SRINAGAR, Aug 31 (2000): Thousands of people took to the streets in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday to protest against alleged harassment by security forces, police and witnesses said. They said 4,000 to 5,000 protesters shouted anti-India and anti-security forces slogans in Tangmarg, 39 km (24 miles) west of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state. "The army soldiers daily crack down on our villages, harass us and our children. They also arrest innocent people," Mohammad Ashraf, a...

NAGPUR, Aug 28 (2000): India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warned Pakistan on Monday that it will not be allowed to get away with supporting guerrillas in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. The Hindu nationalist party, which leads the coalition government, said a series of killings of innocent people in Indian-administered Kashmir showed that Pakistan's military rulers were becoming increasingly belligerent. "A clear message needs to be sent to terrorists and their masters across the border that every...

SRINAGAR, Aug 28 (2000): A frontline separatist guerrilla group on Monday threatened to widen its attacks in India if the country's security forces did not stop human rights violations in Kashmir. "If Indian army continues brutal atrocities on unarmed Kashmiris, Hizbul Mujahideen will extend its militant activities to interior parts of India," a statement from Hizbul Mujahideen said. The statement was faxed to newspaper offices in Srinagar from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Earlier...

SRINAGAR, Aug 26 (2000):Security forces said on Saturday they had shot dead 16 militants in separate gunbattles in India's violence-torn Jammu and Kashmir state, police said on Saturday. The Indian army killed four militants of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group at Gagal area of Kupwara district, 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of the state. Jaish-e-Mohammad is led by Pakistan-based cleric Moulana Masood Azhar, who was released by Indian authorities in exchange for hostages on board a...

SRINAGAR, Aug 26 (2000):Security forces have shot dead 10 militants in separate gunbattles in India's restive Jammu and Kashmir state, police said on Saturday. The Indian army killed four members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad group in the Gagal area of Kupwara district, 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, they said. Jaish-e-Mohammad is led by Pakistan-based cleric Moulana Masood Azhar, who was released by Indian authorities in exchange for hostages on board an hijacked Indian...

JAMMU, Aug 24 (2000): At least 12 Pakistani soldiers and an Indian trooper died Thursday after Pakistani troops attacked a frontier outpost in the disputed state of Kashmir, an Indian army communique said. "Twelve Pakistani soldiers were killed along with one Indian army man in Doda, about 250 kilometres (56 miles) north-west of the Kashmir winter capital Jammu, when Pakistani soldiers launched an attack," the statement said. It said one Indian soldier was missing. "The attack took place at around 4: 00 a.m. (2230...

SRINAGAR, Aug 22 (2000): The Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen hopes it can resume its ceasefire within two months and expects peace talks with the Indian government to start again, a local news service said on Tuesday. "I hope that the ceasefire will take place in the next two months because of the efforts at an international level to break the deadlock," Hizbul Commander-in-Chief Abdul Majid Dar told Current News Service in an interview. "To end the deadlock, people at the international level are active and...

SRINAGAR, Aug 21 (2000): The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state said on Monday that authorities have prepared the ground to resume talks with the region's frontline guerrilla group, the Hizbul Mujahideen. An official statement quoted the state's Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah as describing as positive signs recent statements on peace initiatives made by India's federal government and the guerrilla group. "Abdullah...said the ground has been prepared for restarting the derailed peace process in Kashmir," the...