SRINAGAR, April 30 (1998): India's defence minister on Thursday accused Pakistan of starting heavy artillery fire when he arrived at a frontier area in the disputed territory of Kashmir. "Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to Siachen. As soon as we arrived at Kumar Chowki, heavy shelling started across the border, and today I came to know that one of our soldiers was wounded in the shelling," George Fernandes told a news conference in Srinagar, summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state. Kumar Chowki is one of...

MUZAFFARABAD, April 29 (1998): Markets were shut and protest rallies held in the Pakistan-ruled part of the disputed Kashmir region on Wednesday to mourn the killing of 22 people on Sunday, blamed by local officials on India. "Circumstantial evidence has established that Indians have committed this act," prime minister of Pakistan-controlled Azad (free) Kashmir Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry told a rally in the state capital Muzaffarabad, referring to the killings by gunmen at the remote border village of Bandala on Sunday...

JAMMU, April 28 (1998): India's new government is ready to hold talks with Kashmiri groups to end the eight-year-old insurgency in the Himalayan region, Defence Minister George Fernandes said. More than a dozen militant groups are fighting Indian rule in Kashmir in a rebellion that has left an estimated 25,000 people dead since 1990. "Our doors are open, we can talk to anyone," Fernandes told reporters late on Monday in Udhampur, some 65 km (40 miles) from Jammu, the strife-torn state's winter capital. (For...

ISLAMABAD, April 28 (1998): Pakistani authorities detained a separatist Kashmiri leader, Amanaullah Khan, and several of his colleagues in the northern town of Gilgit on Tuesday to block a protest rally, his party said. A statement by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said Khan, JKLF secretary-general Haider Hijazi and several other activists were detained and taken to an unknown destination. No government comment was immediately available. The JKLF had planned a public rally in Gilgit for Tuesday to protest...

JAMMU, India, April 27 (1999):- At least 12 people, including 10 militants and an Indian army officer, were killed in separate violent incidents in India's restive Jammu and Kashmir state, police said on Tuesday. Seven separatist guerrillas and an army officer were killed in a gunbattle in Poonch district, 256 km (1 (For complete story write to admin@freepresskashmir.com)

MUZAFFARABAD, April 27 (1998): Unidentified gunmen killed at least 21 people, including children, in an attack on a remote village of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, police said on Monday. They said the gunmen, using automatic assault rifles, sprayed two houses with bullets on Sunday night, killing 12 males and nine females. No breakdown was available on how many children were among the dead. The motive for the attack was not immediately known but officials said terrorism could not be ruled out. (For complete...

SRINAGAR, April 24 (1998): At least 10 people were injured on Friday when suspected separatist guerrillas hurled a grenade in a crowded marketplace in India's restive state of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. "Militants lobbed a grenade towards a security forces' vehicle in a crowded market in Anantnag town, which missed the target and exploded on the road, causing injuries to ten civilians," a police spokesman said. (For complete story write to admin@freepresskashmir.com)

NEW DELHI, April 24 (1998): India's new governor for troubled Jammu and Kashmir province on Friday called for a cooling of passions to thwart Moslem separatist attempts to unleash a new round of ethnic cleansing. Separatist guerrillas last week shot dead 29 people, mostly Hindus in Dhakikot, about 185 km (115 miles) from Jammu, the Hindu-dominated winter capital of the northern state. The massacre, the second this year, triggered a panic migration from the remote village. (For complete story write to...

JAMMU,April 22 (1998): India has stepped up security in terror-struck parts of Kashmir after villagers started to flee their homes, officials said on Wednesday. Suspected separatist guerrillas on Friday shot dead 29 people, mostly Hindus, in Dhakikot, about 185 km (115 miles) from Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. The massacre, the second of its sort this year, triggered mass migration from the remote village. "The deployment of forces has been made to instil confidence in these people and to...

SRINAGAR, April 22 (1998): JAMMU and Kashmir Bank is coming out with an initial public offer at a premium of Rs. 28 per share. The bank is issuing 1.85 crore equity shares of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 28 per share aggregating Rs. 70.30 crores. The issue opens on May 13 for subscription and closes on May 20. Addressing a press conference, Mr. M.Y. Khan, Chairman and CEO of the bank, said the issue has been priced to attract medium and small investors. An investor can apply for at least 100 shares, a minimum...