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ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 (AFP) - Major Kashmiri separatist group the Hizbul Mujahideen on Tuesday called off its ceasefire and directed its field commanders to resume fighting against Indian forces. The decision was announced after the expiry of a deadline for India to respond to Hizbul's demand for unconditional, tripartite talks that would include the Kashmiris and Pakistan. "We direct all the commanders with the Mujahideen in the field to break the ceasefire and go ahead with all target oriented missions," Hizbul supreme commander Syed Salahuddin said. "The Indian leadership has failed to respond to our ice-breaking move which could have become productive and meaningful." Hizbul, a mostly indigenous Kashmiri separatist group, surprised India on July 24th when it declared a three-month ceasefire and called for peace talks over the future of the divided Himalayan state. The call prompted India to suspend counter-insurgency operations against the group. The move was seen as a major breakthrough in efforts to bring peace to Kashmir, where a Muslim separatist rebellion in the Indian zone of control has killed some 25,000 people since 1989. But New Delhi has refused to allow Pakistan a place at the proposed peace dialogue and says the outcome of any talks must be within the bounds of the Indian constitution, which sees Kashmir as a part of India. The Indian army responded to Hizbul's calling off of the ceasefire by saying it would retaliate if its troops came under attack from Hizbul forces. "If the ceasefire is broken and if they (Hizbul Mujahideen) resume hostilities in Kashmir then the army will have to take all precautions in the interest of maintaining security," Defence Ministry spokesman P. Bhatnagar told AFP in New Delhi. "If they hit us, we'll hit them back," confirmed a senior officer of the paramilitary Border Security Force in Kashmir. The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was meeting to review the Hizbul decision. There was no immediate reaction from the Hizbul field commanders, but the group's Kashmiri commander-in-chief Abdul Majid Dar had earlier stated he would be bound by any decision from the supreme command.
The two sides held an initial round of discussions in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar on Thursday, agreeing to set up negotiating teams for further talks on cementing a formal ceasefire. But initial optimism was blunted after the Hizbul command in Pakistan set a deadline of 1130 GMT Tuesday for India to agree to unconditional three-way talks with Pakistani participation. New Deli reacted by insisting Pakistan could only be involved after it ceased sponsoring "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training separatist groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge but extends open moral and diplomatic support to the insurgency. The two countries have fought two wars over Kashmir since independence in 1947. Following their initial discussions, Hizbul accused Indian security forces of violating the temporary ceasefire, while New Delhi sent mixed signals over the crucial issue of whether the talks would be held within the framework of the Indian constitution. The constitution precludes any suggestion of Kashmiri secession, and was therefore viewed by Hizbul as an obstacle to "unconditional" dialogue. Attempts to push the peace process forward had also been rocked by a spate of massacres last week by groups opposed to the ceasefire. India blamed the massacres, which claimed around 100 lives, on the Pakistan-based hardline Lashker-e-Toiba separatist group. Lashker-e-Toiba spokesman Abu Osama welcomed the Hizbul decision to call off the ceasefire. "Now we will decide the fate of Kashmir on the battlefield," Osma told AFP in Srinagar by phone. Major General P.P.R Brindra, the Indian army commander in the southern Kashmiri region of Jammu, where the massacres took place, said his troops were adopting a wait-and-see policy. "There is no question of us not retaliating if there is any attack from the Hizbul. "We have to see whether they will obey Salahuddin's orders, because local militants and the people of Kashmir are fed up with the militancy," Brindra said. |
A resumption of hostilities would sound the death knell for one of the most significant moves towards peace in Kashmir since the armed insurgency against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority state erupted in 1989.
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