SRINAGAR, 11 May 2005 — The chief of the moderate wing of Kashmiri separatists offered yesterday to step down in the larger interest of unity among anti-India secessionists in the revolt-hit region.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, however, demanded the head of the hard-line faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir’s political separatist alliance, make a similar gesture.

“In the larger interest of unity, we are ready to dissolve the alliance structure (moderate faction),” said Farooq, 33, who is also the popular head of Kashmir’s biggest mosque, Jamia Masjid.

“Even I, as Hurriyat chairman, am ready to step down,” he said.

“But this can happen only if the other faction comes forward in the same spirit,” he told a news conference in Srinagar.

Farooq’s offer came after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said feuding Hurriyat leaders should use their “brain,” set aside differences and hold talks with India on the disputed territory’s future.

Musharraf, who met in New Delhi last month with Indian leaders, said such a move could be a step toward trilateral talks involving India, Pakistan and Kashmiris on the fate of the region that separatists have been seeking.

The separatists have been looking for ways to join a 15-month peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan centered on their dispute over Kashmir, trigger of two of their three wars.

The hard-line faction of the separatists is headed by firebrand leader Ali Shah Geelani, 73. There are other influential leaders who have been working outside Hurriyat since the 27-party umbrella group split in September 2003.

Farooq said all separatists should hold a joint meeting to forge unity and “decide in which direction the movement has to be taken.” “If the other faction agrees, we will try to agree on a meeting of all the separatists next week,” he said, adding the priority should be to restore the seven-member executive council of the group.

The alliance broke apart when rebel-backed hard-liners opposed peace talks with New Delhi.

The moderates held two rounds of talks before the negotiations broke down last August over a Hurriyat demand that they be allowed to visit Pakistan for consultations before resuming discussions.

New Delhi now has said it is willing to allow Hurriyat members to go to Pakistan for talks but only one has been granted a passport to travel so far.

Rebels Kill Four in Apparent Warning to Militants Not to Surrender

Suspected militants shot dead four men in Kashmir yesterday in an apparent bid to warn rebels not to give up arms for the separatist cause, police said.

The militants shot dead three men as they were returning after praying at a mosque in southern Doda district, police said.

One of the victims was the brother of a militant who surrendered to Indian security forces last year and was later shot dead along with his father by rebels. In the same village, militants killed a former rebel in a paddy field, police said. The dead man had recently surrendered to Indian troops.

None of the dozen rebel groups in Kashmir claimed responsibility for the killings but rebels often target ex-militants who have given up arms, pro-India politicians or people suspected of working for Indian security forces.

“Rebels often target families of people who have surrendered to security forces to prevent more surrenders,” a police officer said.

Violence has continued in Kashmir despite a peace process started by India and Pakistan 15 months ago that the nuclear-armed nations last month called “irreversable.”

Since 1989 the insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir has left more than 40,000 people dead by official count. Separatists say the toll is twice as high.

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AFP 101406 GMT MAY 05

Indian army tests new war doctrine in 10-day exercise =

New Delhi (dpa) - The Indian army completed a 10-day exercise Tuesday aimed at testing its new doctrine of launching intensive wars - that lasts days rather than weeks - in a nuclear environment.

About 25,000 troops from infantry, armoured and mechanised formations carried out fast battle manoeuvres in the exercise code-named Operation Vajra Shakti (Lightning Power) in the northern Indian state of Punjab, bordering Pakistan, PTI news agency reported.

The war game took place on either side of the Sutlej river about 110 kilometres from the border with Pakistan over 10 days with several operations carried out at night.

“This exercise has demonstrated that the Indian army is more than ready to face any challenges thrust on us,” Indian army chief J.J. Singh said. He said all the exercises were conducted in the nuclear backdrop.

The Indian army tested for the first time in operational conditions its battlefield satellite real-time imagery and newly-acquired Israel-built Loros radars, which enable commanders to view a 30-40 kilometre area around the battleground on moving television screens.