One killed in Sopore blast

SRINAGAR, APRIL 22. One person was killed and 25 injured as militants exploded an improvised explosive device (IED) in Sopore town of Baramulla district in north Kashmir today. The IED was planted in a hand-cart packed with vegetables near Sopore police station, 55 km from here, an official spokesman said.

He said the IED, believed to have been made of deadly RDX, went off at around 11.25 a.m. killing Mohammad Ashraf Lone of Kupwara and injuring 25 others. Twelve residential houses, a truck, two scooters, four bicycles, a mini-bus and a number of shops were badly damaged in the explosion.

Police and paramilitary forces immediately cordoned off the area and removed the injured to hospital. Seven of them were shifted to Srinagar for further treatment and three were said to be in ``critical'' condition, the spokesman said. However, no militant outfit has owned responsibility for the explosion so far.

Differences in APHC

The 23-party All-Party Hurriyat Conference, whose working committee met on Saturday, failed to arrive at any consensus, Hurriyat insiders told PTI. The general council, which is meeting on Monday, is likely to give a final stamp to the decision of the Hurriyat before its executive meets later this week, the sources said.

Hardliners within the Hurriyat continued with their tirade against the nomination of Mr. K.C. Pant as negotiator while the moderates termed the Centre's offer an ``opportunity'' failing which the conglomerate would suffer ``internationally''.

The moderates at the meeting cautioned the Hurriyat executive members of the repercussions of outright rejection of talks offer, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pant, who has been busy meeting a cross-section of people well-versed with the issue, today met the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, prior to the high-level meeting with the BSF chief over the Bangladesh issue. Sources said Mr. Pant briefed the Prime Minister about the progress over the issue.

Baffled by the Centre's nomination of Mr. Pant as negotiator, the Hurriyat is sticking to its stand of first sending its delegation to Pakistan and later holding talks with the Centre. However, it was very unlikely that the Centre would agree before the Hurriyat made its stand clear about the visit to Mr. Pant, the sources said.

Hurriyat insiders said it would be difficult for the conglomerate to reject the offer as holding talks without any pre-conditions was a one-time demand of theirs. The issue is likely to generate heat at the general council meeting of the Hurriyat conference tomorrow at Srinagar.

Meanwhile, in a bid to keep its flock together, the APHC constituted a team of three members comprising Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Qazi Ahadullah (Jamaat-e-Islami) and Mr. Bashir Ahmed Bhat (JKLF) to hold talks with other leaders.

The delegation held talks with Mr. Shabir Shah, Mr. Nayeem Khan and Mr. Azam Inqulabi. The move comes amidst fears that some of these leaders might go ahead for talks with the Centre on Kashmir issue.

- PTI

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