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Kashmir : No joint control

	January 09, 2006

India has rejected concepts like joint control or management of Jammu and Kashmir by Islamabad and New Delhi as a basis for settling the Kashmir issue. The forceful projection of the Indian point of view came through a statement by the External Affairs Ministry reacting to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s remarks in a television interview suggesting withdrawal of Indian troops from three towns in the Kashmir Valley in return for Pakistan ensuring that there is no militancy there. The External Affairs Ministry spokesman said that Pakistan had unconditionally committed itself to end cross-border terrorism in January 2004 and this could not be linked to Gen. Musharraf’s proposal for demilitarization of Srinagar, Kupwara and Baramulla.



The spokesman said that demilitarisation or redeployment of security forces within the territory of India is a sovereign decision of the Government of India and could not be dictated by any foreign government. He said such decisions are based on the assessment of the security situation in any particular part of the country. Asserting that there can be no joint control of Kashmir, which is an integral part of India, the spokesman said, in a situation where there is cross-border terrorism and violence perpetrated by Pakistan-based terrorist groups, the Government of India will fulfil its responsibility to safeguard the lives and security of its citizens. He said a complete cessation to cross-border terrorism and permanent dismantling of the infrastructure of terrorism in territories controlled by Pakistan would contribute to early realisation of the aim of creating a situation where there is no need for the two countries to deploy troops in proximity to one another.



About Pakistan’s reference to “self-governance”, the spokesman said, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed to his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz that Jammu and Kashmir already enjoyed autonomy under the Indian Constitution. It is ruled by a popular government elected through free and fair elections. The spokesman noted that contrary to this, there is clearly a lack of autonomy in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and there have been no popular elections in Gilgit and Baltistan to determine the wishes and aspirations of the people.



About the conditional invitation extended by Gen. Musharraf that Dr. Manmohan Singh visit Pakistan to watch a game in the Indo-Pakistan cricket series, the spokesman said that he had no immediate response to the matter.













Musharraf again harps on dividing J & K into seven regions



In his interview aired on CNN/IBN TV news channel on Saturday, Jan. 7, Gen. Musharraf had again spoken of his formula of dividing Jammu and Kashmir into seven regions and identification of trouble-torn regions in both Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-ccoupied Kashmir and their administration with joint control by India and Pakistan. He harped on the need for withdrawal of Indian troops from the towns of Srinagar, Kupwara and Baramulla.



Musharraf alleged that India has been providing financial support to insurgents in Balochistan. The spokesman of the Indian Foreign Office rejected the allegation as baseless.



Earlier in the week, Gen. Musharraf repeated his proposal of demilitarisation and self-governance in Kashmir to facilitate a lasting solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute while talking to visiting Hurriyat leaders in Islamabad on Thursday, Jan. 5. The Hurriyat delegation comprising Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Ghani Lone was in Islamabad during its visit ostensibly to see the areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir ravaged by the October 8 earthquake. The Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq later told newspersons that he and his colleagues fully supported Gen. Musharraf’s proposals for demilitarisation and self-governance.



“These proposals should be discussed and taken forward formally, beginning with the next round of the Pakistan-India dialogue at the Foreign Secretaries’ level. Let there be a genuine discussion on these ideas,” the Mirwaiz said, referring to the third round of dialogue scheduled to be held in New Delhi on January 17 and 18.



“Pakistan has shown flexibility, the Kashmiris are willing to move forward, so India will have to come forward,” he said. However, he said a step-by-step approach will have to be adopted for result-oriented progress.



Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Friday, Jan. 6, the Mirwaiz said that any solution of the Kashmir issue within the framework of the Indian Constitution including the proposal on self-governance would not be acceptable to the Hurriyat.



Umar Farooq said there was no difference in the understanding and approaches of his faction of the Hurriyat and the Pakistan government on the Kashmir issue as well as the twin ideas pertaining to self-governance and demilitarisation.



Answering a question, he said demilitarisation and self-governance were important confidence-building measures which could pave the way towards resolution of the issue, but were not, in themselves, solutions to Kashmir.



Asked to elaborate on the Hurriyat’s understanding of self-governance, Farooq said : “The Kashmiris must be masters of their own fate. Self-rule and autonomy are two different things. Autonomy is within the framework of the Indian Constitution. Self-rule is not.”





Kashmiri terrorist groups spreading their tentacles



Meanwhile, there are alarming reports from different metropolitan and other cities that Pakistan-based Kashmiri terrorist groups are spreading out to other parts of the country. Delhi police busted a Lashkar-e-Taiba module involved in funding terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. They have arrested three Lashkar operatives in this connection so farm one of whom was also involved in the 29/10 Delhi serial blasts.



The arrest has revealed a network of the Lashkar involved in transferring cash received thorough Hawala channels to bank accounts in Srinagar from where it was disbursed to Lashkar militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir. The three persons arrested were also planning to identify vulnerable targets in the national capital for terrorist attacks. The Jammu and Kashmir police said that the Lashkar-a-Taiba is planning a major strike in the city in the run up to the Jan. 26 Republic Day celebrations.



In the Andhra Pradesh capital, Hyderabad, the police busted a terrorist plot with the arrest of two persons on Monday, Jan. 2, hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to arrive in the city. They seized two improvised explosive devices with an intricate detonation mechanism that could be activated by a cellular phone. The city police commissioner said that terrorist groups backed by Pakistan inter-services intelligence (ISI), planned to attack the Office of the Director General of Police and High Tech. city, from where a large number of software companies operate.



Meanwhile, the Police claim to have arrested the mastermind of the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, on Dec. 28. The mastermind, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, has been identified as Abdul Rahman, a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander in charge of operations in southern India. Rahman, who was arrested from Nalgonda, about 200 km. from Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, is believed to have provided police with crucial leads. Rahman who has several aliases and holds a Bangladeshi passport, has been described as a key catch. Sources said Rahman, who was arrested on New Year Day planned the attack on IISc and recruited the assailant and others for carrying it out.



In Mumbai, the anti-terrorist squad nabbed three persons suspected to have links with extremist groups based in Jammu and Kashmir. They were planning to set up a terror-base in the Maharashtra capital. Bomb-making devices and an imported firearm have been recovered from them. Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said they closed in on the trio - Khurshid Ahmad alias Lala and M.R.A. Wahab Kazi from Baramulla and Arshad Ghulam Mohammad Hussein from Sopore - after receiving a tip-off from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and intelligence agencies.