Author:
Publication: Agence France-Presse
Date: February 14, 2001
Militants killed 242 people in restive
Indian Kashmir during the period of a unilateral ceasefire declared by
New Delhi, a state official said Wednesday.
Kashmir government spokesman K.V.
Jandiyal said in a statement that in comparison 154 people were killed
in the 78 days prior to the ceasefire.
India offered the unilateral ceasefire
in November 26 and later extended it to February 26. Muslim militant groups
have rejected the ceasefire as a propaganda ploy.
The statement said Indian security
forces had suffered fewer casualties during the ceasefire, with 54 troops
killed during the period as against 94 soldiers killed before the ceasefire.
More than 34,000 people have died
in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, since 1989 when militancy
flared in the disputed territory.
