C M Y K 9 JANUARY WEDNESDAY We support the use of 2013 recycled newsprint KOLKATA NEW DELHI SILIGURI BHUBANESWAR LC 12+4 Rs 2.50 website: www.thestatesman.net | | | | email: [email protected] NINE HURT IN ATTACK ON CPI-M SUPPORTERS AT BAMANGHATA, ARABUL ISLAM ALSO INJURED Political violence escalates Pak soldiers cross LoC, kill two jawans statesman news service pti & sns LINE O9 CONTROL KOLKATA, 8 JAN: Nine persons were injured, JAMMU/NEW DELHI, 8 JAN: Pakistani three of them critically, when armed Trinamul regular soldiers crossed into Indian territo- Congress supporters allegedly attacked buses ry in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir carrying CPI-M supporters at Bamanghata, in and ambushed an Indian patrol, killing two Bhangar in South 24-Parganas, on their way soldiers, one of whom was decapitated. to join a rally in the city protesting the attack Condemning the attack, which it called on former minister, Abdur Rezzak Mollah. provocative, the government said it will POONCH JAMMU AND /ormer Trinamul Congress MLA Arabul take up the incident with Pakistan. We KASHMIR Islam, who was alleged to be behind Sunday's expect Islamabad to honour the ceasefire attack on Mr Mollah, was said to be injured in agreement strictly, the Defence Ministry said today's incident, and has been admitted to a in a late night statement. nursing home. Mr Islam was apparently at the The Army's Additional Director General ried head of the Trinamul supporters involved in (Public Information) Major General S L out the strike well past the incident ~ Trinamul leaders claimed he Narasimhan said Northern Army Commander 11.30 a.m. had tried to intercept arms being carried in the Lt-Gen K T Parnaik visited the scene of action The Army's Udhampur-based Northern rallyists' vehicles, though police appeared to be and confirmed that one of the two bodies was Command came out with a statement terming in the dark about it. mutilated. Other sources said the heads of the attack as a significant escalation to the A local CPI-M leader, who was heading to both the Indian soldiers ~ Lance Naiks continuing series of ceasefire violations and Alipore for the rally from Paglahat, said: We Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh ~ have been infiltration attempts supported by the Pakistan were asked by the local police to stop at chopped off and one was taken away by the Army. A group of their regular soldiers intrud- Katatala. We were told that a Trinamul rally in Pakistani intruders. ed across the Line of Control in the Mendhar Bamanghata had attacked our supporters. Today's attack took place along the Line of Sector on January 8. Pakistan army troops, hav- When we reached the spot we found Arabul Control in Poonch district when the Pakistanis ing taken advantage of thick fog and mist in the and his associates were firing at our men and Vehicles torched during the violence at Bamanghata in South 24-Parganas (left); Controversial Trinamul leader came about 100 metres into Indian territory forested area, were moving towards our posts they even shot at our buses. They beat up our Arabul Islam at a nursing home after he was injured in the incident. On Tuesday. sns and attacked the patrol party. Besides killing when an alert area domination patrol spotted men and set our vehicles on fire, the two men, they also injured two other sol- and engaged the intruders, it said. The fire- According to police, three persons received hospital. However, CPI-M leaders said that he chief minister Mamata Banerjee's silence over Later, Dr Mishra led a team of Left /ront diers and took away their weapons. fight continued for approximately half an hour gunshot injuries and are admitted to different was injured when he tried to escape the spot recent incidents of violence in the state. In the leaders to meet state Governor M K Narayanan The attack comes a day after Pakistan lodged after which the intruders retreated towards city hospitals in critical condition. The three after he exhausted his ammunition. wake of today's fresh incident, CPI-M state sec- and bring matters to his notice. He gave a strong protest over what it described as an their side of (the) LoC. Two soldiers Lance Naik CPI-M supporters who received bullet injuries Superintendent of Police, South 24- retary and Left /ront chairman Biman Bose reports of the incidents and a medical report unprovoked Indian attack on one of its mili- Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh laid are Robin Mollah, Kutub Ali Molla and Saidul Parganas, Mr Pravin Tripathi, said: We are yet said statewide protests would be held tomor- relating to Mr Rezzak Mollah to the Governor. tary posts along the Line of Control in Haji down their lives, the statement said. Mollah, former minister Kanti Ganguli said. to know who fired in the incident that has row. Why is the state government and Mamata State parliamentary affairs minister, Mr Peer sector on Sunday, a claim which the The Defence Ministry statement said: The Six more persons were injured in the incident. occurred. I would not like to make any com- Banerjee not doing anything to stop this kind Partha Chatterjee, later told reporters that Indian Army rejected. In Islamabad, a military Government of India considers the incident as Trinamul supporters set on fire eight vehi- ment about the incident at this moment. of violence? Trinamul-backed goons under the Arabul was seriously injured by CPI-M work- spokesman denied India's allegation of a provocative action and we condemn it. cles and damaged 25 other vehicles that were Soon after the incident, local CPI-M leader- leadership of Arabul Islam attacked our party ers and he was on his way to Bhangar Hospital provocative action in Poonch sector by Director General Military operations of the carrying CPI-M supporters, it was alleged. ship had alleged that the entire attack was pre- supporters who were coming to attend the to see him. As a mark of protest, Trinamul Pakistani troops, saying the accusation was two countries are in touch over it. The govern- It was after several hours that a police team planned with the help of police. Alipore rally, Dr Surya Kanta Mishra, Congress will hold rallies after 6 p.m. from 10 aimed at diverting attention from the previous ment will take up the incident with the Paki- got to the area, even as fire tenders doused the The area was already tense after the attack Leader of the Opposition, said. to 18 January across the state, he said. incident. Pakistan had claimed that one of their stan Government. We expect Islamabad to ho- flames of the burning vehicles, a local CPI-M on Mr Mollah on Sunday. But police did noth- During Miss Banerjee's days in the When asked who fired the bullets and soldiers had been killed in Sunday's alleged nour the ceasefire agreement strictly, it said. leader said. ing to provide security and acted late even Opposition she used to blame us for every- torched the vehicles, Mr Chatterjee said such raid on a post by Indian troops, and it is spec- In the last month, the Pakistan army has vio- The Trinamul has alleged that it was the when they became aware of the attack, alleged thing," CPI-M leader Mohammad Selim said. issues will be handled by police. He, however, ulated that todays attack was in retaliation. lated the ceasefire agreement nearly a dozen CPI-M men who attacked them. A local the local CPI-M leadership. "But after becoming chief minister every unto- refused to blame the police for inaction, say- Local sources said the Pakistan Army's times. Most of these firing incidents were in Trinamul leader said Arabul received bullet Even as violence was raging a few kilometres ward incident has become a cooked up ing: Police will do their job and we will do Border Action Team entered Indian territory at Rajouri, Uri and Keran sectors to help infiltra- injuries in the attack and was admitted to a from the city, CPI-M leaders questioned the case, he said. turn to page 5 Krishna Ghati area of Poonch district and car- tion attempts, army officials said. Munda quits as Jkhand CM sns & pti two Independents and one nominated mem- ber who has voting right in a trial of strength. RANCHI, 8 JAN: Jharkhand Chief Minister The Congress has 13 MLAs, Jharkhand Vikas Arjun Munda today resigned and recom- Morcha (P) 11 and RJD 5. /ive smaller parties mended dissolution of the 82-member have one member each, besides an Assembly after coalition partner Jharkhand Independent. Mukti Morcha (JMM), in a letter to Governor The JMM is learnt to have approached the Syed Ahmed earlier in the day, formally with- Congress to explore formation of a new gov- drew its support to Mr Munda's 28-month-old ernment in the state but the latter appears to government, pushing it into a minority. be in no hurry and could prefer a brief spell I have submitted the Cabinet's decision of President's Rule. The party's caution stems recommending the Governor to dissolve the from the fact that it had burnt its fingers by House along with my resignation, Mr Munda supporting the Madhu Koda-led government told reporters here after handing over the let- in the past as it had to face public criticism for ter to Mr Ahmed at the Raj Bhavan at 11.45 I have run the government the irregularities that happened during the a.m.