1995 January 1: British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd has stressed the need for an end to encouragement of violence in (occupied) Kashmir from outside. January 8: Foreign Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali believes the government has quite successfully managed "to chip away India's citadel of maintaining status quo on Kashmir.  The Chairman of the NA Committee on Kashmir and MNA Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said that an international conspiracy was being hatched in the name of elections to divert the attention of the world community from the human rights violations being committed by India in occupied Kashmir. January 9: India has declared, occupied Jammu and Kashmir territory a "backward" state, offering tax breaks and concessions to businesses in its latest effort to get rid of freedom movement. January 10: United Nations resolutions on an issue could not become "old or irrelevant", said George Galloway, Member of British Parliament, adding, "adoption of double-standards or choosing selectivity in the matter of UN resolutions or those in respect of violation of Human Rights is highly regrettable and unforgivable".  Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan has said Britain being a party to the subcontinent partition plan should play effective role in getting the Kashmir issue peacefully and politically resolved in accordance with internationally recognised principles instead of taking an indifferent or partisan attitude. HR body takes Washington to task over Kashmir Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has criticised British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd's statement in which he had talked about initiating peace process in occupied Kashmir and outside interference.  India has lost control over the ground situation in occupied Kashmir and now was harassing the journalists to cover up its massive human rights violations. January 11: Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan has said Kashmiris desired peaceful and political solution of Kashmir problem and greatly valued all efforts toward that end.  He was talking to visiting U.S. assistant secretary of state Mrs. Robin Raphel at Kashmir.  In the meeting lasting for an hour the AJK Prime Minister apprised the US official of the worsening human rights situation in the occupied Kashmir and the extent of danger the problem posed to the peace of South Asia.  As many as eight persons including five occupation troops were killed and 21 others injured in the latest incidents in the held region. January 12: Indian authorities clamped a curfew on the southern Kashmir town of Anantnag following widespread protests after soldiers allegedly torched some 24 homes in retaliation for a rebel attack.  The National Kashmir Conference expresses complete solidarity with the Kashmir freedom fighters and assures the brethren in held Kashmir that the Muslim across the globe in general and the people of Azad Kashmir and Pakistan in particular forthrightly support their just struggle for the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination.  A member of the Norwegian Parliament Mr Athar Ali has said that the Indian forces had let loose a constant reign of terror in Kashmir and the people of the territory were deprived of the right of self-determination which was recognised by the world community at the United Nations. January 13: Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao said India would accept US help in settling dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, but that the two countries would eventually have to resolve their differences themselves.  In a desperate bid to quell the people's uprising in Kashmir, the Indian forces are indulging in large-scale arsoning, custodial killings, laying siege to towns and desecrating mosques.  Kashmir Watch, a London-based human rights agency, while reminding Mr Douglas Hurd, the British Foreign Secretary, of Lord Mountbatten's role in presiding over the Indian invasion, has said the indifference of Britain towards what is happening in Kashmir, was painful. January 14: Having failed to quell the freedom struggle through the use of brute and savage security forces, Indian intelligence agencies have stepped up their efforts to exploit the sectarian differences between various segments of the Mujahideen to create fissures in the freedom struggle and pit them against each other. January 15: The occupation troops stormed a local mosque on the pretext of search and besides damaging doors and windows, demolished a portion. In addition, more than 12 protestors were arrested. January 16:  Big anti-Indian demonstrations were held in Srinagar and Doda to register the Kashmiris abhorrence to the ever-growing blood-thirst of the Indian forces. January 18: The United States called for a solution to the Kashmir issue, because, as a senior defence official put it, "anybody" interested in stability in an area "that encompasses over a billion people has to look for a way to try to find methods for defusing the Kashmir dispute". January 20: Ruling out the involvement of any third party in settling Indo-Pak disputes, India said that it is ready to hear from Pakistan directly as to what elbow room they require to commence the talks. January 21: The inhuman atrocities on Kashmiris have not demoralised us but instilled a new spirit in the freedom movement.  This was stated by Mir Waiz Mohammad Umar Farooq, President All Parties Hurriyat Conference.  Events in occupied Kashmir remained among the most serious human rights situation in Asia, says Human Rights Watch World report 1995 on India.  In all six persons including three Indian troops were killed in the latest happenings in the held region. Besides, the occupation troops have besieged more than 27 areas. January 22: Horrid details of rape, arson, tortures, killings and humiliations being inflicted on the Kashmiri Muslims by Indian troops continue to trickle from the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  As many as 3007 Kashmiri Muslims are still in detention in the Valley, says an official report conveyed to the Indian Human Rights Commission. January 23: Muslim League (Nawaz group) while calling for material aid to the Kashmiri Mujahideen has endorsed the call for nation-wide strike on February 5. January 24: In Occupied Kashmir, two mosque were blown up, 17 people including five freedom fighters martyred and 235 others rounded up two days ahead of India's Republic Day. Besides, the Imam of a mosque was shot martyred. Some leading  American newspapers have criticised the "deafening silence" on India's human rights record as Clinton administration sets about to promote business deals with that country. January 26: Three bombs were exploded in a stadium in the held State of Jammu and Kashmir during ceremony to mark India's Republic Day. Hospital sources in the city of Jammu said at least six people were killed and about forty wounded. However, the AFP put the death toll at eight. January 27: A prominent leader of Indian occupied Kashmir Syed Ali Shah Gilani says accession of Kashmir with Pakistan is must.  Hindus in Jammu and its surrounding areas went on rampage on Friday, looting and putting on fire the Muslim localities and killing innocent Kashmiris in reaction to yesterday's attack on India's Republic Day function at Srinagar. January 29: Indian troops still reeling from attack by Kashmiri freedom fighters on celebrations in high security areas, appeared to have accelerated crackdowns and siege on civilians in many areas of the war torn valley. Dozens of civilians were rounded up in sieges in as many as nineteen areas. January 30: In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their continued repressive operations, blasted a mosque at Janwaar in Sopore area and mercilessly chopped off both the ears of the Pesh Imam. January 31: Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, has said that Pakistan was the only hurdle in the way of India in becoming an over lord in the South Asian region. February 1: Mir Waiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir All Parities Hurriyat Conference, has rejected the view of British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd that 40-year-old UN resolutions on Kashmiris' right of self-determination have become outdated and said it is the commitment of the organisation with the Kashmiris to get their right to be given to them.  Amnesty International has once again put India in the dock for widespread torture and deaths in custody in Jammu and Kashmir. February 2: The US State Department in its annual report for 1994 has said Indian Security forces are responsible for many human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir. February 3: A senior US official denied that the Clinton administration had backed away from its strong 1993 stance on human rights abuses in Indian-held Kashmir because of its new focus on economic and trade opportunities.  "The subject of human rights is very high on our agenda" John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, said during his briefing on the latest 1994 report of human rights practices released by the State Department.  Pakistan has once again strongly rebutted India's allegation that it was abetting terrorism across its border.  Giving a statement at the 51st session of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Thursday, Pakistan Ambassador Ahmed Kamal said India's allegation to this respect is ridiculous.  Amnesty International, which earlier this week, in a brief presented to the current session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, severely criticised the Indian government for the continuing human rights violations in held Kashmir, has said that their repeated requests for permission to send a team of researchers to the area, have so far not received a positive response.  The Indian government has neither turned down the request nor accepted. February 4: Narrating excruciating incidents effected by the use of blatant tyranny from forces, a leading Indian daily has said death and devastation have become the daily diet in Kashmir.  India, bowing to international pressure, has agreed to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to detainees in jails and detention centres in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  Turkish President Suleyman Demirel has appealed to India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir issue bilaterally through dialogue under the aegis of the Simla Agreement.  Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto urged India to give up oppression in held Kashmir and enter into serious dialogue with Pakistan to find out ways for the implementation of U.N. resolutions on Kashmir issue.  The four-months extension to the five-year old uninterrupted President's Rule in held Kashmir, recently, has again, set the tongues in motion.  Former Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has appealed to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to impose sanctions against India pressurising her to stop atrocities on Kashmiris and hold plebiscite in accordance with the UN resolutions.  Pakistan ambassador in the United Nations Ahmad Kamal has said that right of self-determination is a fundamental right which must be conceded to the peace of Kashmir and Palestine. February 5: At least five people were killed and six seriously injured when a bomb, hidden in a scooter, exploded at a busy traffic checkpost near Jammu.  Life in Pakistan came to a standstill as the nation observed strike to express solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir fighting for the right of self-determination.  Without any regard to partisan politics, leaders from both the government and the opposition side took out processions and rallies and made speeches across the country.  To express solidarity with the Kashmiri freedom fighters, Pakistan Muslim League (N) took out a big rally and the speakers while addressing the rally at Faisal Chowk vowed that they will render every sacrifice for Kashmir liberation. February 6: Pakistan says the Indian concession of allowing ICRC into Held Kashmir has been done under pressure and is a mere ploy to stave off international censure which is coming in its way at the ongoing session of the UNHRC in Geneva.  The Indian government must put an immediate end to the atrocities being committed by its troops on the Kashmiris and met out real punishment to all the accused. This was commented by Adam Davidson and Brian A. Brown in The New York Times in an article titled "India's Valley of Death," criticising the terrorising of Kashmiris by the government forces. February 7: The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders who are scheduled to meet a large group of members of the British Parliament, drawn from all the three main political parties, have once again made it plain that they would not take part in any Indian sponsored elections in held Kashmir. February 9: As many as nine Indian troops were among 18 people killed in the latest clashes in held Jammu and Kashmir. February 10: The United States has no information on reports originating in India that Kashmiri Mujahideen are raising funds in Saudi Arabia.  Ms Robin Raphel, Assistant Secretary for South Asia, told a House subcommittee some Kashmiri militants who were given permission to attend the Islamic summit at Casablanca might have gone to Saudi Arabia, but "whether there was any fund-raising I do not know".  "The real challenge to India's sovereignty over Kashmir, does not come from across the border but from India's continued violation of social contract with the Kashmiri people", says Dr Dhirendra Sharma, professor of science policy at the JN University in an article appearing in India's Sunday Observer. February 11: Pakistan will continue supporting Kashmiris in their struggle for freedom by extending fullest moral, political and diplomatic help and will try its best to make the world realise the gravity of the issue, said Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. February 12: "Events in Occupied Kashmir remained among the most serious human rights situation in Asia", says Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 on India.  It sought to sustain international pressure on the Indian Government to stop abuses by its forces and prosecute past violations. February 13: The Indian National Human Rights Commission (INHRC) has advised the Indian Government that a team of Amnesty International members be allowed to visit Kashmir Valley to take an on-the-spot account of the human rights situation in the insurgency-infested Valley. February 16: Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's chief rival launched a fresh attack against the premier accusing him of being insensitive to the situation in the (occupied Kashmir).  Somewhat piqued after the statement of the Union Home Minister, Mr. S.B. Chavan in the Lok Sabha, that the US was fishing in the troubled waters of Jammu and Kashmir, the US embassy here has sought clarification on Mr. Chavan's views from the Ministry of External Affairs though this has been done informally.  The embassy apparently wants from the government of India a substantive justification on the basis of which Mr. Chavan had made rather and unusually sharp comment on the US policy in respect of Kashmir. February 17: The Indian authorities on Friday imposed an identified curfew in Doda city of occupied Kashmir after hundreds of people came out on the streets to attend the funeral of a Hizbul Mujahideen leader Fida Hussain who was shot dead by the Border Security Forces at the beginning of February. February 18: Kashmir is a "dark stain" on India as more than 17,000 people have been killed in the Kashmir Valley since 1989, says an Editorial in Toronto Star. February 21: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, executive director of the Washington-based Kashmir-American Council, addressed the UN Commission on Human Rights under item 10 of the agenda, depicting the shocking human rights situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir. February 24: Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, leader of the Pakistan delegation at the 51st session of Human Rights Commission has made extensive diplomatic contacts to campaign for Kashmir. March 1: Kashmir cannot be regarded as belonging to India as it is a disputed territory, recognised not only by international law but by the United Nations as well. March 2: The United States reaffirmed that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that for any resolution of the problem to be stable and long lasting, the wishes of the people of Kashmir have to be taken into account.  "Our view on the status of Kashmir has not changed", Ms. Robin Raphel, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, said here in reply to questions at a briefing to newsmen from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh based in Washington.  India is violating human rights in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).  "Indian security forces are found to have committed serious abuses of human rights in Kashmir.  This includes extra-judicial executions, torture, arson and rape," the ICJ said, which is one of the main independent international human rights organisations. March 5: Pakistan would not accept general elections in the Held Kashmir as an alternative to the plebiscite which the UN resolutions promised to the people of this war-torn state, said Dorab Patel, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a member of the International Commission of Jurists.  Indian security forces killed 12 Mujahideen and captured seven in a weekend crackdown in held Kashmir, police and press reports said on Sunday. March 7: India's claim that Kashmir was its integral part was shattered in a recent session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and "in fact the Kashmir issue was fully internationalised." March 9: The 51st session of the UN commission on Human Rights officially circulated a memorandum, concerning human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.  The United States said a resolution of the Kashmir issue was not only "long overdue", it was "essential for the long-term stability of the region as a whole".  If Pakistan and India made a request, Assistant Secretary Robin Raphel said, "the Unites States has offered to assist" in a solution. March 11: Reports say that the war of words between the government of India and Amnesty International (AI) has taken an extraordinary turn with the London-based human rights' organisation demanding that security personnel 'suspected of involvement' in torture and ill-treatment of detenus in Jammu and Kashmir be suspended from active duty during the course of investigations. March 13: Notwithstanding repeated assurances of Indian administration that its forces would not enter the Holy Chrar Sharif town of Central Kashmir where some prominent Mujahideen have been camping for last two months, the situation in and around the town continues to be grave with both security forces and the freedom fighters fortifying their bases.  Security forces were put on high alert in occupied Kashmir as a general strike to protest an Indian army siege of a shrine and town here closed banks, markets and offices. March 15: The CEO platform offers immense opportunities for a collective uplift of the 300 million people through mutual trade and development endeavour, said Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. March 17: India was once again under the fire for its human rights record in Kashmir at a hearing of the House Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific.  The Special Representative of UN Secretary General on Displaced persons, has been urged to make his mandate sensitive to the situation in Kashmir and take an early leap to provide protection, assistance and solutions in arresting the main cause of displacements in Kashmir. March 18: Members belonging to the main political parties urged a Commonwealth initiative to resolve the Kashmir issue, at a parliamentary debate marking the Commonwealth Day.  The US secretary of state, John Shatek, and director of Asia watch, Asia, Gender Zevak, expressed their deep concern at the blatant violations of human rights and increasing atrocities of Indian troops in the held valley.  The two advised the Clinton administration to use its influence to bring an end to the deplorable situation.  In an address to the sub-committee of Congress, Shatek said that the situation in Kashmir was like a blazing inferno which could flare up any time.  The burning down of civilian homes and arrest of youngsters by Indian troops under the pretext of abetting Mujahideen was also mentioned in the address. March 21: Physicians for Human Rights, Denmark, has released four reports on Human Rights violations in Indian held Kashmir.  The reports have been distributed to national and international newspapers, politicians and institutions.  The reports describe the findings from 3 missions undertaken by Physicians for Human Rights, Denmark.  The Foreign Minister of Zambia Dr. R.K.K. Mushota who flew in Islamabad on a week long visit held bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aseff Ahmed Ali at Foreign Office to further strengthen their cooperation. March 22: The Jammu and Kashmir dispute will be 'high' on the agenda of talks between Pakistan and the US during Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's official visit to America starting April 5, a Foreign Office spokesman said. March 28: Muslim Fighters holed up in an ancient mosque in Kashmir and Indian soldiers surrounding it have fired bullets at each other for several days.  Thousands of Indian soldiers encircled Chrar Sharif town, north of Srinagar, after the militants moved in there one month ago. March 29: The government employees in occupied Kashmir have threatened 15-day strike if their demand for reinstating all their dismissed colleagues was not met within a week.  Sir Frederick Bennett, Conservative MP for 34 years and now a Privy Counsellor for life, said the people of Kashmir would be the only people regaining their freedom having once thrown the yoke of imperial domination yet deprived of the right of self-determination, forced instead to exchange one alien rule by another, and much more rigorous one, than that of the outgoing British Raj. March 30: The Executive Director of Kashmir-Canadian Council, Mushtaq A. Jeelani has called upon the Canadian government to influence India to agree to a ceasefire, withdraw its troops to their barracks and immediately end violations of human rights besides encouraging to start tripartite negotiations involving Governments of India, Pakistan and the accredited representatives of the Kashmiri people, to find a logical solution of Kashmir issue. March 31: US Secretary of State Warren Christopher has said resolution of some seemingly intractable international problems during last two years has given hope that solution of Kashmir issue would also be found.  Rejecting the idea of elections held under the Indian constitution in Jammu and Kashmir as a ploy to placate world opinion, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League Chairman Amanullah Khan said his party would make any such polls in Jammu and Laddakh impossible.  "We have definite plans to prevent the farce election in the two areas of occupied Kashmir and the world will come to know of this at the appropriate time," he told a seminar held at Jinnah Hall to observe the martyrdom of Ashfaq Majeed Wani, the first "commander" in the liberation struggle, Dr Abdul Ahad Guru, Maqbool Butt and other Kashmiri leaders and militants. April 1: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has demanded of the Human Rights Commission to send a fact-finding mission to Jammu and Kashmir to stop India from its repressive acts in Indian occupies Kashmir. April 2: Top Kashmiri leader Shabir Ahmad Shah has reiterated that elections were no alternative to "right of self-determination" and said of polls are at all organised in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmiris would boycott them.  He was speaking at the foreign correspondents club Saturday.  Mr. Shah said elections would not serve the purpose as the people in Jammu and Kashmir in unison would boycott the elections.  He said the people would not accept any solution short of self-determination as universally recognised and promised to them.  Pakistan would not approve of any Camp David-style agreement on Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Chairman of the National Assembly's Kashmir Committee said. April 4: The disclosure by Prof P.O. Dhar, who was secretary to Indira Gandhi and a member of the Indian delegation at the Simla talks, that she and Z.A. Bhutto had a "secret understanding" for converting the Line of Control in Kashmir as a permanent solution to the dispute has caused many Kashmir observers here to raise eyebrows and speculate if it is intended to signal India's willingness to begin negotiations with Benazir Bhutto on this basis.  German President, Herr Roman Herzog said Kashmir is the most serious conflict in the region and bloodshed must stop there. April 9: India is ready for a dialogue on Kashmir with Pakistan at any time, at any level and without any condition, says Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan S.K. Lambah.  In a wide-ranging interview with The Nation, the High Commissioner said that the Indian Prime Minister, in his message of felicitations to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her assumption of office in October 1993, offered to discuss all aspects. April 14: Lord Eric Avebury, Chairman of the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group, has bitterly criticised the British government for putting too much faith in a political process in held Kashmir reminding that not more than four per cent of the people of Kashmir had taken part in the last elections for the Lok Sabha in 1989. April 15: British members of Parliament said they will approach Clinton Administration through their government to pressure India to resolve Kashmir dispute as it is a threat to regional peace.  Thomas M Cox Chairman British and Pakistan Parliamentary Group in House of Commons, Gary Waller, MP and Maxwell were addressing a joint Press conference. April 16: An estimated 3,410 Kashmiri Muslims were killed and 4,190 received injuries during the last year of turmoil in Kashmir.  An estimated number of 12,381 people were held and interrogated by Indian forces of whom 8,264 have been detained under various charges of secessionism and revolt during the same period. April 19: Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukerjee said that he was ready for talks with at Pakistan "anyplace, anytime" but an upcoming South Asian summit was not the forum for such bilateral discussions. April 20: Members of the British parliament will be lobbied on July 4 on Kashmir and a rally will be held later in support of the Kashmiris demand for self-determination.  The human rights issue will also be raised during the lobbying of MPs. April 25: A national lobby on Kashmir was launched as a 'standing body' to create awareness about the Kashmir among the British people and seek wider support across the country for its resolution.  George Galloway, MP and spokesman of the Lobby told newsmen here that a lobby of the parliament accompanied by a rally for the right to self-determination and human rights for the people of Kashmir will be held on July 4 next. April 27: The ambassadors of the European Commission in India met Kashmiri guerilla leaders for talks to find a political solution to the crisis in the occupied state. May 3: UN Human Rights Commissioner Jose Ayala Lasso met with Muslim leaders who complained rampant rights violations in the Indian-held Kashmir. May 4: Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao said that Kashmir issue could be resolved only in a "conducive and congenial atmosphere between India and Pakistan."  President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari ruled out the third option of independent Kashmir for the resolution of the Kashmir  issue because it betrayed the basic philosophy of the 1947 Partition Plan. May 7: Foreign Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said Simla agreement is an open document and there are no secret clauses hence the allegation by the leader of the opposition is false. May 9: Several hundred homes were gutted on the eve of Eid when a fire raged through Chrar Sharif where freedom fighters have been under siege by the Indian army for two months, police and residents said. May 12: Anti-Indian protests engulfed the Kashmir Valley on as a result of destruction of the 650-year-old mausoleum of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali (R.A.) and an adjacent mosque.  India accused Pakistan of engineering the destruction of a shrine in Kashmir and issued a strong warning against interference in its internal affairs.  "Pakistan has once again proved its devilish interference in the internal affairs of our country," Internal Security Minister Rajesh Pilot said in an unusually strongly worded statement issued here.  He accused "hired agents" of Pakistan of setting fire to a 650-year-old shrine.  "When all our efforts are being made to bring normalcy to the state, the hired agents of Pakistani forces have not even spared a holy shrine," Pilot said. May 13: To express resentment and concern over sacrilege of Chrar Sharif shrine the two main parties of the country PML (N) and PPP announced to hold demonstrations and observe Solidarity Day with Kashmiris on two different days.  PML will observe Solidarity Day on May 15 and PPP will hold rallies on May 16 and 17.  Angry Kashmiris defied a curfew and held noisy demonstrations across the occupied Kashmir Valley for the third day to protest against the burning of a mosque and the shrine of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali in Chrar Sharif.  In a related development, India beefed up its forces on the Line of Control and areas bordering Pakistan. May 14: Kashmir remains a primary sources of tension between India and Pakistan and the violence and destruction that occurred in Chrar Sharif is "deeply saddening".  "Unfortunately, it is only the latest incident in a tragic conflict that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.  This conflict must be ended peacefully and as soon as possible", said Ms Robin Raphel, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.  Kashmiri leaders from both sides of the Line of Control have said that elections, proposed by India in occupied Kashmir, are no substitute for a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices.  The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Dr. Hamid Al Gabid, has convened an urgent meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir in New York to consider the desecration and destruction of the mausoleum of Hazrat Sheikh Nooruddin Wali Noorani and the adjacent mosque in Chrar Sharif. May 15: The leadership of PML (N) has demanded of the government to suspend all kinds of commercial and diplomatic ties with India in protest against burning of the holy shrine and its adjoining mosque in Chrar Sharif.  Senate unanimously adopts resolution of Chrar Sharif sacrilege. May 16: The Organisation of Islamic Conference Contact Group on Kashmir strongly condemned the "brutal Indian military operation" in Chrar Sharif and urged India to withdraw its forces from Chrar Sharif.  A formal resolution has been moved in US Congress calling on Pakistan, India and the "legitimate representatives of the people of Kashmir" to enter into negotiations and resolve the Kashmir conflict peacefully. May 17: India ruled out third country mediation in Kashmir, where life was crippled for the seventh straight day with protests over the burning of a venerated Islamic shrine, Chrar Sharif.  In occupied Kashmir, yet another revered shrine has been besieged by the Indian troops soon after the burning of Chrar Sharif.  Indian ruled out third country mediation in Kashmir.  Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee said New Delhi was committed to resolving all its disputes with Islamabad, including over Kashmir, bilaterally and peacefully. May 18: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nawaz Sharif has warmly commended the OIC Secretary General Hamid Al Gabid and the Contact Group for unanimous condemnation of the Indian operation in Chrar Sharif.  On the eve of the Black Day to protest against the desecration of the Chrar Sharif Shrine, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto called upon India to start negotiations with Pakistan on the modalities to hold plebiscite in Kashmir.  United States has condemned India for serious human rights abuses in the country.  The US Department of State report on India contains a litany of complaints about continuing human rights violation throughout India, particularly in held Kashmir, East Punjab and the North Eastern region.  The report says paramilitary forces deployed in Indian Held Kashmir have been committing human rights abuses in held Jammu and Kashmir since last six years.  The All-Party Kashmir Hurriyat Conference rejected New Delhi's offer for talks on Kashmir, saying the Hurriyat Conference would not enter into any dialogue with New Delhi unless it admitted Kashmir as a disputed territory. May 20: King Hassan-II of Morocco, who is also the current chairman of OIC, has expressed his deep anguish and indignation at the destruction of the holy shrine of Shaikh Nooruddin Wali by Indian armed personnel adding that this outrage was shared with the peoples of Kashmir and Pakistan not only by Muslims but all peace-loving people at the world. May 23: At least 30 people are reported to have been killed in clashes between the Indian army and the freedom fighters in various areas of occupied Kashmir. May 25: Uzbekistan's foreign policy is based on principles enshrined in the UN Charter and Tashkent supports Kashmiris right of self-determination as set out in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, according to a message received from Tashkent.  President Farooq Leghari said on Thursday the failure of 600,000 Indian troops to overcome a small valley of Kashmir has proved that the freedom movement of Mujahideen was not only indigenous but also sustainable. May 27: Damascus Declaration signed in the OIC Information Ministers Conference held on 24th and 25th has endorsed the resolution of OIC countries demanding a peaceful solution to Jammu and Kashmir. May 29: The Indian government decided to extend federal rule over occupied Kashmir by six months after the election chief said polls could not be held by mid-July, when the latest term of central rule expires. June 2: Iran renews its mediation offer for "peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue".  Agha Khushamadi first secretary in Iranian embassy in New Delhi told a congregation that his country was prepared to extend fullest possible cooperation in solving the dispute which has been hanging fire on subcontinent for the last four decades.  Pakistan's Ambassador to Hungary, Dr. B.A. Malik, has said the resolution of Kashmir under the UN Security Council resolutions was the responsibility of European and civilised nations. June 3: Pakistan, India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir must together work out an agreement to solve the Kashmir issue, United States ambassador Frank Wisner said. June 16: Turkmenistan has urged India to exercise restraint in occupied Kashmir and expressed its concern over the tragic incident of Chrar Sharif. June 23: Indian army is solely responsible for the ghastly destruction of the Chrar Sharif shrine and the guilt cannot be covered up by finding alibis in Pakistan or elsewhere.  A bipartisan resolution has been moved in the US Senate condemning Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and urging both India and Pakistan to enter into negotiations with the legitimate representatives of the Kashmiri people to resolve the dispute peacefully. June 24: The U.S. ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, arrived in occupied Kashmir for a four-day visit, the first by a senior Washington envoy since the launching of separatist movement by Muslim militants five years ago. June 26: Svend J. Robinson, Member of  Parliament for Burnaby-Kingsway has expressed grave concern over human rights abuses in Indian-held Kashmir and unequivocally supported the Kashmiris struggle for their rights of self-determination. June 28: In occupied Kashmir, the Indian troops have wreaked havoc in Kupwara and Budgam areas with its indiscriminate killings, persecution of people and molestation of women.  South Asia will remain the most dangerous place in the world without a just and peaceful solution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people, Pakistan ambassador Dr. Maleeha Lodhi said. June 30: Intense lobbying, diplomatic manoeuvres and backdoor dealings by a well-coordinated Indian mission to the UN, have failed to block a Kashmiri cause supporting human rights group from getting its accreditation with the United Nations.  The global initiatives in Kashmir have a direct positive effect on international security by eliminating regional fighting, national tensions and the risk of a nuclear war between Pakistan and Indian, said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of Kashmiri-American Council in an article appearing in the Press. July 4: Former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata has said Kashmir is a thorny issue and unless India takes initiatives to resolve this key problem, peace in South Asia remains threatened.  Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has urged the British parliament to raise its voice to prevail upon India, which claims to be the largest democracy in the world, to respect the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people.  The Prime Minister said that the people of Kashmir ask for the right to decide their own future.  "Can the Government of India remain endlessly immune to the cry of justice?  Can the conscience of the world remain silent to the pleas of the people of Kashmir?  Can people of Kashmir be expected to shed their blood and tears for eternity?" she asked.  Yasser Arafat, President, State of Palestine reaffirmed his support to all people to their right of self-determination, especially the brotherly people of Kashmir, in compliance with the relevant U.N. Resolutions. July 5: The Indian Government has been severely criticised by Amnesty International for its human rights record in held Kashmir and a number of other areas where it continued to face violent political opposition such as Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Assume and other north-eastern states.  But, the Amnesty report for 1994 says that in Jammu and Kashmir, deaths in custody as a result of torture or shooting reached extraordinary levels.  None of the perpetrators was brought to justice, it added.  Police in held Kashmir said four foreign tourists were abducted from the tourist resort of Pahalgam, 100 kilometres from the capital.  The abducted were identified as two Americans, John Donald and Donald Fred Hustchins, and two Britons, Paul Well and Keith Moningan. July 6: The Kashmir issue is the main hurdle in the development of economic cooperation between the countries of South Asia region, said Sir Nicholas Fenn, the British High Commissioner to India addressing a gathering of businessmen and industrialists in London.  He said political reconciliation was necessary if economic cooperation has to be achieved. July 10: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto while expressing Pakistan's keen desire to hold substantive talks with India over Kashmir said tension and distrust in the region will continue until Kashmiris are allowed to exercise their right to self-determination. July 11: A Foreign Office spokesman has regretted that the foreign nationals kidnapped in Indian held Kashmir have not been released so far. July 13: Indian authorities imposed curfew in parts of held Kashmir amid clashes between police and Kashmiris commemorating the deaths of fellow Mujahideen 64 years ago on July 13, 1931.  The Kashmir issue is gaining across-party support in British Parliament where the dispute found persistent echo second only to the Parliament at Islamabad.  Kashmir Martyrs Day was observed with full sanctity and fervour renewing pledge to carry on the mission of martyrs who laid down their lives for the noble cause to topple Dogra tyrants rule on July 13, 1931 in Srinagar. July 15: Former Indian Foreign Secretary J.N. Dixit has proposed that New Delhi accept a popular Kashmiri demand for a plebiscite in the Himalayan region, the United News of India said. July 16: The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned Muslim freedom fighters for kidnapping and threatening to kill five Western tourists in Indian occupied Kashmir. July 18: Kashmiri women keep their faces uncovered and they have the strength and courage to meet and shout "Freedom for Kashmir" in the Occupied Valley, says "Avvenimenti" an Italian weekly in its article on Kashmir.  The Destruction of Chrar Sharif could have been prevented had there been political negotiations, observed the former Sadr-i-Riyasat in Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Karan Singh in an interview with weekly Sunday. July 20: The kidnapping this month of four journalists in Kashmir is just the latest example of a full clampdown on any independent reporting in that region, a leading media rights group says.  The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a report released titled, On the Razor's Edge, says the Indian government harass and intimidate reporters.  The Saudi government believes that the Kashmir problem should be solved in accordance with the United Nations resolutions to restore peace in the valley, told a responsible Saudi source to the Saudi Press Agency.  The people of Banihal and Ramban, twin subdistricts of Kashmir were being terrorised by Indian occupation forces, where besides committing human rights violations, Indian forces had been indulging in the looting and plundering of property as a matter of routine, said London-based monthly Kashmir Report in a recent issue. July 22: Liberation struggle of Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir has entered crucial phase and is nearing its goal, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, general secretary of All Party Hurriat Conference (APHC) has said. July 24: Two former top negotiators from India and Pakistan have said a political solution of the Kashmir conflict has to be found, one which also fulfils the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.  Former foreign secretary Shaharyar M. Khan of Pakistan, who is currently serving as the UN secretary-general's special envoy for Rwanda, and J.N. Dixit, India's foreign secretary until 1992, were in London to represent their respective countries at the Wilton Park conference sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth office.  The conference discussed "Crisis Management in South Asia" and was also attended by the secretary-general of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). July 28: Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao has described the situation in India-occupied Kashmir as "grim". July 30: Rajai Khorasani, Chairman of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Human Rights Commission, expressed deep concern over the atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. August 1: Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said that sooner or later there would be a relaxation of tension between India and Pakistan and Kashmir issue will be resolved. August 4: A leading US newspaper, The Washington Post has lambasted at India over the reign of state terrorism its armed forces had unleashed in Kashmir.  Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao declared here that Pakistan had no locus standi in the affairs of the troubled northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. August 11: The deputy head Asian Desk in foreign and commonwealth secretariat Nick Kay admitted that the atrocities committed in the occupied Kashmir had been noted on the international level.  There had been some progress and the international Red Cross had been granted permission to monitor the atrocities.  The Kashmir issue should be solved by mutual negotiations between Pakistan and India according to Simla agreement. August 13: One of Western hostages was killed in occupied Kashmir.  The police recovered his headless body about 50 km south of Srinagar.  Pakistan expressed deep shock over the killing of a Norwegian hostage in occupied Kashmir and appealed for the immediate release of the remaining four Western hostages.  Kashmir is a disputed matter, and it should be resolved according to the UN resolutions, Mr. Gerald Kaufman, MP and a former shadow foreign secretary of Labour Party, has said. August 16: "The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) fully supports the struggle of the Kashmiri people and sympathises with the people of Kashmir, who are suffering as a result of the Indian atrocities in Held Kashmir". August 18: Former Maharaja of Kashmir Dr. Karan Singh has feared another Indo-Pak war over Kashmir issues.  But, he said, "It's not 1971 now.  There are upgraded weapons on both sides and two well-armed forces facing each other."  India's denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir is not only a perpetual threat to peace in South Asia but also it has deprived a vast majority of its population of basic amenities of life.  India's denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir is not only a perpetual threat to peace in South Asia but also it has deprived a vast majority of its population of basic amenities of life.  Jalil Andrabi, a representative of the World Muslim Congress and Chairman, Kashmir Commission of Jurists, Srinagar, told the 47th session of the sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at Geneva.  Labour MP George Galloway, demanded that the British Government summon the Indian High Commissioner to explain to the Foreign Secretary the exact relationship between the Indian government and the so-called "Al Faran" hostage takers currently holding two British citizens having already beheaded a Norwegian tourist.  President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Sikandar Hayat said Kashmiris did not believe in any second or third option.  They regard Kashmir as part of Pakistan. August 20: The kidnapping of the five foreign tourists in Indian held Kashmir is nothing more than a drama staged by Indian agencies to malign the Kashmir movement.  This was stated by Ghulam Ahmed Safi, General Secretary, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) at a press conference.  No Kashmiri Group, he said, was involved in this act. ? Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that India had repudiated all efforts to talk on Kashmir.  She said we were prepared to talk to India about solving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the international law but India insisted that Kashmir was part of the Indian Union and was not prepared to talk. ? Rejecting the baseless allegations with full force levelled against the Kashmir freedom movement, convener, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) J&K, Mehmud Ahmed Saaghir, said Indian efforts for dubbing the freedom movement as separatist and fundamentalist launched on foreign props have ended in smoke. August 23: President of Pakistan Muslim League and Leader of Opposition Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has declared that his party has launched a crusade against anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces and would continue it till the last and hoped that people of Azad Kashmir would also join the war against the common enemy. August 25: In occupied Kashmir, extensive military crackdown was carried out in Srinagar, dozens of people were injured in troops violence and a large number of people were arrested.  Chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, Rutuba Shaheen Hashmi has condemned the Indian forces for targeting Kashmiri women for the last five years.  She said being part of All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, the MKM had been internationalising the plight of Kashmiri women and was sure to gain support of world community in pressuring the Indian government to put a halt to the atrocities inflicted upon the women folk and also make India to respect the will of Kashmiris August 26: The All Party Hurriyat Conference has given a call for general strike on Aug 28 Monday) to protest against the so-called polls to Laddakh Hill Council which is considered as a "shameful step towards division of the occupied State". August 27: "Friend of Pakistan" Hank Brown, US Senator from the scenic state of Colorado, arrived in Islamabad along with a fellow-Senator Arlen Specter, a Presidential candidate, on a two-day visit.  During their visit they will meet top Pakistani leadership and discuss issues like Kashmir, nuclear non-proliferation and the Brown Amendment which is presently in a state of limbo. August 28: The "Kashmir Watch" report of August 1995, has analysed the prevailing situation in Indian Held Kashmir in the light of comments offered by various Indian dailies. August 29: At least 10 people including nine occupation troops were killed and 11 others injured in the latest clashes with freedom fighters in the held region.  Besides, the troops arrested five civilians during crackdowns in different areas. August 30: In occupied Kashmir, severe crackdowns were carried out in at least 8 localities of Srinagar during which innocent people were subjected to merciless violence by the Indian troops while a number of people were arrested, triggering anti-India demonstrations. August 31: The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan called for an early resolution of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan with a lasting settlement in Afghanistan, in accordance with the wishes of their people.  Angry and upset with Pakistan's delegation which raised the Kashmir issue at the Inter-parliamentary Council meeting at the United Nations, the Indian opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared: "It is Pakistan which is flouting the United Nations resolution by not withdrawing its forces from Kashmir."  Iranian ambassador to Pakistan Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzadeh has said that the Fate of Kashmiri people should be decided by the people themselves. September 1: Speaker National Assembly Yousaf Raza Gilani has urged the United Nations and the international community to help resolve the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions. September 3: Members of British Parliament from Tooting, Mr Tom Cox, has called upon the Labour Party to spell out its official stand on the Kashmir problem. September 4: At least 15 persons were killed and over 20 others injured, three of them seriously in a car bomb explosion in the centre of Srinagar in occupied Kashmir.  Hizbul Mujahideen group claimed that it had planted the bomb which exploded outside the State Bank of India branch in Srinagar, frequently used by the members of the security forces. September 7: There has been a bomb attack on the BBC office in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.  A parcel bomb exploded shortly after being delivered to the office injuring 3 people including the BBC correspondent in Srinagar Yousif Jamil. September 8: All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has threatened direct action against the government sponsored terrorists who had been entrusted with the task to sabotage Kashmiri people's freedom movement.  It has also called for three-day general strike to protest against attack on BBC Srinagar office. September 9: A general strike called to condemn a bomb attack on journalists here paralysed the Kashmir Valley as Indian troops defused a landmine in downtown Srinagar. October 13: The Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Umar Farooq proposed a six-point peace plan to India to resolve the Kashmir problem.  Eric Avebury, Chairman of the United Kingdom Parliamentary Human Rights group, described the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir as one of the greatest tragedies of modern times, and demanded urgent measures to curb the Indian oppression of the innocent people and for the solution of the dispute. October 17: A 3-member delegation from Indian-held Kashmir led by Chief of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mir Waiz Umar Farooq, currently in Cartagenda for the Non-Aligned Summit, was detained for six hours by local authorities on Indian complaint that they were terrorists. October 18: The president of the Security Council, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, received three leading members of the Pakistan Kashmir delegation and discussed with them the latest situation obtaining in the disputed valley.  Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said the Cold War had ended but the fight for freedom continued all over the world including Kashmir and Bosnia. October 19: Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao has claimed that Jammu and Kashmir are an integral part of India and had been annexed to it under 'international law'.  Pakistan rejected Indian Premier Narasimha Rao's irate remarks in response to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's reference to Kashmiri people's right of self-determination and said Indian position neither has any logic nor any validity. October 20: Third option to settle Kashmir problem is in conflict with the partition plan of subcontinent and the UN Security Council's resolutions on Kashmir, asserted Azad Jammu Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum while briefing a 30-member team of Joint Staff College led by Brig Talaat Saeed Khan which called on him. October 24: Chinese President Jiang Zemin who had an extremely cordial meeting with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has reaffirmed his country's unwavering support for the people of Kashmir.  Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto reminded the world through the United Nations that the 48 years of pledge for a plebiscite in Kashmir remained unfulfilled and then demanded the setting up of an international criminal court to try the perpetrators responsible for the atrocities in Kashmir, Bosnia and Rwanda. October 25: Foreign diplomats criticise India's handling of hostages. October 27: National Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah stressed upon the need to provide autonomy to the held state saying that such a move did not mean it (state) would start drifting away from India.  The Executive Director of the Kashmiri-Canadian Council, Mushtaq A. Jeelani has said that Canada, under the liberal administration of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent (1948-57), was one of the principal sponsors of UN Resolution 47 (948) in the UN Security Council that gave the people of Kashmir their right of self-determination and as such "Canada has a moral obligation to play a leading role in ensuring a UN-sponsored plebiscite in Kashmir.  It has also the moral stature to promote a meaningful dialogue and give peace a chance in South Asia."  The United States has reaffirmed its position on Kashmir as a disputed territory and said it remained concerned about the situation in the Valley. October 28: Despite Indian assertions that Pakistan is not entitled to raise the issue of the future of Jammu and Kashmir at world fora, Pakistan has been projecting its case on Kashmir, which in fact is the case of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, in every and each world forum, be it the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIC, the ECO or any other such forum like the commonwealth of Nations.  Pakistan has expressed its appreciation over the support of Uzbekistan on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.  "We admire the forthright manner in which President Islam Karimov articulated Uzbekistan's principled position on this critical issue during Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's visit earlier this year," said Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Speaker, National Assembly. October 29: The Indian government plans to move up to 25,000 extra troopers into Jammu and Kashmir if, as expected, elections are held in occupied Kashmir in the next few months. October 30: Kashmiri Muslim leaders threatened to launch massive protests following a pre-dawn rocket attack on one of their homes, which they said was staged by "Indian agent". October 31: At least 16 Indian troops including a commanding officer, were killed and several others injured in Mujahideen's attacks in different parts of the held Valley.  Meanwhile, the Indian troops were reported to have martyred four persons in custody and complete strike was observed in Pulwama against the Indian brutalities. November 3: Chief Military observer UNMOGIP Maj Gen Alfonso Pessalano has said that though the situation on the line of control (LoC) was tense due to frequent firing, no significant escalation in tension had been observed by his mission during recent past.  A strike called by All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference against state-sponsored terrorism paralysed life in the strife-torn held valley, police and witnesses said. November 8: Mainstream Kashmiri political parties urged India's election chiefs to reject a federal government call for elections next month in occupied Kashmir. November 10: Calling upon India to end its atrocities in the occupied Kashmir, President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari appealed to the Commonwealth Secretary General to use his good offices "to help resolve the longstanding dispute in Kashmir". November 11: Bitten and sore by the overwhelming media and human rights reports against its six-year-old campaign of suppression and repression in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India has launched a multi-million dollar propaganda war against Pakistan accusing it of aiding and abetting "terrorism" in the valley, using illegally obtained "narcotics trade" money. November 13: Chinese Vice-President of the Religious Bureau with the status of Minister of State, Lev Muhammad Ali has said that the Kashmir issue be solved according to the resolutions of the United Nations. November 15: According to reports received from various places in occupied Kashmir, at least 16 people including seven troops were killed in fresh clashes and acts of violence by the Indian troops. November 20: The Kashmir issue is a simmering wound that had continuously been destroying peace efforts in the South Asian region apart from escalating tension between India and Pakistan. November 21: Following Election Commission's rejection of polls in the held territory, the occupation personnel have intensified their operations against the defenceless Kashmiris and started using helicopters during crackdowns.  Meanwhile, as many as 34 people including 23 troops were reported killed and 25 others wounded in the latest happenings in different areas while the state newspapers were learnt to have suspended their publication for an indefinite period to protest the threats being hurled by an Indian counter-insurgency organisation. November 22: The highest ranking UN official on human rights, Mr. Jose Ayala Lasso, in his annual report has held the Indian government responsible for ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir and to take the necessary measures to punish government officials responsible for abuses in the occupied territory. November 24: The US has no favourites in the South Asian region and there is no US policy of appeasement towards India, Chairman of the Congressional committee on 'International Relations' said.  In his interview, Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman said that the US should do whatever it could to stop 'arms race' between India and Pakistan. November 26: The United Nations could regain its lost credibility on Kashmir by creating a hospitable environment for tripartite negotiations between the governments of Pakistan and India as well as the real representatives of the people of Kashmir said Dr. Ayyub Thukar, President of World Kashmir Freedom Movement. November 29: Organiser of National Lobby on Kashmir, UK, Mr. George Galloway, MP, said on Wednesday that aim of lobby of European Parliament was to build global pressure and moral weight to start peace process for solving the Kashmir problem. December 1: The visiting American South Asian expert, Rodney Jones, has said that Kashmir is a potential flashpoint that can lead to nuclearisation of the conflict and urged both India and Pakistan to resolve the issue through negotiations. December 6: The best-known Asia expert in the United States, former US ambassador to India William Clark, said that if the Kashmiri people were given a freehand to choose the third option (of independence), they would "disappoint both India and Pakistan with their verdict". December 7: The United States appeared making a visible shift in its South Asian policy when Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel virtually asked Pakistan to forget about the UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir, and urged Islamabad to "move forward" and "not to look at past prescriptions." December 8: Britain as a permanent member of the UN Security Council was under moral obligation to get its resolutions on Kashmir implemented, Pakistan's High Commissioner in UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan said.  There has been no change in the US policy on Kashmir which it continues to view as a dispute that needs to be resolved by India and Pakistan in association with the people of the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, a State Department official said. December 9: The President of Guinea, General Lansana Conte, has said that the Kashmir is a matter of profound concern for OIC which is making efforts to seek a fair and just solution of the dispute.  The Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum has said that the Kashmir crisis was now the major issue facing the world now that a peaceful solution had been found to the strife in Bosnia.  While giving foreign journalists an update on the current situation prevailing in occupied Kashmir in the Belgian capital the Azad Kashmir Premier warned that a real danger of a nuclear conflict existed in the area due to India's expansionist designs. December 10: The Indian occupation forces continued their notorious siege-and-search operations in more than two dozen localities of Srinagar even on the international human rights day and also reportedly martyred four defenceless civilians in custody in different areas. December 11: India has conveyed to Washington that the US administration's response to the home minister's statement in Rajya Sabha on Kashmir was undiplomatic and unacceptable to India, says a recent broadcast of All India Radio.  The American Charge de' Affaires in New Delhi was summoned by the secretary, Indian Foreign Office, on December 6, 1996 and was told that the use of undiplomatic language by the US spokesman was regrettable. December 12: Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers adopted a comprehensive resolution on Jammu and Kashmir dispute with several new elements. December 15: Rajya Sabha extended President's rule in strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir for another six-month term effective January 18.  Earlier, President's rule had been extended in the state for seven times.  India labelled as 'motivated' and 'biased' the latest resolution on Kashmir by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and alleged that it "patently aimed at prolonging", what is called, "terrorism under the inspiration of Pakistan".  Prime Minister John Major of Britain and Prime Minister James Bolger of New Zealand have said that they supported an approach that would resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully through dialogue and negotiations. December 16: At least 12 persons including seven freedom fighters were killed and a number of others including a newly married couple arrested in the latest happenings in the held region. December 18: Amanullah Khan, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, has said that some influential quarters were trying to solve Kashmir issue on the basis of division of Jammu Kashmir State and called upon all patriotic Kashmiris to frustrate all such ill-conceived efforts.  He also revealed that vested interests were trying to deprive the real JKLF of its rights to represent the ideology of independence in international conferences and to give this right to those who could easily be won over or intimidated.  He was addressing members of District Bar Association in Kotli, Azad Kashmir. December 19: Muslim fighters detonated two bombs at the residence of a top Kashmiri leader, while the death of a fighter leader, sparked protests in the troubled Indian state, police said. December 20: A protest strike crippled Srinagar as hundreds of people took to the streets to condemn the deaths of three people while in the custody of Indian troops. December 23: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has sought in intervention of the United Nations, Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Amnesty International and other international human rights bodies to get stopped India's intensified orgy of death and destruction in occupied Kashmir. December 24: Pakistan delegation addressing the third UN General Assembly committee session, took India to task by exposing the human rights situation in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir.  Availing the opportunity to speak on the "Human Rights Situation," the Pakistani delegation exposed some of the worst ever committed crimes against humanity in recent history by Indian forces in Kashmir.  Russia wants Pakistan and India to settle the Kashmir issue through negotiations under the Simla Agreement, and has expressed its readiness to play any role if requested by the two sides. December 30: Indian authorities have finally decided to take up the task of fencing international border between India and Pakistan in Jammu Sector of Held Jammu and Kashmir state.  Leader of the Opposition Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said solution of the longstanding Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolution is inevitable for establishing good relations between India and Pakistan. December 31: A major of the Indian army was among nine troops killed in the latest clashes between Indian armed forces and Mujahideen in Occupied Kashmir.  Six Mujahideen were also martyred and three civilian homes torched.  A small child was injured by indiscriminate Indian firing in Lolab.  Indian military machine exterminated 3,000 Kashmiris during 1995 to pulverize the freedom struggle, says a report released by Kashmir Monitoring Forum.  1996 January 1: President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari said the armed forces must remain alert and fully prepared to meet any challenges and threats to Pakistan's national security.  "An overwhelming majority" of deaths in Indian occupies Jammu and Kashmir are "the work of Indian security forces" a group of civil liberties and democratic rights revealed in a report.  A summary of the report by a fact-finding team of eight civil liberties and democratic rights organisations published in prestigious Statesman newspaper said "there are 300 encounter and custodial deaths" every month in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir.  UK based Pak Kashmir United Forum has chalked out a comprehensive plan to project the Kashmir cause in European countries so that Kashmiris may get their right to self-determination and massive brutalities being committed in the Valley could be exposed. January 2: Tension between India and Pakistan over the long-standing Kashmir dispute has reached an alarming point and it was a must for both the countries to resolve the issue through peaceful bilateral talks. January 4: Senator Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Secretary General, Motamar-al-Alam-Islami in a message has drawn attention of Mr. Joshe Ayala Lasso, UN High Commissioner for Human rights and Mr. Comelio Sommaruga, President International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland, towards the growing violation of human rights in occupied Kashmir. January 5: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Dr. Nasim Hasan Shah has said that "if we want to live respectfully in the comity of nations, we have to liberate Kashmir from Indian yoke at any cost".  Hundreds of activists of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front took to the streets of protest against the UN's apathy towards Kashmir and demanded of its chief executive to take steps conducive to putting an immediate end to genocide of Kashmiris and solving the long-standing issue peacefully. January 6: Unidentified gunmen shot dead at least 16 persons in Doda district in south-east of Kashmir Valley. January 7: The Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, has denied existence of any base camps in AJK territory.  He accused India of abetting terrorism in Karachi.  All-Parties Hurriyat Conference Jammu and Kashmir has called upon the UN Secretary General, Boutros-Ghali to save the people and leadership of "a disputed territory" from those who claimed it to be their "integral part". January 8: Indian security forces shot dead a top Kashmiri Muslim leader whose group claimed responsibility for a bombing in the Indian capital last week, police said.  The Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Amanullah Khan, has condemned the killing of 15 Hindus in the occupied Kashmir and accused the Indian authorities of defaming the Kashmiri freedom fighters. January 9: Former US national security advisor Brent Scowcroft said he saw some room for private mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, but only if it was sought by the two parties to the dispute.  "It would have to be done quite privately or it would be not productive or maybe even counter-productive," Mr. Scowcroft told a group of foreign correspondents in New Delhi. January 13: The latest happenings in the held region, left 35 persons including 28 occupation personnel killed and six residential houses ablazed at different places.  'Put simply, there is no freedom of press in Kashmir today," admits a report by CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists).  'On a razor's edge is a critique of State oppression and censorship that prevails in the Indian held Kashmir.  The New York-based committee released its report in July 1995.  Vikram Parekm, CPJ's Area Director for programming authored this report. January 15: A group of Kashmiri leaders offered to help negotiate the safe release of four Westerners held hostage for over six months by the Al-Faran. January 17: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto told the Japanese foreign minister that India was trying to sabotage the efforts aimed at resolving the Kashmir dispute and that Pakistan was deeply concerned about it.  In response, the Japanese minister said as soon as it was possible to meet Indian leaders, he would convey to them the Pakistani view on the issue. January 19: Labour Party leaders have expressed the hope that India will join Pakistan in a meaningful dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which one of them described as an "ongoing tragedy'.  The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, regretted that twenty years after the signing of the Simla Agreement no progress has been made towards reaching a solution of the Kashmir problem.  He said the United Nations' Resolutions on Kashmir were still valid and will remain valid.  Not less than 150 armymen were killed in acts of violence in Indian held Kashmir during last year.  The number of soldiers injured were about 500, the General Officer Commanding, Lt-Gen Surender Singh said in Jammu. January 23: Shoot-on-sight orders were issued and indefinite curfew was clamped in major towns of Doda District in south-east of Kashmir Valley after the Indian soldiers gunned down seven  members of a family. February 1: The former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People Basic Rights (Protection) Commission, Justice Mufti Bahauddin Farooqui has observed that President's rule in the state had no legal basis whatever and, sadly enough, constituted a tyrannical exercise.  The latest wave of violence and clashes in the Indian occupied Kashmir, has claimed some eight lives in a couple of days, Radio Tehran reported.  Fresh clashes in the Indian held Kashmir started after a rocket attack by the Indian forces on a mosque in Forward Kahuta in Azad Kashmir which killed 18 people and wounded several others. February 4: Renewing her pledge to support the Kashmiri freedom movement, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said that the test of the post cold war new world order rested on the Kashmir dispute.  In a televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister said that the new world order should be built on universal principles of justice.  "It is the need of the hour and the need of the world order that the Kashmir dispute be resolved." February 5: Life remained suspended throughout the country when the whole nation observed complete strike to protest against the brutalities of Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and its persistent denial of rights of self-determination to the Kashmiris.  Representatives from various Kashmiri organisations in the United Kingdom gathered in a large number outside the Indian High Commission to protest against the recent rocket attack on a mosque in Azad Kashmir which killed some 20 people. February 6: The Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has said, the Solidarity Day observed in Pakistan and on both sides of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, will revitalise the struggle of Kashmiri people against the Indian subjugation and further fortify the Kashmiris' steeled determination to get rid of Indian slavery, no matter how great the cost.  "Canada, being one of the principal cosponsors of UN Resolution-47, has the moral obligation to play a leading role in ensuring that a UN-supervised plebiscite takes place in Kashmir," said Mushtaq A. Jeelani, Executive Director, Kashmiri-Canadian Council. February 9: Political circles in Kashmir Valley were surprised to find that not less than four important freedom-fighters leaders have deserted the on-going freedom movement and have started talking in terms of having a "dialogue with the Indian government by-passing Pakistan". February 10: Senior officials of the Home Ministry have taken note of the statement of the four militant leaders issued in Srinagar offering to respond to an "unconditional dialogue" on the Kashmir issue and before the Home Minister, S.B. Chavan, comes up with an action-oriented reaction, the statement will have been scrutinised in all its aspects.  For the time being, however, Mr. Chavan made a non-committal welcome statement on TV although he is yet to be more definitive on the offer. February 11: Goga Hadaycove, Advisor to the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, said the integrity of the state of Kashmir should remain intact and the Kashmiris be provided a chance to decide their future according to their aspirations.  Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman has said that the United States "stands ready as a friend" to alleviate the Kashmir problem out and asserted that such a role was not feasible unless all parties to the conflict wanted Washington to play a role and that such an invitation was not forthcoming. February 16: Major Kashmiri groups asked India and Pakistan to start tripartite talks with them to end a six-year old rebellion against Delhi, saying most Muslims in the region backed the proposal. "Favouring tripartite talks to end the Kashmir dispute, we appeal to India and Pakistan to allow our delegation to visit New Delhi, Islamabad and Azad Kashmir to initiate tripartite talks," the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which bands more than 30 Kashmiri groups, said in a statement. February 17: President of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Sikandar Hayat sees Indian hand in displacing Kashmiris Pandits from the Valley so that the world attention from the real issue could be removed. February 19: In occupied Kashmir, the Indian troops fired upon peaceful demonstrators in Saura locality of Srinagar, injuring a number of them.  The protest procession was taken out to denounce arrests of innocent people by troops.  Severe crackdown was carried out in Jamia mosque area of the city where troops resorted to wanton firing, creating panic among the Eid shoppers and terrifying the shopkeepers into closing their shops.  According to local witness, the troops hurled a bomb on Jamia Mosque which destroyed the wall of bathrooms.  Forceful demonstrations were also held in Pulwama against the Indian repressions.  The demonstrators staged a sit-in in front of the Deputy Commissioner's House. February 24: The Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Ms Robin Raphel has asserted that Kashmir had been a very difficult problem for Pakistan and India since their independence in 1947 and both the states claimed it to be part of their territory and they had struggled over it in various ways over the years. February 28: US Ambassador to Pakistan Thomas W. Simons Jr. has said that US administration was working together with the Pakistan Government for the passage of Brown Amendment and tried to undo the unfair aspects of the Pressler Amendment but still if Pakistan think it is inadequate, it is free to choose its own friends. March 1: The Indian occupation forces in their stepped up catch-and-martyr operations, reportedly martyred 207 civilians including 109 freedom fighters with 155 others wounded and another 292 apprehended during the month of February.  On the other hand, the freedom fighters killed 174 occupation personnel including two army majors in the landmine explosions and attacks on the crackdown and patrol parties. March 2: A plebiscite to determine Kashmir's national destiny would be no insult to India's dignity and global stature, observed Bruce Fein, a lawyer and freelance writer specialising in legal issues, in his latest analysis appearing in The Washington Times. March 7: The Board of Directors of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) reiterated that the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is the authentic and legitimate voice of the majority of the people of Kashmir.  The time is opportune that our administration seeks ways of persuading India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.  APHC must be included in any tripartite negotiations that will seek peace and a democratic solution of the Kashmir conflict. March 8: Police and paramilitary troops arrested Shabir Ahmed Shah and 12 supporters near the downtown Lal Chowk area - the proposed venue of a sit-in to protest alleged human rights violations in the state. March 9: Tom Cox, a member of the British Parliament, has deplored intransigent attitude of India to solve Kashmir issue saying that there was no mark of change in her pursuits. March 12: Four prominent leaders of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, Khwaja Abdul Ghani Lone, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Javed Mir, addressing a press conference here, expressed their grave concern about the life of Jalil Andrabi, Chairman of the Commission of Jurists, an organisation working for human rights in occupied Kashmir.  The APHC leaders said that the denial of the Indian authorities of Jalil Andrabi's arrest pointed to the danger to his life.  They feared that Jalil Andrabi would be killed by the Forces in custody and for that reason his arrest is being denied.  The wife of Jalil Andrabi has already confirmed the arrest of her husband by the Indian Forces. March 14: Pakistan denounced the Indian plans to hold talks with four so-called Kashmiri leaders saying "these renegades have no locus standi to negotiate on behalf of the Kashmiris." March 15: A general strike gripped the strife-torn Kashmir Valley to protest the first direct talks between some Kashmiri leaders and the Indian government.  "Canada is uniquely qualified to play a role in resolving the Kashmir dispute and persuading India, as it did to South Africa to end apartheid, to fine a peaceful solution to the issue in the interest of the security of the region", said Mushtaq A. Jeelani, Executive Director of Ontario-based Kashmiri-Canadian Council. March 16: "By continuing to play desperate games, New Delhi will only make the situation more explosive and continue to make war instead of peace", observed the Ontario-based Kashmir Quarterly in an analytical report appearing in the recent issue. March 19: While Foreign Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali has once again invited India for talks for the resolution of Kashmir dispute, Pakistan's High Commissioner in New Delhi Riaz Khokhar believes India is not interested in talks with Pakistan over this issue as it claims that despite clear-cut UN resolution, it does not even consider Pakistan a party to the dispute. March 21: Pakistan extended full support to the rejection of Indian plan to hold elections in occupied Kashmir, by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), and once again called upon New Delhi not to repeat another farcical polls and, instead, put an end to repression of the people in the Valley and respond to Pakistan's offer for a meaningful dialogue on the Kashmir dispute. March 24: Freedom fighters seized control of Kashmir's holiest Islamic shrine after a firefight with Indian soldiers left nine dead at the sacred complex. ? Targeting the United Nations to scathing criticism and decrying the term New World Order, the former British prime minister, Lady Thatcher unfolded new theory for ensuring stability by assigning to the United States the role of the linchpin saying that the US is the only military power of the last resort to ensure that regional disputes do not escalate to uncontrollable levels. March 25: Indian authorities clamped an indefinite curfew around Kashmir's holiest Islamic shrine, a day after a bloody shootout between Mujahideen and police left up to 11 people dead.  Police officers also used loud-hailers to urge several  gunmen holed up inside the Hazratbal Mosque to surrender, as some 2,000 police and paramilitary troops laid siege to the marble shrine. March 26: China's position on Kashmir is consistent and remains unchanged, said a spokesperson of the Chinese permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, while commenting on a malicious and distorted news story filed by an Indian journalist on a Chinese delegate's statement on the 'right to self-determination made at the current session of the Commission on Human Rights'. March 27: The body of a prominent human rights activist was found in a river here sparking protests by Kashmiri Mujahideen who claimed he had been murdered by the Indian security forces.  Chairman Kashmir Committee Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has called for convening emergency sessions of the Security Council and OIC contact groups on Kashmir after the custodial killing of human rights activist in Valley.  The Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has claimed that the siege of Hazratbal shrine was lifted after an agreement between Indian authorities and the JKLF.  Kashmir is a disputed territory awaiting a decision regarding its final disposition in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions.  And, by honouring its commitments on holding plebiscite in Kashmir, India would only contribute to the universal realisation of the right to self-determination.  These remarks were made by ambassador Munir Akram on behalf of Pakistan in a reply to Indian delegates remarks made at the 52nd session of the commission on human rights being held in Geneva from March 22 to April 26. March 30: The United States strongly condemned the brutal murder of prominent Kashmiri journalist and human rights activist, Jalil Andrabi and called upon Indian government to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances around Mr. Andrabi's abduction and his murder.  "We call upon the Indian government to protect those who are involved in human rights work in Kashmir", state department spokesman Nicholas Burns said in a statement.  Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front President Shabbir Ahmad Siddiqui and 29 other Kashmiris were killed when Indian troops blasted a house with mortars on the outskirts of Srinagar. April 3: The Organisation of Islamic Conference condemned the massacre of 22 Kashmiris by the Indian security forces at Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar and the custodial killing of Jalil Andrabi, Chairman of Kashmir Commission of Jurists.  Pakistan should link bilateral trade with India, which is grossly in favour of the latter with the immediate stoppage of genocide in Kashmir and holding of plebiscite in the held Valley, demanded Senator Raja Zafarul Haque and leader of the opposition in the Senate. April 7: Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao has said India is committed to holding dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Kashmir without any preconditions but ruled out third-party mediation.  India is sending additional 60,000 troops to occupied Kashmir to beef up its forces there to ensure holding of coming Lok Sabha polls. April 8: Two British parliamentarians, Mr. Gerald Kaunan and Mr. George Galloway, hosted a lunch at Palais des Nations, for the ambassadors and diplomats from the United States, Latin America, Europe and Japan to brief them on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. April 9: Chairman US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jesse Helms, has said the best US response to growing tension in South Asia would be American mediation on Kashmir with the vigour that was dedicated to Middle East peacemaking.  Freedom House rates Kashmir as 'not free' and Pakistan and India as 'partly free', the US-based human rights organisation's project co-ordinator told the Lahore High Court Bar Association.  Charles J. Brown, who is on a visit to Pakistan, was invited by the Pakistan Bar Council's human rights committee and the LHCBA to introduce his organisation and its work to their members. April 10: Michael Hindley, a British Labour member of the European Parliament, said Kashmir was an international problem and should be settled through negotiations, while Karachi was an internal issue, though one with grave implications for the State of Pakistan. April 11: Leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in occupied Kashmir will stage a march to the headquarters of the Indian Occupation Army and hand over a notice of "Quit Kashmir".  A leader of the APHC Abdul Ghani Lone said all the seven members of the executive council will march towards the headquarters of Indian Army on April 18 to hand over the 'Quit Kashmir' notice. April 14: The joint delegation of the representatives of Kashmir from both sides of the Line of Control is campaigning in the Commission on Human Rights to make government delegations and representatives of human rights organisations aware of massive human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir being committed by the Indian occupation forces.  In a revised spurt of violence the death toll in Held Valley has reached 1,700 during the first three months of the year. April 15: At least nine Indian troops and 27 pro-plebiscite Kashmiris were killed in stepped up battle for freedom across Indian occupied Kashmir. April 16: Leader of AJK government delegation to the fifth session in the Human Rights Reunion at Geneva, Sardar Attiq Ahmad Khan, has urged the OIC to double its efforts to force India to comply with UN resolutions and end massive abuse on human rights in occupied Kashmir. April 18: President and founder of Christians and Muslims for Peace, Prof William W Baker, has said that Kashmir once said to be a heaven on earth, has been transformed into a hell.  The British Prime Minister John Major has said that he supported an approach that would resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully through dialogue and negotiations.  A strike called by Muslim Mujahideen paralysed the Indian held Kashmir Valley ahead of a protest march planned by Muslim leaders to demand that the Indian army quit the troubled state. April 19: Kashmiri newspaper editors announced that they would defy a government ban on publishing statements issued by Muslim guerilla groups.  The PML-N foreign policy cell has condemned the Indian decision of expelling the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) from held Kashmir.  It urged the government of Pakistan to take decisive measures so that India could be prevented from implementing its nefarious designs.  Kashmiri editors decided to shut down newspapers after Muslim leaders and the Indian government locked horns over the publication of communiques and advertisements in the regional media. April 21: Those who talk of a third option for Kashmir at this critical point in the history of the struggle for freedom damaged the cause, said Mr. Mumtaz Ahmed Wani, leader of the joint delegation of Kashmiris from both sides of the ceasefire line while addressing a public meeting held in Birmingham under the auspices of Tehreek-e-Kashmir. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, said Indian atrocities in the occupied Kashmir had assumed alarming proportions as New Delhi had hatched a conspiracy to eliminate top leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). April 25: The objective of Pakistan to highlight the atrocities being committed by 600,000 Indian security forces and draw the world attention towards the human rights violations in the Held Valley has been effectively achieved in the 52nd session of Commission on Human Rights held in Geneva from 18th March through aggressive diplomatic and political discussions at the Commission. US Congressman Dan Burton, Republican from Indiana, has asked the US government to "forcefully" condemn India's tyrannical behaviour in Indian occupied Kashmir and to demand the immediate release of political prisoners. April 26: Roger Godsiff MP, Chairman, British Parliamentary Kashmir Group, has said that it is impossible to have peace in the South Asian region without resolution of the Kashmir dispute. May 1: "There is no substantial evidence that Pakistan is supporting terrorism in Kashmir," Under Secretary of State Phillip Wilcox said here while releasing the State Department's annual report on "Patterns of global terrorism for 1995." May 2: The self-determination was a time-honoured concept and a plebiscite to determine Kashmir's national destiny would be no insult to India's dignity and global stature, observed Bruce Fein, a lawyer and freelance writer specialising in legal issues, in his latest analysis appearing in the Washington Times. May 5: Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao made his first visit to troubled Kashmir saying upcoming general elections in the disputed state could not be foiled by what he called Pakistani moves at destabilisation. May 6: Complete wheel-jam strike will be observed throughout the held Jammu and Kashmir state where the first phase of elections to six Lok Sabha seats begins. May 8: The faith that the British Government seems to be putting into the effectiveness of the Indian National Human Rights Commission to investigate and prevent human rights violations in held Kashmir has been challenged by Lord Eric Avebury, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, who in a letter to the Minister of State, Jeremy Hanley, has criticised the government for ignoring the facts. May 11: Indian security forces blasted two mines on Srinagar-Chrar Sharif road in an attempt to assassinate the leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference as they were going in procession to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Dargah of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali. May 13: More than 1.5 million government employees who were assigned election duty by the Indian authorities, went on an 18-day strike at the call of JK Government Employees Confederation to boycott the electoral process. May 16: Foreign Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, while strongly rejecting Indian claims over AJK said, Kashmir is an international dispute by UN Charter and India is illegally occupying Jammu and Kashmir. May 17: The Human Rights Watch, a New York based world organisation, has charged that human rights conditions in occupied Kashmir have deteriorated as a result of a new policy of the Indian government to arm and protect irregular militias to carry out its counter-insurgency operations.  In 49-page report, "India's secret army in Kashmir: new patterns of abuse emerge in conflict", the Human Rights Watch has documented widespread abuses by these state-sponsored militias, called 'renegades', including attacks on journalists, human rights activists and medical workers. May 18: Chinese parliamentary delegation leader Sun Fulling, who is vice chairman of the National Committee of CPPCC, has reiterated his government's principled stand on Kashmir saying that the Kashmir issue be resolved through negotiations according to the UN resolutions. Kashmir issue continues to be crucial point in relations between Pakistan and India which casts an adverse effect on all bilateral matters between them, Mr. Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK has said. May 23: Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was a secondary issue and his government would give priority to crushing the uprising in the Held State, India's newly-installed Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee said. Indian soldiers summoned local leaders to demand that they turn out for parliamentary elections or face the army's wrath. May 24: The US media almost unanimously reported that the elections held in Indian-occupied Kashmir were "a sham, fake and a parody of democracy" with heavily armed Indian troops forcing people out of their houses to go and vote.  The British media blasted the Indian-sponsored elections for the Lok Sabha seats in held Kashmir saying the people were forced out from their homes by security forces to go to the polling stations. May 25: A powerful bomb blast killed two people and injured 47 others, most of them Indian government officials, in the Kashmir town of Doda, a government spokesman said.  Twenty were in serious condition, he said in the troubled state's winter capital, adding that most of the victims were government officials assigned to supervise the final leg of general elections in Kashmir. June 4: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has expressed the hope that the Kashmir conflict would be resolved in the light of the United Nations resolutions and in the spirit in which the late Mr. Z.A. Bhutto had started negotiations with Mrs. Indira Gandhi at Simla. June 5: Indian Prime Minister Mr. H.D. Deve Gowda said the problem of Jammu and Kashmir can only be resolved through consulting the wishes of the people but affirmed that his Government is committed to hold elections to the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly. June 7: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has reiterated that Kashmir was a disputed territory and said his organisation was "willing to enter into a dialogue with "New Delhi" provided it accepts the Kashmiris as a party to the dispute". June 8: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) rejected Indian government's offer of more autonomy to occupied Kashmir saying the problem cannot be resolved by remaining in Indian Union.  The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has given a two-day strike call all over Kashmir in protest against the assassination bid on a senior APHC leader.  A powerful bomb exploding outside the residence of APHC leader Abdul Ghani Lone in Rawalpora Colony in South Kash caused extensive damage setting ablaze dozens of shops and smashing window panes of more than two dozen houses in the posh locality.  The bomb was hidden in an ambassador's car which exploded around mid night. June 9: Pakistan has warned that security in South Asia cannot be strengthened without addressing the three inter-related issues – Kashmir, conventional arms control and nuclear non-proliferation – in an integrated way. June 14: The Indian government in a feverish hurry to project to the outside world that normalcy had returned to held Kashmir and that the people were "keen" to initiate a political process, went through a farcical exercise of holding elections to six Lok Sabha seats in the state.  An impression that Assembly polls could also be conducted in the stipulated time is also created and spread following these elections.  Nevertheless the facts point to the contrary in the light of the findings which have been revealed in a report by a four member observer team. June 17: A British member of the Parliament has urged the new Indian government of Deve Gowda to look into the simmering Kashmir as hundreds have been killed in the held valley and many women are raped every day.  Garry Waller said though the new Indian government is weak but the people of the South Asia and the world in general are eagerly waiting for the Gowda government to resolve the issue as early as possible.  Waller, who had gone to Bangladesh to monitor the general election, said it is unfortunate that there is very little awareness about the issue in the UK and the rest of the West.  "But more and more people are now coming to know of what Kashmir problem is and that it is not really a regional concern but that of the whole world," Waller said. June 22: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto rejected the suggestion of giving the disputed Kashmir territory under UN trusteeship and said Pakistan fully sticks to its principled stand on the lingering problem.  "I can't subscribe to his views (on Kashmir)," she said in reference to the proposal of former caretaker prime minister Balkh Sher Mazari that the Kashmir state be given to UN trusteeship for five to ten years. June 25: A 'National Programme of Action' was launched aimed at drawing the attention of the British public and political parties to the plight of Kashmiris and to mobilise public opinion to press the British Government to take steps for ensuring that progress is made towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute through plebiscite. June 26: Moves are under way for the Labour Party election manifesto to contain a pledge that when in power it will take steps for the speedy resolution of the Kashmir dispute. June 30: A fire broke out in occupied Kashmir's biggest mosque, the 600-years-old Jamia Masjid, triggering protest demonstrations. July 6: Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda met with politicians as a general strike to protest the premier's visit to Kashmir gripped the troubled Valley.  Deve Gowda, who arrived here amid high security, is the first Indian prime minister to tour Kashmir since 1989 when freedom movement started in the frontier Himalayan region. July 7: The one-day visit to held Kashmir by the Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has come in for adverse comments by the Hurriyat Conference, seeking solution to the Kashmir problem in accordance with United National Resolutions.  Commenting on the visit, the Conference Chairman, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq said that Mr. Gowda should first realise the bitter reality that Kashmir is a longstanding dispute and shall have to be solved after negotiations take place between India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.  He said a total protest strike observed in occupied Kashmir was evident to prove that people of Held Territory did not like Mr. Gowda's visiting occupied Kashmir which was like rubbing salt into the wounds of suffering people of the Valley. July 8: Six years after Kashmiri Mujahideen launched an armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir state, the sounds of gunshots and bomb blasts echo less often off the sharp green in untidiness surrounding this summer capital.  According to report, carried by Washington Post, a lessening of violence in the only majority Muslim state in predominantly Hindu India is the most noticeable sight that the 50-year territorial dispute between India and Pakistan is opening a new chapter, although some pages repeat old promises. July 11: Iran has urged both Pakistan and India to solve all their bilateral issues including what he called the thorny issue of Kashmir in the interest of regional and promote better understanding between the two important countries of the region. July 12: Kashmir American Council has urged the US leadership, Democrats as well as Republicans to play their vital role in evolving a just settlement of Kashmir dispute under UN sponsored plebiscite. The United States has welcomed the proposed resumption of talks between India and Pakistan and expressed the hope that the process would lead to early resolution of their long outstanding disputes.  "India says it is ready to talk about Kashmir which is highly a positive development that can pave way for further confidence-building measures between the two sides," said the US ambassador to India, Frank Wisner. The Lok Sabha extended Presidential Rule in held Kashmir for six months, approving a bill on the same. July 13: US President Bill Clinton has urged India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute through direct negotiations and offered to facilitate such talks should both parties desire US help. July 15: US ambassador to India Frank Wisner and leader of the opposition Nawaz Sharif discussed a number of issues, particularly Indo-Pak relations and Kashmir dispute, during their one-hour meeting. July 17: Police shot dead JKLF leader Hilal Beg, 34, one of the most wanted Muslim guerillas in occupied Kashmir, as an Indian Army colonel, seven troops and 13 Kashmiris were killed in a fresh flare-up of violence in the Valley.  Sources said Kashmiri guerillas also attacked Indian troops camp at Gawkadal, Ganpatyar, Badshah chowk in state capital Srinagar, Warpora-Sopore in Baramulla and Kulgam and Dialgam-Kokernag in Anantnag district. ? Several members of the US Congress have written to President Clinton urging him to take initiative to help settle the Kashmir issue. July 19: Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel refuted reports that the United States was trying to stage a Camp David in South Asia through what is being described as 'Cohan Plan" envisaging an accord between India and Pakistan brokered by the United States.  "It is proposal of an academician," Ms. Raphel said while answering question at a news briefing in the State Department about a paper written by Illinois University Professor Stephen Cohan several months ago which is being circulated by a section of the press in Pakistan.  She noted that lot of ideas are being floated by various people on this subject. July 21: The Pakistan Muslim League has expressed grave concern over the heart-breaking silence of the government on the continued elimination by the Indian forces of Kashmiri leaders struggling for the right to self-determination.  PML has also criticised the government's in-difference to India's programme of staging the farce of "state assembly elections" in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. July 22: Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Sheikh ruled out a Camp David-like solution to the Kashmir issue as nonsense.  In interview, he said even the Americans have denied any such initiative.  "We regard Kashmir as the core issue between India and Pakistan and unless there is some progress on it, other outstanding issues could not be resolved." July 23: The Kashmir issue was discussed at a meeting between a group of MPs and Mr. Robin Cook, the shadow foreign secretary. The meeting was arranged by the Labour member of parliament, Mr. Max Madden, who has launched an action programme to highlight the Kashmir issue. August 1: Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda for the first time used tough language against Pakistan blaming it for waging a cold war against his country by supporting the freedom struggle in occupied Kashmir. He was answering questions in the upper house of Parliament in New Delhi.  He asserted that all necessary steps would be taken to prevent what he called terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and ensure peaceful conduct of assembly elections in the state. Sharp differences have surfaced in India's ruling United Front (UF) on the issue of Kashmir where the Assembly elections are slated for September after a gap of nine years.  A former Kashmir Congress chief and a senior UF leader, the Kashmir born, Mufti Sayeed, has resigned from the Front and the Parliament protesting against the Kashmir policy of the Front.  In his resignation letter, Mufti also opposed holding of elections in Held Kashmir on the plea that the representatives body of the people, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has decided to boycott the polls.  He asked how is it possible that elections are held without peoples participation. Earlier, the Home Minister, Indrajit Gupta, also created gaping cracks in the front when he challenged the impartiality of recently held parliamentary elections in occupied Kashmir.  Gupta said in Parliament that scores of votes going to the candidates of the fundamentalist Hindu Party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not be justified. August 2: Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda unveiled a package of economic benefits for violence-ridden held Kashmir ahead of state polls next month.  Deve Gowda announced the waiving of outstanding loans of up to Rs.50,000 and announced special assistance of Rs.3.52 billion for the state's budget.  He also announced schemes for developing infrastructure in the state, where more than 20,000 people have died in a bloody freedom struggle since 1990. August 3: Shedding its reluctance to allow the American Senator Hank Brown to visit Jammu and Kashmir, the government announced its decision to treat what the Senator had intended to be a private visit as an official one, with the External Affairs Minister, Mr. I.K. Gujral extending him the courtesies required of him under protocol.  Mr. Brown is not too popular with the government because of the role he had played in facilitating the one-time waiver of the Pressler Amendment enabling the US administration to effect the 358 million dollar military assistance to Pakistan. August 4: American Ambassador to New Delhi Frank Wisner said his country believed that there cannot be a lasting settlement of Kashmir problem unless India and Pakistan come to the negotiating table and until the Kashmiris are allowed to express their views. August 6: Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Boris Shikhmuradov expressed his concern over human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, and stressed the need for resolving Kashmir issue through talks to ensure peace in the region. August 7: Republican Senator Hank Brown flew here from New Delhi, his second visit to Pakistan during the last four months and said "it is really heart-breaking to see what is happening in occupied Kashmir." August 8: In a Major move, which can have a far-reaching consequences, senior Kashmiri leader Shabir Ahmad Shah was suspended from the membership of the Central Executive of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella of over three dozen political and other groups. August 9: The announcement made by Indian Election Commission about polls schedule of Kashmir Assembly, has evoked mixed response.  While the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, spearheading the ongoing freedom movement have dismissed the move as "yet another gimmick" to mislead the world opinion and announced to boycott the elections, all pro-India parties including the National Conference have welcomed the steps and started making preparations for taking part in the polls. August 10: The United States has backed away from the impression created in recent weeks that by its endorsement of the Indian-sponsored State Assembly elections in held Kashmir, it had acknowledged that Kashmir was no longer a disputed territory but an integral part of India.  A senior State Department official who, under accepted practice, is to remain nameless, said in answer to two written questions from The Nation that there was no change in US policy on Kashmir and, further, that the US envoy in New Delhi, Ambassador Frank Wisner's remarks in Pakistan had been misinterpreted as they had been "taken out of context. August 11: US Senator Hank Brown has said that Pakistan can play a very positive role for peace and stability in the region.  He hoped that United States supports a political solution of Kashmir problem and also return of peace in Afghanistan which will greatly benefit all the people living in the entire region. August 13: Delivering her opening remarks at the inaugural session of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir, Ms. Bhutto said, "Not far from here would you hear the thunder of the Indian guns as they violate the Line of Control, despite the presence of the United Nations Military Observers, targeting innocent civilians in Azad Kashmir. August 15: The leaders of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) were arrested in the Indian capital New Delhi as they staged a protest march on the eve of 49th Indian Independence Day to highlight the current situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. August 16: Pakistan envoy to UN Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Munir Akram has regretted the world silence over killing of fifty thousand Kashmiris in Indian held Kashmir at the hands of over six lakh troops.  Through its intense last minute efforts, Pakistan has been able to thwart an attempt to delete the issues of Kashmir and Palestine from the list of the matters pending before the Security Council.  As a consequence of Pakistan's timely intervention on the matter, the Kashmir issue has been give a year's reprieve at the end of which term (ending September 15, 1997) it will be automatically dropped from the Security Council's agenda. August 20: The deletion of Kashmir dispute from the United Nations Security Council's agenda items could result in withdrawal of the UN military observers mission (UNMOGIP) from the Line of Control.  It could also be deleted from the agenda items in the General Assembly if the Council's decision of July 30 is not reserved, UN officials said. August 23: The United Nations Security Council's working group which met to review the list of 50 agenda items deleted from the Security Council's agenda in its July 30th meeting, ended in deadlock as there was no consensus among the member states to reinstate certain items.  "There was no consensus on the issue as we continued to review the draft submitted by the president of the Security Council, Tono Eitel", said Chinese representative Chen Weixiong here. August 25: The Indian Home Minister Indrajit Gupta said the government's new plan for more autonomy for occupied Kashmir includes separation of Laddakh region from Muslim majority Valley area to contain the freedom movement and place the Budh majority Laddakh under direct Central Rule. August 27: The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Bjorn Tore Gondal, has said that Norway is ready to play the role of a mediator for resolving Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India if the two sides are willing to accept Norway's mediation. Mr. Malcolm Rifkind, British Foreign Secretary said dialogue between India and Pakistan, respect for human rights of the people in the disputed state and cessation of external support to violence as means to resolve a political issue, should form the three building blocks towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute. August 28: Principally because of Pakistan's UN mission's initial negligence, followed by a tactical error, the Security Council working group reluctantly agreed to recommend the retention of Kashmir and some other issues on the Security Council's agenda but clamped a crippling proviso by subjecting it to annual review and notification. August 29: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the Washington-based Kashmiri American Council, has said that the solution of the Kashmir dispute will bring peace, prosperity and happiness not only to the people of Kashmir but also to the entire region of South Asia. September 8: Pakistan officials said a "war-like situation" existed along the Line of Control (LoC) with India in disputed Kashmir as two sides traded artillery and machine-gun fire.  They accused Indian forces of starting the firing in the Neelam Valley of Azad Kashmir while controversial state assembly elections were held in the Indian ruled part of Himalayan region. September 12: Kashmir's top politician, Farooq Abdullah, escaped a grenade attack at an election rally in the northern state's Pulwama district. September 14: To make the process of so-called elections to the state assembly successful, the Indian troops arrested the whole leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). September 15: Underscoring that the "Kashmir dispute cannot be resolved through fraudulent elections", US Congressman, Tim Johnson, has asked President Bill Clinton, "to use the influence of the United States to promote last solution to the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the will of the Kashmiri people." September 16: There was a widespread coercion of voters by the Indian forces during the second phase of the state assembly elections in occupied Kashmir.  A correspondent for the BBC who witnessed a number of constituencies said in some places loud-speaker messages were broadcast from mosques by the Indian army asking people to come out while at other places people complained that they were forced to cast vote.  Journalists also saw buses and trucks commanded by the para-military forces to bring out reluctant voters. September 22: Reiterating that US position on Kashmir issue remains unchanged, US ambassador to Pakistan Thomas W. Simons said the Kashmir question must be resolved peacefully through bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and India, taking into account the aspirations of Kashmiris.  "Until it is (the problem is there), the whole of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir will remain disputed territory.  Until it is, no elections will change that status.  We continue to believe that Indian authorities should work to further curb the human rights abuses on that territory." October 1: The chief of United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan, Major General Alfanso Passolano, held an extraordinary three-hour meeting with Syed Nazir Gilani, Secretary General of London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCH), on the situation across and inside the Line of Control in Kashmir, at UNMOGIP headquarters. October 5: National Conference named Farooq Abdullah as leader of the party's legislative wing, paving the way for him to become Kashmir's chief minister for the second time since 1990. October 6: Representatives of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) from held Kashmir and Azad Jammu and Kashmir at a joint meeting in Washington discussed various aspects of the freedom movement and the role of the world community in promoting a just and peaceful settlement of the Kashmir imbroglio.  The representative meeting of the leadership from both sides of the ceasefire line (LoC) reviewed the situation in the disputed territory and adopted a statement to be called the Washington Declaration. The Kashmiri representatives decried the unabated gross human rights abuses against innocent Kashmiri civilians by Indian occupation forces, renegades and Indian-sponsored agents. October 11: The Governor of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, K.V. Krishna Rao, in an astonishing statement has said that Kashmir is a political problem and should be resolved politically. October 12: Human rights violations have increased rapidly in occupied Kashmir since late 1989 when the popular uprising began. October 19: Indian Army admitted that during interrogation a detenu died in its custody in the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  The Army admitted before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that Khazir Muhammad Akhoon of Village Lasjan Soitang in District Srinagar, died of cardiac arrest while in its custody. November 1: The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq has said that setting up of autonomy commission by Farooq Abdullah regime was another attempt designed to mislead the public opinion in India and the world at large. November 7: Robin Cook expressed his concern over the unstable situation in the Indian held Kashmir.  He said, after having a five day visit to the Valley, he is now in a better position to understand the unsatisfactory situation and measures being taken by the Indian forces to suppress the free will of the Kashmiri people. November 14: Twelve US Congressmen have written a joint letter to the Indian government expressing concern over the abuse of poll process in Kashmir and the post-election situation prevailing there. December 12: The puppet government of Dr. Farooq Abdullah in occupied Kashmir surrendered to the pressure of the state by appointing two Corps Commanders of the army as advisers on security. December 13: The Amnesty International has called on India to ensure that all political prisoners are tried promptly and fairly and all allegations of torture and deaths in custody are investigated and justice brought to those responsible.  In its 1996 report, the Amnesty accused India of detaining thousands of political prisoners without any charge or trial and observed that torture of detainees was endemic throughout the country. December 13: In its communique issued in Jakarta the ICFM conference condemned the continuing massive violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people and called for the respect of their human rights, including the right of self-determination. 1997 January 1: India is one of the most dangerous places in the world for human rights activists as they continue to be executed both in the occupied Kashmir and inside India.  Thirteen people, including a bank manager were killed and 29 others injured in separate overnight clashes in occupied Kashmir. January 3: The death toll from a powerful bomb which exploded near the home of occupied Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has risen to five.  Four people were killed when the bomb in a scooter-taxi was detonated, and the fifth victim, an employee of state-run All India Radio station, died later in hospital. January 7: There is no plausible solution to the Kashmir problem and the claims of Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris cannot be reconciled, a high powered Task Force says in its report on a new US Policy towards India and Pakistan.  “The issue is so politicised and emotional that is hard even to discuss an approach towards resolution, multilateral or bilateral, in public without being accused of tilting towards one side,” the report says. January 10: Heavy explosion in the Held Kashmir on the strategic Sopore-Kupwara Highway cut off the northern district Kupwara from rest of the State.  Elsewhere, the township of Tral protested against the kidnapping of a young girl by Indian forces and death of two Pakistani nationals in police custody. January 13: The Human Rights Watch, Asia, in a 49-page report entitled: India’s Secret Army in Kashmir-New Patterns of Abuse Emerge in the Conflict, has observed that several state-sponsored militias commonly referred to as “renegades” in Jammu and Kashmir were serving as India’s secret army and they were indulging in widespread human rights abuses including attacks on journalists, human rights activists and medical workers.  “While attempting to reassure the international community that they have taken steps to curb human rights abuse in Kashmir.  Indian authorities have instead subcontracted their abusive tactics to groups with no official accountability,” the report asserted. January 14: British Prime Minister John Major remarked here that the Kashmir issue could be settled only when leaders of all the three parties – i.e. India, Pakistan and Kashmir – would put heads together and seek permanent and amicable solution of the problem. January 17: The valiant people of occupied Kashmir in their ongoing freedom struggle, sacrificed 3,567 lives during 1996 which included 1,439 freedom-fighters and 1,723 innocent citizens.  Besides 48 officers up to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 3,127 Indian troops were killed by the freedom-fighters during the year under review. January 21: The State Department declined to comment on reports that CIA had been providing secret information to Indian intelligence agencies about activities of Kashmiri activists in India and in Pakistan for the last 10 years.  “We can’t say anything on this subject,” a State Department official told Dawn when asked to comment on the statement of former Indian Foreign Secretary J.N. Dixit, claiming that the CIA and Indian IB had been exchanging information about “subversive activities in Kashmir, Punjab and terrorist activities from across the border (Pakistan).”  Dixit had revealed in an interview to New Delhi’s Pioneer that the two CIA officials asked to leave India were actually “liaison officers between CIA and Indian IB and RAW.” January 24: The United States envoy to India Mr. Frank Wisner has urged India to address Kashmir issue and extend regional initiatives to Pakistan to resume talks.  Addressing a luncheon meeting organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai, the American ambassador said that the continuing tension between India and Pakistan concerns the United States.  He added that the world could not ignore the tension between the two countries. January 25: Lord Avebury, Chairman of the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group, told a press conference at a House of Lords Committee room that British Prime Minister John Major’s speech on his recent visit to Pakistan was an advance on some of the previous government statements.  John Major had stressed that “there are three essential parties to the Kashmir issue – the government of India, the government of Pakistan, and the people who live in Kashmir themselves”. January 26: A string of explosions rocked parts of occupied Kashmir after India’s Republic Day celebrations in the held Himalayan state, officials here said.  A Kashmir sate government spokesman said a landmine went off barely 100 metres from the fortified Bakshi stadium after the ceremonial parade ended in the complex. January 30: India’s human rights record has come under heavy criticism in the State Department’s 1995 human rights report.  The report in a 12-page section on India noted.  “There continue to be significant human rights abuses, despite extensive constitutional and statutory safeguards.  Many of these abuses are generated by intense social tensions, violent secessionist movements and the authorities’ attempts to repress them, and deficient police methods and training.  These problems are acute in Kashmir where the judicial system has been disrupted both by terrorist threats, including the assassination of judges and witnesses, and by judicial tolerance of the Government’s heavy handed anti-militant tactics.” February 11: Kashmir is not at all a border dispute between India and Pakistan but relates to the future of some 13.5 million Kashmiris who would not accept anything short of a plebiscite, Syed Ali Shah Gilani, a leader of pro-plebiscite All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said.  Talking to New Delhi-based APP correspondent by telephone from Srinagar, who sought his reaction to a report in a local daily that Tehran is trying to broker a Delhi-Hurriyat accord on Kashmir’s future, Syed Ali Shah Gilani said the APHC had always maintained a “pragmatic and flexible” approach towards the lasting resolution of Kashmir imbroglio. February 12: The Indian Prime Minister, Deve Gowda who was scheduled to visit Uri in occupied Kashmir has deferred his arrival for one day, reportedly on the advice of the Indian military authorities for security reasons.  The call given by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference for protest strike has also been postponed for a day to coincide with the arrival of the Indian Prime Minister to inaugurate a hydel project in Uri, reports Kashmir Media Service Correspondent. February 17: Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda, who had earlier queered the pitch saying India was willing to discuss everything with Pakistan “except Kashmir”, formally urged Pakistan for an “early resumption of long-stalled Indo-Pak dialogue at appropriate level”. February 18: The United States urged India and Pakistan to end their long-standing row over Kashmir but said Washington did not seek a mediatory role in the conflict. US ambassador to Indian Frank Wisner said in a speech at Jammu University that South Asia would see real peace only when India and Pakistan resolved the ownership of Kashmir peacefully. February 20: The US Ambassador Mr. Frank G. Wisner reiterated the American stand for using non-violent and peaceful means for resolving the Kashmir issue.  “Any settlement so sought can flow a meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan which should take into consideration the aspirations of the Kashmiri people,” he said. Addressing a Press conference in Srinagar after his three-day visit to the Held Jammu and Kashmir, he pleaded for an amicable settlement but said that US administration cannot force a solution on the parties to the Kashmir dispute.  US can only help, he maintained.  The Ambassador, who was accompanied by 12 other mission officials, called for serious efforts for initiating a genuine dialogue.  “This was the main reason I favoured all parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to participate in polls. “Elections, he said, were a process to open doors for political dialogue”. February 23: Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has said that New Delhi is prepared to discuss minor adjustments on Kashmir.  The Khaleej Times daily reported.  In an interview with editor S. Nihal Singh, Mr. Deve Gowda said he was prepared to discuss “minor adjustments in relation to Kashmir within the scope of the Simla Agreement.” February 24: India has denied “shift” in its stand on Kashmir issue saying the reports attributed to Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, that he was prepared to discuss “minor adjustments” in relation to held Kashmir within the scope of the Simla Agreement, have been “quoted out of context”. “There is no change whatsoever in our position on Jammu and Kashmir”, an official spokesman told newsmen, when sought comments on Deve Gowda’s reported statement in an interview to a Gulf newspaper. February 25: AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has welcomed the proposed talks between India and Pakistan over the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute.  “We want a permanent and durable peace in a region but it must not be at the cost of the inherent right to self-determination of the Kashmiris”, Sultan declared while addressing 8th convocation of the Government College for Boys.  The ceremony was also addressed by Principal of the College Prof Muhammad Saeed Zafar and Prof Nazir Tabassam. February 27: In the spate of speculation on what the agenda could or should be when Nawaz-Gowda  talks to take place, the Chief Minister of occupied Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has asked the two prime ministers to declare the Line of Control to be the “international border, which would by implication, mean an acceptance that they (Pakistan) have what they have and we have what we have … that finishes the dispute and means that the huge army stationed on both sides will stop remaining at battle position”. March 2: The state newspapers have suspended their publication as a mark of protest against the repressive actions of the occupation forces and in response to the call given by a Mujahideen outfit in this regard, no newspaper appeared throughout the Valley from Srinagar. March 3: Kashmiri freedom fighters rejected outright the carve-up of the disputed Himalayan state between India and Pakistan.  “The proposal for any kind of division of the state can never be accepted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and we will always oppose it,” said Shabir Ahmed Shah, a freedom fighter leader. March 6: The Clinton administration reiterated its position that Kashmir was a disputed territory whose status had yet to be determined.  “We continue to believe that the status of Kashmir ought to be determined by those affected in the region,” White House spokesman Mike McCurry observed while answering a question at his regular briefing. March 13: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said settlement of Jammu and Kashmir imbroglio is imperative for both India and Pakistan. Addressing at a reception hosted in his honour by all the Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference he said both the countries would be able to divert their resources for national development if the decades old tangle is resolved.  The president of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) Abdul Majeed Malik has said that the people of Kashmir believe in the right to self-determination and integrity of their state and would accept nothing short of these. Pakistan rejected Indian leaders’ claim that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and reiterated internationally recognised position that the state was a disputed territory. The internationally recognised position is that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory, a foreign office spokesman said in a statement. The future of the region had yet to be decided by its people through a referendum as set out by UN Security Council resolutions, the spokesman said. Indian Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had said last week India would never renounce its claim to the whole of Kashmir and “will not hesitate to make any sacrifice or efforts” to get back Azad Kashmir. March 15: Indian authorities sought to contain the Kashmiri movement by gagging the local press in Indian-held Kashmir during 1996, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said here while releasing its annual report. CPJ Executive Director William A. Orme, told a news conference that 185 journalists were imprisoned and 27 killed in the line of duty in various parts of the world.  Seventy-eight of them were imprisoned in Turkey alone.  In Pakistan, Karachi-journalists were again caught in the crossfire of ethnic struggle, he added. India’s leading constitutional lawyer and an expert on Kashmir Affairs, Mr. A.G. Noorani has said that Constitution of India treats the future of Held Kashmir open and provides for its secession without a constitutional amendment. Mr. Noorani’s remarks have come as a rebuff to Indian politicians clamouring that “Kashmir is an integral part of India” and forcing Kashmiri leaders to accept a solution within the parameters of Indian Constitution. March 18: The Unite States had said that Kashmir must be on the agenda of forthcoming Pak-India bilateral talks, though it would prefer talks between the two countries sans ‘preconditions’. The papers quoted US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner as saying in Gwalior that US preferred talks between two countries without preconditions, but Kashmir must be included in the agenda of bilateral talks. March 21: Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, while addressing a large gathering in Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, paid glowing tributes to the people of Kashmir for offering great sacrifices at the altar of freedom from Indian subjugation.  He castigated India for stopping the APHC leaders from going to Islamabad to attend the OIC meeting and hoped that the Summit will support the Kashmiris’ liberation movement. March 23: Eight Mujahideen and seven others died in stepped-up violence in occupied Kashmir, as protests erupted against the massacre of Hindus, officials said. March 24: Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has warned Pakistan that India will not tolerate terrorist violence in the Kashmir. Before leaving for a three-day state visit to Russia the Indian PM also vowed to punish attackers who gunned down seven Hindus in Kashmir as protests over the massacre swept parts of the Himalayan state. March 25: On the call of veteran Kashmiri freedom fighter Syed Shabbir Ahmed Shah, all Jammu and Kashmir People League has decided to hold a series of demonstrations in various countries against the non-inclusion of Kashmiri Leaders in the forthcoming Foreign Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he backed the use of United Nations resolutions to end the Kashmir dispute. Arafat, who arrived here after a summit of the Organization of the Islamic (OIC), said he fully endorsed resolutions passed by the grouping of Islamic countries in Islamabad which criticised India’s human rights record in held Kashmir. March 27: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed took a firm line as he arrived here for the first official talks with India in three years, throwing down the gauntlet as he declared Kashmir the ‘core issue’ on the agenda. Shamshad, due to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Salman Haider during a groundbreaking four-day visit, arrived just hours after a street protest had erupted in New Delhi over Pakistan’s stance on the disputed Himalayan territory. Most of the leaders in AJK see no prospect of positive development with regard to the longstanding Kashmir issue when the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India meet in New Delhi. March 28: Pakistan and India sat down at the negotiating table for the first time in three years with the Kashmir dispute high on the agenda. Armed police ringed the venue where Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed and his Indian counterpart, Salman Haider, began talks at 4 p.m. (3.30 p.m. PST).  The two-hour session, the first official talks since 1994, ended in an upbeat mood, with Shamshad Ahmed, who had said earlier Kashmir would be the “core issue” of the negotiations, saying: “The talks were very cordial and very meaningful and very purposeful.  We are very hopeful.”  All Jammu and Kashmir People’s League in a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister of Pakistan Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has welcomed OIC Islamabad declaration and lauded Pakistan’s role on the Kashmir issue.  “The golden jubilee of Pakistan, a nation state created in the name of Islam has been celebrated on March 23, 1997.  The organisation of Islamic Conference’s declaration made at its extraordinary Summit in Islamabad is welcomed by the Kashmiri people everywhere.  The support of the 52-nation body of the Muslim world for the Kashmiri right of self-determination is a notice to India that it cannot continue to ignore the legitimate rights of the Kashmiri people".  The Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral is keeping mum on whether or not a working group would be formed on Kashmir between Pakistan and India to resolve this outstanding core issue.  In an interview with BBC’s Hindi Service, when Mr. Gujral’s attention was drawn towards the confusion about the formation of a working group on Kashmir, he did not respond and left the site by waving his hand. March 29: The Chief Minister of held Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, blamed Pakistan for the two blasts at a bus station here which killed 17 people and injured 53 others. March 31: Pakistan and India ended four days of talks aimed at reducing tension and agreed to meet again in Islamabad.  “The two foreign secretaries discussed all outstanding issues of concern to both sides in a frank, cordial and constructive manner,” a joint statement issued after the talks said. April 2: The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has called upon the United Nations Secretary General to persuade the governments of India and Pakistan during his forthcoming visit to India to let the Kashmiris decide their future.  In a letter faxed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, JKLF Chairman Amanullah Khan said the Kashmir issue which had been on the agenda of the Security Council since 1947 was a matter of disgrace for the world body. April 4: All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Jammu and Kashmir, described the special summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) a “milestone” which projected Kashmir issue having a unanimous support of the Muslim Ummah.  “This summit was a befitting answer to the Indian’s propagate to the contrary,” Syed Yousaf Naseem, Ghulam Muhammad Safi and Mir Masood of APHC told a press conference.  Mir Naseem represented the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the recent OIC extraordinary summit in Islamabad, while Safi and Tahir Masood in the 53rd session of the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.  Ghulam Mohammad Safi read out a piece from the statement of OIC Secretary General, Laraki, he made before the 53rd session of the UN Commission which sent shock waves to the Indian side.  Kashmiri people will reject any bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan on Kashmir issue without the participation of true Kashmiri representatives.  This was declared by three leaders of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) of Jammu and Kashmir at a press conference. April 7: Pakistan reiterated its position at the UN Human Rights Commission that the struggle of the Kashmiri people was a genuine freedom movement and it could not be mingled with terrorism.  “There is a difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist,” Masood Khan, member of the Pakistan delegation told the 53rd session of the world forum. April 9: The plight of the Kashmiri nation echoed at the United Nations Human Rights Commission as two international non-governmental organisations called upon the world community to salvage innocent people from Indian atrocities.  The representatives of Germany based World Society of Victimology (WSV) and Washington-based International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations (IIFSO) reminded the world body to fulfil its responsibility with regard to the precarious situation in the Indian held Kashmir. April 11: Pakistan ably frustrated India’s move to create an impression at the UN Human Rights Commission that normalcy had returned to Held Kashmir and said atrocities of Indian security forces were going on in troubled state unabled.  “Repression and coercion of the Kashmiris including their leadership continues in Held Kashmir,” said Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to UN Commission Ambassador Munir Akram. April 20: Pakistan expressed the hope that new Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral would adopt a positive attitude on the Kashmir issue and take some bold initiative to resolve the dispute.  Prime Minister’s Adviser on Information Syed Mushahid Husain said while talking to newsmen that when Mr. Gujral had visited Pakistan in 1995 and had called on the then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, he had supported the view that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved.  “A strong and stable government is in power in Pakistan which wants to settle all problems with India, specially the Kashmir dispute.  “We hope that Mr. Gujral will adopt a positive approach and take some bold initiative in this regard”, Mr. Mushahid said. April 22: The people in the Held Jammu & Kashmir have reacted cautiously over the change of government in India.  Though, nobody seems to be against Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, the new Prime Minister of India, yet almost everybody predicted no change in India’s policy towards Kashmir because of Gujral government’s over-dependence on the Congress Party.  The Kashmir Times, a leading English daily of the occupied state in its editorial termed Gujral as the best choice though he lacks charisma and a should political base.  The paper stated that Gujral’s understanding of the Kashmir problem with which he has been associated will help him from more realistic Kashmir policy that could satisfy the political aspirations of the people of the held state.  The powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Senator Jesse Helms will demand withdrawal of UN observers posted in Kashmir and Palestine within two years, as part of a five-year deal with the United Nations to release arrears payable by the United States.  “Abolition of the UN peacekeeping force in Kashmir which involved an expenditure of about six million dollars a year, is contained in a draft of 25 benchmark proposals for UN reforms, prepared by the committee,” congressional sources said. April 24: Pakistan has resented the US Foreign Relations Committee Chairman’s move to seek termination of peacekeeping role along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir by the United Nations Military Observers Group (UNOGIP), and protested against the move to Washington and the UN. April 25: Indian troops in their stepped up repression raided the residence of top All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders Syed Ali Geelani and arrested his driver in Srinagar, capital of the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. April 26: Ten people were killed in violence in the Kashmir Valley as a strike called by APHC to denounce alleged atrocities by Indian troops crippled the troubled state. April 27: Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral ruled out talks with Kashmiri leaders to end an eight-year-old Muslim campaign in the state.  “There is no question of holding talks with separatist leaders,” Gujral told newsmen in Jammu.  ‘Kashmir is no longer an issue.  Where is the issue as elections have been held and an elected government has been installed in Kashmir?’ he said. April 28: Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan asked India to acknowledge the existence of a bilateral dispute over Kashmir, saying such a move is key to improving relations.  Mr. Khan was quoted by the Times of India as dismissing suggestions in the Indian media that the Kashmir issue could be put on hold in order to allow the arch-foes to resolve less intractable disputes first. May 3: The influential Washington Post urged Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral to ease up in Kashmir as it “could help India open up its economy and its political system.” In an editorial on prospects of Pakistan-India talks, the paper said a little ripple of promise of better relations between India and Pakistan has spread across South Asia. In occupied Kashmir, the atrocities of Indian troops claimed 256 lives in the month of May, which included 62 custodian killings, said an All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) statement. May 5: Occupied Kashmir’s chief minister Farooq Abdullah said the upcoming talks between Pakistan and India prime ministers in the Maldives would not achieve a solution to the Kashmir dispute.  “Let us not be too optimistic that the Male meeting will achieve any major breakthrough,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters here. May 6: The European Parliament has expressed its deep concern over the human rights situation in Kashmir, urging Pakistan and India to continue efforts for a negotiated settlement of the issue.  Anita Pollack, head of a four-member European Parliament delegation visiting Pakistan, told journalists that the Parliament is “deeply concerned about human rights situation which has occurred over a long period of time in Kashmir. May 9: The Human Rights (Protection) Bill approved by the so-called Assembly of Held Jammu and Kashmir on May 1, has unexpectedly failed in generating a goodwill for the so-called popular government.  Though the Bill made Held Jammu and Kashmir the only State to have its own Human Rights Commission, its approval disappointed many.  People here expressed pessimism saying the exclusion of the Indian forces from the purview of the commission puts question mark over the future of the commission itself. May 10: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan said his prime minister and the Indian premier would be able to “break the ice” over the Kashmir issue and hoped there would be no more wars between the two rivals.  Gohar, who is attending the ministers meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in the Maldives, said the resolution of the Kashmir issue alone would energise South Asia. May 12: In their 90-minute luncheon meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Inder Kumar Gujral agreed to set up joint working groups for resolution of all issued outstanding between the two countries during the past 50 years, establish a hot-line between them and release hundreds of each other’s civilian prisoners, and hold the next round of secretary level talks by the end of this month. May 13: Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said the on-going talks between Pakistan and India will endeavour to resolve all outstanding issues including the core issue of Kashmir. May 14: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan favours a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.  Nawaz Sharif expressed these view, while addressing at the extraordinary summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). May 15: Reiterating his resolve to evolve a negotiated settlement of Kashmir dispute Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that Kashmir remains the core issue between Pakistan and India.  Talking to newsmen at Parliament House after the joint parliamentary party meeting of PML and its allies, the Prime Minister said the hurdles between the two countries would not be resolved with 24 hours.  “Dialogue is the best way to ease tensions and confrontations between Pakistan and India” Nawaz said. The leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Yasin Malik was arrested in the Indian capital New Delhi shortly after he agreed to break a protest hunger strike.  He was protesting against Human Rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir. May 23: The secretary general of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, in a meeting with Pakistan foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan assured him that he was willing to use his good offices to find a solution for the festering 50-year-old Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India. June 6: The new British High Commissioner in Pakistan Mr. David Dain has said the government and the people of great Britain wish India and Pakistan to settle all their conflicts including that of Kashmir through peaceful means. He however, underlined the need of inclusion of Kashmir in Indo-Pakistan parleys on Kashmir with a view to making them conclusive by arriving at a lasting solution of Kashmir problem. June 8: First Secretary US Embassy, Islamabad, Michael G. Anderson, said that US firmly believed that Kashmir was a disputed territory and both India and Pakistan must sit together to resolve this problem. June 16: Lord Avebury, Chairman of Human Rights Group, House of Lords, has requested the Indian prime minister to give free access to the human rights organisations in the occupied Kashmir.  In a two-page letter addressed to Inder Kumar Gujral, he stated if the public in Jammu and Kashmir and the wider international community was to have confidence in Indian government’s determination to put an end to human rights violation, it was essential that the NGOs and working groups of the UN Human Rights Commission be given free access and cooperation. June 21: The Chief Minister of Indian-held Kashmir, Dr. Farooq Abdullah has demanded that India must ask Pakistan to vacate Kashmir and hand it over the New Delhi.  Addressing the Kashmir police force Dr. Farooq Abdullah said Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Skardu should be handed over to India and the Indian foreign secretary should make this demand during the current round of talks in Islamabad.  There has been a “forward movement” in talks between the Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India both in identifying the issues and evolving mechanism for their resolution.  And in their talks in Murree, they will produce a jointly agreed final document.  “Forward movement has taken place in both the spheres of identifying the issues between the two countries and evolving a mechanism for their settlement.  The ideas have been crystallised.  Each side has a much better understanding of the other side,” said Foreign Office spokesman Khalid Saleem. June 22: Pakistan and India have reached an agreement to form a mechanism for sustained dialogue on issues between the two countries.  In the final session of Foreign Secretary-level talks the two sides finalised agenda for the future course of dialogue.  “We have agreed on mechanism as well as on the agenda on issues to be dealt with through this mechanism” reads the short Joint Statement issues at the conclusion of the final session of talks. June 23: Pakistan and India have identified eight issue areas, including the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, which will serve as agenda for future talks.  A joint statement released at the conclusion of the second round of foreign secretary level talks said the two sides have also agreed to set up working groups to deal with all outstanding issues at appropriate levels.  The problems of peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir would, however, be taken up at the secretary level.  Terming the breakthrough achieved in the secretary-level talks as ‘productive,’ Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government had done what could not be done in fifty years.  “We still maintain our stand on Kashmir and will be talking with the Indians over it.  India has now realised that Kashmir is an issue.  The next step is how to resolve the dispute,” he remarked. June 25: India has rejected Pakistan’s interpretation that it has accepted Jammu and Kashmir as a “disputed territory” after the second round of Secretary-level talks just concluded in Islamabad.  India’s foreign Secretary, Salman Haider after arriving delved at length the difference between an issue and dispute.  “Yes, we have agreed to discuss, not Kashmir dispute but issues related to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint working group (JWG),” he told newsmen.  The issues would be the return of Azad Kashmir to India, which according to him is under “Pakistani occupation by force,” other issues to be raised in the Kashmir related JWG will be the infiltration and Pakistan’s unabated support to insurgency in held Kashmir.  He asserted that India will not enter any discussion with Pakistan on the status of Indian-held Kashmir.  “If anything is to be discussed it will be Pakistan-held Kashmir and northern areas illegally annexed by Pakistan”, said Mr. Haider. June 28: Former Indian minister of state for external affairs Salman Khursheed has called for the “gracious exit” of the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) from Jammu and Kashmir, saying that India and Pakistan could themselves discuss the problem under the Simla Agreement.  Participating in a panel discussion on the relevance of the United Nations Charter, which was formed on June 28, 1945, and ratified on October 24 the same year, Khursheed observed there must be some kind of settlement between both countries so that the leaders could evaluate the situation. June 28: The United States has rejected India’s contention to put Kashmir on back burner and progress on other issues during its negotiations with Pakistan.  The outgoing US Ambassador to India, Mr. Frank G. Wisner, said India and Pakistan should address all issues including Kashmir simultaneously.  “There is no back-burner or front burner.  All the gas points on the stove are sort of on parallel,” he told a business daily. June 29: The high commissioner of Republic of Nigeria in Pakistan, Mr. A.R. Younasa, has said that the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) is doing its best for an amicable solution of the Kashmir issue.  “All the member states of the OIC have been doing their best both from their platform and at the United Nations to see the Kashmir issue resolved amicably”, he said while addressing the Kashmiri refugees at one of their camps on the outskirts of the AJK capital. July 3: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told a visiting three-member delegation of Kashmir-American Council that his country could not be sidelined the Kashmir issue.  Pakistan sincerely wanted to improve relations with India and setting all outstanding issues but “not at the expense of the Kashmir cause”, he said while talking to the delegation who called on him.  It was not possible to have meaningful progress in trade and other issues between the two countries unless there was progress in Kashmir dispute, Sharif said. July 10: Expressing scepticism about India, Pakistan dialogue on Kashmir, AJK President Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan said the Indian history was replete with faltering on commitments which was also apparent from renege of her promises at the United Nations on the Kashmir issue.  The Government in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian government should act now to ensure that political activists are not detained for participating in legitimate protests – and that journalists are not beaten and harassed for pursuing their professional duties, the London-based Amnesty International (AI) said. July 13: Indian troops killed 15 militants overnight in separate gunbattles in the troubled state of Kashmir, which was crippled by an anti-government strike, police said. Six militants and a policeman were killed in a firefight in the northern Baramulla district of Kashmir while Indian army killed three militants after a gunbattle in Ganderbal town. July 15: A visiting team of women rights activists to Held Kashmir said the women and children are the worst sufferers in the prevailing situation in held Kashmir.  Seeking withdrawal of troops from civilian areas and all educational institutions, the activists said the permission to Amnesty International will help in many ways in easing the pressure on civilian population.  They said “Kashmir is being treated as a colony” and it clearly seems “there is genocide in Kashmir”. July 20: There has been a tremendous support of the Saudi masses for the principled stand of Pakistan on the long standing issue of Kashmir.  This was stated by the head of a six-member Saudi delegation currently on a seven-day visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Saad Saeedi Alhameedi, Deputy Secretary General of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). July 26: Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral warned Indian soldiers deployed in occupied Kashmir against human rights abuses.  “This is one other aspect where the soldiers should always be careful,” he told a military unit at the beginning of his maiden two-day visit to occupied Kashmir.  Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral offered to hold unconditional talks with Kashmir guerilla groups in an effort to end a seven-year spree of violence in the Himalayan region.  “I am willing to talk to them without any conditions.  Unconditional talks will benefit everybody,” Gujral said at the start of a two-day visit to occupied Jammu & Kashmir. July 27: Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, in an apparent U-turn, said that Kashmiri freedom fighters would have to surrender their arms before peace talks with the government could begin.  Gujral earlier had offered peace talks without pre-conditions.  “The militants will first have to surrender their arms and then the negotiations will be carried out,” Gujral told a news conference.  He declined to elaborate after being asked to explain his apparent new stand.  “… when guns are there, talks cannot take place,” he said.  The unconditional offer had appeared to be the first by an Indian prime minister to the guerillas in Kashmir.  In 1995, prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao agreed to hold talks but had said the militants should first surrender and that the talks would be held “within the framework of the Indian constitution.” July 30: There is a perceived feeling of “abandonment by politicians and bureaucrats” among the Indian soldiers in held Kashmir, a “Times of India” report said, quoting Srinagar-based Commander Lt Gen Krishan Pal.  The paper quoted General Pal as lamenting nation-wide decline in the honour of Indian army.  He remarked: “If you equate the jawans with peons, you will soon have an army of peons and the nation must then be ready to pay the price”. August 7: Nearly 1,800 people died in violence in Kashmir during the 10 months to June, parliament was told.  A report revealed 1,773 people had been killed since September last year.  Of that total, 873 were civilians, 138 Indian soldiers and 762 Muslim activists. August 10: India and Pakistan can make progress in resolving the Kashmir issue only if the situation in the Valley improves, particularly on the human rights front, Pakistan High Commissioner in Delhi, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said.  “If an improvement can take place in the situation there (in Kashmir), if the human rights situation can improve, if certain measures can be taken which can create an environment more conducive to bilateral progress and if we can jointly address the issue in our negotiations in the working groups, including the one on Jammu and Kashmir which will be headed by the two Foreign Secretaries , if we have a sense of movement – then of course we are in business, then things are happening,” Mr. Jehangir said in an interview to The Asian Age.  Indian forces deployed in Kashmir seem to have chosen the Kashmiri women as their target and harass them in any manner they can.  There are reports of Kashmiri women and girls being arrested, tortured and molested coming in from all parts of the held Valley.  There is hardly a single day when the local newspapers go without reporting these human rights violations.  The Chairperson of the Indian Commission for Women, Dr. Mohini Giri, said Kashmiri women were being treated in the most inhuman way all over Kashmir. August 14: Raising of Pakistan’s flag and pro-independence demonstration by Muslims of occupied Kashmir marked Pakistan Independence Day in a show of defiance against Indian rule.  On the other hand, Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) will observe the Indian Independence Day as “Black Day’ to condemn gross human rights violations in the held Valley and denial of right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. August 15: The United Nations should immediately hold a plebiscite to ascertain the right of self-determination of the Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir and New Delhi should withdraw its forces from the held Valley.  This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Special Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir, which met with Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Khan in the chair.  The chief minister of Held Jammu and Kashmir Dr. Farooq Abdullah blew hot and cold saying his government will not compromise on gaining maximum autonomy for the held state.  Addressing the parade at the highly secured Bakshi stadium after unfurling Indian flag, the Chief Minister also warned India that it would disintegrate in case it failed to maintain its secular character.  Indian Prime Minister declared that the India would not negotiate with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue, insisting that the territory was a part of India.  The phrase was a clear allusion to Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan.  Gujral also reiterated his offer of talks to Kashmir Mujahideen provided they lay down their arms.  Once again he referred armed activists as ‘misguided youth’ under the influence of foreign powers.  Gujral’s offer has been already rejected by the Kashmiri groups.  He was optimistic that the two countries India and Pakistan would move towards building peaceful and constructive relations.  He said the renewed dialogue will contribute positively towards this.  Gujral believe no single country take off alone.  He stressed that normalising relations was necessary for the economic development of both the countries.  The two countries being on the threshold of a new millennium look forward to increased interaction and cooperation in the diverse fields. August 17: The decade long occupation of Jammu and Kashmir has so far cost India a huge chunk of Rs.100.8 billion since 1988, when the Indian security forces forcibly entered the Valley. The annual cost of deploying Indian Army and paramilitary forces in held Kashmir has been computed by the Pakistani intelligence agencies at Rs.0.9 billion.  The daily and monthly expenses of keeping Indian troops in the Valley, therefore remained Rs.30 million and Rs.10 billion respectively during the last decade. August 18; The supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, has said the Kashmir freedom struggle has entered into its final phase due to great sacrifices made by the people and their resistance movement.  Recalling torture, crackdowns, acts of shame and disgrace and shoot-on-sight spree indulged in by the Indian occupation forces against the Kashmiri Mujahideen, he said the morale of the people and the Mujahideen had brought the freedom movement to a stage where one could claim that Indian troops had been virtually defeated.  Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club the Kashmiri commander gave figures of the losses suffered by the occupation forces during last eight years, according to which at least 10 to 20 thousand Indian troops, including three generals, seven brigadier, 19 colonels, majors and captains, excluding 250 officials of various ranks, have been killed by the Mujahideen. August 21: Despite vitiation of the atmosphere by a spate of recent statements emanating from New Delhi claiming absolute sovereignty over Kashmir, Pakistan stated it was looking forward to a comprehensive and meaningful discussions on all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir during the next round of Foreign Secretary level talks.  Taking strong exception to a number of statements emanating from New Delhi claiming Jammu and Kashmir was integral part of India and that Kashmir issue was non-negotiable, Foreign Office spokesman categorically rejected these Indian claims. August 23: The Indian Army has refused to comply with any of the directives of the government of Farooq Abdullah in held Kashmir.  The chief minister, in a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, has protested the army’s attitude stressing that military operations to quell the Mujahideen movement should take place with his consent. August 25: Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Prime Minister, has assured Kashmiris struggling for liberation from Indian yoke his government’s and people of Pakistan’s full support till they achieve their right of plebiscite under the United Nations supervision as guaranteed by the Security Council resolutions.  This assurance was conveyed in a message for the international seminar on Kashmir held on August 24 to 25.  The message was read in the inaugural session of the seminar by Mushahid Hussain Syed, Federal Minister for Information and Media Development.  Nawaz Sharif described it ominous coincidence that the seminar was being held during Pakistan’s 50 years golden jubilee celebrations.  He made painful observation that Kashmiris had spent their 50 years under Indian occupation but it had faith in the ultimate success. August 30: American journalists Martin Sugarman has observed that the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir are still alive but the terms of resolutions should be redefined and enlarged to reflect the changed situation in Kashmir and the rest of the world.  In an interview with PPI he said it should be made obligatory on India to withdraw all its occupation forces from held Kashmir as a free and fair plebiscite in the presence of such a large number of troops would remain a distant dream. November 1: The initial euphoria that I.K. Gujral, the soft spoken intellectual Indian Prime Minister, was all set to cut a deal with Islamabad on Kashmir has all but dissipated.  It has belatedly dawned upon the Pakistani foreign policy establishment that as far as dealing with Pakistan is concerned Gujral is no different from his predecessors.  The working group on Kashmir which was touted as a great diplomatic coup by the Pakistani official media is yet to be formed.  In fact according to highly placed diplomatic sources in Islamabad, New Delhi has reneged on the agreement reached in the second round of Foreign Secretaries talks held in Islamabad in June on the plea that Kashmir is too important an issue to be dealt by officials at the working group level, and hence should discussed by the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries.  The process which was initiated as a result of Nawaz-Gujral summit at Male has gone into a tailspin because of Indian intransigence on the issue.  The manner in which incidents on the LoC last week were hyped by the Indian media is being interpreted as another indication that New Delhi wants to wriggle out of the talks and put the onus on Pakistan for the break. November 4: If India doesn’t honour its commitments on Kashmir made in the second round of talks, Pakistan will not attend the third round in New Delhi, official sources said.  “Recently indications from the Indian side point to the conclusion that the Indian government may be having second thoughts on the agreed mechanism, particularly in regard to the issues of Peace and Security and Jammu and Kashmir,” said an official. Indian agreement to discuss the issue of Jammu and Kashmir would not represent any sign of flexibility if any change in the constitutional position of the State is ruled out, Lord Avebury, Chairman British Parliamentary Human Rights Group and member of the House of Lords has said.  Addressing a gathering of about 20,000 delegates at the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Chicago Lord Avebury proposed a 7 point minimal agenda for the people of Kashmir and the governments of India and Pakistan which he believed would be practicable to sent in motion a process for resolution of the Kashmir issue. September 9: The visiting four-member Swiss parliamentary delegation promised to raise the issue of Kashmir in Swiss parliament.  The assurance came as the visiting delegation of the Swiss parliamentarians led by the Deputy Speaker of the Swiss parliament held a meeting with Convener of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Syed Yousaf Naseem. September 10: Lt Gen Krishan Pal, in an exclusive interview with an Indian daily The Hindu said, “I believe that as long as the State police is not fully prepared to take control, the Army and para-military forces should not go back to the barracks.”  He said though the Special Operation Group of the IHK police, its recently floated Intelligence Field Unit (IFU), were doing a good job in taking on militancy, the time was not yet ripe for replacing the Army and other forces. September 14: The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has called upon the US President and the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to take steps, during their forthcoming meetings in New York, conducive to finding a peaceful, equitable, honourable, democratic and permanent solution to the Kashmir issue.  This demand was made in a joint letter sent by JKLF chairman Amanullah Khan to US President Bill Clinton, Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif. September 17: On the second day of third round of Foreign Secretary-level talks, the two sides continued the diplomatic efforts to “operationalise mechanism” for future ‘structured dialogue’ on all outstanding issues.  However, the Indian side is still adamant on not forming a working group on issue of Kashmir.  The two sides held two informal sessions in which different matters relating to the formation of mechanism of future talks came under the discussion.  There seems to be no forward movement on the issue of formation of working group on Kashmir as the Indian side is insisting on its interpretation of the joint statement issued at the conclusion of second round of talks.  Though the Indians have agreed that the Kashmir issue could be dealt with at Foreign Secretaries level.  However, they are opposed to any kind of structured dialogue on Kashmir.  Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad raised the issue of violation of Line of Control (LoC) by Indian Army in the months of August and September when the civilian population of Azad Kashmir was heavily bombed.  Shamshad Ahmad held a long meeting with Indian Prime Minister Inder Gujral in which issues relating to Kashmir problem were discussed in detail.  Indian Prime Minister Inder Gujral was briefed by the Foreign Secretary about the talks and the way in which they are moving. September 18: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan said that the third round of bilateral talks between Pakistan and India has remained inconclusive because the Indian side has resiled from the agreement set out in Islamabad’s joint statement of June 23 this year.  Talking to the newsmen on his arrival from the Indian capital after three days visit, he said Pakistan could not compromise on its principled position with regard to the Jammu and Kashmir issue which lies at the heart of all problems. September 19: Eleven civilians were killed in a battle between troops and Muslim freedom fighters in the Indian-held state of Kashmir. September 21: Democrat Senator Tim Johnson from South Dakota has welcomed President Clinton’s meetings with prime ministers of Pakistan and India and urged the US to play more assertive role in resolving Kashmir dispute.  He also supported right of self-determination of Kashmiri people as the basis of any solution to the problem which caused three wars between India and Pakistan.  Indian troops shot dead 22 Muslim fighters in the Himalayan state of Kashmir, the military said.  Sixteen of them were killed in a fierce firefight at Berwa woods in central Kashmir, an army spokesman said. September 22: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in a milestone address to the UN General Assembly said that Pakistan has taken an important initiative to bring about peace in South Asia for which India’s cooperation is essential, and the key to which is solution of the longstanding Kashmir dispute.  This, he said, can be done only by giving the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris which is their right under the United Nations-passed resolutions. September 23: In their second meeting this year, at St Regis Hotel Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart IK Gujral failed to find a way out of the impasse on the Kashmir issue that mars ties between the two countries.  The prime minister told Gujral that it would be extremely difficult to resolve other outstanding matters unless there is a discernible movement forward on the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. September 24: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan would welcome third party mediation in Kashmir dispute and it was with this intention that he had asked the US President to pay more attention to the situation in South Asia.  The Prime Minister said this while addressing a press conference at Hotel Roosevelt.  He said American involvement in issues and disputes in South Asia will help break deadlocks just as they had done in the cast of Middle East peace process.  It will be welcomed by the countries of the region, he added. September 27: India has directed the state government in held Jammu and Kashmir to extend the life of two special laws, giving a free hand and immunity to the armed forces, by a bother one year.  The laws – the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act were promulgated way back in 1990 and were expiring in early October. September 30: The leader of the visiting French Parliamentary delegation Senator Andre Egu has voiced unequivocal support to the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.  He said they “should be given right to self-determination through application of United Nations resolutions”. October 2: The United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright expressed “strong hope that long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan should be resolved soon” and reiterated American offer to “help in resolving the dispute at the request of both parties.” October 3: A resolution has been introduced in the US House of Representatives seeking to “impartially ascertain” the future status of Jammu and Kashmir.  The resolution, moved by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, was submitted on Sept 30 and has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee headed by Rep Benjamin Gilman. October 4: Tension is intensifying in Held Kashmir and a fierce fighting between freedom fighters and Indian forces continue and 36 Indian forces have been killed as freedom fighters have escalated their military operations against Indian brutal forces in held Valley. October 6: More Kashmiri civilians have died during fighting in the occupied Himalayan region this year than Indian soldiers and Muslim guerillas a spokesman said.  Spokesman Kulbushan Jindiyal added, however, that there had been a decline in killing in 1997 compared to the previous year.  He claimed 1,536 civilians died in the nine months up to September 1997, while 130 soldiers and 170 guerillas lost their lives.  In the first nine months of 1996, civilian casualties totalled 2,284, soldiers 125 and militants 128. October 7: Ignoring American pressures, the UN Secretary General has proposed an allocation of 10 million dollars from the regular budget for the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), according to a UN official. October 8: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for redemption of the pledge made by the international community through several UN resolutions for according the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.  Presenting a vote of thanks to Queen Elizabeth for addressing the parliament, he expressed concern at the mounting tension over Kashmir.  Underscoring the need for establishing permanent peace and stability for the economic development of the region, he regretted that true peace had been a stranger to South Asia. October 9: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, during his meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan offered to help in finding a “just solution” of Jammu and Kashmir, recognising the Kashmir dispute as “the main stumbling Pakistan-India relations and in the interest of regional and global peace and security.  New Delhi warned Britain not to try to mediate in Kashmir dispute.  A government spokesman said India had “no use for the offer of good offices and or mediation by third parties” over Kashmir dispute.  The warning followed British offers to try to help solve the ongoing dispute.  The government dispelled all impressions that Pakistan was in any way linked with either of the two Kashmiri organisations – Harkatul Ansar or Al-Faran Group.  “All resistance movements are being operated within Indian held Kashmir where they are fighting for their right to self-determination,” a Foreign Office spokesman told media-persons.  A high level study group on Kashmir comprising influential American academicians has recommended downgrading of the United Nations’ role and emphasised on bilateral discussion between India and Pakistan to resolve the issue.  In a report the group called for association of the representatives of Kashmir in talks on the future of the state and a clear commitment by all armed militant and counter-militant groups to eschew violence and participate constructively in political dialogue. October 10: Chairman of the All Parties Parliamentary Committee of the House of Commons on Kashmir, Roger Godsiff, has said that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should be given time to see that there is any possibility of convincing the Indian government to resolve the disputed Kashmir issue through a dialogue. October 11: Pakistan raised the issue of right to self-determination of the people of occupied Kashmir in the United Nations during deliberations of the De-colonisation and Political Committee.  In a strong statement during the debate, chairman Foreign Relations Committee of the National Assembly, Mian Abdul Waheed, expressed concern over the failure of the international community in realising the inalienable right of the Kashmiri people who are under occupation of India. October 12: Furious anti-India demonstration was sparked by desecration of the historic Jamia Mosque in Srinagar by Indian troops.  The troops besieged the mosque, entered it with boots-on and carried out extensive search for three hours.  Curfew-like situation prevailed in the entire area due to the military siege. October 13: Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud Al-Faisal has said that conflict between Pakistan and Indian over Jammu and Kashmir will remain a source of tension and instability in relations between the two neighbouring countries.  “The Saudi government welcomes the desire recently expressed by the leadership of both the countries towards resuming their dialogue on this issue,” he said in a statement to the UN General Assembly. October 14: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has expressed doubts over the efficacy of the Gujral doctrine, saying, if the holding of talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif means anything, it's high time there was some response (from Islamabad).  Farooq Abdullah was also sceptical about the impact of the US declaring the Harkatul Ansar as a terrorist organisation.  I hope the US means business.  The time has come to declare Pakistan as a terrorist State”, he emphasised, adding that great powers now must realise what they should do about Pakistan. October 18: Indian government has decided to pull out some of its army units and the Border Security Force (BSF) from Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag and other towns in South and North Kashmir, reports an Indian daily, “The Tribune”.  The move coincides with the extension of the two draconian laws, the Disturbed Area Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act by the so-called Legislative Assembly in Indian-held Kashmir.  These acts were originally promulgated in 1990.  According to an Indian defence spokesman, “the philosophy for the withdrawal of army from some selected areas has been evolved at the Unified Headquarters”. October 19: Strike cripples life in occupied Kashmir on the occasion of the visit of Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral to Srinagar bazars, and business centres were closed while transport remained off the road.  People took out protest demonstrations at many places in Srinagar and elsewhere in the valley and shouted anti-India slogans.  The occupation troops, on the occasion, restored to brutal lathi-charge and teargas shelling to quell them, resulting in injuries to dozens of people. October 23: AJK Prime Minister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry has drawn the US attention to India’s bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council saying it would be a betrayal of the principles” on which the United Nations was founded.  In a letter to the US Congressmen, the Barrister writes: “How can India even begin to be considered worthy of a permanent place in the Security Council when it has been in violation of the Charter of the United Nations to which it is a signatory”.  Citing Kashmir issue as a longstanding problem in South Asia, a senior US official said that the United States would lend its assistance for the resolution of the problems in this region on the request of the parties involved.  “We will lend our assistance when and where we can, at the request of the parties involved,” US Assistant Secretary of State Kari Inderfurth told House International Sub-committee on the Near East and South Asia. October 24: It was really a massive demonstration of solidarity and commitment with the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle in the form of about an overall 625-km-long human chain that was staged along the Line of Control (LoC) up to Wahga border near Lahore. November 15: Nine people were injured in a hand-grenade attack in Srinagar, in the troubled state of Kashmir, where Indian President KR Narayanan arrived earlier in the day for a function, the police said.  Four policemen and five civilians were injured in the attack in the city’s Batmaloo district, four kilometres (2.5 miles) away from a state complex where Narayanan had chaired a university function, they said. November 19: The US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has said that Kashmir was of personal interest to her as her father was a member of the first UN Observers team on Kashmir when she was a child.  “Personally I want the conflict to end”, she said while talking to a group of Parliamentarians.  Albright reiterated that she was personally interested to see the end of Kashmir problem since her father Joseph Korbe was deeply involved in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute four decades ago. December 1: Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Occupied Kashmir, said former Pakistani prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had conceded to the plan of division of Kashmir and converting of Line of Control into a permanent border between India and Pakistan.  In a special interview with the Star TV, Farooq Abdullah said consensus had evolved in the question of Kashmir between the then Pakistani prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his Indian counter-part, Indira Gandhi, in the course of Simla parleys.  He said both the leaders had agreed to convert the Line of Control, dividing both parts of Kashmir, into a permanent border between the two countries. December 3: The 70-odd-page report features such eminent personages as former ambassadors Robert Oaklay, Howard B. Schaffer, Professors Leo Rose and Robert G. Wirsing.  Whereas the report hardly makes a dramatic departure from the conventional wisdom on the dispute and its final solution, it does underscore India’s obduracy against Pakistan’s readiness for a somewhat modified but fair solution of the long-festering dispute.  The report speaks pointedly of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ‘moderation and pragmatism’, above all his ‘suitability for dialogue’, and his ‘earnestness and determination to succeed at it …’ December 10: The United Nations has expressed deep concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in the held Jammu and Kashmir.  Talking to a two-member All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) delegation at the UN mission the Acting Resident Co-ordination in India Mr. B.S. Aguirea said the World Body is closely monitoring the situation in the held state and is aware about its duties. December 14: Giving the details of Indian atrocities and gross and systematic violation of human rights in Kashmir, a spokesman for the All Parties Hurriyat Conference said in Srinagar that 184 people had been killed, including 21 in custody, in November last. December 15: Labour MP Muhammad Sarwar has called upon the United States and Britain to play an active role in resolving the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.  The Pakistan-born MP who was elected to the House of Commons from Glasgow on the ruling Labour Party ticket told a gathering that the United States should play its role for its own economic interests in the region while Britain has a role to play as a former colonial power. December 18: In occupied Kashmir, masses strongly denounced the Indian security forces and the occupation administration for starting the fire which burnt the Shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan.  According to voice of America, when a Tehsildar reached the site, the agitated people besieged him and blamed that the incident occurred owing to negligence of the occupation authorities and its fire service.  The BBC said, the Dargah could have been saved if the administration had taken timely steps.  The radio said, the local people say the administration did not take appropriate steps to extinguish the fire, according to Radio Tehran, people rushed to extinguish the fires but they were fired upon by troops and the structure of the Shrine got burnt. December 21: Freedom House, a New York-based organisation, described Indian occupied Kashmir as being a ‘worst of the worst’ case scenario in repression.  In its annual report the Freedom House, established by Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Wilkie in 1941, for the promotion of liberty and democracy, characterised the Kashmiri territory under Indian occupation as being “worst of the worst,” where basic human and political rights were denied to the people. December 30: Two All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders in a joint statement in Srinagar held Farooq Abdullah regime responsible for the conspiracy to burn the shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan under a pre-medicated plan of the Indian authorities.   1998 January 3: The creation of an Indian-puppet regime in occupied Kashmir "did not translate into improved human rights conditions", says the Human Rights Watch report, issued in December 1997.  The report said a fact-finding mission "documented a large number of extra-judicial executions that had occurred in the year since Farooq Abdullah's government took power."  The report cited examples of killings by the special operations group (SOG) and cited the collaboration of Indian-sponsored terrorist units in such operations. January 5: Kashmiris throughout the world and across the Line of Control, as well as in Pakistan held rallies to observe the Self-Determination Day for drawing global attention towards resolution of the lingering problem.  On this day, in 1949 the United Nation's Commission for India and Pakistan had adopted a unanimous resolution accepting the right of self-determination for Kashmiris. January 6: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has announced to boycott the forthcoming elections to Indian Lok Sabha in occupied Kashmir.  A decision to this affect was taken at a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the APHC in Srinagar. January 8: The Indian troops desecrated the shrine of Baba Daud Khaki at Batmaloo in Srinagar and ransacked sacred relics. January 11: India will move 250 additional companies of paramilitary forces into held Kashmir in the name of upcoming election duties next month. January 15: Though Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart IK Gujral during their meeting here could not make any breakthrough, the foreign secretaries of the two countries agreed to revive secretary level talks afresh to end the deadlock.  Apart from the question of deadlock, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raised the question of continued repression by Indian security forces in occupied Kashmir and question of repeated violations of Line of Control (LoC) by the Indian forces and that this should be ended, said the Foreign Secretary. January 24: Seven Indian troops were killed in fresh clashes with Kashmiri freedom fighters in held Kashmir.  More than six troops were killed when freedom fighters attacked a military camp in Budgam area.  A spokesman for the Mujahideen claimed to have either killed 12 Indian soldiers or injured in attack on a military camp in Bandipura area.  According to Indian Express, the Mujahideen defied the Indian besieging troops in Keshwan in Doda district, killing an army officer and injuring many others.  The freedom fighters made good their escape. Pakistan is forcefully pursuing the Kashmir policy and there will be no diversion in its consistent policy towards the long standing issue, no matter what type of the government comes to power in India.  The views came from the two federal ministers Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Abdul Majeed Malik, in a seminar on "Indian election 1998", organised by the Institute of Regional Studies.  The talk focused on the impact of the forthcoming Indian election, on Pakistan and the region.  Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif who is in Makkah had detailed discussions with King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on bilateral relations, regional and international issues.  The Prime Minister briefed King Fahd on Indo-Pakistan relations as well as the situation in Occupied Kashmir.  There was a complete identity of views on various issues.  The Saudi King expressed support for Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. January 26: In Occupied Kashmir, Black Day was observed on the occasion of Indian Republic Day marked by paralysing strike and extraordinary security measures.  Government and semi-government offices were closed and transport kept off the road.  The roads in Srinagar gave a deserted look.  There was no movement other than that of the troops.  Twenty-three Hindus were massacred and their bodies mutilated in a village in the Indian held Kashmir where they were said to be living with the Muslims like brothers and sisters.  The killings took place shortly before midnight at Vandhama on the eve of India's Republic Day. January 28: Indian Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral blamed Pakistan for backing Muslim militants accused of killing 23 Hindus in the disputed state of Kashmir at the weekend.  Gujral branded the killings "barbaric and terrorist acts", adding they were carried out "at the behest of the people living across the border".  The US government has condemned the killing of Hindus in Indian held Kashmir as hundreds of Hindus protested in Delhi against the massacre.  The US State Department spokesman in his statement said "On the night of January 25, 23 members of the Kashmiri Pandit Community were murdered in their homes by unidentified terrorists in a village near the state capital of Srinagar.  According to the reports, citing the lone survivor a 12-year-old boy, a group of armed men entered his family's house asking for tea then opened fire on his family and their neighbours.  Among the dead are all Hindus 10 women, nine men and four children.  No group has claimed responsibility for the attack". Hindus have called for a homeland within Indian-administered Kashmir in the wake of a string of killings, officials said.  The call came as Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral visited the site of the latest incident in the troubled state, branding the killings as "cowardly act". January 29: The Foreign Office condemned Indian Premier Inder Kumar Gujral's statement blaming Pakistan for backing Muslim militants accused of killing 23 Hindus in Kashmir.  "It is highly regrettable that Prime Minister IK Gujral should have pointed a finger across the border," a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. February 1: Prime Minister briefed the UN Secretary General about his efforts to try to defuse tension in South Asia and his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Gujral.  However, Nawaz expressed concern that despite Pakistan's best efforts, Indian continued to show intransigence over the issue of Kashmir.  He asked Kofi Annan to ensure the implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir. The US State Department has confirmed widespread killings, abductions and abuses by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, saying government forces, numbering between 350,000 and 400,000 continue to commit serious violations of humanitarian law in the disputed state. February 3: Pakistan has told the United Nations and the United States that there should be no discrimination in the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and UN resolution on Kashmir should be implemented in the same manner as they were considering to get the Iraq resolution implemented, a spokesman for Pakistan said.  Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral cancelled his scheduled "official" visit of Kishtwar Town of the held Kashmir in view of strong resistance by the Kashmiri people and the severe tension in Kishtwar and adjoining areas where nine innocent Muslim protesters were killed by the Indian occupying troops on the holy day of Eid, says a report. February 4: Federal Minister for Information Mushahid Hussain Syed predicted Kashmir liberation movement's success in the next five years.  "The historical process cannot be reversed and the Kashmiris who had been forced to take up arms to protect themselves against brutal Indian repression will not sit in peace till they achieve their long-cherished right to self-determination," he added.  Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest the killing of yet another Muslim by Indian troops in held Kashmir.  More than 6,000 Muslims shouting slogans for freedom and condemning Indian atrocities in the held Valley, poured on to the streets of Pampore, 10 kilometres south of Srinagar.  All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) accused New Delhi for having unleashed a reign of terror in the Held Jammu and Kashmir.  "Brutal Oppression and communalising the situation are the main ingredients of New Delhi's Kashmir policy, "said the Kashmiri leaders at a press conference in Srinagar at the APHC headquarters. February 5: The entire Pakistani nation expressed its solidarity with the Kashmiris brethren making it clear to India and the Western countries that it will stand by them through thick and thin and never leave them in the lurch.  All the government, private offices and educational institutions remained closed.  Businesses remained partially opened and a thin traffic plied on the roads. February 8: The executive committee of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, at its meeting presided over the chairman Mir Waiz Umar Farooq, has expressed grave concern over the formation of secret force "Kashaf commandos" by the Indian forces to sabotage the Kashmiris' liberation movement.  The newly raised force has set forth a nefarious agenda of creating dissension among the rank and files of the Kashmiri Mujahideen and subverting communal peace by killing Hindu minority in Muslim majority areas and then putting blame on the Mujahideen. February 9: Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said "Pakistan-sponsored terrorism" would be wiped out from the troubled Himalayan region of Kashmir.  Addressing villagers in Kishtwar district where nine Muslims were killed by Indian troops on the occasion of Eid, he alleged that Pakistan was "infiltrating militants" in Kashmir. February 11: Occupied Kashmir could plunge into revolt "if the autonomy it enjoys" is stripped, the leader of occupied Kashmir said. February 20: Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral is hopeful that the next round of Indo-Pakistan secretary level talks will start soon and it will cover all the eight points agreed to at the Islamabad meeting in June last year.  In an exclusive interview with NNI at his sprawling official residence here, Gujral said that during his meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Dhaka "we again tried to smoothen the path".  Replying to a question that what was the major hurdle in continuation of talks, Gujral said it is very easy to blame the other side but as a matter of fact Pakistan deviated from the agreed formula.  "After the Male meeting we had formulate eight points and it was agreed to continue with it…"  But, Gujral said, that suddenly a new formulation came from Pakistan that the first point that related to Kashmir be discussed first.  He said he wants to make it clear that Kashmir will not be discussed first.  "It is not possible … will not be in the possibility". February 22: Information Minister Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the government would continue to project and promote the issue of Kashmir and further strengthen national consensus in this regard.  "It is because of our efforts that the Kashmir issue has been revived internationally and statements and offers of mediation have emanated from US President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders on the Kashmir question," said Mushahid. February 25: Sixteen people, including seven Indian soldiers, were gunned down in renewed fierce street clashes in various parts of the troubled Indian-held Kashmir where Kashmiris have launched armed freedom struggle for the liberation of their homeland from Indian clutches.  An official spokesman said in Srinagar that two Indian soldiers and three Kashmiri freedom fighters were killed during a street armed battle at Nagia Heera Mandi in Poonch district. February 26: India either arrested the top ranking leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference or confined them to their houses three days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the held Valley. February 28: Voters stayed off the snow-covered streets while police confronted stone-throwing protesters trying to enforce the boycott of Indian Lok Sabha election in the Indian occupied Kashmir.  Three persons including two children were killed and 12 others abducted in poll-related violence.  Witnesses said shops, businesses, offices and schools remained shut and the streets deserted for the second consecutive day. Kashmiris living in Britain held a demonstration outside the Indian High Commission against the holding of farcical elections in Kashmir for Indian's six parliamentary seats. March 5: The government and the people of Iran want that the people of Kashmir should be given their legitimate right for self-determination, writes Iranian eveninger, "Resalat" and morninger "Jamhouri-Islami" in two identical reports.  According to the papers, February 5 was declared the day of solidarity with the people of Kashmir in Iran.  This day provides an opportunity to focus on right to self-determination, which was promised to both India and Pakistan, the dailies pointed out. March 8: Directly or indirectly it would be safe to assume that the lives of over 50,000 women have been affected by the atrocities of the armed forces in held Kashmir since 1990. Amnesty International, various NGOs and human rights organisations have documented incidents of gang-rape of young girls and grand-mothers alike; abduction of women by military and paramilitary forces and sexual abuse of women sometimes in the presence of male family members is used as a weapon of war.  In the majority of cases, no investigation takes place.  Rape by security personnel is a gross violation of international human rights and humanitarian law. Counting of votes in Indian occupied Kashmir was disrupted following clashes between supporters of two rival political parties.  Election Commission officials suspended counting in the summer capital of Srinagar for more than two hours after Hindu nationalists clashed with the ruling National Conference workers at the counting centre, police said. March 10: Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Umar Farooq has termed BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee's threat to take back Azad Kashmir as well from Pakistan as an election stunt saying that such statements will have no impact on the freedom movement in Indian-occupied Kashmir.  "Kashmiris are to get their right of self-determination and we do not think that it will subside unless the BJP and other parties respect our sentiments", he said while talking to Voice of Germany. March 12: Corps Commander of the Indian Occupation forces in held Kashmir, Lt Gen Krishan Pal, has said that there is no military solution to the Kashmir issue.  In an interview with the Indian Express Gen Pal, confessed that the Indian army is facing assorted problems in the held Kashmir. March 16: India has resorted to Press censorship to bar journalists from visiting occupied Kashmir and have beaten them to hide its human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.  Indian security forces in various places in held Kashmir have harassed and attacked journalists in its efforts to stop them from covering activities of the freedom movement leaders, said a bi-monthly Magazine.  "The Index on Censorship", published from London. March 19: The Jammu and Kashmir State Governor, KV Krishna Rao, has finally confessed that Indian forces were responsible for massacre of Kashmiri people on several occasions and that he felt deeply for these human rights violations.  Krishna Rao was speaking at a function organised by the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) which was also attended by the Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. March 20: The chairman of National Assembly Kashmir Committee, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, appealed to UN Human Rights Commission to constitute a committee to probe human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.  Addressing a session of UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, he said, the commission should take serious notice of Indian suppression in occupied Kashmir, "Indians are directly responsible for the brutal orgy of death and destruction being played about in the Valley.  Needless to emphasise that life of a Kashmiri is equally precious as any other human life in any part of the globe.  The young and old people are still being killed mercilessly. March 21: All Parties Hurriyat Conference Kashmir Bar Association have expressed concern over the grave situation in Doda district and held Indian forces responsible for collective killing of Muslims.' March 24: President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar has said unresolved issue of Kashmir and India's stubborn attitude refusing all proposals as well as efforts to bring the problem to an end poses a serious threat to peace and security in South Asia. Recently erupted Hindu-Muslim clashes in Indian-held Kashmir reached in the so-called Legislative Assembly of the State when the "house" witnesses Pandemonium following hooliganism and violence demonstration. Britain's shadow foreign secretary Michael Howard has called upon India and Pakistan to sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and resolve the Kashmir dispute through bilateral negotiations.  However, he asserted that any agreement on Kashmir must enjoy the support of the Kashmiri people.  Making a policy statement on Kashmir issue on behalf of a opposition Tory Party, Mr Howard told a gathering of UK-based Kashmiris in one of the committee rooms of the House of Commons that his party viewed with concern the increasing tension between the two countries in that region. March 25: Pakistan-born British MP, Mr. Mohammad Sarwar, criticised the West for adopting "double standards" in the implementation of United Nations resolutions and urged the Western countries to show the same enthusiasm in getting implemented the UN resolution on Kashmir as they had shown in the case of Iraq. Following the footsteps of his late father, Sheikh Abdullah, Held Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has decided to support the Nationalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre in New Delhi.  This has been vehemently opposed and criticised by Farooq's close aide, Prof Asifuddin Soz a member of the Indian parliament.  Soz asked "Can Farooq assure his people that BJP shall not pursue its communal policies?" "The silence, inaction and passivity of the United Nations over the genocide in Kashmir have given a sense of impunity to the Indian occupation regime there," said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the Kashmir American Council (KAC). March 27: Information Minister Mushahid Hussain Sayed reiterated PML Government's unflinching commitment to Kashmir cause, declaring it central to both Pakistan's security and region's stability. March 28: Indian troops killed 793 civilians, including 410 in custody in occupied Kashmir and blasted 706 houses in 1997, according to data released by Kashmir Bar Association.  Meanwhile, the Human Rights Seminar in Srinagar has adopted four resolutions, describing Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed area. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee pledged to pursue a 'right environment' for talks with Pakistan.  But Vajpayee said it was up to Pakistan to 'keep Kashmir apart' and stick to trade negotiations if progress was to be made.  'Doors are open for talks, apart from Kashmir, like trade and co-operation in other areas.  We can fulfil each others needs,' he said. March 31: A team of the Kashmir Bar Association (KBA) who toured various prisons to ascertain the condition of Kashmiri detainees outside Kashmir reported a flagrant abuse of the human rights of Kashmiri youths. April 1: A leader of the AJK People's Party, Ch Maqbool Raza, has criticised Indian prime minister's suggestion of excluding Kashmir dispute from talks with Pakistan.  In a statement Ch Maqbool Raza said the BJP's posture will backfire and precipitate the inevitable break up of the so-called secular India. April 2: India's new Hindu nationalist government accused Pakistan of helping Muslim separatists in Kashmir and warned it was prepared to reply to the "proxy war" in the Himalayan region.  Defence Minister George Fernandes, during a visit to India's strifetorn far eastern region, argued that he had evidence to back his accusations. Announcement by the puppet chief minister of Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir to retire from politics after his present term has been described by him to bolster his sagging popularity.  According to media reports he told the so-called "state assembly" that he wanted to attend to his family life after going into retirement and asked his party MLAs to start looking for a new leader. April 7: The Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has reiterated his country's support for negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute and expressed concern about regional security in South Asia, including Kashmir. April 10: The United States would urge Pakistan and India to "go the extra mile" and hold a dialogue on Kashmir and other issues so as to halt the nuclear missile race in the region, spurred by recent developments.  This was stated by the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, on the eve of his departure for South Asia as President Clinton's special envoy. April 13: The Director of the French Institute of Higher Studies for Defence Affairs, General Janvier, said that France supported a peaceful resolution of the disputes between India and Pakistan through bilateral talks and in accordance with the UN resolutions. April 14: An international seminar on Involuntary or Enforced Disappearances highlighted the grave human rights situation in Indian held Kashmir where 10,000 people have disappeared in an indigenous uprising and the families of the disappeared continue to live in a tormented state.  "It is terrible predicament for a family to lose a member and not know where he or she is – and in held Kashmir – where acts of repression go unabated – people continues to disappear, "Gerald Kaufmann, a British MP said. April 15: The OIC Contact Group adopted a memorandum, condemning the inhuman atrocities in Held Jammu and Kashmir, rejecting the farcical elections and calling for a settlement of the dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions.  The Organisation of Islamic Conference adopted the memorandum as a human rights document at the 4th session of the US Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.  The memorandum, expressing the resolve of the Kashmiri people to continue their struggle for their fundamental right to self-determination, was presented by the representatives of the Kashmiris including APHC leaders from Indian held Kashmir and Azad Kashmir. The European Union condemned the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, urging New Delhi to allow international and non-governmental organisations into the disputed territory.  "We remain concerned about the continuing violations of human rights (in Kashmir) and EU condemns all human rights abuses and acts of violence, "ambassador Audery Glover, head of the delegation of the United Kingdom said in a statement on behalf of the European Union. The EU, in its statement at the 54th session of the Commission on Human Rights, called for allowing access to international organisations as well as NGOs into Kashmir. April 16: The US Army Chief, Gen Dennis J Reimer, has arrived in the Indian occupied Kashmir to talk with military officials about tensions between India and Pakistan.  Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes has said India will use every option to settle the Kashmir issue, but was against internationalising it.  "Indian will not accept any move from any quarter to internationalise the Kashmir issue and will use every option open to it to settle the same," Fernandes said. Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes has said, "India will use every option to settle the Kashmir issue."  "India will not accept any move from any quarter to internationalise the Kashmir issue and will use every option open to it to settle the same."  The Indian Minister had said it might not be appropriate to describe Kashmir as an "internal issue" although Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India. April 18: The bullet-riddled body of a Kashmiri leader, wanted by police for nine years, was found on the street of a Srinagar neighbourhood, witnesses said.  Police confirmed the death of S. Hameed, a leader of the Peoples' League party, one of the several groups fighting security forces for independence of the northern territory of Kashmir.  Officials refused to comment on the killing. April 19: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) gave a call for a two-day strike in occupied Kashmir to protest the death in custody of the chief of the People's League, Mr. S. Hameed, and burning of a village in Shopian.  At least 19 Hindus were shot dead in their beds in a remote village of occupied Kashmir. April 21: Talks between India and Pakistan to end 50 years of hostility should include Islamabad's alleged support for insurgent groups in India, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani was quoted as saying.  Advani told the Times of India that India "should have to illusions about our neighbour's approach," and future dialogue should "take cognizance of what Pakistan has been doing over the years."  The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has appealed to the UN Commission on Human Rights to urgently address the human rights violations of Kashmiri children who are passing through tragic times at the hands of Indian occupation forces.  An IPB representative condemned the torture, arbitrary arrest and detention of children as young as 10-year-old, and molestation and rape of girls as young as 9-year-old by the Indian forces in a statement at the 54th session of the commission. April 22: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government appointed former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Chief Girsh Saxena as Governor of held Jammu and Kashmir.  The appointment has been resented by human rights activists and intellectuals who were demanding that a senior political person having close affinity with the State be sent as Governor to strike a chord with the alienated people. Pakistan categorically rejected the baseless allegations levelled by the Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani, accusing Pakistan of support to militancy in Indian held Kashmir.  "This utterly unacceptable accusation and the accompanying threat has been made heedlessly and without regard to reality or its adverse impact on bilateral relations," the spokesman of the Foreign office said. A spate of canvassing by NGOs at the 54th session of UN Human Rights Commission drew a concerning response of the international community to the grave human rights in Indian occupied Kashmir. The NGOs, comprising genuine Kashmiri representatives from Indian held Kashmir as well as Azad Kashmir, actively portrayed to the world the predicament of a people struggling for their fundamental right to self-determination pledged by the world body about fifty years back.  Chief Minister of Indian-held Kashmir, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, has called for holding talks with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. April 23: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that a meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan must focus on Kashmir, which had been the cause of tension and conflict between the two countries.  Speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour by European Commission President Jacques Santer, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he had taken the initiative to resume dialogue with India for resolving all issues.  He said Pakistan believed that international concern, especially of the EU member countries, would help persuade India to respect the basic human rights of the Kashmir. April 25: The first working session of the SAARC Information Ministers' conference turned ugly as Pakistan and India's information ministers took on each other on the issue of Kashmir.  Mr. Mushahid took up the issue of Kashmir in his speech that irritated Indian Information Minister Sushma Sawraj.  Mr. Mushahid said that without solving the Kashmir issue, peace in South Asia would remain a distant reality.  As Sushma tried to answer back, Bangladesh's Information Minister Abu Saeed, who is also Chairman of the conference, asked her to sit down.  Saeed also did not expunge the speech's part about Kashmir issue.  He, instead, sent the matter to a committee. The first working session also approved the agenda for the conference.  In fact the speeches of Mr. Mushahid and Sushma turned out to be a dialogue of conflict.  Sushma said the world media, and some countries in particular, are giving bad name to India since the BJP took over the country's reins.  She denied that India has become a fundamentalist country, adding her country is still a secular in its outlook.  "We respect all religions", she said. April 26: The governor-designate of Indian held Jammu and Kashmir, Girsh Chandra Saxena, has said his new assignment in the "sensitive" state is crucial and assured all cooperation to the State government in its fight against militancy.  He said, "Kashmir is a special case every body's role in the sensitive state is crucial and the Governor is no exception," Saxena, who has been appointed to this post in the state for the second time.  With the new Indian Defence Minister, George Fernandes, making an airdash to Srinagar a new unified command of all the Indian forces in Kashmir is on anvil, said a senior Army commander.  Lt-Gen Krishen Pal, Security Adviser to the state government said that militancy had not died down and there was every need to combat militancy in a coordinated manner.  This ridicules claims made by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and some Indian Ministers that Kashmir had got rid of militancy and things were fast returning normalcy.  General Pal admitted that State Ministers and members of Assembly were not helping armed forces in fighting out the militants.  "In fact, we help them to protect them and their families," he said. April 27: In horrible act of suspected terrorism, 21 villagers were shot dead in their beds by unidentified assailants in a remote border village of Samanhi area of Bhimber district (Azad Kashmir).  The worst incident of its kind in the history of Azad Kashmir took place at 11.30 p.m. night at Bandala Saeeri village, barely one kilometre short of Line of Control (LoC), when 10 to 12 unidentified attackers equipped with automatic weapons burst into two adjoining houses of Kala Khan and Master Zubair and opened fire indiscriminately, killing 21 members of their families. April 28: Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan reiterated that without settlement of the core issue of Kashmir there cannot be a "meaningful relationship" with India.  Both the countries can have trade and tourism but only after the simmering Kashmir dispute is resolved.  If Indian leadership is not possible without a settlement of Kashmir issue.  India's new government is ready to hold talks with Kashmiri groups to end the eight-year-old insurgency in the region, Defence Minister George Fernandes said.  More than a dozen militant groups are fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.  "Our doors are open, we can talk to anyone," Fernandes told reporters in Udhampur, some 65 km from occupied Jammu. April 29: The held Jammu and Kashmir Governor designate Girsh Chandra Saxena admitted that normalcy was still a dream in the Held state and said that the ground situation was not yet satisfactory.  In an exclusive interview with The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt at his residence the former RAW chief, who was appointed governor to the held Jammu and Kashmir by India's new BJP led government declared that there was a message in his appointment. Asked about this attitude towards people and the armed movement demanding right to self determination, Mr. Saxena retorted "there is message in my appointment and you are wise enough to read that."  Saxena, who contributed significantly during 1971 war in the Indian operations in East Pakistan as a senior RAW official, will begin his second gubernatorial stint as governor of the troubled state.  He had earlier been the governor from 1990 to 1993 replacing infamous Jagmohan, now a BJP member of Parliament.  Jagmohan was shunted after the brutal assassination of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq, on May 21, 1990 and subsequent firing on the mourners' procession by the paramilitary forces.  Exactly after three years Saxena had also to depart in March 1993 after the massacre of 50 civilians most of them were roasted alive by the Indian security forces in Sopore on January 5, 1993.  Saxena was the mastermind behind infiltrating criminals in the ranks of freedom fighters and later organising counter-militant groups.  Most of the analysts believe that Saxena turned situation significantly in favour of India during his earlier tenure by strengthening intelligence network and giving free hand to armed civilian gangs actively supported by the security forces.  Saxena told The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt, that something effective needs to be done against Pakistan "which is abating terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir."  He suggested that India should launch a publicity blitzkrieg against Islamabad in the world capitals "exposing its involvement in inspiring training and equipping the militants."  The new governor outlined his role as supportive to the "civilian government" led by Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah.  He declared a pro-active governor and would advice the state government and others handling the situation. May 3: A Hindu nationalist leader said Pakistan should be "brought to its knees" if it continued to "spread terror" in India.  Khushabhau Thakre, new president of the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian People's Party) which is at the head of a coalition government, said "Pakistan has been able to make deep roads into India.  "From Kashmir to the northeast, from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has built up an elaborate network to spread terror", Thakre told BJP members at the western city of Gandhinagar.  Occupied Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah in his first outburst against the Indian Army and paramilitary forces deployed in held Kashmir accused them of being "corrupt".  Without using the specific term, Chief Minister referred to the recovery of ten huge anti-aircraft guns by the forces in western Kashmir last week. May 5: Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani has said it was impossible now to think of an "Akhand Bharat" visualising merger of India and Pakistan because of Islamabad's role in instigating terrorism, putting India's security in jeopardy.  Referring to the "Akhand Bharat" (undivided India) concept talked about much in the days of late BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, he told the BJP national council session here that some years ago the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh had favoured it thinking that people of the same stock" could come together one day, PTI said.  The PTI report mentioned "Advani as saying that in the present situation, it was just impossible, may even by difficult to think of it, because of Pakistan's role in abetting terrorism and putting our security in jeopardy. Poonch area in occupied Kashmir has been put under military siege where terror has been unleashed by Indian troops. The reports said additional troops reinforcement has been sent to the area to tighten siege.  The siege and search operation, marked by violence, is continuing in the area.  However, details are not available due to military blockade. May 6: An unofficial delegation of American academics is touring India and Pakistan to strike out an "amicable solution to the Kashmir problem."  The delegation has been commissioned by the US based non-governmental organisation (NGO) 'Kashmir Study Group' to acquire a sampling of opinion in the two countries with regard to the current status of the Kashmir dispute and also to prepare ground for an "Oslo type" dialogue between Indian and Pakistan. May 8: Information Minister Mushahid Hussain Sayed rejected the Indian allegation that Pakistan is sponsoring the freedom movement in held Kashmir.  "Not at all – the Kashmir uprising is a popular, spontaneous and indigenous uprising since the 1989, we are just giving them moral, political and diplomatic support," he told CNN in an interview from London.  The minister said, Pakistan did not start the uprising and we cannot stop it.  "It is the Indian occupation army which is crushing the uprising through 70,000 troops – the highest civilian-soldier ratio in modern warfare – so the fault lies with India, they got to stop their suppression of human rights in Kashmir." May 9: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani accused Pakistan of trying to "cleanse" the state of Kashmir by killing Hindus.  Advani, number two in the new government, and outgoing chief of Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Party, alleged in the pioneer newspaper that Pakistani-trained 'militants' were killing Hindus in the southern Jammu region. May 18: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani warned Pakistan that last week's decision to test five nuclear bombs showed India would take a tough stance over Kashmir.  'Islamabad should realise the change in the geostrategic situation in the region and the world (and) roll back its anti-Indian policy, especially with regard to Kashmir,' Advani told reporters.  'India's bold and decisive step to become a nuclear weapons state has brought about a qualitatively new stage in Indo-Pakistan relations, particularly in finding a solution to the Kashmir problem. May 19: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took a strong exception to the Indian threats of undertaking an adventure in Azad Kashmir and resolved that Pakistan cannot sit back in such a situation.  "We get to take these threats and warnings seriously as India did what it said after the BJP government assumed office," said the Prime Minister, "It is again very serious."  He was talking to newsmen after inaugurating Golden Jubilee celebrations of Radio Pakistan. May 20: Undeterred by an expansive swathe of public support for India, favourable comments from a number of commentators and analysts, the US State Department's spokesman James P. Rubin kept up his daily drumbeat of criticism often resorting to derisive language.  Reacting to home minister L.K. Advani's remarks on Kashmir, Mr. Rubin volunteered to comment on it without any reporters present at the briefing asking any question on the issue.  The spokesman said Mr. Advani's remarks "urging Pakistan to back off on Kashmir – seems to indicate that India is foolishly and dangerously increasing tensions with its neighbours and is indifferent to world opinion".  He called upon New Delhi to "exercise great caution in its statements and actions at this particularly sensitive time with emotions running high".  He said that on Kashmir the United States urged both sides to respect the line of control and refrain from provocative actions, including "support for militant forces or cross border pursuit of militant forces". Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani's remark that Pakistan must realise the changed "geo-strategic situation in the region" touched off a political controversy with the Left calling it "nuclear sabre-rattling".  The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, patted its former president on the back for speaking up against Pakistan and said a "tough policy" was the only way to deal with it, The Hindu reported.  While the CPI(M) strongly criticised Advani's statement saying it could have "dangerous consequences", the BJP thought that the "warning" was overdue.  There was a clear Left and Right divide at the CPI(M) and the CPI questioned Advani's attempt to link the Kashmir issue with India's new nuclear status, whereas the BJP looked pleased. May 21: India criticised the US state department's "intemperate outbursts" while reacting to Union home minister L.K. Advani's plans for countering Pakistan's proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said India was ready for a dialogue with Pakistan but the initiative would have to come from Islamabad.  Mr. Vajpayee, who addressed a press conference after inspecting the blast site in the Pokhran range, said, India was also ready for talks on the CTBT, "but before that various vital issues related to the treaty," had to be settled. Union minister for parliamentary affairs and tourism Madan Lal Khurana said India was ready to fight a fourth war with Pakistan if Pakistan wished it so.  "Pakistan wants to fight another war with us, they should tell us the place and time as we are ready for that," Mr. Khurana told reporters. India stepped up allegations that Pakistan is fighting a 'proxy war' in Kashmir, warning its arch-rival to choose 'friendship or war'.  Parliamentary Minister Madan Lal Khurana told reporters after his three-day visit to the troubled state of Kashmir that New Delhi would not tolerate the killing of its citizens.  'Islamabad will have to decide whether it wants to have friendship with India or war,' he said. India accused Pakistan of launching unprovoked attacks on its forces in Kashmir for the first time since last week's nuclear tests, and told-Islamabad to choose between "friendship and war."  Pakistan Foreign Minister said he was taking the threats 'very seriously,' but he warned that his country's nuclear programme was far superior to India's.  Indian army spokesman Brig Arun Kumar Chopra told AFP that Pakistan forces along the northwestern border in occupied Kashmir had spend fire with artillery, mortars and automatic weapons. May 22: In the wake of yet another abortive attempt to impose curbs on Kashmiris' rapidly-expanding struggle for the right of self-determination in occupied Kashmir.  India has hatched a new strategy.  The sole objective of the new strategy by New Delhi is to increase atrocities against Kashmiri people with the multiple aim of keeping the valiant freedom-loving Kashmiris abstained from practically participating in the liberation movement side by side launching massive genocide of the Kashmiri Muslims, the majority community of the disputed Himalayan state, the report said.  Even as the Vajpayee government mounted efforts to repair relations with Pakistan China, the BJP kept up the aggressive, anti-Pakistan pitch raised after the nuclear blasts.  In a strongly-worded statement, BJP vice-president and spokesman K.L. Sharma sustained the party's "war-mongering" campaign, and said if Pakistan continued its "anti-India" policy, "Pakistan should be prepared to face India's wrath".  The Congress today warned the BJP-led Government that its moves on Pakistan could lead to the "repudiation" of the Simla pact between the two countries in 1972, an eventuality which, the Congress said, must not be allowed at any cost.  The party held that Union Home Minister L.K. Advani appeared to be "quite oblivious" of all this when he and some of his colleagues spoke of "resorting to military solutions to the unfinished agenda of 1947."  The Congress said the repudiation of the Simla Agreement would lead to other avenues of resolving the bilateral dispute over Kashmir. May 23: Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Ashok Singhal said if Pakistan did not stop abetting terrorism on Indian soil, India should retaliate with an armed attack on Pakistan.  He said a war would be a better step to teach Pakistan "a lesson."  Mr. Singhal, talking to reporters here, termed the nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran as a symbol of "Hindu revivalism."  He also favoured that a "Shakti Peeth" should be built at Pokhran to mark the country's nuclear achievement. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its government are painting themselves into a corner by predicating every aspect of the bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.  The Pakistan obsession with Kashmir is today being more than matched by the BJP and its ministers. The statements on the Kashmir issue emanating from BJP ministers, especially after the nuclear tests earlier this month have taken belligerence on the issue to a war-like situation.  While the BJP has always been aggressive on Kashmir, the nuclear tests have given its stance a qualitatively different kind of volatility. In a move reflective of political equations at the very core of the BJP-led Government, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has relinquished the charge of the Department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, which reverts to Mr. L.K. Advani's Home Ministry. A Rashtrapati Bhavan press communique announced this change, which is widely seen as an endorsement of Mr. Advani's new tough, "proactive" line towards "tackling insurgency" in Kashmir.  Leaving nothing to imagination or varying interpretation as to who is calling the shots as far as Kashmir affairs are concerned.  Mr. Pramod Mahajan, political adviser to the Prime Minister, went on record that "the Prime Minister shares all views expressed by Mr. Advani on all issues." May 24: India will launch a major offensive against foreign fighters in the northern state of Kashmir. The announcement was made by Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at a military complex near the resort of Pahalgam, some 100 kilometres from Srinagar. 'There is no let-up in infiltration from across the border into Kashmir but the (Indian) government is determined to flush them out of the state, the chief minister said.  He did not elaborate on the planned offensive but said it would be aimed against Muslim fighters who have crossed into the troubled Indian zone of the Himalayan territory from other countries.  There is no official estimate of foreigners, but intelligence reports place their number at around 1,200 – a majority of them being members of the Afghan-dominated Harkatul Ansar group in Kashmir. The transfer of jurisdiction over occupied Kashmir affairs from the prime minister's office to the home ministry has triggered much speculation on a number of post-Pokhran developments.  The first of these relate to statements made by Home Minister L.K. Advani that hold out threats of retaliatory action against Pakistan if it does not "roll back" its alleged policy of sponsoring insurgency in occupied Kashmir.  The question being asked by analysts is whether this indicates the unfolding of a tougher line towards alleged infiltrations that has been followed so far and whether this would also include the government exercising its right of "hot pursuit". May 26: In Indian-held Kashmir freedom fighters clashed with troops at Keri, Rajauri area killing and injuring a number of Indian troops.  The troops also suffered a number of casualties in an encounter with the freedom fighters at Surankote, in Poonch area.  Clashes were also reported from upper areas of Rajauri and Poonch but details could not be ascertained.  The Mujahideen ambushed a military contingent at Dever in Lolab area while it was on its way to carry out crackdown there.  One soldier, Krishan Lal was critically injured.  An Indian former was shot dead at Palhaalen, in Patten area.  An Indian armed agent was killed in Islamabad area. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, now personally in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, has made it clear to his officials that the new line is hard action and no talks with the freedom fighters.  He has the full support of the state chief minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah.  Advani is against resuming the offer of talks to Hurriyat leaders.  The message that the home ministry wants to send to the state is that militancy will not be tolerated.  Advani has set up a cell under special secretary Mukund Behari Kaushal to monitor "security" in Jammu and Kashmir.  The Hurriyat leaders, who were in Delhi recently to gauge the BHP mood, have returned to Srinagar with nothing in their bag, sources said. May 30: Responding to Pakistan's nuclear tests, India has warned Islamabad against designs to annex Kashmir and affirmed that such a misadventure will be effectively repulsed.  Speaking in both Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee stressed that while India was ready for a dialogue with Pakistan, the neighbouring country should desist from harbouring any ambition to capture Kashmir.  "Pakistan should better give up the idea of snatching Kashmir on the basis of its (newly-acquired) arms," Mr. Vajpayee said. Pakistan is ready to have a non-aggression pact with India on the basis of just settlement of the Kashmir issue, said a Foreign Office spokesman Tariq Altaf.  He said: "We are interested in dialogue with India but they (Indians) had spurned the talks." Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Tariq Altaf said, has made offers in his statement that we are ready for non-aggression pact on the basis of just settlement of the Kashmir dispute. The Indian media said it was time for India and Pakistan to sit down at the negotiating table after their tit-for-tat nuclear explosions.  'Talk, don't race,' The Statesman daily told them in reference to fears of an arms race. It said both countries, which have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947, were better placed now to resume talks.  'Both the countries have addressed their nuclear angsts,' it said.  The Prime Ministers 'must take the lead in heading off hawks in their respective countries from starting the idiotic folly of an arms race.' Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called upon India to stop killing, cease tyranny and find solution of held valley besides withdrawal of military troops immediately from occupied Kashmir. Addressing a mammoth gathering at Masjid-i-Shuhada, he said that "we conducted the nuclear tests after a careful study of the scenario prevailing all over the world". May 31: Indian troops killed seven Mujahideen in Kashmir as renewed violence claimed nine more lives in the troubled state, officials said. Mujahideen killed a relative of a former Indian home minister, the police claimed, adding that a brother of the politician was also reported missing. June 2: Japan's foreign minister offered to host an international conference involving India and Pakistan in an attempt to resolve their dispute over Kashmir. Kashmir is the prime fuse to South Asian nuclear warheads, which sparked two wars between India and Pakistan, said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, executive director, Kashmir American Council.  In his letter addressed to the US Secretary of State, Dr. Madeleine Albright, Dr. Fai said: "Kashmir, at present is the most densely soldiered territory in the history of the planet featuring 700,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces brutalising a population approximately 8 million…" United States believes that the Kashmir issue has to be resolved peacefully and feels the United Nations has to take initiative in this regard.  Stating this during CNN question-answer programme, US Defence Secretary William Cohen said that the world has to focus on, "a very controversial areas (Kashmir).  He said that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called a meeting next week of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to discuss the prevailing situation following the nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan which pose threat not only to South Asia but beyond that region.  Kashmir issue will take the centre-stage at the White House and a day later in Geneva where the foreign ministers of the big-five UN Security Council members meet to discuss the South Asian nuclear crisis.  "We wouldn't be doing it if we did not think that there was at least some chance that both Pakistan and India would be receptive to that type of approach," White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.  Jammu city has been handed over to the army following powerful bomb explosions which killed at least ten persons including two soldiers, injuries to dozens of people, extensive damage to property, attack on innocent Muslims and ran sacking of the property. June 3: Russian Foreign Minister Yevgency Primakov, worried by the nuclear tests in India and Pakistan, has put forth a three point proposal which includes a possible big power intervention in settling the Kashmir issue.  Primakov's proposal, made in a speech in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, envisages signing of (CTBT) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by India and Pakistan, bilateral discussion to resolve outstanding problems between the two countries and immediate interaction among permanent members of the UN Security Council to work out common measures for curbing an arms race in South Asia.  Russian observers see his proposal as opening up the possibility of the Kashmir issue being internationalised.  The Prime Minister made it clear to the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, that India did not want any third-party mediation in resolving Indo-Pak issues while renewing his proposal for a direct and bilateral talk with Pakistan on all subjects of mutual interests.  "There is no place for any third party mediation," Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee told Dr. Kharrazi, according to statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. June 3: Pakistan has formally welcomed the Japanese proposal to host a meeting between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir issue.  The Japanese foreign minister had said in the Japanese parliament, "Kashmir problems is behind the nuclear tests".  He had also said, "it would be desirable if we can invite the countries concerned to Tokyo and find a clue to solving the years-long dispute." Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad told the Japanese ambassador at the foreign office here that Pakistan appreciated that his country had taken the lead and focused on the root-cause of the tension and the necessity to find a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute which alone could promote peace and stability in South Asia.  After the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan last month, the Kashmir issue has come out of the cold storage. Though Pakistan wants early resumption of talks with India, there are bleak chances of New Delhi agreeing to take Kashmir on the agenda for secretary level dialogue as Indian Prime Minister has said that they are ready to talk to Islamabad on every issue sans Kashmir.  The US ambassador to Pakistan, Thomas W. Simons Jr. said that nuclear tests by both India and Pakistan have not ensured their own security.  Replying to a question after delivering a talk on "Pakistan-US Relations: A Personal Perspective," organised by English Speaking Union, the envoy said US does not believe that tests have ensured security for both India and Pakistan. June 4: Bharat Ratna C Subramaniam, the architect of India's green revolution and a former Governor of Maharashtra, said India should cease to be "obstinate" about treating the Kashmir dispute as a bilateral issue and begin to seek the intervention of a neutral party to come to a final settlement, once and for all.  Speaking at the release of Rafiq Zakaria's book The Price of Partition, published by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Subramaniam said: "We cannot claim that Kashmir is not an international dispute.  It is, after all, a problem between two different nations.  We should not allow it to drift or else we will continue to pay the price of Partition in perpetuity." Tilt towards Pakistan became more apparent when Secretary Madeleine Albright and Defence Secretary William Cohen talked about internationalising the Kashmir issue.  Albright said that her country was 're-examining' the underlying political problems between India and Pakistan 'including Kashmir'.  At a separate briefing yesterday, Defence Secretary William Cohen said Kashmir "has to be on the international agenda" even while acknowledging that India objected to internationalising the issue.  "We first have to start talking about Kashmir and seeing what options are available in terms of reducing the tensions.  But as I've indicated before, India has strongly objected to any kind of international consideration of that issue.  I think it has to be on the agenda," he said. The most significant strategic outcome of detonating the nuclear devices by Pakistan is that it has put Kashmir issue on the front burner.  "The Kashmir issue has been again put on the international front," said a senior official.  With all the key international players now focusing their eyes on South Asia, Kashmir issue seems to be attracting attention of all. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Washington that "the five major powers of the world will discuss a primary irritant in Pak-India relations – Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region."  Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced to resume talks with Pakistan on all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, but refused any third party mediation.  "India is ready for a dialogue with Pakistan, including Kashmir," he said while addressing the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament). June 5: On a joint communique agreed to by the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France at a meeting in Geneva the ministers concluded that efforts to resolve disputes between India and Pakistan must be pursued with determination.  The ministers affirm their readiness to assist India and Pakistan, in a manner acceptable to both sides, in promoting reconciliation and cooperation.  The ministers pledged that they will actively encourage India and Pakistan to find mutually acceptable solutions, through direct dialogue, that address the root causes of the tension, including Kashmir, and to try to build confidence rather than seek confrontation.  In that connection, the ministers urged both parties to avoid threatening military movements, cross border violations, or other provocative acts. Welcoming the approach adopted by Big-5 towards security situation in South Asia, Pakistan has said that P-5 initiative to focus on the tension and its root-cause in South Asia – the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir – should be seen as the beginning of a process of active and contained involvement of the international community. Pakistan while expressing readiness to resume bilateral dialogue with India on the basis of Islamabad agreement said that the bilateral dialogue needs to be supplemented by a broaden multilateral process to promote durable peace and security in South Asia. India, urged by the five nuclear powers for restraint, ruled out unilateral concessions over its nuclear programme and rejected outside mediation in the dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. The external affairs ministry, reacting to the five nuclear powers call following their meeting in Geneva, reiterated New Delhi's position of demanding nuclear disarmament by all world powers. Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani is due to visit Srinagar later this month to finalise the developmental components of the recently formulated 'action plan' geared to combat the ongoing 'militancy' in the held Jammu and Kashmir. He will hold discussions with the CM Dr. Farooq Abdullah, his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials will accompany Advani. Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes told the Lok Sabha that more than 780 Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with the freedom fighters in the held valley in the last three years. Another 211 killed in the North Eastern region, where separatists were fighting for independence.  He further admitted that the casualty rate was on the rise in both the sectors. June 6: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed talks between Islamabad and New Delhi to halt the arms race on the sub-continent and urged the international community to help resolve the Kashmir issue.  He said Pakistan had always wanted meaningful talks with India and was still ready for it.  "Even today I say to Mr. Vajpayee to come forward to end the arms race in South Asia.  Let us resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions and redeem the pledge made to the Kashmiri people." The UN Security Council condemned India and Pakistan for nuclear tests, urging them to take concrete steps to avert a disastrous arms race. The council asked both countries to show "maximum restraint," and called for bilateral talks to resolve the disputes on regional security, including over Kashmir.  The 15-member council unanimously adopted resolution 1172, which condemns India and Pakistan, and urges them to refrain from weaponization and the deployment of nuclear weapons.  The resolution also calls on them to stop testing, to join the 30-year old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as non-nuclear states, and to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has thanked the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council for expressing their resolve to encourage India and Pakistan to solve Kashmir problem, the prime cause of enmity between the two countries. June 7: The State Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has warned Pakistan Government that it should vacate Azad Kashmir which it had occupied illegally in 1947.  He warned Nawaz Sharif that time had come when the Pakistan Prime Minister should give up thinking of Azad Kashmir as part of Pakistan. June 8: The European Union is torn between its determination to "punish" Pakistan for its nuclear tests ten days ago and a fear that the country could face economic and financial ruin, EU diplomats and officials say.  The concern for Pakistan's economic future was voiced by several European officials in Luxembourg even as the bloc's 15 Foreign Ministers looked set to slap a limited number of punitive measures on Islamabad in protest at the nuclear tests. In a prompt reaction to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's latest offer of talks to Pakistan, Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan said that bilateral talks between Pakistan and India would be a futile exercise.  "Unless a third party, may be the United Nations, the United States, Japan or any other country, is involved with an assurance that Indo-Pak dialogue would lead to solutions, the Indian offer of dialogue remains useless," said the foreign minister. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee dismissed UN Security Council condemnation of India's nuclear tests last month and called for bilateral talks with Pakistan.  Addressing the parliament, Vajpayee appealed to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to resume bilateral talks on all issues, including the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir. Indian newspapers hailed a UN Security Council statement calling for New Delhi and Islamabad to solve their 50-year Kashmir dispute as a diplomatic coup for India. Newspapers said the Indian government, while rejecting UN condemnation over its nuclear tests, would be delighted with the council's call for India and Pakistan to find "mutually acceptable solutions" to Kashmir.  India is trying its best to stop Kashmir problem from becoming an international issue.  Discussing as to why India is so sensitive about Kashmir issue, the radio says while the India wants talks with Pakistan on Kashmir issue under the Simla Agreement, Pakistan does not agree as it calls for UN resolutions which speak of a plebiscite in the Valley.  Pakistan also wants a more direct role by Western powers in its talks with India on the Kashmir issue. June 9: thousands of Indian security forces have launched an offensive against freedom fighters in a mountainous area of occupied Kashmir. Nearly 7,000 soldiers and police commandos were involved in the operation begun in a 50-square kilometre area in Doda district, police officials said. The United States said the Kashmir issue could not be wished away and Washington was "absolutely convinced" that now was the time for India and Pakistan to resolve it.  "We cannot wish Kashmir away.  What we do wish is that India and Pakistan address it directly and resolve it," Karl Rick Inderfurth, the senior most official of the State Department for South Asia told a special news briefing for South Asian journalists. June 10: Pakistan is looking to G-8 summit to help resolve its festering Kashmir dispute with India and remove the root cause of tension which led the South Asian rivals to conduct nuclear tests, officials said.  "The summit has to come up with something more than the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council," a foreign ministry official said.  The Security Council earlier condemned the nuclear tests and urged India and Pakistan to avert a nuclear arms race.  It called for bilateral talks to resolve their disputes, including the one over Kashmir. Declaring that state of "Jammu and Kashmir is and would remain part of Indian Union," India rejected any third-party mediation on any issue between India and Pakistan.  Jaswant Singh, India's deputy chairman of planning commission and the leader of Indian delegation to UN drug summit, told a press conference, however, "We are ready to talk about it (Kashmir)," on bilateral basis. June 11: A resolution will soon be moved in the US Senate calling for UN mediation in Kashmir through a Security Council resolution, leading Democratic senator Tom Harkin said in Washington.  "I have already done a log of work on this and we hope to pass this resolution," Harkin told the annual meeting of Pakistani-American Congress, held inside the Congress building where a record number of 25 Senators and Congressmen registered their support for Pakistan. June 12: A demonstration led by an Advisor to the AJK government rejected Simla Accord between Indian and Pakistan and demanded intervention of the G-8 countries for resolution of the Kashmir dispute.  "We do not recognise Simla Agreement because we are the party affected and the UN Resolutions have already granted us the right to exercise our choice through fair and impartial plebiscite," said a memorandum handed over to the British High Commission.  The memorandum was delivered by a representative group of Kashmiris led by Khalid Chagtai, Advisor to the AJK government. June 13: The Kashmir issue has again attracted attention of the world community following nuclear tests conducted both by India and Pakistan.  According to the All India Radio, the World nuclear powers have become more sensitive about the Kashmir problem and come to the realisation that unless the issue is resolved the region could plunge into nuclear annihilation, thus have started exerting pressure on India to resolve the issue.  Britain has a responsibility to resolve the Kashmir issue because it was the United Kingdom that had left the issue dangling in violation of its own commitment when it split the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, said George Galloway, senior vice chairman, Foreign Relations Committee of the British House of Commons. June 15: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan reflected old fears stemming from Kashmir, the five decades old boundary dispute.  At a university graduation ceremony speech in Minnesota she mentioned Kashmir as the key dispute and urged both the country to sign the CTBT. An assurance given by India to Pakistan under the Gujral doctrine to set up a joint working group on Kashmir appears to be the main stumbling block in resuming talks with Islamabad.  A joint working group on Kashmir will give Pakistan the opportunity to shift the focus of bilateral talks to this issue, ignoring the seven other outstanding items that need to be resolved for normalising relations. The Gujral doctrine seems to have translated into a dilemma of Hamletian proportions for the Vajpayee government.  The informal sop that former prime minister Gujral had reportedly agreed to in the form of a working group on Kashmir has become the stricking point for the Centre.  After three days of inaction by the MEA on a response to the Pakistan offer, it has strutted out the old offer of "broad-based and sustained dialogue". June 16: India ruled out any outside mediation in its stormy ties with Pakistan during a one-day visit here by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, officials said. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sheikh Hasina held 30 minutes of talks. But New Delhi, while conceding that nuclear tests by India and Pakistan last month were discussed, stressed the talks had focussed on bilateral issues rather than India's ties with Pakistan.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has told Britain that instead of imposing sanctions on Pakistan, the international community should help initiate a meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the core issue of Kashmir. Ambassador of Iraqi, Kamal Muhammad Issa, has called for resolving Kashmir and other outstanding issues between India and Pakistan peacefully and bilaterally. June 17: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in an interview to the Washington Post said that his government is ready to settle the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan under the 1972 Simla agreement.  In his first ever interview to an American newspaper since becoming prime minister, Vajpayee elaborated as to what plans his government has made to resolve the fundamental issue of Kashmir between the two countries. June 18: Armed militants gunned down 25 Hindus and critically wounded six others in the Champnari village in Doda district. At about 1.30 p.m., a shower of bullets fired from AK-47 assault rifles fell on the members of the two marriage parties who had halted at Champnari to have tea and snacks. June 19: Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan has reiterated Pakistan's desire to hold serious, constructive and result-oriented dialogue with India on all disputes including core issue of Kashmir to ensure lasting peace in the region.  Replying to a question in National Assembly from Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP about objectives and policy goals of the government for talks with India, the Foreign Minister said Pakistan desires tension-free, good neighbourly and cooperative relations with India, based on principles of sovereign equality, mutual respect, territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs of countries and peaceful settlement of disputes.  For such a relationship to emerge, Kashmir dispute, the root-cause of the tension in the region, has to be resolved. The Clinton administration has strongly defended its decision to internationalise the Kashmir issue, asserting that it is a problem that can no longer "be ignored". Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, said.  "We are not trying to interfere or to mediate that dispute.  There has been no change in that sense in the US policy. June 21: India's hardline interior minister, in charge of formulating policy on Kashmir, L.K. Advani has said his government is willing to discuss the disputed territory with neighbouring rival Pakistan any time. Indian forces continue to commit serious violations of human rights in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, according to a report issued by US State Department on human rights violations by India. Between 350,000 and 400,000 army and paramilitary forces are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.  The Muslim majority population in the Valley suffers from the repressive tactics of the security forces.  Under the Jammu and Kashmir Disputed Areas Act, passed in July 1990, security forces personnel have extra ordinary powers against those suspected of disturbing the peace or harbouring militants or arms.  Civilian deaths caused by security forces diminished for the fourth consecutive year in Jammu and Kashmir.  This decrease apparently is due to press scrutiny and public criticism of abuses in previous years, increased training of military and paramilitary forces in humanitarian law, and greater sensitivity of commanders to rule of law issues. The United States has made it clear that it does not want to force an acceptance of outside involvement in solving the Kashmir issue, including a proposed mediation by former President Jimmy Carter. Assistant Secretary of State Karl F Inderfurth in Congress's International Relations Committee's meeting stated this. The BJP government has decided to send more troops to Kashmir to suppress liberation movement in the valley, according to reports here. Interior Minister L.K. Advani who had vowed to pursue a "pro-active" policy in Kashmir soon after India detonated tests, has ordered reinforcement of security forces (currently estimated at 500,000 to 700,000) to flush out the Kashmiri militants. June 22: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called upon the United Nations and international community to plan an effective role for addressing the Kashmir problem – the root cause of tension in South Asia.  "We should adopt a pragmatic approach to address the Kashmir issue and India should realise that threatening statements will have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve all the outstanding issues between India and Pakistan," said the Prime Minister, who also disclosed that his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee had written a letter to him, asking for a meeting in Colombo.  In their firs ever communication after both India and Pakistan demonstrated their nuclear capability, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received an offer from his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee to hold an Indo-Pakistan summit at the prime ministers' level in Colombo.  "I have received a letter from Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee", he said and added, "but Pakistan was obliged to respond in kind". The Prime Minister said UN secretary-general contacted him on telephone and his envoy will visit both Pakistan and India soon to pave way for his trip to South Asia.  "The UN SG will talk to leaders of both the countries.  I have asked the UN SG to play an effective role for addressing the Kashmir problem." June 23: Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said India would deal with occupied Kashmir's Muslim guerillas "with a firm hand" following the latest massacre of Hindus in the state. He visited a village in the southern district of Doda where 25 Hindu men heading for two weddings were gunned down by guerillas. June 24: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani urged Pakistan to help resolve the Kashmir dispute bilaterally under an agreement signed between the two neighbours in 1972.  "India is committed to resolve the Kashmir issue within the bilateral framework mandated by the Simla Agreement of 1972", Advani said at a meeting of federal ministers with Kashmir's state leaders in Srinagar. Crippling strike was observed throughout Indian occupied Kashmir in protest against the visit to Srinagar of Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani and five other ministers.  The strike call was given by All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Normal life remained paralysed with bazaars, business centres, government offices, banks, courts and education institutions remained closed and transport suspended. June 25: India criticised the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for deputing a three-member team to help defuse tension in South Asia.  The spokesman of India's External Affairs Ministry announced that New Delhi would not receive the UN team headed by the UN Assistant Secretary General (Political Affairs) Alvaro De Soto. The officials reiterated that there was no scope for a third-party involvement of any nature whatsoever in respect of India's relations with Pakistan.  He said: "India and Pakistan issues are purely bilateral and should be resolved through dialogue." Senator Tom Harkin has introduced a resolution in US Senate calling for a peaceful and just settlement of the Kashmir issue. The resolution says that recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan have refocused attention on the tensions in the region caused by the core issue of Kashmir and underscored 'the need to re-examine its underlying impact on relations between India and Pakistan. It further emphasises that a settlement of the Kashmir dispute is not only in the interest of peace and stability in the region but also serves best the US interests and international peace and stability. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has said that Kashmir issue was on top of government's agenda and it had to be resolved by India and Pakistan in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The Indian mission in Washington and its lobbyists on the Capitol Hill have stepped up efforts to persuade United States Senate to bury the "Kashmir resolution" tabled in the body by Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa. June 27: The international community considers Kashmir as the root cause of tensions between India and Pakistan, a senior official of the Clinton administration has said.  "The world is very much concerned that now both countries have demonstrated their nuclear capability, Kashmir may again become a dangerous flash-point endangering peace and stability in the region," Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of state for South Asia said at a special news briefing. Responding to a question why the US is again projecting Kashmir as major source of conflict in South Asia, Inderfurth said: "There is no doubt that international attention to the Kashmir issue has increased in the aftermath of nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan." The Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani has said that in collaboration with Kashmir government, he has evolved a 4-pronged plan to crush militancy in held Kashmir.  Addressing a top-level meeting Advani said four pillars of the strategy are to strengthen the democratic process in the state: isolate 'militant' groups from the people, respond proactively to effectively, neutralise the 'militants' hostile plans and galvanise developmental programme to impart momentum to the state's economy and to improve the living conditions of the people.  Advani claimed "the Indian government will definitely overcome the challenge of separatist militancy in occupied Kashmir the same way it did in Punjab." June 28: It is urgent for India and Pakistan – especially now that they are armed with nuclear weapons – to peacefully resolve their differences over the Kashmir region, the New York Times said in an editorial.  While the US and other countries can help defuse tensions, it is up to India and Pakistan to reach a solution over the disputed territory, the Times writes.  "Until last month, Kashmir seemed just another obscure, intractable ethnic conflict," according to the unsigned editorial, which represents the newspaper's point of view. British Minister of State for Foreign Office and Commonwealth (South Asian Affairs) Mr. Derek Fatchett said that Britain is interested in seeing some positive movement in talks between India and Pakistan to resolve their long-standing dispute on Kashmir.  "Britain wants to encourage talks (between India and Pakistan) and wish to see a movement in particular direction," Mr. Fatchett told a representative delegation of Kashmiri leaders, belonging from all shades of political opinion in Britain, who called on him at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Sixteen persons, seven of them of a family, were killed and seven seriously injured by continued Indian firing in different sectors along the Line of Control raising the death toll to 26 during the last four days. Indian forces used artillery in targeting the civilian population in the border towns of Pahal, Khelana and Chakoti.  The victims include four women, three little girls and two children. In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops fired upon namazis as they were coming out of a mosque at Lagri Malpura, in Rajouri, killing one and injuring several of them.  The injured included the Imam of mosque who was in critical condition.  Forceful demonstration were held against this outrage. Peace talks between India and Pakistan to melt their 50-year rivalry have reached a dead end because of the tough stands of both sides on Kashmir, the senior most aide to the Indian prime minister said. June 29: Visiting US Senators focused squarely on Kashmir as a "flashpoint" in South Asia and called on both Pakistan and India to refrain from taking any provocative actions or steps towards Kashmir.  The Senators, who visited the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC) as guests of the Pakistani Army, also called for a "ceasefire" to the "killing and maiming" of civilians. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called upon the United Nations to take effective steps for the implementation of Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir. He was talking to Alvaro De Soto, personal envoy of the UN Secretary General who called on the prime minister to deliver a letter from the Secretary General Kofi Annan. July 3: In a joint statement released on June 27 and partly reported earlier, President Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin reaffirmed their respective policies to prevent the export of equipment, materials or technology that could in any way assist programmes in India or Pakistan for nuclear weapons or for ballistic missiles capable of delivering such weapons.  They also pledged to strengthen their respective national export control systems towards that end.  We are committed to assist where possible India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully the difficult and long-standing differences between them, including the issue of Kashmir.  We welcome the resumption of dialogue between the two countries and encourage them to continue such dialogues, and we stand ready to assist in the implementation of confidence-building measures between them, and encourage the consideration of additional measures of this type. July 8: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urged Pakistan to sign a no-first-use nuclear arms pact and a non-aggression accord with India.  Vajpayee, who is due to meet Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif later this month for the first time since the two neighbours staged rival nuclear tests in May, said Islamabad should make concrete moves to ensure peace. The Hindu nationalist leader told parliament that Islamabad should "change its foreign policy" and stop supporting Muslim insurgency in the divided state of Kashmir – the cause of two wars. July 12: China and Japan have expressed concern over the growing tension between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue particularly after the nuclearisation of South Asia.  In separate interviews, published in two different Indian dailies, the envoys of China and Japan, stationed in New Delhi, were unanimous that the growing tension over the Kashmir issue prevailing between India and Pakistan and the issue of peace and security of the whole South Asia have caused widespread concern among the international community. July 14: More than 9,000 people have been killed by militants in the disputed state of Kashmir since 1995, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani told Parliament. Advani, the number two in India's Hindu nationalist-led government, said 9,023 were killed in 13,130 incidents of violence. July 15: The ruling BJP rejected China's proposed multilateral talks on its Kashmir dispute saying that India was committed to resolve bilaterally all outstanding issues with Pakistan under Simla agreement. July 23: The violent incidents have consumed 748 lives in past six months in held Jammu and Kashmir.  India's Home Ministry here also admitted that Indian forces were fighting a tough battle in the held state with guerillas adopting diverse and ever changing strategies and also taking advantage of the "difficult" terrain.  Advani here told Rajya Sabha, despite the "pro-active" policy announced by the BJP-led coalition government no one should expect spectacular results.  The "achievements" would take time, he said.  He also said that there has been spurt of incidents involving killing of civilians and arson during the period from January till June 30, 1998.  The home minister Advani informed that 748 people were killed in violence during the last six months in held Jammu and Kashmir.  The figures included 310 activists and 438 civilians.  He said 163 guerillas died in Security Forces operations in the held state during the period from April to June 1998.  While from January to March 147 activists had been killed.  Defending his pro-active approach, Indian home minister revealed that 76 activists were shot dead in Security Forces operations in June 1998 as compared to 25 in May 1998. July 27: President Clinton said India posed a major problem in its refusal to accept any mediation on the disputed territory of Kashmir.  He said this while addressing a fund-raising dinner for the Democratic Party in Aspen, Colorado.  He said, "what I think we have to do is to go back to find a series of confidence-building measures which will enable these two nations to work together and trust each other and to move back from the brink of military confrontation. July 28: Upon his arrival here for the 10th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif reiterated that Kashmir was the basic issue and root-cause of all the tensions between Pakistan and India and in the region. Islamabad had tried to take a more realistic approach in Colombo by trying to bring in 'peace and security' in the draft as there had been a drastic change in the region after two of the SAARC states became nuclear.  But at least one former bureaucrat from the south bloc, former foreign secretary JN Dixit had words of praise for the policies of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. July 30: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's one and half hours long meeting with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee failed to bear any fruit due to New Delhi's intransigence on seriously addressing the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.  The Pakistani Prime Minister made it amply clear that Kashmir was the core issue and root cause of tension between the two countries and unless India is willing to engage in a serious dialogue to resolve the issue there cannot be any progress on other matters. Opposition Tory MP in the House of Commons Michael Colvin said the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association should take the Kashmir issue on their agenda to help India and Pakistan resolve the longstanding dispute.  "We have been trying to persuade the Commonwealth heads of the governments and commonwealth Parliamentary Association that they should put the Kashmir issue on their agenda and it is time that these organisations should take up this issue," Mr. Colvin said at a function arranged at one of the committee rooms of the House of Commons. Indian Foreign Secretary K. Ranghunath briefing Indian journalists maintained that there had been no change in India's known position on the nuclear issue, Kashmir and the process of dialogue. He is said to have affirmed that India favoured dialogue on all issues of mutual interest and concern but opposed the methodology accepted in Islamabad between the two foreign secretaries regarding formation of eight working groups to tackle the issues of peace and security and Kashmir. At least 13 people, including a woman and two children, were killed and 25 others injured, some of them critically, by indiscriminate and unprovoked Indian firing with small and big arms in different border areas of Azad Kashmir, official sources here said. The Indian troops deployed along the line of control in the held Kashmir started indiscriminate firing with medium artillery as well as small arms at about 5:30 a.m.  The unprovoked firing continued throughout the day.  However, its intensity subsided in the evening. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), cautioned the international community to intensify its watch over the situation in Kashmir and not be lulled into the belief that negotiations between India and Pakistan will soften the conflict or lessen the urgent need for mediatory initiatives. He urged the P-5 (Five permanent members of the UN Security Council) to appoint a Special Envoy of international standing for Kashmir and set the stage for the final settlement of the conflict. Dr. Fai was commenting on the 90-minute face-to-face meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee on Colombo. July 31: The Indian aggression on the border areas of Azad Kashmir has left at least 34 civilians dead and more than 71, including 13 Pakistani soldiers, injured.  At about 5:30 a.m., the Indian troops deployed along the Line of Control started pounding several of the villages with medium artillery, mortars and field guns.  The shelling continued the whole day long, causing at least 13 deaths and 25 casualties.  However, the officials, in view of the intensity of enemy fire, have feared that the death and casualties would be much more in number than those reported initially. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the outcome of his talks with his Indian counterpart was "zero".  Soon after his return from the holiday resort of Bentota, where he had formal talks with Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, Nawaz Sharif in an interview with the Editor of the largely-circulated English daily, "The Island", said that he told his Indian counterpart that Pakistan wanted talks between India and Pakistan to be resumed "just as much India wanted them to be resumed". "So, let us resolve the issue of Kashmir in a serious and substantive manner so that we would be able to make progress," I told him Sharif said. Despite a meeting between Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and subsequent talks between their foreign secretaries here on the sidelines of the 10th SAARC Summit, Pakistan and India conceded that they failed to agree on the resumption of their stalemated dialogue.  Spokesmen of the two delegations attending the SAARC Summit blamed each other for the failure of the Colombo talks.  Briefing the world media, Tariq Altaf, a senior Pakistani diplomat, said India's refusal to address the issues of peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir dispute led to the failure of the talks. August 1: The Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani has said that more forces are being sent to occupied Kashmir for "massive" joint operations as the Kashmiri freedom fighters have intensified their efforts in the Valley for the last many months.  In a statement in the Lok Sabha, Advani blamed Mujahideen for the present law and order situation in the State and reiterated the Indian government's resolve to crush the freedom struggle with an iron hand.  Earlier, the puppet government in Kashmir had requested New Delhi to despatch 60 companies of paramilitary forces to the troubled Valley to quell freedom fighters' activities. Pakistan lodged a strong protest with India against the unprovoked firing which caused heavy casualties.  A Foreign Office spokesman said the acting high commissioner of India was summoned to the ministry of foreign affairs and "a strong protest was lodged against the unprovoked and indiscriminate firing by Indian armed forces along a wide-front of the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Kashmir on July 30 and 31, causing a large number of deaths and injuries among innocent civilians, including women and children." August 2: Rejecting Pakistan's protest, India has said that it was not responsible for firing along the Line of Control.  "The firing was started from Pakistan side and the Indian forces are only retaliating.  The summoning of acting High Commissioner by Pakistan Foreign Office was not right," said an Indian spokesman.  Meanwhile, the Indian Army chief has said that Pakistan would have to pay a 'dear price' for its "intervention in Kashmir".  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan would not come under any political or military pressure as a result of the situation created by India on the Line of Control (LoC).  Addressing a news conference at the Lahore airport on his arrival from the Maldives which he visited after participating in the SAARC summit in Colombo, Mr. Sharif said the past bore testimony that whenever Pakistan and India were about to hold talks, the latter started violating the Line of Control. Indian shelling claimed the lives of at least two more persons in a Neelam Valley village. The sources said that they had received a report from Athmuqam, the tehsil headquarters of Neelam Valley, that two persons died in Falakan village, situated across the "zero point" of Lesva bypass on the left bank of river Neelam, raising the toll to 49 since July 30.  The names and ages of the victims could not be ascertained immediately. August 3: The United States sent urgent messages to Islamabad and New Delhi asking them to refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric, and urged restraint by declined to mediate until asked by the two sides. As Kashmir fighting hit the headlines in many newspapers, the White House earlier in the day made a vague comment which was interpreted by some wire services, including AFP, to mean that a shift in policy had occurred and the US had offered to mediate in Kashmir, but the State Department immediately clarified the comment. Britain urged the governments of India and Pakistan to start talks aimed at resolving a bloody border dispute which has left more than 80 people dead over the last five days. Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett said failure to end shootings across the disputed Kashmir border threatened the security of the whole region. Militants killed 37 Hindu labourers in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. A police spokesman said two guns of militants, fighting against Indian rule in occupied Kashmir, carried out two attacks within hours of each other. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee warned Pakistan that India would use a "firm hand" to respond to any attack on its border.  "We are committed to keeping our borders secure.  We will deal with a firm hand any attack by Pakistan," Vajpayee told the upper house of the parliament.  He said the Indian army would "fully backed in their efforts to repulse the nefarious designs of Pakistan" and the government would take all measures to safeguard the lives of people in the border region. The United States offered to mediate in talks between Pakistan and India to head off a crisis between the two recently-declared nuclear powers. The US also urged both the countries to refrain from provocative acts in Kashmir and resume dialogue with an 'imaginative and constructive' approach to resolve differences. White House spokesman PJ Crowley also expressed concerns about the latest military clashes over the disputed region of Kashmir.  "The situation in Kashmir is one of those underlying issues that is central to the tensions that exist in South Asia," he said. August 4: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee rejected Pakistani demands for talks centred solely on the Kashmir issue, saying other bilateral issues must also be addressed.  He also accused Pakistan of harbouring expansionist designs as it was not satisfied with its present borders and wanted to change the status quo.  Vajpayee told the parliament that India was not prepared to limit talks with Pakistan to Kashmir and instead favoured freezing dialogue on contentious issues such as the Himalayan state.  "There are many other issues which have to be addressed.  We are neighbours and we have to live together.  Why should Kashmir alone be the sole agenda?  But in spite of the Pakistani attitude, India will continue its efforts for a bilateral dialogue as improvement of relations with Pakistan is very important," he added. At least 19 innocent Kashmiris, including women and children, were massacred by Indian forces in held Kashmir.  They had been residing at village, Sailali, some 20 km away from Surankot in district Poonch. The Indians heavily shelled the lower belt of Neelam Valley, Leepa and Chakoti sectors, in Muzaffarabad district, and Bhedi and Abbaspur sectors of southern Bagh and Poonch districts throughout the day. August 5: A foreign office spokesman warned that the "precarious military situation" along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir might get out of hand in the event of "any precipitate Indian" action and could plunge the two countries into war.  The warning came as an Indian aircraft violated Azad Kashmir's airspace and villages came under ferocious artillery bombardment. Indiscriminate shelling by Indian troops on the seventh consecutive day left at least 11 people, including two women, dead and 18 injured in different villages of Azad Kashmir.  The gunfire from Indian side was so intense that shells landed even on villages that were relatively very far from the line of control.  The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Jehangir Karamat has said that "had we not reacted to correct the nuclear imbalance our security would have been jeopardized."  He stated this while addressing the officers at Karachi, Malir and Multan Garrisons during the last two days.  He was briefed by the corps and divisional commanders on operational, administrative and security matters.  He also discussed the operational situation with the commanders responsible for the Line of Control (LoC).  Former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral L. Ramdas has asked the Indian government to accept Pakistan's proposal of third party mediation to resolve the outstanding disputes.  Ramdas said that South African President Nelson Mandela could be asked to intervene and attempt to settle the continuos issue of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, reports The Hindustan Times.  The retired Admiral was speaking at the convention organised by the campaign against nuclear weapons at Chennai.  "On the Kashmir problem a modern Gandhi like President Nelson Mandela could be asked to intervene and attempt to settle the contentious issues between the two countries," he said.  He alleged that armed forces of India were kept in dark on Pokhran nuclear tests and claimed that had they been taken into confidence the Vajpayee government might have been prevailed exercising restraint. August 7: Expressing deep concern of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) over the recent deterioration of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Qatar the current Chairman of the Conference of Foreign Ministers said the military operation against the Kashmiri people must come to an end.  He told the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities that the OIC expressed its disappointment that no agreement could be reached at the recent SAARC Summit in Colombo for a bilateral dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, contrary to the desire of the international community. August 8: Hindu hardliners have given India's nationalist-led government a six-month deadline to contain violence in Kashmir.  The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindu revivalist group close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, denounced the government's "helplessness" in checking killings of Hindus in Muslim-majority Kashmir.  VHP chief Acharya Giriraj Kishore was quoted by the Times of India as saying he would give Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani "another six months" to prove himself.  The 3-day International Islamic Unity Conference attended by hundreds of scholars and religious leaders around the world has urged the people and the governments of Muslim countries to give full moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their struggle for self-determination.  The conference, which has become an annual feature since it was first held in UK last year, called for unity among Muslims and a close understanding, peace and harmony with believers of other faiths. It was impressive gathering of religious leaders around the world and received due recognition from the Clinton administration and the US Congress which welcomed it as a forum to promote inter-faith amity. August 9: A most wanted Kashmiri leader and six civilians were among 21 people killed in clashes between Indian troops and guerillas in occupied Kashmir.  The acting chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Ali Mohammed Dar and two other fighters of the anti-India guerilla group were shot by Indian soldiers in Srinagar. August 10: A general strike to protest the killing of a top Hizbul Mujahideen leader sparked violent clashes left four civilians dead in the strife-torn Indian occupied Kashmir, while nine freedom fighters and four Indian troops were killed in clashes elsewhere.  The strike paralysed towns and cities across the Valley, with most banks, schools, local businesses and government offices closing down for the day.  Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes has said that nuclear weapons will not be used if war over Kashmir issue erupts.  In an interview with a private Indian TV channel, he said if war over the Kashmir issue erupts, it will be traditional.  However, he said, "I don't think, Pakistan will opt for a war".  Indian security forces in the troubled state of Kashmir are to deploy an extra 20,000 personnel to combat a spate of recent killing of Hindus.  The Press Trust of India said the new force, made up of police, ex-servicemen and "special police officers," would be deployed in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region in southern Kashmir.  "They will be launching a full offensive against the militants and will also have liaison with defence and border guards in their respective jurisdictions," the news agency quoted a senior state official as saying. Expressing concern over the renewed Indian hostilities along the Line of Control, AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood urged the international community to mediate and help resolve sufferings of Kashmiris.  Briefing different envoys and emissaries of about 46 different countries the AJK prime minister feared that there was a stalemate and the ongoing escalation across the LoC could lead to an all-out war. August 11: At least 25 persons were killed as a result of fresh bloody armed clashed between the patrolling Indian occupation forces and Kashmiri Mujahideen in various parts of Indian held Kashmir. August 12: A senior Indian military commander and two soldiers were seriously injured in a landmine attack by freedom fighters in occupied Kashmir.  They said Brigadier B.L. Bagwa and the soldiers were injured when the landmine blew up their vehicle in the northern Kashmiri town, Sopore, a former stronghold of the freedom fighters.  Nine civilians travelling in a bus were hurt when the landmine was triggered off by using radio signals. An International media team, visited the hard-hit areas of Indian forces’ unprovoked firing at Chakoti near Line of Control (LoC) and strongly condemned Indian forces for targeting the civilian population in Azad Kashmir living along the LoC.  The international media team which is currently on a two-day visit to Azad Kashmir and is participating in the international seminar on Kashmir, after their visit expressed strongly reactions and stressed the need for the early solution of Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of people of Kashmir and in accordance with the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Barrister Sultan Mehmud Chaudhry wrote to British Secretary of State Robin Cook about the latest Indian attack on Azad Kashmir urging him to play his role to resolve the Kashmir issue. Sultan Mehmud stated that Indian Army had virtually embarked on a full-fledged war against Azad Kashmir and Kashmiris. August 13: Information Minister Mushahid Hussain Sayed, while ruling out the possibility of a nuclear war in South Asia stated that frustrated at Pakistan's achievement of nuclear capability, New Delhi is following a pro-active policy on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.  "There is no danger of a nuclear war in the region because by achieving nuclear capability Pakistan has restored the balance of power," he told Japanese journalists.  Pakistan, he said, sees more danger from India in the form of its aggression on Kashmiris to quell their struggle for right to self-determination.  "To us the danger is not so much about war but the reign of barbaric repression India has unleashed on the civilians in Held Kashmir – and their recent unprovoked and wanton shelling from across the LoC in Azad Kashmir is a demonstration of their pro-active policy on Kashmir."  Fifteen people were killed and 18 wounded in various acts of violence in occupied Kashmir valley.  Two Indian soldiers were killed and at least seven others wounded when an army vehicle hit a land-mine planted by guerillas, a defence spokesman said.  He said the blast occurred near Mithwa village, in Anantnag district, about 55 km south of occupied Srinagar. Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani has boasted that the military crackdown on the freedom fighters in Kashmir is succeeding.  Advani told the Press Trust of India that Indian soldiers were "having an upper hand" in the region, where a Muslim insurgency have left more than 20,000 people dead since 1989. August 14: The people of Indian held Kashmir will observe black day, marked by crippling strike, on the occasion of the Indian independence day.  The decision to observe black day was made at a meeting of the executive council of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), presided over by its chairman Syed Ali Gilani. A pro-Indian Muslim leader of occupied Jammu and Kashmir claimed the status of Kashmir was well settled five decades ago, and Pakistan had no grounds to try to change that status.  "Pakistan is trumpeting on Kashmir, forgetting that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had discarded the two-nation theory and chosen to joint secular India five decades ago," Farooq Abdullah claimed in a message to the people on the eve of India's Independence Day celebrations. August 15: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani has admitted that New Delhi's troops were killing at least eight to ten Muslim daily in held Kashmir, Voice of America (VOA) reported.  Citing an interview with Press Trust of India (PTI), the broadcast quoted BJP government minister as claiming that the military action against the freedom fighters had been successful in the occupied state. Dozens of Kashmiri people waving black flags staged a protest in front of the Indian High Commission to mark India's 51st independence anniversary.  The demonstrators condemned Indian rule in Kashmir, a region disputed between Pakistan and India, and called on New Delhi to accept a UN-sponsored referendum in the state. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Jammu Kashmir Students Liberation Front Balochistan division held demonstration on the eve of Indian independence day.  The demonstration was aimed at registering protest against Indian atrocities, unprovoked firing by Indian troops across Line of Control resulting in killing of innocent people and apathy of the world community over the massacre of Kashmiris. Clearing the mist of Indian propaganda on many counts, the International Conference on Kashmir, held at Muzaffarabad, underlined the reality that the dispute is hot and needs to be addressed urgently for the sake of peace and security in South Asia. August 16: Information Minister Mushahid Hussain called on major powers to abandon their double standards vis-à-vis settlement of regional conflicts and take concrete steps for the solution of long-running Kashmir dispute according to UN Security Council resolutions.  He said this while taking part in PTV Telethon, 8-hour special transmission exclusively on Kashmir issue to mark 50 years of the passage of the UN resolutions on Kashmiris right to self-determinations. Hundreds of Sikhs and Kashmiris staged separate demonstrations outside the Indian High Commission in London on Independence Day of India to condemn brutalities being committed in Punjab and Kashmir and demand an end to occupation of their homelands by Delhi. Amnesty International has deplored the statements of the Indian Home Minister, L.K. Advani on held Kashmir describing these 'as unbecoming and violative of human rights'. Expressing strong reaction against his statements, the Amnesty said the Indian government was not accepting human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir. Member Parliament of the British Labour Party Tom Cox has urged upon the international community to play its role in resolving Kashmir issue as it was the ripe time to do so.  In an interview on Pakistan Television, he said, "We cannot allow to continue the brutalities that the people of Indian-held Kashmir suffer at the hands of Indian security forces." Former Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Umer Farooq has thanked Pakistan government on his own behalf and on the struggling Kashmiris for conferring Nishan-i-Imtiaz on his late father Maulvi Muhammad Farooq and Hilal-i-Imtiaz on human rights champion late Syed Jalil Andrabi on the occasion of Independence Day of Pakistan.   August 17: Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz called upon the international community to see the “heightened sense of urgency to reduce tensions in South Asia” and play an effective role in settling the Kashmir dispute.  “The situation is rife for an aggrandized action of international community as there is a heightened sense of urgency for reducing tension in the region and addressing the Kashmir dispute,” he told British MP Tom Cox.  The Chairman of British Pakistani parliamentary group in British Parliament, Mr. Tom Cox, regretted that the world powers were not taking any action to stop Indian aggression in occupied Kashmir.  Speaking at a news conference at the AJK Prime Minister’s House, the Labour Party MP said Kashmir was a simple issue and could be resolved by asking the Kashmiris how they wanted to lead their lives in the state. August 19: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee renewed offers of talks with Pakistan. Vajpayee, however, said that although India was ready to hold the talks “at any place,” the “dialogue must be comprehensive and not just focussed on Kashmir.”  “We are ready for talks with Pakistan at any place,” him said in an address to a rally in the central Indian city of Rajpur.  All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed serious concern over Indian plan to entice Hindus to vacate Muslim majority areas of Jammu region so as to facilitate massacre of Kashmiri Muslims.  It is re-run of the Indian strategy under which Hindu pandits were induced to migrate from the valley and Muslims were killed unhindered.  The major powers and G-8 countries should send a fact-finding mission to gauge the extent of human rights abuses in Indian occupied Kashmir, said President of Kashmir Liberation Forum Syed Abdul Hameed Naz.  “The Western world, should prevail upon India to stop its killings of innocent people of Kashmir,” he said.  A member of the British parliament, Tom Cox, called on AJK Prime Minister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry.  The two discussed the Kashmir dispute with special reference to the worsening situation in occupied Kashmir. August 20: Police shot dead a protester and injured four others in occupied Kashmir during a rally in protest at the death of a Muslim activist in army custody.  Police opened fire at some 300 men and women staging a noisy protest in the township of Parang, some 40 kilometres from occupied Srinagar. August 23: A foreign office spokesman rejected the Indian allegation of “cross border support to terrorism” in the occupied Kashmir and East Punjab from Pakistan. The allegation was levelled in the Indian foreign office statement on US attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan. August 24: In occupied Kashmir, fresh military reinforcement is being sent to Doda, Rajouri and Poonch districts where large scale military operation is under way in the upper area.  It was officially admitted that the troops had not been able to achieve the sinister objective of suppressing the liberation movement.  Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes ruled out any pursuit of Kashmiris from Valley who were spotted fleeing to safety in Pakistan.  Fernandes remarks came as eight people, including an activist of the main pro-India party in Kashmir, were killed in violence-related incident in the disputed Himalayan state. August 25: Former Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Umer Farooq, while denouncing desecration of mosques and shrines by the Indian troops, has warned the Indian authorities that Kashmiris cannot tolerate such outrages.  He was addressing a public rally on the anniversary of the desecration of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, this day, nine years ago by the Indian military forces. He described August 25, 1979 as the blackest day in Kashmiris’ history when armed forces had entered Jamia Masjid with their boots on, beaten innocent Nimazis including women and the aged and arrested dozens of innocent youth.  Internationalisation of Kashmir crisis has strengthened Islamabad’s position and weakened New Delhi’s stance, because after the nuclear tests, the world has become sensitive to this region now, and can no longer afford to ignore the Kashmir issue.  In an interview to Iranian daily ‘Tehran News’, Mushahid Hussain said following the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests, Kashmir had become an international issue, much to the chagrin of the Indian government which always insisted on resolving the crisis with Pakistan bilaterally.   August 26: India has banned the import of the highly-popular Encyclopaedia Britannica on CD-ROOM because it shows Kashmir as a disputed territory.  A home ministry spokesman said the ban was enforced as the “external boundaries of India have not been depicted correctly in the maps” in the Britannica.  India’s interior minister vowed that an eight-year-old insurgency in occupied Kashmir would be stamped out.  “Terrorism will be stamped out from our land. We are on the right track and militancy will be totally eliminated through a multi-pronged strategy,” Lal Krishna Advani was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying in Leh, the main town in the mainly Buddhist Ladakh region of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. August 27: Confusing signals from the top brass of India about a new strategic military action in Held Kashmir have started coming in, creating suspicions that New Delhi might finally opt for a “hot pursuit” into Azad Kashmir to, what it calls, crush militancy once and for all.  The Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes and the puppet state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah sang to two different tunes at Bhadarwah, 170 kms from here, while inaugurating another military station in this hilly militants stronghold.  Fernandes made it clear that there was no ideas before the Indian government to go for a hot pursuit into Azad Kashmir to eliminate militancy. He expressed satisfaction about India’s new strategy to combat militancy of which no details were made public by the Minister.  It was to everybody’s surprise that Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah who also spoke on the occasion, appreciated the US air strikes and advocated also for a similar strike into Azad Kashmir by the Indian defence forces. He said that United States has only realised the intensity of terrorism when its two embassies were bombed and its own nationals killed. “Terrorism cannot be fought out by way of a few Cruise missiles, it has to be fought vigorously”, he pleaded.  Six Indian police personnel were wounded when militants set off a landmine, while three guerillas were killed in a gunbattle in India’s restive Kashmir valley.  A landmine went off when a police vehicle ran over it near Duroo village of Anantnag district, 55 km south of Srinagar. August 29: The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has called upon President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to persuade Pakistani and Indian teams attending NAM meeting to solve Kashmir issue peacefully, democratically and permanently on the basis of the formula put forward by the JKLF. Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, General V.P. Malik has started a four-day visit of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir to review the military situation there.  On the first leg of his visit, he reviewed the situation of front lines nearby Jammu and later visited the district Poonch, Rajauri and Srinagar. September 01: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sultan Mehmood said the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim countries should go beyond their resolutions to bolster Pakistan’s stand on the Kashmir issue.  Pakistan and Indian Foreign Secretaries held second meeting on the sidelines of NAM Summit in Durban and held intensive discussions on the modalities to operationalise mechanism for the resumption of stalled dialogue, the Foreign Office said.  “Pakistan believes that the Islamabad Joint Statement of 23rd June 1997 should remain the basis of the dialogue. The two priority issues of peace and security, and Jammu and Kashmir, which top the agreed agenda, must be discussed specifically and substantively,” a Foreign Office statement said.  Minister for Information Mushahid Hussain Sayed condemning the gang rapes by soldiers of the Indian Army has urged the international community and the human right activists to take note “of the crimes against humanity.”  He said, “Kashmir has turned out to be the second illustration, after the Second World War, apart from Bosnia, where rape is being used as a weapon.” September 02: The Non-Aligned Movement NAM for the first time in history has called for a peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute.  “All of us remain concerned that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir should be solved through peaceful negotiations and should be willing to lend all the strength we have to the resolution of this matter,” said President Mandela of South Africa, who took over as Chairman of the 12th NAM Summit.  Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed that any future dialogue between India and Pakistan should cover all bilateral issues including Kashmir.  Talking to the newspersons after 30-minute meeting with Sartaj Aziz in Durban, Vajpayee said, “it has been agreed to restart the stalled talks which broke down due to Islamabad’s insistence on taking up the core issue of Kashmir on a priority basis”.  Eight people, including an Indian soldier, were killed and 15 injured in fresh violence in occupied Kashmir. September 03: The unresolved issue of Kashmir is a major cause of tension and instability in South Asia, “and has led to new escalations and dangers”.  “This issue involves the destiny of the people and cannot be wished away”, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said.  Speaking at the summit meeting of 114-member body, Sartaj reiterated that the people of Kashmir must be given the right of self-determination which has been denied to them for the last 50 years.  “From its inception our movement has held the inalienable right to self-determination to be an article of its faith.”  Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee warned “third parties” –– an obvious reference to President Nelson Mandela –– to stay out of the Kashmir dispute.  Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit here, Vajpayee restated the Indian position that it regards its long-standing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir as a strictly bilateral affair.  “Let me say this loud and clear, there is no place for third party involvement in this process, no matter how well-intentioned,” he said.  In a major strike against pro-government surrendered militants, the pro-freedom movement fighters shot at least six agents dead including a leader of the pro-government Awami League in Pattan, 35 km west of Srinagar. The freedom-fighters entered the house of Hameed Malla and shot him dead. September 04: The prime ministers of Pakistan and India, at their proposed meeting later this month in New York, are expected to take a final decision on the understanding reached in Durban between the foreign secretaries of the two countries regarding the resumption of dialogue.  Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad and his Indian counterpart K. Raghunath who held several meetings in Durban on the issue of resumption of talks arrived at “an understanding, in principle, to operationalize the mechanism for dialogue on all issues as per the agreed agenda”.  Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said President Mandela’s remarks on Kashmir constituted a significant step towards greater involvement of the international community with the just cause of Kashmiris.  Reacting to Mandela’s statement at NAM summit, calling for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute, Aziz appreciated Mandela’s full support to solution of the issue.  Indian military experts said it was no use blaming Pakistan or the international community for the battle in Kashmir –– it was time New Delhi got its act together.  India’s struggle to quell insurgency in the occupied region since 1990 had been hobbled by weak political leadership and an unsure army, and there was no knowing when a turnaround could come retired generals and security experts claimed at a conference.  The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) while praising the statesmanship of President Nelson Mandela, has said the South African president is really one of the greatest freedom-fighters and statesman of the century as he held freedom of enthralled nations and human dignity far above everything else, including his country’s relations with its close friends.  Prominent Kashmiri leader and Chief of Democratic Freedom Party Syed Shabir Shah was arrested along with a number of his colleagues while addressing a big public meeting at Jammu.  Shabir Shah, who was accorded a very warm welcome at the Jammu Airport by a large number of his admirers, was leading a procession from the airport to Shaheedi Chowk, daily ‘Uqab’ reported.  Growing support for international mediation in Kashmir is the result of failed Indian diplomacy in the wake of the country’s nuclear tests in May.  The Indian government was outraged when South African President Nelson Mandela raised the Kashmir issue –– which New Delhi views as a purely bilateral dispute with Pakistan –– at the multilateral Non-Aligned Movement summit in Durban. September 05: AJK President Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry have said the Kashmiris will not hesitate from any sacrifice for the defence and security of the motherland side-by-side their Pakistani brethren. Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan and India have “narrowed down the procedural difference” on the resumption of talks as New Delhi appears to have realised that issues of peace and security and the Kashmir dispute need to be addressed on priority basis.  “The foreign secretaries meeting on the sidelines of the Durban NAM summit narrowed down the procedural differences on the resumption of dialogue as they appear to have realised that issues of peace and security and the Kashmir dispute need to be addressed on priority basis”.  India claimed that stalled talks with Pakistan have resumed after ministerial and official level interaction in the South African city of Durban on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.  Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told reporters as he landed in New Delhi after his foreign tour that stalled talks on bilateral issues with Islamabad including Jammu and Kashmir have been resumed. He expressed New Delhi’s readiness to discuss all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, with Pakistan, adding there was forward movement, in the talks between New Delhi and Islamabad at Durban.  In Occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders have urged the NAM chairman to redouble his efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully.  Addressing at various places in Kupwara district, the APHC leaders, greatly appreciated the offer of mediation by the new Chairman of NAM, Nelson Mandela.  Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) sought intervention of UN Secretary General Kufi Annan for settlement of Kashmir dispute for averting a nuclear showdown in South Asia.  “Kashmir needs immediate attention of the UNO which can trigger a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and endanger the peace of the region,” said JKDFP’s letter to Annan.  About 2,000 people have gone missing in the Indian-held Kashmir since a Muslim freedom movement erupted in 1989.  “Parents of the Disappeared”, a voluntary group, and rights activists said the vast majority of those missing were Muslims who had been detained by Indian security forces. September 06: Former Indian Premier Inder Kumar Gujral said India was wrong in reacting strongly to South African President Nelson Mandela’s offer to help resolve the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.  Mr. Gujral said Indian criticism of Mandela’s comments at a summit of Non-Aligned nations in Durban was “unwise and (an) overreaction.”  Korkmaz Haktanir, the Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Shamshad Ahmad, the Pakistani Foreign Secretary held an in-depth session of bilateral consultations.  They were assisted by senior officials from respective Foreign Ministries.  The Turkish side conveyed its understanding and support to Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. Pakistan reiterated its support to Turkey on the issue of Cyprus. The two sides reviewed cooperation in multilateral fora such as UN, OIC, NAM, ECO and D-8. It was decided to closely consult and coordinate their positions.  Credit goes to the PML-N government for reviving the Kashmir issue, and now apart from India, international community has also recognised it as a disputed territory, said Federal Information Minister Mushahid Hussain.  He said it was the result of PML-N policies that the South African President Dr. Nelson Mandela took a bold stand over the Kashmir issue during the recent Non-Aligned Movement summit. He said, “Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has also realised that without Kashmir issue talks with Pakistan will be useless. In a way he has admitted our point of view.” September 07: United Nations Secretary-General Kufi Annan said in a report that the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and other issues in the backdrop of nuclear tests by the two countries, underscored that the world still faced the “threat of nuclear annihilation.”  In his annual report to the 53rd session of the United Nations General Assembly due to begin on Sept 21, the secretary-general high-lighted the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan in May and termed the tests by India and Pakistan “highly disturbing development.”  The debate on Kashmir issue at the NAM summit last week will go down in the history as one of the significant achievements of the Nawaz government.  A Pakistan Muslim League’s spokesman said that it was a major triumph of Pakistan’s foreign policy that India stood isolated among 114-member nations of the Non-Aligned Movement when President Nelson Mandela described the Kashmir issue as a matter of concern for the whole world and called for its settlement through peaceful means. September 08: India strongly objected to the United Nations Secretary-General, Kufi Annan’s statement describing Kashmir as one of the causes of concern world-wide.  Brajesh Mishra, Principal Secretary to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said reference to Kashmir in the UN report on the eve of the 53rd General Assembly session was not appreciable.  Train services were suspended in Kashmir after two bombs exploded on tracks linking Jammu with India.  The bombs went off within one hour of each other near Satwal town, some 25 kilometres from Jammu. Nobody was injured in the blasts. Police had earlier uncovered five more explosive devices on a nearby stretch of railway track.  Indian diplomats here are upset over UN Secretary-General Kufi Annan’s annual report wherein he has described the festering Kashmir dispute as being a threat to “human race”, because of the nuclear war implications.  Besides, he has conjoined Kashmir with other hot disputes in the world –– the Afghan conflict, the deadlock in Cyprus, the civil war in Sudan, the ethnic war in Kosovo, and the ongoing unrest in Congo.  In the backdrop of South African leader Nelson Mandela’s statement at the Non-Aligned Movement summit asking India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute, and now United Nations chief’s statement that Kashmir was a “cause for major concern”, India is feeling the heat from the international community. September 09: The AJK President Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan hailed UN Secretary-General Kufi Annan for his concern and for, terming Kashmir issue as major cause of conflict and tension between India and Pakistan in the annual report of the United Nations.  Information Minister Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the growing international consensus on the need to address Kashmir dispute is a good development.   “The wide international recognition and the growing consensus on the need to address the Jammu and Kashmir dispute has established Pakistan’s stand that peace and security in South Asian region is inextricably linked with the issue,” he said. September 10: Britain has supported South African President Nelson Mandela’s statement in which he had offered help to resolve the Kashmir issue, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said.  The support was expressed by British Deputy Foreign Minister for South Asian Affairs Derek Fatchett when he called on the foreign minister.  Children continue to be the worst victims of the violence in held Jammu and Kashmir. Scores of children have been killed, an equal number gone missing and thousands have lost their parents in the almost decade old turmoil, since Indian forces came out to quell the popular movement for right to self-determination. September 11: Pakistan said that Indian troops had stepped up activity in a threatening posture along the border of Kashmir and warned of a “suitable” response to any adventure.  The Indian forces “have been indulging in indiscriminate firing” all along the Line of Control (LoC) for the past week, using heavy artillery, rockets and other weapons, a defence ministry spokesman said. Eight people, including an Indian soldier, were killed in Occupied Kashmir while suspected Kashmiri guerillas exploded four grenades in the region.  An Indian soldier was killed in a gunbattle with guerillas in Kupwara, a police spokesman said.  Ch. Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Chairman Kashmir Committee has said that the concern shown by the world leaders over the Kashmir issue augurs well, for an early solution of the issue.  Appreciating the concern expressed by the UN Secretary General and the Inter Parliamentary Union on the Kashmir issue, he said the issue has assumed testing a new missile every next day besides purchasing aircrafts and lethal weapons from abroad.  The Kashmiri American Council (KAC) lauded United Nations Secretary-General Kufi Annan’s spotlight on Kashmir in his annual report to the 53rd session of the United Nations General Assembly scheduled to begin on September 21.  In a statement issued in Washington, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, KAC Executive Director, said the UN Secretary-General correctly characterised the unflinching freedom struggle in Kashmir from foreign occupying powers. September 12: The AJK cabinet lauded United Nation Secretary-General Kufi Annan’s concern on Kashmir issue and inclusion of the dispute in the UN annual report.  The cabinet also expressed satisfaction over the increasing international support to the just cause of Kashmiri people terming it a significant development towards peaceful resolution of Kashmir problem.  Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and India is making all out efforts to resolve it through mutual talks with Pakistan. September 13: The Held Kashmir Governor, Girish Saxena has said that there are about one thousand ‘foreign militants’ active in Jammu and Kashmir and about 1200 local fighters belonging to outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkutul Ansar and Lashkar-i-Tayyibah are also helping the foreign ones in their activities. A senior activist of the ruling National Conference Party was shot dead by fighters in Kashmir valley. While ten more persons including one surrendered militant and five foreign militants were also killed.  Indian and Pakistan may be on the “threshold” of solving a five-decade-old Kashmir dispute, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said.  The upcoming talks between Indian and Pakistani premiers in New York may mark “a threshold in settlement” of the Kashmir issue which “is a problem that has been there for the past 50 years,” Fernandes was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying.  About 20,000 people have died in freedom campaign raging in the Indian occupied Kashmir since January 1990.  The victims included 9,123 Muslim freedom fighters, 6,673 civilians killed by freedom fighters and 2,477 civilians killed by Indian forces as well as 1,593 army personnel.  A total of 40,031 violent incidents were reported during this period. These included 7,56 explosions and 4,708 arson cases. September 14: A foreign office spokesman welcomed Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes’s statement in which he had said that the forthcoming talks between Prime Minister Nawaz and his Indian counterpart in New York might mark a “threshold” in resolving the Kashmir dispute.  The spokesman said Pakistan had all along been trying to persuade India to enter into a serious dialogue for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute. China was in favour of India and Pakistan settling the Kashmir dispute through bilateral negotiations, China’s ambassador to India says.   “We hope both the countries will talk to each other to explore peaceful and amicable ways to resolve the dispute which has been persisting for long,” China’s envoy Zhou Gang said in Calcutta. September 15: South Africa said that a recent statement by President Nelson Mandela on the Kashmir dispute had been misunderstood, and reiterated that it was a bilateral issue between New Delhi and Islamabad. September 16: US Senator Harry Reid has said there is no justification for the Kashmir issue remaining unresolved for so many years and India should be persuaded to give the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people.  Senator Reid, a member of powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, was speaking at a fund-raising dinner organized by the Pakistani-American Physicians Public Affairs Committee (PAK-PAC).  A Muslim leader in occupied Kashmir requested official protection for witnesses to custodial killings by Indian security forces in the region.   “If Kashmir Army chief Krishna Pal will guarantee to safeguard witnesses, we assure our full support in identifying the culprits of custodial killings,” said Abdul Ghani Lone, a leader of the All parties Hurriyat Conference, which comprises 30 Kashmiri groups.  “Otherwise people are scared to come forward, as their houses will be blown up or they will be killed,” Lone said. September 17: Eleven people, including six Kashmiri guerillas, were killed in separate incidents in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  In occupied Kashmir, Indian forces shot dead two school children and injured a dozen more people during a botched operation against suspected freedom fighters.  Border Security Force troops opened fire while searching for freedom fighters at a school in Baramulla District, 25 miles north of Srinagar. September 18: Indian security forces arrested a dozen Kashmiri leaders in occupied Kashmir region, amid a general strike called after troops opened fire on a local school.  All shops, businesses, banks and schools in occupied Srinagar heeded the strike call by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference –– an umbrella grouping of 30 Kashmiri groups.  The protest followed an incident in which paramilitary troops, hunting for Muslim guerillas, strafed a schoolyard in Baramulla District, 40 kilometres north of Srinagar.  Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz met with a high-level Kashmiri delegation, representing the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and AJK political parties for an indepth exchange of views on the Jammu and Kashmir situation.  The Kashmiri representatives who called on the Foreign Minister included APHC convener Syed Yousuf Naseem, general secretary Ghulam Muhammad Safi and others.  They briefed the Foreign Minister about developments inside Jammu and Kashmir and the widespread atrocities being committed by Indian occupation forces. They stressed that the Kashmiris were determined to secure their freedom from India’s colonial rule.  The Foreign Minister categorically reaffirmed Pakistan’s unflinching and abiding support to the just cause of the Kashmiris and its principled stand on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions for the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. He reaffirmed to them Pakistan’s steadfast commitment and continued moral diplomatic and political support to the just Kashmiris struggle against Indian occupation of their lands. September 19: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would forcefully present Pakistan’s case in his address to the United Nations on Kashmir and other issues relating to the region.  Talking to newsmen before his departure for Copenhagen on way to New York he said during his address to the UN General Assembly and his individual meetings with President Clinton and other world leaders, he would raise all those issues which help establish peace and security in the region. September 20: More than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed in the Indian Held Kashmir by the Indian security forces and out of them as many as 56,000 were killed in Valley, reveals “Catch and Kill”, pamphlet of “Institute Kashmir Studies” (IKS).  The pamphlet revealed that it was declared a “Disturbed Area” where the Indian security forces were given special powers to kill and indulge in any kind of atrocities while dealing with the situation.  Nehru was as bigoted as, say, Thackery or Advani.  This is the conclusion drawn by noted columnist, Khalid Hasan, who has based his observation on historic facts narrated by Indian lawyer A. G. Noorani, in his book ‘The Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru’.  And the basis for drawing this conclusion on the cited ‘secret note’ brought to light by Noorani in his book published in 1996.  Nehru’s words make it abundantly clear that he entertained more than one opinion on Kashmir. “There is ample evidence also to prove that Nehru had decided to resile from his pledges on a plebiscite as early as in 1948,” maintains Noorani. September 21: Stressing that terrorism was not a consequence of conflict between Islam and the West, President Clinton called for resolution of Kashmir and other disputes which fester “ancient animosities” resulting in “senseless killings of innocent people.”  Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Clinton tried to clear wrong perceptions about Islam saying, “Some people believe that terrorism’s principal fault line centres on an inevitable clash of civilizations … between Western civilization and values and Islamic civilization and values. I believe this view is terribly wrong.”  Putting terrorism on the top of the agenda and calling it “clear and present danger,” Clinton said “Terrorism is not just, or even mainly American problem” adding “no one sitting in this room is immune. “Not the people of Kashmir and Sri-Lanka, killed by ancient animosities that call out for resolution. Not the Palestinians and Israelis who still die each year, for all our progress toward peace” and “Not the people of Algeria, Egypt, Argentina,” Mr. Clinton observed. Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar Khan, Chairman, National Assembly Special Committee on Kashmir, has appreciated a Russian offer for mediation on the Kashmir issue. September 22: At least five people were killed and many wounded, including a Frenchman, in shootouts in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.  A police constable and a civilian were killed in a gun battle between suspected Muslim guerillas and security forces.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked UN Secretary General Kufi Annan to appoint a special representative on Kashmir, ensure regular monitoring of the LoC and take measures to reduce the risk of conflict in the region.  The Prime Minister met the UN Secretary General ahead of his crucial meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Pakistani side is optimistic but cautious at the same time about the outcome of the talks. September 23: Pakistan and India have agreed to resume their stalled dialogue on Kashmir and other security issues, in what appeared to be a concession by India in face of rising international pressure, to reduce tensions in South Asia.  A joint statement issued by the two premiers, even before they began their summit talks at New York’s Palace Hotel, said the foreign secretaries had reached an agreement to “operationalise the mechanism to address all items in the agreed agenda of June 23, 1997 in a purposeful and composite manner in October and November.”  This operational mechanism includes foreign secretary level talks on peace and security including CBMs and Jammu and Kashmir in Islamabad on October 15-18 while the other subjects will be taken up in Islamabad in the first half of November.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that India will soon realize it cannot suppress the struggling people of Kashmir through force.  The Prime Minister was talking to former chairman of All Parties Hurriat Conference Mir Waiz Umar Farooq who called on him.  “Kashmir will be liberated and India will soon realize it cannot subjugate the people of Jammu and Kashmir by force,” he said.  Nawaz Sharif said during his talks with US President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African leader Nelson Mandela, he had urged them to help facilitate the settlement of the Kashmir dispute and prevail upon India to stop the atrocities.  Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee proclaimed a new era in Indo-Pakistani cooperation after the two South Asian countries agreed to open wide-ranging talks on all disputes including Kashmir.  “A new chapter in Indo-Pakistani cooperation is being opened,” Vajpayee told a news conference after a two-hour meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at a New York hotel.  Vajpayee said they had agreed to reopen a hotline for communication between the two prime ministers during crises, and to establish bus, road and rail links between the two countries.  “Firing on the border will be stopped,” he said, referring to repeated shelling across the Line of Control in Kashmir.  Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said the United Nations, the major powers and the international community have a responsibility to support and facilitate a solution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.  Addressing the UN General Assembly, he said, “We request the UN Secretary General to take appropriate initiatives to implement the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and to ease tensions and build confidence.”  Nawaz Sharif said in particular “we urge that UNMOGIP be strengthened and its mandate enhanced.” The Security Council should regularly monitor the volatile situation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, he said. September 24: Some political leaders in occupied Kashmir said peace talks between India and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region will be “fruitless” without the inclusion of Kashmiris.  India and Pakistan agreed to resume peace dialogue on the disputed region and took a first step towards restraining their nuclear arms race.  “They have been holding talks in the past, they will talk in the future also but without the participation of real representatives of Jammu and Kashmir any dialogue between India and Pakistan will be fruitless,” said Abdul Ghani Lone, a senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.  Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that world community particularly the United Nations and the United States should not shy away from playing an active role for the resolution of Kashmir dispute.  “It will be a great service to humanity, if international community plays its part,” he said in a TV interview.  Referring to his meeting with US President, the Prime Minister said he told Bill Clinton that Kashmir was the root cause of the conflict in the region.  “History shows that Pakistan and India have failed to resolve their disputes bilaterally, and have always sought international intervention to get our disputes resolved,” he said and referred to the World Bank’s mediation that helped settle water dispute between the two estranged neighbours. September 25: Two Indian border guards and five Muslim freedom fighters were killed in violence.  Police said the deaths occurred in two unrelated gun battles and an explosion in which the borders guards died near occupied Srinagar.  The spokesman of the Foreign Office has condemned the refusal of the Indian government to allow four members of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to travel to New York to attend a meeting of the OIC Contact Group at the United Nations Headquarters.  These leaders had been invited to attend the meeting by Secretary General of the OIC.  Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Saddique Khan Kanju told the National Assembly that government has always taken Kashmiri leadership into conference in talks with India.  He said government has accorded highest priority to early settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute with India. “This core issue remains the underlying cause of tension and instability in the region since the last 50 years,” he added.  He said with the nuclearisation of South Asia by India, Kashmir has become a nuclear flashpoint. He added that the dust at Pokran had hardly settled that Indian government and BJP leaders held out threat of nuclear blackmail in the context of Jammu and Kashmir.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has termed it a breakthrough that now India has agreed to talk on the Kashmir issue, which is also reflected in the joint communique.  He reiterated his government’s stance that Kashmir issue is on top of its agenda and said that international community needs to play its role.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the international community should continue to pressurize India on Kashmir issue so that the forthcoming secretary-level talks between New Delhi and Islamabad could be successful.  If they continue to exert pressure on India (for the solution of Kashmir issue through bilateral talks) and play an effective role, the talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan would definitely succeed,” the Prime Minister told reporters outside the Pakistan embassy building in central London. September 26: Pakistan has said that it would enter into the dialogue with India to resolve all outstanding issues with all sincerity and has urged the international community to continue active involvement even in the form of moral pressure on India that “could ensure that India summons the political will to address the Kashmir dispute in a serious and result-oriented manner”.  The spokesman for the Foreign Office, Tariq Altaf, said the categoric reference to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in a Joint Statement at the level of the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India, perhaps for the first time in a quarter of century, was a welcome development.  Describing Kashmir dispute as major cause of tension in South Asia, member of the British Parliament Ms Lorna Fitzsimon has said that her country was ready to extend all out help to resolve it.  “The intractable conflict of Kashmir requires effective engagement of the international community and the British government with the close collaboration of like-minded countries is striving to get it solved peacefully,” she said while talking to newsmen at the State Guest House after meeting with AJK senior Minister Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar.  The Kashmiris living in New York staged a demonstration in front of the UN building Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq was also present on the occasion.  At a time when the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was on way to the United States to address the General Assembly, the Kashmiris settled in the United States held a demonstration against the Indian control over Kashmir and in favour of the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris.  The 13th Speakers conference which concluded with Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly, Illahi Bukhsh Soomro in the chair, in a unanimous declaration has urged the world community to come forward and help resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.  Minister of state for foreign affairs Mohammad Siddique Kanju told the National Assembly that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gives top priority to the early settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute with India as it was the core issue between the two countries. September 27: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that world community particularly the United Nations and the United States should not shy away from playing an active role for the resolution of Kashmir dispute.  “It will be a great service to humanity, if international community plays its part,” he said in an interview with Pakistan Television.  Referring to his meeting with US President, the Prime Minister said he told Bill Clinton that Kashmir was the root cause of the conflict in the region.  “History shows that Pakistan and India have failed to resolve their disputes bilaterally, and have always sought international intervention to get our disputes resolved,” he said and referred to the World Bank’s mediation that helped settle the water dispute between the two estranged neighbours. To a question whether Clinton offered any mediation, the Prime Minister said that American President agreed that this outstanding problem be resolved and realised the gravity of the problem.  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the breakthrough in talks with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee in New York recently augured well for the two countries and more purposeful talks were expected soon.  Mr. Sharif said his talks with the Indian premier were in the light of the discussions he had held on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Colombo.  Pakistan, he said, wanted talks on Kashmir issue with which were linked so many other issues. In Colombo, he recalled, he had told Mr. Vajpayee that unless the Kashmir dispute was mentioned in the joint communique and a time schedule set for talks, progress would not be possible in other areas.  Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Mushahid Hussain Sayed has urged the United States to play meaningful role in the settlement of the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute.  “We want the United States to play its positive role for resolving the issue of Kashmir as it has made efforts in other regional issues either it is in Middle East, Bosnia, Cyprus or the Northern Ireland”, he said.  Responding to a question about the meeting held between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the US President Bill Clinton, he said it was held in a good atmosphere adding that it helped in understanding the stands of two countries about the matters of their interest.  Asked if the Kashmir issue was discussed in the meeting as Clinton has started to give a considerable importance to it for some time, he said they gave very important focus to the issue of Kashmir in their meeting.  The Government of Pakistan is striving to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute said Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis.  He was addressing a meeting of the Pakistani community organised at the Chancery premises of the Embassy of Pakistan in Paris.  He said Pakistan would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty only after sanctions imposed on Pakistan were lifted and a solution was found to the Kashmir issue.  Acting Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar, said disintegration of India was imminent if it failed to grant right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian army fired at two vehicles carrying UN military observers in Azad Kashmir’s Neelum valley said an fficial source.  Captain Fieres of Belgium and an Italian officer, who were heading to Athmaqam from Dudnial in Neelum valley, came under fire by the Indian troops, but the bullets missed their targets.  Two officials of the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UN-MOGIP) narrowly escaped Indian firing from across the border in Neelum Valley, military officials said.  They said Captain Fierens of Belgium and Captain Tuzzonilo of Italy, travelling in two separate vehicles, carrying UN flag, to Muzaffarabad, when reached at Lawat, a border village in Neelum Valley some 110 kilometres from here at 10.30 am, came under machinegun fire, of the Indian troops. Some bullets hit the doors of the vehicles, damaging them partially. However, the officials miraculously escaped, they said. September 28: The United Nations’ Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has announced to hold a high-level inquiry into firing incidents by Indian troops on UN observers, Chief Observer Brigadier General Sergio Espinosa Davies said.  “My team members remained under direct Indian firing during the monitoring operation twice,” the Chief Observer belonging to Chili said. “The observers were travelling on UN vehicles after informing the Indian authorities concerned of their conduct of duties,” he added. “We will conduct a thorough inquiry into the incidents to report our head office.”  Indian soldiers traded fire with Kashmiri Mujahideen hidden in a forest for 24 hours over the weekend in a battle that left eight soldiers injured, four of them seriously.  Indian army sources speaking on condition of anonymity said no casualties were reported among the guerillas, who had strategic hill-top positions during the clash. The sources said more troops were being brought to launch a new attack.  Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, rejected any third party mediation in the Kashmir dispute and instead stressed that the bilateral talks between India and Pakistan on the basis of 1972 Simla Agreement will resolve issues.  Speaking at an Asia Society luncheon, he said: “Contrary to what may believe, bilateralism works. It is intrusion by the third parties, however, well intentioned, that creates complications.”  Pakistan has time and again sought international mediation in the Kashmir dispute and has accepted the offer of good offices by the Secretary General of the United Nations, which India has rejected. September 29: Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz has urged the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to appoint a special representative on Jammu and Kashmir to monitor and evaluate the status of talks between Pakistan and India on Kashmir issue.  Addressing the meeting of OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir held at the UN Headquarters, the Foreign Minister said the OIC secretary general should appoint his special representative on Kashmir issue which should keep monitoring the talks and fully inform the OIC secretary general.  Leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Muhammad Umer Farooq has said Jammu and Kashmir has been passing through a critical phase of the history nowadays which needs more serious attention by the world community, especially the OIC and other such world organisations.  Addressing the Contact Group of OIC on Jammu and Kashmir at the UN Headquarters, he said with the induction of nuclear weapons in South Asia, it has become all the more imperative to secure an early solution to this fundamental issue on the basis of the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Mir Waiz said due to serious implications of this burning issue for regional peace and security, there was need for immediate end to all forms of human rights violations and release of all detainees, early implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and inclusion of APHC in the negotiations on Kashmir dispute to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the problem.  Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (KA&NA) General Abdul Majeed Malik has said that internationalism of Kashmir issue is a great achievement of the government which will prepare the ground for solution of this burning question.  Kashmiris have appealed to the world to help and support the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for the realisation of their rights as promised to them under the United Nations Security Council resolutions.  Representatives of Kashmiris made this appeal through a memorandum presented in the Contact Group of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) which met at the UN headquarters. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood, leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and leader of American Kashmir Council Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai.  Through this memorandum, the Kashmiris called upon the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir to impress upon the Indian government to end its repression and immediately release all Kashmir detainees.  AJK Prime Minister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhri unequivocally condemned India for continuing systematic and widespread human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.  Addressing the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, he said Indian occupied Kashmir is the most militarised region anywhere in the world. “The civilian to military ratio is approximately 1 to 7 with a deployment of over 700,000 military and pre-military forces. He censured the serious provocations and hostilities against Azad Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control and reiterated the resolve of the Kashmiri people to continue their just and legitimate struggle for their freedom from India and the realisation of their right of self-determination. September 30: “Pakistan is not seeking any third party involvement in bilateral talks with India on the Kashmir dispute scheduled to begin in middle of October” Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said.  However, he hastened to add: “We would like United Nations and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to follow the progress of bilateral talks between the two countries”.  Responding to the Indian prime minister’s statement rejecting any third party involvement in talks on Kashmir dispute Aziz pointed out “there are different levels of involvements –– there is mediation, arbitration and good offices.”  Seven freedom fighters and a Hindu civilian were killed in separate incidents of freedom struggle in the troubled Valley of Kashmir.  Three fighters died in a shootout near the two of Banihal, some 100 kilometres from Srinagar, after they opened fire on some passing Indian troops.  Three other fighters were killed in two unrelated gunbattles in two southern districts while another one died in an encounter near the northern town of Kupwara.