News4u – News Desk : Terrorists gunned down a civilian in Doda district while security forces apprehended a militant of Hizbul Mujaheedin (HM) outfit in Kishtwar and recovered arms and ammunition from a militant hideout in Reasi district of the state, a police spokesman said in Jammu.
A group of unspecified number of HM terrorists barged into the house of one Riaz Ahmed at Gadori-Magota in Marmat, 185 kms from Jammu, last evening, he said.
After a brief argument the terrorists shot him dead and fled. In another incident, Rashtriya Rifle (RR) troops and police had a brief encounter with militants in forest area of Nagsani, 260 kms from Jammu, in Kishtwar district Saturday morning.
However, security forces apprehended one HM militant, identified as Mohammad Yusuf, after the encounter and recovered one AK-47 rifle, 25 rounds and two Chinese hand grenades from him.
Reports from Reasi district said that police busted a militant hideout and recovered a cache of arms from it in forest area of Narkote Dhara, about 95 kms from Jammu, last night, the spokesman said.
The recoveries included one rocket launcher, two UBGL launchers, 115 AK rounds, 232 Pika rounds, 4 AK magzines, One pistol magazine, six explosive packets, three hand grenades, one wireless set, two antennas, 160 pencil cells and some medicines, he added.
Omar hopeful of Army withdrawl
The army, which was deployed in certain parts of Srinagarfour days ago to assist the civil administration, may be withdrawn from the streets early next week, according to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
He told the state government was using the army in the “extreme periphery” and not more than six or eight columns of the army were used so far.
“So far they came out only on two days. The army did not come out yesterday. We deployed them twice. The first day we deployed them a little more than the second day. On the second day we deployed them near airport and on the foreshore road,” he said.
Conceding that it was the most difficult decision for him to seek the assistance of Army from the Centre, the 40-year-old Chief Minister, the youngest in the country to occupy the post, said that it was one decision that he would not like to repeat in his term in the office.
Asked when his government would consider withdrawing the Army, which was called out on Tuesday night after escalation in violence in the valley, Abdullah said that it would be done when the government has that level of confidence.
“The situation is being monitored on a daily basis. We will consider that option after July 13 and take a decision,” he said in a reference to the observance of Martyrs’ Day which is commemorated in memory of those who died fighting the Dogra rule.
Farooq Abdullah meets Chidambaram
Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday met Home Minister P Chidambaram and discussed the prevailing situation in theKashmir Valley.
Abdullah, a former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and patron of the ruling National Conference in the state, discussed with Chidambaram the steps being taken by the Centre and state government to bring back normalcy in the state.
Barring Sopore and Pulwama, curfew was lifted temporarily in the Kashmir Valley to allow people to offer prayers at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar on Friday night.
Curfew was clamped on Tuesday and army moved in to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order after violent protests shook the valley.
Omar has convened an all-party meeting in Srinagar on Monday to discuss the present situation.
Curfew eased in Srinagar for prayers
Curfew was lifted temporarily in Srinagar on Friday for prayers at local mosques as 30 persons including 23 security personnel were injured when mobs pelted stones in two incidents in South Kashmir.
After a high-level meeting in Srinagar on Friday presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, it was decided that the four-day-old curfew restrictions will be eased from 8 P.M. onwards to enable people offer special prayers overnight at the Hazratbal shrine for Shab-e-Mehraj, an important occasion on the religious calendar here.
Simultaneously, Jammu and Kashmir police cracked down on stone pelters during the night and today as well and arrested nearly two dozen people which included Mehraj-ud-din Bhat, Mohammed Ashraf Laya and Yusuf Mujahid — all activists of Hurriyat Conference faction led by hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The three were charged with instigating mobs to turn violent.
Announcements were made locally by the police informing people that they can go for Friday prayers. This period passed off peacefully without any trouble in the city.
However, there were sporadic clashes in Tregham in Kupwara, old Baramulla town and in Dalgate which was brought under control by a mild cane-charging by the police.
The authorities, however, lifted restrictions on the movement of media persons in the wake of curfew in Srinagar and certain other parts of the valley and issued fresh curfew passes to them.
Media persons can perform their official duties, an official spokesman said.
Newspapers failed to hit the stands for the second day on Friday in the Valley in the wake of the restrictions.
Official spokesman said there was no gag order on the media but “we were only enforcing the curfew strictly”.
The last time the newspapers did not come out was in 2008 at the height of the Amarnath land agitation. Publication of dailies at that time was suspended for four days.
Newspaper publication had also remained suspended for 40 days during elections in 1996.
Army, which had staged flag marches in Srinagar, did not repeat the exercise on Friday morning.
The district administration asked the Army to remain on stand by for deployment in case of an emergency.
The authorities were working on plans to give relaxation in curfew to allow people to offer prayers at Hazratbal during the night on the occasion of Shab-e-Mehraj.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting of senior police officials and bureaucrats and was closeted with senior ministers of his cabinet to take stock of the situation.
He discussed further easing of curfew restrictions in view of Shab-e-Mehraj, a religious function.
Omar has also convened an all-party meeting in Srinagar on Monday to discuss the present situation.
Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba Militants hurled three grenades at a police convoy in the outskirts of Sopore city, 54 kms fromSrinagar in the wee hours on Friday, official sources said.
The grenades were followed by heavy firing which was retaliated by the security personnel. No one was injured, police said.
The second incident involved firing at around 0130 hours at the main crossing of Sopore city, which left a jawan of Indian Reserve Battalion injured.
The third incident took place on Sopore-Baramulla road at 0230 hours when militants fired at police vehicles, leaving one of the police drivers injured, police said.
Additional paramilitary forces comprising eight companies (800 personnel) sought by the state arrived on Thursday evening and were immediately deployed in troubled areas of the Valley.
Amid intercepts suggesting involvement of hardline separatists in engineering some of the violence in the Valley, the state government carried out massive raids during the night and arrested a dozen people including Shabir Ahmed Wani, district president of Hurriyat Conference led by pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Chief Minister while admitting that recent developments in the Valley had dented his government’s credibility, however, dismissed suggestion that the situation was out of control.
“Perhaps some of my so-called friends might have thought that I would run away and leave the field for them to take advantage. But I am not a weak person. I am here to deliver and would do my best,” the Chief Minister asserted in an interview.
In New Delhi, Home Minister P Chidambaram briefed top Congress leaders on the situation in the Valley.
The hour-long meeting of the Congress Core Group chaired by party President Sonia Gandhi discussed the issue in detail as the party had expressed concern over the developments.
Apart from Gandhi, all other members of the Core Group including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram and political secretary to the Congress President Ahmed Patel attended the meeting, party sources said.
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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah




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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah