India cautious over Pakistan offer: Demilitarization of Kashmir
NEW DELHI, Nov 1: India on Tuesday responded cautiously to Pakistan’s suggestion that the rivals demilitarise disputed Kashmir to speed up relief efforts after last month’s quake which claimed 58,000 lives, saying the step could not be taken unilaterally.
“It (the demilitarisation) can’t be done unilaterally,” Foreign Minister Natwar Singh told reporters in New Delhi, the Press Trust of India reported.
“After all, they (Pakistan) are in occupation of our areas,” he said referring to India’s claim over all of the whole Kashmir.
Mr Singh was responding to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s remarks to Saudi newspaper Arab News at the weekend in which he said he was “for demilitarisation (in Kashmir).
“If they (India) agree to that, we will too,” Musharraf’s spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan quoted him as saying.
The minister made it clear that he has to study the Pakistan president’s comments and the context in which they were made before offering any definite views.
“Over-verbalising doesn’t help. Every second day there is a statement from that side,” he added, referring to Pakistan.
India and Pakistan signed a deal early Sunday to open five crossings on the Himalayan region’s de facto border from Nov 7 to aid quake survivors.
It came after Musharraf proposed the opening of the heavily militarized Line of Control around a week and a half after the Oct 8 quake.
India was slow to respond to the officer as it fears Islamic rebels battling its rule in held Kashmir would use the opportunity to cross into the held zone.
SEARCH: Meanwhile, police have prepared a sketch of a key suspect in New Delhi’s deadly bombings, Indian media said on Tuesday as Hindus marked a subdued Diwali festival under tight security and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hinted at a Pakistani link to the blasts.
Anguished relatives of the dead and injured in Saturday’s attacks spent another anxious day desperately searching for loved ones among rows of charred bodies or keeping vigil outside hospitals where the wounded were being treated.
Investigators were hunting for a casually-dressed man in his twenties, police sources were quoted as saying. Witnesses saw him slipping off a bus after leaving a bag which exploded minutes later in the Okhla industrial area.
A rough sketch of the suspected bomber had been prepared with the help of a passenger who sat next to him and interacted with him briefly. All passengers were saved when the bus driver threw out the abandoned bag.
Police said bags used in Saturday’s two other blasts which killed 62 people — in the Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj markets — were of similar make and they were questioning shopkeepers in the hope of identifying the purchasers.
Investigators also said timer devices and traces of Research Developed Explosive (RDX) have been found in the bombs usually assembled only by experts.
Karnail Singh, the head of New Delhi’s anti-terrorism unit, said the attacks were probably coordinated by a single group but executed by different units.
“They targeted chaat shops (snack food stalls) at both Paharganj and Sarojini Nagar markets as they are generally crowded with women and children. The target was maximum damage,” he said.
The sound of fireworks could be heard sporadically across the city from early Tuesday as Hindus marked Diwali, the festival of lights, while police kept a tight watch on markets, temples and public places.
The city, which has brought in 2,600 security personnel to bolster its 71,000-member police force, remained on high alert.
Main festivities were due in the evening when family members visit temples to offer prayers before gathering at home to explode fireworks.—AFP
