Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 28, 2000
Shrinagar (PNS; Agencies)
- Guns failed to fall silent as 11 people, including five militants and
four security personnel, were killed and 22 injured on the first day of
Ramzan ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday even as people in the
Valley saw a ray of hope in the Centre's peace initiative.
Militants blasted an
Army vehicle at Kreer-Nowpora in Anantnag district's Dooru belt, 85 km
in south from the capital Shrinagar, on Tuesday after. At least four
soldiers were killed and 14 others injured in the militant action carried
through an IED explosion. The vehicle in which the soldiers were
travelling also got damaged extensively.
Hizbul Mujahideen owned
the responsibility for engineering the explosion and claimed that casualties
were much more than was accepted.
Official sources said
that a posse of Rashtriya Rifle's 36th battalion was on patrol in Dooru
area. When the patrolling party reached Nowpora village, their vehicle
ran over a deadly IED. The explosion was so powerful that the vehicle
was blown up in air and fell yards away. Four soldiers travelling
in the vehicle died on spot while 14 others got wounded. The condition
of five of them was stated to be critical.
A caller identifying
himself as spokesman of Hizbul Mujahideen told newspaper offices here that
his group was responsible for ambushing the Army vehicle. The Hizb
activists had eliminated Power Minister Ghulam Hassan Butt in the same
area in the same fashion in May this year.
In another incident,
five militants belonging to Harkatu- ul-Jehadi-Islami and Teherek-e-Jehad
groups were killed in a fierce encounter with the security forces when
the militants tried to infiltrate into Saujian in Poonch sector from across
the Line of Control. Two civilians were also killed and eight injured
in the incident.
Security forces later
recovered five rifles, two radio sets, some documents and a large quantity
of ammunition from the killed militants, a Defence Press release said.
Police repulsed militant
attacks on the residence of a ruling National Conference leader Ghulam
Nabi Mir and a former minister Sheikh Abdul Jabbar in the State since Monday
evening, an official spokesperson said here.
Meanwhile, outgoing Jammu
and Kashmir DGP Gurbachan Jagat on Tuesday said security situation in the
State was fast returning towards normalcy and peace.
"Situation is speedily
returning towards normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. This is visible
from the positive reflections in the State," Jagat, who now goes as the
new Director General of the BSF, told reporters at his farewell ceremony
here. He said some militancy-related incidents are last straws in
the stream.
However, new Director
General of Jammu and Kashmir police A K Suri, soon after taking charge
on Tuesday, said there was possibility of heightened militancy in the state
during Ramzan. He said the militant activities had been stepped up
during the month of Ramzan last year and the year before that.
Meanwhile, more troops
were sent to the Dooru area in Anantnag district. Even as the area
remained besieged till late in the evening, there was no report of any
retaliation or search operation by the security forces.
Security forces have
stopped all combat and search operations against militants at the directions
of Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the month of Ramzan, which commenced
on Tuesday. The security forces maintained cease-fire in other parts
of the Valley also and there were no reports of any search operation or
crackdown from anywhere in the Valley.
Militants, however, have
rejected the offer as a "ploy" and have threatened to intensify attacks
on security forces. The Tuesday strike is perceived as a manifestation
of militant threat during Ramzan.
In another development,
Harkatul Mujahideen and Harkat-e- Jihad-e-Islami, the two die-hard Pakistan-based
militant outfits, have re-merged and have announced to operate jointly
in the Valley. The two Harkats had merged to form Harkatul Ansar
in 1994 and earned the name of the most feared militant outfit. However,
when in 1996, United States imposed a ban on the Ansar, its cadres broke
to their earlier groups and started operating separately.
Reports said that the
two groups, who are a dominant force in border district of Kupwara, have
decided to merge together and operate under a united banner. Jamiatul
Mujahideen has also directed its cadres to intensify attacks on security
forces in the month of Ramzan.
