Security stepped up as separatists end ceasefire

Indian security forces began a fresh offensive against Muslim separatists in the disputed Kashmir region yesterday, after the largest insurgent group withdrew the unilateral ceasefire it declared last month.

"We have tightened up security across the state as the militants are bound to step up violence to show they are active," said the director general of police, Mr Gurbachan Jagat, in the state's summer capital Srinagar. Village defence councils, he added, had been alerted against militant strikes on minority Hindus and Sikhs living in rural areas.

The army - in charge of anti-militancy operations in Kashmir - which ceased military operations against the Hizbul Mujahideen (People's Army) after it unilaterally declared a ceasefire for three months on July 27th and began exploratory talks with the government to try and settle the 53-year-old Kashmir dispute, also alerted all units to be prepared for a fresh offensive.

Officials said the militants would have used the last 11 days to regroup and fortify their weaponry, making it more difficult for the security forces to counter them. "It will now be a fiercer contest," a security official said. The Hizbul Mujahideen has over 1,000 members active across Kashmir.

The Hizbul Mujahideen leader, Mr Syed Salahuddin, withdrew his ceasefire offer after India refused to involve neighbouring Pakistan in peace talks over Kashmir's future. Addressing the media from Pakistan's capital Islamabad, Mr Salahuddin said the Kashmir dispute could be settled only through the United Nations or by tripartite talks between militant groups involved in fighting Kashmir's civil war, Pakistan and India.

India accuses Pakistan - which forcibly occupied a third of Kashmir after independence in 1947 and lays claim to the rest - of sponsoring the 11-year-old civil war for an independent Islamic homeland which has claimed over 30,000 lives. Pakistan denies these allegations, but allows all separatist groups active in Kashmir to operate from there.

Mr Salahuddin said he had instructed all his field commanders to resume hostilities against Indian targets. "They will resume their activities with a bang," a Hizbul militant said.

India opposes both Hizbul proposals and accuses Pakistan of sabotaging the peace initiative even before it took off. "Pakistani agencies have put intense pressure on the Hizbul Mujahideen leadership in Pakistan to sabotage the ceasefire," said an official statement in new Delhi. But we are ready to face any situation, it added.

Peace talks broke down following just one exploratory meeting between Hizbul representatives and federal officials in Srinagar, after the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, told parliament that negotiations with the separatists would be within the parameters of the constitution. This pre-condition is opposed by the militants. And though Mr Vajpayee later declared that any "extra constitutional" views could also be considered, the damage had been done.

"Not enough homework went into the peace talks," a security official said, declining to be identified. In its anxiety to try and solve the Kashmir problem the government, he said, had been too hasty in jumping into negotiations. And now that they had broken down, any similar attempt would be treated with scepticism, he added.

Meanwhile, Kashmiris who expressed cautious optimism after peace talks began, were cynical now about the state's future. "The situation is hopeless," said Mr Mohammad Shafi, a houseboat owner. "Peace will never descend on Kashmir and it will fall back into the endless cycle of violence," he lamented.