Back home: Valley pins hope on Summit

The thaw in relations between India and Pakistan during Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee’s visit to Islamabad, has raised a sense of optim...

The thaw in relations between India and Pakistan during Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee’s visit to Islamabad, has raised a sense of optimism among separatist leaders who hope that this could lead to resolution of Kashmir issue.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari, while attaching significance to meetings Vajpayee had with his counterpart Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said the key to peace in South Asian region lies in the resolution of Kashmir issue.

Chairman of breakaway Hurriyat and hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani appealed to the SAARC leaders to pay attention towards the Kashmir issue. Former Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq expressed hope that the summit would improve ties between the two countries and lead to a conducive atmosphere to resolve all issues. ‘‘For the first time in 55 years, the two seem to be serious about resolving issues and we hope that they will continue in the same vein after the SAARC conference as well,’’ he said.

President of Awami National Conference G.M. Shah hoped the meetings would clear obstacles in the way of peaceful resolution of the issue.

Algerian-French artist’s work vandalised at Kochi art gallery over ‘obscenity’ allegations

India2 hr ago

Algerian-French artist Hanan Benammar's linocut prints were vandalised by two artists at an international exhibition in Kochi. The exhibition, curated by Anushka Rajendran and Damian Christinger, was organised by the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and opened on October 18.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS