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Militants threaten to disrupt Kashmir peace talks
 Islamist militants threatened on Saturday to disrupt a Kashmir peace conference in the disputed Himalayan region next week that will be chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The meeting is the second such gathering since February. It has been called by New Delhi to widen the dialogue process in Jammu and Kashmir, where a separatist revolt against Indian rule by Muslim militants since 1989 has killed more than 45,000 people. Singh is scheduled to attend the meeting in Srinagar, the summer capital of the region, on the opening day, May 24. "We have made all arrangements to disrupt the round table conference. Kashmir is a disputed territory, the prime minister of India cannot hold such conferences here," four groups said in a media release. "All the separatist political leadership should stay away from the conference. It is aimed at misleading the international community," Al Nasireen, Save Kashmir Movement, Al Arifeen and Farzandan-e-Milat said in a fax to newspaper offices in Srinagar. Intelligence officials said the groups were likely to be a front for bigger organisations such as the Pakistan-based Islamist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Posted by: Fred 2006-05-21 |
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