SRINAGAR, 31 March 2005 — In a joint statement four Kashmiri militant groups yesterday warned Muzaffarabad-bound passengers against taking the bus ride across the border.
A bus service between the two zones of divided Kashmir is scheduled to start on April 7 to reconnect thousands of families separated by the division of the state.
The threat against traveling on the buses, which will connect Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the capitals of Indian and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, was faxed to TV news channels and news agencies here.
They militant groups were also critical of the moderate faction of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference and the Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council, an umbrella group of militant organizations, for what they described as “their soft and dubious attitude towards Kashmir”.
The statement endorsed hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani’s opposition to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.
“The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service is against the interests of the freedom struggle and is an Indian ploy to harm Kashmir’s freedom movement,” said the statement, signed by the commanders of the rebel groups. “This is friendly advice to passengers that they should not board this coffin to Muzaffarabad.”
The rebel signatories to the statement are: Al-Nasireen (The Helpers), Save Kashmir Movement, Al-Arifeen (The Pious) and Farzandan-e-Millat (Sons of the Community). The first two groups are major militant movements, but the others are little-known.
There was no way to independently confirm that the fax was sent by the groups.
In a Srinagar neighborhood, a family scheduled to travel on the inaugural bus service expressed shock over the threat, but said they would still go.
“It is after a decade of trying hard, and a number of failures, that we have been able to get a permit to go to Muzaffarabad. Now this is unfortunate,” said Ghulam Fatima Bhat, 55, who is scheduled to visit her daughter.
“Life and death are in the hands of Allah. If I die, I will at least have the satisfaction that I tried everything possible to see my daughter again. The threat doesn’t scare me,” she said, sobbing.
The groups also called for a general strike on April 7, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to flag off the inaugural trip of the twice-monthly bus service.
The statement also carried a list of 40 prospective passengers who are being vetted by authorities to ride the first bus. It directed newspaper editors to “publish the list so that these people stand warned and are not among the traitors.”
Meanwhile, lobbing grenades and firing automatic weapons, two suspected rebels tried to storm a paramilitary post in Kashmir yesterday, killing one soldier before they were fatally shot, officials said.
The two militants hurled grenades and opened fire on a Border Security Force post in Arampora village early yesterday, BSF spokesman Neeraj Sharma said. Arampora is about 60 km north of Srinagar.
Paramilitary soldiers guarding the post fought back, sparking an hour-long gunbattle.
One paramilitary soldier was killed and another was wounded in the gunfight, Sharma said. “Two suicide attackers tried to enter the post but timely action stalled their move. Both were killed,” Sharma said.
Rebels fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan routinely carry out attacks on Indian security forces and government buildings.
The violence continues despite peace talks being held by India and Pakistan since January last year aimed at settling their dispute over Kashmir, which has provoked two wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947. — Input from Associated Press.
