DATE=7/7/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-43817
TITLE=KASHMIR TENSIONS (CQ)
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=SRINIGAR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: IN RECENT DAYS THERE HAS BEEN A FLURRY OF DIPLOMATIC
ACTIVITY AIMED AT ENDING THE FIGHTING IN KASHMIR. INDIAN
AUTHORITIES SAY DIPLOMACY IS A VALUABLE TOOL, BUT THEY WILL KEEP
FIGHTING UNTIL THE MOUNTAIN BATTLE ZONES IN KASHMIR ARE CLEARED
OF WHAT THEY SAY IS A MIX OF PAKISTANI SOLDIERS AND ISLAMIC
MILITANTS. SOUTH OF THOSE MOUNTAIN BATTLE ZONES IN THE KASHMIR
VALLEY THE FIGHTING HAS DESTROYED THE HOPES OF THOSE WHO THOUGHT
THIS MIGHT BE A YEAR OF PEACE FOR KASHMIR AFTER TEN LONG YEARS OF
BITTER STRUGGLE. VOA'S JIM TEEPLE REPORTS KASHMIR REMAINS A LAND
DIVIDED.
TEXT: BASHIR RAMAT SAYS HE WILL NEVER FORGET THE DAY IN MAY,
1990 WHEN HE WENT TO OPEN HIS SHOP ON A BUSY STREET IN SRINIGAR,
THE SUMMER CAPITAL OF INDIA'S JAMMU AND KASHMIR STATE. MR. RAMAT
SAYS HE SAW A LARGE GROUP OF INDIAN POLICE TAKE UP POSITIONS
DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM HIS SHOP AT SRINIGAR'S ISLAMIA COLLEGE.
AT THE OTHER END OF THE STREET A HUGE CROWD HAD GATHERED IN A
FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR MAULVI FAROOQ, THE MIRWAIZ, OR HEREDITARY
MUSLIM RELIGOUS LEADER OF KASHMIR, WHO HAD BEEN ASSASINATED JUST
DAYS BEFORE BY UNKNOWN ASSAILANTS. AS THE CROWD APPROACHED
ISLAMIA COLLEGE BASHIR RAMAT SAYS HE QUICKLY CLOSED HIS SHOP.
THEN, HE SAYS THE FIRING STARTED.
// URDU ACT/TRANSLATION //
.. .HE SAYS THE MARCH WAS GOING PEACEFULLY AND THEY OPENED FIRE
IN AN UNPROVOKED MANNER.
// END ACT //
BASHIR RAMAT STILL KEEPS SEVERAL SMASHED WATCHES AND SOME MONEY
IN A BLOODY HANKERCHIEF WHICH HE SAYS HE FOUND ON THE STREET
AFTERWARD. 67-PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN FRONT OF BASHIR RAMAT'S SHOP
-- SOME OF THE FIRST CASULTIES IN A DECADE-LONG BATTLE FOR
CONTROL OF KASHMIR.
// OPT // FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS BEFORE THE KILLINGS AT ISLAMIA
COLLEGE, VIOLENCE HAD BEEN INCREASING IN INDIA'S STATE OF JAMMU
AND KASHMIR, WITH DEMONSTRATIONS, RIOTS AND KILLINGS. BY 1990
HOWEVER YOUNG KASHMIRI'S WERE NO LONGER THROWING ROCKS AT INDIAN
POLICE AND SOLDIERS -- THEY WERE AMBUSHING THEM WITH AUTOMATIC
WEAPONS AND ATTACKING BARRACKS WITH BOMBS AND ROCKET-PROPELLED
GRENADES.
THE FIGHT FOR KASHMIR HAD BEGUN -- PITTING YOUNG KASHMIRI'S KNOWN
AS MILITANTS AGAINST INDIAN SECURITY FORCES. THE MILITANTS SAY
THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR "AZAD KASHMIR", OR FREE KASHMIR. JUST DAYS
AFTER THE INCIDENT AT ISMAIA COLLEGE, NEW DELHI APPOINTED GIRISH
SEXANE AS A NEW GOVERNOR IN SRINIGAR. // END OPT //
GIRISH SEXANE SERVED THREE YEARS AS GOVERNOR OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
IN THE 1990'S AND WAS REAPPOINTED TO HIS OLD POST LAST YEAR. THE
COST OF REBELLION IN KASHMIR HE SAYS HAS BEEN HIGH WITH HUNDREDS
OF THOUSANDS OF KASHMIRI'S DISPLACED AND MORE THAN 20-THOUSAND
KILLED. MR. SEXANE DISPUTES THOSE WHO SAY THE NUMBER OF THOSE
KILLED IN KASHMIR IS MUCH HIGHER. HE ADMITS INDIAN SECURITY
FORCES HAVE COMMITTED ABUSES AGAINST CIVILIANS IN THE DECADE-LONG
INSURGENCY, BUT HE SAYS EVERY EFFORT IS MADE TO SPARE KASHMIRI'S
NOT INVOLVED IN THE REBELLION.
// SEXANE ACT //
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEM THAT WE FACE. IN THE
PREVAILING SITUATION THAT WE HAVE IT IS QUITE A JOB ENSURING THAT
THE RESPONSE WILL ALWAYS BE MEASURED AND TARGETED. YOU HAVE TO
SEE THAT EVERY EFFORT IS THERE TO MINIMIZE COLLATERAL DAMAGE.
// END ACT //
THIS YEAR, FOLLOWING A THAW IN RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND
PAKISTAN, IT SEEMED PEACE IN KASHMIR MIGHT BE POSSIBLE. MORE
THAN 100-THOUSAND INDIAN TOURISTS VISITED KASHMIR BETWEEN MARCH
AND MAY.
BUT THEN AN INDIAN ARMY PATROL STUMBLED INTO AN AMBUSH HIGH IN
THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE SRINIGAR, AND THE WORST FIGHTING BETWEEN
INDIA AND PAKISTAN IN 28-YEARS HAD BEGUN. ONCE AGAIN KASHMIR WAS
AT THE CENTER OF THAT FIGHTING.
// REST OPT // ABDUL AHAD VAKIL, THE SPEAKER OF KASHMIR'S
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY SAYS THE PAST TEN YEARS OF STRIFE IN KASHMIR
HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL.
// VAKIL ACT //
THE BIGGEST LOSS WE HAVE SUFFERED FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS IS THAT
OUR BASIC AMENITIES OF LIFE, EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE -- WHATEVER
INFRASTRUCTURE WE HAD BUILT IN THE PAST 100 YEARS -- THAT WAS
DESTROYED.
// END ACT //
SINCE FIGHTING BEGAN IN THE MOUNTAINS HIGH ABOVE SRINIGAR MUCH
MORE HAS BEEN DESTROYED. THOUSANDS OF KASHMIRI'S ON BOTH SIDES
OF THE LINE OF CONTROL -- WHICH DIVIDES KASHMIR BETWEEN INDIA
AND PAKISTAN -- HAVE FLED THEIR HOMES LEAVING BEHIND RUINS OF
VILLAGES DESTROYED BY INCESSANT ARTILLERY SHELLING. FAR TO THE
SOUTH, HUNDREDS MORE HAVE BEEN DISPLACED BY FIGHTING BETWEEN
MILITANTS AND INDIAN SECURITY FORCES IN THE KASHMIR VALLEY.
KASHMIRI'S SAY THOSE WHO LIVE THERE ARE CAUGHT IN A NEVER-ENDING
CYCLE OF WAR AND VIOLENCE. (SIGNED)
NEB/JLT/PLM
07-Jul-99 8:51 AM EDT (1251 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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