SRINAGAR: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, on Sunday extended full support to the strike and protests called by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Mohammed Yasin Malik against fake encounters. He urged the people to take to the streets and demanded that an independent commission probe the incidents. The panel should include representatives of Kashmiri intelligentsia, including Hurriyat leaders.

Peace process

He, however, supported the ongoing peace process and said demilitarisation and opening of borders could be the first step in breaking the deadlock in the Kashmir issue.

He said he met militant leaders during his Pakistan visit and impressed upon them to announce a time-bound, conditional and unilateral ceasefire.

Terming the fake encounters a "national tragedy," the Mirwaiz told a news conference "there should be no politics over this issue and we support Yasin Malik's call for a State-wide strike and protest demonstrations across the State over this issue."

The Mirwaiz, who recently met Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and other leaders, appealed to give peace a chance and called upon militant leaders to consider a ceasefire proposal.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah alleged that the killings were part of genocide being carried out by the Congress-led coalition Government in Kashmir.

Addressing a public meeting at Kokernag, the home place of three victims, Mr. Abdullah demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the killings. "During the past four years many youths have been killed in fake encounters.

Tarigami's demand

Luv Puri reports from Jammu:

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M.Y. Tarigami on Sunday demanded the setting up of a high-power commission to go into the cases of disappearances and fake encounters in Jammu and Kashmir.

The killing of innocent civilians at Ganderbal and other places in the Kashmir Valley, that too at the hands of the police, brought to light the unfortunate pattern of anti-insurgency policies being pursued in the State, he told presspersons here.

Referring to the judicial inquiry ordered, he said such an inquiry was being ordered for the first time in the history of the insurgency-infested State. Yet that may not be enough taking into consideration the deep malaise that has set into the pattern of dealing with violence in the State.

Mr. Tarigami said: "Everyone knows that during the past years, a number of such tragic incidents have occurred in which precious human lives were cut short and for that there was a persistent public demand for a thorough probe to bring to light the truth behind these. An unspecified number of cases of disappearances and fake encounters have wrought havoc with the lives of the people and this pattern continues till this day."

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