Muslim militant group Lashkar-i-Toiba Monday dismissed India's offer of a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan as a fraud and vowed to continue its operations.
Spokesman Yahya Mujahid said "we totally reject" Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's offer.
In a statement the group said the offer was a part of "Indian politics based on fraud and deception."
"If India is sincere in a ceasefire it should withdraw its forces from Kashmir and end all military activities there," said the group, based in the Pakistani zone of the divided Himalayan state.
Vajpayee on Sunday said his government had instructed Indian security forces "not to initiate combat operations against the militants in Kashmir during this most pious month in the Islamic calendar," starting later this month.
"I hope that our gesture will be fully appreciated and all violence in the state and infiltration across the Line of Control (the unofficial border) ... will cease and peace will prevail," Vajpayee said.
The Lashkar-i-Toiba statement said the offer was a sign of low morale among India's security forces.
"The Vajpayee government is staging the cease-fire drama amid an expected increase in the mujahedeen activities during the holy month while the morale of Indian forces is low," it said.
The group said its militants were "determined to step up their Jihad (holy war) against Indian forces during the sacred month of Ramadan."
A spokesman for the largest militant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen, said he had no comment on the offer at this stage.
A Hizbul Mujahideen cease-fire broke down after two weeks in August when India refused to discuss the future of Kashmir with Pakistan as part of tripartite talks -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
