Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 12, 2001
Militants attacked the house of
Jammu and Kashmir law minister P L Handoo in Anantnag on Saturday, a day
after 15 people were burnt alive in Rajouri district, even as there were
reports that militants were taking advantage of the ceasefire to regroup
and arm themselves with new weapons.
Militants also gunned down two special
police officers (SPOs) in the Valley, where the Army recovered the bodies
of two unidentified persons since Saturday, official sources said.
Handoo and his family were not in
the house at the time of the attack. Security personnel returned the fire.
Two auto drivers were injured in the crossfire.
The sources said militants shot
dead an SPO, Khurshid Ahmad, in his house at Maminder in Pulwama district
early Sunday.
A woman SPO, Gosia Akhter, who was
also shot at by militants in Pulwama district Saturday, later succumbed
to injuries.
The sources said the Army recovered
the bodies of two unidentified persons from Chopran forest in Handwara
area of Kupwara district Saturday night.
The duo were apparently killed during
an encounter between militants and the Army in the area, they said, adding
it was not known whether the deceased were militants or civilians.
Miscreants set ablaze a panchayat
building at Nownagri in Pulwama district Saturday night, they said.
Reports from New Delhi said the
forthcoming summer in the state was likely to be ``hot'' as militants were
utilising the ceasefire for re-grouping and preparing for a fresh onslaught,
sources claimed.
Militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba,
Harkat-ul- Mujahideen and Al-Badr, which are directly controlled by Pakistan's
ISI, are changing the frequency of their communication equipment, besides
earmarking some ``soft spots'' in the Valley to dump ammunition.
The sources, quoting wireless intercepts
and the statements of some arrested militants, said the camps set up by
the ISI were being used to formulate plans for regrouping and carrying
out suicide attacks on vital installations.
The militants were also arming themselves
with new and sophisticated weapons, including automatic grenade launchers.
The sources said there were fears
that one of the militant groups might try to establish its domination in
the high-altitude Doda region in the Pir Panjal range, which was earlier
controlled by the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The sources claimed that Pakistani
troops, which had been moved away from the Line of Control after India
announced the extension of ceasefire in December, were being brought back
to their original positions.
Two mountain regiments, located
at Bagh district in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, opposite Uri sector in north
Kashmir, had been brought back to their earlier location, they said.
The 26 Infantry Division of the
Pakistani Army had also been kept between Bagh and Muzaffarabad to meet
any contingency, the sources said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of angry people
came out on the streets in Udhampur town in Jammu, defying curfew orders.
The security forces used teargas and batons to control them, according
to reports.
Trouble started in Udhampur two
days ago after reports about the alleged abduction of a girl. An angry
mob set afire the houses of the accused, as also a furniture house and
a car belonging to them. It was then that the BSF was called to restore
order.
While two of the accused have surrendered
before the police, the girl has not been traced so far. Tension prevailed
in the town, though the situation was described as under control by the
police control room here.
In another development, security
arrangements have been strengthened in Jammu in view of the Assembly session
which begins on Monday. The session is likely to be a stormy affair as
the Opposition is keen to take the government to task for its alleged failure
on several issues, including the state of the power supply. The issue of
alleged discrimination against Jammu region is also likely to come up in
a big way, with the RSS-backed Jammu and Kashmir Nationalist Front deciding
to hold a bandh on Monday.
