Police fail to trap handlers of cross-LoC arms smuggling

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

______

JAMMU, March 1: Even after taking into custody the driver and recovering arms and ammunition from his truck, Police in North Kashmir have failed to trap handlers of the cross-LoC arms smuggling.

In its Tuesday issue, STATE TIMES had exclusively reported that Police had arrested a driver of cross-LoC trade and recovered arms and ammunition from his truck that had been smuggled into the Valley from PoK by a militant network.

While a senior Police official was returning from New Delhi, an officer of the rank of additional SP, according to well-placed authoritative sources, made a plan to trap the receivers of the arms and ammunition at a particular spot on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on Tuesday evening. The detained driver of truck No: JK03B-1586, namely Irshad Ahmad Mantoo of Buchpora Kulgam, communicated to the consignees to reach a particular spot to receive the Chinese pistol, some ammunition and two hand grenades, which had been smuggled into the Valley through cross-LoC trade earlier.

Even as the receivers reached close to the spot, they probably got suspicious about the Police surveillance. They diverted their vehicles and sped away in a style that Police got no chance to chase or open fire on them. Sources insist that the handlers or their authorised agents managed to escape successfully. None of the people involved in the networking of arms smuggling could be arrested or trapped in the raids carried out at several places in Kulgam area of South Kashmir.

None of the Police officers agreed to speak in confirmation or contradiction to the reports available with STATE TIMES.

Sources said that one Chinese Pistol with two magazines and 14 rounds of ammunition, four AK magazines with 120 rounds of ammunition and two Chinese hand grenades were recovered from the camouflaged cavity that had been created on the truck for the purpose of concealing the arms and ammunition smuggled in from PoK through cross-LoC trade.

Investigation is underway to find out how much of arms and ammunition had been already smuggled in by a formidable terror network and how many vehicles and drivers were involved in it. Sources said that the detained driver has spilled the beans and identified many of his contacts but Police are still investigating about their antecedents, whereabouts and hideouts. His call details and other means of communication and interaction with the arms smugglers in Kashmir and across the LoC are being scanned in detail.

While the Kashmiri drivers carry goods of the zero-tariff cross-LoC barter trade after crossing the LoC to the Trade Facilitation Centre Chakothi for onward trans-shipment to PoK, the drivers from across the LoC similarly deliver goods at TFC Salamabad, Uri. Goods as well as the drivers and their vehicles are thorough scanned manually and electronically at both TFCs, one controlled by the Pakistani customs authorities and another by the Indian customs and immigration authorities. 

Case FIR No 07/2017 under section 7/25 of Indian Arms Act and section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been registered in Police Station Uri and the investigation has been assigned to a special investigation team.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Arms smuggled into Valley through cross-LoC trucks

Driver held with loaded pistol; Police launch series of raids in South Kashmir to break the terror network

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

JAMMU, Feb 28: Following inputs from a Central intelligence agency, Police have arrested a driver, seized from him a loaded pistol and launched a series of raids in South Kashmir after learning that militants have been smuggling in arms and ammunition through the cross-LoC trade trucks from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

Highly placed authoritative sources confirmed to STATE TIMES that Baramulla District Police on Tuesday intercepted a truck on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway and took its driver into custody for sustained interrogation. One Chinese pistol with ammunition was recovered from the truck.

A resident of Kulgam area, the driver is believed to have been engaged by a formidable militant organisation for smuggling of arms and ammunition from PoK. Sources said that the detained driver spilled the beans and exposed several of his contacts. His interrogation was still inconclusive. 

Different Police teams swung into action under supervision of DIG North Kashmir, Nitish Kumar, and IGP Kashmir, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, for arresting the militants and their over-ground workers involved in smuggling of arms and ammunition through cross-LoC trade from Muzzafarabad.

It was not immediately clear how much of arms and ammunition had been already smuggled into the Valley and how many drivers had been engaged by the militant organisation.

Officials are baffled how the network of smugglers has succeeded to carry arms and ammunition as every single item is thoroughly scanned and checked at the Trade Facilitation Centre Salamabad, Uri, before trans-shipment to the trucks of the Kashmiri drivers. It was not immediately clear if transfer of the incharge of TFC last week was in any way linked to smuggling of the arms from across the border.

Interestingly, Police have learned that several of the militants, who were killed in encounters or arrested in the last six months, had travelled to Pakistan on valid Indian Passports rather than crossing the border with the help of conventional infiltration guides.

In 2014 and 2015 cross-LoC trade had been suspended for several weeks following recovery of narcotics from some trucks arriving in from Muzzafarabad.

The barter system of cross-LoC trade between Pakistan and Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir commenced on October 21, 2008, towards the end of a turbulent summer in Jammu and Kashmir during which Kashmiri traders called for a march to Muzzafarabad when some people in Jammu threatened to block supplies to the Valley. Previously, India and Pakistan had inaugurated cross-LoC travel through Uri in valley and Chakan-Da-Bagh in Jammu on April 7, 2005.

Currently trade through Uri (Baramulla) and Chakan-Da-Bagh (Poonch) is being handled four days a week as around 100 trucks are permitted from each side. Volume of the zero-tariff barter trade is being estimated at Rs 2000 crore from Indian side and Rs 1700 crore from Pakistani side in the last 8 years.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Maj critical; 3 soldiers, woman killed in Shopian terror strike

Army chief flies to Srinagar, CM asks two Ministers to attend wreath-laying ceremony

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

______

JAMMU, Feb 23: While a critically wounded Major is battling for life at a Military Hospital in Srinagar, three soldiers and a civilian woman got killed and five soldiers, including a Lt. Colonel, sustained injuries in the current year’s first terror strike on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday in Shopian area of South Kashmir.

Highly placed authoritative sources told STATE TIMES that a unit of Rashtriya Rifles swooped on Kungnoo village in Shopian district in the wee hours on Thursday after learning about the movement of some militants. Without getting into contact with any militant, the security forces were returning to their camp around 0200 hours when the militants in ambush near Mool Chitragam ambushed their cavalcade. A red-colour Tata Sumo vehicle suffered the brunt of the militant strike even as they targeted all the four vehicles.

Three soldiers got killed and five others, including one Lt. Colonel and one Major, were injured. The civilian driver of the Tata Sumo sustained minor injuries. All the injured were airlifted and rushed to 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. Late on Thursday, doctors attending on the injured soldiers said that all of them, excluding Major Amardeep Singh, were stable.

Dr Anand, a neurosurgeon was flown from Command Hospital of Udhampur to Srinagar where the Army doctors were also joined by Dr Arif and Dr Yousuf of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). One of the three doctors told STATE TIMES that Major Amarjeet’s condition was “extremely critical” even as the best possible medical treatment was provided to him on time. He said that the team of three neurosurgeons removed the badly damaged parts of the brain area and carried out other surgical procedures. However, the blood pressure of the officer was not stabilising to the satisfaction of the doctors.

Three soldiers killed in the ambush were identified as Lance Naik Ghulam Mohi-ud din Rather, Sepoy Vikas Singh Gurjar and Sepoy Sreejith. While as Ghulam Mohiud-din, a local soldier, would be laid to rest in his ancestral village, bodies of two more soldiers would be despatched by a special airplane for last rites in their respective places of residence on Friday.

Sources said that 50-year-old Taja Begum w/o Ghulam Mohiuddin was hit by a stray bullet that pierced a glazed window and left her dead inside her home, close to the site of encounter.

In the evening, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat flew from Delhi to Srinagar to take a review of the latest obtaining security scenario, militants’ and the peoples’ behaviour and the security forces’ coordination with Police and intelligence agencies. A major counterinsurgency operation, according to sources, was being planned to flush out militants in Shopian-Kulgam-Pulwama belt of South Kashmir.

Gen Rawat would be among the senior Army, Police and paramilitary forces officers to attend the wreath-laying ceremony of the three soldiers at headquarters 15 Corps at 0830 hours on Friday. Director General of Jammu and Police Dr Shesh Pal Vaid would be represented by IGP Kashmir Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani and other senior officers as he would not be able to fly to Srinagar and reach there at 0830 hours.

Sources revealed to this correspondent that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, on way to Saudia Arabia from New Delhi for a pilgrimage (Umrah) called Chief Secretary B.R. Sharma and asked him to communicate to two Cabinet Minister, namely Minister of Law and Rural Development Abdul Haq Khan and Minister of Agriculture Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, to attend the wreath-laying ceremony of the three soldiers at Badami Bagh cantonment on Friday morning. Both the Ministers are currently in Kashmir.

Meanwhile Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility of the attack and claimed that five soldiers were killed and several others injured in the successful ambush.

Residents said that the funeral prayers and other last rites of the woman were conducted peacefully but hours after that clashes occurred at several places between the demonstrators and security forces. They alleged that the soldiers roughed up civilians and caused extensive damage to over a dozen civilian vehicles parked on the streets.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Basharat back to office but Imran’s uncle attacks Naeem, Mansoor

Tassaduq and some officials resolve part of the portfolio crisis in PDP; Mehbooba may add some Class-3 portfolios to contrite Ministers

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

JAMMU, Feb 20: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s crisis managers on Monday deflated the balloon of a revolt within to some extent as Basharat Bukhari withdrew his resignation and joined as Minister of Horticulture even as the second fuming Minister, Imran Raza Ansari, went ahead with his schedule of pilgrimage in Iran and Iraq.

Mollified by CM’s brother Tassaduq Mufti and some senior Government officials who acted as interlocutors, Basharat in the morning drove to Ms Mufti’s Wazarat Road residence and held his second hour-long meeting with her. Sources privy to the development told STATE TIMES that Basharat made his last-ditch efforts to get some “face saving portfolio” but Chief Minister remained unmoved and made it clear that she would redress the grievance of the two Ministers only after the Parliamentary elections if they withdrew their resignations and accepted the portfolios assigned to them.

According to these well-placed sources, Chief Minister would consider adding some “class-3” portfolios like Culture and Hospitality & Protocol to the two Ministers later this year.

Later, Basharat drove to the Civil Secretariat and joined his duty as Minister of Horticulture. In Monday’s issue, STATE TIMES had exclusively reported that Basharat had returned to Jammu and he was likely to surrender and join as Minister of Horticulture.

Even as a number of Ms Mufti’s emissaries, including her confidantes Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra and Saadut Hussain, called on Imran Ansari, arranged his meeting with Chief Minister and urged him to withdraw his resignation on Saturday and Sunday, he is said to have emphasised that he could not go against the aspirations of his Shia followers. On Sunday, he left for Iran along with his family.

Sources in bureaucracy said that Chief Minister did not forward Ansari’s resignation for acceptance to Governor as PDP was keen not to lose him out to National Conference or Congress. For now, Imran Ansari, whose father late Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari deserted NC in 2005 and remained in PDP until his death in 2014, is the only Shia face in the principal ruling party. However, sources insist, Chief Minister has said repeatedly that she would not succumb to ‘pressure tactics’ in any circumstances.

With the attempts of reconciliation still underway, Imran’s uncle and PDP’s MLA from Zadibal, Maulvi Abid Hussain Ansari, has mounted scathing attacks on Ms Mufti’s confidantes Naeem Akhtar (Minister of R&B) and Peerzada Mansoor Hussain (Vice Chairman Khadi and Village Industries Board), holding them responsible for creating current crisis in the party.

A national daily quoted Abid to have dismissed Akhtar as “saboteur”. “I have understood that Naem sahib doesn’t work for the interest of party but is hell bent at the behest of some agency to destroy PDP to the core,” Abid is reported to have told The Economic Times and offered him challenge to contest an election against him.

“I will leave my assembly seat and leave Kashmir, if Akhtar manages to get 200 votes against me,” Abid, who represents a Shia dominated constituency, has said.

“You cannot ask an MLA to gather people when there is a function in Srinagar and prefer Naem when it comes to portfolios,” said Abid. According to him, there was anger against Akhtar within the party but only few would dare to speak openly about this as they feared retribution from the powerful Minister.

Abid is reported to have said that Akhtar had been “imposed” on the cadres. According to him, he was an MLC and had never contested any election and as such he had no constituency or public commitment. Abid has said that Akhtar should have no problem with a portfolio like Imran’s Youth Services and Sports and demanded that Akhtar’s all-important R&B portfolio be given to Imran who had to reach out to large number of people.

In an interview to Current News Service, Abid is reported to have called Mansoor “black-mailer”, “back-biter” and “BJP man” and held Akhtar “responsible for present disorder” in PDP. He is quoted to have said that the PDP would be decimated in the forthcoming Lok Sabha by-elections for which Naeem Akhtar and Mansoor Hussain would be responsible.

“I was shocked when Chief Minister appointed Mansoor as Vice Chairman of KVIB. This man in league with Naeem Akhtar sowed the seeds of animosity that led to the ouster of Altaf Bukhari, Javaid Mustafa Mir, Abdul Majeed Padder and Muhammad Ashraf Mir from the Council of Ministers. Mansoor knows the job well how to widen wedge between party legislators and workers,” CNS quoted Abid.

According to Abid, Mansoor was “an ordinary employee at SKIMS” and he had by manipulation risen to a position “where he is draining the state exchequer”. 

“Currently, he is handling KVIB and soon people will see how scams will surface there,” he reportedly said and added that Mansoor and Akhtar had brought the party “on the verge of destruction”.

“Naeem and Mansoor are calling shots in the party and it is because of them that Imran was not allocated a new portfolio. Neither of them can compete with Imran who has a great stature. These men will feel the heat when Srinagar will go for polls for the Parliamentary seat,” Abid has reportedly said.

Abid alleged that Akhtar had ruined the Department of Education and claimed that the employees celebrated his removal. “Mark my words, like employees from Education department now the contractors and the PWD employees will hit the roads and blame Akhtar for mess which he is going to create in the department,” Abid has said.

“Our Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti feels that both Naeem Akhtar and Mansoor are assets for the party, though we have repeatedly informed her about their anti-party activities. Time will soon come when she will realize and show them the door,” Abid has reportedly said.

“Akhtar spends much time with non-party men. He is always surrounded by sycophants and mostly he is busy in appeasing BJP men. Till date, he has never solved the problem of any PDP worker” he has said.

Efforts to seek reaction from Akhtar and Mansoor failed as their phones and WhatApp did not respond to calls from this newspaper.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Bukhari, Ansari meet Mehbooba; stand-off over portfolios continues

CM asks disgruntled Ministers to attend office, tells them ‘pressure tactics’ wouldn’t make her bow; Basharat Bukhari likely to surrender, returns to Jammu; Imran Ansari off to Iran on pilgrimage with family

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

_________

JAMMU, Feb 19: The situation created by resignation of the two disgruntled Ministers of PDP took another dramatic turn on Sunday as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti asked Syed Basharat Bukhari and Imran Raza Ansari to “immediately” attend their offices in Civil Secretariat while making it clear that their “pressure tactics” would not make her bow. After the two Ministers called on the Chief Minister separately in Srinagar, an apparently submissive Basharat Bukhari returned to Jammu but an unyielding Imran Ansari proceeded to Iran on a scheduled pilgrimage with his family.

Highly placed sources in the political establishment told STATE TIMES that after separate meetings with the emissaries, Basharat Bukhari called on the Chief Minister at her Gupkar Road residence on Sunday and discussed with her the situation created by reshuffle of portfolios immediately after the Amirakadal MLA and former Minister Syed Altaf Bukhari’s induction as the new Cabinet Minister for Education on Friday. Sources said that Ms Mufti and Mr Basharat held a closed-door meeting for about one hour.

Previously, late on Saturday night, Imran Ansari drove to Ms Mufti’s residence and remained closeted with her for about one hour.

Sources privy to the deliberations said that Ms Mufti assured both the disgruntled Ministers that she could consider their request “favourably” but not before they return to their work at Civil Secretariat and attend the official functions. She is said to have asked them both to return to their offices “immediately” and refrain from creating any crisis for her government and party at the crucial time before the Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections.

Basharat, according to sources, maintained that “a coterie of the defeated MLAs within the party” had been hatching up conspiracies against him and it had finally culminated into an “embarrassing situation” as his key portfolio was replaced by the one which, according to him, was not very important.

Even as Basharat did not name any of the “conspirators”, a whisper campaign in the estranged camp is currently mounting against Mohammad Sartaj Madni and Peerzada Mansoor Hussain who are said to have influenced reshuffle of the portfolios. Madni is Ms Mufti’s maternal uncle while as Mansoor has been her close aide since the PDP-Congress government took over in 2002. In 2014 Assembly elections, they had lost to Congress candidates in Devsar and Shangus constituencies respectively.

Ansari, according to sources, whined that a “suitable portfolio” had not been allotted to him despite “assurances” from Chief Minister. People close to him insist that Ms Mufti had decided to allocate “CAPD and another portfolio” to Ansari but when the allotment was made public, he found his old portfolio intact. Like Basharat, Imran Ansari is said to have been assured by Ms Mufti that she would redress his grievance after he resumes his work at office.

According to knowledgeable sources, initially both the disgruntled Ministers laid a condition that they would return to Civil Secretariat only after “suitable portfolios” would be assigned to them. However, after the meeting on Sunday, Basharat conveyed indications of submission. In the afternoon, he returned to Jammu in an Air India flight that also had on board Secretary Tourism Farooq Ahmad Shah.

Basharat Bukhari and Imran Ansari reached Srinagar airport separately but almost simultaneously. Along with his family, Ansari left directly for New Delhi wherefrom he is scheduled to fly to Iran for a 10-day-long pilgrimage. He would also visit some Shia shrines in Iraq.

“The stand-off is continuing. On Monday, CM is likely to take her call on the resignations. We are sure Basharat will surrender and withdraw his resignation”, said an influential Minister of PDP who asserted that any change of portfolios at this stage would make CM’s position “weak and awkward”. “It will create more problems than solve. It can open Pandora’s box. Some MLAs have already given negative reactions”, he said.

In the reshuffle on Friday, Basharat lost out his key portfolios of Relief and Rehabilitation to Abdul Rehman Veeri whose all-important portfolio of Roads and Buildings was assigned to the influential PDP leader Naeem Akhtar. Akhtar’s equally important Education portfolio was allocated to the fresh entrant Altaf Bukhari who was the only Minister inducted in the Cabinet. Altaf had impressively functioned as Minister for R&B in late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government in 2015. He was among the four Ministers — two Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of State—of the Mufti Sayeed government who were not taken by Ms Mufti, in April 2016. On getting the “insignificant” Horticulture portfolio on Friday, Basharat was quick to tender his resignation.

PDP’s first time MLA from Pattan and a Shia leader Imran Ansari was known to be dissatisfied with his portfolios of Youth Services & Sports and Information Technology from day one. He and his supporters claim that Chief Minister had assured him “a suitable portfolio” in a possible reshuffle “in near future”.

Saturday and Sunday witnessed a flurry of activity as the coalition’s crisis managers swung into action to pacify the two disgruntled Ministers. On Friday itself, both Basharat Bukhari and Imran Ansari, flew to Srinagar on a Go-Air flight that had on board also Minister of State Asea Naqash, PDP MLC Javed Mirchal, CM’s close aide and Secretary Sports Council Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra. Chief Minister flew to Srinagar alongwith Sartaj Madni, on a scheduled programme, in the State aircraft.

On Saturday forenoon, Minister of Education Altaf Bukhari, Minister of Law & Rural Development Abdul Haq Khan, PDP MLC Yasir Rishi, PDP General Secretary Rafi Ahmad Mir and Peerzada Mansoor Hussain flew from Jammu to Srinagar on an IndiGo flight.

After a series of deliberations with Chief Minister in Srinagar, the PDP crisis managers called on both, Basharat Bukhari and Imran Ansari, separately. First of all, Sartaj Madni called on Bukhari and Ansari. Later on Saturday, Altaf Bukhari and Rafi Mir called on them jointly. Peerzada Mansoor Hussain formed the third delegation. Finally the fourth delegation comprised MLC Yasir Rishi and Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.

It was late on Saturday night that Imran Ansari drove all the way to CM’s residence and held an hour-long meeting with her. On Sunday, Basharat Bukhari held a similar meeting with Ms Mufti at her residence. Around the same time, CM’s relative and Minister of Haj & Auqaf Syed Farooq Andrabi, PDP’s MLC Khursheed Alam and MLA Abbas Wani also landed in Srinagar. On another flight, they were followed by Minister of R&B Naeem Akhtar, PDP’s MP Nazir Ahmad Laway besides DGP Dr Shesh Pal Vaid who were all reportedly on different missions. Minister of Revenue Abdul Rehman Veeri too arrived in Srinagar by an afternoon flight.

In the last flight from Srinagar, Minister of Education Altaf Bukhari and Congress leader Sachin Pilot were the only politicians, besides Imran Ansari and his family, travelling directly to New Delhi. Last to fly in the State aircraft from Srinagar was Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Basharat, Imran ‘resign’ as allocation of portfolios triggers typhoon in Mehbooba’s Govt

One Minister upset over insignificant portfolio, another Minister senses ‘conspiracy within’, writes letter to CM

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

____________

JAMMU, Feb 17: Induction of the PDP heavyweight Syed Altaf Bukhari back into Cabinet after his virtual suspension for over ten months, followed by resultant reshuffle of portfolios among five Ministers on Friday, triggered a major crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as two Cabinet Ministers —Syed Basharat Bukhari and Imran Raza Ansari—tendered their resignation. Some MLAs of the PDP earlier stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony.

The Government chose to remain mute but well-placed political and bureaucratic sources maintained that Basharat sent a written and signed communication to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti complaining to her that the change of his portfolio from Revenue to Horticulture was the culmination of a "protracted conspiracy” against him within the party. He is said to have asserted that his continuation in the Council of Ministers in the current circumstances would be very difficult and he, as such, should be relieved of his responsibility as a Minister.

Sources confirmed that Basharat’s letter reached the Chief Minister and she would deal with it "as per her own wisdom and judgment".

Even as many of the politicians and bureaucrats insisted that Basharat resigned for losing out a prestigious portfolio and getting an insignificant one, participants of the swearing-in ceremony told STATE TIMES that the Minister was visibly incensed and returned in a huff as the security staff at Raj Bhawan entrance did not allow in four of his guests who did not carry any invite for the ceremony. He turned back in protest along with PDP’s Rajya Sabha member Fayaz Ahmad Mir.

Dozens of attempts to speak to Basharat failed as he did not respond to phone calls from this correspondent. His phone was found continuously “busy”. However, a television network and a Srinagar-based news agency claimed to have accessed the Minister. They reported that the Minister confirmed his resignation and having written a letter to the Chief Minister. The letter reportedly detailed a sequence of the "conspiracies" against the Minister. Basharat is PDP's MLA from Sangrama (Baramulla) in his third successive term after a stint as MLC. He was Minister of Law in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's Cabinet.

In quick succession, reports said that PDP's first term MLA from Pattan (Baramulla) and Minister of Youth Services and Sports, Information Technology and Technical Education, Imran Raza Ansari, too resigned from the Cabinet. Even as there was no official confirmation to it, Ansari’s family sources told STATE TIMES that he had tendered his resignation around 5.00 pm. However, sources in CM’s bureaucratic and security detail insisted that Ansari’s resignation had not reached to the Chief Minister till late on Friday evening.

Since his induction into the Cabinet, first by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in March 2015 and later by Ms Mufti in April 2016, Ansari is known to have been dissatisfied over allocation of an “insignificant portfolio” to him. Some political sources insist that he had been lately assured that the Chief Minister would redress his grievance and allot an important portfolio (CAPD) to him on the day of Altaf Bukhari’s induction. He was reportedly upset when the allocation of portfolios was made public on Friday. However, Ansari was not reachable for confirmation.

Significantly, a number of the PDP’s “angry and disappointed” MLAs were conspicuously absent at the swearing-in ceremony earlier. They included MLA Chadoura Javed Mustafa Mir, MLA Noorabad Abdul Majid Paddar and MLA Sonwar Mohammad Ashraf Mir who were Ministers in Mufti’s Council of Ministers but were, along with Altaf Bukhari, not taken by Mehbooba Mufti last year. Ashraf Mir was reportedly in Mumbai or Bengaluru. PDP’s Kokernag MLA Abdul Rahim Rather was also absent.

Reports said that Rather and Paddar had conveyed their "disappointment and displeasure" to Chief Minister while complaining that “all the defeated candidates” had been rehabilitated and given status of a Minister or Minister of State but the winners had been exposed to embarrassment within their respective constituencies.

The crisis in the PDP has sprouted days before Ms Mufti is leaving for Umrah in Saudi Arabia with a heavy family entourage including her mother, sister and other relatives. One of the bureaucrats of her Government returned on Friday after making necessary arrangements for the CM’s pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

END

[STATE TIMES]

Kulgam tense after 4 militants, 2 civilians, 2 soldiers died in gunfight

Gun salute, Pak flags mark militants’ funeral as thousands gather for demonstration; 18 civilians, 3 soldiers injured

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

________

JAMMU, Feb 12: In the current year’s fiercest encounter in Jammu and Kashmir, four local militants, two civilians and two soldiers got killed in Kulgam —one of the politically hypersensitive zones in southern Kashmir on Sunday.

Director General of Police, Dr Shesh Pal Vaid, told STATE TIMES that the operation was launched jointly by Kulgam District Police, Rashtriya Rifles 1^st battalion and CRPF 18^th battalion on specific information regarding the presence of a group of militants at Nagbal Frisal in Kulgam district late on Saturday night. During the operation, a fierce encounter took place in which four terrorists of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, besides two soldiers and two civilians got killed.

IGP Kashmir, Syed Javid Mujtaba Gillani, said that three militants managed to escape from the cordoned house and others holed up in the hideout attempted to escape while directing heavy gunfire on the Police and security forces. Two soldiers, identified as Raghuvir Singh and Bandoriya Gopal Singh, got killed in the nightlong gunfight while as three more soldiers sustained injuries. IGP said that the house-owner Ashfaq Majid Rishi got killed in the cross-firing as he could not be evacuated successfully. Later, during a clash between the local demonstrators and the security forces, one more civilian, namely Mushtaq Ibrahim Itoo s/o Mohammad Ibrahim Itoo of Hatigam, Srigifwara, got killed.

IGP said that an investigation had been launched into the circumstances that led to the death of the second civilian during the course of a clash. He said that 18 civilians sustained injuries during the clashes. Out of them four had been referred to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar. Doctors at SMHS said late on Sunday night that a civilian, Danish Nazir of Frisal, reported for treatment with a gunshot injury.

The militants killed in the encounter have been identified as Farooq Ahmad Bhat s/o Abdul Gani Bhat r/o Chak Dasand [initially identified as Farooq Ahmad Dar s/o Mohammad Yousuf Dar r/o Arreh], Mohammad Younis Lone s/o Ghulam Qadir Lone r/o Hawura (Hizbul Mujahideen], Mudasir Ahmad Tantray alias Aasim s/o Mohammad Akbar Tantray r/o Redwani and Vakil Ahmad Thokar s/o Mohammad Ahsan Thokar r/o Hadigam.

Officials said that two AK rifles, two pistols and one INSAS rifle, believed to be one of the weapons snatched away from Police at different places last year, were recovered from the site of the encounter.

Commander of Sector-1 of Army, Brig R. Chakravarty held a press conference to claim that the forces made every possible attempt to evacuate the house owner but failed as the militants did not listen to appeals to surrender and come out. He said that large number of people gathering around the encounter sites and clashing with the forces was continuing to be a major problem.

Sources said that one of the four militants had lately joined militancy as he had disappeared from his home on January 14^th. Others had been reportedly active in Anantnag-Kulgam belt in the last two years. Younis Lone, according to Police records, stood booked in four FIRs including one murder and one attempted murder.

While the troops withdrew and carried all the four militants’ bodies to a Police post at Wanpoh, hundreds of residents of about a dozen surrounding villages gathered at the encounter site at Pandit Mohalla, Nagbal, and began clashing with Police and security forces amid anti-India and pro-Azadi slogans. During this clash, one demonstrator, Mushtaq Ibrahim Itoo, sustained critical injuries and later died at a hospital.

Officials as well as the civilians from the tense Kulgam belt told STATE TIMES that thousands of people attended the four militants’ and the two civilians’ funeral prayers at different places. They were all buried in their respective residential villages. The participants waved Pakistani flags and shouted anti-India and pro-Azadi slogans. In the evening, at least two armed militants appeared at Redwani and paid gun salute to the two militants buried in the village graveyard.

There was no official announcement of curfew but residents said that nobody was being allowed to move around and it was a curfew-like situation in a vast area. While as the separatists have called for total shutdown in Kashmir on Monday, sources said that the hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani was likely to extend the call for shutdown for one or two days.

END

[STATE TIMES]