New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) The Indian Army has suspended two officers — a colonel and a major — for the alleged murder of three Kashmiri men April 30 in a staged shootout after labelling them as infiltrators from Pakistan, army sources said Sunday.
Indian Army sounds terror alert in J-K
March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Srinagar, Mar 29 (ANI): The Indian Army on Monday sounded a terror alert, claiming that as many as 400 infiltrators are attempting to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir.
“This is going to be hot summer terrorism-wise in Kashmir as approximately 300 militants are active in the valley while another 400 are waiting in the wings in PoK to cross over to this side to step up violence,” said Brigadier General Staff, 15th Corps, Gurmeet Singh.
Singh added that there was no need to worry, as the troops were well prepared to confront any challenges.
He, however, claimed that the weapons, ammunition, equipment, food items, medicines and also some video-clips and photographs recovered from the killed militants showed signs of a high degree of terrorists anxiety.
“Approximately, 42 training camps were intact across the border. Of them 34 are active and 400 militants are waiting for an opportunity to cross over to this side from 20 launching pads,” said Singh, adding that the army had prior information about the recent infiltration attempts in Kupwara district”s keran sector.
“We were prepared for this and eliminated 8 terrorists in keran sector between March 24 to March 28. The mixed group of militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen comprising eight terrorists were eliminated,” Singh said.
Singh further said the operation against the terrorists was still on in the region and the area is being extensively searched to avoid any untoward incident. (ANI)
500 Brit skinheads on rampage against Muslims
May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
London, May 26 (ANI): Hundreds of rioters rampaged through a town centre last night after a march against Muslim extremists, the Daily Express reports.
A peaceful demo erupted as drunken skinheads stormed through the streets. A mob of around 500 largely young men bolted down side streets away from police. Witnesses said had been drinking and chanting slogans.
Several people were injured as marchers, Asians and National Front “infiltrators” battled. There were reports that an Asian-owned shop was ransacked.
The two demonstrations had come together in the Bedfordshire town, both opposing the Muslim fanatics who had jeered Brit squaddies returning from Iraq.
Last night MFE spokesman Dave Smeeton said he was “disappointed” the trouble had flared.
Several people were arrested. (ANI)
Lanka Government says aid access only after screening LTTE rebels
May 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Colombo, May 24 (ANI): The Government of Sri Lanka on Sunday said that it would allow UN aid workers access to Tamil refugees housed in camps after weeding out elements suspected of links with the LTTE.
Responding to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s demand for unhindered access after visiting the Menik Farm camp housing 200,000 Tamils, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned of “the likely presence of Tamil Tiger infiltrators among the large numbers who had come to the government areas.”
The government describes the camps as “welfare villages” and says it wants to resettle all displaced civilians as soon as possible.
Rajapakse told Ban that he would address the underlying ethnic grievances. (ANI)
Infiltration bid foiled, three militants killed in Kashmir
May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Srinagar, May 22 (IANS) Three militants were killed Friday when army troops foiled an infiltration bid in the Tangdhar sector at the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir, officials said.
Troops detected and challenged a group of infiltrators at the LoC in Kupwara district as soon as they crossed the border in the Tangdhar sector, a defence spokesman said here.
“The infiltrating terrorists opened fire at the surrounding troops. The fire was returned, triggering a gun battle in which three militants have been eliminated,” Lt. Col Uma Maheshwar told IANS here.
“Troops are still busy searching the area,” he added.
Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the gun battle.
The identity of the slain guerrillas is being ascertained, Maheshwar added.
Reports of terrorist infiltration into J and K exaggerated: Home Ministry
April 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, Apr. 22 (ANI): The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday termed the media reports stating large scale infiltration of armed militants in Gurez Sector of Jammu and Kashmir as “exaggerated,” while clarifying that the actual level of infiltrators is less than one third of the figures widely reported.
“A section of the electronic as well as print media has carried reports about large scale infiltration of armed militants through the Gurez Sector in Jammu and Kashmir. It is clarified that these reports are exaggerated and not based on facts,” a Home Ministry press release read.
The release further stated that the data on infiltration is received from different sources, and assessed periodically.
“Utmost vigilance is being maintained in this regard by the security forces. The entire security apparatus is fully alert and geared up to foil any designs of the militants, and ensure peaceful polls in the State of Jammu and Kashmir,” the ministry stated.
“Currently, the level of infiltration is a third of the figures that have been mentioned in the reports,” the release read.
Keeping in view the ongoing election process and the coming tourist season in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Ministry has urged the press to avoid any possibility of exaggeration of facts, which could “create avoidable apprehensions and fear among the people.” (ANI)
If Taliban has infiltrated Valley, blame it on Pak
April 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Whether Taliban infiltrators have actually entered Jammu and Kashmir has yet to be confirmed. But if they have, two conclusions can be drawn.
One: they are from Pakistan, not Afghanistan; it is Baitullah Mehsud’s men and not Mullah Omar’s who have sneaked in. Two: however much the Taliban may be at war with the Pakistani state, setting off bomb blasts across the country, some sections of the same Pakistani state must have helped them in their bid to enter India.
The militants could not have travelled the distance from the Pakistan tribal areas to the India-Pakistan border undetected unless the Pakistani security forces connived to let them through. There is also a huge presence of the Pakistani army all along the Line of Control.
Could Taliban elements have crossed over without the army knowing? “Allowing the Taliban to enter India seems to be an clear attempt to draw attention away from the grim situation in Pakistan itself and turn it towards the Kashmir dispute,” said Amitabh Mattoo, international relations expert. For India, the entry is ominous.
Taliban infiltrators are bound to be even more ruthless and committed than groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that the Indian army has after years been able to put on the defensive. The large turnout in the November-December elections, despite the separatists appeal to boycott them and the disinterest lately shown by the Kashmiri people in separatist activity may have affected the morale of overground separatist lobby and local militants.
The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has already decided not to oppose the Lok Sabha polls as staunchly as it did polls in the past. Shabbir Lone of the People’s Conference is actually considering participating.
Similarly, the number of local militants killed is falling. Of the 34 militants killed in encounters in the last fortnight, 29 were found to be from Pakistan and only five from J and amp;K. But the sections in Pakistan bent on winning Kashmir are not fazed.
The Pakistani militants remain as determined as ever. “There is a high level of infiltration right now,” said Kuldeep Khoda, director general of police, J and amp;K..
Jammu and Kashmir security set-up satisfactory: plan panel
April 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Jammu, April 10 (IANS) Security arrangements in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha elections are satisfactory, Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla said here Friday.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year were a historical landmark and the coming Lok Sabha polls would add a new chapter to it, he said.
Chawla was speaking to the media after a day-long review of the security scenario of the Jammu region where the two constituencies of Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda are going to polls in the first (April 16) and second phases (April 23) of the five phased polls.
‘We are satisfied with the arrangements,’ Chawla said and added the election process would be monitored ‘deep down’, for which ‘micro-observers have been appointed.’
Earlier, officers told Chawla, who will take over as the chief election commissioner May 1, that the security scene was manageable despite stepped-up infiltration from across the border.
‘Our counter-infiltration effort has been successful as the infiltrators have been neutralised on the Line of Control itself,’ a senior police officer.
Hyderabad sitting on a powder keg, claims Modi
April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Hyderabad, April 6 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday said Hyderabad and its twin city Secunderabad were sitting on a powder keg and that terrorists more dangerous than those in Kashmir reside here.
He alleged that any incident happening in Gujarat or Mumbai would have links with Hyderabad. He was addressing an election meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Nizam College grounds here Monday night.
‘I have told police officers of Andhra that Hyderabad and Secunderabad are sitting on a powder keg. Terrorists more dangerous than those in Kashmir live here,’ he told the meeting.
Alleging that the Congress government was doing vote bank politics, he said it failed to identify the ‘anti-national forces’.
Modi wondered if Maoists, terrorists and Bangladeshi infiltrators will decide the future of the country. He condemned the demand by a central minister that the Bangladeshi infiltrators be given Indian citizenship.
The BJP leader came down heavily on the Congress-led UPA government for its soft approach in tackling terrorism and called upon people to defeat the Congress and its allies.
‘We can tackle terrorism and Pakistan by paying back in their own coin. This government can’t tackle terrorism. It can’t even make a law to fight terror. How can one expect it to raise arms?’ he said, ridiculing the government for going to the US to complain against Pakistan after terror attacks in Mumbai.
Terming the Congress as 125-year-old woman, he said she was only a burden on the country. ‘Only 30-year-old young BJP can give a bright future to this country.’
The Gujarat chief minister wondered why Congress leaders had lost their sleep over BJP leader L. K. Advani’s promise that if voted to power the BJP would bring back ‘black money’ kept in foreign banks.
He alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was silent on a proposal at the recent G20 summit that sanctions should be imposed on the countries not giving details of the secret bank accounts.
Claiming the development achieved by Gujarat was an example, he pointed out that the Gujarat government (state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation) found huge gas reserves on the shores of Andhra.
‘The Andhra government was sleeping. Now they are requesting me to do something for their face saving,’ he said, and assured people of Andhra Pradesh that they had as much right on these natural resources as Gujarat.
Two soldiers killed in Kashmir gunfight
April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Srinagar, April 6 (IANS) Two Indian Army soldiers were killed in a gunfight with guerrillas in a forest area in Kashmir Monday, the state police said.
The army and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police launched a search operation in Maidanpora forest, around 120 km from here, in the frontier Kupwara district Saturday.
The security forces came under a heavy fire from the hiding militants, which was retaliated. The gunfight continues, in which two armymen were injured.
‘(The) encounter is on and two army troopers identified as Naik Vipin Thakur and Kamaljit Singh, who were critically wounded, succumbed to their injuries while being shifted to an army base hospital in Srinagar,’ a defence spokesman said.
Violence in the Kashmir Valley, particularly in its north close to the border with Pakistan, has escalated ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Last month, the army intercepted a group of infiltrators in the Shamsbhari mountain range of the district. At least 17 guerrillas and eight army troopers were killed in the six-day long battle in the mountain range.
State police chief Kuldeep Khuda has said Taliban guerrillas have moved closer to the border and may try to disrupt the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Residents in Kashmir border areas get multi-purpose identity cards
March 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Kathua, Mar 6 (ANI): Residents living in border areas of Kashmir are being provided with special cards by authorities to help identify them as Indian nationals and to check infiltration into the state.
The Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) are being provided by the Interior (Home) Ministry to all citizens at the age of 15 years and above. It will provide them with credible fool proof about individual identification and also to keep check on infiltration.
The cards will help the police and the Army to distinguish the Indian nationals from the militants living in the guise of the locals in the state.
“As far as this MNIC card is concerned, this is very useful for security purposes, and for agencies who are after these militants. With the induction of this card, we can identify between right and wrong person,” said P.P. Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Kathua.
The MNIC carries a micro-chip giving full information of a person along with a photograph of the person. It will prevent instances of detention by the army or police on mere suspicions of links to militant outfits.
“This card will prevent the arrest and detention of innocents by the police and army. Many a time innocents used to be arrested under suspicion of being militants, but this card will help prevent that,” said Omprakash Khajuria, a resident.
The micro-chip also prevents the duplication of an MNIC, which is valid up to a period of ten years.
“We used to hear about reports stating that many duplicate cards were also being used by the people. But these cards are so well made that it is difficult to duplicate them,” said Rajinder Kumar, another resident.
These MNIC cards will prove to be an effective way to keep a check on the infiltrators by segregating them from the Indian nationals.
India blames Pakistan for orchestrating the infiltration of insurgents into Kashmir which has caused trouble in the region. By Pradeep Sharma (ANI)