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KHALISTAN / SIKHI
NEWS
KASHMIRI SIKHS MURDERED
Updated on 23/03/2000
By Sheikh Mushtaq SRINAGAR, India, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill Clinton began his visit to India on Tuesday against the backdrop of violence in Kashmir, where a band of suspected separatists gunned down 35 Sikhs in a remote village.
In the state's summer capital, Srinagar, paramilitary officials said a gunfight was going on with Moslem separatist guerrillas who attacked and entered a paramilitary camp.
Clinton, speaking after talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, condemned the killing of the Sikhs and appealed to India and Pakistan to renew direct dialogue on Kashmir, over which the arch-foes have fought two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
"The violence must end," Clinton told a joint news conference with Vajpayee. "This should be a time for restraint."
The raid occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Monday (1600 GMT) at the Sikh-dominated village of Chitisingpora, about 62 km (40 miles) south of Srinagar.
Later, on Tuesday, an Indian soldier was wounded when militants entered the Srinagar paramilitary camp, a senior Indian Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said.
"A group of two to three militants managed to enter into Chanapora BSF camp and fired indiscriminately. According to early reports one BSF personnel was wounded," B.N. Kabu told Reuters.
Chanapora is a residential area in Srinagar.
"The heavy exchange of fire between militants and security forces is is still going on inside the camp, further details are awaited," Kabu said.
The Press Trust of India said the guerrillas were suspected to be a suicide squad.
In Jammu, winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, about 2,500 Sikhs wielding iron rods, sticks and swords blocked traffic on a river bridge to protest against the killings at Chitisingpora, and officials imposed a curfew to prevent violence.
INDIA BLAMES PAKISTAN-BACKED GROUPS
In a separate incident, five Indian security men were wounded on Tuesday when separatists launched a grenade and rocket attack on a police station in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district.
Cross-border shelling was also reported from near the ceasefire line dividing the region between Pakistan and India.
Vajpayee called the killing of Sikhs a "premeditated act of barbarism," and his key foreign policy aide, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, blamed two Kashmiri groups.
"It was a combined group of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen; these outfits are supported by the government of Pakistan," he said.
However, a Hizbul Mujahideen leader at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir blamed India.
"It is a deliberate attempt by the Indian secret agency by which it wants to tarnish the 55-year (Kashmir) freedom movement as a terrorist movement," Sayed Salahuddin said.
Pakistan, which routinely denies Indian charges of arming separatists in the Himalayan region, condemned the killing and called for a thorough investigation.
"We would like very much that a thorough inquiry is conducted into the incident so that it is not exploited for the purposes of propaganda to deflect attention from the Indian repression in Kashmir," said Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.
Sattar said he hoped Clinton's trip would open a peaceful settlement in South Asia. Clinton is due to meet Pakistan's military ruler, who seized power last October, on Saturday.
India denies Pakistan's charges of gross human rights violations in Kashmir, and in turn accuses Pakistan of arming groups that kill innocent civilians in Kashmir.
RARE ATTACK ON THE SIKHS
Ashok Bhan, inspector-general of police in the Kashmir Valley, said the Urdu-speaking gunmen -- whom he described as "mostly foreign mercenaries" -- asked all the men in the village to come out of their homes, and fired indiscriminately at them.
Urdu is widely spoken by Moslems in the state, where attacks on Sikhs have been rare. Hindu civilians are usually the target.