Islamist militants threatened on Saturday to disrupt a Kashmir peace conference in the disputed Himalayan region next week that will be chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The meeting is the second such gathering since February. It has been called by New Delhi to widen the dialogue process in Jammu and Kashmir, where a separatist revolt against Indian rule by Muslim militants since 1989 has killed more than 45,000 people. Singh is scheduled to attend the meeting in Srinagar, the summer capital of the region, on the opening day, May 24. "We have made all arrangements to disrupt the round table conference. Kashmir is a disputed territory, the prime minister of India cannot hold such conferences here," four groups said in a media release. "All the separatist political leadership should stay away from the conference. It is aimed at misleading the international community," Al Nasireen, Save Kashmir Movement, Al Arifeen and Farzandan-e-Milat said in a fax to newspaper offices in Srinagar. Intelligence officials said the groups were likely to be a front for bigger organisations such as the Pakistan-based Islamist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Four people were killed and 45 wounded when a powerful car bomb triggered by Islamic militants ripped through a busy intersection in Srinagar on Wednesday, police said. The morning rush-hour blast, which left people bleeding on the road and turned vehicles into twisted wrecks, was the third attack in three days by militants. âThere has been a massive car bomb explosion,â said a senior state police official. âFour people have died and 45 people are injured.â
Four separatist groups said yesterday they would not allow minority Hindu Pandits who had left the region some 16 years ago to return to Kashmir. Kashmirâs moderate separatist leaders and officials said this month they were making plans to help thousands of Kashmiri Pandits to return due to a peace process between India and Pakistan.
Several Kashmiri militant groups on Monday accused Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf of abandoning the cause of the Kashmiri people by conceding too much during weekend talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi. "President Musharraf has sold out Kashmir for trade and tourism," said a statement signed by a spokesman of the four militant groups and faxed to The Associated Press in Srinagar. 