I did it with a heavy heart, says Farooq

SRINAGAR, AUG. 11. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, today charged Pakistan with adopting a strategy to kill innocent people in Jammu and Kashmir in the name of `jehad', and said it had become necessary to equip security forces with adequate powers to deal with the situation.

He told a private news channel that he took the decision to declare six districts of Jammu region as disturbed area with ``a heavy heart'' after seeing the impact of terrorism on innocent civilians.

To a question, he allayed apprehensions about the misuse of these powers saying the Government would ensure the powers were used judiciously to deal with terrorists.

Dr. Abdullah said the powers conferred on the security forces were meant to combat militancy more effectively and not to put people to any sort of inconvenience.

`Fatal to secular fabric'

In Jammu, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Mr. Shabir Ahmad Shah, criticised the State Government's decision, saying it would prove fatal to the secular fabric of the region.

He told presspersons here today that ``declaration of Jammu province as disturbed area and application of draconian laws like the SPA and the Public Safety Act (PSA) will not help in solving the problem but will, instead, subject people to harassment and deny them the limited freedom they enjoy as compared to Kashmir province''.

Mr. Shah demanded an inquiry into the recent killings in Sheshnag and Doda alleging that these killings were carried out to defame the Kashmir movement.

He demanded that all such killings or incidents should be inquired by a Supreme Court judge or any other intellectual or human rights group.

The Jamaat-e-Islami attacked the notification saying it would deeply effect the geo-politics of Kashmir.

The Jamaat, a constituent of the Hurriyat Conference, said it feared there would be a rise in human rights violation.

Notification issued

Last evening, the State Government issued a notification declaring Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts of Jammu region as disturbed areas under the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990, an official spokesman said here today.

The entire Jammu and Kashmir, barring two districts of the frontier region of Ladakh, Leh and Kargil, has been formally declared a disturbed area with the Governor, Mr. G.C. Saxena, approving the State Cabinet's decision.

The districts of Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam, Baramulla and Kupwara have already been declared disturbed.

The notification said ``the Governor is of the opinion that the State is in such a disturbed condition that the use of armed forces in the aid of civil power is necessary to prevent the activities involving terrorists acts directed towards striking terror in the people''.

BSF men injured

Four BSF personnel, two of them officers, were among 10 people injured in a grenade attack by militants in a business hub in the heart of Srinagar this evening, official sources said.

Militants hurled the grenade at the BSF picket at Hari Singh high street around 7 p.m. wounding an inspector, an SI and two other jawans. Six passers-by were also injured. The attack took place when the BSF was carrying out search and cordon operations in nearby Regal Chowk.

Militant shot

Security forces shot dead a burqa- clad militant in Doda district of Jammu region, an official spokesman said. The incident took place at Adikoot Gund last evening when security forces observed suspicious movement of a `burqa-clad woman'. The `woman' turned out to be a foreign mercenary who opened fire on the security forces leading to an encounter which left him dead.

- PTI

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