'Offer addressed to Pak. too'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. The Government's ceasefire initiative in Kashmir is addressed not only to Kashmiri militants but ``also to Pakistan,'' the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K.Advani, said today, even as in the Valley militants blasted an Army vehicle killing three soldiers and wounding 12. (In all, 11 persons, including five militants, were killed, and 22 injured in various incidents on the first day of the unilateral ceasefire.)

Addressing the BJP parliamentary party, Mr. Advani said the Lahore busride (in February 1999) by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, was India's first attempt at offering a hand of friendship and establishing peace in the region, and now this was the second attempt, which he felt ``Pakistan should take advantage of''.

He admitted, though, that the ceasefire was a ``calculated risk'' to give peace a chance. The bus diplomacy ended with Pakistan ``back-stabbing us'', but he hoped this time Pakistan would respond by stopping the training and funding of militants.

He said the people in Jammu and Kashmir, political parties and citizens across the country had appreciated the initiative. Throughout the world, India's credibility as genuinely desiring peace had been established, first by the Lahore bus diplomacy, and now the peace offer.

At the same time, he reassured the MPs that the soldiers ``are not laying down their arms''; though they ``will not fire the first shot''. He also said that vigilance on the Line of Control had been intensified; there is no ceasefire there.

This was the second parliamentary party meeting of the BJP in this session; today, too, the Prime Minister did not attend. When asked, the party spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said Mr. Vajpayee was ``taking rest on doctor's advice''.

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Vehicle runs into IED trap

By Shujaat Bukhari

JAMMU, NOV. 28. On day one of the month-long Ramzan ceasefire, militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) near Nowpora Dooru, 25 km from Anantnag, killing three soldiers and injuring 12 others. Some of the injured are in a critical condition. Though no organisation here claimed responsibility for the blast, a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen spokesperson, Salim Hashmi, owned it up in Islamabad. There was no confirmation here.

A party of 36 Rashtriya Rifles was on its way to the unit headquarters in Larkipora when the vehicle ran into an IED trap on the Srinagar-Verinag road. The SSP, Anantnag, Mr. Munir Khan, told The Hindu over phone that three soldiers died on the spot and eight were injured. (Some reports put the figure of the injured at 12; four of whom, critical, were airlifted to the Srinagar Base Hospital.)

Mr. Khan confirmed that no retaliatory operation was launched as per directions.

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Seize the chance, say former PMs

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. Four former Prime Ministers today jointly welcomed the Vajpayee Government's ceasefire initiative, and exhorted militant groups to seize the opportunity and secure the release of Jammu and Kashmir from the ``clutches of foreign vested interests'', and to create an atmosphere that would prolong the ceasefire beyond Ramzan.

Mr. V.P. Singh, Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Mr. H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr. I.K. Gujral lent their moral support to the peace initiative, signaling to groups in and out of Kashmir that the rest of the country was supportive of the Centre's initiative. ``Peace is the dire necessity in Jammu and Kashmir and no one can be allowed to play with it for their narrow sectional interests,'' they warned.

The foursome invited the militants to come forward ``and start negotiations with the Government of India''. By now the militant groups ``must have realised the futility of the gun culture in redressing grievances''. If these groups were to take advantage of the Government's offer, they could help ``shape the destiny of not only Jammu and Kashmir but also the whole of India''.

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