Hostages In Kashmir Still Ok

Kashmiri separatists holding a Spokane resident and four other Western hostages contacted government negotiators Wednesday to press for the release of 21 jailed comrades, official sources said.

The militants telephoned D.D. Saklani, the top security official in the northern Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir, the sources said.

The government’s response to their demand was not immediately known, but the government has not given in to a threat by the rebels on Monday to kill the hostages unless the 21 were freed.

The rebels have said they could kill the hostages at any time.

Meanwhile, friends of Spokane neuropsychologist Donald Hutchings said they were preparing for long negotiations. They passed any news about the hostage situation through a “phone tree,” said Cindy Erler of Spokane.

Hutchings’ wife, Jane Schelly, telephoned one member of the group from Srinagar to say she was hopeful that Hutchings would eventually be released, Erler said.

“I’m feeling more optimistic than I have for a long time,” Erler said.

Some friends gathered Wednesday night to pray and meditate on the safe return of 42-year-old Hutchings and the other hostages.

Government officials cannot contact the rebels, and must wait for phone calls from them. Earlier this week, the rebels asked a Pakistani politician to mediate the two-weekold hostage situation.

In Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, U.S. Ambassador John Monjo met Wednesday with the politician, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who assured him he would “do everything” to persuade the separatists in India to release the hostages.

U.S. Embassy officials refused to discuss the meeting. But Rehman, the leader of Pakistan’s powerful Jamiat-e-Ulemae Islam party, said he assured them of his desire to win freedom for the hostages.

“I told them that we support the Kashmiri fundamentalist struggle but that the loss of innocent lives would damage the Kashmiri cause,” he said. “We will do everything to get the hostages released.”

, DataTimes