Indian troops lock down Kashmir capital

THE STANS

India, Pakistan need peace: Musharraf
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf called Saturday for peaceful relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to allow them to fight terrorism more effectively. "We must realise we are the victims of terrorism and extremism and we must go for solutions together," Musharraf, who stepped down from political office last year, told a conference in New Delhi. "Terrorism has to be defeated... in the world, in Pakistan and in India," he said. He said he believed "the dream of peace" is possible between the neighbours which have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. But Musharraf said the two sides needed to build trust and that the issue of Kashmir needed to be resolved swiftly. "Kashmir remains the key dispute and the sore point," he said. The two sides launched a peace process in 2004 but it has been on hold since the Mumbai attacks last November, when gunmen killed 165 people. India blamed the attacks on a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Musharraf said both sides needed to be bold to confront the main challenges -- "the curse of terrorism and extremism," poverty, underdevelopment and hostility between the two countries. Both must avoid "whipping up war hysteria and creating hatred in the public because of any terrorist attack that may have taken place," he said.

by Staff Writers
Srinagar (AFP) March 7, 2009
Thousands of Indian police and paramilitary forces imposed tight security Saturday on Kashmir's summer capital to prevent protests over the death of a young man in a police shooting, police said.

Troops sealed off neighbourhoods and patrolled the deserted streets of Srinagar, urban hub of a nearly two-decade-old revolt against New Delhi's rule of the Muslim-majority region.

"We've imposed security restrictions to prevent violent protests," police officer Pervez Ahmed said as troops with rifles slung over their shoulders built barricades and stopped residents leaving their homes.

The move came a day after a 22-year-old man was killed and dozens of people hurt when police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse fresh anti-India demonstrations in Srinagar, summer capital of the region.

The stone-throwing protesters were demanding the release of separatists jailed last year for leading some of the biggest pro-freedom demonstrations in the region since the start of an anti-India insurgency in 1989.

Fifty protesters were killed during those demonstrations.

The head of the moderate wing of the main separatists alliance accused troops of "a reign of terror".

"The troopers have been unleashing a reign of terror on the Kashmiris and no one seems to be bothered," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said.

The fighting has left more than 47,000 people dead, according to official figures, and thousands more according to separatists.

But overall militant violence has declined sharply across the scenic Himalayan region since India and Pakistan, which both hold the region in part but claim it in full, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

New Delhi put on hold the dialogue following Islamic militant attacks on Mumbai last November that it has blamed on Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Lashkar has denied any involvement but India says Islamabad must crack down on militant activity emanating from its soil.

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THE STANS

Kyrgyzstan says 'doors open' for US base talks

Bishkek (AFP) March 5, 2009
Kyrgyzstan is ready to talk to the United States about keeping open an airbase used to support operations in Afghanistan, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was quoted on Thursday as saying.

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