NEW DELHI, May 29 (1993): India's main opposition Hindu revivalist party announced plans Saturday to form a 10,000-strong army to fight separatist guerrillas in Kashmir, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. The Kashmir chapter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party) said the proposed force, to be raised in Doda district, would be made up of retired Indian military personnel. The news agency quoted BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta as telling reporters in Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital, that a special...

SRINAGAR, May 27 (1993): Police arrested four soldiers on Thursday for allegedly raping a Kashmiri woman in the northern Jammu and Kashmir state this week, army officials said. They said two of the soldiers confessed to raping Nazira Jan, mother of four small children, after she identified four of the 10 soldiers allegedly involved in Tuesday's incident. Doctors confirmed Jan was repeatedly raped on Tuesday. Jan says the soldiers assaulted her in the presence of her mother and four small children after they burst...

SRINAGAR, May 24 (1993): Eighteen Indian soldiers were killed in an explosion on a firing range in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence spokesman said on Monday. He said nine troops were seriously injured in the Sunday explosion in Leh, the main city in the Ladakh region of Kashmir, bordering China and Pakistan. "Preliminary reports suggest it was an accident," the spokesman said in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. "An inquiry is under way." India is using troops and paramilitary forces to battle a...

SRINAGAR, May 22 (1993): The chief of a powerful Moslem guerrilla group was arrested Saturday in Kashmir, where 17 people were killed in a sudden upsurge in violence linked to a Moslem separatist campaign, police said. Altaf Alamgeer, commander of the outlawed Al-Jihad, or Holy Warriors, was caught in Baramulla district, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from here, by the Indian security forces after a tip-off, police sources said. One of his guards was killed in a brief gunbattle. Alamgeer, 34, was named chief of the...

SRINAGAR, May 21 (1993): A top Moslem rebel fighting to overthrow Indian rule in Kashmir was arrested on Friday after a shoot-out with security forces, police said. Sheik Abdul Aziz, military commander of Al-Jehad, or Holy War group, was arrested after an exchange of fire in Nelora village in south Kashmir, said Amar Kapoor, deputy chief of Kashmir police. Al-Jehad later confirmed the arrest in a statement and described it as a setback to the separatist movement. Aziz was unhurt, but some of the 10 other rebels who...

NEW DELHI, May 20 (1993):Army on Thursday announced the arrest of a Sikh who acted as a coordinator between Moslem and Sikh militants in Kashmir and the neighbouring state of Punjab. Moti Singh, a member of the advisory council of the outlawed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was arrested on Monday in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. A defence ministry spokesman was quoted as saying that Moti Singh was a "coordinator" between Moslem guerrillas fighting to...

SRINAGAR, May 18 (1993): A ferry crossing the Jhelum River in India's Kashmir state capsized on Tuesday and at least 26 people were feared drowned, officials and witnesses said. Police had recovered two bodies from the river near the village of Seelu, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Srinagar, state government officials said. At least four people had managed to swim ashore, they said. Witnesses told reporters that the ferry was carrying at least 30 people and that the others had drowned.  

NEW DELHI, May 18 (1993): Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao asked Israel on Tuesday to help the Indian government in its long-running battle against separatist groups. Visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Reuters he responded positively when Rao raised the issue at a meeting at the end of his two-day landmark visit to India. The two countries established diplomatic relations last year. "Terrorism is a danger to every country and a responsible country must fight it," he said. Asked how Israel intended...

SRINAGAR, May 14 (1993):Kashmir valley came to a standstill on Friday as residents observed a strike in protest against the government's ban on a group of Kashmiri Moslems making a Haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Shops were closed, offices were deserted and traffic was off the streets in the valley, witnesses said. It was the 24th day of strike in the region since the beginning of the year. In addition, government-imposed curfews have disrupted normal life for another three days. Also on Friday, at least two...

SRINAGAR, May 12 (1993): Thousands of Kashmir government employees launched a four-day work boycott after a rocket attack by suspected Moslem militants left two colleagues dead and two injured. The employees, protesting inadequate security, stormed out of the Kashmir administration headquarters here Tuesday after the rocket attack, which sparked panic in the complex. "We are not safe," said Satish Kumar, a Hindu and one of about 3,000 employees who walked out of the civil secretariat. The rocket pierced an outer...