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Army put in charge of Doda district

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

The central government is actively considering the proposal to declare the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, where militants massacred 16 villagers on Tuesday, as a disturbed area, Union Home Secretary B P Singh said.

He said the security forces have gunned down two of the killers on Wednesday.

For now, the army has been put in charge of the security arrangements in the district, where massive combing operations are on to nab the killers.

Curfew continues in the two towns of Bhaderwah and Kishtawar.

And elsewhere in the state, a total of 14 persons, most of them militants, have been killed.

Singh was talking to newsmen at Kishtawar on Wednesday afternoon after a review meeting with state Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitley, Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat, the director general of the Border Security Force, GOC of the Victor Force Major General C S Brar and other senior officers.

The home secretary said Pakistan was exporting terrorism to Jammu and Kashmir and the world should condemn it.

He, however, did not believe that militancy was on the rise in the state again.

"Militancy," he said, pointing out that a large number of militants have been killed or nabbed in the past two months, "is on the run."

Earlier addressing the people, the home secretary said the security arrangements in Doda would be tightened in view of the killings, the presence of mercenaries and the difficult terrain. The local police and village defence committees would be strengthened to face the challange from across the border. New VDCs would be formed and more special police officers appointed, Singh said.

On Tuesday evening, the victims were cremated in their respective villages amidst tight security.

Meanwhile, life in the Kashmir valley was paralysed in view of a general strike called by the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference against the non inclusion of Kashmiris in the talks between India and Pakistan in Colombo. Shops remained closed and skeleton traffic plied the roads.

Kargil, on Wednesday, witnessed heavy shelling from across the border, forcing the people to flee the area. The attack, continuing for the past 24 hours, had killed an army jawan and a woman on Tuesday.

Reports of shelling have been received from Machil, Keran and Gurez sectors also.

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