Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=07/24/01

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

NUMBER=5-49844

TITLE=INDIA / PAKISTAN / KASHMIR

DATELINE=SRINAGAR

BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE

VOICED AT=

CONTENT=

INTRO: Earlier this month, a summit meeting between the leaders of

India and Pakistan ended in acrimony, with each side blaming the other

for failing to agree on a joint statement at the end of two days of

meetings in Agra, India. Dominating the summit agenda was the issue of Kashmir -- a territory which is divided between India and Pakistan and which both countries claim. V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports the summit left many people in Indian-administered Kashmir confused and pessimistic about the future.

TEXT:

// ACTUALITY OF YOUTHS CHANTING IN URDU "LONG LIVE PAKISTAN," ESTABLISH AND UNDER TEXT //

TEXT: The protesters seem to get younger every year in Srinagar -- the

summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir State. Many of the boys

yelling "long live Pakistan" at Indian paramilitary troops posted

outside the city's ancient Jama Masjid Mosque are not even teenagers.

The troops on guard for more serious provocation -- ignore the boys

and the children noisily disperse into the narrow streets surrounding the

mosque. In a few years, some of those boys could be back in Srinagar, or

elsewhere in the Kashmir Valley, posing a far greater threat as

separatist militant guerrillas.

In the days following the historic Agra summit between Indian Prime

Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President General Pervez

Musharraf, separatist militants have been accused of killing not only

Indian security force personnel, but also Hindu religious pilgrims and

unarmed Hindu villagers living in remote hamlets. Kashmir's war-weary

citizens had hoped for more from the Agra summit. Many, like local

businessman Rajesh Chopra -- a major soap distributor -- say the summit was

a disappointment.

// CHOPRA ACTUALITY //

The summit failed. Now nothing will be done here. All of us people here

were hoping something would be done with the summit. But nothing was

done the summit has failed now.

// END ACTUALITY //

Mr. Chopra is one of the few members of a once-thriving Hindu community

still living in Srinagar. Most left more than a decade ago, scared by

what they said was growing violence against Hindus.

// opt // Although Rajesh Chopra is pessimistic, a different point of view can be heard from his partner, Jan Mohammed. Mr. Mohammed is a Muslim. He says he believes India's prime minister understands the need to find a solution to the Kashmir problem.

// optionql MOHAMMED ACTUALITY //

I do not think the summit failed. I think in the next meeting perhaps

they are meeting in Lahore no? They have to decide the disputed Kashmir

problem. They have to solve this problem. Atal Behari Vajpayee is very

sincere about it. And, he understands this problem. There is a game

with politicians and bureaucrats who do not like to solve this problem

-- as soon as the heads want to that is what I think.

// END optionl ACTUALITY //

//opt//While they differ about whether they believe the Agra summit was a

failure or not, both Rajesh Chopra and Jan Mohammed agree on one thing

someday they want to sell their stock of soap on the other side of the

"line of control," that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. // end opt //

Political leaders in India's Jammu and Kashmir State are divided

about whether they believe the summit was a failure or not. Sheikh

Mustafa Kamaal is Jammu and Kashmir's minister of industries and

commerce. Mr. Kamaal -- who is the brother of the state's chief

minister, Farooq Abdullah -- says he is confused by the Agra summit, because

both sides have agreed to hold future meetings, but neither side appears

to have changed its position very much.

// KAMAAL ACTUALITY //

The signals that have come from various quarters -- especially from the

Pakistani and Indian governments -- are confusing. On the one hand, they

say the talks have been inconclusive and have not failed. And, (on) other hand

they keep on reiterating their known positions, vis-a-vis the state of

Jammu and Kashmir.

// END ACTUALITY //

Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal's family close allies of the Indian Government --

have dominated Kashmir's political life for the past 75 years.

On the other side of the political debate is Maulvi Omar Farooq -- the

Mirwaiz or hereditary religious leader of most Kashmir Muslims. Omar

Farooq's father was assassinated a decade ago sparking a widespread

uprising against Indian rule in the Kashmir Valley. Omar Farooq is also

one of the leaders of the All Parties Huriyat Conference -- a group of

separatist political parties. Speaking after presiding over Friday

prayers at the Jama Masjid Mosque in Srinagar, Omar Farooq says he told

those gathered at the mosque the Agra summit could be the beginning of a

dialogue that could benefit the people of Kashmir.

// FAROOQ ACTUALITY //

This summit provided an opportunity for both the leaders and for both

the countries to break the ice. This should not be seen as an end but

this should be seen as a beginning of a process. And, we hope that this

process should continue. And, I mentioned that both leaders should

continue their efforts and involve the people from both sides of

Kashmir and give them the opportunity to have a people-to-people

dialogue.

// END ACTUALITY //

However, Omar Farooq says that dialogue could come too late. In the days since

the summit, violence has increased in Kashmir. Omar Farooq and many

others in Kashmir say the increasing violence could soon overwhelm

any progress made in Agra. (Signed)

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