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Five shot dead in Kashmir

Five shot dead in Kashmir

Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: November 22, 2000

Five people have been shot dead in Kashmir in the first major incident since the Indian Government offered a ceasefire for the forthcoming holy month of Ramadan.

Police say the killings took place when a convoy of trucks was stopped on the highway between Jammu and Srinagar.

The drivers were ordered out of the vehicles and Sikhs and Hindus were shot.

The Muslims were unharmed.

No group has admitted carrying out the attack, but the police are blaming separatist militants.

Over the weekend, the government ordered security forces not to launch operations against separatist rebels during Ramadan, which starts next week.

But militant groups have reacted coolly to the announcement, saying it is a ploy to win international sympathy

Some groups have also threatened to step up violence across Kashmir.

Combat operations

Police Director General S K Mishra said as many as 10 unidentified gunmen - wearing military camouflage fatigue - stopped and rounded up 17 drivers near a popular truck stop along the highway.

Eleven Hindus and Sikhs were segregated from the Muslim drivers and then shot at close range.

The attack came two days after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said Indian troops had been instructed "not to initiate combat operations" against militant groups in the area during Ramadan.

Kashmiri militants based in Pakistan rejected the offer.

The leading militant group Hizbul Mujahedin said the truce would be meaningless unless it led to talks on the future of the territory.

Talks demand

The ceasefire move, which caught many by surprise, led to a special meeting of an alliance of Kashmir separatists All-Party Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

In a statement, the Hurriyat said peace in Kashmir was not possible until all efforts were made to resolve the basic dispute.

It said the move had no meaning unless India accepted that Kashmir was a disputed territory and agreed to three-way talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leaders.

A similar stance adopted by the Kashmiri militants during an earlier ceasefire in August was rejected by India and led to its collapse.
 


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