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| Thursday, January 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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APHC may cancel Pak visit Armed forces put on high alert School students too join strike Voters brave chill
on second day |
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APHC may cancel Pak visit JAMMU, Jan 17 — The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has no plan to wait for an indefinite period for the government to issue passports for the five-member delegation wishing to visit Pakistan to discuss the Kashmir issue with Islamabad and leaders of militant outfits. The APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, said, “Though I have not lost hope in seeing the peace process move forward, I and my party cannot wait indefinitely for getting a green signal from the Government of India for visiting Pakistan.” He hinted that the APHC Executive Committee meeting may be convened next week to discuss the delaying tactics adopted by the government in issuing passports to the team members. “We may be forced to cancel our visit to Pakistan,” he said, adding that there was no other alternative for them if the government did not issue the passports within a few days. Professor Bhat explained that when the peace process was initiated and the government expressed its eagerness to hold talks with the APHC leaders, “we had responded.” He added the government even accepted their demand for visiting Pakistan to discuss the core issue of Kashmir. He said it was strange that now the government was placing hurdles in the forward march.” The Hurriyat leader said, “It is a testing time for the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The absence of a quick decision on the issuance of the passports indicates that the ‘hawks’within the BJP had started dominating the show.” He said if Mr Vajpayee resolved the passport tangle, he would go down in history as a “great man and politician.” When asked if the grenade attack on Dr Abdullah’s public rally in Srinagar on Sunday and the
Fidayeen attack on the CRPF picket on Srinagar airport on Tuesday and other incidents of violence forced the government to have second thoughts on the issuance of the passports to the APHC team, Professor Bhat said, “It is a unilateral ceasefire. Militants are not bound by any agreement to stop firing and armed attacks.” He said these incidents should not deter the peace process. He referred to the recent attack on the security forces inside the Red Fort in Delhi and stated that the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, had announced that such incidents would not stall the peace process. When asked if the panchayat elections in the militancy-infested areas had been postponed under a secret agreement between the Government of India and the APHC, Professor Bhat told this correspondent, “There is no secret or open understanding with the government.” He added that the panchayat poll in troubled areas had been postponed because the government had reports that the areas yet to be covered under the poll were not cantonment belts of the type of Tangdhar, Poonch and Rajouri where heavy polling was registered. He said the government feared that it may lose face if there was total boycott from the voters in five districts of the Kashmir valley and parts of Doda district and, hence, it may have thought it prudent to reschedule the election period. Though Professor Bhat and other APHC leaders indicated that there were no reports of the government conceding their demand for the issuance of passports, they were still hopeful because if the visit was cancelled, the blame for sabotaging the peace process would fall on the shoulders of the Government of India. The APHC Chairman said, “I am sure the government will make up its mind because of pressure from various agencies in the world.” |
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Armed forces put on high alert SRINAGAR, Jan 17 — The police and security agencies have been put on high alert to thwart attempts by militants to create trouble ahead of the Republic Day when a decision to further extend the ceasefire or not will be taken. The latest attempt by the militants to storm the Srinagar airport seems to be yet another blow to the peace process launched in Jammu and Kashmir following the unilateral ceasefire. The police has established contact with the Delhi police to find details about one Naseem Begum of Delhi, who was among those killed in the suicide attack at the airport yesterday. Police sources said Naseem had been living in the Safakadal area of the city for some time and was spotted on the airport road a number of times yesterday. An autorickshaw driver has been held for questioning in this regard. With the death of a woman constable of the CRPF, Bindu, in the hospital here, the death toll has gone up to 12 in yesterday’s incident. Those killed include six militants, two civilians — an employee of Ellaquai Dehati Bank and Naseem Begum, a teenaged girl from Delhi — and four CRPF personnel. Wreaths were laid on the bodies of the CRPF personnel here this morning before they were sent to their native places in Uttar Pradesh. “The Fidayeen mission was foiled as the police had set up a special naka half a km away from the outer gate in the wake of an intelligence report about the plan of the militants. The naka party chased the militants who were subsequently killed between the police barrier and the outer gate of the airport”, a police spokesman stated here late last night. Senior police officers claimed that intelligence reports had been coming for the past two days about the “plan of the militants to attack” in the area. There is also a threat of attacks on vital installations, including Bakshi Stadium, the venue of the Republic Day function, SOC headquarters, Doordarshan Kendra, Radio Kashmir and Gupkar Road where the heavily-guarded residences of the Chief Minister and his ministers are located. Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the Humhama area near the airport on the handing over of the bodies of the militants to locals for last rites. Till late this afternoon the bodies had not been handed over by the police even as arrangements were made for the burial of the militants. The police fired in to air and lathi-charged angry demonstrators who were demanding the handing over of the bodies to the local Muslim population. |
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School students too join strike JAMMU, Jan 17 — School students in Jammu and several other areas today boycotted classes work in protest against admission of over 54 students of a private medical college in the government medical colleges and against the increase in curtailment of power supply. Groups of school students took out a procession here, shouting anti-government slogans. They marched to the science college to meet five activists of the ABVP who have been on relay fast since yesterday. Addressing the students, the ABVP leaders, including its secretary, Mr Vivek Sharma, announced that the students’ boycott in colleges and the relay fast would continue till the government rectified its admission policy and the power supply system. A number of political leaders, teachers and prominent intellectuals met the fasting leaders and expressed their support to them. The ABVP leaders cautioned the government against taking the agitation by the student community lightly. They said that the ABVP would wait for another one week and if by then the government refused to concede their demands, they might be forced to resort to violence. The college students have been on general strike for the past one week and they have decided to continue the agitation till the power supply system was improved and the admission of private and unauthorised college students in the government medical colleges was cancelled. Groups of students disrupted passenger transport services in different areas of Reasi and Kalakot while protesting against the admission policy. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Power Development Department, Mr H.S. Raina, has said the crisis in the power sector would continue till the Government of India did release an additional quota of electricity from the northern grid. |
Voters brave chill
on second day JAMMU, Jan 17 — Despite biting chill, people came out in large numbers to cast votes on the second day of the first phase of the elections in the 79 panchayat committees of four blocks of Poonch and Rajouri. Official sources said that by mid-day, 30 per cent to 35 per cent electorate had cast their votes. At the end of the day, 63 per cent and 84 per cent polling was witnessed in Rajouri and Manjakot, respectively. In
Poonch, 74 per cent polling was recorded, Mr Khushi Khan (118 years) was the oldest to cast his vote in
Rajouri.
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