Author:
Publication: The Times
of India
Date: September 7, 2000
Shrinagar - Less than
a week after the Hizbul Mujahideen opposed census in the state, Pakistan-based
militant outfit Lashker-e-Toiba on Thursday handed out a death threat to
22,000 government employees if they joined the exercise. The outfit
also warned women in the state that if they did not use the "purdah" (veil)
while on the streets, they would be shot in the leg.
"If any one of the 22,000
government employees is seen participating in the census operation he or
she will be killed without warning", Lashker spokesman Abu Ubaid said in
a statement.
He said the decision
to warn the government employees was taken at a meeting of the command
council of the outfit in Shrinagar and activists of the outfit had been
directed to take action against the people found taking part in the exercise.
The Hizbul Mujahideen
too renewed its call to call off the census saying the time was "not appropriate
for such an exercise as a large number of people had migrated to Jammu
and other parts of the country.
The Lashker, in a statement
released to local newspapers, also said: "If any woman is found without
purdah, they will be shot in the leg".
It also warned cable
operators in the Valley to stop relaying with immediate effect all channels
except BBC, PTV and National Geographic.
The government, meanwhile,
on Thursday allayed apprehensions voiced by former union minister Saifuddin
Soz about the reliability of the census operation and asserted there was
no scope for manipulation to change the demographic pattern of Jammu and
Kashmir.(PTI)
