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.