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| Sunday, November 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Troops told to suspend
operations Kashmiri groups hail ceasefire offer Ceasefire bold initiative: Yasin Ambitious J&K plan for fruit
cultivation |
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Clarify stand on ’84 riots, Sikhs tell
RSS ‘Operation sadbhavna’ hope for
needy NCP’s labour cell
holds meeting Missing
drugs: doctor held Balwant Thakur
gets akademi award
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Troops told to suspend
operations JAMMU, Nov 25 — The Army authorities formally affixed their seal on the order to the forces to honour the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s announcement of ceasefire during Ramzan. In a statement issued here, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, Lt-Gen. H.M. Khanna, directed all troops to suspend offensive operations in Jammu and Kashmir in pursuance of the announcement of the Prime Minister. Lt-Gen Khanna said, “I have issued unambiguous instructions to my field commanders along the LoC and the hinterland to faithfully translate the Prime Minister’s gesture by cessation of all offensive operations and to exhibit restraint and resilience and avoid retaliating despite provocation.” He has made it clear that he had directed the field commanders to retaliate only when the action of the militants “threatened the safety of our troops.” He added, “Retaliatory action will be initiated only if all other avenues are closed.” While the road-opening and patrolling activities would continue, cordon and search and destroy missions were being suspended. “However, all troops retain the right to retaliate in self-defence, he added. The Army Commander, while appealing to all “Tanzeems” to suspend combat operations, suggested to them to lay down their arms and give peace a chance to be restored to the state. He also appealed to Kashmiri people to rise to the occasion and grab the opportunity offered by the Prime Minister to contribute to the restoration of peace which was their right. He informed the people of Kashmir that he had directed the troops guarding the LoC and the International Border not to provide any excuse to Pakistan to escalate tension. “We desire a peaceful neighbour and hope Pakistan will suitably respond to this opportunity,” the Army Commander said. He also said actions to boost confidence among the people as well as people-friendly operations like ‘sadhbhavna’ would continue. A deliberate de-escalation up to a level of near ceasefire was intended, he added. He sternly said, “our goodwill should not be used for any misadventurous activity, since my troops shall then retaliate.” |
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Kashmiri groups hail ceasefire offer NEW DELHI, Nov 25 — Terming the ceasefire offer of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as a “bold initiative”, a number of Kashmiri groups today said peace should be given a “sincere” chance. “If the efforts by the Prime Minister are sincere, he will be doing a great favour to the people of Kashmir and India like (Israeli Prime Minister) Yitzhak Rabin did by announcing peace, which restored happiness for Israel and the Palestine people,” JKLF chairman and senior Hurriyat leader Yaseen Malik said. Without naming Pakistan, Mr Malik said, “The Centre also has to follow three basic principles of negotiations like preparing conducive atmosphere for talks. All parties concerned must be present and no party should impose any conditions for talks.” Mr Malik was participating in a two-day symposium “Next steps in Jammu and Kashmir: give peace another chance”, organised as part of track II diplomacy between India and Pakistan. The International Centre for Peace Initiatives, Mumbai, and the Institute of Regional Studies, Pakistan, are behind the symposium being attended by intellectuals from India, Pakistan, Kashmiri groups from the UK, the USA and Bangladesh. The JKLF chairman said, “Peace could not be created in vacuum” and what was needed was “sincere” efforts from New Delhi. He said “it is in the national interests of India to prevent the trifurcation of the state... India should help preserve the social fabric of Jammu and Kashmir. Otherwise, every city and street of India would get divided along communal lines.” The Sangh Parivar and the Shiv Sena are advocating trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir along communal lines. Pro-Pakistan and another Hurriyat constituent, the Jamaat-e Islamia, also hinted that their group would take part in any peace process if the efforts involved in it were “sincere”. The statement of Ameer-e-Jamaat G.M. Bhat, which was read in absentia, said. “Islam only talks about peace and Jamaat stands also for peace.” Noted Bangladeshi journalist and writer Shariyar Kalim, while welcoming the ceasefire offer by India, blamed Pakistan for cross-border terrorism and said Islamabad was also responsible for exporting fundamental militancy in his country. Chairman of London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights Nazir Geelani said the ceasefire offer was a good opportunity for restoring peace. While appreciating the Centre’s offer, former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz asked the Hurriyat conference to forget the past and take a step forward for bringing peace back in the state. Prof
Amitabh Mattoo of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, said the ceasefire offer had provided a great window
of opportunity. “Let us try and strengthen the forces working for
peace,” he added.  |
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Ceasefire bold initiative: Yasin NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (PTI) — Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik today described the Prime Minister’s Ramzan ceasefire in Kashmir as a “bold initiative” as academics from India and Pakistan said all efforts should be made to make it a success. “Mr Vajpayee is old. He is honest and if he can give permanent peace to the people of Kashmir in the twilight of his life, generations of Kashmiris will remember him for centuries to come,” Yasin said, participating in a symposium being organised as part of track-II diplomacy between India and Pakistan. He said notwithstanding the temporary pitfalls, “if the Prime Minister succeeds, he will be doing a great favour to the people of Kashmir as also India, which is being bled to retain Kashmir.” The two-day symposium ‘Next steps in J and K: Give peace another chance’ is being organised by the International Centre for Peace Initiatives, Mumbai and the Institute of Regional Studies, Pakistan. Malik said if Prime Minister remained firm in his offer then peace could return to Kashmir. He criticised the advocates of the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir along communal lines. “It is in the national interests of India to prevent the trifurcation of J and K ... India should help preserve the social fabric of Kashmir. Otherwise, every city and street of India would get divided along communal lines,” Malik added. Prof Amitabh Mattoo of the School of International Studies, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, said the ceasefire offer had provided a great window of opportunity. “Let us try and strengthen the forces, working for peace.” Dr Siraj Shah, another expert, in his presentation said the involvement of people of Kashmir in the dialogue was a must. Insurgency and counter-insurgency operations had left painful scars and instead of working for solutions there was a great need to stress the processes that would lead to lasting peace in Kashmir, he said. Describing the symposium as historic, Professor Mattoo noted it was the first time that representatives of civil society of the subcontinent had come together to talk on peace in Kashmir. |
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Ambitious J&K plan for fruit
cultivation JAMMU, Nov 25 — The Jammu and Kashmir Government has framed an ambitious plan for fruit and vegetable cultivation. The overall emphasis is to be laid on the quality of fresh and dry fruits, which have become export items. During 1999-2000, the state exported about 7.8 lakh metric tonnes of fresh and dry fruits, of the total production of 11.06 lakh metric tonnes. Dry fruits, especially walnuts, earned a foreign exchange of about Rs 69 crore. Most of it was exported to Spain, Australia, Greece, Netherlands and France. The state registered a total dry fruit production of 0.84 lakh metric tonnes during 1999-2000. According to the Director, Horticulture, and Managing, Director, Horticulture Marketing Produce Corporation, Dr G.H. Shah, there was vast potential for exporting dry fruits to European countries. They said a team of state officers accompanied by fruit traders visited Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where they found good demand for Kashmiri apples and dry fruits. They said the fruit
importers in these two countries had given a positive response to our fruits. “Already the state agencies have received orders from these countries for exporting fresh and dry fruits from Jammu and Kashmir. Though Kashmir contributed 62 per cent to India’s total apple production, much more needed to be done to improve the quality of the fruits because importers accepted only A-grade apples. In this connection 18 marketing outlets are being set up in the state and other coastal areas for facilitating the growers to sell their produce without bearing losses on account of market problems and owing to limited survival period. The state government has decided to submit a detailed report to the Centre on the
measures needed to further revolutionise fruit production and export. In this connection the report has sought central assistance in providing concession to exporters on transportation of fruits from outside the state. This would reduce the cost of fruits in the open market enabling Kashmiri fruit growers to compete with other states and countries. In this connection the state government plans to seek financial assistance from the Centre for establishing more fruit processing units in the state. At present only two such centres exist in the state. The state also wants more apple-grading centres so that for export only A-grade fruits were packed in the boxes. Grading is done manually which has failed to face the test in the open markets outside the state. In addition to this efforts are being made to increase the area under fresh and dry fruits in the state. At present of the total area of 1.39 lakh hectares under fruits not more than 78,000 hectares were under dry fruits. As far as the vegetable production is concerned, the state government has finalised a long-term programme for making the state self-sufficient in vegetables. At present fresh vegetables are bought from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh after the vegetable cultivation registered a marked decline in the valley. The reason being that people connected with vegetable cultivation have jumped to lucrative activities and following shrinking of lake waters which used to be the main source of vegetable cultivation. The state government has decided to set up 14,000 green houses, 1000 in each district for augmenting vegetable cultivation. The farmers will be provided with latest technical know-how and better seeds. Traditional farming practices were to be modernised and besides better seeds new techniques and gadgets would be introduced to raise vegetable cultivation in the state. |
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Clarify stand on ’84 riots, Sikhs tell
RSS JAMMU, Nov 25 — Several Sikh organisations have urged the RSS leadership to remove misgivings “in our minority community” by explaining whether the RSS” supported the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 and Operation Bluestar.” Addressing a joint Press conference here today, the President of the State Gurdwara Prabandhak Board, Mr S. Wazir, Mr Gurdev Singh Isher, President, Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Jagdev Singh, President of the State Akali Dal, referred to a recent news item circulated by an international news agency in which it had been stated that the RSS leadership had supported and justified Operation Bluestar and the killing of Sikhs in 1984. Mr Wazir said that even two days after the publication of the agency report in a section of the English Press the RSS had not clarified its position on the burning issues. This silence on the part of the RSS leadership had caused misgivings “among the members of our community.” He requested the RSS top brass to either deny or confirm the report so that the Sikhs in the country could reform their future strategy. The RSS stand on these sensitive issues had the potential of undermining traditional communal amity. Mr Gurdev Singh said that Sikhs were a nationalist community and any attempt to malign them would be detrimental to peace. He decried “such dangerous expressions by the RSS and warned its leadership of serious consequences if it did not desist from launching a propaganda.” The others who condemned the RSS stand included leaders of the Bir Khalsa Dal and Sikh Welfare Forum. |
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‘Operation sadbhavna’ hope for
needy HANDWARA, Nov 25 — Apart from fighting militancy, the Army in far flung areas of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, is also engaged in providing medical and other assistance to the large number of rural population here. Over, 2,000 persons received free medical assistance at the Community Development Centre (CDC) at Magam near here recently. At least 16 such CDCs have been developed as part of the “Operation Sadbhavna” launched by the Army to assist the needy in the far flung areas of the Kashmir valley. The CDC inaugurated at Magam on August 26 last provides medical facilities, recreation and canteen facilities to the villagers. The centre may be handed over to the civilians after one year in order to provide more facilities to the rural population. The Army has also been extending a helping hand to the needy in the area. Two students of the government school at Magam, are being sent for an All-India tour, as part of the “Operation Sadbhavna”. Several others have already been sent for “Bharat Darshan” since last year. These include those students who have no resources to be able to visit even Srinagar and other parts of the country outside the state. The Army has also played an important role in fighting militancy in the area, at least 12 militants have been killed in different encounters in the Ramhal area of Kupwara district this year. Two others have been held during search operations, while a large quantity of arms and ammunition has been recovered and the hideouts in deep jungles smashed. The recoveries include one UMG, 18 AK rifles, 2469 rounds of AK ammunition, 28 kg of RDX and 118 hand grenades apart from other assorted ammunition. Four militants, three of them foreigners, were killed in two separate incidents in the Ramhal area recently. Two mercenaries were killed when they made a sneak attack on an Army camp at Magam on November 5, 2000. Two others, one of them a foreigner, were killed in an encounter at Tompora village on November 18, 2000. Several houses were gutted in the exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces. “They (foreign militants) come with an aim to die”, said a jawan, adding that the aim of the security forces was not to harm the civilian population. On the other hand, the troops “provide help and assistance to the needy.” |
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NCP’s labour cell
holds meeting JAMMU, Nov 25 — A meeting of the labour cell of the Nationalist Congress Party (Jammu and Kashmir unit) was held here yesterday under the chairmanship of Mr Paras Ram Poonchi. The participants took a serious note of the delaying tactics adopted by the state government in meeting the demands of the state government employees, including the employees working in various public sector undertakings. The demands included release of three per cent DA with effect from July 1, release of arrears of third instalment of the fifth pay commission, enhancement of daily wagers’ payment from Rs 45 to Rs 75 and rehabilitation of the workers of Himalayan wool unit. They also demanded re-allocation of the buildings
presently occupied by the Labour Commissioner and the Police Control Room, as these buildings had been constructed for the accommodation of labourers hailing from the valley and other places of the state. |
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Missing
drugs: doctor held KATHUA, Nov 25 — The police recovered medicines stolen from the local hospital and arrested a doctor in this
connection. Acting on an information, the police arrested Dr Tarsem Kumar, working as a Medical Officer at Machhadi. Medicines worth thousands of rupees were recovered from his possession. In another raid, the police arrested Mohammad Aslam, an accomplice of a
narcotics smugglers identified as Mohinder Singh, alias Bittu. Aslam confessed to having concealed some weapons and heroin in his house for five days which have been recovered by the
police. Mohammad Aslam was being sought by the district police since last month. |
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Balwant Thakur
gets akademi award JAMMU, Nov 25 — Noted theatre director Balwant Thakur has been selected for this year’s Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.At the age of 39 he is the youngest theatre director and artist to be selected for the award. The award is being conferred on him for his contribution in the field of contemporary Indian theatre. |
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