M A I N   N E W S

4 militant outfits renew threat to PoK-bound passengers
Tribune News service

Srinagar, April 2
A day after Syed Ali Shah Geelani urged militants to desist from issuing threats to passengers travelling on the inaugural Srinagar- Muzaffarabad bus on April 7; four militant outfits today renewed their threat and asked the passengers to desist from undertaking the journey.

Four militant groups, Al-Nasireen, Save Kashmir Movement, Al-Arifeen and Farzandan-e-Millat, had on Wednesday warned the prospective passengers to desist from boarding the “coffin”. The outfits have also circulated a list of the passengers expected to board the bus, with their addresses and form numbers.

In a joint statement faxed to some local media agencies here today, the four militant outfits reiterated that those venturing to board the bus would be “indulging in an anti-movement act”. “We have already informed several passengers on telephone against getting involved in the anti-movement act”, the statement added. It was also stated that in case the “people concerned do not refrain from boarding the bus their houses will be targeted” as all computerised details were with the outfits.

The outfits further gave a call for a general strike on April 7, when the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, flags off the bus from here. “The bus service is going to be a sell out of the blood of lakhs of Kashmir martyrs and an end to “jehad”. This would also prove to be a great tragedy of a permanent accession of Kashmir to India, it added.

The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, told the State Legislative Assembly in Jammu yesterday that the passengers would be provided full security and no laxity on this account would be tolerated. He, however, asserted that those issuing threats to the intending passengers would be defeated by the will and the resolution of the people.

He said any positive step taken to strengthen the peace process and reconciliation had met with such opposition from elements inimical to the return of complete normalcy in the state. As in the past, such elements would be defeated this time also by the sheer will and determination of the people to take the process ahead, he added.

The Chief Minister said the enemies of peace would have to be on the defensive as the forces of amity and friendship in Jammu and Kashmir were on the offensive. Referring to threats issued to some passengers, he pointed out that only one person had received a threatening phone call from England. He was warned against travelling on the Muzaffarabad-bound bus. But the intending passenger told the caller that he was not afraid and would go ahead with his travel plan, the Chief Minister added. He cited the instance of a woman who was shown on television saying that if going to Muzaffarabad for meeting her daughter entails death she was ready to embrace it rather than cancel her travel plan. “My daughter would know that her mother was killed for trying to meet her”, the woman said.

The Chief Minister said after 1947, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was the major issue with which people of the state had strong attachment. He said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would flag off the first bus from Srinagar on April 7. A list of 40 intending passengers was forwarded to Pakistan which had cleared 29 persons including eight from Rajouri, six each from Baramula and Srinagar districts, four from Poonch district, two each from Kupwara and Jammu districts and one from Anantnag district. He said 500 applications were received against which 160 forms had been issued so far. 

11 Pak nationals missing

Amritsar, April 2
As many as 11 Pakistan nationals, who had come to India to view the first cricket Test match between India and Pakistan at Mohali, are reported missing in India.

A police spokesman said today that they were granted visa only for the Test match and were supposed to return to Pakistan after the match. A case under Section 14 of the Foreign National Act for overstaying in the country without valid documents, has been registered. — UNI