India may extend truce if Pakistan cooperates: PM
India may extend truce if Pakistan cooperates: PM
NEW DELHI (Agencies): India's prime minister said on Monday his country's cease-fire in Kashmir could continue after the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan if Pakistan created the right conditions, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The news agency also quoted Atal Behari Vajpayee as saying that a decision on whether to extend the suspension of combat operations against militants in the disputed Himalayan territory would depend on the "reality" on the ground.
"...Vajpayee today said the Ramadhan cease-fire could be extended if Pakistan cooperated and created a conducive atmosphere," PTI said.
Pakistan responded to India's month-long initiative by announcing at the weekend it would observe "maximum restraint" on the Kashmir boundary to "strengthen and stabilize the cease- fire".
Vajpayee, speaking at a reception hosted by India's navy chief, said the offer of restraint at the Line of Control was good, but Pakistan should go further.
"They know what has to be done," United News of India reported him as saying. "Cross-border terrorism and violence has to stop. They have to adopt a friendly attitude."
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of sponsoring the decade-old insurgency against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir state, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives.
Islamabad says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people's struggle for self-determination.
Meanwhile, Muslim militants staged a deadly landmine blast in Kashmir on Monday, on the seventh day of the cease-fire, killing two people, injuring 21 and destroying three vehicles, Indian police said.
A police official said separatist rebels targeted an army convoy at Shilpipura Mandir, near the town of Khanpura, about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of the state summer capital Srinagar.
"The blast took place at around 12:30 pm (0700 GMT). Its impact was tremendous and it could be heard around a radius of three kilometers," he said.
One soldier and a civilian were killed in the explosion, the official said, adding that 18 other military personnel and three civilians were wounded. One soldier was in critical condition.
Two army buses and a jeep were damaged in the explosion, police said.
The police official said a security cordon was set up around the area and a number of local residents were rounded up for questioning.
Kashmir's leading Hizbul Mujahideen separatist outfit, which rejected the Indian cease-fire announced for the holy month of Ramadhan and vowed to step up attacks during the period, claimed responsibility.
Hizbul spokesman Salim Hashmi told AFP over the telephone: "We used a six-kilogram (13.2-pound) explosive landmine to blast three army vehicles in which 10 Indian soldiers have been killed and 15 injured.
"Our militants managed to reach back to their hideouts successfully."
The police official said a security cordon was set up around the area and a number of local residents were rounded up for questioning.
Witnesses said shopkeepers immediately downed their shutters after the blast as enraged soldiers started indiscriminate fire.
Suspected Kashmiri militants killed one person and injured 10 others in scattered attacks on Sunday, as troops scaled down security following an Indian cease-fire, which came into force on Nov. 27 at midnight to coincide with the beginning of Ramadhan.
The first week of cease-fire has seen at least one incident of militant violence a day across Kashmir. But political observers feel that violence has been less than in earlier months.