Srinagar, April 12
All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today said Hurriyat Conference felt that it should be allowed to visit occupied Kashmir (PoK) for talks with the political and militant leadership there “for an acceptable solution to the Kashmir issue”.

“The APHC also feels that it should place its stand before the leaders of India and Pakistan when they meet in the Capital”, the Mirwaiz who is chairman of the moderate faction, said after a three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting of the Working Committee, the executive council and the general council at the party headquarters here.

Besides, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mr Abdul Ghani Lone and Moulvi Abbas Ansari attended the meeting. Mr Bilal Lone did not attend the meeting due to “personal engagements”. However, sources said Mr Lone staged away in protest against the non-inclusion of other separatist leaders, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Shabir Ahmad Shah, in the talks.

“It was unanimously decided that it should be brought to the notice of President Pervez Musharraf that before taking any step for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, the political and militant organisations be taken into confidence”, the Mirwaiz stated. He made it clear that the APHC was not against the dialogue process.

However, the Kashmiris, the main party to the dispute, should also he included in the process. “Be it tripartite talks or the triangular dialogue, it is necessary that the Kashmiris are also included in the process”, the Mirwaiz commented.

The Hurriyat Conference also sought a meeting with the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during the visit of the Pakistan President.

The Mirwaiz said the meeting with the Prime Minister would not be part of the dialogue process initiated with the Centre, but was necessary to apprise the two leaders of the APHC’s stand. He also appealed to all separatist political and militant organisations to play a positive role in finding out an amicable solution to the Kashmir problem. Referring to the beginning of the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the Mirwaiz said that the APHC was not against it and other CBMs announced by the two countries. “This is not a question of only divided families, but also a political issue which seeks to be resolved”, he said.

Jammu, April 12
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was today adjourned when the opposition National Conference (NC) members blocked the proceedings of the House in support of their demand for a judicial enquiry into the incident of terrorists burning the historic tourist reception centre at Srinagar on the eve of launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

The NC members blocked the question hour when they pointed out a news report attributed to the Panthers Party chief, Mr Bhim Singh, alleging that the burning of the tourist centre was a “conspiracy” of the ruling PDP-Congress coalition.

The NC members defied the orders of the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, for restoring order and continued to make noisy scenes in the House. They also raised slogans against the Mufti Government.

The Speaker adjourned the House for an hour and when it reassembled, there were again noisy scenes.

Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed in his statement said the incident was caused due to a security lapse and the matter would be enquired into.

He said the incident would be thoroughly probed and anyone found guilty would be punished.

The Chief Minister said the redeeming factor in this unfortunate incident was that all those who targeted the tourist reception centre in a bid to derail the bus service had been isolated in the public. Their attempt to undermine the significant event for the first time in 57 years failed.

He recalled that in the past when the NC was in power, such incidents occurred in the state. He reminded them of the suicide attack on the state Assembly in which several lives were lost. He mentioned the attack on the Parliament and said even such a secured building was targetted in the Capital.

The leader of the opposition, Mr A.R. Rather, and Mr M.Y. Tarigami (CPM) took exception to the Law Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, seeking extension of time in presentation of the report of the select committee of the House on the issues of downsizing the ministry to 15 per cent and also amending the constitution of the state in regard to the anti-defection law.

Mr Rather said when the Parliament had already passed the law for restricting the size of the ministries in the state to 15 per cent, why was the coalition government in the state hesitant to follow this. A huge amount of money was being spent on the large ministry.

He said no meeting of the select committee was convened before the Budget session. It was perhaps because of political considerations that the government did not want to enact the law.

Mr Tarigami wanted that the anti-defection law should be made effective to prevent incidents of cross voting which the House witnessed yesterday during election for six seats of the legislative council.

Replying to the debate on the issue, Mr Beig said deliberations were going on within and outside the coalition to build consensus on downsizing of the ministry.

He said given the peculiar composition of the state, there were some difficulties in giving representation to all areas and ethnic groups within a limited size of cabinet.

He said efforts were being made to reach a consensus figure on downsizing the ministry so that the Bill could be passed in the House at the earliest. Backdoor talks are on with all political parties on the issue and most likely the Bill could go through in the next session.

Jammu, April 12
The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has lambasted the state government for jeopardising the autonomy of the commission and has also taken exception to the Deputy Commissioners sitting on judgement against findings of the commission.

The commission, in its annual report tabled in the Assembly today, has noted that its autonomous character was getting eroded as the state government was neither providing it adequate funds and has starved it of technical staff.

The commission has expressed anguish that after transferring the Inspector-General of Police, who was entrusted investigations by the commission, the government has not deputed any officer for this purpose since May, 2002.

The report pointed out that the commission was getting funds by way of budget and every time the commission had to approach the government for reappropriation. This process causes undue inconvenience and jeopardises the commission’s autonomy.

The original Act of 1991 armed the commission with absolute powers for appointment of technical staff, but the Act was amended in 2002 and the government took all such powers away. Eight posts were lying vacant for the past three years.

Some adjustments were made from the law department without prior consultation with the commission.

The commission was operating from a rented building in Srinagar as work on the commission’s own building was suddenly stopped. The commission does not have accommodation for housing its sub-office at Jammu and the chairman was operating from his private residence.

No accommodation has also been provided for the sub-offices at Doda and Rajouri.

The commission has expressed anguish over the attempt to brush aside its recommendations by certain officers.

Srinagar, April 12
Four militants and a woman were killed and a police station was attacked in the Kashmir valley overnight, official sources said today.

Militants made an abortive attempt on Sopore Municipal councillor Ghulam Nabi Changa when they attacked his vehicle near bus stand Sopore in Baramula district today.

Mr Changa escaped unhurt but another person travelling in the car, Mehraj-ud-Din Shalla, was injured. He has been hospitalised.

A search party was attacked by militants at Pattan last night, a report from Baramula said. Official sources said reinforcement was rushed to the area from nearby camps after the ultras, holed up inside a house, refused to surrender.

This led to a night-long encounter in which two foreign militants were killed.

In another incident, militants attacked Shaheed Gunj police station here with automatic weapons. They fled after a 10-minute shootout.

Another extremist was killed by the security forces in an encounter at Kanihama in the Central Kashmir district of Badgam late last night. The encounter ensued after a search party was attacked by the militants.

Militants gunned down a woman at Shopian in south Kashmir district of Pulwama last night.

The security forces gunned down a militant in an encounter at Suryala today. — UNI