J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Dutchmen weren’t innocent: BSF IG
Srinagar, January 16
The bodies of two Dutch tourists, killed in a retaliatory action by a Border Security Force (BSF) patrol party here on Sunday, have been shifted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) mortuary. These bodies are awaiting “proper identification” by Delhi-based Dutch Embassy officials who are scheduled to arrive here for the purpose, which would be followed by the shifting of the bodies to New Delhi.

APHC mission sabotaged: Bhat
Jammu, January 16
Senior leaders of the APHC suspect some agencies in Delhi and Srinagar for having sabotaged the “diplomatic” mission of a three-member team of the 23-party conglomerate to defuse tension between India and Pakistan.

Haj pilgrims to be airlifted from Srinagar
Jammu, January 16
The Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to airlift Haj pilgrims of Jammu division from Srinagar in direct Haj flights, official sources said.

A Border Security Force trooper stands guard behind a snow-covered net in Srinagar on Wednesday. Authorities said security in Kashmir had been beefed up ahead of Republic Day celebrations on January 26. — Reuters

Dutchmen weren’t innocent: BSF IG
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 16
The bodies of two Dutch tourists, killed in a retaliatory action by a Border Security Force (BSF) patrol party here on Sunday, have been shifted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) mortuary.

These bodies are awaiting “proper identification” by Delhi-based Dutch Embassy officials who are scheduled to arrive here for the purpose, which would be followed by the shifting of the bodies to New Delhi. The officials could not reach here today owing to the cancellation of flights to Srinagar due to bad weather.

Even as officials here claim that the two Dutch nationals. Ell Bakiowli Ahmad and Ell Hassnowi Khaliq, were “no innocent tourists to have attacked the BSF patrol party”, the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the killings continues. The police has started investigations into the incident.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of the BSF Frontier Headquarters, Mr G.S. Gill, here today substantiated with a translated version of a news report in a Dutch newspaper the claim that the two foreigners were “no innocent tourists”. The translation of the January 15 news report in De Volkskrant, entitled “Boys wanted to support mujahideen”, said”: Ell Ahmad has given 781 statements between the end of August and December 9, 2001, under the nickname Lucky Luke on the Internet site maroc.nl. One entry on the site reads, “What are we going to tell Allah when He asks us what we were doing when the kafirs slaughtered our Muslim brothers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Chechnya.

“Another anonymous message on the site says: “They died after having left for Afghanistan to support the mujahideen. There they could not cross the border so eventually they went to Kashmir. They made phone calls to their families after January 9, informing them that they were okay but did not give their location.”

Mr G.S. Gill, talking to a group of newsmen, claimed that the two Dutchmen made an “unprovoked assault” on the jawans “with the intention of killing them”. One of the two jawans, Shiv Kumar Yadav, lost his left eye, Mr Gill said. “There was a definite attempt to try and tackle them without weapons,” he said, adding that the jawans received multiple injuries. When one of the jawans fell down in the assault, the other opened fire against the assailants, Mr Gill said.

Mr Gill said the Dutch nationals were lodging in a houseboat on Dal Lake. On January 13, they came out of the boat without any documents but carrying two knives. A bank voucher seized from one of the tourists led to the recovery of other belongings. One-way tickets of the Amsterdam-Amman-Delhi flight seized from their belongings. While the two were scheduled to return from here on January 12, the incident took place on January 13, Mr Gill added.

While they used to come out from the houseboat around 10 a.m. everyday, they left it around 7 a.m. on Sunday when it was still dark. “No innocent tourist can do it,” Mr Gill said. 

APHC mission sabotaged: Bhat
Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 16
Senior leaders of the APHC suspect some agencies in Delhi and Srinagar for having sabotaged the “diplomatic” mission of a three-member team of the 23-party conglomerate to defuse tension between India and Pakistan.

The team comprising Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Mr Abdul Gani lone, had been sent by party chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat to Delhi to meet senior officials in different embassies and convey to them that the current developments in Kashmir were part of the freedom struggle and not terrorism.

Mohammad Yasin Malik told TNS: “We had decided to meet embassy officials to persuade them to use their influence to persuade India and Pakistan to avoid going in for a war. Our mission was to seek the help of the international community in getting the Kashmir issue resolved through negotiations.

“We have postponed our activities as a protest against the raids on over 60 houses belonging to the Hurriyat conference leaders in Srinagar. As many as 16 leaders have been arrested.” Mr Malik said: “It is high-handedness on the part of the government.” Mr Abdul Gani Bhat said it was unfortunate that the government ordered a crackdown on “my” colleagues.

Asked whether the Hurriyat team had been asked to meet those who mattered in the Central Government, Prof Bhat said it had been told to meet some Indian intellectuals, adding that some agencies had moved in to sabotage “our diplomatic mission.”

State government functionaries said the police had received instructions regarding the crackdown on separatists and the Kashmir police had acted on that. At the same time, reports indicated that there was no coordination between the state and the Central agencies. There were reports suggesting that the Central agencies worked at cross purposes which resulted in mistrusts between officials in the PMO and the Union Home Ministry.

A senior officer in the PMO had been trying to “cultivate” Hurriyat leaders so that they too would join the national mainstream. But his efforts, according to sources, were being sabotaged by pro-Farooq Abdullah lobby in the Centre.

This lobby, which had pockets of influence in the PMO and the Union Home Ministry, was opposed to moves to dislodge the Farooq regime or displease the Chief Minister. Bigger political and bureaucratic circles in Delhi felt Dr Abdullah was a tested leader who could watch the interests of Delhi in Kashmir. But some anti-Farooq forces had been trying to provoke Dr Abdullah so he would resort to extreme measures which could trigger a major controversy resulting in his ouster.

At present, opinion was in favour of motivating separatists to join the mainstream by participating in the next assembly elections but not at the cost of Dr Farooq’s political survival. There were many in the Central Government who wanted people to decide about the future government in the state.

Haj pilgrims to be airlifted from Srinagar

Jammu, January 16
The Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to airlift Haj pilgrims of Jammu division from Srinagar in direct Haj flights, official sources said.

The pilgrims travelling to Srinagar in private vehicles are advised to report to the hotels hired by the committee for collecting travel documents one day before their departure, he added. PTI