SRINAGAR, April 30 (1991): Two militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir clashed for the second successive day on Tuesday, police and witnesses said. Muhammad Saleem, a senior member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was killed in a clash with members of the Hezb-ul-Mujahideen in the old city of Srinagar, the Moslem region's main city, they said. In a statement sent to reporters in Srinagar, JKLF commander Javed Ahmed Mir alleged Hezb militants tried to kill him on Tuesday. He gave no...

ISLAMABAD, April 25 (1991): Indian soldiers killed four Pakistani Kashmiris when they opened fire on villages across the ceasefire line dividing the disputed region, a Pakistani military spokesman said on Thursday. Four children at a primary school were among 11 people wounded in the firing in the Athmuqam area of Pakistan's Azad (free) Kashmir on Wednesday. Both India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on each side of the ceasefire control line that snakes through the rough mountain terrain of...

NEW DELHI, April 25 (1991): India said Pakistan's attempt to raise their dispute over Kashmir at the United Nations breached the spirit of their 1972 Simla agreement. The Press Trust of India quoted the external affairs ministry as saying the bid to bring Kashmir to the next U.N. general assembly session was contrary to a pledge to resolve claims over Kashmir in bilateral talks. The agreement was signed in the Indian city after the third Indo-Pakistan war. A ministry spokesman also criticised Pakistani Prime Minister...

SRINAGAR, April 24 (1991): Pakistan, seen by Delhi as the driving force behind a major rebellion in Kashmir, is actually hampering the anti-Indian campaign by supporting fundamentalist Moslem militant groups, a Kashmiri guerrilla commander said. Javed Mir said that Pakistan was neglecting his Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), the biggest group fighting for the independence of the Himalayan region. (For complete story write to admin@freepresskashmir.com)

SRINAGAR, April 23, (1991): Unidentified gunmen killed newspaper editor Mohammad Shaban Vakil on Tuesday, making him the first journalist to die in a 16-month-old uprising against Indian rule in Kashmir, police said. They said two unidentified gunmen entered Vakil's office at the Alsafa Urdu-language newspaper and shot him. Fellow editors in Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, said they would suspend publication indefinitely from Thursday in protest against the killing, for which no-one immediately...

SRINAGAR, April 22 (1991): At the first sound of automatic weapons fire militant leader Mohmad Yaseen Bhat simply nods at a subordinate. The younger man disappears down the stairs into the old city of Srinagar below. "Not to worry, please don't get up," says Yaseen, resuming inspection of his tea. Yaseen, 23, was telling the story of his life with the Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF), a group dedicated to the independence of the Himalayan state of Kashmir. (For complete story write to...

SRINAGAR, April 21 (1991): At least 16 people, six of them from one family, were killed as separatist militants battled Indian rule in Moslem-majority Kashmir, police said on Sunday. Meanwhile the political wing of a militant group which kidnapped two Swedes implied in a statement that the hostages were still alive, referring to them as guests and pledging patience. Police said 15 people had been killed since Saturday night during street battles between militants and Indian paramilitary police, and that militants had...

SRINAGAR, April 18 (1991): At the first sound of automatic weapons fire militant leader Mohmad Yaseen Bhat simply nods at a subordinate. The younger man disappears down the stairs to the old city of Srinagar below. "Not to worry, please don't get up," says Yaseen, resuming inspection of his tea. Yaseen, 23, was telling the story of his life with the Jammu and the Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF), a group dedicated to the independence of the Himalayan state of Kashmir. Kashmir, India's only Moslem-majority...

SRINAGAR, April 15 (1991): Kashmiri militants who kidnapped two Swedish engineers criticised a U.N. appeal for their release on Monday, saying it showed no concern about India's crackdown on the country's only Moslem-majority state. Dozens of groups are battling Indian rule in Kashmir. Some demand the state's independence while others, including the kidnappers, seek a merger with neighbouring Pakistan. Meanwhile, police sources said one militant was killed and eight, including a guerrilla leader, were...

NEW DELHI, April 13 (1991): Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi said on Saturday Indian security forces had "gone berserk" in Kashmir, where they are fighting a major revolt. "The police have gone berserk in Kashmir. Human rights have been violated in Kashmir," he told foreign correspondents as a deadline set by Kashmiri separatists for a deal to free two kidnapped Swedish engineers slipped by. A militant group, which says it has held Johan Jansson, 35, and Jan-Ole Loman, 37, since March 31, threatened...