LAHORE, Jan 20: The Kashmir Action Committee, Pakistan, has expressed its concern over continuous Indian repression in held Kashmir despite the start of a peace process, and urged it to stop its military operation in the valley.

In a statement here on Tuesday, KACP president Dr Muzaffar Shah expressed his cautious optimism on the peace talks to be started next month between India and Pakistan. He said it was sad that the peace process had had no effect on repression in the valley where almost a dozen people were being killed daily.

He said: "POTA and other such black laws, peculiar to Kashmir, give Indian forces a complete immunity. They resort to fake encounters and custodial killings. No-one out of 6,000 young men declared missing has been recovered despite occupied Kashmir chief minister's repeated promises to the people of the state."

He said the credibility of the peace process had to find its proof in ground realities which cast serious doubts on Indian intentions to solve the Kashmir dispute. The mayhem in Kashmir raised a possibility that India after having obtained all concessions from Pakistan and engaging it in a long and uncertain composite dialogue might at the end present Pakistan with a fait accompli. It was already hobnobbing with a faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

He said India must take steps to assuage the fears of Kashmiris. Without their participation and confidence in the peace process, the whole exercise might end in failure. It was not clear whether President Musharraf had taken up this matter with Vajpayee. At least there was no mention of it in the joint statement.

He said if India was serious about solving the Kashmir issue, it must take the measures which included an end to military operations in held Kashmir, except in genuine defence; release of all prisoners held without any charge; repeal of all repressive laws including POTA; permission to national and international organizations, including International Committee of Red Cross, to visit Kashmir; freedom of expression, assembly and association and a sizable reduction in its security forces.

He said unless the Kashmiris were taken along in the peace process, the whole process would be futile and counterproductive. "If the peace process fails this time, it will be a great tragedy and may lead to catastrophic developments any time in future," he said.