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`Harassment of Kashmiris must stop'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MARCH 21. The vice-president of the People's Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti told the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, here today that the continued harassment of ordinary Kashmiris outside the State was "pushing them to the wall".

They came to study and do business in other States "believing this is their country" and were being "treated like Pakistanis".

Ms. Mufti, daughter of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, met with Mr. Advani to discuss the problems facing Kashmiris living outside the State following the arrests under POTA of two Kashmiri students in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh last week.

She said she had asked Mr. Advani "to do what ever possible in order to prevent innocent students from being harassed".

And Mr. Advani had assured her that the harassment of ordinary Kashmiris would stop, she added. Asked if he was going to intercede with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Ms. Mufti said: "I did not ask him to. But as Home Minister he can do many things, more than talking to Ms. Mayawati".

Kashmiris outside the State were the bridges between the Valley and the rest of India and "looking at them as ISI agents was pushing them to the wall", she said. If this point of interchange breaks down, it would add to the alienation experienced by Kashmiris.

The arrests in Uttar Pradesh had created a high degree of fear among Kashmiris living in that State and around Delhi and among their parents in the Valley.

Ms. Mufti said she had met with other political leaders, including the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to emphasise that conditions should be such that the "Kashmiris should feel this is their country".

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