Pak major killed in J&K

HERE'S SOME proof for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. In the first case of its kind, Major Mohammad Haider Turki of the 9 Baluch Battalion of Pakistan army was among three terrorists killed in Gurez sector on Monday, sources said.

Major Haider, working under the code name of Abu Bilal, belonged to Gujjaranwallan town of Pakistan's Punjab and was associated with the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba group, the sources said.

The two other terrorists killed in the encounter were Mohammad Qasim alias Abu Usman and Mohammad Ayub alias Islam. Sources said that the trio fought the security forces in typical army fashion and that aroused suspicion. Inquiries revealed that one of the terrorists was Major Haider.

Though India has always suspected Pakistan army regulars of being involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the killing of Major Haider is seen as an irrefutable evidence of Pakistan's involvement in cross border terrorism.

The Pakistan army will be contacted and asked to take the body of their army officer, sources said. It is unlikely, however, that Pakistan will accept the bodies of its men.

During the Kargil conflict, too, Pakistan had refused to take the bodies of its soldiers saying that Pakistan regulars were not involved. Later, however, the Pakistan government had awarded those killed in the Kargil conflict.