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Musharraf speech disappointing: Advani New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani termed Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's speech a disappointment and said it was short of Indian expectations. In a televised address on Monday, Musharraf insisted Pakistan did not support terrorism in other countries and asked the international community to take note of what he said was an "indigenous freedom struggle" in Kashmir. "If anybody thought that common sense will prevail in the minds of our neighbour and there will be a revolutionary change in the existing situation.....then those who saw yesterday night's speech (by Musharraf) might have sensed that there is no such possibility of that kind," Advani told a meeting of paramilitary officers on Tuesday. New Delhi says Islamabad must dismantle terrorist camps operating in Pakistan and territories controlled by it, and also hand over a list of 20 wanted men. Close to a million men have been mobilised on the border since the attack on parliament in December. The risk of war heightened after a May 14 attack on an army camp in Jammu The Pakistan President is under intense domestic pressure to take a hard line on Kashmir. And the fear is that without Pakistani concessions, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will not be able to back down. India said on Sunday it was running out of patience over the attacks by extremists. But Vajpayee said India would wait to see if international efforts to persuade Pakistan to crack down on militants worked. Minister of State for Home Affairs I.D. Swami said a routine meeting of Commissioners on Wednesday on Indus Water Treaty will go ahead despite New Delhi exploring new tactics to pressurize Islamabad to cease "cross-border terrorism." "That is a routine meeting to review it (Indus water treaty). The decision to revoke or amend or alter this treaty will not be taken in that meeting. Neither will it be discussed there. All those who are authorised will take decision. In order to alter or revoke international treaties they will have to think," Swami said. "When it has been said that India has kept all its options open and after yesterday's statements it becomes more clear that other options might also be explored. So it (Indus water treaty) is also one of the options which cannot be ruled out," he added. There has been intense speculation that India, the upper rivarian state, might abrogate the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which allows waters of Sutlej, Beas and Ravi to be utilised by India while those of Indus, Chenab and Jhelum by Pakistan.(ANI) Seven killed in Valley, 40 kg RDX defused
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to top Srinagar, May 28 (ANI): Seven people, including a policeman and a militant, were killed and three injured in separate incidents in the Valley during the last 24 hours. A major tragedy was averted with the timely detection of 40 kg of RDX, a police spokesman said on Tuesday. The explosive device planted by militants in Jammu's Doda district was concealed in plastic buckets connected by electronic devices, he said. The bomb disposal squad defused it before it could cause any damage. A medical assistant, Shameema, and her teenaged sister Humaira were shot dead by militants inside their house in Pulwama district on Tuesday. Militants gunned down the chairman of Samaj Sudhar Committee Gujjar Patti, Moulvi Mohammad Yousuf Khan, in his house in Baramulla district Monday night, suspecting him to be a police informer, the spokesman said. He said militants shot dead a fire services employee, Mehraj-ud- Din Sheikh in his village in Badgam district Tuesday, while an SPO, Suresh Kumar, was killed in a shootout with militants in Doda Monday night. Constable Gulzar Ahmad, injured in a militant attack in the heart of Srinagar, succumbed to his injuries. A foreign militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Rajouri district Monday night.(ANI)
India used "anti-terrorism bandwagon" to introduce POTO: Amnesty Go to top London, May 28 (ANI): India is among several countries accused by Amnesty International of "jumping on the anti-terrorism bandwagon" to seize the opportunity to introduce repressive legislation. Launching the annual report of the London-based international human rights organisation, Irene Khan, its secretary general, cited India, Jordan, South Africa, South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom as countries which, after September 11, "rushed through laws restricting people's rights to family, free speech, fair trial and freedom from arbitrary detention". The report states that the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), promulgated initially in October and then again in December of last year, gives the police wide powers of arrest and detention which are not consistent with the rights of freedom of expression and association set out in international human rights standards. It puts in the same category anti-terrorism legislation enacted or under examination in several states, including West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It criticises proposals to grant amnesties to police officers facing trial for alleged human rights abuses during the period of militancy in Punjab between 1984 and 1994, and says that POTO and the National Security Act continue to grant virtual impunity to government officials and army officers committing abuses while acting in their official capacity. The report also claims that, after September 11 and the attack on Parliament in December, the Muslim community "became increasingly vulnerable to victimisation by both the state and some Hindu political groups." It cites rioting in Lucknow, Malegaon and elsewhere, and escalating tension resulting from the campaign for the reconstruction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Other complaints regarding the human rights situation in India include: widespread torture by state agents and "non-state actors"; discrimination against women, dalits and adivasis; death sentences on 16 people during 2001, though the number executed is not known; harassment of human rights defenders; and lack of progress with recommended amendments to the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, which would give the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) the authority ot investigate violations by members of the armed forces. On a global scale, the report covering events in 2001 documents extra-judicial executions in 47 countries; judicial executions in 27 countries; "disappearances" in 35 countries; torture and ill- treatment in 111 countries, and prisoners of conscience in at least 56 countries. However, Amnesty believes that the true figures are higher. The theme of the report is that there can be "no trade off between human rights and security". In the words of Secretary- General Khan: "Security cannot and must not take precedence over human rights. The biggest danger to human rights is when political and economic interests are allowed to drive the human rights agenda." (ANI)
Villagers in Samba sector dying of shelling scare everyday
Go to top Samba Sector (Jammu), May 28 (ANI): Dozens of villages in the border areas of Jammu region have been deserted due to firing by Pakistani troops for the past ten days. Officials said several people have been killed in the Pakistani firing which became intense after the May 14 militant raid in Jammu which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad-based Kashmiri militant groups. For the villagers in Samba sector living has become worse than death because they are dying of fear every day. Mortar fire and shelling destroys their homes and the villagers flee leaving cattle to their fate. "The villagers are very disturbed by this ongoing border firing," said Ashraf, a villager. "If shelling begins in the afternoon, we leave everything behind and run...if firing starts in the evening, we vacate the entire village and go to safer areas in the rear. The village remains empty...our cattle stay behind...So next morning we have to rush back to check our homes and cattle. As soon as we reach, the firing starts again. Again we flee. This has become an everyday routine," he added. Residents in border villages--many of which were over-run and razed by Pakistani forces during the 1965 and 1971 wars-say the situation is worse than at any time since both sides began massing forces after an attack on Parliament in December. All farming operations in the border areas have come to a halt and officials opened several relief camps to shelter the fleeing villagers. And the situation is such that villagers living along the tense border with Pakistan continue to pour in at relief camps in Jammu region following heavy exchange of fire between the two neighbours. India and Pakistan have massed a million men along the ceasefire line and their border in a tense standoff over Kashmir.(ANI)
Missile tests an act of belligerence, say some Delhi'ites
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top New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): An act of belligerence that may precipitate the current border tensions between the two countries. This was the reaction among some of the residents of this city to the third and final missile test by Pakistan. on Tuesday. In its final test, Islamabad claimed it had successfully fired a 180-km (110-mile) short-range surface-to-surface missile, Hatf-II Abdali. "I think it will increase the tension which is already high. It (the test) is really bad because the pressure between India and Pakistan will rise and serious action should be taken for that,'' said Franklyn, a student. According to S.S. Oberoi, a chemist, Pakistan's capabilities to conduct missile tests on its own are doubtful. "It's plain belligerence on their part. Just trying to show the world that they are capable of doing something when everybody knows that shaping an indigenous missile on the basis of domestic experimentation is very difficult for them. You know they just picked up something from either China or North Korea, like lowdown missile, breakdown from there, just put them together and fire it. I don't think they have their own capability," Oberoi observed. Although Pakistan has insisted that the series of tests, which ended on Tuesday, were routine, defence analysts in India feel it is just a way of drawing international attention to the Kashmir issue. Said Commodore Uday Bhaskar, a specialist on the subject : "Pakistan has for many years tried to link Kashmir with weapons of mass destruction. So, by carrying out these tests now, when the international community is as concerned as it is, he is trying to mix the two issues. That's a red herring in my mind." . He added that the missile tests were clearly aimed at sending a message that Islamabad could meet any Indian attack with massive retaliation. But all this, he said, would not be able to eradicate New Delhi's concerns on "Pakistan-sponsored terrorism". "Because what India is determined to address is terrorism and Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism. We are not talking about missiles. We are aware that Pakistan has a certain missile capability. It has benefitted from external support, both from China and North Korea. This is a reality," Uday Bhaskar remarked. (ANI)
Fleeing J-K border villagers crammed in makeshift camps
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top Jammu, May 28 (ANI): Mounting violence and intermittent firing across the border in Jammu and Kashmir has forced residents of border villages in Samba sector to take refuge in makeshift camps. Indian and Pakistani forces traded artillery and mortar fire across their ceasefire line on Tuesday, amid fears of war between the two countries In the past two weeks border skirmishes have occurred daily in Kashmir and killed civilians. More than 20,000 people who fled their homes due to heavy firing along the Line of Control have taken shelter in refugee camps in Samba and other parts of the state. Refugees are crammed in makeshift camps which lack basic amenities. Radha Kishore, a migrant from Samba sector, said an all-out war with Pakistan will rid them of this routine trouble. "This happens regularly. There have been four wars...we believe that now there should be a decisive one, a conclusive one. We are tired of this daily hassle," said Kishore. India and Pakistan have massed close to a million men along their frontiers since a December attack on Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants. Tension soared again after an attack by Islamic militants on an army base in Jammu on May 14, prompting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to tell his front-line troops to prepare for a "decisive fight". The renewed tension has brought fresh violence along the Line of Control and several people, including civilians, have died in daily heavy exchanges of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire between the two forces.(ANI)
Musharraf speech fuels tensions: Jaswant
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to top New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): India said on Tuesday Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf had indulged in "belligerent posturing" that had dangerously stoked tensions between the nuclear rivals amid fears of war. Outlining India's official response to a much-awaited address to the nation on Monday by Musharraf, foreign minister Jaswant Singh said the Pakistani general's comments were a disappointing mix of unfulfilled promises and posturing. "His excellency General Pervez Musharraf's television address of May 27 is both disappointing and dangerous. Disappointing as it merely repeats some earlier assurances which remain unfulfilled until today and dangerous because through some belligerent posturing, tension has been added to and not reduced," Singh told a news conference. Singh's comments came hours after Pakistan conducted the third and final in a series of missile tests and Indian and Pakistani forces traded heavy fire across their ceasefire line in Kashmir, at the heart of the tense standoff. In his speech, Musharraf said Pakistan did not want war, but was ready to meet any attack with full force. Responding to New Delhi's charge that Islamabad sponsored Islamic militants slipping across the border to attack India, he said there were no cross-border infiltrations. Singh said Musharraf had failed to address the issue of what India calls cross-border terrorism, describing Pakistan as "the epicentre of international terrorism". "The world recognises that today the epicenter of international terrorism is located in Pakistan. Terrorists targetting not just India but other countries too receive support from structures within Pakistan. The current war against terrorism will not be won decisively until their base camps in Pakistan are closed permanently," he said. Despite the mounting tensions, Singh said India remained committed to its policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. "India has not ever spoken of nuclear weapons. India's policy in this regard is clear, unambiguous and explicit. It is no first use and that remains the country's policy," Singh added. Pakistan has not ruled out using the nuclear option in case of a full bloodied war. Although India and Pakistan conducted back-to-back nuclear tests in 1998, the exact extent and sophistication of their nuclear arsenals is not certain. Singh said the presence of U.S. troops in Pakistan was not an "inhibiting factor" in New Delhi's military standoff with Islamabad. "The physical presence of U.S. troops in certain parts of Pakistan is clearly known to us and that is always factored as one of the considerations but it is not an inhibiting factor in policy determinations." Singh also ruled out the possibility of talks between Vajpayee and Musharraf at a regional summit in Kazakhstan next month. "Almaty is some distance away yet, both in time and in geographical terms. Personally I don't see the possibility," Singh said. When asked if snapping diplomatic relations with Pakistan would be one of the steps that the Indian government was considering, Singh said the question of breaking diplomatic ties with Pakistan had not yet arisen. "On the issue on breaking of diplomatic ties, there is no question as of now," Singh said. The threat of another war between South Asia's military giants- who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir-has alarmed world powers and triggered a flurry of diplomatic missions aimed at reducing tensions. British Foreign Minister Jack Straw met officials in Islamabad on Tuesday before flying to India. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is due to visit the sub-continent next week. Foreign governments have criticised Pakistan's missile tests and urged Musharraf to stop militants slipping across the border into Kashmir.(ANI)
Nawaz-Pervez "deal" on anvil: Report Go to top Lahore, May 28 (ANI): Top Muslim League leaders are expecting a high-level direct contact between the military regime and former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a few days. "There could be a contact through Pakistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia or some top political manager of the regime from a sensitive agency," a party leader privy to the developments told The News. Party sources said the exiled leader wanted some high-ranking government official to contact him directly before the expected May 30 tentative meeting between opposition leaders and President Musharraf. There was an underlying fear in PML-N ranks that the Musharraf government was not sincere in engaging the party and just wanted to air the "internal stability and unity" message to the world by inviting the diehard and main opposition forces. "Most of the PML-N top brass that contacted the former premier or who were contacted by him on Sunday or Monday have urged their leader that it's time he struck a deal with the under-pressure military ruler to pave the way for an immediate end to his exile and participation in the October poll," a top PML-N leader confided, adding that Sharif was in no mood to compromise and would eventually seek a "good deal" before extending a hand of cooperation. The sources said PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and other party leaders advised information minister Nisar Memon on Sunday to contact Nawaz Sharif. "A breakthrough is possible by adopting a phased approach after initiating confidence-building measures," Memon was quoted as saying, hinting that the government was ready to review its "minus Nawaz policy", but it would take time. Meanwhile, the government has started contacts to re-invite all those political parties, which declined to attend the consultative meeting on May 24. Musharraf has extended the invitation to the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), and Muttahida Majlas-e-Amal (MMA) for May 31. Nisar Memon held talks with Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and JUI chief Mulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday and with PML- N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq on Sunday. (ANI)
Israel offers to join India's war on terror Go to top New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): Deputy Director General of Israel's foreign ministry Zvi Gabay called on Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani on Tuesday and extended his country's support in New Delhi's fight against terrorism. Gabay is accompanied by Israeli's National Security Advisor Major General Uzi Dayan. The Israeli delegation was in New Delhi for the second India- Israel joint working group meeting on counter-terrorism which concluded on Tuesday. The meeting was held in the context of India's cooperation with international community to counter global terrorism, in the light of Security Council Resolution 1373. Security Council Resolution 1373 calls upon the member countries of the United Nations not to extend any kind of support to terrorist activities. India and Israel have of late found common cause in their fight against terrorism. Both countries have been facing onslaught of Islamic fundamentalism for the last many years. Talking to reporters after his meeting with Advani, Gabay extended his country's full support to New Delhi but said he preferred a negotiated settlement between India and Pakistan who are on the brink of war over Kashmir issue. Indian and Pakistani forces are facing off across their tense border, sparking fears of an all-out war between the two countries. "We country that seek peace would like to see peace in the region. We would like to see that India also manages to establish peaceful contact and negotiation to solve your problems with Pakistan...... As I say about Pakistan you should ask India. We are here to cooperate and to join forces fighting the menace of terrorism everywhere and we hope to achieve something in that," said Gabay. India which used to be a close sympathiser of Israel's arch-foe Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has since cooled off towards him. India, locked in a confrontation with nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan over militants based there, and Israel, fighting the Palestinian uprising, are both demanding a halt to support for terrorism as a condition for peace talks. India accuses Pakistan of aiding and abetting violence in its disupted Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only diplomatic and moral support to the anti-India movement in the state. India and Israel established formal relations 10 years ago and there was a rapid progress in economic and defence cooperation. Israel is backing India in its bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. India, with more than one billion people, is bidding for a permanent seat as part of proposed moves to expand and reform the U. N. Council. (ANI)
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