police chief, Mr Gurbachan Jagat, had recently said, "Taking advantage of the Kargil crisis, more than 2,000 militants managed to sneak into this side of Kashmir...mostly foreign militants."

During the Kargil crisis, guerrillas took advantage of the removal of Army personnel from several border villages, increased their presence in the rural and mountainous areas and continuously attacked security personnel either by planting explosive devices or attacking their positions.

Now the Indian Army claims to have the upper hand. "Heavy casualties and loss of stores has resulted in the lowering of the morale of the militants and their network has been dislocated and hideouts and caches have been destroyed, which has resulted in a logistic setback and will affect their sustenance in the coming winter months," it said.

"Consequent to their defeat in Kargil, the Pakistan Army and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) have intensified their efforts in the past two months to raise the level of proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir to divert attention of the population from bitter criticism and scathing attacks," read the two-page release of the Defence Ministry.

It said additional army battalions had been deployed in the hinterland to strike at militant hideouts and flush guerrillas out of forest areas and higher reaches.

Counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, which had been taken over by the elite Rashtriya Rifles for a while, were handed back to the Army after the Kargil conflict. Besides, a new force, called Kilo Force, has been raised to look after northern Kashmir. Now Force Romeo is being raised in Rajouri to check militancy in the twin towns of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region. — IANS

CPM warns against division of J&K

JAMMU, Oct 28 (PTI) — The CPM today warned against the division of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of regionalism, saying it would not be in the security interest of the country.

"The division of state on the basis of regions viz Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir will result in more violence and this will not be in the security interest of the country and will consequently heighten Indo-Pak tension in South Asia," General Secretary of CPM’s Jammu unit Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami told PTI after meeting a six-member European Union diplomatic mission here.

He said the Centre should instead initiate confidence-building measures and create a political environment in the troubled state for restoring peace.

Tarigami said he suggested to the EU group that bilateral talks between New Delhi and Islamabad and an all-party and group meeting on Kashmir was the only solution to the long-standing Kashmir dispute.

He said the de-escalation of tension along the Indo-Pakistan border was the first step towards holding of meaningful dialogue between two countries.

The EU team is on a situation monitoring mission to study different political thoughts and current state of militancy in the state.

NHRC directive on relief
From Our Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 28 — The National Human Rights Commission has directed the Union Home Ministry to submit its recommendations regarding relief and compensation to the 1971 non-camp refugees from Chammb by October 31,1999.

This issue that has been closed by the government was revived on a representation to the Commission by Mr Balraj Puri, convener of the PUCL, J&K state. It rejected the government’s plea that those refugees who did not avail themselves of the facilities of the camps were not entitled to any relief. The Commission upheld the plea of Mr Puri that this policy amounted to discrimination between two sets of refugees.

The NHRC has fixed November 4, 1999 as the date of final hearing to which it has invited the Union Home Ministry’s representatives and Mr Puri.

401 ultras killed within 2 months
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 28 — As many as 401 militants, including scores of foreign mercenaries, were killed by Indian troops in the Pir Panjal ranges during the past over two months.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said here today that after "Operation Vijay", Pak-trained militants had been directed to step up the level of insurgency not only in the Kashmir valley but also in several parts of the Jammu region to avenge Pakistan's defeat in Kargil. Accordingly, several hundred militants, between 700 and 800, had sneaked into the state from across the border.

Troops launched major operations against the rebels in Pir Panjal area after "Operation Vijay" and succeeded in eliminating 401 insurgents and arresting 40 others since August.

These militants had entered the state with large quantities of arms and explosives which was confirmed by the seizure of 364 assault rifles, 53 rocket launchers, nine UMGs, 74 pistols and 830 kg of explosives.

The spokesman claimed that as a result of the offensive the militants had been forced to be on the run in several areas of Doda, Udhampur, Poonch and Rajouri.