PM regrets OIC naming envoy on Kashmir

October 29th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said that the Jammu and Kashmir Police will "increasingly" play a role in combating militancy in the state. The responsibility of maintaining law and order "will increasingly fall on the Jammu and Kashmir police", Manmohan Singh told reporters, concluding his two-day visit to the Kashmir Valley.

October 6th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, Tuesday said the group will soon send a team to New Delhi and Islamabad to defuse tensions between the two countries so that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved through dialogue. "We would be sending a peace mission to Delhi and Islamabad so that tensions between the two countries are eased and the dialogue process is restarted in order to resolve the Kashmir problem," Mirwaiz Umer said at a press conference here.

October 3rd, 2009 MATTAN - A fire ritual was performed by a batch of 40 Kashmiri Pandits at the Sun Temple in Ranbirsinghpora in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district for the first time in 700 years on Friday. The All Parties Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC), an organisation of migrant Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley organized the event.

October 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Taking a strong stand against the appointment of a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir by the Organisation of Islamic Countries, a students' group has asked it "not to meddle in India's internal affairs". Non-Aligned Students and Youth Movement (NASYM) chairman Subhash Choudhury said: "Kashmir is a bilateral issue and would not welcome a third party intervention.

October 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Saturday condemned the "regrettable" move by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to name a special envoy for Kashmir, saying it has no locus standi in India's internal affairs. "It is regrettable that the OIC has commented on India's internal affairs.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In view of the special status of State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Government has decided to establish, as a special dispensation, two appropriate Central Universities in the State - one in Jammu region and another in the Kashmir Valley. It is expected that this will meet the regional aspirations in the State.

September 22nd, 2009 Ahmadinejad tells AP he regrets protester deathsNEW YORK — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he regrets the deaths of protesters in the violence that followed his country's disputed presidential elections. But he denied that his government had any role in the killings.

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian Government on Friday summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan Riffat Masood and registered its strong protest against the Government of Pakistan's so called "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order -2009" and its move to construct the Bunji Hydroelectric Project in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Insofar as the "Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order -2009 was concerned, the Indian Government charged Pakistan with denying basic democratic rights to the people in those parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation for the past six decades.

July 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - The US does not want to get involved in the India-Pakistan row over Jammu and Kashmir, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in remarks telecast Saturday. Asked by Times Now TV if Washington felt it had a role to play in the decades-old dispute, Clinton said any final decision over Kashmir had to be between India and Pakistan.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Wednesday assured India that it has no plans to appoint a special envoy for Kashmir as it considers it to be a matter between New Delhi and Islamabad. "I can assure you that we are not going to appoint a special Kashmir envoy," Assistant Secretary for South Central Asian Affairs Robert O.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said here today that he did not 'see any shift in the US policy on Kashmir". Menon was commenting on the statement here of US Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns that " Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the aspirations of the Kashmir people." "Such statements were made in the past.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States says it would support more dialogue between India and Pakistan but has ruled out the appointment of a special envoy to deal with Kashmir that Islamabad contends is the key issue with New Delhi. "No, there's - there are no plans to that effect," State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Tuesday when asked if there was any prospect of a special envoy to be appointed specifically for Kashmir.

February 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday that Pakistan would continue to pursue a resolution of the Kashmir dispute based on the wishes of the Kashmiri people. In a message marking the Kashmir solidarity day, Zardari reiterated Pakistan's 'political, moral and diplomatic support to the struggle of the Kashmiri brethren for their right to self-determination'.

January 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - In what could be a significant pointer to the future of sub-continental ties, the Pakistani government has blocked a parliamentary resolution seeking a special US envoy for Kashmir. What has been proposed instead is a watered down version hoping that the world community would play a role in resolving the dispute that has bedevilled India-Pakistan relations for over six decades.

January 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The US Friday welcomed the recent elections in Jammu and Kashmir saying that the turnout of voters in large numbers showed 'a return to normalcy with peace and the assurance of increased security'. 'I was especially impressed by the election process and its outcome in Jammu and Kashmir.