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Kashmir : Major parties prepare for elections

	October 20, 2008

With the Election Commission announcing a seven-phased poll schedule for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, major politi¬cal parties like the Congress, the BJP, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, have started preparing for the electoral battle ahead.



The separatist parties are not going to take part in the elections, but what observers would be looking for is whether they actively try to obstruct the election process.



Before the recent developments in the state over the Amar¬nath land allocation issue, it was widely expected that public participation in the elections would be much more than in previ¬ous elections. But with the agitation spreading to both the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu regions, it remains to be seen if the people in the Valley will turn out in large numbers to exer¬cise their franchise.





J & K, PoK to have joint trade chamber



Traders of Jammu and Kashmir and their counterparts from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have formed a joint Chamber of Commerce to strengthen trade and business relations between the two parts of Kashmir.



Named as Federation of Jammu and Kashmir Chambers of Com¬merce, the newly formed trade body will be headed by Zulfikar Abasi, who heads the PoK trade delegation that recently visited Kashmir.



The announcement was made a day before the PoK trade delega¬tion left for Muzuffarabad. “The presidentship of the new feder¬ation will be shared by the federations of J-K and PoK on yearly rotation basis,” Abasi said. He said cross-LoC trade will begin between Srinagar and Muzuffarabad from Oct. 21. “Fifteen trucks carrying load of 14.5 tons will be allowed to cross the LoC on that day,’he said.





Chenab waters row : Pakistan threatens to go in for arbitration



Pakistan has threatened to go in for third party arbitration if India does not compensate it for the alleged loss of two million acre feet of water because of reduction in the flow of the Chenab river.



Accusing India of diverting water from the Chenab to fill the Baglihar dam in Jammu and Kashmir, Indus Waters Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah said Islamabad will neither drop its claim nor “sell” its share of Chenab waters. Shah’s comments came days after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned that a row over the sharing of waters of the Indus river system could affect bilateral ties.



Talking to reporters in Lahore on Monday, Oct. 13, Shah said he would take up Pakistan’s claim for the diverted Chenab waters when he goes to India with a delegation.



“India will have to compensate Pakistan during the coming rabi season. Otherwise, Islamabad will resort to other treaty mechanisms to get its due share,” he said.





Check ceasefire violations : Pakistan told



India has conveyed its concern to Pakistan over ceasefire violations and the continuing infiltration of militants in Jammu and Kashmir. At a meeting between the National Security Advisors of the two countries in New Delhi on Monday, Oct. 13, it was pointed out that these irritants, if left unchecked, would not contribute to on going efforts to improve bilateral relations.



Pakistan, on the other hand, expressed its desire for closer relations with India and suggested the need to wrap up talks on a couple of territorial disputes and avoid creating fresh ones such as over the management of waters of rivers flowing through both countries.



During talks between National Security Adviser M. K. Naraya¬nan and his Pakistani counterpart Mahmud Ali Durrani here, India is also understood to have raised the issue of the bombing of its embassy in Afghanistan in which the hand of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence is suspected.



The two NSAs also discussed the possibility of taking meas¬ures to totally curb instances of firing on the Line of Control and the International Border with Pakistan.



Sources in New Delhi said Gen. Durrani, a votary of dia¬logue to resolve disputes, is on an exploratory mission to under¬stand India’s response to resolving the Sir Creek and the Siachen disputes. India acknowledges that the Sir Creek dispute was a “cartographer’s problem” and that Independence converted it from a district-level dispute to an international one. Siachen too, India feels, can be resolved and it is a matter of trusting each other’s assurances.





Valley rail service a runaway success



The people of Kashmir are warming up to the first rail service in the valley between Budgam and Anantnag via Srinagar, a distance of 66 kilometres. The train running on the route are getting more and more travellers. Observers say that the station at Nowgong in Srinagar is now resembling a typical Indian railway station with crowds jostling for tickets.



With rising numbers using the train service, the railway authorities have increased its frequency from two trips a day to three. While for most passengers, the train is little more than a joyride, the number of people for whom it is becoming a depend¬able lifeline is steadily growing.