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Army Major among 10 killed in Kupwara encounters 3/22/2009 10:39:03 PM Srinagar | Sunday, Mar 22 Ten people, including an army officer, have been killed in two ongoing gun battles between militants and security forces in north Kashmir, officials said Sunday. "The operations in the Shamswari mountain range in north Kashmir's Kupwara district are still continuing," a defence spokesman said here. "So far, we have lost one army Major and three troopers, while six terrorists have also been killed in the operation continuing for the past three days," Lt. Col. J.S. Brar told . The slain army officer was identified as Major Mohit Sharma of 1-Para regiment of the army and a resident of Rajendra Nagar in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The operations in the Shamswari mountain area were launched three days back on specific information about the presence of a group of heavily armed guerrillas. "As the troops were surrounding the area, hidden militants opened fire at them. The troops also returned the fire, triggering fierce encounters that are still on," the official said. More reinforcements have been rushed to the areas, he added. Informed sources said arm...   READ MORE

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Three Hizbul militants arrested in J&K 3/22/2009 10:38:23 PM Early Times Report Srinagar, March 22: Three Hizbul Mujahideen militants were arrested on Sunday in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, two days after they returned from Pakistan with the intention to step up violence ahead of the Parliamentary elections in the state. Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, Abid Hussain and Ashiq Hussain Shah were arrested by J-K Police following a tip off at Arwani village of Bijbehara in South Kashmir in the wee hours, a police spokesman said here. He said the trio had crossed to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) for arms training 10 years back and returned to the valley only two days ago following a directive from their masters to set up base and spread violence....   READ MORE   Arms and ammunition recovered from various places in J&K 3/22/2009 10:38:07 PM Early Times Report Srinagar, March 22: Security forces today recovered a cache of arms and ammunition and unearthed two hideouts in Jammu and Kashmir. A cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from an orchard at village Andergam in Pattan area in Baramulla district during a joint search operation carried out by police and 29 Rashtriya Rifles, the sources said. Besides the rocket launcher and two IEDs, the search party recovered a pistol, a wireless set, three AK magazines with 183 rounds and six hand grenades, the sources said, adding the owner of the orchard, Abdul Gaffar Bhat, has been taken into custody. In Jammu division, Army troops busted two hideouts and recovered a ...   READ MORE   Lok Sabha electoral process to begin tomorrow 3/22/2009 10:37:50 PM NEW DELHI: The formal process for the five-phased Lok Sabha elections spread over a month will be set in motion tomorrow when President Pratibha Patil issues the notification for the first phase of elections to be held on April 16. In the first phase, polls would be held for 124 seats spread over 17 states and Union Territories. Notifications would also be issued by respective Governors for 154 of the 294 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 70 of the 147 assembly seats in Orissa, which would also go to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the first phase. With the issuance of notification, the filing of nominations by candidates would begin in the massive electoral exerc...   READ MORE   Pak close to becoming a failed state: Chidambaram 3/22/2009 10:37:33 PM Agencies New Delhi, March 22: Pakistan is "pretty dysfunctional" and "perilously close" to becoming a failed state, Home Minister P Chidambaram has said as he voiced concern over the spread of Taliban influence in that country which could have a spillover effect on India. He also said that New Delhi was "willing to work" with Islamabad, provided Pakistan dismantled terrorist infrastructure and did business as a civilised nation. To a question on how close Pakistan was to becoming a failed or at least a dysfunctional state, Chidambaram said, "I think many people would call it dysfunctional even today. I do not think it is a failed state but if it does not arrest the decline, it is p...   READ MORE   Core of al Qaeda is in Pakistan: British PM 3/22/2009 10:37:10 PM Agencies London, March 22: Stating that the core of al Qaeda has shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday said that Britain was about to take the war against terror "to a new level". Britain will release on Tuesday a new counter- terrorism strategy called Contest Two, billed as the most comprehensive approach to tackling the threat of terrorism by any government in the world. Writing in The Observer, Brown said, "We know that there is an al Qaeda core in northern Pakistan trying to organise attacks in Britain. We know also that there are a number of networks here. "Al Qaeda terrorists remain intent on inflicting mass casualties without ...   READ MORE   Omar asks separatist groups to come forward for talks 3/22/2009 10:36:51 PM Early Times Report Srinagar, March 22: Ahead of Parliamentary elections, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday asked separatist groups including Hurriyat Conference to come forward for talks or refrain from instigating the people against his Government which "believed in action rather than theatrics". "They should come forward to the dialogue table. My Government is serious about improving the life of people of the state. The frequent hartal calls are hampering the life of people and this will not be tolerated," Omar told reporters here. "Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is from the young generation. There are other separatist leaders today of my age. All they need is to ...   READ MORE   Missing Hussain suspected to join militant organization 3/22/2009 10:36:36 PM Early Times Report Rajouri , Mar 22 : Khadim Hussain, a teenager from Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district, reportedly missing for the past three years, is now suspected to have been lured by militants to join their outfit. Khadim had quit school in July 2005 and went missing afterwards. After a few months his family heard a rumour that Khadim has been forcibly recruited by an unknown militant organisation. Suleiman Hussain, Khadims father hopes that his son has taken up some productive vocation and not fallen as a prey to the militants. “What can I say? If I meet him and he tells me that he had gone out for work, then I will accept him, but only after doing a complete enquiry about his...   READ MORE   Bhim Singh elected as JKNPP chief 3/22/2009 10:36:22 PM Early Times Report Jammu, March 22: Prof Bhim Singh was on Sunday elected the chief of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) for the next two years. "Singh was re-elected unopposed as JKNPP chairman today at the party headquarters here," party's returning officer Gulam Mohmmad Shan told reporters. Former minister and MLA Harsh Dev Singh proposed Singh's name for the post, which was seconded by senior Gujjar leader Gulam Ali, he said, adding he was unanimously declared the party chairman from April 2, 2009 to April 1, 2011, he said. ...   READ MORE   Sinha amazed after reading police report 3/22/2009 10:36:07 PM NEW DELHI: What has former US President George W Bush and Indo-Pak dialogue got to do with the escape of militants in an autorickshaw from police check posts in Jammu and Kashmir? Well, nothing but Jammu and Kashmir Police had in 2004, in their report on the escape of militants in Jammu region, made a reference to the then US President’s speech which "amazed" the then Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha. The 83-year-old Sinha, in his book "Guarding India’s Integrity", narrated the incident when he had sought a report from the then Director General of Police Gopal Sharma about how militants managed to escape from police checkposts in an autorickshaw and injured a senior civil servant in...   READ MORE   Nearly 40,000 employees to be deployed for poll-duty in J&K 3/22/2009 10:35:47 PM Early Times Report Jammu, March 22: Nearly 40,000 state government employees will be deployed for poll-related duties in Jammu and Kashmir, which goes to polls in five phases starting from April 16. "We have drawn up nearly 40,000 government employees from various departments for poll-related duties. All of them have been issued letters in this direction," state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) B R Sharma said. He said that most of them were already on duty in the recently-held assembly polls in the state. "Employees would get incentives for poll-related duties on the pattern of assembly elections," Sharma said, adding that the employees had worked well in organising free and fai...   READ MORE

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