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| No ceasefire this Ramzaan | | | NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
Jammu, Sept 8: Just few days have left for the commencement of Ramzaan, but this month of feasting there is no possibility of a ceremonial peace gesture of ceasefire as was widely expected.
It is learnt that the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad too was of the opinion of announcing a ceasefire during the Ramzaan to mount a moral pressure on separatists and militants leadership but the security experts did not find any benefit of such a ceasefire. Even though different mainstream and separatist political groups have strongly advocated announcement of a unilateral ceasefire but since the dialogue is already in a slow pace, the government does not find any advantage of the ceasefire.
The parties from the mainstream camp which have been strongly advocating Ramzaan ceasefire include the Peoples Democratic Party, the CPIM and the PDF. "The implementation of ceasefire would help to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue process and settlement of the Kashmir issue", said a PDP leader.
Chairman Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) and Minister for Transport Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen today the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the militants to announce ceasefire during the upcoming holy month of Ramdhan to create a conducive atmosphere for the peace process. He said that since there is an improvement in the situation, there should be no hesitation if the government initiates to announce ceasefire with the militants.
The supreme commander of the frontline Hizbul Mujahideen and the chief of the Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council, Syed Sallahuddin, has already watered down the possibility of a ceasefire during the fasting month of Ramadhan.
He said the offer will be considered only if it is made cogently from responsible quarters of the Indian government.
Syed Sallahuddin said, "No option of ceasefire is under our consideration at the moment. However, if there is any proposal from the Indian government, it would be discussed in the UJC forum and the decision in this regard would be taken collectively by taking all parties into confidence.
"There should be no talks on petty issues like Baghlihar or Wullar Barrage, rather there should be focused negotiations between all the principled parties of the dispute to get the issue settled amicably," he said.
Dismissing bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan as futile, he said, "Both India and Pakistan had been engaged in talks since long and no concrete results could be achieved."
The possibility of a ceasefire between the security forces and the militant groups in Kashmir during the holy month of Ramadhan had become a hot topic here in the wake of an earlier interview given by Syed Sallahuddin in which it he spoke of the ceasefire during the holy fasting month beginning next week.
Mainstream politicians like Omar Abdullah, the president of the National Conference, has also issued statement seeking a ceasefire between the deployed troops and the separatist militants during Ramadhan.
It must be recalled that in July 2002, the then Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander, Abdul Majid Dar had announced a unilateral ceasefire which was later withdrawn by Syed Sallahuddin who made the withdrawal announcement from Muzaffarabad that time.
Senior Congress leader and the state Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma have, however, said the ceasefire was not being considered by the state government as the increased incidents of infiltration this year indicated the intentions of the militants to increase violence in the hinterland.
The two countries are maintaining a bilateral ceasefire along the Line of Control and international border since November 2003 which has benefited thousands of border villagers on both sides.
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