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| Tuesday, July 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Hizbul
announces ceasefire Hurriyat Conference on crossroads Advocate, 10
militants killed in valley One more yatri dies, traffic hit Rift in J&K Congress
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Shahtoosh traders threaten stir
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Hizbul announces ceasefire SRINAGAR, July 24 (PTI) — In a significant development, pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen, considered to be a hardliner militant outfit, today announced a unilateral ceasefire for three months and expressed its readiness for holding talks with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir issue. The Hizbul Mujahideen is the second militant outfit in the valley after the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to announce unilateral ceasefire. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah, welcomed the ceasefire announcement. NEW DELHI: The Centre in a quick reaction tonight welcomed the Hizbul Mujahideen’s decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire saying that any step which would lead to peace in Jammu and Kashmir was a good development. "We are in touch
with the state government and closely monitoring the situation,"
Home Secretary Kamal Pande told PTI here. |
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News analysis JAMMU, July 24 — The six-year-old All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), the main conglomeration of 25 political and religious organisations, is on the crossroads of destiny following the victory of pro-Pak constituents in electing Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat, Muslim Conference chief, as the new chairman replacing the Jamait-e-Islami stalwart Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Prof Abdul Gani Bhat does not treat his victory against the People’s Conference chief, Mr Abdul Gani Lone, as defeat for pro-Azadi faction in the APHC. In support of his argument he says that Maulvi Abbas Ansari is not grouped in the pro-Pak lobby but he voted for “me”. Against this Maulvi Omar Farooq, chairman Awami Action Committee, voted for Mr Abdul Gani Lone whom the Maulvi has been treating as toeing pro-Pakistani line. However, inside reports said when Mr Abdul Gani Lone, a votary for Kashmir’s Azadi, announced that he would contest the elections the pro-Pakistani lobby in the APHC, headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, made swift moves to cultivate Maulvi Abbas Ansari and the Peoples’ League representative, Mukhtar Sofi and it was the Peoples’ League vote that helped Prof. Bhat defeat Mr Lone. Initially the pro-Lone lobby in the APHC had been assured of support from the Peoples’ League. Since the League chief, Sheikh Mushtar, is in prison his party was to be represented by Bashir Tota. Mr Bashir is said to have remained absent on the day of voting as pressure had been mounted on the League to support Prof. Bhat. It was then left to Mukhtar Sofi to attend the meeting and cast his vote in favour of Prof Bhat who had the blessings of Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Prof Bhat had been persuaded to contest the poll as he was considered non-controversial. The JKLF chief, Mohammad Yasin Malik, was equally interested in contesting the election but his failing health prevented him from entering the race. He, however, voted in favour of Mr Lone as he felt that he and Lone had common ideology. The new APHC chairman, Prof Bhat, has described the recent election for the chairman’s post as a “genuine democratic process” and those who try to build a case for division between the two ideologies, one the pro-Pakistani and the other pro-Azadi, are totally wrong. He told The Tribune that he had given shape to several measures that he would initiate for infusing life into the APHC. He has admitted that there has been some erosion in the organisation and his priority would be to strengthen the party. He has made it clear that he would not disclose his priorities unless his plans were okayed by the executive committee of the APHC. Prof Bhat said “I am comfortable but I feel a heavy responsibility has been placed on my shoulders.” In reply to a question he said “I do not know whether I would be able to shoulder the responsibility. After I have been elected chairman, I have no escape route now.” Asked whether he would favour Jehad or work for the restoration of peace in the state Prof Bhat said “It is a big question. It is not proper for me to answer it when I have yet to take over.” He said he would concentrate on the “future of the South Asian region” adding that since Pakistan and India were nuclear countries “my efforts will be to prevent the two nations from entering into a nuclear gamble or confrontation as that can result in disaster.” “My dream is to see India and Pakistan avoid nuclear confrontation,” he said adding that problems of people in Jammu and Kashmir have assumed serious dimensions wherein the very survival of Kashmiris was in danger. He said the APHC had to strive for peace for the state and dignified living for its people. He reiterated his demand for tripartite talks saying that since Pakistan was a party to the dispute Islamabad had to be involved in the talks. He made it clear that bilateral talks, whether it be between Islamabad and New Delhi or between some Kashmiri political leaders and Delhi, may not prove meaningful which is borne out by series of Indo-Pakistan talks, held in the past, and several accords Delhi hammered out with Sheikh Abdullah and Dr Farooq Abdullah. |
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Advocate, 10 militants
killed in valley
SRINAGAR, July 24 — Twelve persons, including 10 militants and a security force jawan, were killed in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday. Unidentified militants shot dead an advocate in Baramula district this morning. Four militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, including a Company Commander, were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Trissal in Pulwama district last evening. They were identified as Shabir Ahmed Sheikh, Company Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Riyaz Ahmad Ganai, Hilal Ahmad Dar and Dilal Ahmad Magray. Two security force jawans were also injured in the encounter, the police said, while the residential house of Mohammad Ramzan was damaged in the exchange of fire. Four AK rifles and some magazines were seized from the site of the encounter. Unidentified militants shot dead an advocate, Ghulam Jeelani, at Choora-Nowpora near Baramula while he was on his way to attend court this morning. The police said some militants stopped his Maruti car and fired on him. He was shifted to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Two more persons, including a militant and a security force jawan, are reported to have been killed in an encounter at Qazinag in Kupwara district yesterday, taking the toll of five. As already reported three militants were killed in the encounter. Two pistols, four magazines, five rifle grenades and 22 detonators were seized from the site. An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Narikote, Kalaroos in Kupwara district yesterday. One AK rifle, four magazines, 75 rounds of ammunition and six hand-grenades were seized from the site of the encounter. One militant was killed in an
encounter with the security forces at Balakote in Mendhar sector of
Poonch district in Jammu region. One AK rifle, two hand-grenades,
three IEDs, 42 rounds, Rs 11,360, Indian currency and Rs 400 Pak
currency were seized from the site of the encounter. |
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One more yatri dies, traffic hit SRINAGAR, July 24 — A 70-year-old pilgrim bound for the holy cave of Amarnath died at the base camp of Pahalgam last evening, an official spokesman said here today. With the death of Phool Chand of Sura village in Uttar Pradesh, the number of pilgrims who have died during the yatra since July 13, has risen to eight. While one each died on July 14 and 17, two pilgrims died on July 18 and three on July 20. The dead included one woman. Meanwhile, a report said that the pilgrims were allowed to proceed towards the cave shrine on foot early today after the yatra was suspended for four days. However, authorities had to suspend the yatra again the afternoon following heavy downpour across the valley. A chaotic situation prevails in Pahalgam, the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, as more than 11,000 pilgrims got stranded there since last evening due to the heavy rain in the area. Heavy rain disrupted vehicular traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway today. The highway was reopened to traffic last morning. Even as the authorities had ordered to stop the movement of vehicles carrying pilgrims from Jammu towards Pahalgam, at least 6600 yatris reached Pahalgam yesterday. According to reports received here from Pahalgam, the movement of pilgrims from the base camp to Chandanwari was stopped midway this afternoon following a fresh spell of torrential rain in the area. The vehicular traffic from Pahalgam to Chandawari carrying the pilgrims was also suspended today following damage due to heavy rain to a retaining wall of the link road at Frislan, 9 km ahead of Pahalgam. However, yatris were allowed to cover on foot the distance of over 16 km, the last motorable road to Chandanwari, wherefrom the 48-km-long track to the holy cave starts. While there was no upward movement of yatris from Chandanwari today, at least 3500 yatris managed to start their trek to the holy cave from Chandanwari yesterday. However, the downward movement of yatris from the cave, Panjtarni, Sheshnag to Chandanwari is continuing, reports said. A total of 2869 yatris left Baltal for the darshan of ice lingam at the holy cave today, taking the total number of yatris via Baltal to 17834. The total number of yatris, according
to officials, having darshan at the holy cave has gone up to 65600.
More than 50,000 yatris have already left for their homes after having
darshan at the cave. |
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Traffic blocked; stadium opened to pilgrims JAMMU, July 24 — Several thousand pilgrims to the holy Amarnath cave, who have been stranded in Jammu for the past several days, staged a massive demonstration here today. The protesters blocked the suspension of passenger transport services in the city of temples for several hours. Rain and other problems had forced the yatris to take to the streets. Several hundred yatris had been camping in the open for the past several days. People, including women and children, were seen spending nights in the open and cooking food on the roadside. All hotels and yatri bhawans are fully occupied. Senior state Government functionaries, including the Divisional Commissioner, intervened and persuaded the yatris to lift the road block on the promise that some alternate lodging arrangements would be made. Immediately, the Government authorities threw open the sports stadium pavilions, halls of other Government buildings and tents were arranged for the yatris. Amit Kumar, who has come from Patiala along with 10 family members and friends, said, “We have been in Jammu for the past 17 days. We have not been able to get ourselves registered because of rush and insufficient arrangements. We have spent all the money we had carried with us. He said, “We had requested the authorities to allow us to visit Vaishno Devi but permission was refused on this plea that we may give a slip and reach Pahalgam.” Om Prakash, a businessman from Haryana, said, “We are here for the past five days waiting for registration. Let the Government announce whether we will be registered or not. We cannot waste much time on registration.” During the past one week, the police had to resort to mild lathi charge on five occasions to quell violence when the yatris protested in front of registration counters. The Director, Tourism, Mr S.S. Bhalla, said that the ‘mess’ has been created by persons who were running langars from neighbouring states and issued fake registration numbers to people. These people without proper registration landed in Jammu with the hope that they would make it to Pahalgam within one day. He alleged that some yatris had prepared fake seals of the Tourism Department along with fake registration forms which added to the confusion. Those yatris who had been registered to travel on a particular date landed in Jammu seven to 10 days ahead of schedule and if these pilgrims had faced problems the Government should not be held responsible, he added. Scores of chartered buses from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra have landed in Jammu and these buses stand “grounded” because of lack of proper permission. The authorities said that since the entire route between Pahalgam and the Amarnath cave has been lashed by heavy rain, more than 15,000 pilgrims are stranded at Pahalgam. “We will not allow pilgrims to leave for Pahalgam unless the stranded pilgrims complete their yatra,” a Government spokesman said. In the context of growing criticism of the lack of facilities offered by the Government for registration of pilgrims, Mr Bhalla said that while last year, one registration counter had been set up, this year five counters were set up. Even then the unexpected rush of yatris had created problems. He said that since July 13, 75,000 pilgrims were registered and out of them 66,000 left for Pahalgam and 61,000 had completed their
yatra. |
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Samiti for registration of yatris JAMMU, July 24 — Activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Surakasha Samiti have threatened self-immolation if the State Government failed to carry out speedy registration of Amarnath yatris. Five activists of the organisation started a fast here today. The Vice- President of the Samiti, Mr Sanjeev Bhardwaj, said that 21 more activists would join the fast, if the government didn’t relent. Mr Bhardwaj was critical of the arrangements made by the State Government. He said on the one hand the government campaigned to attract yatris, on the other no suitable arrangements had been made. |
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Rift in J&K Congress JAMMU, July 24 — Even before Mr Mohammed Shafi Qureshi, new PCC Chief, could revive the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, demand for his ouster has started with several senior party leaders rushing to Delhi to convince the party high command that Mr Qureshi had remained a passive spectator to the crisis in the Congress. In fact the state unit of the Congress lacked will when Mr Ahmed Patel, who was in charge of the party in Jammu and Kashmir, resigned recently. The party high command has yet to assign the duty to a senior AICC leader. Mr Qureshi had been installed as PCC Chief with the hope that he would revive the party by sorting out the differences between the dissidents and the loyalists. He, however, felt hurt when the party high command opposed his plan of favouring the National Conference demand for the restoration of pre-1953 status to the state. He had argued that if the Congress supported the NC demand it would provide an opportunity to the party to regain its strength in the valley. The AICC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, told Mr Qureshi that the Congress was opposed to the restoration of greater autonomy demanded by the National Conference. This development led to a situation in which Mr Qureshi, according to Congress leaders, lost interest in the party affairs. This has encouraged the pro-Azad lobby in the Congress to campaign for change in the PCC Presidentship. Even senior leaders have started mounting pressure on the high command to replace Mr Qureshi and the PCC President. Mr Qureshi is being dubbed by his opponents as “NRI” leader as he had spent more than 12 years outside the state as Governor and Union Minister and after prolonged absence he took over as the PCC Chief. A senior party leader, Mr Raman Bhalla, said that the state unit of the Congress failed to cash on the anti-autonomy hysteria that was visible in Jammu. He said that he and his colleagues had spent days and nights to mobilise peoples’ opposition for restoration of pre-1953 status but “our senior leaders ditched us.” Mr Bhalla has urged the party high command to allow Mr Patel to look after the party affairs and sort out the differences with Mr Qureshi to arrest the drift in the organisation. |
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Shahtoosh traders threaten stir SRINAGAR, July 24 — While the Shahtoosh traders here have threatened to launch an agitation against the ban on its trade the central government is understood to be formulating a rehabilitation package for the traders and those affected by the ban. The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, Mr Omar Abdullah, said here that the Union Ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir Government were seized of the problems of shahtoosh traders and were considering a rehabilitation programme for them. He was talking to mediapersons after the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between SIDCO and the STPI at Rangreth here yesterday. When asked why the state government banned the trade when it had been arguing that there was no hard evidence to suggest that the Tibetan antelope was killed to obtain wool for the exquisite shawl, Mr Abdullah said over a period of time the evidence submitted to the state government seemed to have convinced it that the antelope was killed and that is why it had announced ban on the trade. He said the Environment Ministry was seriously considering the request of the state government for one-time waiver to shahtoosh traders to enable them to sell their products. The minister said the figures appearing in the media about the artisans and traders dealing in shahtoosh trade were exaggerated and there were not more than 25,000 of them. He said the ban was necessitated in the light of worldwide concern for wildlife. He said India was a signatory to the international convention and since the trade was banned everywhere except in Jammu and Kashmir it would remain limited to the state and could not have survived for long in any case. The state government on June 30 last imposed the ban on shahtoosh trade after a meeting of the Cabinet approved in principle the proposal to ban shahtoosh trade in Kashmir. Those associated with the trade resented the ban and claimed that over five lakh people associated with the manufacture and trade of shahtoosh were rendered jobless. They claimed the Tibetan antelope was not being killed to obtain wool for the manufacture of shawls. The manufacture of shahtoosh shawls is linked to the Kashmiris for over 650 years for the skills of Kashmiri men and women in its manufacture. Many households in the city have their livelihood dependent on the trade as the women have been spinning the wool for the manufacture of these shawls, which are then sold at high prices in the national and international markets. At least 5000 men and women having their livelihood dependent on the trade staged a protest here on Thursday last. They threatened to intensify the agitation if they were rendered jobless. The Minister for Industries and Commerce, Dr Mustafa Kamal, had early this month at a meeting with representatives of the shahtoosh traders apprised them of the difficulties in view of the international pressure to impose the ban. The traders under the banner of Pashmina and Shahtoosh Manufacturers Association claimed that over 50,000 families providing sustenance to over 5 lakh people would be doomed to starvation. |
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