NEW DELHI, 25 January 2004 — The chief minister of Kashmir said yesterday more than a dozen political prisoners would be released as part of peace moves aimed at ending a bloody revolt in the disputed region.
“Nearly 18 (political prisoners) will be released today and more will be released later on Republic Day,” Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed told reporters in New Delhi after meeting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Human rights groups say there are scores of people detained without trial in jails in Kashmir.
India and Pakistan have agreed to resume bilateral talks in February over a range of disputes, including Kashmir — at the heart of more than five decades of enmity and the cause of two wars.
Seven people, including a woman, were killed in Kashmir, where security forces recovered rockets and explosives ahead of India’s Republic Day tomorrow, officials said yesterday.
In one attack, two suspected militants were killed by security forces in Poonch district in southern Kashmir overnight, a police spokesman said.
“The two were planning to carry out a suicide attack on some vital installation in the district,” he said.
Another rebel was shot dead in the southern Doda district, the spokesman said.
Suspected militants shot dead three people, including a teenage student and a woman in Poonch and Anantnag districts overnight, police said.
The third was a militant of hard-line Lashkar-e-Taiba, police said, adding he was killed by members of dominant rebel group Hizbul Mujahedeen during an inter-group clash.
A trooper of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) was shot dead yesterday by suspected militants at point blank range in Hyderpora area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, police said.
Also in Srinagar, the BSF recovered 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of the deadly RDX (research developed explosives), eight rockets and other arms and ammunition, BSF spokesman Tirtha Acharya told AFP.
He said the explosives were recovered near Bakshi stadium, the venue for the main Republic Day celebrations in Srinagar tomorrow.
“The explosives were stored in a women’s hospital with the aim of disrupting the celebrations on Monday,” he said.
Intelligence reports indicated the rockets were to be used in attacks in and around Srinagar on the eve of Republic Day, said Acharya.
Militants fighting to secede Kashmir from India and join it with neighboring Pakistan or remain independent have fired rockets at the venue in the past, causing casualties.
A spokesman for Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference said all factions including moderates led by Moulvi Abbas Ansari who held talks with Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani Thursday, had called for a boycott of Republic Day celebrations.
The Hurriyat has called on the people to stay indoors during the day, he said.
The main event in the violence-wracked state will be held in the winter capital Jammu.
The sports stadium, which is to host the official celebrations tomorrow, has been declared out of bounds and all roads leading to it have been sealed, a police spokesman said.
Security personnel yesterday combed the stadium with mine detectors and other sophisticated equipment to detect any explosive devices, he said.
Troops also raided scores of houses in Bhatindi on the outskirts of Jammu and took six youths into preventive custody, he added.
Meanwhile, Iran has agreed to encourage India to allow moderate Kashmiri separatists to visit Pakistan for talks with the rebel leaders there, a separatist leader said yesterday.
“The Iranians have assured us they will try to motivate India to allow us to visit Pakistan,” Moulvi Abbas Ansari told AFP by telephone from New Delhi.
On Friday, Ansari and four other moderate leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference paid a call on the Iranian ambassador to India at Tehran’s embassy in New Delhi.
During talks with Advani a day earlier, Ansari’s team urged New Delhi to call a cease-fire in Kashmir, where militants have been waging armed rebellion since 1989.
They also asked Advani to allow them to visit Pakistan to motivate militants to call for a truce so that a peaceful atmosphere is created for comprehensive dialogue on the future of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.
The separatists on Friday also paid a courtesy call on Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Ansari said yesterday he was optimistic the visit to Pakistan will be allowed as “it will not harm anyone. It will push forward the peace process.”
In the past the Indian government has been vehemently opposed to visits by separatists to Pakistan, claiming they are working hand-in-glove with the militants.
But the leaders of India and Pakistan held a surprise meeting in Islamabad during a regional summit and agreed to resume their stalled dialogue on Kashmir and other pending points of difference between the long-time rivals.
Separatists sources said Iran may also try to bridge differences between Ansari’s moderate faction and Pakistan.
Islamabad has given recognition to Syed Ali Geelani, who split away from Hurriyat last September with a group of pro-Pakistan hard-liners who now claim they are the real Hurriyat.
