Militants to fight on in Kashmir

Indian security forces fear a violent response from militants

Islamic militants have vowed to continue fighting against Indian forces in the disputed region of Kashmir.

The pledge came after India and Pakistan agreed to hold historic talks to try to resolve their long and bitter dispute over the region.

A spokesman for the Jaish-e-Mohammad group said it would continue attacks as long as Indian forces were in Kashmir.

Leaders from around the world have praised India and Pakistan's move to hold talks on the issue.

Jaish-e-Mohammad spokesman Mohammad Hassan Burki told the BBC by mobile phone that his group would keep up its jihad, or holy war, until Kashmir was freed from Indian control.

Syed Salahuddin, the chief of Kashmir's largest militant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen, also said its military operations would continue.

Mr Burki said a ceasefire could be considered but only if India agreed to

• Include Kashmiris in tripartite talks with Pakistan and India
• Recognise the disputed status of Kashmir
• Reduce its troops to pre-1989 numbers (when the armed militancy began)
• Release Kashmiri prisoners

Mr Burki dismissed the pledge by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on outlawed militant groups using Pakistani territory.

Mr Burki said the group, which India blames for involvement in an attack on its parliament in 2001, was operating from Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Republic Day

Mr Salahuddin dismissed the new talks as "paperwork".

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"We have seen dozens of such announcements and agreements in the past but unfortunately India never honoured a single one," he said.

"It seems India wants to gain time, during which it would employ every possible resource to crush the freedom struggle in the occupied territory."

Mr Salahuddin's group is one of a dozen fighting Indian rule in the two-thirds of Kashmir that Delhi controls.

Indian officials say they expect a surge in violence from militants, possibly around Indian Republic Day on 26 January.

"They want to get noticed," said K Srinivasan, a senior Indian security intelligence official in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

World praise

Mainstream political parties in Pakistan have been broadly supportive of the move to begin talks on Kashmir.

And world leaders have praised President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for their initiative.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was "wonderful news".

He said he believed the Indian and Pakistani leaders would find the statesmanship and wisdom to move the process forward. The announcement that talks would start next month came at a regional summit in Islamabad which ended on Tuesday.

The United States hailed the talks as historic.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "I think the meeting [has] opened new opportunities for achieving peace in that part of the world."

European Commission President Romano Prodi called the decision "proof of [the nations'] commitment to further strengthen the process of confidence building and to resolve outstanding bilateral issues".

Sabotage fears

The BBC's Sanjeev Srivastava in Islamabad says both India and Pakistan recognise the road ahead may be tough.

Their joint declaration said that President Musharraf pledged not to let his country to be used as a haven for terrorism, while Mr Vajpayee promised to seek a solution to the dispute over Kashmir.

President Musharraf said: "There are extremists on both sides who may not want peace, who have extremist positions... who may like to sabotage this."

And he warned: "We must be strong... whatever shade and colour... we'll take them to task."

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir.

As well as Kashmir, next month's talks will focus on seven other bilateral issues:

• Confidence-building

• Terrorism and drugs

• Trade and economic co-operation

• The disputed Himalayan glacier of Siachen

• Easier travel between the two countries

• Indian plans to dam the Wular lake in Kashmir

• The disputed border region of the Sir Creek marshlands, near the western Indian state of Gujarat.