SRINAGAR, 28 April — Two people were killed and 43 others wounded in two separate grenade explosions in Kashmir yesterday, police said.
The violence occurred a day after Kashmir’s main separatist alliance rejected an invitation from the government for peace talks to end the nearly 11-year-old rebellion in the disputed Himalayan state. The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference said the talks were on “a train going nowhere” unless Pakistan was included.
Two people were killed and at least 29 injured in a grenade explosion near a busy bus terminal at Chadoora town, 30 km (20 miles) northeast of Srinagar. “We are gathering reports. The toll may be higher,” a police spokesman said. He said the target of the grenade was not known. “Further details are awaited.”
Suspected activists tossed another hand grenade at a security force patrol near the main telegraph office in Srinagar itself, injuring five security personnel. Nine civilians were also injured.
The explosion triggered panic in the area, which is close to Srinagar’s main commercial district, Lal Chowk.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosions so far.
The government asked K.C. Pant, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and a former minister, earlier this month to spearhead peace talks with a broad range of groups in Kashmir including those fighting Indian rule.
The Hurriyat chief has said that unless India, Pakistan and representatives of the Kashmiri people are involved in a three-way process, there can be no solution to the conflict.
New Delhi has ruled out a resumption of talks with its neighbor until it stops sponsoring militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies. Analysts feel the rejection by the Hurriyat of the invitation to hold discussions with Pant is not surprising. “Why should the Hurriyat hold discussions with the government emissary when the center has turned a deaf ear to its stand?”
Kashmiris are becoming increasingly convinced about one hard fact. Each step of the government, designed to take them toward “peace,” does not actually do so. The government is only interested in giving the Kashmir problem, the turn it desires to, without caring a dime for what they yearn for.
From one angle, it would be wrong to regard Hurriyat leaders as actual representatives of Kashmiris as they have not been elected to this position. They have imposed this “authority” upon themselves with considerable diplomatic and financial support from external sources.
Some analysts observe Kashmir crisis would probably have never reached this stage if Kashmiris problems had been paid the needed attention from the beginning. Ground for militancy was not built overnight, they say.
