DATE=3/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KASHMIR / KILLINGS (L)
NUMBER=2-260400
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Unidentified gunmen have killed 35 Sikh men
in a small village in Kashmir. The attack occurred
late Monday, on the eve of President Clinton's
official visit to India. V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports
Mr. Clinton has condemned the attack which Indian
security forces are blaming on separatist militants in
Kashmir.
Text: In one of the worst attacks on civilians in
years, gunmen entered village, Chati Singhpura Mattan,
late Monday -- telling villagers they were conducting
a crackdown on separatist militants active in the
area. The unidentified gunmen then rounded up the
villagers, separated the men from women and opened
fire at point-blank range on the men.
A-K Bhan, the inspector general of police in the
Indian state Jammu and Kashmir says security forces
are searching the remote area for the attackers.
// BHAN ACTUALITY //
People are shocked by this attack on innocent
civilians. Senior police officials are on the spot
and the army has sent a number of columns to scan the
entire area.
// END ACTUALITY //
Mr. Bhan says separatist militants are to blame for
the attack. The village -- about 70 kilometers south
of Srinigar -- is in an area populated by armed
counter-insurgency forces. These are made up of
former separatist militants who have been recruited by
India's security forces. In recent months, separatist
militants have focused their attacks on military
personnel -- avoiding attacks on civilians.
// OPT // The killings are the first major attack on
a Sikh village in Kashmir's ten-year insurgency.
Although about 300 thousand Hindu inhabitants of
Kashmir have left the area, Sikhs who control much of
the trucking business in Kashmir, have stayed and have
been left largely undisturbed by the wide-scale
violence. // END OPT //
Tuesday -- as he began his official visit to India --
President Clinton condemned the attack, calling it an
outrage and expressing sympathy for the victims and
their families. Mr. Clinton has called the "line of
control" which divides Kashmir between India and
Pakistan sectors the "most dangerous place on earth"
and says a major focus of his visit to South Asia will
be to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan.
Bharat Karmal of the Center for Policy in research
says the killings in Kashmir will hurt Mr. Clinton's
efforts to reconcile India and Pakistan.
// KARMAL ACTUALITY //
I think Clinton was hoping that he would start some
kind of dialogue going -- at least that he would be
able to convince the Indian side to sit down in some
fashion with the Pakistanis. Now, after this
particular episode, I think it would be very difficult
for the Indian government to resign from their
position that they will not talk to Pakistan without
the Pakistani Government taking steps to contain
terrorism -- cross border terrorism of the kind that
has been happening. So, I think that becomes a major
obstacle to anything happening.
// END ACTUALITY //
Both India and Pakistan claim the territory of Kashmir
in its entirety. Two of the three wars the two
counties have fought have been over the disputed
territory. Last year, both countries nearly went to
war again, after armed guerrillas from Pakistan
occupied strategic mountain heights on the Indian side
of the Kashmir border. (Signed)
neb/jlt/WD
21-Mar-2000 02:05 AM EDT (21-Mar-2000 0705 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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