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Kashmir : No troop withdrawal till cross-border terrorism ends

	July 24, 2006

India has ruled out withdrawal of troops from the Line of Control until Pakistan stops sponsoring cross-border terrorism in the Kashmir Valley. Defence Minister Pranab Mukharjee said in Kolkata on July 16 that Pakistan is guilty of double standards in curbing terrorism. While it is bombing Taliban hideouts in Waziristan, it is allowing 39 launching pads to operate in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from where terrorists are being carried out against India. Mukherjee said, “Terrorists are not coming to India from Mars, or Siberia. They are coming from the other side of the border.”



Addressing a convention against terrorism in Kolkata, Pranab Mukherjee said the Centre is considering arms for arms approach to curb terrorism. He said: “Militancy can’t be tackled by composing poetry or romantic songs. We would face them in a similar way.”



“India wants Pakistan’s help to stop violence in Kashmir and other parts of the country. No state can support terrorism. Pakistan should stop sponsoring terrorism by stalling supplies to the militants, dismantle their camps and wind up the training camps,” the Defence Minister said.



More than 36,000 people are victims of militancy in Kashmir which is three times more than the number of troops died in the four India-Pakistan conflicts.



About the BJP charge that the Mumbai blasts were fall out of security lapses, he said : “Terrorists do not attack judging which government is in power. Parliament was attacked during NDA’s tenure. They should behave more responsibly. Terrorism is a well-organised attempt to instill a sense of fear among every section of society”, he said.





Terrorist mastermind arrested



In the meantime, the Jammu and Kashmir police have announced the arrest of one of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s key functionary, Mudasir Gujri, alias Raju, linked to the Lashkar’s Pakistan based operational chief, Abu Al Qama. Police say he was the master mind behind the series of attacks on tourists that killed nine people and the strike at a Congress rally in Srinagar. Director General Police Gopal Sharma said, “Raju has confessed that he had organised the attacks on the tourists on April 14 and July 11, and was the kingpin in organising the fidayeen attack on the Congress rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Park on May 21.



The DGP said Raju was in constant touch with Sallahuddin, the Lashkar’s key operational in the valley, and Abu al Qama, and it was on the latter’s orders that he distributed grenades to militants to target tourists and Amarnath yatris.



Raju joined the Lashkar in 1999, motivated by a Pakistani militant commander Abu Osama. “He (Raju) was taken to Pakistan and spent four years in Pakistani training camps,” Sharma said.



On the leads provided by Raju, 20 other militants involved in the grenade attacks and kills have been arrested.





Power failure renders barbed wire fence useless



There are reports that erratic electric supply and non-fuctioning diesel generators have rendered the barbed wire fence along the line of control less than effective. The sensors and thermal imaging facilities have become useless because of lack of power supply.



As the troops are stationed in the “depth areas”, the LoC is unmanned - giving the infiltrators a free run across the border. Infiltration has been high this year. According to sources, more than 400 militants have allegedly crossed over to India. The dangers of infiltration are three-pronged. First, it swells rebel ranks and “encourages strikes.” Militant violence also adds to the “atmosphere of terror” and people refuse to cooperate with the security forces, earing reprisals. It also helps Pakistan achieve its “target of undermining Indian authority and sovereign in Kashmir.



The militants of late have been preying on “soft targets” like tourists, unsuspecting civilians and public places. Corps Commander, 15 Corps, Lt. Gen. S.S. Dhillon, in a media interface on July 15, admitted that the militants were going after “softer targets” than security forces. According to him, grenades have been their deadliest weapon this year in contrast to car bombs last year.



Intelligence sources say that in all, 59 terrorist training camps are churning out hardcore subversives in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and pushing them into Indian territory.





Pak says it has no control over ISI



Amid allegations that ISI and Military Intelligence (MI) kidnapped several persons for interrogation, Pakistan’s Defence Ministry has said it had no operational control over the two intelligence agencies and was unable to enforce court orders to provide information about those “abducted” or “detained” by them.



In an affidavit filed before the Sindh High Court on July 19, Defence Secretary General (Retd) Tariq Waseem Ghazi said his Ministry had no operational control over the ISI and MI and, therefore, it could not enforce the court’s direction on both the agencies in detention matters.



He was responding to the court’s order over the detention of Munir Mengal, the head of Dubai-based TV channel ‘Voice of Baloch’. Mengal was reportedly whisked away by intelligence personnel on his arrival in Karachi.



The Pakistan Army has informed the court that it too had no control over the two intelligence agencies, even though they were headed by top Generals of the Army.





Terrorist attacks aimed at derailing peace process : Mirwaiz



The chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq has said that the grenade attacks on tourists in Srinagar and the Mumbai serial blasts were aimed at derailing the Indo-Pak peace process and creating hurdles for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. He said in Srinagar on July 17, “There are various agencies in Kashmir, India and Pakistan, who do not the peace process to move forward.” He said, “due to the success of the dialogue process, hardline elements planned these attacks so that the peace process is stalled.”



Echoing the Mirwaiz, former Chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party leader, Mufti Mohd. Sayeed urged India and Pakistan to “act with great caution and not allow the peace process to get derailed,” after the Mumbai blasts.