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Derailing the peace process, car bomb attack in south Kashmir

	June 20, 2005

While both India and Pakistan are actively engaged in talks to settle various issues between them, there appears to be no end to ISI-inspired terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. There are also signs of Pakistani outfits trying to foment militancy in Punjab. Seizure of arms and other equipment from areas as far apart as Delhi and Mumbai indicates that militant elements are getting strong support from outside the country.

While Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was talking of a settlement of the Kashmir issue being possible within two weeks if both India and Pakistan make concessions, the situation on the ground deteriorated with a car bomb explosion at Pulwama in south Kashmir in which over 15 people were killed. What was more damaging was that the attack took place outside a school and two students were among those killed.

Three CRPF personnel including a Commandant also died in the attack in which about 100 people were injured. Eyewitnesses said that the car in which the explosives were planted was flung into the air and its parts thrown around. There was a deafening sound and the area was splattered with blood in the incident on Monday, June 13. Several shops in the area were damaged in the explosion.

Deputy Inspector-General (South Kashmir) Sheikh Owais Ahmed said “the explosive which we believe was RDX and weighed not less than 40 kg. must have been kept in the car along with an improvised explosive device.” A shopping complex, a school and a post office were in the area where the car was parked. The two school children who were killed, were taking the examinations, Sheikh said. The school building was damaged as also a brick-laden truck passing by.

An eyewitness said at lest 10 shopkeepers lost their lives. Half of the body of a shopkeeper, who was on the second floor, was blown up and the rest was found in the shop. Many others lost their limbs, Nazir Ahmed, a resident, said. This was the most devastating blast in the town, he said.

Hundreds of residents took to the streets and raised slogans against the police and the security forces for not attending to the injured immediately. The police resorted to a lathi-charge, burst tear gas shells and later opened fire to disperse the protesters. The town wore a deserted look and police and paramilitary forces were deployed.

No militant organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack which came a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir which took him to Kargil, Leh and Siachen. This is the third such incident of high magnitude during the past one month.



Home Minister reviews security in Kashmir

Home Minister Shivraj Patil held a meeting immediately after receiving information about the Pulwama incident. The meeting was attended by the Union Home Secretary and security officials. Later in a statement, Patil said : “This is a desperate act on the part of those who do not want the situation in the state to improve. Despite these provocations, the Government would continue its endeavour to establish normality in the state.”



Protest strike

Shops and business establishments in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir valley remained closed on June 14 in response to a general strike call given by the breakaway Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and endorsed by Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council. Work in Government offices and public sector units was affected by the strike. Separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Demoractic Freedom Party president Shabir Ahmed Shah and J & K Liberation Forum chief Javed Ahmed Mir were detained when they wanted to proceed to Pulwama to offer condolences to the relatives of those killed in the blast. They were released after an hour-long detention.



Vajpayee criticises Manmohan’s handling of the peace process

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has expressed concern at the manner in which the UPA Government is handling the peace process with Pakistan. In a two-page letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vajpayee said that the peace process is becoming Kashmir-centric. He objected to the growing demand for trilateral talks and international guarantors for a settlement of the Kashmir issue. He said the Hurriyat leaders should not have been permitted to travel beyond Muzaffarabad to Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan without carrying Indian passports.

Referring to the terrorist attack in Pulwama, Vajpayee said that Pakistan is being allowed to slip out of the commitments it had made in January 2004 that it would eschew terrorism and that there will be no third party involvement in the Indo-Pak peace process. Releasing Vajpayee’s letter, former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said the recent statements by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and others on India recognising Kashmir as a disputed territory had “gone unchallenged” by the External Affairs Ministry. Allowing the Hurriyat leaders to travel to Pakistan without passports made India the target of international mockery.

Vajpayee referred to the “demand for trilateral talks” with the Hurriyat as the third party, to statements calling for “international guarantees” in the event of a settlement of the Kashmir dispute and to the disclosure by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation front Chief Yasin Malik that Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had in the past organised training camps for the socalled jehadis. He said he hoped that the Government would not allow Rashid to visit India.

Asked why Advani did not raise the issue of Hurriyat’s travel arrangements when he himself was in Pakistan at the time, Sinha said the party wanted to take a view of the visit in its totality after it was over. “If Mr. Advani did not respond to the Hurriyat visit and statements in Pakistan, it does not mean we should not comment now.”

Reacting to the BJP criticism of the Government’s handling of the peace process, the Congress said that the former Prime Minister should have known how bilateral agreements are to be honoured between the two nations. Party spokesman Anand Sharma said the Indian authorities had issued travel documents to Hurriyat leaders only for their visit to Pak-occupied Kashmir and as per the agreement between the two countries, it is the responsibility of the individual countries to see the passengers do not go beyond the permitted area.

Sharma said if the Hurriyat leaders went to other parts of Pakistan, the Indian Government cannot be blamed for this. He said the Indian Government has not changed its position either on the agreement with Pakistan or the Hurriyat . He said the government does not consider the Hurriyat the representative of the Kashmiri people but was willing to involve any organisation in the peace process.

Observers say that it is clear from Vajpayee’s letter that the BJP cannot now be counted upon to support the peace process without expressing its reservations at every development. How hard the BJP line would be would become apparent during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Observers note that some people in the security and intelligence establishment are worried at the efforts by Pakistan to focus the attention entirely on Kashmir. It is being pointed out that the second round of the composite dialogue now nearing completion, has not made any headway on resolving issues other than Kashmir. The Foreign Ministers of the two countries are now slated to meet in the first week of September to review the progress of the dialogue and to decide whether there will be a third round of the composite dialogue.



Hurriyat view of their visit to Pakistan

The nine separatist leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, who visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and later Pakistan, have since returned to Srinagar, crowned not with glory but with controversies. The moderate faction of the Hurriyat described the trip as eventful and expressed its willingness to talk to the Centre. Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on his arrival said : “We had talks with both Government, Opposition and Members of intelligentsia besides people and other sections of society in Pakistan and PoK. Now, we want to talk to the Centre and it depends upon them when they invite us for talks. We have no reservations in talking to New Delhi.”

The Mirwaiz said their trip to Pakistan and PoK had set a new process in motion and all the leaders in the neighbouring country supported and endorsed the triangular form of dialogue - separate talks with Islamabad and New Delhi for resolution of the Kashmir issue. The Mirwaiz has been insisting that triangular - not trilateral where all the three parties share the table - could be an option to start serious talks.

On their failure to convince the United Jihad Council, a militant platform, to strike a truce deal with the Centre, the Mirwaiz said they had not gone to PoK with the intention to broker a ceasefire, but for consultations with the Kashmiris.

While the Hurriyat seemed optimistic about the trip, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik sounded cautious. Malik, who has been vociferous on the issue of Kashmir’s inclusion in the dialogue process, indicated that Pakistan has as of now, not decided to give the Kashmiris a seat in serious negotiations between India and Pakistan.

In an interview published in the Pakistani daily, The Dawn, Mirwaiz Farooq said the Kashmir issue has now reached what he called “the resolution phase” and the next one or two years will be very crucial for resolving the matter. He supported Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s proposal for the involvement of the international community as guarantor in any agreement to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujaheddin militant group has rejected the Hurriyat call for supporting the political leadership to work out a solution to the Kashmir issue. Hizbul leader Syed Sallahuddin said : “The situation in Kashmir had aggravated and in such circumstances, the requirement for armed struggle had increased.” The Dawn quoted Sallahuddin as saying, “launch of different options, while openly deviating from the UN Resolutions, is a condemnable attempt to deprive the 56-year old freedom struggle of its strong historic, moral and legal base.”



Pak Information Minister “not welcome”, India tells Islamabad

Following Yasin Malik’s disclosure during his Pakistan visit about the Jehadi links of Pakistani Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, India has quietly told Pakistan that he would not be welcome to visit Srinagar on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service. Sheikh Rashid’s cover was blown by Malik who said that the Pakistani Minister set up a camp where around 3,500 jehadis were trained in guerrilla warfare.

Though Rashid tried to make light of it, saying Malik could have meant “any Sheikh Rashid in Rawalpindi,” his alibi wore thin after influential Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir came out in support of the Hurriyat leader’s claim.

Former Pakistani Generals and Intelligence officials have also confirmed that Sheikh Rashid Ahmed ran a militant camp. Former Army Chief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg said the camp was established as part of an armed struggle in Kashmir, but was closed down in 1991 when the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif found out about its existence. Gen. Beg said the abandoned camp still has the sign board of Freedom House. Acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz, Choudhary Nisar Ali Khan also confirmed that Sheikh Rashid Ahmed used to run a terrorist training camp at Fateh Jung, near Rawalpindi.

Although the Manmohan Singh Government has not come out with an official reaction, the Congress has said that Sheikh Rashid Ahmed should not be allowed to visit Srinagar by the Muzaffarabad -Srinagar bus service. It is also understood that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has quietly asked Pakistan to withdraw Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s application for a travel permit.



Thirty-five maulvis taken on Bharat Darshan

The Army has taken 35 maulvis (Muslim priests) from Rajouri and Poonch districts on a country-wide tour to give them an exposure to the secular structure of the country and the development that has taken place. Rajouri and Poonch areas are hot beds of terrorism. The 13-day tour was flagged off from Jammu by the Northern Command Chief, Lt. Gen. Hari Prasad on Wednesday, June. 15.

Lt. Gen. Prasad said that the tour of these religious heads would have a tremendous impact in the area and would help curb terrorism. The tour has been conducted under the “Operation Sadbhavna.” The maulvis will go to Delhi, Agra, and Pune where they will visit places of religious, historical and industrial importance.