NEW DELHI, July 28 (1997): India's Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral has caused anger and confusion in both his country and neighbouring Pakistan with an apparent about-face on talks with Moslem militants in Kashmir. Gujral stunned friends and foes alike on Saturday by announcing during a trip to the troubled Himalayan region that he was willing to hold unconditional talks with the militants. He reversed direction on Sunday to clarify that he would not negotiate with the guerrillas unless they laid down...

SRINAGAR, July 28 (1997): Kashmir's leading separatist alliance said on Monday it wanted to be included in talks with India and Pakistan to resolve a decades-old dispute over the divided Himalayan region. "The Hurriyat always believes in peaceful talks provided these are held among all the parties to the dispute with the help of neutral mediators," the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference said in a statement. "All the parties should respect the aspirations of people of Kashmir." Indian Prime Minister Inder...

SRINAGAR, July 26 (1997): Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Saturday offered for the first time to hold talks without pre-conditions with Moslem separatist guerrillas in the strife-torn state of Kashmir. "I am ready to talk without any conditions with those misguided people with guns just like we have done with tribal militants of Nagaland," he announced in Qazigund, 80 kilometres (46 miles) south of Srinagar. The government on Friday agreed on a ceasefire with separatists in Nagaland, paving the way for talks over...

SRINAGAR, July 25 (1997): At least 60 Moslem worshippers were injured on Friday in a stampede in Kashmir's holiest shrine when police used batons to disperse a group trying to disrupt prayers, police and witnesses said. Witnesses said shoes and stones were thrown at the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, Farooq Abdullah, when he arrived to take part in a gathering of 250,000 Kashmiris at the Hazratbal shrine on the occasion of Idd-Milad-u-Nabi (Prophet's Birthday). "More than 60 people were injured in a...

SRINAGAR, July 24 (1997): Journalists in troubled Kashmir decided on Thursday to end a nearly month-long boycott of all Indian government functions after the transfer of three police officials accused of using undue force against reporters. "The 27-day-old boycott of government functions by journalists in Kashmir ended today following the official order shifting the three police officials accused of beating journalists," the Kashmiri Journalists Union said in a statement. At least 20 Kashmiri journalists were injured...

SRINAGAR, July 23 (1997):Eight separatist guerrillas were killed on Wednesday in a six-hour gunbattle with Indian army soldiers in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir state, an army spokesman said. "Army troops, acting on specific information, laid siege to a forest near Nagri Malpur in Kupwara on Wednesday morning and started search operations," the spokesman told Reuters. "The hiding militants opened fire and in the ensuing six-hour encounter eight militants including two foreign mercenaries were killed," he said. "The...

SRINAGAR, July 21 (1997):Army and police officials said on Monday that recent infiltration of militants from Pakistan has led to a fresh spurt of gun battles between separatists and security forces in troubled Kashmir. "This is the season when militants infiltrate and there is more movement of the militants and the result is more encounters and more killings (of militants)," Brigadier General Ashok Kapoor said. Pakistan denies arming Kashmiri separatist guerrillas and says it provides only political and moral support...

NEW DELHI, July 20 (1997): At least 30 people were killed in renewed separatist violence overnight in the troubled Indian state of Kashmir, the Press Trust of India reported Sunday. Twenty-two Moslem separatist guerrillas and five Indian soldiers were among those killed in separate clashes since Saturday night, the news agency said. Three civilians were also killed, it said. The Indian army said a Moslem separatist stronghold was also demolished during one of the clashes in Kashmir. (For complete story write...

SRINAGAR, July 11 (1997): At least six women demonstrators and two policemen were injured in Kashmir on Friday as police clashed with Moslem women protesting against a blasphemy against Islam at Hebron, police and witnesses said. In Srinagar, the summer capital of India's mostly Moslem Jammu and Kashmir state, police used tear gas and batons to control hundreds of women who took to the streets against last month's incident. A Jewish woman faces up to 26 years in prison for putting up posters in Hebron portraying the...