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Kashmir : Congress asks Hurriyat to take part in elections

	April 24, 2006

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress has asked the Hurriyat Conference to take part in the next Assembly elections to determine its representative character. PCC chief Pirzada Mohd. Sayeed said in Srinagar on April 15, “If they want to prove their representative character, they should participate in the 2008 Assembly elections. Only then we will accept them as real representatives of Jammu and Kashmir.”



The PCC chief condemned the serial blasts that took place in Srinagar earlier this month killing at least five people and injuring over 40.



The Pirzada appealed to all separatist groups to participate in the dialogue process and urged militant organizations to shun the gun and take part in talks for finding an amicable and lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.



Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed the hope that the Hurriyat Conference would take part in the second phase of the round-table talks in Kashmir to be held next month. He was speaking in Jammu on April 17.



The Hurriyat Conference, in the meantime, has poured cold water over the hopes of its participation in the round table conference by saying that trilateral dialogue involving India and Pakistan, and not round-table conference is their primary focus for resolving the Kashmir issue. Addressing a news conference in Jammu on April 18, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said we want to sit and talk, but we are not aware of the agenda of the conference. He alleged that the Government of India has not done enough on the ground to create a conductive atmosphere for holding peace talks.



The Mirwaiz said that instead the organization would hold a parallel intra-region round table conference in Kashmir in which people from all five regions of the united state of Jammu and Kashmir would participate. He called for release of detainees and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act.



The Mirwaiz also asked the Central Government to respond to Pakistan proposals for solving the Kashmir issue.





No let up in cross border terrorism



Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal has said that despite the confidence building measures taken by India, there is no let up in cross-border terrorism. He said the Government is determined to face the challenge. Charing a high-level meeting in Srinagar on April 18, Duggal said, “It is a matter of concern that despite all the confidence building measures and assurances about stopping terrorism across the border, the training camps are flourishing.”



Duggal, however, said the violence level in 2005 had gone down. The Home Secretary said trade across the line of control would start as soon as possible. He indicated that Government would consider sending more paramilitary forces to Jammu and Kashmir in view of possible escalation in infiltration due to melting of the snow, the Amar Nath Yatra and the by-elections.





Reservoir plan on Kishenganga dropped



In a significant decision, the Union Government has decided to do away with the provision of 220 cmc capacity reservoir on the Kishenganga tributary of the Indus River in Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, the attempt will be to generate electricity through running water.



The Kishenganga hydroelectric project was originally decided and approved by the Union Cabinet in 1994 under Annexure E of the Indus Water Treaty. However, the Pakistan government objected to the project and the matter went for arbitration.



Now, the Government of India has decided to reconfigure the project under Annexure D of the Indus Water Treaty in which there will not be much alteration in the quantum of electricity to be generated, according to Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, who briefed the media after the Union Cabinet meeting on April 18.



Five die in terrorist violence



Five people were killed and an equal number injured in three separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir last week. Three people, including two soldiers, were killed on April 19. Police said a group of five armed separatist guerrillas forced their entry into a house at village Rangwar near Handwara, 70 km from Srinagar in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, late April 19 night and shot the inmates.



Former MP Ali Muhammad Naik was seriously wounded and two of his security guards were killed when separatist guerrillas ambushed his vehicle on April 17. Police officials said guerrillas sprayed bullets at Naik’s vehicle near the bus stand in the heart of Tral town in Pulwama district, 43 km from Srinagar.



The former MP was taken to S.M.H.S. hospital. “Doctors who operated on Naik have described his condition as stable,” the police officer said.



Naik, a leader of the opposition National Conference, was returning from a marriage ceremony when militants ambushed his vehicle.





CRPF officers to get the axe for killings in Azad’s home



More than a dozen officers and troopers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are likely to be dismissed from service for their “cowardly” role in not apprehending a colleague who killed three troopers at the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister’s official residence earlier this month.



“A court of inquiry has been completed and action would be taken soon against these officers and men whose conduct was most unbecoming in the situation,” sources in the CRPF said April 19.



On the evening of April 3, CRPF trooper Anand Kumar Singh went berserk and gunned down three of his colleagues at Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence. He then managed to flee from the spot, manned by scores of CRPF men, and surrendered at a police station half a kilometre away.



Singh is now in jail and has apparently shown no remorse over his action, said an officer. His escape as well as the failure of any of the 100-odd CRPF men deployed on security duty to capture him has been viewed as cowardly.