SRINAGAR (PTI): The captors. of three defence personnel Aug.25 seta fresh deadline of 48 hours for accepting their demand while three persons, one of them a security man, were killed and 16 suspected militants captured in the Kashmir valley (in north India) since Aug.25.
Normal life was disrupted in Srinagar and major towns of the valley Monday as the strike, called by Awami action committee and supported by several militant outfits, was staged to protest the alleged human rights violation and desecration of religious places.
The captor’s deadline was Aug.26, a spokesman for the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said in Srinagar, summer capital of the strife-torn state.
He said they would be “compelled to kill the hostages if the authorities fail to release 17 jailed militants within two days.”
The militants abducted the three defence personnel on Aug.3 while they were on way to Srinagar from Pattan.
Reacting to the renewed threat of the captors to kill the defence personnel, director general of Jammu and Kashmir police B.S. Bedi asked them to release the captives on humanitarian grounds,
“It is not in the interest of humanity to kill innocent persons, It is against mankind. This is not the method of getting people released,” Bedi said.
He said a security man was killed in cross-firing between militants and security forces at Sunerwani in Kupwara district Monday.
A possible catastrophe was averted when a security patrol detected an anti-personnel mine, planted by militants at a graveyard in Pampore area Monday. The mine was defused, he said.
A security man and a person were injured in cross-firing between militants and security forces in Anantnag district, he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 4, 1992
