M A I N   N E W S

Kashmir ceasefire may be extended

SILVASSA, Dec 16 (PTI) — The Centre can consider extending the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir beyond the Ramzan month and a decision is likely to be taken before the end of the current winter session of Parliament, Home Minister L.K. Advani said today.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is likely to make an announcement in Parliament in this regard, sources in New Delhi said.

“We can consider extending the ceasefire and a decision in this regard will be taken before the end of the winter session,” Mr Advani told reporters here today after a raising day function of India Reserve Battalion for Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli.

He said there has been a perceptible reduction in infiltration and terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir. “We are watching the situation and the Cabinet Committee on security may meet before close of the current session to consider extension of the ceasefire.

However, the Minister ruled out tripartite talks involving Pakistan.

Mr Advani said “we always favoured a peaceful solution to outstanding problems with Pakistan but after the Kargil war and the heightened proxy war we decided not to hold talks till violence and infiltration stopped”.

This stand, he said, had been acclaimed by the international community. The success of the peace initiative depended on how Pakistan responded to it, he added.

Citing Pakistan Foreign Office statement that Islamabad would strengthen and stabilise the ceasefire, the Minister said this showed that Pakistan acknowledged the importance of the Indian initiative.

Referring to talks with Hurriyat leaders, he said the government had not laid down any conditions except that they should lay down arms.

Mr Advani said the talks process would not just be confined to Hurriyat leaders and it had been made clear it would cover mainstream parties like the National Conference, the Congress, the BJP and the people of Ladakh.

The Home Minister later inaugurated the new secretariat building of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli administration. 

Ultras launch recruitment drive
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 16 — Under the cover of unilateral ceasefire declared by the Government of India, activists of Lashkar-i-Toiba, Jash-e-Mohammad and Al Badr, have embarked on a fresh recruitment drive in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to senior state government functionaries, these outfits, which are dominated by foreign mercenaries, have recruited over 100 local youths, most of them renegade militants, and those who had completed their detention, in various parts of the state, including Srinagar city, in recent days.

The foreign mercenaries have been directed by agencies across the border to use money or muscle power to recruit local youths who could be utilised for sustaining the ongoing militancy in the state. These foreign mercenaries are apprehensive of the strategy the Hizbul Mujahideen, which has domination of local boys, would adopt during and after the ceasefire. During the past three weeks Hizb activists have been on the defensive so as to monitor the pace of progress.

Consequently, the activists of Lashkar-i-Toiba, Jash-e-Mohammad and Al Badr are keen to carry local youths with them so that they are not isolated within the state.

These outfits have been engaged in what the government sources say “regrouping, reorganisation and consolidation” of their activists and supporters. In order to escape the ordeal of sending local youths for arms training to Pakistan and occupied Kashmir, the outfits are emphasising on recruiting militants who had surrendered before the security forces on different occasions during the past over six years. These renegades are trained in handling of sophisticated weapons and explosives.

However, those who have not been trained in any arms camp are being sent across the border. Since border routes in the Kupwara Sector are partially closed because of snow fresh recruits are being sent from the Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri Sectors in twos and threes.

“Government sources confirmed reports that after the ceasefire was enforced the movement of militants in various rural areas of the state, particularly in the Kashmir valley, has increased. Eyewitness accounts said groups of rebels, most of them foreign mercenaries, had been seen moving freely from village to village. These rebels were busy in carving out new hideouts and stores for dumping arms and explosives which they planned to use for “wrecking” the proposed peace process.

A senior office of a paramilitary unit in Srinagar said “the free movement of militants is alarming”. He made it clear that “we are supposed to keep silent and retaliate only when the militants attack our camps”.

Prior to the announcement of the ceasefire, militants would normally avoid visiting offices of separatist organisations, including the headquarters of the Hurriyat Conference, with guns on their shoulders. During the past over 18 days, activists of various rebel groups have been seen visiting these offices with weapons.

At times they use rooms of these offices for dumping weapons and explosives for a night or so.

Encouraged by the noninitiation of combat operations against the militants, the rebel leaders have been seen addressing congregations in various mosques, urging people to get ready for waging a “jehad” against the government and the security forces.

Despite these development, senior officers of the police and paramilitary forces are for giving the peace process a further chance.

They seem confident that once the peace process gains momentum, foreign mercenaries would face isolation.