DATE=10/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAK / KASHMIR MARCH (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254661
BYLINE=AYAZ GUL
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Police in Pakistan have detained the leader of a
Kashmiri separatist group and some of his followers to
prevent them from staging a symbolic crossing of the
disputed Kashmir border into India. Ayaz Gul reports from
Islamabad.
TEXT: Police arrested Ammanullah Khan, chief of the Jammu
and Kashmir Liberation Front, while he was leading a march
of several hundred people toward the military "line of
control" that divides Indian Kashmir from Pakistan Kashmir.
Police used tear gas and fired bullets in the air to stop
the march.
Witnesses say Mr. Khan was arrested Tuesday near the
village of Hajira, 10-kilometers from the disputed border
with India. He had been in hiding, but came out to join
his followers in the village.
Reports say the 65-year-old Kashmiri leader and several of
his colleagues were seriously injured in the clash before
being dragged into a police bus.
Monday, Pakistani police blocked a similar attempt by
activists, dispersing them with tear gas and warning shots.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, which wants an
independent Kashmir, says its march across the "line of
control" is designed to show that Kashmiri people oppose
the division. Eight members of the group were killed in
1992 when Pakistani troops fired at them to stop a similar
symbolic crossing of the Kashmir border.
Pakistani authorities advised the separatist group last
week to call off the march, saying the move could lead to
attacks by the Indian army.
India has also warned against any attempt to cross the
Kashmir border from the Pakistani side and has placed its
forces on full alert. (Signed)
NEB/AG/KL
05-Oct-1999 10:19 AM EDT (05-Oct-1999 1419 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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