26 February 2004	Thursday	05 Muharram 1425

SRINAGAR, Feb 25: One of Kashmir's main leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), on Wednesday, gave India a deadline to reign in its troops and end repression in the occupied state, saying it would pull out of peace talks if demands were not met.

"We will wait until the end of February to see whether there is any change in the human rights situation in Kashmir. If we don't find any change we will pull out of talks with New Delhi," said Maulana Abbas Ansari, one of the leaders of the 23-party alliance.

"We are providing a chance to India to reign in its troops so that the peace process moves on," he said here. On January 22, Ansari led five moderate separatists in the first-ever high-level talks with New Delhi. India's Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani gave an assurance that Kashmiris' human rights would be respected.

"There are people (in Kashmir and in New Delhi) who want to sabotage the process of peace," Ansari told a news conference. He said these people wanted a "breakdown of talks and an increase in violence" in the region. Ansari appealed to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Advani to "reign in troops to end repression in Kashmir".

The Hurriyat's decision came after a series of incidents in which civilians have been killed. "We have decided to talk, but that does not mean we will continue to see our people being killed, tortured, arrested and harassed," he said.

Ansari said "continuing human rights violations by Indian troops" were threatening talks over the future of Kashmir. The Hurriyat chief said the second round of talks with India were expected to take place in the second or third week of March.

"We will decide before that (the second round) whether we have to move on or pull out of the process," he said. "We are very much interested in taking the talks forward. But if there is no change in atmosphere we may have to rethink."

The government formally invited the APHC for talks on January 13. Last November Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced that Advani would initiate the dialogue. The move followed a series of confidence building measures - like resuming transport and sports links - proposed by India to lower tensions with Pakistan.

The APHC team that met Advani was led by Ansari, head of the conglomerate's moderate faction. APHC hardliners, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, have maintained that any dialogue on Kashmir must include Pakistan. - AFP/dpa/Reuters