DATE=8/16/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=KASHMIR FRUSTRATION
NUMBER=5-46859
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=SRINIGAR
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Tensions are at the breaking point in Indian-
administered Kashmir. Over the past few days, the
violence-wracked state has seen killing on an almost
unprecedented scale. Ever since a cease-fire between
the largest militant-separatist group in Kashmir and
Indian security forces collapsed one week ago, there
have been daily incidents of bombings and shootings,
leaving Kashmir's residents shaken and numb. V-O-A's
Jim Teeple reports that, as the violence is rising,
so, too, are recriminations about who is to blame for
the collapse of the cease-fire.
TEXT:
// ACTUALITY OF HORSE CARRIAGES ON DIRT
ROAD..EST & FADE UNDER TEXT //
The village of Soibug, in Indian-administered Kashmir,
is a picture of peaceful tranquility. Horse-drawn
wagons make their way down its quiet lanes in front of
the Shah family compound. The Shah family is a
leading family in the area -- well known for producing
farmers and teachers. However, the best-known member
of the Shah family is nowhere near Soibug. Mohammed
Yousef Shah -- popularly known as Syed Salahudin -- is
the leader of Hizbul Mujahadeen, the largest
separatist militant group operating in Kashmir. Syed
Salahudin now makes his home in Pakistan's capital,
Islamabad.
Just a few weeks ago, Syed Salahudin surprised
everyone in his hometown and just about everybody else
in India when he declared a unilateral cease-fire in
the Mujahadeen campaign against India. Although
India's army in Kashmir soon matched the cease-fire,
peace proved elusive. Other militant groups opposed
to the cease-fire killed more than 100 people in a
spasm of violence that left even war-weary Kashmiri's
shaken.
Then -- just as his lieutenants sat down for their
first meeting with Indian negotiators on how to make
the cease-fire permanent -- Syed Salahudin abruptly
warned fighting would resume unless India agreed to
accept Pakistan at the negotiating table -- something
New Delhi has long refused to consider. Within days,
the cease-fire was called off and, since then, the
Hizbul Mujahadeen have claimed responsibility for
bombings and shootings that have left scores of people
dead. In Soibug, people are upset the cease-fire did
not hold. Syed Salahudin's nephew, Syed Sabir Ahmed,
says the people of Soibug enjoyed their two weeks of
living under the cease-fire.
// SYED SABIR AHMED ACTUALITY //
It was totally excellent - for me as a personal thing,
for our family and for our village.
// END ACTUALITY //
Although many Indian officials blame Pakistan for the
collapse of the cease-fire, they also blame local
separatist political leaders who lead a series of
factions grouped together under The All-Parties
Hurriyat Conference.
Indian officials say some Hurriyat leaders -- who
feared being left out of direct talks between the
Hizbul Mujahadeen and the Indian government -- worked
to sabotage the cease-fire. Surprisingly, even Hizbul
Mujahadeen leaders in Pakistan make similar charges.
In recent days Hizbul Mujahadeen commanders have
called on the Hurriyat Conference leaders to tell the
people of Kashmir what they stand for. Abdul Ghani
Lone heads one of the seven groups that make up the
Hurriyat Conference. Mr. Lone denies sabotaging the
cease-fire; but admits he and his colleagues felt left
out of the process when the cease-fire was announced.
// LONE ACTUALITY //
Now the Indian leadership, before the declaration of
the cease-fire, was trying to establish contact with
us, the Hurriyat leadership, for starting a dialogue,
and to a large extent they had established that
contact. If India were honest and sincere about
resolving the dispute they would should have taken the
All-Parties Hurriyat Conference into confidence that
Hizbul Mujahadeen was approaching with this cease-fire
proposal. But they did everything behind the back of
the A-P-H-C.
// END ACTUALITY //
// OPT // Jammu and Kashmir is India's only Muslim-
majority state. Both India and Pakistan claim the
territory in its entirety. Two of the three wars
India and Pakistan have fought have been over Kashmir.
// END OPT //
World leaders describe Kashmir as "one of the most
dangerous places on earth," because of its potential
as a flash-point for nuclear conflict in South Asia.
However, they fail to point out Kashmir is also one of
the most dangerous places on earth for ordinary people
to live. Nearly 150 people -- most of them private
citizens -- have been killed in Kashmir over the past
several weeks as militants battle security forces
across one of the most beautiful and bloody landscapes
on earth. An estimated 30 thousand people have died in
Kashmir since the separatist insurgency began a decade
ago. Farooq Abudullah -- the state's chief minister,
who is a member of Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's government and a staunch supporter of
Indian rule in Kashmir -- says everyday life in
Kashmir has become intolerable.
// REST OPTIONAL //
// ABDULLAH ACTUALITY //
Basically, it is the people of the state who are
suffering. They are ones who are dying. They are the
ones who are facing upheavals every day. Our business
is gone. Our educational structure is gone. Our
complete ethos is gone. What are we gaining except
death and destruction? There is not a day when we
are not in the news, so we feel the end should come.
// END ACTUALITY //
But Farooq Abullah says he does not expect to see an
end to violence anytime soon. With the collapse of
the recent cease-fire and an upsurge in violence,
those in Kashmir who support India and those who are
separatists do agree on one thing: Many more people
will die in the coming days and weeks, as all sides in
the conflict contemplate their next move. (Signed)
neb/jlt/wd
16-Aug-2000 06:29 AM LOC (16-Aug-2000 1029 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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