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Kashmir : Concern over threat to Chief Minister’s security

	January 07, 2008

While there are reports that terrorists are shifting their operations from Kashmir to other parts of the country because of stepped up security in the valley, there is concern over reported attempts by the Lashkar-e-Taiba to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s security net. Sources in the security establishment say the threat is high and information about threatened attacks is considered reliable.



It’s learnt that National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has spoken to Azad on the matter and a complete review of his securi¬ty is now underway. This came shortly after Narayanan sent a security advisory to all Chief Ministers urging caution in public appearances in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.



But it’s the threat of a breach in Azad’s security that has triggered a series of alerts.



It’s learnt that intelligence agencies, received inputs more than once in the past couple of weeks that Lashkar cadres are “trying to get close” to Azad in some manner and have possibly identified “assets” in the security net guarding the CM.



With J&K elections slated for later this year, any attack on Azad is being seen in New Delhi as a worst case scenario.



Currently, two CMs, Azad and Narendra Modi, are on the hit list of Islamic terror groups and are being accorded the highest security.



Incidentally, in May 2006, minutes before Azad was due to arrive at a rally in Srinagar to mark Rajiv Gandhi’s death anni¬versary, two militants stormed the venue killing five before they were shot dead.





Concern over infiltration



There is also concern among the security forces over the infiltration of more than a dozen terrorists into the Kashmir valley from across the Line of Control (LoC) on Jan. 1 night. The terrorists are reported to have crossed over in the Lolab sector.



It was the largest group to have crossed the LoC in months but far from being the only one. Signs of trouble have been mounting since October, when Pakistan’s new Inter-Services Intel¬ligence Directorate chief Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj was thought to have met top terror commanders in Muzaffarabad to discuss the future of the ‘Jammu and Kashmir jihad’. As the Assembly elections approach, intelligence sources say, jihadi groups are preparing for war. Fund flows to the Hizb ul-Mujahi¬deen, choked off two years ago, have reopened.



Groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Pakistan moved to rein in after India and Pakistan almost went to war in 2001-2002, have also begun to replenish their cadre and rebuild their opera¬tional capabilities.



Pakistan-based Islamist terror groups, which make up the military backbone of the jihad in Jammu and Kashmir, have shown a growing determination to control its political course. In a December 28 statement, for example, four Lashkar-e-Taiba front organisations lashed out at Islamist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani for his condemnation of the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.



As part of the effort to revive the flagging jihad in Jammu, hardline Islamists have been given key positions in the Hizb ul-Mujahideen, operatives hostile to the efforts of older leaders within the organisation to open doors for dialogue with the government of India.





Ministry expanded



The Council of Ministers in Jammu and Kashmir was expanded on Jan. 1 with the induction of four Ministers. Governor S. K. Sinha administered the oath of office to them at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu.



Mula Ram and Abdul Gani Vakil were sworn in Cabinet Min¬isters and Gharu Ram and G. M. Saroori, Ministers of State. With this, the strength of the Ministry has risen to 25. Mula Ram and Garu Ram belong to the Dalit community. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has given representation also to Kishtwar district - G.M. Saroori is a legislator from the Inderwal constituency of the newly carved out district. Abdul Ghani Vakil is a staunch loyalist of Azad.



“We are in the election year and this is the last expansion.”



Minister of State for Finance Prem Sagar Aziz resigned to facilitate the reshuffle.



Azad said that Aziz had volunteered to work for the party.





Azad promises peaceful 2008



Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has promised that the new year would be “a year of peace, progress and prosperity” for the people of the state. Extending his greetings to people on New Year, he hoped that 2008 would usher in complete peace and pros¬perity.



The Chief Minister said, he was confident that the New Year would be a year of development, peace and progress for the state and its people.





Ladakh Front to go it alone



The Ladakh Union Territory Front has decided to go it alone in the Assembly elections to be held later this year. Talking to reporters in Jammu, Thupstan Chewang, MP and LUTF Leader, said the front would not have any electoral tie-up with the present ruling alliance as it “violated” the principle of democratic decentralisation.



One of the two LUTF legislators elected in 2002, Nawang Rigzin Jora, joined the Congress-led coalition and is a Cabinet Minister. However, the other, Pintoo Narboo, did not support the coalition. In the October 2005 elections to the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council, the LUTF won 25 seats, leaving just one to the Congress.



The council was formed by an ordinance issued by the Con¬gress government at the Centre in the mid-1990s for devolving powers to the district.



The council has fewer powers than elected district boards in the rest of the country under the Panchayat Raj system.



A delegation of the council, which recently met Prime Min¬ister Manmohan Singh complained that the State government was interfering in its functioning, resulting in hurdles to develop¬ment.