1998
Submitted by nazirahmed on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 05:10.
- March 5: The government and the people of Iran want that the people of Kashmir should begiven their legitimate right for self-determination, write Iranian newspapers, "Resalat"and "Jamhouri-Islami" in two identical reports.
- According to the papers, February 5 is declared the day of solidarity with the people ofKashmir in Iran. This day provides an opportunity to focus on right to self-determination,which is promised to both India and Pakistan, the dailies pointed out.
- March 8: Election Commission officials suspend counting in the summer capital of Srinagar for more than two hours after Hindu nationalists' clash with the ruling National Conference workers at the counting center.
- March 12: Corps Commander of the Indian Occupation forces in held Kashmir, Lt Gen Krishan Pal, says there is no military solution to the Kashmir issue.
- In an interview with the Indian Express Gen Pal, confesses the Indian army is facing various problems in the held Kashmir.
- March 19: The Jammu and Kashmir State Governor, KV Krishna Rao, finally confesses that Indian forces are responsible for massacre of Kashmiri people on several occasions and that he feels deeply for these human rights violations.
- March 20: The chairman of Pakistan's National Assembly Kashmir Committee, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, appeals to the UN Human Rights Commission to constitute a committee for probing human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.
- March 25: British MP, Mr. Mohammad Sarwar, criticises the West for adopting double standards in the implementation of United Nations resolutions and urges the Western countries to show the same enthusiasm in getting implemented the UN resolution on Kashmir as they show in the case of Iraq.
- April 7: The Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, reiterates his country's support for negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute and expresses concern about regional security in South Asia, including Kashmir.
- April 10: US Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, on the eve of his departure for South Asia as President Clinton's special envoy says, the United States would urge Pakistan and India to "go the extra mile" and hold a dialogue on Kashmir and other issues so as to halt the nuclear missile race in the region.
- April 13: The Director of the French Institute of Higher Studies for Defence Affairs, General Janvier, said that France supports a peaceful resolution of the disputes between India and Pakistan through bilateral talks and in accordance with the UN resolutions.
- April 14: An international seminar on Involuntary or Enforced Disappearances highlights the grave human rights situation in Indian held Kashmir where 10,000 people have disappeared in an indigenous uprising and the families of the missing people continue to live in anguish.
- It is terrible predicament for a family to lose a member and not know where he or she is and in held Kashmir where acts of repression go unabated people continue to disappear, says Gerald Kaufmann, a British MP.
- April 15: The OIC Contact Group adopts a memorandum, condemning the inhuman atrocities in Held Jammu and Kashmir, rejecting the farcical elections and calling for a settlement of the dispute in accordance with the United Nations resolutions.
- The Organisation of Islamic Conference adopts the memorandum as a human rights document at the 4th session of the US Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
- The European Union condemns the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, urging New Delhi to allow international and non-governmental organisations into the disputed territory. "We are concerned about the continuing violations of human rights (in Occupied Kashmir) and EU condemns all human rights abuses and acts of violence, says, Audery Glover, head of the delegation of the United Kingdom on behalf of the European Union.
- The EU, in its statement at the 54th session of the Commission on Human Rights, calls for allowing access to international organisations as well as NGOs into Kashmir.
- April 16: The US Army Chief, Gen. Dennis J Reimer, arrives in Indian occupied Kashmir to talk with military officials about tensions between India and Pakistan.
- April 21: The International Peace Bureau (IPB) appeals to the UN Commission on Human Rights to urgently address the human rights violations of Kashmiri children who are passing through tragic times at the hands of Indian occupation forces. An IPB representative condemns the torture, arbitrary arrest and detention of children as young as 10-year-old, and molestation and rape of girls as young as 9-year-old by the Indian forces in a statement at the 54th session of the commission.
- April 22: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government appoints former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Chief Girsh Saxena as Governor of held Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, the human rights activists and intellectuals resent the appointment demanding that a senior political person having close affinity with the State be nominated as Governor to strike a chord with the alienated people.
- Puppet Chief Minister of Indian-held Kashmir, Dr. Farooq Abdullah calls for holding talks with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
- April 23: Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif says a meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan must focus on Kashmir, which is the cause of tension and conflict between the two countries.
- Speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour by European Commission President Jacques Santer, the premier says his initiative to resume dialogue with India will be helpful for resolving all issues.
- He says Pakistan believes that international concern, especially of the EU member
- countries, would help persuade India to respect the basic human rights of the Kashmir.
- April 25: The first working session of the SAARC Information Ministers' conference turns
- ugly as Pakistan and India's information ministers take on each other on the issue of
- Kashmir.
- May 11: India tests three nuclear devices at the Pokhran underground testing site. The
- nuclear tests carried out at 3:45 pm on May 11th were claimed by the Indian government to
- be a simultaneous detonation of three different devices - a fission device with a yield of
- about 12 kilotons (KT), a thermonuclear device with a yield of about 43 KT, and a
- sub-kiloton device.
- The Clinton administration, which also condemned India's action, said it was caught off
- guard. "The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of the government of India
- to conduct three nuclear tests," said presidential spokesman Mike McCurry.
- May 13: India's two more nuclear tests at 12:21 pm were also detonated simultaneously with
- reported yields in the range of 0.2 to 0.6 KT.
- However, there is some controversy about these claims. Based on seismic data, U.S.
- government sources and independent experts estimated the yield of the so-called
- thermonuclear test in the range of 12-25 kilotons, as opposed to the 43-60 kiloton yield
- claimed by India. This lower yield raised skepticism about India's claims to have detonated
- a thermonuclear device.
- May 28: Pakistan explod five underground nuclear devices in response to India's nuclear
- tests two weeks ago.
- The move sparks worldwide fears of a nuclear conflict in one of the world's most volatile
- regions.
- Pakistani officials said the devices were detonated underground at 1030GMT in the
- Baluchistan region near the border with Afghanistan.
- Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation on television and said
- the five tests by India had made the action "inevitable".
- June 2: Japan's foreign minister offers to host an international conference involving
- India and Pakistan in an attempt to resolve their dispute over Kashmir.
- United States believes the Kashmir issue is to be resolved peacefully and feels the United
- Nations must take initiative in this regard.
- US Defence Secretary William Cohen says US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright convenes a
- meeting next week of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to discuss the
- prevailing situation following the nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan, which
- pose threat not only to South Asia but beyond that region.
- Kashmir issue takes the centre-stage at the White House and in Geneva where the foreign
- ministers of the big-five UN Security Council members meet to discuss the South Asian
- nuclear crisis.
- White House Spokesman Mike McCurry says we wouldn't be doing it if don't believe that there
- is at least some chance that both Pakistan and India would be receptive to that type of
- approach.
- June 3: Russian Foreign Minister Yevgency Primakov, expresses concern over the nuclear
- tests in India and Pakistan and puts forth a three point proposal, which includes a
- possible big power intervention in settling the Kashmir issue.
- June 4: Secretary Madeleine Albright says her country is re-examining the underlying
- political problems between India and Pakistan 'including Kashmir'.
- US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says in Washington "the five major powers of the
- world will discuss a primary irritant in Pak-India relations Kashmir, a predominantly
- Muslim region."
- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announces to resume talks with Pakistan on all
- issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, but refuses any third party mediation.
- June 5: The ministers of United States, China, Russia, Britian and France in a joint
- communiqué after their meeting in Geneva pledge that they will actively encourage India and
- Pakistan to find mutually acceptable solutions, through direct dialogue, that addresses the
- root causes of the tension, including Kashmir, and to try to build confidence rather than
- seek confrontation.
- June 6: The UN Security Council asks both countries to show maximum restraint, and calls
- for bilateral talks to resolve the disputes on regional security, including Kashmir issue.
- June 8: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in his address to the parliament,
- appeals to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to resume bilateral talks on all issues,
- including the Kashmir dispute.
- June 11: A resolution will soon be moved in the US Senate calling for UN mediation in
- Kashmir through a Security Council resolution, leading Democratic senator Tom Harkin says
- in Washington.
- June 13: It is Britain's responsibility to resolve the Kashmir issue because it is the
- United Kingdom that left the issue dangling in violation of its own commitment when it
- split the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, says George Galloway, senior vice chairman,
- Foreign Relations Committee of the British House of Commons.
- June 17: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in an interview to the Washington Post
- says that his government is ready to settle the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan under the
- 1972 Simla agreement.
- June 19: The Clinton administration strongly defends its decision to internationalise the
- Kashmir issue, asserting that it is a problem that can no longer "be ignored".
- Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, says we are not
- trying to interfere or to mediate that dispute.
- June 21: US State Department in a report on human rights violations by India, says that
- Indian forces continue to commit serious violations of human rights in the disputed state
- of Jammu and Kashmir.
- The United States makes it clear that it does not want to force an acceptance of outside
- involvement in solving the Kashmir issue, including a proposed mediation by former
- President Jimmy Carter. Assistant Secretary of State Karl F Inderfurth says this in
- Congress's International Relations Committee's meeting.
- June 25: Senator Tom Harkin introduces a resolution in US Senate calling for a peaceful and
- just settlement of the Kashmir issue.
- British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says that Kashmir issue is on top of government's
- agenda and it has to be resolved by India and Pakistan in accordance with the wishes of the
- Kashmiri people.
- June 27: The international community considers Kashmir as the root cause of tensions
- between India and Pakistan, says a senior official of the Clinton administration.
- The world is very much concerned about the nuclear capability of India and Pakistan,
- Kashmir may again become a dangerous flash-point endangering peace and stability in the
- region, says Karl Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of state for South Asia at a special news
- briefing.
- June 28: British Minister of State for Foreign Office and Commonwealth (South Asian
- Affairs) Mr. Derek Fatchett says that Britain is interested in seeing some positive
- movement in talks between India and Pakistan to resolve their long-standing dispute on
- Kashmir.
- "Britain wants to encourage talks (between India and Pakistan) and wish to see a movement
- in particular direction," Mr. Fatchett apprises a representative delegation of Kashmiri
- leaders, belonging to all shades of political opinion in Britain, who call on him at the
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
- June 29: Visiting US Senators focus squarely on Kashmir as a "flashpoint" in South Asia and
- call on both Pakistan and India to refrain from taking any provocative actions or steps
- towards Kashmir.
- Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif calls upon the United Nations to take effective steps
- for the implementation of Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
- He states this in his meeting with Alvaro De Soto, personal envoy of the UN Secretary
- General who meets the prime minister to deliver a letter from the Secretary General Kofi
- Annan.
- July 8: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urges Pakistan to sign a no-first-use
- nuclear arms pact and a non-aggression accord with India.
- July 12: China and Japan express concern over the growing tension between India and
- Pakistan over the Kashmir issue particularly after the nuclearisation of South Asia.
- July 15: The Indian government rejects China's proposed multilateral talks on Kashmir
- dispute.
- July 23: India's Home Ministry admits that 748 persons including 438 civilians, have been
- killed in past six months in the held Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian forces.
- July 27: US President Clinton says India poses a major problem by refusing to accept any
- mediation on the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He said this while addressing a
- fund-raising dinner for the Democratic Party in Aspen, Colorado.
- July 28: Upon his arrival in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for the 10th Summit of the South Asian
- Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Pakistan's Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz
- Sharif reiterates that Kashmir is the basic issue and root-cause of all the tensions
- between Pakistan and India and in the region.
- July 30: The one and half hours long meeting between Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
- with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee fails to bear any fruit due to New Delhi's
- intransigence on seriously addressing the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The opposition MP in
- British House of Commons, Michael Colvin says the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth
- Parliamentary Association should take the Kashmir issue on their agenda to help India and
- Pakistan resolve the longstanding dispute. "We have been trying to persuade the
- Commonwealth heads of the governments and commonwealth Parliamentary Association that they
- should put the Kashmir issue on their agenda."
- July 31: The Indian aggression on the border areas of Azad Kashmir leaves at least 34
- civilians dead and more than 71, including 13 Pakistani soldiers, injured.
- August 3: The United States urges Pakistan and India to refrain from provocative actions
- and upkeep a restraint while declining to mediate between the two sides until asked by both
- Islamabad and New Delhi.
- Britain urges the governments of India and Pakistan to start talks aimed at resolving a
- bloody border dispute. Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett says failure to end shootings
- across the disputed Kashmir border threatens the security of the whole region.
- Meanwhile, the United States offers to mediate between Pakistan and India to head off a
- crisis between the two recently declared nuclear powers. White House spokesman PJ Crowley
- says, "The situation in Kashmir is one of those underlying issues that is central to the
- tensions that exist in South Asia,"
- August 5: Former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral L. Ramdas while speaking at the
- convention 'campaign against nuclear Weapons' at Chennai asks the Indian government to
- accept Pakistan's proposal of third party mediation to resolve the outstanding disputes.
- Ramdas says, South African President Nelson Mandela could be asked to intervene and attempt
- to settle the contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
- August 7: Expressing deep concern on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC)
- over the recent deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Qatar the Chairman of the
- Conference of Foreign Ministers says the military operation against the Kashmiri people
- must come to an end. He apprises the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
- Protection of Minorities that the OIC expresses its disappointment that no agreement could
- be reached at the recent SAARC Summit in Colombo for a bilateral dialogue on Jammu and
- Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, contrary to the desire of the international
- community.
- August 15: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani admits that New Delhi's troops are
- killing at least eight to ten Muslims daily in held Kashmir, Voice of America (VOA)
- reports.
- August 16: Hundreds of Sikhs and Kashmiris stage separate demonstrations outside the Indian
- High Commission in London on Independence Day of India to condemn brutalities being
- committed in Punjab and Kashmir and demand an end to occupation of their homelands by
- Delhi.
- Amnesty International deplores the statements of the Indian Home Minister, L.K. Advani on
- held Kashmir describing these 'as unbecoming and violative of human rights'. Expressing
- strong reaction against his statements, the Amnesty says the Indian government is not
- accepting that human rights are abused in occupied Kashmir.
- Member Parliament of the British Labour Party Tom Cox urges upon the international
- community to play its role in resolving the Kashmir issue, as it was the ripe time to do
- so.
- August 17: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz calls upon the international community
- to see the “heightened sense of urgency to reduce tensions in South Asia” and play an
- effective role in settling the Kashmir dispute. “The situation is rife for an aggrandized
- action of international community as there is a heightened sense of urgency for reducing
- tension in the region and addressing the Kashmir dispute,” he apprises British MP Tom Cox.
- The Chairman of British Pakistani parliamentary group in British Parliament, Mr. Tom Cox
- regrets lack of an action by world powers to stop Indian aggression in occupied Kashmir.
- August 19: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee renews offers of talks with Pakistan.
- Vajpayee, however, says that although India is ready to hold the talks “at any place,” the
- “dialogue must be comprehensive and not just focussed on Kashmir.”
- August 26: India bans the import of the highly popular Encyclopaedia Britannica on CDs
- because it shows Kashmir as a disputed territory. A home ministry spokesman says the ban
- has been enforced, as the “external boundaries of India have not been depicted correctly in
- the maps” in the Britannica.
- September 01: Pakistan and Indian Foreign Secretaries hold second meeting on the sidelines
- of NAM Summit in Durban and hold intensive discussions on the modalities to operationalise
- mechanism for the resumption of stalled dialogue, the Foreign Office says “Pakistan
- believes the Islamabad Joint Statement of 23rd June 1997 should remain the basis of the
- dialogue. The two priority issues of peace and security, and Jammu and Kashmir, which top
- the agreed agenda, must be discussed specifically and substantively,” a Foreign Office
- statement says. Minister for Information Mushahid Hussain Syed condemning the gang rapes by
- Indian troops urges the international community and the human right activists to take note
- “of the crimes against humanity.” He says, “Kashmir has turned out to be the second
- illustration, after the Second World War, apart from Bosnia, where rape is being used as a
- weapon.”
- September 02: President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairman NAM, Nelson Mandela,
- at the Inaugural Session of NAM in Durban, unequivocally expresses the support of the
- Movement for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He states, “The issue of Jammu and Kashmir
- should be solved through peaceful negotiations and we are willing to lend all the strength
- we have to the resolution of this matter,” said President Mandela of South Africa, who
- assumes the chairmanship of the 12th NAM Summit.
- Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- agree that any future dialogue between India and Pakistan should cover all bilateral issues
- including Kashmir.
- September 03: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz in his address at 12th Non-Aligned
- Movement (NAM) summit says the unresolved issue of Kashmir is a major cause of tension and
- instability in South Asia, “and has led to new escalations and dangers”. “This issue
- involves the destiny of the people and cannot be wished away”. Sartaj reiterates that the
- people of Kashmir must be given the right of self-determination, which has been denied to
- them for the last 50 years. Addressing the NAM summit, Vajpayee restates the Indian
- position that it regards its long-standing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, as a
- strictly bilateral affair.
- September 04: Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad and his Indian counterpart K.
- Raghunath reach at “an understanding, in principle, to operationalise the mechanism for
- dialogue between India and Pakistan on all issues as per the agreed agenda”. The Indian
- government shows anger when South African President Nelson Mandela raises the Kashmir issue
- which New Delhi views as a purely bilateral dispute with Pakistan at the multilateral
- Non-Aligned Movement summit in Durban.
- September 06: Former Indian Premier Inder Kumar Gujral says India is wrong in reacting
- strongly to South African President Nelson Mandela's offer to help resolve the Kashmir
- dispute with Pakistan.
- September 07: In his annual report to the 53rd session of the United Nations General
- Assembly due to begin on September 21, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says
- that the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and other issues in the
- backdrop of nuclear tests by the two countries, underscores that the world still faces the
- “threat of nuclear annihilation.”
- September 08: India strongly objects to the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan's
- statement describing Kashmir as one of the causes of concern world-wide.
- September 13: The upcoming talks between Indian and Pakistani premiers in New York may mark
- “a threshold in settlement” of the Kashmir issue, which “is a problem that has been there
- for the past 50 years,” says Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes.
- September 16: US Senator Harry Reid says there is no justification for the Kashmir issue
- remaining unresolved for so many years and India should be persuaded to give the right of
- self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
- September 21: Stressing that terrorism is not a consequence of conflict between Islam and
- the West, President Clinton calls for resolution of Kashmir and other disputes which fester
- “ancient animosities” resulting in “senseless killings of innocent people.”
- September 22: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asks UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
- to appoint a special representative on Kashmir, ensure regular monitoring of the Line of
- Control (LoC) and take measures to reduce the risk of conflict in the region.
- He states this in his meeting with the UN Secretary General ahead of his crucial meeting
- with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Pakistani side is optimistic but
- cautious at the same time about the outcome of the talks.
- September 23: Pakistan and India agree to resume their stalled dialogue on Kashmir and
- other security issues, in what appears to be a concession by India in face of rising
- international pressure, to reduce tensions in South Asia.
- A joint statement from the two premiers, even before the beginning of their summit talks at
- New York's Palace Hotel, says the foreign secretaries reach an agreement to “operationalise
- the mechanism to address all items in the agreed agenda of June 23, 1997 in a purposeful
- and composite manner in October and November.”
- Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while talking to the leader of All Parties Hurriyat
- Conference, Mir Waiz Umar Farooq, says that India will soon realise it cannot suppress the
- struggling people of Kashmir through force.
- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in a press conference says that a new chapter in
- Indo-Pakistani cooperation is being opened. Vajpayee says we have agreed to reopen a
- hotline for communication between the two Prime Ministers during crises, and to establish
- bus, road and rail links between the two countries. “Firing on the border will be stopped,”
- he said, referring to repeated shelling across the Line of Control in Kashmir.
- Addressing the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif says that the
- United Nations, the major powers and the international community have a responsibility to
- support and facilitate a solution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. “We request the UN
- Secretary General to take appropriate initiatives to implement the Security Council
- resolutions on Kashmir and to ease tensions and build confidence”, he adds.
- September 27: The Indian army fires at two vehicles carrying UN military observers in Azad
- Kashmir's Neelum valley, says an official source. Captain Fieres of Belgium and an Italian
- officer, heading towards Athmaqam from Dudnial in Neelum valley, came under fire by the
- Indian troops, but the bullets miss their targets. Two officials of the United Nations
- Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UN-MOGIP) narrowly escape Indian firing
- from across the border in Neelum Valley, military officials say.
- They say, Captain Fierens of Belgium and Captain Tuzzonilo of Italy, travelling in two
- separate vehicles, carrying UN flag, to Muzaffarabad, came under machine-gun fire, of the
- Indian troops when they reached at Lawat, a border village in Neelum Valley. Some bullets
- hit the doors of the vehicles, damaging them partially. However, the officials miraculously
- escape.
- September 28: The United Nations' Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)
- announces to hold a high-level inquiry into firing incidents by Indian troops on UN
- observers, Chief Observer Brigadier General Sergio Espinosa Davies says. “My team members
- remained under direct Indian firing during the monitoring operation twice,” the Chief
- Observer belonging to Chili says.
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