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Former PoK Prime Minister’s appeal to separatists |
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Former Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, on Saturday appealed to all Kashmir leaders and groups in India to take part in talks and conferences being organised by the Government to discuss important issues. Boycotting such occasions never resolved problems.
Delivering a lecture at the Observer Research Foundation on the Kashmir issue in New Delhi, Qayyum was replying to a question on the boycott of the round table by the Hurriyat leaders.
Referring to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s proposals for restoring peace in Kashmir and the confidence-building measures (CBMs), Qayyum defended India, saying it would be wrong on the part of the hardliners on the Pakistani side to say that India had not moved forward. “I think India has responded quite adequately. But the problem with India and Pakistan is that if one party suggests something, the other rejects it thinking [accepting] it is a defeat. I have positive views about this,” he added.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Girish Saxena raised the issue of perceived differences over democracy on both sides, and also militant camps in PoK. Former Foreign Secretary, M. Rasgotra, hoped that increased people-to-people contacts would ultimately lead to making the border between the two countries irrelevant.
Five Pak-based LeT militants killed in encounters
Five militants of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit were killed in two separate encounters in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, April 29. Ultras shot dead a civilian in Kulgam while a highly decomposed body was fished out from the Jhelum river in Srinagar, police said.
“Four hardcore LeT militants were killed in a fierce gun-battle lasting several hours at Maganwari forest in Kandi belt of Kupwara district”, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Vijay Kumar told reporters in Srinagar.
Kumar, who was leading the operation alongwith senior officers of 47 Rashtriya Rifles, said a joint search was launched in the area following specific information about presence of militants this morning. The militants were asked to surrender but they opened fire and in the ensuing gun battle got killed.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the possession of the slain ultras, whose identity was being ascertained. However, the documents recovered from them revealed their affiliation with LeT outfit, Kumar added.
In another encounter, a police spokesman said security forces shot dead a top LeT militant identified as Abu Hamza alias Shamsher during search operations in Tulwani area of Bhudal tehsil of Rajouri district today.
An AK assault rifle, four magazines, 23 rounds and three grenades were recovered from the killed militant.
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