Defying shutdown, 1,300 take Army exam

Srinagar: About 1,300 candidates appeared on Sunday in the common entrance examination for the selection of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and other ranks in the Army even as the Valley was reeling under official curfew and separatist-sponsored shutdown, following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Sabzar Ahmed Bhat.

The exam was held in summer capital Srinagar and Pattan area of north-western Baramulla district. The Army tweeted: “Written Examination #IndianArmy JCOs & OR held at Srinagar & Pattan. 799 in Pattan & 493 in Srinagar appear today.”

A defence spokesman said out of 815 candidates, who had applied for JCOs posts, as many as 799 appeared for the test at Pattan whereas in Srinagar, as many as 493 candidates reached the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regimental Centre at Rangreth for the exam. “Candidates defying shutdown call and choosing their future is a clear message,” the spokesperson said.

In New Delhi, minister of state at the PMO, Jitendra Singh, said, “The Kashmiri youth are keen to be a part of the mainstream development journey led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As they can see the enormous benefits, which are now available to the youth in other states and they don’t wish to be deprived of that.”

He added that the youth in the Valley are very keen that normalcy should be restored as soon as possible.

Mr Singh, who was reacting to Pakistan’s charge that Bhat was ‘martyred extra-judicially’, said regardless of what Islamabad says, India’s approach towards Kashmir remains “clear and consistent”.

Pakistan, condemning the killing of Bhat and other militants by the Indian security forces, also said the world powers must get New Delhi to stop targeting ‘defenceless Kashmiris’. Responding to it, Mr Singh said that there is going to be no leniency as far as tackling terrorism is concerned.

Meanwhile, the Army said on Sunday that a civilian working as a porter was killed while another received injuries in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday. It added that the body of the slain porter was retrieved and handed over to his kin for last rites while the injured was evacuated to a medical facility.

The Army also said that it killed an “intruder” on the LoC in Poonch district on Sunday.

“Soldiers noticed suspicious movement on the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector around 2.30 am. They opened fire killing one intruder whose identity is yet to be ascertained”, the Army said.

In Uri area of Baramulla district, the locals have expressed doubt over the Army claim that the two persons it killed near the LoC on Friday could be militants or Pakistan army personnel. The Army had said that it had stopped an infiltration attempt backed by the Pakistan army along the de facto border and killed two members of a Pakistan army Border Action Team (BAT) who had crossed the de facto border and were very close to an Indian Army post located 600 metres from it (LoC). “The BAT action against the Indian Army patrol along the LoC in Uri sector was foiled. Two BAT terrorists have been killed. The operation continues,” the spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said in a brief statement issued here on Friday.

The bodies of the slain men were handed over to the locals for the burial. Srinagar newspapers on Sunday quoted the residents and the gravediggers as saying that the duo was “very old persons possibly septuagenarian or octogenarian who could hardly be militants or soldiers.”