While security forces on Sunday eliminated one terrorist in Kishtwar district, success continued to elude them in Mendhar gun-battle in tracking down the remaining hiding foreign terrorists in dense Beri Rakh forests even on Day 6.
The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the operation has spilled over to the adjoining Bhatidhar forest and Thera Topa area of Mendhar tehsil also after the ultras reportedly managed to escape to the other area.
However, 16 Corps Brigadier Satish Dua maintained that the operation is getting delayed as the terrorists are hiding in the dense forest cover. The forces are moving in a cautious manner because of the difficult terrains.
“It’s a thickly forested area and we’ve laid a cordon around the entire area. What is making the operation really difficult for the forces is the thick secondary undergrowth more than a man’s height,” Brigadier Dua stated.
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J&K row on minister’s Rs 120cr villa
Age Correspondent
Srinagar
The Omar Abdullah government has taken a serious view of a newspaper report that suggested one of its senior ministers has purchased an 8-room villa worth Rs 120 crore in Dubai’s famed The Palm Tree Villas.
The Palm Tree Villas, one of the world’s largest man-made islands, is the address of some of the internationally known celebrities and rich such as Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, footballer David Beckham and industrialist Ambani brothers and Masood Naseeb of the Elysian Group.
The report published in Greater Kashmir also alleged that another member of the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers recently entered into a pact with a company which provides machinery pertaining to the work the ministry is supposed to undertake. The State Vigilance Commissioner has been asked “to conduct a enquiry.”