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September 11, 2001, Chandigarh, Indiay   
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Jabbar’s deadline on burqa
ends
Lift Disturbed Areas Act: Shah |
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VHP chief’s 3-point formula on Jammu &
Kashmir Hizbul trying to assert
supremacy
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Jabbar’s deadline on burqa
ends Srinagar, September 10 A spokesman of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit here today expressed doubts over the credibility of Lashker-e-Jabbar, which for the first time emerged on the scene here last month with the launch of the purdah movement. Hizbul Mujahideen and two other front ranking militant organisations, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen have already condemned the move. Hizb spokesman here today said the outfit did not favour the campaign under threat, adding that such a move was un-Islamic. According to the statements in local dailies, the Lashker-e- Jabbar has also issued diktat to reserve separate seats for women in public transport buses. The officials here believe that foreign militants in the name of the hitherto unknown group, Lashker-e-Jabbar with the directives from across the border was responsible for the fresh campaign in the valley. Senior Army officers opine that an underground women’s outfit was responsible for the campaign in the name of Lashker-e-Jabbar with directives from across the border. The fresh campaign for
burqa, which has been launched a number of times in the valley since the eruption of militancy, is also pointed towards the skeletal non-Muslim population of Kashmir. While the Hindu women have been directed to use
bindi, the Sikh women have been asked to wear kesri dupattas. For Abdul
Hameed, a cloth merchant here had no customers for burqas till early last month. “I have not sold out even a single burqa during May this year”, he comments, adding that the sale gained momentum since early last month. Earlier, burqas were only being demanded by women from rural areas, and that too on the occasions of their marriage”, he commented. Now that the deadline, extended twice, comes to an end, the rush is over, he said. “Those who had to make it have already made their preparations in this regard”, he adds. The rush at tailors’ shops for burqas has also hampered the work on dresses for marriage functions. Abdul
Rahsid, a tailor, in the Raj Bagh area, who has been stitching women dresses on demand by dealers of the Lal Chowk area, has stitched more than three dozen such burqas or abhayas (veils in Arabic) since last month. |
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Mirwaiz flays ban
on journalist New Delhi, September 10 |
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Lift Disturbed Areas Act: Shah New Delhi, September 10 Shah, who had a one-and-a-half hours meeting with the Centre’s Interlocutor for Kashmir peace talks K.C. Pant this evening, told newspersons, “I have demanded the lifting of Disturbed Areas Act and Special Protection Act in Jammu and Kashmir and immediate release of Kashmiris in the jails for over more than a decade without trial.” To a question whether his party would contest elections in the valley, the JKDFP leader asserted that “my party is not averse to contesting elections.” However, he quickly added that “I am not saying that we want elections under the supervision of United Nations’ observers, but it should be held under neutral Indian observers in Indian-occupied Kashmir and neutral Pakistani observers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.” While appreciating the peace initiative taken by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee by first announcing unilateral ceasefire and appointing Mr Pant as Interlocutor and following it up with invitation to Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, the JKDFP leader stressed that the people of Kashmir should be involved in any peace process. However, he clarified that true representatives of Kashmiris could be identified for holding negotiations only after having a free and fair elections in the Kashmir valley, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Stating that only dialogue could help bring peace in Kashmir, he said “we believe in meaningful dialogue and we don’t have any pre-condition.” But, he felt that a conducive atmosphere needed to be created, wherein the people of Kashmir felt confident that the government was serious about talks. Asked about the dress code for women enforced by a militant outfit in Kashmir, Mr Shah said he was totally against any such forceful act. “Might is not a right... Though we have purdah system among Muslims, there is no room for forceful implementation of any dress code,” Mr Shah said while feigning ignorance about the people behind the dress code fiat. Mr Pant said today’s meeting with Shah was in continuation of the meeting he held with the JKDFP leader in Srinagar in June, 2001. |
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VHP chief’s 3-point formula on Jammu &
Kashmir Jammu, September 10 Addressing a Press conference at the end of his three-day visit to Jammu here today, he said. “If Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, why this special status?” He said another solution could be the dismissal of the Farooq regime. He said the state government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah had failed to provide protection to people. The Government of India should first destroy the arms training camps across the border and capture some Pakistan territory and then hold talks on a position of strength, he said adding that holding talks when Pakistan continued to send infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir was “senseless". Referring to the current situation in the state, the VHP supremo said Pakistan aided militants and other separatists were trying to create communal disharmony. This should be checked also it could lead to a “partition-like" situation, he said. Mr Singhal expressed concern over the mushrooming of madrasas in various parts of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. He said there were some training centres for jehadis near the border belt and several crores were being spent on the training programme. He expressed dismay that government agencies were doing nothing to smash these centres. He said the government and other political parties should not ignore these developments in the name of secularism or to appease a certain community. Mr Singhal spent most of his time at the Press conference on the plan of building the Ram temple in Ayodhya. He said: “We and sadhus are waiting for the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to announce his settlement by March 12. "We are committed to build the temple and already the construction material has been dumped in the areas", he said, adding that "nobody can prevent us from building the temple”. He said the VHP did not want to make a political issue out of the temple controversy. The construction of the temple was not a BJP monopoly it was the dream of millions of people in India, he claimed.  |
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Hizbul trying to assert
supremacy Jammu, September 10 Reports with the state government agencies indicate that the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit has started registering its presence and its ability to strike against the security forces. Secondly, the growing row between General Pervez Musharraf, his
supporters in the government, and Pakistan intelligence agencies is stated to have motivated the latter to raise the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir to “sabotage” the proposed Vajpayee-Musharraf dialogue in New York. Reliable reports said since July last year, when the Hizb-ul- Mujahideen declared a unilateral ceasefire, it had invited suspicion from the government agencies across the border, through the ceasefire did not last for longer than eight days. The killing of its deputy commander, Masood, in Kashmir recently peeved the outfit leadership, including commander operations, Abdul Majid Dar. The Hizb leadership came to believe that its policy of moderation had become suicidal for it as on the one hand its activists had been targeted by the Indian security forces and on the other hand the Pakistani agencies had stopped sending them material aid. Hence it decided to strike. And it too has raised fidayeens. The first fidayeen strike was witnessed in Magam in Budgam district where a truck loaded with RDX and driven by a Hizb activist barged into the police headquarters. The series of explosions killed more than five policemen and one civilian and the militant too died on the spot. It was followed by three major strikes against the Army and the BSF in Udhampur district and the Hizb was quick in claiming the responsibility for these strikes. This way the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leadership would like to convey to India and Pakistan that it cannot be dismissed as a spent up force. Government reports indicate that Pakistani agencies, including the ISI, have started moves which could cause embarrassment to Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, who seems to be keen on continuing the Agra process like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. |
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