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July 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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APHC no longer keen to visit Pak Hurriyat may hold talks with
Oppn Ultras may select soft
targets J&K firm on yatri
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2 ultras shot, youths loot
bank
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APHC no longer keen to visit Pak Jammu, July 19 A senior APHC leader told this correspondent, “we were eager to meet Pakistan President, Gen Pervez
Musharraf. We have met and we
will not feel upset now if the Government of India does not permit us to visit Pakistan.” In reply to a question, he said since Islamabad and Delhi had decided to continue the dialogue process, in one form or other, they were satisfied. He said “we shall keep a watch on the movement of the bilateral parleys and once the ground was further smoothened, we are sure we will be involved in the talks at the final stage.” The Hurriyat leader said the basic idea of sending the five-member team of the party to Pakistan was to break the ice between the two sides and “now that the heads of the two governments have met and plan to meet again, we have no reason to be impatient.” He admitted that there was nothing special to be discussed between the Hurriyat leaders and General Musharraf during the meeting in Delhi. “It was to demonstrate that Pakistan continued to support us and our viewpoint,” he said adding that “the Hurriyat leaders sought an assurance from General Musharraf that Islamabad would continue to support our movement and persuade the Government of India to involve us in the parleys at some stage.” He disclosed that the Pakistan President listened to them and assured that at this stage he might not be able to persuade Delhi to involve Hurriyat leaders in the talks. But at a later stage their involvement would be secured. Asked whether the intended Pakistan visit was also meant to talk to leaders of various militant groups the Hurriyat leaders said since these leaders had supported General Musharraf’s stand at Agra, their purpose had been solved. He indicated that the Hurriyat Conference would adopt wait and watch policy and in the meantime strengthen the organisation so that nobody had doubts about its representative character. He further said the APHC had no need to contest the Assembly elections to establish that it was the only representative body of the people adding that “we are peoples’ representatives, we represent the sentiments of the majority of people in Kashmir.” |
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Hurriyat may hold talks with
Oppn New Delhi, July 19 The recently-concluded Agra summit, where no agreement could be reached between India and Pakistan, had its lessons for the Hurriyat which was hoping for some leverage from the outcome of the summit for its position of “involving Kashmiris in the final solution.” Senior leaders of the APHC are to meet in Srinagar early next week to discuss the outcome of the Agra summit and decide the Hurriyat’s course for the future. Sources said the boycott of the tea party at Pakistan High Commissoner’s residence by a constituent of the APHC was also likely to be discussed. That no forward movement took place in talks despite a strong espousal by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan’s thinking on the Kashmir issue has set Hurriyat leaders thinking about the course the 23-party amalgam should adopt in the future. There is a reaslisation that a hardline approach may not work as the principle sides would continue to stick to their position. Though the APHC had earlier rejected the proposal to talk to Mr K.C. Pant — the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir — there are indications that Hurriyat may review its stance. For the record, however, Hurriyat leaders say that they are waiting for a reply from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the letter they had written to him. Mr Vajpayee had told the Hurriyat leaders to talk to Mr Pant to put their views before the Centre. Having seen the storm that was raised over invitation to tea party at Pakistan High Commissioner’s residence, the Hurriyat perhaps realises the importance of broadening its appeal so that its claim of being legitimate representative of Kashmiris gains more acceptance. To negate the image of a conglomerate, which was unwilling to talk its case unless its conditions were met, the Hurriyat would be opening the doors of communication to the opposition parties. While the NDA had boycotted the tea-party over invitation to the Hurriyat and President Musharraf’s one-to-one talks with them, many opposition party leaders were present at the party. It is with leaders of these parties that the Hurriyat is likely to reopen the channels of
communication. Sources say that one of the main aims of the APHC office in Delhi, which is
incidentally called ‘Kashmir awareness bureau’, was to dissimenate information about the Hurriyat’s perspective of the Kashmir problem. Following new
initiatives on Kashmir in the past year, the work of information dissemination had taken a back seat with the Hurriyat leaders spending time in informal consultations and formulating their response to various steps taken by the Centre. However, with nothing coming out of the much-hyped Agra summit and the two sides sticking to their stated positions, the Hurriyat finds little merit in sticking to a policy of wait and watch. |
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Ultras may select soft
targets Srinagar, July 19 Various militant outfits, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and A1-Badr, have threatened to escalate violence following the “failure of talks” between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. While the summit was in progress, the militants carried out a suicide attack (fidayeen attack) near Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir in which at least five Army men were killed and eight injured. There is every possibility of militants attempting attacks on soft targets and provoking security forces to open fire, police sources claim. The main targets of the militants are vital installations like the Civil Secretariat, Doordarshan Kendra, and Radio Kashmir building in Srinagar. The soft targets include minority pockets. The militants killed 34 persons, including Amarnath pilgrims and locals at Pahalgam on August 1 last year, and minority community members at two other places in south Kashmir, which claimed 100 lives in a day. These killings took place during the brief spell of unilateral ceasefire announced by the Hizbul Mujahideen on July 24 last year. In another similar incident on March 21 last year on the eve of Holi at least 35 Sikhs were killed by unidentified gunmen during the visit of US President Bill Clinton. The mystery shrouding the death of the Sikhs is yet to be ascertained. The massage led to a series of incidents in which at least five persons were killed in Pathribal area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir. This incident led to protest demonstrations in the area in which at least eight demonstrators were killed at Brakpora on the outskirts of Anantnag. The security agencies here claim that so far the situation has been peaceful. The operations against militants are on. In view of reports of threats from militant outfits, the security forces have been put on the high alert so as to frustrate the designs of the militants. The Border Security Force here on Sunday apprehended two militants on a tip off by another arrested suspect, who claimed that the militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were planning to strike in a big way in Srinagar as the summit was in progress. The Border Security Force (BSF) also recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition during raids carried out on the information provided by the suspects. The recoveries included an IED-fitted scooter at Boulevard Road. |
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J&K firm on yatri limit New Delhi, July 19 “We cannot exceed (the limit of) 3,500 (pilgrims) a day,’’ Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan informed Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice Mr D.K. Jain through state’s counsel Anis Suhrawardy. This year was different from last year. While there was a drought last year, this year there was early snow and cloudbursts (two so far) and the yatra was being conducted under the shadow of last year’s incident in which 21 persons, including 15 yatris, were killed and 35 persons injured in a militant attack at a bhandara near Pahalgam, he said. The court observed that it was not within its jurisdiction to impose the restriction on the number of yatris to visit the cave shrine. Petitioners Shri Amarnath Yatra Welfare Board, through counsel Randhir Jain, also requested the court not to issue a directive in this regard. We could decide on a defect in the decision-making but not on the decision, the judges said. Separating the prayer of removing the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s restrictions on the yatra from others seeking place and facilities for voluntary organisations to put up “bhandaras” and basic amenities for the yatris, the court said: “For the benefit of yatra in future we could ask the state to explain what it had done in this regard.’’ But on the question of the restrictions on the numbers of yatris the court would not like to intervene keeping in view the weather and security situation, Chief Justice Pasayat and Mr Justice Jain said. This year the Jammu and Kashmir Government, through registration, has restricted the numbers of pilgrims to visit Amarnath to 3,500 a day and 1,05,000 in all. They, however, listed the matter for final disposal on August 16 and directed the state government to file an affidavit on what steps it had taken to fulfil the recommendations of the Lieut-Gen J.R. Mukherjee Committee, constituted last year. Mr Jain brought to the court’s notice the committee’s recommendations like feasibility of enhancing the durability of “Shivlingam” by extraneously controlling the ambient temperature of the cave to increase the duration of the “darshan” period and opening the Baltal side route much before the Pahalgam side.
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2 ultras shot, youths loot bank Srinagar, July 19 The Special Operations Group of the local police, assisted by the Army troops, shot dead two militants during search operations in the Idgah area of downtown Srinagar last evening, he said, adding they were identified as Sikander from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Mohammad Yousuf Lone of Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The spokesman said the duo were asked to stop and surrender by the security forces, but they opened fire and were killed in the retaliatory action. Two AK assault rifles, 20 grenades and ammunition were seized from them, he said. The spokesman said the police fished out a youth’s body from the Jhelum at Awantipora in Pulwama district today. Meanwhile, four Armymen were injured when militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) at Aloosa in north Kashmir’s Baramula district last night, he said. He said the troops were on their way to a nearby village to conduct search operations when militants detonated the IED. Elsewhere, militants shot at and injured one person at Hapatnar in Anantnag district last evening, he said. A group of five unidentified pistol-borne youths looted the Hawal branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank this afternoon, official sources said. After overpowering the police guards, the youths decamped with Rs 4.20 lakh kept in the cash chest, they said, adding a hunt had been launched to nab them. Two militant hideouts were smashed by the security forces during search operations at Latti Shah in Baramula district last night leading to the recovery of claymore mines, an IED and some ammunition. Meanwhile, a defence spokesman said one of the four ultras, killed in an encounter yesterday in Bami village of Pulwama district, was identified as Abu Talha, self-styled district commander of the Lashker-e-Toiba outfit.
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