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July 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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CBMs upset Pakistan’s
applecart Keep focus on core issue: Bhat Ask Musharraf to stop aiding militants:
JMM
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Employment package for ex-servicemen Appeal to reopen Rawalpindi
road Jammu bandh on July 14
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CBMs upset Pakistan’s
applecart Jammu, July 10 The Prime Minister first took the initiative of inviting General Musharraf to Delhi for talks when there was clamour over the delay in granting permission to the Hurriyat Conference team to visit Pakistan for consultations with Islamabad and leaders of separatist and militant outfits. That way Mr Vajpayee not only silenced those demanding tripartite talks but also marginalised and sidelines the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. The second decision to release all Pakistani prisoners and fishermen from Indian jails is said to have caused embarrassment to Islamabad because it had not till then reciprocated the gesture except that Vikas, who had crossed over to Pakistan as peace messenger, was set free. As part of confidence-building measures the attention of people has been caught by the Prime Minister’s decision to ease visa regulations for which entry points will be set up in Uri also. People in the state favour an entry point to be set up either in R.S. Pora or at Suchatgarh on the international border which would allow those living in Jammu to cross over to the other side for meeting their relatives in occupied Kashmir without undergoing the tedious task of first travelling either to Uri, which is over 400 km from the winter capital, or to Attari in Amritsar. A number of local Muslims interviewed favoured Suchetgarh or R.S. Pora as an entry point for the people on either side of the border. A political leader, who wished to remain unidentified, said if an entry point was set up only in Uri it would be yet another instance of discrimination against Jammu region. Partition had separated several hundred families living in Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Suchetgarh, R.S. Pora and Akhnoor. Hence, an entry point was needed in Jammu sector also. Apart from the ruling National Conference those connected with trade and commerce are for a major review of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 on the plea that it has imposed strict limitations on harnessing water of three rivers, Chenab, Jhelum and Indus — for power generation and irrigation. According to the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mr Ram Sahai, the treaty has delayed completion of various power projects and forced the government to avoid storing river water which could be used for power generation during the peak season. As hopes for improved trade and travel between India and Pakistan have risen high in Jammu and Kashmir, leaders of trade and commerce want Mr Vajpayee to persuade General Musharraf to grant the most-favoured nation status to India so that Indian goods and merchandise are exported direct to Pakistan. Mr Ram Sahai said Indian goods reached Pakistan via Singapore and some middle-east countries which resulted in cost escalation, thereby reducing the demand for Indian goods. Informed sources said the Prime Minister was contemplating more measures which could prove vital to the confidence-building exercise. And this could be regarding the Siachen glacier conflict. Experts are said to have suggested to the government that the Pakistani team should be convinced over the desirability of carrying out demarcation of the LoC in the Siachen belt. A 70-km border belt in this mountain glacier area has not been demarcated along with the demarcation carried out soon after the 1971 conflict. At that stage experts had found the mountain glacier in accessible and had thought that since a blade of grass did not grow there, it would not invite the attention of the two sides. They were proved wrong and since 1984 the two sides have been locked in intermittent fierce fighting. A majority of political leaders and people in Jammu and Kashmir are pessimistic about the possible solution to the Kashmir issue but they say they would be lucky if Pakistan agreed to halt aid to militants and trade and travel was made easier. |
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Keep focus on core issue: Bhat New Delhi, July 10 “Steps like providing transit facilities and so on are futile unless linked up with the core issue of Kashmir,’’ the APHC, Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, said here. He said: “The Ceasefire Line drawn under the auspices of the United Nation’s Security Council following the 1947 war between India and Pakistan could not prevent the battle of 1970-71 which led to the creation of Bangladesh.’’ “After the cessation of hostilities and the break-up of Pakistan, Mrs Indira Gandhi and Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met in Simla and changed the name of Ceasefire Line to the Line of Control (LoC), which also could not help restore peace,’’ the Chairman of the 23-party alliance said. Professor Bhat said: “What we need to understand is that unless the root cause of tension is addressed, dealing with offshoot effects will not help.’’ Yesterday, the Vajpayee government declared that the designated points along the International Border and the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir would be opened up for Pakistani passports holders. The government had said the Rajasthan-Sindh rail link would also be restored. The conglomerate chairman said: “I consider that raising checkposts without any reference to the basic issue, which is consuming hundreds of lives everyday, does not tantamount to raising a structure of permanent peace.’’ “If peace is to be purchased, we will have to recognise the political realities on the ground,’’ Professor Bhat said. Yesterday, disregarding India’s serious reservations, Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi invited all seven APHC executive members for “High Tea’’ on the evening of July 14, setting at rest speculations on this controversial issue. However, at an all-party meeting last evening, convened by the Prime Minister, the Opposition and allies of the NDA government were unanimous in expressing the view that the Hurriyat had no role to play in the dialogue process.
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Ask Musharraf to stop aiding militants:
JMM Jammu, July10 This demand was made by morcha leaders after a detailed debate on the summit here today. According to the President of Jammu Mukti Morcha, Prof. Virender Gupta, his party favoured that India took in hand hard option of destroying the arms-training camps across the border in case General Musharraf refused to check cross-border terrorism. Professor Gupta said without securing the liberation of the Pakistan held Kashmir chances of an early end to militancy were remote because the occupied Kashmir areas were being used for infiltration and for arms training. He said once the areas with Pakistan were liberated it should be followed by the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir state. He said the morcha wanted statehood status for the Jammu region and parts of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir area liberated be merged with the Jammu state. He said major area of Anantnag district, in south Kashmir, also be merged with Jammu state. The morcha also challenged the claim of the Hurriyat Conference that it represented the people of the state. Professor Gupta said Hurriyat leaders did not even represent people of the valley and having no political roots in Jammu and Ladakh it had no role to play in the ensuing summit or in the settlement of the Kashmir problem. |
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Employment package for ex-servicemen Srinagar, July 10 The schemes are being promoted with the assistance of Nabard and the Khadi and Village Industries Board, an official spokesman said yesterday. He said for availing the benefit of these schemes, the ex-servicemen were required to be registered with the Zila Sainik Board (ZSB) or the Rnvya Sainik Board (RSB). The schemes had been launched under three categories, namely (self-employment scheme for ex-servicemen) Semfex-i, Semfex-ii and Semfex-iii. Under Semfex-i, he said, the aim was to encourage eligible ex-servicemen to take up self-employment service ventures in tiny, small-scale industry and small-scale service and business enterprises. Under the schemes, training in entrepreneurship was also provided to the beneficiaries thereby facilitating success of the project. The scheme, Semfex-ii promoted under the banner “Arms to farms” was being promoted with the assistance of Nabard. The special feature of Semfex-ii was that no margin money was required to be contributed by the promoter for the project with an outlay of Rs 50,000. In addition to the composite loan of Rs 50,000, a separate loan for the construction of workshed with a maximum assistance of Rs 12,500 was being made available to the beneficiaries, the spokesman said. He said to make the process expeditious, projects costing up to Rs 50,000 both in the farm and non-farm sectors had to be finalised by the financial institutions within one month of the submission of the loan application. While no upper ceiling was prescribed for loan under the farm sector, the maximum limit of financial assistance available under the non-farm sector was Rs 10 lakh. But this ceiling would not be applicable in the case of units relating to agro-industries and non-agro industries satisfying the limit of SSI (small scale industries), the spokesman said. He said Semfex-iii was the most viable and elaborate of all three, as the aim of the scheme was to provide the ex-servicemen, war widows, disabled service personnel and widows of ex-servicemen adequate self-employment opportunities in rural areas. Under the scheme, KVIC and KVIBs had been entrusted with the purpose of lending and recovery of consortium bank credit to its implementing agencies and beneficiaries, the spokesman said. He said the maximum financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh would be provided under the said scheme for the viable projects financed by state KVIBs. The scheme truly represented the underlying theme “Sena se gramodyog”, he added. PTI |
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Appeal to reopen Rawalpindi
road Jammu, July 10 While hailing the decision of the two sides to sort out their bilateral problems at the summit the forum general secretary, Mr Mohan Singh, said here today the refugees from occupied Kashmir staying in Jammu in difficult circumstances during the past 53 years wished Mr Vajpayee to take up their problems with General Musharraf. Mr Mohan Singh explained they were yet to receive compensation from the Government of India for the immovable assets which “our ancestors had left behind at the time of migration from areas which are under Pakistani occupation.” The forum has demanded the settlement of the Kashmir issue be linked with the settlement of the problems of the PoK refugees in Jammu. Mr Mohan Singh said the maintenance of gurdwaras in Pakistan should also be taken up for discussion at the summit. He hailed the decision of the Prime Minister to set up entry points on the LoC and the international border in Punjab and Rajasthan besides Uri. |
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Jammu bandh on July 14 Jammu, July 10 A spokesman for the JJSF said the bandh call had been given in protest against General Musharraf’s statement that “Kashmir is the core issue for talks” and against the delay on the part of the Government of India in granting statehood to the Jammu region. |
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