Author:
Publication: Deccan
Chronicle
Date: November 19, 2000
A militant group demanded
Saturday that the Pakistan Army cross the disputed border to aid "freedom
fighters" in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The demand was made at
a rally of Harkat Ul Mujahideen, one of the several groups fighting against
Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
Witnesses said more than
5,000 people attended the rally, held at Kundal Shahi town in the Neelum
valley, along the Line of Control.
"The Pakistan Army should
cross the so-called Line of Control and help the Mujahideen (freedom fighters)
in liberating Kashmir from Indian clutches," HUM leader Moulana Farooq
Kashmiri told the rally. "We do not recognize this bloody line and
that's why we cross it daily," he said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling
by Pakistani troops in northern sector since Friday evening has forced
fresh migrations from the areas near the LoC.
Official sources said
Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling from across the border in Keran,
Karnah, Teetwal, Haihama and Uri sectors since Friday evening.
Sources said more than
60 artillery and mortar shells, fired by the Pakistan troops in these sectors,
exploded in the open fields.
Sources said one security
jawan was injured after a shell exploded near his bunker at Haihama.
People living near the
LoC, particularly in the Uri sector, migrated to safer places because of
heavy shelling from across the border, sources said.
Officials believe that
Pakistan troops are resorting to heavy shelling and firing for the past
one week as they want to push more militants and arms and ammunition into
the Kashmir Valley before the infiltrating routes are due to snow.
