The Army on Thursday foiled an infiltration bid in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district by killing an unidentified militant in Uri area near the line of Control (loC).
The incident occurred a day after the Pakistan Army killed an Indian soldier in Machil sector of Kupwara district with a sniper. A Defence spokesman said that the combing operation is continuing in Uri area to track down more infiltrators.
Sources said that a group of militants tried to sneak into this side of loC in Rampur area of Uri in the wee hours on Thursday. The bid was foiled by timely interception of the group leading to the killing of an unidentified militant.
The spokesman said the combing and search operation was underway in the area (till the last report came in). Unconfirmed reports said that an Army officer was wounded in the gunfight.
On Wednesday, a jawan identified as Havildar Satnam Singh, resident of Kalsian Khurshid village of Amritsar Punjab, was killed in a sniper attack from Pakistan in Machil sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Two unidentified militants were killed in a separate gunfight in Drusu village of Watergam in the same district.
Meanwhile, the authorities re-arrested the senior separatist leader and JKlF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik from his Maisuma residence in Srinagar’s civil lines
on Thursday afternoon. Malik was released from jail on October 29, after four months of detention during which he was lodged in Central Jail Srinagar.
Malik is among the top three separatist leaders who are spearheading the current uprising in Kashmir. Senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Malik held two meetings recently including one with the different “stakeholders” of Kashmiri society including traders, industrialists and intellectuals.
After deliberations, the separatist leaders issued fresh protest calendar asking people to continue shutdown and anti-India protest rallies.
Mirwaiz Farooq who heads a faction of Hurriyat Conference was also put under house arrest apparently to foil his programme of marching towards south Kashmir’s Shopian district headquarters. His detention evoked spontaneous reaction in old city parts forcing the authorities to send additional deployments to the area.
The separatists have called for “Jamia Masjid March” in old city asking the people to gather at the central mosque by the evening. The separatists have called for congregational Friday prayers to be held in the Jamia Masjid where the authorities have disallowed the gathering of worshippers for the past 17 weeks. Official sources said the authorities will make adequate security arrangements to disallow the Jamia Masjid march to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, the normal life continued to remain affected in Kashmir Valley on the 125th consecutive day due to separatist sponsored shutdown in Valley. Police said the overall situation remained peaceful and under control with no major untoward incident reported from any part of the Valley.