Grenade attack in south Kashmir, traffic policeman among 14 injured

At least 14 persons, including a traffic policeman, were injured in a grenade attack by terrorists outside the Deputy Commissioner's office in Anantnag township of south Kashmir on Saturday, a police official said.
This was the second grenade attack in the valley since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5.

The terrorists hurled a grenade on a security patrol outside the heavily guarded DC office complex in Anantnag town, around 11 am, the official said.
He said the grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the roadside, causing splinter injuries to 14 persons, including a traffic policeman and a local journalist.
All the injured were admitted to a hospital and 13 of them were discharged after treatment. One person was still in hospital but he was stated to be out of danger.
The blast sparked panic among people in the town.
The area has been cordoned off by security forces and a hunt has been launched to nab the terrorists behind the attack, the official said.
No outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
On September 28, terrorists hurled a grenade at CRPF's 38 battalion personnel deployed on law-and-order duty in Nawa Kadal area of downtown Srinagar but there was no casualty.

Talks with Pakistan now will only be about PoK, says Rajnath Singh

The local administration, which is currently under Centre’s control, tightened restrictions in some parts of Srinagar and across Kashmir on Sunday, following incidents of violence in the last 24 hours. In the Jammu region, the administration cut off low-speed (2G) mobile internet services in five districts on Sunday to check rumour mongering. The move came within 24 hours of services being restored.
Addressing a public meeting in Haryana’s Kalka ahead of flagging the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for the Assembly polls in the state, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said no dialogue with Pakistan was possible until stops aiding and abetting terrorism. He said if talks are held with Islamabad they will be only on Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“Now it (Pakistan) is knocking every door and approaching various countries for help. Have we committed any crime? And they are trying to threaten us. However, America, perceived as the most powerful country in the world by people, has snubbed Pakistan, telling them to initiate a dialogue with India,” the defence minister said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday tweeted his concern about the “safety and security of India’s nuclear arsenal” under the control of the “fascist, racist Hindu supremacist” Narendra Modi government and urged the international community to take notice. His comments come two days after Rajnath had indicated India could relook at its “no-first use” policy on nuclear weapons.
“The world must also seriously consider the safety and security of India’s nuclear arsenal in the control of the fascist, racist Hindu supremacist Modi government. This is an issue that impacts not just the region but the world,” Khan tweeted. The Pakistan Army has said a nuclear attack by India was a possibility.
Rumblings continued in the Congress on the issue. Its senior Haryana leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday said he supported the Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap provisions of Article 370. Assembly polls in Haryana, along with Jharkhand and Maharashtra, are due by October.
“(Article) 370 was removed and many of my colleagues opposed it. My party has lost its way a bit. It is not the old Congress any more. When it comes to issues of patriotism and self-respect, I will never compromise,” Hooda said at a political rally in Haryana’s Rohtak.
Deepinder said he supported the move but has reservations about the “method” adopted by the government.
In Kashmir, the restrictions were tightened in areas that witnessed trouble on Saturday after the curbs were eased in several areas of the city and elsewhere in the valley, officials said. They said protests took place at around a dozen places in which several protesters were injured.
The officials said the flights carrying around 300 pilgrims landed at the Srinagar airport in the morning. Elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth movement of pilgrims to their respective destinations, they said.
Government spokesman Rohit Kansal had on Saturday said the restrictions were eased in 35 police station areas of the valley. However, several places witnessed clashes between groups of youth and security forces, leading to reimposition of the curbs.
Landline telephone services have been restored in several areas of the city as the process to bring more areas on the telecom map was going on, the officials said.

Landline services restored in Kashmir's 17 exchanges; 50,000 lines reopened

More than 50,000 landline phones were made operational on Saturday after services in 17 exchanges of the Kashmir Valley were restored after a period of about 12 days, officials said.
Seventeen out of a little over 100 telephone exchanges were made operational. These exchanges are mainly in Civil Lines area, Cantonment area, airport of Srinagar district, they said.

The officials said 20 more exchanges will be operationalised soon.
The restoration of exchanges had enabled landline services in Budgam, Sonamarg and Manigam areas of central Kashmir.
In north Kashmir, the services have been restored in Gurez, Tangmarg, Uri Keran Karnah and Tangdhar areas. In south Kashmir, the landline services have been made operational in Qazigund and Pahalgam areas.
Telephone line services, including mobile phones and landlines, were suspended in the early hours of August 5 when the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"Telecom connectivity will be gradually restored in a phased manner, keeping in mind the constant threat posed by terrorist organisations in using mobile connectivity to organise terror actions. Preventive detentions are being continuously reviewed and appropriate decisions will be made based on law and order assessments,"Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary B V R Subhramanyam had said on Friday.
In implementing the decisions taken last fortnight, this history of cross-border terrorism required the government to put in place certain preventive steps as a precautionary measure, he had said.
An important factor in doing so were credible inputs that such terrorist organisations were planning to undertake strikes in the state in the immediate future, the chief secretary had said.
"A few preventive detentions of individuals were also made in accordance with the provisions of the law to maintain law and order and avoid breach of peace. Similar measures have had to be taken in the past following violent incidents," he had said.

Phone lines in Kashmir to resume over weekend; schools next week: Govt

Most phone lines in Kashmir will be restored over the weekend and schools will reopen next week, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmirtanyam said on Friday while announcing the easing of restrictions in a phased and "orderly way".
Offices of the Jammu and Kashmir government in the Valley functioned normally on Friday and the attendance in many offices was "quite high", Subrahmanyam said at a press conference.

He said there has been no loss of life or major injury since restrictions were imposed on August 5, when Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 was revoked and the state bifurcated into two Union Territories.
"...There will be easing of restrictions in the next few days in an orderly way," Subrahmanyam told reporters here, adding that steps would be taken keeping in view the evolving situation as well as the cooperation of the people in maintaining calm and peace.
"Schools will be opened after the weekend area-wise so that children's studies do not suffer," he said.
Telecom connectivity, a major point of concern, will gradually be eased and restored in a phased manner keeping in mind the constant threat posed by terrorist organisations in using mobile connectivity to organise terror actions, Subrahmanyam said.
ALSO READ: Kashmir a prison under military control, say activists back from Valley
Asked about the restoration of telephone lines, he said, "You will see gradual restoration from tonight and tomorrow onwards. You will find a lot of Srinagar functioning tomorrow morning. BSNL takes a couple of hours to get back to action. Exchange by exchange they will be switching it on. Over the weekend, you will have most of these lines functional."
Twelve districts in Jammu and Kashmir out of 22 were functioning normally while there was limited night-time restrictions only in five districts.
ALSO READ: China seeks 'closed consultations' in UNSC on India's Kashmir move: Report
"After today's Friday prayers, immediate reports suggest that things have gone off quite peacefully right throughout the state," he said.
"We have prevented any loss of human life despite concerted efforts by terrorist organisations, radical groups and continuing efforts by Pakistan to destabilise the situation," he said.
As restrictions on the movement of people are removed area by area, movement of public transport will be allowed in these areas too, the senior official said.
"It is expected that over the next few days as the restrictions get eased, life in Jammu and Kashmir will become completely normal. This is already visible on the roads as the roads are full of regular traffic and we expect to an increase in the coming days," he said.
Preventive detentions, he said, are being continuously reviewed. Appropriate decisions will be made based on law and order assessments, he added.
Subrahmanyam said the administration appreciates the fact that the cooperation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is critical in helping maintain peace and public order.
"Focus is that, at the earliest, normalcy returns while ensuring that terrorist forces are given no opportunity to wreak havoc as in the past," he said.
The chief secretary said the government had taken steps to ensure there was no shortage of essentials and medicines during the period of restrictions. The free movement of Hajj pilgrims was also ensured.
He answered only a few questions before ending the press conference.

Kashmir a prison under military control, say activists back from Valley

Four prominent activists, who returned after spending five days travelling across the Kashmir Valley, have said the Centre and the state government have turned the region into “a prison under military control”.
In a report released on Wednesday, the activists said Indian media’s claims of Kashmir being peaceful were “grossly misleading”. They said common people were seething, distrust against New Delhi had increased, which has marginalized “pro-India parties” and strengthened the hands of separatists.

The activists said the Valley was on the edge and could erupt in protests as and when the authorities lift the curfew. They said the Valley has witnessed protests, which the forces have suppressed with use of force.
However, the J&K administration said it has lifted all restrictions in Jammu but these will continue in Kashmir. Principal secretary of J&K administration Rohit Kansal said general view is that the situation has been calm.
In another development, authorities sent back former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shah Faesal to Srinagar from the Delhi airport on Wednesday. Faesal was not allowed to fly to Istanbul. Faesal, 36, the first Kashmiri to top the IAS examination had quit his job in January to protest killings in his homeland and entered politics.
In their report, the four activists said they went far beyond the small enclave in the centre of Srinagar. They said this enclave “where the Indian media operates and where a semblance of normalcy returns from time to time” has enabled the Indian media to claim, rather erroneously, that life in Kashmir is back to normal. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” they said.
The activists – economist Jean Drèze, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)’s Kavita Krishnan, All India Democratic Women’s Association’s Maimoona Mollah and Vimal Bhai of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) – were in Kashmir from August 9 to 13, travelling widely inside and outside Srinagar.
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They addressed the media at the Press Club of India in the national capital to share their experiences from their visit to Kashmir after Parliament scrapped the provisions of Article 370 and 35A and passed a law to bifurcate the state into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
They were not allowed to show video clips they had recorded during the visit, which they released later on social media.
“Many told us that they expected massive protests to erupt sooner or later, and anticipated violent repression even if the protests were peaceful,” they said. They said people were afraid of coming on camera for fear of persecution. Off-camera, the people accused the government of zulm, or oppression, zyadti, or excesses, and dhokha, or betrayal.
The activists said most people they met said doing away with Article 370 has ended the “contract” between Kashmir’s leadership and India’s. “With Article 370 gone, India no longer has any basis for its claim over Kashmir,” the activists quoted people as having told them, with one of their respondents describing Article 370 as the mangalsutra between Kashmir and India.
A common feedback was the Centre’s move has discredited “pro-India parties” and vindicated those who argued for Kashmir’s “azaadi", or independence from India. “Many people are happy about the treatment the mainstream parties are getting. These parties batted for the Indian State and are being humiliated now,” the activists were told. People expressed fear of a demographic change in the Valley, and corporate groups taking over their lands.
The activists claimed the Valley, including Srinagar have witnessed several protests. They said nearly 10,000 people protested in Soura in Srinagar on August 9 and forces responded with pellets, injuring several. They met two victims of pellet injuries in a hospital.
The activists said forces have been “arbitrarily” picking up hundreds of schoolboys and teenagers, who are being illegally detained and women and girls complained that they were being molested during raids by forces.
There is a clampdown on the local media, Kashmiri television channels are not telecasting, and newspapers functioning under tremendous restrictions, they said.
ALSO READ: Scrapping Article 370 to bring immense benefits for J-K, Ladakh: President

From Pokhran, Indo-Pak ties to Kashmir: Some gems from Vajpayee, the orator

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on Thursday evening, was known for his oratory skills. Here are some excerpts from his speeches on a range of subjects, from nuclear tests and Kashmir to education and freedom of the press:
*Education, in the truest self of the term, is a process of self-discovery. It is the art of self-sculpture. It trains the individual not so much in specific skills or in specific branch of knowledge, but in the flowering of his or her latent intellectual, artistic and humanist capacities. The test of education is whether it imparts an urge for learning and learnability, not this or that particular set of information.
[December 28, 2002 - inaugural speech of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the University Grants Commission]

*The Pokhran-2 nuclear tests were conducted neither for self-glorification nor for any display of machismo. But this has been our policy, and I think it is also the policy of the nation, that there should be minimum deterrence, which should also be credible. This is why we took the decision to conduct tests.
[In Parliament on the 1998 nuclear tests]
*You can change friends but not neighbours.
[In Parliament in May 2003]
ALSO READ: Meet Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the poet: Some of his most popular verses
* One cannot wish away the fact that before good neighbours can truly fraternise with each other, they must first mend their fences.
[June 23, 2003 - At Peking University]
*If I break the party and forge new alliances to come to power, then I will not like to touch that power even with a pincer.
[While replying to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in 1996]
ALSO READ: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, more than a rare 'Ajatshatru' in Indian politics
*We should strive hard to ensure that every R&D rupee brings greater benefits to the nation.
*Mutual suspicions and petty rivalries have continued to haunt us. As a result, the peace dividend has bypassed our region. History can remind us, guide us, teach us or warn us; it should not shackle us. We have to look forward now, with a collective approach in mind.
[Talking on South Asia at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad January 2004]
*We in India are inheritors to a great civilisation whose life chant has been "Shanti" that is, Peace and "Bhaichara", which means, Brotherhood. India has never been an aggressor nation, a colonizer or a hegemon in her long history. In modern times, we are alive to our responsibility to contribute to peace, friendship and cooperation both in our region and around the world.
[31 January 2004 - PM's speech at the inauguration of the Global Convention on Peace and Non-violence].
ALSO READ: Vajpayee, a man of values who decried divisive ideology of his partymen
*Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, healthcare, skills enhancement, political participation at all levels from the local to the global, access to natural resources, clean water and air, and advancement of one's own culture and social organisation.
[25 September 2003 - address at 58th Session of UN General Assembly]
*The freedom of the press is an integral part of Indian democracy. It is protected by the Constitution. It is guarded in a more fundamental way by our democratic culture. This national culture not only respects freedom of thought and expression but also has nurtured a diversity of viewpoints unmatched anywhere in the world.
[September 13, 2013 - Vajpayee's speech at the 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
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*Persecution on account of one's beliefs and insistence that all must accept a particular point of view is unknown to our ethos.
[September 13, 2013 - at the 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
*Gun can solve no problem; brotherhood can. Issues can be resolved if we move forward guided by the three principles of Insaaniyat (humanism), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Kashmir's age-old legacy of amity).
[April 23 2003, Vajpayee in Parliament on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir].

3 Army jawans, 11 militants killed in separate south Kashmir encounters

Terror groups in the Valley suffered a major setback as 11 terrorists were gunned down in counter-insurgency operations in three different areas in South Kashmir in which three Army jawans and two civilians were also killed.
At a hurriedly called joint press conference of army, police and CRPF, Jammu and Kashmir Police chief S P Vaid said this is one of the biggest counter-offensives in recent times against terror groups operating in the Kashmir Valley.

The operations by security forces rendered a severe dent to militant groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashker-e-Taiba, officials said here.
Three army jawans have lost their lives in the operations at Kachdooru in Shopian, officials said, adding three bodies of militants have been recovered from the debris so far.
The operation has been called off at Kachdooru and the security personnel were search the debris tomorrow again, the officials said.
Earlier, at a press conference called at Victor Force headquarters at Awantipura, around 33 kms from here, Corps Commander of XV Corps, Lt Gen A K Bhatt, termed it one of the biggest operations in recent times and said the death of Lt Umar Fayaz, who was brutally killed in Shopian last year, had been avenged.
"Among the militants killed are Ishfaq Malik and Rayees Thokar. They were responsible for his death," Bhatt said.
South Kashmir encounter A civilian injured in the clashes during Shopian encounters, being to SMHS hospital in Srinagar on Sunday | Photo: PTI
Fayaz, 22, was killed by militants in May last year. His body was found with bullet wounds in the Hermain area of Shopian district in south Kashmir.
The DGP also made a special mention of an SSP's efforts to convince a militant to surrender during the Dialgam encounter.
"I would like to make a special mention about the Dialgam encounter where our Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) made a special effort, which is unheard of in any part of the world.
"He called the family members of one of the terrorists. They spoke with him for 30 minutes, to convince him to surrender," the officer said.
"Unfortunately, he did not heed the advice of his family. During the talks, the district SSP tried to get him over. Instead he fired on the police leaving the police with no option other than to retaliate. He was killed. The other one was caught alive," he said.
On the ongoing operations at Kachedoora, the DGP said there was information about the presence of four to five militants, but "we will be able to give a clear picture only after the debris is cleared".
One civilian death was reported from Draggad and the other at Kachudoora, both in Shopian district, the police chief said.
Violence broke out at the Kachedoora encounter site in which 25 civilians received pellet injuries while six others suffered bullet injuries, the police chief said.
The DGP said that all the seven militants killed in the Draggad encounter were locals and their bodies have been claimed by their families.
Inspector General of CRPF Zulfikar Hassan pointed out that people came in large numbers at the encounter site in Shopian.
"The operations will not stop and we will have to take all offensive measures in case they do not refrain from throwing stones at the jawans engaged in the counter-insurgency operations," he said.
It was painful to see young boys getting killed in this manner, the DGP said.
"I urge all the parents to appeal to their children to shun the path of violence and join the national mainstream," Vaid said.