Launched on 20 August, www.armyinkashmir.com is updated every fortnight to counter what the Army calls propaganda on violence in Kashmir by putting forward its views on contentious issues like human rights, encounters, and atrocities by militants.

The Army's 10-kilobyte Internet site is the brainchild of Lt Gen Krishan Pal, the 15 Corps Commander. ``Initially, the response was not good with very few hits. But now, more than dozens are visiting the site daily and it has already recorded 376 hits from the US, Canada, Pakistan, UK and India,'' says Lt Col M K Bawa of the 15 Corps.

The Army's website is high on political argument and statistics. For instance, in an article titled, ``Army hot on the heels of murderers,'' foreign mercenaries are ``unmasked.'' Accusing them of murder, loot and rape, the article talks of the ``ethniccleansing'' of Kashmiris and the wanton butchery of the elderly, the women and children in the Wandhama and Sangrama massacres.

``It is time the international community wakes up to the situation and condemns the perpetration of gruesome crimes and proclaim nations who fuel such insurgencies as a `Terrorist Nation','' it says. To counter allegations of human rights violations, the Army says, ``The bogey of human rights violations is raised against those attempting to control the menace of terrorism.''

In another article, ``Narco-terrorism in J&K and Pakistan's role'', the Army points to how Pakistan has been dumping drugs all along the border with Rajasthan and that 48 per cent of all seizures in India have been of Pakistani origin. ``To generate funds for militancy, erode the vitality of the border people, win over local youth and increase criminal activity, the ISI is using the narcotics trade. The enormity can be gauged from the fact that 19.45 kg of heroine alone (worth Rs 20 crore) were recovered inthe last 1.5 years in Kashmir,'' the article says.

Meanwhile, 15 people, including nine militants, were killed and 11 ultras arrested while police repulsed a militant attack on a police station in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening.