SRINAGAR, Feb 3 (2001): Unidentified gunmen on Saturday shot dead six Sikhs and wounded five in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir state’s summer capital, while a leading militant group hailed “earthquake diplomacy” between India and Pakistan.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in parts of Srinagar after gunmen opened fire on a group of Sikhs in the predominantly Sikh residential area of Mahjoor Nagar, killing six.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings.
Security was tightened in Sikh-dominated areas of Srinagar where shops and businesses were closed in protest at the killing of an autorickshaw driver, allegedly by Indian police.
Last March, 35 Sikhs were killed by unidentified gunmen at Chittisinghpora village in south Kashmir. Indian security forces and Muslim separatist guerrillas have blamed each other for the killings.
Five separatist guerrillas were killed and 13 people were injured in violent incidents in the Kashmir valley on Friday.
India is observing a unilateral ceasefire against the militants in Kashmir and says it is ready for talks with the Muslim rebels to end the nearly 11-year old revolt in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.
Most guerrilla groups have rejected the truce as an attempt by India to win international sympathy.
HIZBUL WELCOMES EARTHQUAKE CONTACTS
But the commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group welcomed on Saturday unprecedented contacts between New Delhi and Islamabad after a massive earthquake in India’s Gujarat state and said it would back any initiative to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf spoke on Friday about the quake, which also hit Pakistan’s Sindh province, and agreed to stay in touch. It was the first time they had talked since Musharraf came to power in October 1999.
The contact “is an important development which has generated fresh expectations that the rulers of the two countries have the capacity to address the Kashmir issue,” the Chief Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Abdul Majid Dar, said in a statement.
“Hizbul Mujahideen is always ready to cooperate and discharge its responsibility towards any positive and concrete steps taken by India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute,” Dar said.
The pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen called off a brief unilateral ceasefire last August and the result was a surge in separatist violence. The group has rejected India’s current truce.
Indo-Pakistani tensions have run high over Kashmir and peace talks between the two countries have been on hold since 1999 when the neighbours stood on the brink of a fourth war.
