India warns Pak against LoC crossing
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 1 — India today reiterated that Pakistan would be responsible for any consequences which may result after its failure to prevent the intended crossing of the Line of Control (LoC) by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) activists on October 4.

In response to a question, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said "We had through diplomatic and military channels conveyed in clear and categorical terms to the Government of Pakistan our expectations that Pakistan would prevent on October 4, 1999 any intended crossing of the LoC or the international border in Jammu and Kashmir by activists of the so called Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front".

The spokesman further reiterated that Pakistan was obliged to ensure at all times the inviolability and sanctity of the LoC which is of fundamental importance for the maintenance of tranquillity and security. Earlier this week, the National Security Advisor and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Brajesh Mishra, had also said that it was Islamabad’s responsibility to prevent any crossing of the LoC. He had also stressed that the armed forces were prepared to shoot at the intruders.

Meanwhile, reports from Islamabad indicate arrests of the JKLF supporters who were planning to stage a march towards the LoC with a view to cross it on October 4.

Pak crackdown on JKLF, 50 leaders held

ISLAMABAD, Oct 1 (PTI) — JKLF Chief Amanullah Khan and a number of its front ranking leaders have gone underground as Pakistani authorities launched a crackdown against them by arresting some 50 activists ahead of their plan to cross the Line of Control (LoC) on October 4.

Police and security personnel last night raided the offices of the JKLF in various parts of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) including its central control room in Rawalakot set up to coordinate their plan and arrested nearly 50 leaders and other activists, a front spokesman told PTI over phone from Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK.

The spokesman, however, said the front would go ahead with its planned crossing of the LoC despite the crackdown.

The policy and planning committee of the front earlier decided to call upon the international community including the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and also governments of India and Pakistan to make an official declaration that the LoC would not be converted into a permanent international border.

RAWALAKOT (Reuters): Pakistani authorities have detained many Kashmiri activists to stop what a minister called a suicide march into Indian-ruled Kashmir, political and police sources said today.

The police said they had detained the activists overnight in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and were conducting further raids on today to stop the march, which the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is staging to oppose the existence of the military Line of Control (LoC).

But the pro-independence JKLF faction said it would go ahead with its plans to cross the cease-fire line on Monday despite warnings by India and Pakistan against the move.

Hundreds of JKLF followers demonstrated today to protest against the crackdown, witnesses said.

Ishaq Zafar, acting Prime Minister of Pakistani-ruled Kashmir, told Reuters the state administration could not allow people to cross the LoC because Indian forces would shoot the marchers. "We cannot allow them to commit suicide," he said.

Mr Khan, speaking by telephone from an unknown hideout, told Reuters today that the JKLF would consider calling off the march only if the United Nations, India, Pakistan and the G8 group of industrialised countries pledged that the LoC would not be made a permanent international border and the Kashmir dispute would be settled according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

Pakistani authorities have used force and brought landslides on roads by dynamiting hills to stop several previous attempts to cross the U.N.-Monitored LoC, including two by the JKLF.