Kashmir killings
nytimes.com
ADI MARG, India, Monday, March 24 (Reuters) — Suspected Muslim militants shot dead 24 Hindus in disputed Kashmir, the police said today, in the worst violence since elections were held to try to bring peace to India's only Muslim-majority state.
The militants stormed into the village of Nadi Marg, in the thickly forested mountainous region of Pulwama, on Sunday night and fired indiscriminately, the police said. Eleven men, 11 women and 2 children were reported killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the village, about 30 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir State.
The police said militants might be aiming to drive Hindus from the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of a separatist revolt against Indian rule that started in 1989. About 400,000 Kashmiri Hindus, known as Pandits, fled the Kashmir Valley in 1990, many going to live in the Jammu region in the south of the state. The new government of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed, had been trying to persuade some to return.
Militant Who Forged Truce Is Killed
NEW DELHI, March 23 — A Kashmiri militant who had tried to lay the groundwork for a dialogue with India was killed in Kashmir today.
The militant, Abdul Majeed Dar, was killed by unidentified gunmen today in an attack that also seriously wounded his mother and sister. He was formerly the second in command and chief commander of operations of the group Hezbul Mujahedeen, the largest indigenous Kashmiri insurgent group.
On July 24, 2000, Mr. Dar announced a unilateral, unconditional cease-fire with India. The cease-fire was initially endorsed by his group, but it was later withdrawn. Mr. Dar was expelled from the group in April, and members accused him of being an agent for India. |
