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India Extends Kashmir Ceasefire, Kashmiri Groups Reject Offer
NEW DELHI, Jan 23 (News Agencies) - Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government Tuesday extended its unilateral ceasefire in Indian Kashmir by one month and asked Pakistan to end its support to the uprising in the disputed state.
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, announcing the ceasefire's extension, said the initiative "has been welcomed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir" and "should be given every chance."
"The present phase of peace ... is being extended, in that hope, by another month," he said.
The present truce was set to end on India's Republic Day, on Friday.
Singh attacked Pakistan, saying its support for cross-border attacks had not ceased despite the Indian initiatives.
"It is regrettable that Pakistan has not recognized the demand of time for peace and continues to promote, encourage and abet cross-border terrorism. This must cease and the activities of [pan-Islamic] organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad curbed and controlled by Pakistan."
He also said India had not closed its doors on talks with Pakistan on Kashmir. But "dialogue on one hand and gun-talk on the other does not work."
Vajpayee said the extension aimed at paving the way for restoring peace in Kashmir.
"We want peace in Jammu and Kashmir and despite the acts of continuing violence there, we have extended the ceasefire."
"We believe that the terrorist groups who wants to sabotage the ceasefire and who are killing innocent people will be stopped. And the responsibility will be that of Pakistan's," Vajpayee said.
"There would be no advantage if militant activities continued even when both countries engaged in talks," he said.
The ceasefire's extension, first offered in November, came in the backdrop of daring attacks by Kashmiri groups opposed to the truce.
During the two months in Kashmir under ceasefire, the government counted 150 killings in the area and scores of resistance-led raids, including an attack on Red Fort of New Delhi and last week's audacious strike at Srinagar airport.
Troops across India are on the highest state of alert to thwart attacks this coming Friday, when New Delhi commemorates the transition to a republic, three years after attaining independence from Britain in 1947.
Kashmir's All-Party Hurriyat Conference, the umbrella group of two-dozen political Kashmiri groups, offered a guarded welcome to New Delhi's latest announcement as two groups in Indian Kashmir rejected the truce.
The extension coincided with a daylong strike called in Indian Kashmir to protest what opposition leaders in Srinagar described as the cold-blooded murder of two opposition members in police custody.
In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, two frontline organizations, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-i-Taiba, rejected the extended truce and vowed to fight on against India's "brutal" rule.
"Let it be clear to the world community once again that there is no ceasefire on the part of the Indian military and paramilitary troops in Kashmir," the Hizbul said.
"The latest announcement is a fraud designed to throw dust in the eyes of the outside world."
Lashkar chief Hafez Mohammad Saeed said: "since Indian atrocities have continued unabated, we declare that we reject the latest Indian offer and will carry on attacks on military targets and personnel."
Pakistan accused India of violating its own ceasefire in Kashmir and said it hoped Delhi's extension for a third month would be "implemented on the ground."
India first launched the ceasefire on November 27th for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and was extended at the end of December for another month. Islamabad reciprocated and ordered it troops to practice "maximum restraint" along the Line of Control, which divides two zones of Kashmir.
India blames Pakistan for fuelling the uprising that has claimed more than 34,000 lives in Indian Kashmir since 1989.
Pakistan denies the charge but offers open moral and diplomatic support to the guerrillas.
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