Indian guns fall silent in Kashmir as truce begins

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) -- Indian army and paramilitary force guns fell silent in Kashmir on Tuesday as New Delhi began a unilateral cease-fire, its most daring gesture yet to end a bloody insurgency that has dragged on for 11 years.

The cessation of hostilities against militants -- whose rebellion against Indian rule in the Himalayan territory has claimed more than 30,000 lives -- will remain in effect through the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"Security forces suspended all of their operations in Kashmir from midnight but troops have been asked to remain alert during the ceasefire," a senior army official said.

Firing across the military Line of Control and international border which divide the bitterly disputed region between India and Pakistan also stopped in what newspapers said was a "goodwill gesture." However, operations to stop infiltration by guerrillas across the border will continue throughout Ramadan.

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Police said there had been no reports of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, since the cease-fire began.

Front-line guerrilla groups based in Pakistan, who rejected Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's unprecedented initiative, had stepped up attacks on civilians and security forces in the state after the cease-fire was declared.

However, the Indian government is hoping that its truce will sow discord -- or at least confusion -- among separatist groups and militant outfits, and bring some to the negotiating table.

It is particularly looking for a positive reaction in Jammu and Kashmir, where a popular yearning for peace has quashed enthusiasm for militancy in recent years, even if there is no love for Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist-led government.

"This is a good gesture from a BJP-led government," said Maqbool Ahmad, a religious scholar in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar.

"But the question is 'how long will it last?'. We saw a ceasefire earlier, but it lasted for days only. We all pray this time that it clicks," he said.

Cease-fire divides rebels

The Asian Age newspaper said that the cease-fire had already "driven a wedge between Kashmiri groups with a base in Jammu and Kashmir and the jihadi (holy warrior) organizations who have been relying mainly on mercenaries to keep terror alive in the state."

The guerrilla organisation Hezbul Mujahideen, whose cadres are predominantly Kashmiris rather than international mercenaries, declared a cease-fire earlier this year and held one brief round of talks with the Indian government.

But the process quickly broke down because of New Delhi's refusal to include Islamabad in the process.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir.

However, Indian officials say privately that although the truce-and-talks initiative with Hizbul Mujahideen faltered, discreet back-channel contacts have been kept alive.

New Delhi is also hoping that it can bring the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference into a dialogue process.

Hurriyat bands 22 political, social and religious groups fighting politically for implementation of a 1948 U.N. resolution which called for a plebiscite to determine whether the former princely state should be folded into India or Pakistan.

But Hurriyat is a loosely knit group which, despite the thinly veiled support it enjoys from Islamabad, is divided over whether to begin talks without Pakistan at the negotiating table.

Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Hani Bhat, speaking to Reuters a few hours before the ceasefire went into effect, urged India not to put conditions on talks and said Pakistan could be brought into negotiations either separately or in a three-way dialogue.

"There has to be a dialogue between India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people," he said. "Talks can be held separately, or maybe co-jointly. This is a procedural matter. We can work it out."

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Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
Indian Prime Minister's Office
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Kashmir Times
Press Trust of India
Army in Kashmir: The Truth About Kashmir
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