Militants attack ex-Minister’s house in Pulwama; rifle taken away from ex-MLC’s house

Srinagar additional DC’s jaw fractured in stone pelting; SPO among 4 booked under PSA

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Sep 28: Mounting their attacks on mainstream politicians and looting weapons from their security guards in South Kashmir, suspected militants on Wednesday attacked.former Minister and PDP leader Syed Bashir’s residence in Pulwama district hours after a civilian decamped with the AK-47 rifle of a Constable from the house of former MLC and CPI State Secretary Abdul Rehman Tukroo in Shopian district.

Official sources told STATE TIMES that around 8.00 pm, three to four unidentified militants appeared outside the guarded residence of former Minister Syed Bashir at Sheikhhaar, on Pulwama-Rajpora Road. They fired a warning shot to test if the politicians’ guards would retaliate or surrender. The sentries responded with firing. The militants fired back but the guards foiled their attempt to enter the premises with intense firing. It forced the militants to withdraw.

It was not clear whether the assailants intended to cause any harm to the former Minister, who was present inside, or just planned to snatch away service rifles from his sentries and PSOs. Police and security forces later cordoned the area and carried out a search operation. However, they failed to learn anything about the militants’ whereabouts.

Syed Bashir is a senior mainstream politician who contested 1977 Assembly elections on Janata Party ticket from Pulwama and 1996 Assembly election as Janata Dal candidate from the same segment. He lost both. In 2002, he won the Assembly election on PDP’s ticket from Rajpora segment and was inducted as Minister of State for Education by then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Later he also held R&B portfolio as MoS. In 2008, he was again elected on PDP ticket from Rajpora. However, in 2014 he broke away from PDP and contested unsuccessfully as an independent candidate against PDP’s candidate Haseeb Drabu who won and was subsequently inducted as Minister of Finance.

Early in the morning on Wednesday, one Waseem Khandey of Zakhan Kellar, in Shopian district, decamped with an AK-47 rifle of a PSO of CPI State chief and former MLC Abdul Rehman Tukroo from his guarded house at Tukroo on Pulwama-Shopian Road. Khandey, who had free access to Tukroo’s house, happens to be the brother-in-law of his son. Tukroo said that he had been working at his home for some days. Sources said that another PSO had kept his rifle in safe custody.

Officials said that Police and security forces were trying to trace Khandey who could hand over the AK-47 rifle to militants. A late night report, awaiting official confirmation, said that Khandey was traced in the same district and seized alongwith the stolen AK-47 rifle.

In Pulwama district, Police have arrested and booked under Public Safety Act four persons of Kareemabad village, including a Special Police Officer Mohammad Rafi Pandit, on charges of organising separatist demonstrations and stone pelting. Sources said that Police also arrested four boys below the age of 16 years on the same charges in the same village who have been lodged in a juvenile jail.

Militants and their unarmed overground helpers have already looted around 100 weapons from different Police Stations, residences and PSOs of different protected persons in South Kashmir. Most of these people have handed over their weapons to suspected militants and their helpers without any resistance.

It has been observed that Police officers have also provided scores of house guards and PSOs with automatic rifles to a number of timber smugglers masquerading as mainstream politicians for pecuniary interests. One of such persons from whose house suspected militants took away four rifles last month at Begam village in Kulgam has been publicly disowned by both National Conference as well as PDP.

Additional DC attacked

Official sources said that a group of people disrupting traffic with intense stone pelting near Tengpora Batmaloo attacked the Scorpio carrying home a Kashmir Administrative Service officer and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar Nazir Ahmad Baba in the evening on Tuesday. Baba was hit by a stone which fractured his jaw. His vehicle was also damaged in the attack. He was rushed to Bemina and admitted in SKIMS Medical College. 

Sources said his PSOs did not use weapobs as additional DC of Ramban and his PSO have been booked in a criminal matter and arrested when a similar crowd attacked the KAS officer's vehicle near Awantipora in July and two persons got killed in a PSO's firing. Baba lives near Zainakote on Srinagar outskirts.

Divisional Commissioner, Baseer Ahmad Khan, and DC Srinagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone, who visited the injured officer at his hospital today, said that Mr Baba was recovering after treatment. They said that his jaw had got fractured. Early in the morning on the same day, a 20-year-old girl, namely Fauzia, died and her 18-year-old sister, Nadia, was critically injured when they were knocked down near Parimpora, on Srinagar outskirts, by a private Scorpio while its driver was subjected to intense stone pelting by miscreants and he was driving back in the reverse gear.

Scores of vehicles were reportedly damaged in similar stone pelting in Srinagar and elsewhere for defying the separatists’ shutdown call on Tuesday and Wednesday. Around 90 people have died in 82 days of unceasing turbulence in Kashmir following Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter on July 8. Most of them got killed in firing by Police and security forces. While as four policemen also died in the crowd attacks, five civilians including Fauzia got killed as a consequence of stone pelting.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

Two PoK youths claim to be part of Jaish fidayeen group that attacked Brigade hqs in Uri

Army hands over both the detainees to NIA; flown to New Delhi; their revelations shared with Pak envoy

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

SRINAGAR, Sep 27: Two youths from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, who were captured by residents of Uri, beaten up severely and handed over to Army on September 21, have revealed during sustained interrogation that they were part of the 6-member fidayeen group of Jaish-e-Mohammad that attacked an infantry brigade headquarters and killed 18 soldiers on September 18. Both of them have been flown to New Delhi on Tuesday after Army handed them over to National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Government of India, in coordination with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, has assigned investigation of the high profile fidayeen attack, in which more than 20 soldiers were injured in addition to 18 fatal casualties, to NIA.

STATE TIMES learned from top level authoritative sources that Yasin Khursheed s/o Mohammad Khursheed r/o Khiliana Kalan and Faisal Hussain Awan s/o Gul Akbar r/o Patha Jehangir, PoK, both around 20-year-old, were flown to New Delhi hours before Ministry of External Affairs shared their disclosures with Pakistan High Commissioner. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned High Commissioner Abdul Basit and provided him “proof of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit’s involvement in the Uri fidayeen attack”.

The disclosures obtained during sustained interrogation of the two youths, who initially admitted to being “guides”, have been recorded and documented before the same were communicated to Pakistan. According to sources, residents of a village, close to LoC, got suspicious about the duo’s movement and captured them for questioning. Both have been severely beaten up by the villagers who finally handed them over to Army. Sources said that both the youths had sustained injuries when they had been beaten up by the villagers.

However, independent sources said that the possibility of their having sustained injuries during Army’s third-degree interrogation could not be ruled out.

Sources said that at around 11.30 pm on Monday, 92 Base Hospital officials at headquarters 15 Corps called a lady doctor from CRPF for medical examination and some treatment of the two youths. During their detailed interaction with the female doctor (a resident of Odisha) at a secret location in the rear of Badami Bagh cantonment, both the detainees revealed that they were part of the six-member fidayeen group of Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammad that sneaked into the garrison and carried out the suicide attack.

While as four militants of the group got killed in gunfight with troops, Yasin and Faizal escaped. They are understood to have revealed that the militants sprinkled an inflammable liquid on the barracks before lighting the fire. Surprisingly, the duo disclosed that the group had also carried with them three 8-kg LPG cylinders for the purpose of setting the barracks on fire. They were seized dramatically before they would cross the LoC and return to their villages, both situated close to LoC in PoK.

Yasin and Faizal have identified one of the four militants killed in the Uri fidayeen strike as Hafiz Ahmad of Dharbang, Muzaffarabad, and their handlers as Mohammad Kabir Awan and Basharat.

According to preliminary reports, the duo had been arrested by the Border Security Force and the Army in a joint operation at 'Angoor Post' at Gavalata village in Uri last Saturday when they were trying to infiltrate into India. Now it has become clear that they were captured while returning to PoK after carrying out the attack at the 12^th Infantry Brigade headquarters.

The duo initially claimed that they had inadvertently crossed into India but after sustained interrogation they not only informed the security agencies about the two “guides” who had helped militants infiltrate but also helped them in identifying one of the militants involved in the attack, the sources said.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

Full Text of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's Speech at UN General Assembly 71^st session on September 26, 2016

Hon'ble President,

 1. On behalf of India and on my own behalf, I congratulate you on your election as President of the 71st United Nations General Assembly. Let me also take this opportunity to thank Secretary General Ban Ki Moon for his services to the United Nations, history's largest peace movement.

 Mr. President,

2. A year has passed since I stood here at this hallowed podium to address the members of the international community. Since then, much has changed in the world around us - some for the better, some for the worse and much which has been cause of great concern. There can be no better platform to ponder our actions and our achievements over the last year.  We must remember that we will be defined not just by our actions, but equally, by our inaction. 

Mr. President,

3. A number of issues have been debated in this august  Assembly - from the necessity of global partnerships in sharing new vaccines and promoting access to affordable drugs to counter anti-microbial resistance, to the need for faster implementation of the Sendai Framework to mitigate the risk of natural disasters.  From the challenge of ensuring well-ordered mobility of productive human resources, to the necessity of adequate consultations with Troop Contributing Countries before framing mandates for UN Peacekeeping Operations. But my time is limited. I would therefore, focus only on some of the most pressing issues facing the international community.

Mr. President,

4. The true challenge of our time is to end the curse of harsh poverty that still lurks in so many corners of our world; to ensure that the fruits of growing prosperity reach those who need it most; to take forward the mission of gender equality and protect women where there is gender regression; and to ensure peace across boundaries, not least because there can be no prosperity without peace.

5. I congratulate you for the priority you have given to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by making them the theme for the 71st UNGA. I am happy that the 17 goals adopted by this Assembly are matched by the development vision of my Government, which is geared towards the achievement of these same objectives. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Campaign), more than 400,000 toilets have been constructed in schools. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Educate the Girl Child, Save the Girl Child) programme has become a nation-wide mission. The Make in India brand is receiving international acclaim.  Almost 250 million bank accounts have been opened for the poor under the Jan Dhan Yojana, the largest financial inclusion programme the world has ever seen.  Digital India is transforming the country. Under the Skill India initiative, a number of programmes are underway to enable youth to reap the demographic dividend. These initiatives have added a new dimension to India's growth story, making it the fastest growing major economy in the world at a time of slow global growth.

Mr. President,

6. We are all aware that 1/6th of humanity lives in India.  Therefore global success in realizing SDGs depends on the success achieved in India.  We are committed to the wholehearted implementation of the Agenda 2030 as a national effort.

 We have decided to dedicate one day in each session of our Parliament for discussions only on SDGs. This will enable us to constantly monitor their progress and this will give us good results.

7. However, in a globalised world, national effort needs to be supplemented by international cooperation for the successful implementation of Agenda 2030.

Mr. President,

8. Climate change is yet another serious challenge confronting us. There are enough resources on this planet to fulfil everyone's needs, but not enough to fulfil anyone's greed, for greed is limitless. In this context PM Modi has championed a new concept - Climate Justice.If we respect nature, nature will respect and nurture us and future generations. But, if we exploit nature mindlessly, then we must be mindful that nature will unleash its fury upon us. In different parts of the world, we have already seen nature drift towards the unnatural - from torrential rain to excessive heat, from tsunamis to storms and cloudbursts.

9. We must curb reckless consumption, and adopt lifestyles in harmony with nature. Yoga, the storehouse of India's ancient wisdom, epitomises a sustainable lifestyle. Let me record our gratitude for the unprecedented global response to the International Day of Yoga.

10. In the Paris Agreement, the principle of 'Common but Differentiated Responsibilities' and 'Respective Capabilities' has been acknowledged and accepted. This makes clear that while our responsibility is common, obligations are different. Developed nations must discharge their responsibility in the search for the common good, with finance and technology transfer. 

11. India has launched an ambitious domestic effort to transform our energy mix to achieve 40% energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. The massive investments required entail a predictable and stable environment towards which we are working actively. Apart from this, our path-breaking initiative for an International Solar Alliance is intended to make efficient solar technology available for all.

12. I assure this Assembly that India will continue to play a leading role in combating climate change. We have decided to submit our Instrument of Ratification of the Paris Agreement on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who epitomised a lifestyle with the smallest carbon footprint.

Mr. President,

13. Let me now turn to a subject of the most critical importance, one which deeply concerns every member of this Assembly. This month we marked the 15th Anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on this city. Tragically, less than 15 days ago, another attempt at killing innocents was made through an act of terror in this same city.   We,who have suffered in Uri recently, understand the pain inflicted by the same forces.  The world has been battling this scourge for long.  However, despite the blood and tears of innocent victims, attacks this year alone in Kabul and Dhaka, Istanbul and Mogadishu, Brussels and Bangkok, Paris, Pathankot and Uri as well as daily barbaric tragedies in Syria and Iraq, remind us that these malevolent forces are yet to be defeated. 

14. We must acknowledge that terrorism is undoubtedly the biggest violation of human rights.  It targets the innocent and kills indiscriminately. Terrorism has gone way beyond affecting individuals or nations - it is a crime against humanity itself. But it is important to ask - who is behind this and who benefits from it?Terrorists do not own banks or weapons factories, so let us ask the real question: who finances these terrorists, who arms them and provides sanctuaries? We heard similar questions being asked by Afghanistan from this podium.

Mr. President,

15. History proves that those who seed extremist ideologies, reap a bitter harvest.  The germ of evil has grown into a hydra-headed monster, backed by technological sophistication that threatens the peace and harmony of our world. We will not be able to win against terrorism by making specious distinctions between your problems and mine, between terrorists who attack you and those who attack me. For we do not know who this Frankenstein's monster will devour next.

16. Therefore if we want to defeat terrorism, there is only one way - that we unite across our differences, add steel to our resolve and inject urgency in our response.  We need to forget our prejudices and join hands together to script an effective strategy against terror. This is not an impossible task provided we have the will. We can do it, we must do it. Otherwise our future generations will forever hold us to account. And if any nation refuses to join this global strategy, then we must isolate it.

17. In our midst, there are nations that still speak the language of terrorism, that nurture it, peddle it, and export it. To shelter terrorists has become their calling card. We must identify these nations and hold them to account. These nations, in which UN declared terrorists roam freely, lead processions and deliver their poisonous sermons of hate with impunity, are as culpable as the very terrorists they harbour. Such countries should have no place in the comity of nations.

Mr. President,

18. On 21st September, the Prime Minister of Pakistan used this podium to make baseless allegations about human rights violations in my country. I can only say that those accusing others of human rights violations would do well to introspect and see what egregious abuses they are perpetrating in their own country, including in Balochistan. The brutality against the Baloch people represents the worst form of State oppression.

Mr. President,

19. The Prime Minister of Pakistan also said that India has placed pre-conditions for talks which are not acceptable to him.  What pre-conditions? Did we impose any pre-condition before extending an invitation for the oath-taking ceremony of our Government? Did we impose any pre-condition when I went to Islamabad for the Heart of Asia conference and agreed to begin the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue? Did we impose any pre-condition when Prime Minister Modi travelled from Kabul to Lahore? What pre-conditions? We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship!  We have in fact attempted a paradigm of friendship in the last two years which is without precedent.  We conveyed Eid greetings to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, wished success to his cricket team, extended good wishes for his health and well being.  Did all this come with pre-conditions attached? 

20. And what did we get in return? Pathankot, Bahadur Ali, and Uri. Bahadur Ali is a terrorist in our custody, whose confession is a living proof of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror. But when confronted with such evidence, Pakistan remains in denial. It persists in the belief that such attacks will enable it to obtain the territory it covets.  My firm advice to Pakistan is: abandon this dream. Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so.

Mr. President,

21. As I said at the very beginning, we will be judged by our action and equally by our inaction. What goals have we achieved and what objectives remain unfulfilled? I would like to highlight two such pending tasks of this Assembly.

22. The CCIT was proposed by India in 1996. In 2016, despite the passage of two decades, we are yet to come to a conclusion.  As a result, we are unable to develop a norm under which terrorists shallbe prosecuted or extradited. Therefore it is my appeal that this General Assembly acts with fresh resolve and urgency to adopt this critical Convention.

23. Just as we need a more contemporary approach to combating terrorism, we also need a less outdated Security Council that continues to reflect the world order of an earlier era.  The vast majority of nations share the belief that the UN should not remain frozen in 1945, just to serve the interests of a few.  Whether it is institutions or issues, we must come to terms with present day realities and the challenges that confront us. An expansion in the Permanent and non-Permanent membership of the Council to reflect contemporary realities is therefore, an urgent necessity.  We must move forward substantively towards text-based negotiations.

Mr. President,

24. If both these long pending issues are addressed during your Presidency, the success of this Session will be ensured.

25. The 21st century has begun in the shadow of turmoil, but we can turn this into a golden age in the history of civilization through united and concerted efforts.  But what happens tomorrow will depend on what we do today.

Thank you.

STATE TIMES EXCLUSIVE

Govt mulling to terminate services of 180 officials involved in current turmoil

CM’s own district Anantnag, Naeem Akhtar’s Education department identified as ‘havens of stone pelters’; 7 gazetted officers, 5 cops of Budgam Police to face action in first phase

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

_______

SRINAGAR, September 25: Jammu and Kashmir Police, in coordination with the Central intelligence agencies, have established that the State government employees, including some officials of the union government’s BSNL and Project Beacon, are the key mobilisers and contributors of the unceasing street turbulence triggered by the Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s death in an encounter in Kokernag area of South Kashmir on July 8 this year. The violence has claimed 88 lives, and left thousands injured, in the last 80 days.

STATE TIMES learned from highly placed authoritative sources that both, J&K Police as well as the Central agencies through Union Ministry of Home Affairs, have brought it to the notice of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that the government employees were playing a key role in mobilisation of demonstrations and violent attacks on Police and security forces in almost all the 10 districts in Kashmir valley.

Following a chain of communications, Chief Minister has directed Chief Secretary B.R. Sharma and Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar to verify alleged involvement of 180 listed officials and initiate necessary action — including detention under Public Safety Act (PSA) and termination of services — against the guilty. According to these sources, administrative secretaries, Heads of Departments and District Officers of different Government departments are currently working on the task given by the Chief Minister.

Sources revealed that Additional DG CID, S.M. Sahai, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Baseer Khan and IGP Kashmir Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani were also in the loop. They claimed that over 50 of the identified officials have already been placed under suspension, pending enquiry.

Divisional Commissioner Baseer Khan, however, claimed that he had “no knowledge of such development”. DGP and Additional DG CID were not reachable for their reaction. Asked if the top trade union leader and EJAC President Abdul Qayoom Wani had been detained for precautionary measures or a serious involvement, Mr Khan said that he had been detained for some days in Baramulla “but released later”.

Mr Khan, on direction from the top, has already issued the “no-work-no-pay” circular to all HoDs, asking them to ensure that monthly salary of any Government employees be not released until his Drawing & Disbursing Officer certifies that the official has been present on duty. This has, to a remarkable extent, improved attendance in Government offices in the current month.

Significantly, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s own residential district of Anantnag, that falls in the ruling PDP’s conventional stronghold of South Kashmir, has emerged on top of all the ten districts in identification of the “havens of miscreants and saboteurs”. Of the 180 identified officials picked up for action, 46 are from Anantnag, 26 from Pulwama, 21 from Kupwara, 20 from Ganderbal and 5 from Srinagar.

7 gazetted officers, 5 cops involved

The list includes seven gazetted officers allegedly involved in “mobilisation, encouragement, indoctrination and other support to miscreants”. Most of them are either residents of Anantnag district or posted in that area. They include as Assistant Registrar of the University of Kashmir, a Block Development Officer posted in Mattan area, a Deputy Chief Education Officer, an Accounts Officers of Finance Department, a Lecturer posted at Government Degree College Larnoo, a Lecturer of the Higher Education Department and an Assistant Engineer of PHE Department.

In the first exercise, five Constables of District Police Budgam and a retired Head Constable in Kupwara district have also been identified as “collaborators, coordinators and mobilisers of anti-national demonstrations and stone pelting”. Action has been initiated against them all, sources said.

Interestingly some officials of Project Beacon, functioning under control of union Ministry of Defence, and some employees of the Government of India-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd have also been found involved in the unrelenting turbulence. Sources said that action against them would be initiated separately.

While Mr Naeem Akhtar’s School Education and Higher Education departments have surfaced on the top, sources said that others identified in the list were the employees of Police, Fisheries, Health, Roads & Buildings, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Power Development Department, Agriculture, Finance, Tourism, SICOP, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Srinagar Development Authority and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

NIA suspects insider’s involvement in Uri fidayeen attack

Army tightlipped on media reports about ‘killing of 10 militants’; cross-LoC firing in Uri; soldier killed in Nowgam

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

 SRINAGAR, Sep 20: National Investigation Agency (NIA), that has begun a probe into Sunday’s fidayeen attack in Uri, in which 18 soldiers died and around 20 sustained injuries, is suspecting the hand of an “insider” in facilitating the militants’ entry into the Brigade headquarters and guiding them to the garrison's  most vulnerable place.

Contrary to Army’s official versions, NIA has observed that it was not a “tent” but three regular barracks full of arms, ammunition, logistics and transit personnel that had been locked from outside and set on fire by the militants. According to sources familiar with the investigation, three adjoining barracks perished in the devastating fire, denying many of the inmates a chance to escape. Those who did were gunned down.

Hours after the inferno subsided, Army’s bulldozers have flattened the three barracks.

NIA has collected samples of a particular kind of gun powder that is believed to have been sprinkled by the militants on the barracks before setting them on fire with their lighters. The samples, sources said, have been sent to a laboratory for chemical and ballistic analysis. Horrible pictures of the slain soldiers in possession of STATE TIMES make it clear that most of the fatal casualties occurred due to severe burning.

Of the 18 soldiers killed, as many as 13 bodies are completely or partly charred. Doctors treating the injured at Army’s 92 Base Hospital said that 14 of them have burn injuries. Even as one soldier, who had been flown to Army’s Referral and Research Hospital New Delhi, has succumbed to injuries, others are responding to treatment. In the next couple of days, it could be clear how many of the dead and injured had sustained gunshot wounds or injuries from the militants’ grenades.

NIA sleuths have noticed that the intruders had sneaked into the garrison with a possible support from inside and proceeded straight to the barracks where the troops of the incoming 6-Bihar regiment and the outgoing 10-Dogra had been lodged. On Saturday, the Brigade commander had briefed them about their duties and the replacement. This timing is said to be the “most crucial” at an army camp as during the transit procedure a terrorist strike becomes easy.

In total contrariness to the Army claim that the fidayeen lobbed 17 grenades in the first three minutes, NIA sleuths are said to have noticed that the intruders had silently set on fire the arms and ammunition store (kout) containing landmines, grenades and other explosive material. A large quantity of kerosene oil was also dumped at a barrack. An oil tanker containing diesel was also parked beside a barrack. It has also perished in the fire, leading to multiple fatal casualties.

Sources said that most of the soldiers, who included four chefs and a painter, have been charred to death or have died due to asphyxiation. Some of them have also been hit by splinters flinging out of the ammunition depot.

“This can’t be possible without a thorough recce and inside guidance. How does an outsider, completely stranger to the location, know about the most vulnerable spot at a camp?” said an official familiar with the investigation. He said that call details and other technological coordinates were being analysed to find if an insider had guided the militants.

Agencies claim 10 militants killed in Uri

Meanwhile, PTI and IANS on Tuesday reported that 10 infiltrating militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Lachhipora forward area of Uri, close to LoC. Both the agencies reported it on purported disclosure of anonymous sources. Army spokespersons in Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi did not react to these reports and they remained tightlipped even as these were carried by almost all the newspapers and television news channels. Some channels reported that Army had, for the first time in the last two decades, intercepted a thick group of “15 to 18 infiltrators” and 8 to 10 of them had been killed.

However, well-placed official sources insisted to STATE TIMES that there was neither an encounter with the militants nor had any militant died in any encounter in Uri on Tuesday. They said that Pakistani and Indian troops traded mortar and small arms fire over Ghode Taal on LoC which apparently did not cause any damage.

“Army has neither spotted nor recovered any militant's body. Things will become clear tomorrow”, said an official. He confirmed that one soldier of Indian army got killed in an encounter with the infiltrating militants in Nowgar sector of Handwara, close to LoC, in Kupwara district.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

17 soldiers killed, 19 injured in fidayeen attack on Uri brigade hqs

All 4 ‘Pak militants’ killed; unprecedented damage to Army in 27 years of insurgency happens in Modi rule; 3 barracks set on fire; Defence Minister, Army chief visit Srinagar ahead of crucial CCSA meeting

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

SRINAGAR, Sep 18: In an audacious bloodbath, unprecedented in the last 27 years of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, suspected Pakistani fidayeen of Jaish-e-Mohammad on Sunday left 17 Indian Army soldiers dead and 19 more injured when they carried out a sneak attack on headquarters of the strategically important 12^th Infantry Brigade at Uri, close to LoC, in northern Kashmir.

Well-placed sources in the Union and the State governments revealed to STATE TIMES that a group of four meticulously trained and heavily armed guerrillas, equipped with guns, grenades and GPS devices and unmistakably on a suicide mission, sneaked into the Brigade headquarters premises after cutting concertina fence wire at around 5.15 a.m. In just three minutes, they lobbed a blitz of 17 grenades and left the troops perplexed. They also set on fire three barracks and targeted the administrative buildings.

In the three-hour-long operation, that was also joined by special forces, as many as 17 soldiers were killed and 19 injured. Those killed in the attack included four unarmed chefs and a painter while others were personnel of the ranks of sepoy, naik, lance naik and havildar. Fifteen of them belonged to 6-Bihar and two to 10-Dogra regiment. Army said that all the four suicide actors were eliminated in the operation but their bodies were not shown to media.

All the 19 injured were airlifted and admitted to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar, though some of them were initially treated at the local 419-Field Hospital at Uri. Four of them were reportedly critical. Of them, one was rushed from Srinagar to Army’s Referal and Research Hospital, New Delhi, by an air ambulance. Since the Army’s CVTS surgeons were reportedly on leave, 92 Base Hospital requisitioned a team of doctors from SKIMS. Sources said that two Kashmiri Muslim surgeons worked hard and they saved the life of at least three seriously injured soldiers.

Sources said that the bodies would be flown by a special plane from Srinagar to New Delhi after a wreath-laying ceremony at Headquarters 15 Corps on Monday. Later, a high profile wreath-laying ceremony, likely to be joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ministers of his Cabinet and top Defence and civil officials, would be held in the Union Capital. Thereafter, mortal remains of all the slain soldiers would be despatched to their respective places of residence.

Union Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, and Chief of Army Staff, Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, arrived in separately from New Delhi to gather first-hand account of the attack so as to strategize India’s response. The Army chief flew to Uri and interacted with the officers and the soldiers there for over one hour while the mopping up operation was still underway. On his return, Gen Suhag briefed Defence Minister about the whole episode that is threatening to assume proportions of the response India witnessed after a terror attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

After visiting the injured soldiers at 92 Base Hospital and interacting with senior officers, including GOC-in-C Northern Command, Lt Gen D.S. Hooda, and GOC of 15 Corps, Lt Gen Satesh K. Dua, Parrikar and Gen Suhag flew back to New Delhi where Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs is expected to meet and take a call over the Indian response to the terror attack on Monday. Prime Minister Modi is expected to preside over the meeting. Sources said that union Home Secretary Rajiv Maharishi could also visit Srinagar.

Unprecedented damage

In the 300-odd fidayeen attacks, which were introduced in J&K after Pakistan’s defeat in the Kargil war with a suicide strike on BSF’s Sector-11 headquarters at Mader, Bandipore, on July 13, 1999 (when DIG BSF and four soldiers got killed), 17 soldiers have never died in a single operation. Army suffered more loss in the Kaluchak fidayeen attack in Jammu but that time the victims were more from the soldiers’ families rather than the troops. Three Army soldiers, 18 of their family members and 10 civilians had died in so far the bloodiest fidayeen attack at Kaluchak on May 14, 2002.

Headquarters of the strategic Uri brigade have never been attacked since 1989 though an officer commanding this brigade, Brigadier Sreedhar, was the first senior Army officer who was killed in an IED blast in Kashmir at a forward position in March 1995. In the border township of Uri, the only major militant attack occurred at a PDP rally on April 8, 2003, when 11 civilians were killed and 58 injured. Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig, who later became Deputy Chief Minister, had a narrow escape in that grenade attack.

In the last fidayeen attack in Kashmir, 8 CRPF men were killed and 21 left injured on the highway at Pampore on June 25, 2016. That came nearly 18 months after a suicide strike on an Army's 31 Field Regiment at Mahore (Baramulla-Uri Road) in the thick of Assembly elections on December 5, 2014. Eight Army soldiers, including Lt Col Sankalp Kumar of 24 Punjab, 3 J&K Police personnel, including ASI Mohammad Akbar, and 6 militants were among the 17 fatal casualties at the encampment as some barracks were destroyed in fire.

Sunday’s fidayeen attack in Uri came in days of a publicly held out warning by Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salah-ud-din, and the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ideologue, Hafiz Sayeed, who threatened to train and indoctrinate Kashmiri suicide bombers and vowed to turn Kashmir “into a graveyard of the Indian soldiers”. They spoke in favour of the separatist turmoil created by the Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s death in an encounter on July 8. On Sunday, the Valley witnessed 72^nd day of continued shutdown. Eighty-six people have died and thousands have got injured in the Valley-wide clashes that are still unceasing.

Even as officials held Jaish-e-Mohammad responsible for today’s attack, none of the guerrilla groups, claimed responsibility till late in the night.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

Hit by pellets, 12-year-old student found dead at Harwan 

15,000 join funeral procession at Harwan; toll reaches 86; over 100 clashes in Valley on 71^st day of shutdown

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

SRINAGAR, Sep 17: With recovery of the pellet-riddled body of a 12-year-old boy in Srinagar, death toll in current turmoil in Kashmir valley has reached 86 on 71^st consecutive day of shutdown, following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter on 8^th July.

Residents of Theed, Harwan, said that body of the 12-year-old student Nasir Shafi alias Momin of their hamlet was spotted and recovered from behind some bushes outside the famous Harwan Garden, beside a major water reservoir, late on Friday night. They said that he had not reached home after some clashes between the protesters and Police in that area following the Friday afternoon prayers. They said that he was a 7^th standard student of Greenlight School Ishbar, situated close to the CRPF headquarters in Kashmir. The school photo-identity card mentioned his Date of Birth as January 13, 2005. 

With recovery of the less than 12-year-old student, death toll in the 71-day-long turbulence has reached 86 and there were no indications of its dying down in foreseeable future. Entire South Kashmir, besides Budgam and Srinagar districts have been the worst affected.

The residents and the family members alleged that Momin had been hit in “point blank range” by Police or CRPF and killed. His body, they alleged, had been dumped in water behind some bushes in an attempt to escape responsibility. They said that it was buried amid pro-Azadi, pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans on Saturday as thousands of people from over 20 villages participated in the funeral. His father Mohammad Shafi Qazi said that the boy had gone to attend Friday afternoon prayers at Darul Uloom Kausaria at Harwan and he did not return till late. "They (Police and CRPF) had fired a full volley of pellets on his back, captured him, broken his arm and teeth, killed him in cold blood and finally thrown him in the water for wild animals", he said.

News of the 12-year-old student's death spread like a wild fire inspite of the fact that no Internet services were functional in the Valley for five days and the people had access only to print editions of a couple of dailies besides the national TV channels. Officials confirmed that 15,000 people — so far the largest congregation in the summer capital in the last 71 days of mayhem — attended the youth’s funeral prayers.

While the day’s bulletin on the situation issued by Zonal Headquarters of J&K Police did not make any mention about the death of the teenager, SP City (East) Sheikh Faisal Qayoom told STATE TIMES that the angry crowds did not let the Police take possession of the body for post mortem and other medico-legal formalities.

“We were shown photographs of the body. It has a wide pellet field on the back and none of the vital organs seems to have been hit. Most likely it could be a death by cardiac arrest but only the autopsy could determine the cause of death. We have registered a case at Police Station of Harwan and the investigation would be carried out soon”, SP East said. Another official added that Police could approach District Magistrate Srinagar to seek orders for exhumation of the body as it alone could lead to post mortem and determine cause of the death.

SP East, however, asserted that the deceased was a “known stone pelters” and, according to him, five FIRs had been registered against him in the past. He described his age as 15. Residents maintained that Police were attempting to escape their responsibility and involvement with “lies” and they all called it a “cold blooded murder”.

In the wake of resultant clashes at several places from Brain Nishat to Harwan, curfew was imposed on Srinagar outskirts. However, it could not be enforced effectively as multitudes of people occupied the streets and staged protests. Curfew also remained in force in Batmaloo and downtown Srinagar where clashes took place at the withdrawal of Police and paramilitary deployments in the evening. Curfew was also clamped down in Budgam, Kulgam, Sirigufwara and some other places where the separatists had called for local protest marches.

The shutdown, called by separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, completed 71 days post Burhan Wani’s death on July 8. Reports said that parallel to a dozen-odd peaceful demonstrations, over 71 violent clashes took place between the protesters and Police/ paramilitary forces across Kashmir valley on Saturday. Officials refused to share statistics but well informed sources said that more than 50 protesters and over a dozen Police and CRPF personnel sustained injuries in today’s clashes.

Official reports said that one each person sustained bullet injuries in Wusan ganderbal, Hajipora Shopian and Nowgam in Srinagar. Saturday’s worst clashes were reported from Ompora Budgam, Nowgam Srinagar, Hajipora Harmain and Chakpora Shopian, Lazbal Anantnag, Padgampora Pulwama, Mahend Bijbehara, Wusan Ganderbal and downtown Srinagar.

Reports of a pro-Pakistan demonstration poured in even from the garrison township of Chowkibal in Kupwara district. According to a report from Anantnag, a group of youths dragged passengers out of a Tata Sumo and caused to it extensive damage at Pazalpora, Bijbehara, on Srinagar-Jammu highway. Such reports of the youths enforcing shutdown do routinely pour in daily from different areas across the Valley.

Police version

A Police bulletin claimed that except for five incidents of stone pelting from Wussan in Ganderbal, Mehend in Anantnag, New Theed, Nishat in Srinagar and Padgampora in Awantipora, situation remained under control across the valley till evening.

“Although restrictions under section 144/CrPC remained in force in the valley, curfew was imposed in some parts of Srinagar, Budgam and Kulgam towns only, in view of the challo calls given by some separatists. To clear the road, deployment used some force in which a miscreant got injured”, it said.

“In its continuous drive against miscreants and instigators, 58 such individuals  found involved in the offences of damaging civilian vehicles, shops/houses and placing obstructions on roads/lanes have been arrested during last 24 hours. At Mehend Anantnag, about 200 miscreants pelted stones on police and security forces deployment due to which SDPO Bijbehra received grievous injuries. At Wussan, Ganderbal, a group of miscreants assembled on road and pelted stones on ITPB deployment due to which an ASI of ITBP was injured”, the Police bulletin said.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]