60 killed, 200 injured in fresh bloodbath

SRINAGAR: The people of Kashmir have been on strike for more than two weeks now, to protest against Indian army’s siege of the holy Hazratbal shrine to terrorize more than 150 inmates into sub mission. Thousands of people defied curfew restrictions in a bid to march towards the mosque but the Indian armed forces mowed down about 60 persons and injured 200 in indiscriminate firings. India’s strategy about the shrine remains uncertain,

Indian home minister S.B.Chavan on Oct.24 said he did not rule out the possibility of storming of Hazratbal but the Jammu and Kashmir additional chief secretary on Monday claimed that the army’ sentry into the shrine was not the government’s agenda. The additional chief secretary also denied differences between the army and the civil administration of Jammu and Kashmir, The Indian authorities, however, changed their plans to provide food to the inmates on the ground that such supplies had been rejected by the militants in the past.

Observers feel that the Indian confrontation at Hazratbal is essentially poll centric and the media buildup is intended to dramatize the show with the inevitable “victory” of the Indian govern government with a view to swinging Hindu public opinion in favor of the Congress(1).

But internationalization of the issue has created its own complications for India with several Muslim countries making critical statements against New Delhi’s Oppression of the Muslim minority. There have been public demonstrations in Dacca and certain Arab countries against India. The most out Opposition has come from within Kashmir where the people have defied bullets to frustrate the Indian army sentry plans.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has ordered its army to be on alert after reports that India had been strengthening its positions along the Indo Pak border in Kashmir, The Pakistan national assembly is meeting in a day or two where a resolution condemning India’s repression in Kashmir is likely to be passed.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Sardar Farooq Ahmed Lagheri raised the Kashmir issue at the Cyprus meeting of the common wealth heads of state and said that Rawalpindi would hold talks with India on the Kashmir issue only after India lifted its current siege of Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 29, 1993