Kashmir Sentinel: April 1st--May 31st, 2001

News Briefs

KS Correspondent

Gujjars demand political reservations

JAMMU, Apr 8: Gujjars are bitter over Centre's role in ignoring them despite the fact that they constitute one-fourth population of the J&K State. These observations were made by J&K Gujjar United Front, a front-ranking organization of Gujjars here at a press conference. The Front leaders made a scathing attack on NC government and blamed it for opposing a private member's bill aimed at granting political reservations to the Scheduled Tribes in the State. The bill had been moved by Mr Harsh Dev Singh, Panthers Party MLA. Mr Anwar Choudhary, GUF leader said Gujjars had more representation during Congress regime in the state legislature, when they had 9-10 berths. Now Gujjars had only two MLAs, he added. Criticizing the role of State government, the Gujjar leader raised doubts over cabinet committees on Gujjars and Bakarwals.

Militants kidnap three youths in Dharmsal

RAJOURI, Apr 1: Three youths identified as Subash Kumar, Babu Ram and Bachan Singh, all residents of Gala Morh in Dharamsal area of Rajouri were kidnapped by Jehadists. They had gone to Pinga Gala forest for cutting woods around noon. The kidnappings have caused scare among the Hindus living in this area.

Is Dr Abdullah preparing for retirement?

SRINAGAR, Apr 4: Whey was ruling National Conference in a hurry to pass the bill entitling former chief ministers privileges, which will make even the princes envy. This has led to speculation in the political circles that Dr Abdullah is preparing for some sort of voluntary retirement. The Bill passed by the State Legislature today entitles former chief ministers such facilitie a car, 250 litres of petrol per month, medical facilities, accommodation, a yearly Rs 35,000 for furnishing of residence, Rs 48,000 per annum for telephone, Rs 1500 per month for power tariff, a personal assistant, a special assistant and two peons. The Bill will add an annual expenditure of Rs 1,10,23,200 to the state exchequer. The Bill will also benefit Syed Mir Qasim and Mr GM Shah, the only surviving chief ministers of the State.

Prof Ravinder Kumar passes away

NEW DELHI, Apr 6: Prof Ravinder Kumar, the noted historian passed today after a brief illness. He was 68. He is survived by two daughters. Dr Kumar was an emigre Kashmiri, whose forefathers had migrated from Kashmir to Lahore. Specialist on the social consequences of colonial rule in India, Prof Kumar served as chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research. His last engagement was as director of Nehru Memorial Library, where he served for almost seventeen years.

Prof Kumar subscribed to Left Congress views and his book 'The Making of Modern India' bore deep imprint of it. Displaced Kashmiris remember him for participating in a seminar on Kashmir, where he was a panelist alongwith late Giri Lal Jain and Hon'ble Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

Two Sikhs beheaded in Surankote

JAMMU, Mar 16: Terrorists remain unrelenting in their attacks on Sikh community members. Chittisinghpora and Mehjoor Nagar massacres were intended to generate enough fear and scare in the Sikh community, holding on in Srinagar as the only non-Muslim presence. If the reports reaching here are any indication, then it looks the Sikh community has already made up its mind on the magnitude of the challenge and the response to it. Was the beheading of the two Sikhs recently in Surankote a similar message delivered by Jehadis to Sikhs living in Poonch?

On the morning of March 16, two bodies, identified as that of Lakhbir Singh, R/o Digwar and Mohan Singh, R/o Malla Khori Nar were recovered from Lassana forest area by some villagers. The two had been abducted four days back. According to the Police, Mohan Singh and Lakhbir had left Jammu for Poonch on March 8 by bus to visit their ancestral houses in the village and meet their family members. They were still putting up in the villages, while the youth were staying in Jammu in rented accommodation. Mohan Singh and Lakhbir had migrated from Poonch several months ago following issuance of threats by terrorists.

The bus left the two youth at Rajouri only. From there they boarded a truck which dropped them at Dundak bridge. It was extremely dark. Reports said some locals affiliated to Lashkar-e-Toiba kidnapped the youth, a few kms away from their village. The youth were brutally tortured by militants and beheaded in captivity, in the forest belt. The bodies were later thrown on the road side.

When parents of the deceased did not hear anything from Mohan Singh they informed the police. Some villagers had spotted the bodies but were too scared to lift the bodies. Other reports said though security forces and police were informed but they made no effort to carry out a search operation. When people persisted with protests, the police recovered and identified the two dead bodies.

The brutal manner and the circumstances in which two Sikh youths were murdered led to tension in Poonch town. People raised slogans against State government charging it with failure to protect Sikhs' carnage.

Hurriyat leader's son involved in a scam

JAMMU, Apr 9: The Vigilance Organisation, Kashmir today arrested Nasir Ansari, son of Moulvi Abbas Ansar, a Hurriyat leader, and his business partner Wasim Ahmed Chisti for their involvement in Rs 2-5 crore computers scam. Reports said Nasir Ansari's firm had supplied substandard Computers to Revenue department, which failed in one year. The contract was given during Governor's Rule under instructions from Delhi bureaucrats.

Kashmiri Talent flourishes in Alien lands

JAMMU, Mar 28: Poet Iqbal once said in a lighter vein to Prem Bhatia, the former Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune, that exile from homeland has given new meaning to the talent of Kashmiris. He argued that had he and Moti Lal Nehru stayed put in Kashmir, Nehru would have been a district level pleader, while he himself would have been a poet known at district level only. These remarks of the famous poet, who often prided in his ancestry from Saproo Pandit family, retain relevance even today.

In the field of languages Braj B Kachru (USA), Aga Shahid Ali (USA), ML Raina (Chandigarh), Suvir Koul (Delhi) etc have carved out a niche for themselves. The latest to join this club is Hari Kunzru, a 31-year old Kashmiri, who holds British citizenship.

Hari Kunzru, working as a Journalist for wired magazine and the Daily Telegraph suddenly shot into prominence, when he landed a massive contract worth $ 12.5 million for a two-book deal following the draft of a novel he submitted less than a month ago. The books are yet to be published. Hari secured $ 750,000 for the American rights (Dulton-a division of Penguin) and $ 50,000 for the European rights from Hamish Hamilton (Penguin). The draft manuscript was submitted to publishers in the first week of March 2001. Three days later he received the first offer. Three publishers competed in the British auction for the book. Without concealing his joy, Kunzru remarked, "I never expected anything like this and I'm overjoyed. I just hope the positive reaction from the publishers will translate into a positive reaction from the public". Johnny Geller of Curtis Brown, an agent for the book commented, "This book has become a phenomenon. It has really caught the imagination of the book world and everybody wants to publish it. More popular fiction may have made more money but this is a huge payment for a literary novel. The book itself is accessible, funny and a great story." Kunzru, whose manuscript became the subject of a transatlantic bidding war, has been quoted as having said that Hollywood filmmakers had expressed a lot of interest in buying the rights.

The draft manuscript is entitled "The Impressionist," which Kunzru describes as "Midnight's children meets Tom Jones". It is his third attempt at writing a novel. Set in the 1920s, "the Impressionist" is the story of a half English illegitimate child who is disowned by his Indian family. The child travels to UK, where after getting trained as an anthropologist he moves on to Africa.

Hari Kunzru, who lives in South London belongs to the distinguished Kunzru family. He was born to a Kashmiri father and English mother. His father Dr Krishan Mohan Nath Kunzru, an Orthopaedician migrated from Agra to London in the mid 1960s. Hari was educated at Bancroft School in Woodford Green and later at Wadham College, Oxford. Hari's illustrious grand-father, late Hriday Nath Kunzru was a leading legal luminary and a celebrated name in India's anti-colonial struggle. Great institution builder, HN Kunzru helped set up Sapru House (Indian Council of World Affairs) for the research scholars from the country and abroad.

HN Kunzru loved his homeland and his community immensely. Every year he would visit Kashmir and stay with Sapru family. His concern over discrimination meted out to his community after 1947 in Kashmir was more genuine then that expressed by many of his other colleagues. HN Kunzru's ancestors had also migrated around the same time as Nehrus'. As the surname indicates, this distinguished family migrated from Kunzar, a village in the Tang Marg area of North Kashmir.

JK Police identifies culprits aiding terrorism in Jammu

JAMMU, Apr 7: Terrorists and their sympathizers in local media and among so-called human rights groups, NGOs have been engaged in a psy-war against the army. Terrorists have been using fatigues of Indian security personnel to conduct massacres and torture people. Subsequently, political mileage is sought to be extracted by implicating army. Another ploy is to attract internationalglare by falsely accusing army of indulging in custodial killings and kidnappings. From time to time many would be terrorists have been disappearing regularly. Their family members of the terrorists have been including them in the 'Missing Persons' category. This is being done with a two-fold purpose--logistically it gives good leverage to the terrorist in operating and secondly attributing the disappearance to some foul play by Army puts Army on defensive. The Army, so far has been slow in countering the psy-war.

Punjab Police nabs keylink:

Two recent operations mounted by Kathua Police and Punjab Police throw enough light on how internal subversion aids the terrorist campaign in J&K.

On April 1, Punjab Police arrested one Mehmood-ul-Haq, a militant alongwith three other Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militants from Jammu--Sher Khan, Gouri Khan and Danish alias Dagga Khan from Batala town. Alongwith them, one Manjit Singh alias Fauji of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), who was working as a conduit with Jammu-based militants, has also been arrested.

Twenty-five year old Mehmood, who hails from Behrot area (Thannamandi) of Rajouri was a M.Phil student of Urdu in Jammu University. He suddenly disappeared from his house on January 21. His family members and relatives were well aware of his contacts with militants. They deliberately instigated the people to shift the blame of Haq's missing on Special Operations Group (SOG). People of Palangar had resorted to violent agitation in Rajouri alleging his arrest and custodial killing by SOG. The instigated mob ransacked an Information Department office and several government buildings in Rajouri. A NC leader, as per one report had also joined the protest.

During interrogation, Mehmood and his associates revealed that the driver of a Congress leader in Doda and a senior doctor had helped them forge links with Sikh militants so that militancy was revived in the border areas of Punjab. They also said that a hotel in Jammu, was being used as a 'control room' by ISI sleuths.

As per police sources, Mehmood-ul-Haq has confessed his links with several top militants of Hizb and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. With the help of Sher Khan, Haq came in contact with Bashir Ahmed of Kathua a truck driver and Manjit Singh 'Fauji'. Bashir was engaged in smuggling arms and explosives in his truck from Punjab to border districts of Jammu and vice versa. Other three militants--Sajjad Hussain (of Bhaderwah), Mohd Din (Samba) and Mohd Yousaf were already in contact with Bashir. Mohd Din used to smuggle arms consignment from across the border in his home district. Police sources added that Mehmood in his confessional statement revealed that his brother, Abdul Qayoom, working as ASI of Armed Police helped Mehmood and his group several times in smuggling of weapons and carrying out their subversive activities. Qayoom, suspended sometime back for his links with militants had been reinstated for want of sufficient evidence against him.

Cong-I leader implicated:

Sajjid Hussain, a front ranking militant had been working as a domestic servant in the house of a Congress leader and former MLA Gh. Qadir in Bhaderwah. He alleged that the house of former legislator was frequented by a number of hard-core militants, operating in Doda district Sajjad revealed that he joined militancy because of financial allurements and at the instance of Congress leader. He added that Gh. Qadir deputed a senior doctor of Bhaderwah to accompany him to meet Hizb militant, Majid Dar at Srinagar in his hideout. Dar took him to Kupwara from where he was taken across to PoK alongwith a group of 25 militants early last year.

A hotel in Jammu was being used by these militants as a hideout for dumping arms and ammunition and distributing these to militants operating in Rajouri, Poonch and Doda districts. The Key ISI man in these activities was one Major Tariq Ahmed, operating from Sialkot. Police has also identified a political leader from Rajouri with whom Mehmood-ul-Haque was in regular contact over phone.

Basohli attack:

In yet another break through, Kathua police worked out the mystery of an attack on a police matador carrying Rs 1 crore cash at village Marta, Basohli on March 1 this year. SOG arrested two militants, identified as Muzaffar Hussain son of Sub-Inspector Nazir Hussain, posted in Police Training School, Kathua, and Zahoor Hussain son of Head Constable Abdul Husain While Muzaffar belongs to Basohli, Zahoor hails from Billawar. The two militants involved in the attack were arrested near the house of a CPM leader in Bhatindi, while making telephone calls from a PCO. Two other militants arrested were Shafqat Ali and Shahid Hussain, both hailing from Bhaderwah. Zaheer Abbas and DK (Code name), involved in the attack are still at large at the time of filing this report and belong to Doda district.

The two constables injured in the encounter provided valuable leads, leading to the arrest of Muzaffar Hussain. He spilled the beans and SOG was able to nab other culprits. Shahid Hussain happens to be a close relation of a CPM leader, putting up in Bhatindi and had also stayed in his house for few days. The CPM leader hasn't been arrested so far. The militants involved in the attack belonged to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The kins of two police officers had followed the matador from Kathua treasury to Basohli and picked up a wireless set on the way on which they informed the other militants waiting for the attack. Police also recovered arms and ammunition from the possession of militants.

JK politicians drag army in unnecessary controversy

JAMMU, Apr 6: An unseemly controversy has been created by some state-level politicians and a section of regional media to malign the image of the Indian Army. Following the sensationalizing of a report related to proposed recruitment on April 21 for Army, in a Jammu English daily, two MLAs belonging to CPM and BSP raised the issue in the ongoing session of State Assembly. The two members known for anti-BJP stand tried to link the recruitment advertisement to the BJP's alleged anti-Muslim bias. Responding to the debate, the Chief Minister, Dr Abdullah assured that he would take up the matter with the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister. The advertisement had mentioned that in that particular recruitment rally there was no vacancy for Muslims and tradesmen categories. Controversy was uncalled for because it was self-explanatory. Since tradesmen also did not have any vacancy, there was no question of anti-Muslim bias. Neither the English daily nor the two MLAs bothered to seek clarification from the Army.

Indian Army, it may recalled, has still not discarded the colonial tradition of recruitment based on alloting vacancies categorywise. There is no bias against any one. Army had already conducted two rallies in Rajouri and Samba, in which recruits were only Muslims. Hindu and Sikh vacancies were not filled up. There were no vacancies left for Muslims and tradesmen candidate for Akhnoor rally. Recruitment in army is based on intake from all categories so that equal opportunities are provided to one and all. Vacancies are filled biannually and categories to be filled are advertised accordingly.

The army in its rejoinder clarified that the reference to the two categories in the ad was specifically intended to avoid inconvenience to candidates of particular categories who would otherwise have to travel from far flung areas to Akhnoor. It attributed the controversy to biased reporting in the press.

General Padmanabhan, who sought clarifications from Army recruitment authorities and the Northern Command, was told that during Rajouri and Samba rallies six months earlier not a single Sikh or Hindu candidate had been recruited in the Army. Akhnoor rally was meant to fill the vacancies in the Dogra Regiment and the Sikh Light Infantry unit and the quota for. On Sikh and Hindus had to be filled. Keeping tradesmen out of the recruitment, it referred to those who have come out from ITIs, because there is a separate recruitment.

Despite the aversion of Kashmiris for joining Army, the J&K Light Infantry has a sizeable number of Muslim soldiers and officers. Even during the last ten years of turmoil more than seventy percent of the surrendered militants from Kashmir valley were recruited in paramilitary organizations like CRPF and BSF. As on today, 3683 surrendered militants are serving in these two orgnisations. The process of enlarging recruitment of Kashmiri Muslims in Army, CRPF and BSF was started by former Governor Jagmohan in 1990. No security agency or belt force anywhere in the world can recruit people without ascertaining the individuals's background and commitment to the country he intends to serve. Indian Army and the Paramilitary forces have never discriminated in recruitment.

J&K Police busts funding racket of militants

JAMMU, Apr 6: In a major breakthrough, J&K Police have busted a funding racket linked to a Kashmiri separatist group, People's League. On a tip off, district police, Kathua laid a naka party at Lakhanpur, which intercepted on March 27 a Maruti Car No: DL-7C-3147 and recovered Rs 1.05 lakh from the car occupants. Unable to explain the source of money, the police managed to lay their hand on a hidden box, fabricated inside the car. Over Rs 17 lakh were recovered from the box. This was for the first time that such a large amount of hawala money has been recovered in Jammu region. The arrested hawala conduits have been identified as Showkat Ahmed, R/o Shah Mohalla and Abdul Aziz, R/o Gowkadal, Srinagar, Srinagar. The two during interrogation, by the police revealed that the money was to be passed on to two terrorist groups operating from Srinagar.

Tracing the hawala links further, the police arrested Ghulam Mohd Khan alias Khan Sopori of Channapora Srinagar, the acting chairman of the separatist People's League (Farooq Rehmani Group). Some incriminating documents, reports said, were recovered from him which detailed how the hawala funding of militants was operating. Khan Sopori and his associates have been receiving large amounts of money from Pakistan for distribution among the militants in the Valley. Sources added that Sopori used to send boys to Delhi for collecting money after getting a message on internet that "aadmi tayar hai" (man is ready). The details of money paid to militant outfits were fed by him in the computer. Earlier the two conduits had brought Rs 12 lakh from Delhi to Kashmir. For this they were paid Rs 50,000 by Sopori. Showkat and Majid were sent by Sopori to contact a person in Delhi, who conveyed the instructions of Farooq Rehmani and also handed over the money. Showkat Ahmed is also reported to be a PL activist. The reports said that Showkat, an employee of the Sheep Husbandry department has already visited Pakistan twice and brought huge consignments of money for militant and political outfits. The same reports added that Showkat has been getting assistance in subversive activities from his close relations, serving in senior positions in the State government. Immediately after the busting of the racket, three more links in the chain Nazir Payami (Sonawar), Rashid of Kolpora (Pulwama) Rafeek-ul-Islam and Gh Mohd Gaash from Chrar-i-Sharif, as per official sources have gone underground. Sopori's new house is located beside the headquarters of Hurriyat Conference in Rajbagh.

Militancy stunts development work in the Jammu region

POONCH, Apr 24: The 10 years old militancy has now begun to cast its evil shadow over the functioning of Border Road Organisation (BRO) in the Jammu region. This became apparent when the road construction and maintenance activities on Surnakote--Poonch road had to be suspended recently due to sustained terror campaign unleashed by foreign mercenaries against 2000 unarmed local casual labourers employed in this project.

"Till last year the threats were confined to occasional incidents of intimidation and confrontation by foreign militants, but in the past three months there have been serious threats of physicalelimination of workers coupled with attempts to blow up isolated culverts and construction equipment lying unattended at the work sites," stated a labourer hailing from a neighbouring village. Loca sources have revealed that the violent incidents perpetuated by foreign militants, in the past few months are due to the simmering discord which has surfaced between the local and foreign militants over sensitive issues affecting the local population.

Targeting an organisation like BRO by foreign militants is understandable as it is one of those premiere institutions which is not only involved in the maintenance and upkeep of thousands of Kms of roads in the Jammu region, but also contribute significantly to the socio-economic upliftment of the remote and inaccessible areas by utilisation of local resources and employment of thousands of local labourers.

"BRO employ 9000 to 10000 local labourers and spends upwards of Rs 5 to 6 crores each month on its various undertakings like maintenance of roads, construction of new roads/bridges and snow removal operations in winter months in the Jammu region alone: actions which are not in consonance with the ideology of militant groups; otherwise manifested through acts of wanton destruction of property, killing of innocent civilians and ensuring untold miseries to the local population by preventing infrastructural development by them", said an officer on the condition of anonymity.

Whatever may be propagated reasons for their actions, it is apparent that these foreign militants or hired mercenaries have neither any sympathy for the poverty ridden poor labourers nor any care for the sentiments of the local population. By these acts they are simply ensuring their aim of taking Jammu region back to the medieval times.

It's high time for Indo-Pak dialogue: RSS

JAMMU: The Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh today declared that conditions were conducive for an Indo-Pak dialogue to resolve all contentious issues, including Kashmir.

He indicated that the conversion of the Line of Control (LoC) into the international border could form basis for the dialogue between the two countries.

RSS spokesperson M.G. Vaidya told newspersons in Jammu on Sunday that the "borders have become silent and these are sufficient conditions for resuming the dialogue with Pakistan". He saw no change in the level of militant violence after the ceasefire announcement.

Though he maintained that the RSS advocated taking back the portion of Jammu and Kashmir under control of Pakistan, "the ground realities and the US proposal indicated that talks may be on the basis of conversion of LoC into international border.

Asked whether the RSS would accept the LoC conversion, Mr Vaidya avoided a direct answer.

He said that the RSS supported dialogue with secessionists. He said that there was no harm in sending All Party Hurriyat Conference leaders to Pakistan.

Mr Vaidya said he supported the ceasefire also.

He declared that the RSS supported the trifurcation of the state and disagreed that any such division of J&K would lead to communal flare-up. "There have been divisions of the states in the past. Why should there by any violence?"