Hindu suicide squad ‘Balidani Jatha’ enters Jammu

JAMMU—The 21 member Balidani Jatha which managed to give police a slip at Lakhapur check post and entered Jammu on Monday to submit a memorandum to Governor N N Vohra today decided to back Sangarsh Samiti and boycott the Governor to protest against the revocation order of transfer of state land to the controversial Amarnath shrine board.
At least 300 activists (Balidani Jatha) of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti have arrived in Jammu although around 525 of them were arrested at Lakhanpur on Monday.
According to media reports, the Balidani Jatha are in Jammu to create communal tension over the revocation order of transfer of state land to the controversial Amarnath shrine board.
Reports said that they have arrived in Jammu and are giving shape to engineering communal clashes in the region while Hindu women in different Indian states have donated their jewellery to Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti for the purpose.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thakrey had recently talked of Hindu Suicide Squad and according to reports Thakrey is planning to visit Jammu and Kashmir along with 10,000 such Hindu Suicide Squad. Thakrey had asked its 25,000 activists to visit Jammu and Kashmir.
In 1947, the Balidani Jatha were involved in the killings of around 3 lakh Muslims at Police Lines in Jammu. The 21-member Jatha team in Jammu was led by Varinder Bajaj, General Secretary of the Samiti and Rajeev Tandon.
Jatha had planned to submit a memorandum to the Governor which included demands of return of land to the controversial shrine board along with restoration of its sanctity. They also demanded that the langars should be allowed to function during the entire period of Amarnath yatra and sought withdrawal of tax on langar committees. The 21-members team of Balidani Jatha which arrived in Jammu today returned with an assurance of the Core Committee of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti that they would chalk out a new strategy for the restoration of the land to the shrine board after the government revoked the order.
The Samiti has called for restoration of the sanctity of the shrine board and demanded recall of the Governor. An Army Major of 10th Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry was shot dead by a Havildar of his post in Chandel district of Manipur, official sources said.
After returning from duty, Havildar Ashok Kumar (40), hailing from Jammu, entered the room of Major Ankit Bhardwaj and fired several rounds from an AK-47 rifle killing him on the spot. The 26-year-old Major hailed from West Bengal.
The motive behind the killing on Tuesday at Moltuk post was not immediately known, the sources said. The police have registered a case in this connection. Lieutenant Colonel of Indian army has died after being washed away by flash floods in occupied Kashmir.
Police sources said that the Indian army officer identified as Indranuj Borhain was washed away by flash floods at Nagrota, some 240 kms from summer Capital Srinagar. “The army officer was engaged in repair work on a causeway at Nagrota when the flash floods washed him away”, they said.
They said that immediately after the incident, the army personnel launched a rescue operation to save his life. “The heavy downpour hampered the rescue operation and thus diminished the chances of survival of the army officer, whose body was later fished out from a tributary”.
The 41-year-old army officer from the Indian state of Assam was working with 116 Engineer Regiment at Nagrota.
Indian army spokesman has said that a court of Inquiry has been launched to ascertain the facts. The issue of Kashmir and peace and security will be on agenda when Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India will kick- start fifth round of Composite Dialogue on July 21 here.
An official of Pakistan High Commission told APP on Friday that Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will arrive here on July 20 to hold meeting with his Indian counter-part Shivshankar Menon on July 21 at Hyderabad House.
Additional Secretary (Asia and pacific) and Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Director General (South Asia) will be part of the delegation.
Salman Bashir will also hold a call-on meeting with L K Advani, Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha on July 21. He is also expected to call on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Earlier, both the countries completed fourth round of the Composite Dialogue last year and its review meeting was held when Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Islamabad in May this year.

—Agencies