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Sunday,
April 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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INDO-PAK DIALOGUE Darbar
move: shifting of staff, records starts
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Auto
thieves’ gang busted, 7 held Sonia
Gandhi to address Udhampur rally 20 kids
feared drowned in boat capsize 
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INDO-PAK DIALOGUE Jammu, April 26 After Mr Vajpayee landed in Delhi after Kashmir visit, violence during the past six days killed more than 40 people, including 15 security personnel. Atleast 55 civilians and security personnel were wounded. The violence culminated in the suicide attack on AIR station in Srinagar in which three rebels and three security personnel were killed and four others wounded. Mr Vajpayee’s hint of resuming of the Indo-Pakistan dialogue seemingly kindled hope of peace and normalcy. Pakistan had welcomed Mr Vajpayee’s offer despite belated precondition by the Indian Prime Minister that Islamabad should reciprocate his offer by stopping aid to cross-border terrorism for starting bilateral dialogue. Ten days before Mr Vajpayee’s arrival in Srinagar All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chief Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, had told me that both India and Pakistan were under pressure from the American government and its allies, to resume bilateral talks. He had said, “there can be no escape for India if it delayed initiating dialogue with Pakistan.” And the same APHC chairman today stated that the 23-party conglomerate had refused to meet the Government of India’s interlocutor, Mr N.N. Vohra, because “development was shaping on the global level which could leave no other alternative for Delhi and Islamabad but to meet and discuss the bilateral problems. Prof. Bhat said “with India and Pakistan moving closer to the negotiating table nothing can be done by Mr Vohra and it is the result of this belief that we had no other choice but to ignore him.” Though Prof. Bhat does not seem pessimistic about the resumption of the Indo-Pakistan dialogue the rise in militant violence has started unnerving pro-Pak forces in Kashmir. Kashmiri separatists fear that the chances of the resumption of the Indo-Pakistan talks may become bleak once violence by the rebels went up. The Pakistan government is equally worried over the turn of events and Foreign Minister Khursheed Ahmed Kasoori has said that “some vested interests were behind the escalation of violence in Kashmir as they did not want India-Pakistan negotiations to take off. In Kashmir it is felt that violent events may stall the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue. “Rise in militant violence will be against the interests of Pakistan at a stage when India had agreed to open the road to talks,” said one university professor. Blaming Pakistani agencies for aiding rebels in Kashmir CIA Director, George Tenet, in his recent speech in Washington, expressed fears that India may be forced to carry out fresh military build-up on the border with Pakistan if violence did not drop. Mr George Tenet has said: “Indian frustration with continued terrorist attacks, most of which it attributes to Pakistan, causes New Delhi to reject any suggestion that it resume a dialogue with Islamabad.” Pro-Musharraf forces in Pakistan and in the Kashmir valley, according to reports, have blamed fundamentalists and the “Jehadis” for aiding militants to step up violence which may stall the Indo-Pak dialogue, on one hand, and weaken the political stature of the military executive. These forces do also apprehend the American government supporting those elements keen to dislodge Gen Musharraf. Notwithstanding Prime Minister Vajpayee’s offer for the resumption of talks with Pakistan, the Government of India, especially the Ministry of Defence and the Union Home Ministry, have already initiated several measures for tackling the rebels within the state and the Pak army and the infiltrators on the border. These are to provide the police with 5,000 assault rifles, raising five more police battalions, setting up of censors on the LoC, fencing of some stretches of the LoC and deployment of additional forces on the border to retaliate in case the Pak forces continued to resort to heavy shelling and firing. The key to peace in Kashmir and to the opening of doors for bilateral talks lies in the hands of Islamabad. If violence did not drop in Kashmir the Indo-Pak relations may suffer further. |
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Darbar move: shifting of staff, records starts Jammu, April 26 Nearly, 7,000 government officials and employees will move to Srinagar for next six months in connection with darbar move from today, officials said, adding the government had made arrangements for shifting official records from winter capital of Jammu to Srinagar under security cover. The Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (JKSTRC) has provided 111 trucks for shifting the official records from Jammu civil secretariat to Srinagar civil secretariat. Similar arrangements have also been made for the employees, they said. The bi-annual ‘darbar move’ practice between Jammu and Srinagar was started in 1872 during Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s period.
PTI |
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Auto thieves’ gang
busted, 7 held Jammu, April 26 On specific information the police conducted raids at different places in Gandhinagar area this week and recovered the vehicles and some fake number plates, Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Kamal Saini said. The recoveries included trucks, Maruti cars, Tata Sumo and two wheelers. Those arrested have been identified as Manzoor Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraf, Zamir Din, Javed Ahmed, Tariq Ahmed, Raj Kumar and Rakesh Kumar, SSP Saini said and added that cases had been registered against them. The gang used to steal the vehicles and sell them by changing their number plates,” he said. With these recoveries, the number of stolen vehicles recovered by Jammu police since January has reached 48. Meanwhile, the district police also recovered 4 kg of heroin, 2.5 kg of brown sugar, 3.5 kg of charas, 585 kg of poppy husk and 7,323 intoxicated drugs in the same period, he added.
PTI |
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Sonia Gandhi to address Udhampur rally Jammu, April 26 Mrs Gandhi would reach Jammu on May 3 and address a public rally organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee at Reasi in Udhampur. This would be Mrs Gandhi’s first public rally in the state after the Assembly elections last year.
PTI |
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20 kids feared drowned in boat capsize Srinagar, April 26 The mishap occurred when the children, after attending school at Arampora, were crossing the stream on way to Jagerpora in the district, official sources said. Six children were rescued, they said, adding that the bodies of four children had been fished out and search was on for the others. A heavy rain in the Kashmir valley since last night has increased the water level of rivers and streams.
PTI |
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2 of marriage party drowned Jammu, April 26 |
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