India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Subcontinent » 

Kashmir: Pak firing across LoC

	May 19, 2008

In the first major violation of the five-year-old ceasefire, Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing on an Indian border post on the Line of Control [LoC] in the Tangdhar region of North Kashmir on May 13 night. It was the second time in less than a week that Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing in northern Kashmir. The unprovoked firing was preceded two days earlier by a fierce, bloody encounter between a couple of terrorists who had taken some people hostage after apparently managing to sneak in, at Samba in Jammu. After initially denying, Pakistan has promised to order a probe into the LoC firing. Infiltration and cross-border terrorism are now set to be high on the agenda for Indo-Pak talks on May 20 and 21.



Ceasefire pact violated

On May 13, Pakistani troops opened fire from their Papa bunker post directly at the Indian T-Hut bunker located at about 9000 feet from the LoC. Suspected to be a covering fire for militants to infiltrate, it was targeted straight to the Indian bunker. They fired about 50 to 70 rounds of heavy machinegun and eight to ten 82mm mortar shells, military sources said. While the machinegun fire hit the Indian bunker, the mortar shells fell short of it. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Indian troops exercised restraint and did not retaliate.



Coming as it does ahead of the talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on the Composite Dialogue process in Islamabad on May 21, it has raised concerns in the Indian security establishment. The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dubbed it “worrisome” and the Director General of Military Operations, Lt. Gen. A.S. Sekhon, lodged a strong protest against the “totally unprovoked firing” with his Pakistani counterpart over the hotline. To press home the point, the Indian sector commander at Tangdhar held an urgent flag meeting with his Pakistani counterpart about the breach of the 2003 ceasefire. The Pakistan sector commander denied the charge but promised to investigate the incident after the Indian battalion commander showed photographic evidence and shells with Pakistani markings.



The ceasefire along the 198-kilometre International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, the 778-km LoC and the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line [AGPL] in the Siachen-Saltoro Bridge region has by and large held since it came into force in November 2002. There have been many instances of ceasefire violations during this period, but they were relatively minor or ambiguous in the sense that they could be blamed on infiltrating militants. The Pakistani authorities denied any complicity of its regular troops in these incidents. But, the latest firing is an “irrefutable violation” by Pakistani troops as their firing was directly aimed at Indian bunkers.



Militants strike in Samba – five killed

Two days before the ceasefire violation, militants struck in the border town of Samba in the Jammu region killing five people including a woman hostage and a photo journalist. Two militants holed up in a house were killed after a fierce 13-hour encounter on May 11.



It was barely three days after the BSF had repulsed a major infiltration bid backed by Pakistani Rangers in the same Samba sector in Jammu last week. Pakistani Rangers had resorted to heavy firing in the Samba sector late in the night on May 9 to facilitate an infiltration bid. However, the infiltration bid was foiled by alert BSF soldiers.



A group of more than 10 to 12 heavily armed infiltrators had successfully crossed the International Border and were negotiating the barbed fence when they were noticed by the BSF. After the infiltrators were challenged by the BSF, Pakistani Rangers also resorted to firing to provide cover for the retrieval of the infiltrators back inside Pakistani side. The BSF has recovered 400 empty cases of AK-47 rifle bullets.



Defence Minister A.K. Antony has asked security forces to step up their vigil against attempts by the enemy to destroy the peace process. Antony and the Army Chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor who surveyed International Border posts along the Punjab border at Ferozepur on May 13 said that infiltration bids could increase through the LoC and other borders. The External Affairs Ministry in a statement said the latest infiltration was probably by rogue elements who wanted to disrupt the composite dialogue process.



A high-level meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on May 15. The meeting decided to rush more BSF and CRPF troops into the Valley. It was also decided that Mukherjee would raise the issue of cross border terrorism during his forthcoming Foreign Minister level talks between the two countries. Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon will accompany Mukherjee. Menon told newsmen on May 14 that the problem of continued infiltration would be raised at Foreign Secretary-level and Foreign Minister-level talks in Islamabad. “Stopping cross border terrorism is very high priority”, he said.



On May 20 Menon and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary, Salman Bashir will review the fourth round of Composite Dialogue and hold discussions on a wide range of bilateral issues, including security and Jammu and Kashmir.



The Composite Dialogue process resumes after a gap of several months following the political crisis in Pakistan.



Infiltration on the rise again

Though the Samba attack appeared to be a direct fallout of the infiltration, central officials, getting inputs from the State, believe that the bid to infiltrate by militants which was foiled on May 9 was just the beginning of a grand plan of terrorist outfits to make their presence felt before the forthcoming J&K Assembly elections and the Amarnath Yatra would provide them an opportunity to strike at easy targets. Referring to intercepts which security agencies had during the past month, sources in the CRPF – which is the main counter-insurgency force in the State – said the terrorist outfits were desperate to strengthen their cadres through infiltration. Currently, all the outfits together have nearly 1200 jehadis in the State and this is half of what they had in 2006. Melting of ice during summer would provide them a chance to infiltrate through the unfenced LoC, sources added.



Infiltration through the fenced International Border in the Samba sector, political observers say, is a wake-up call that despite the Army’s and the BSF’s best efforts, militants are able to infiltrate India’s borders thanks to some ingenious methods. The militants have evolved several safe ways of crossing the fence. First, they have perfected the art of crawling. They wear shockproof gloves to neutralize electric currents. Some of them are athletic enough to use ladders to vault across. Sometimes the electric system does not work and militants and their guides are somehow able to detect when the lights are off and where the patrol ambush parties are located at the time.



The regular points of infiltration are: Chingus, Sunderbani, Jhangar, Laam, Kanga Gali, Thandi Kassi, Diryani Gali, Balakote and Saujjan in the south of Pir Panjal and the Uri, Gurez, Machail sectors on the northern side.



Naturally, the terrain offers a helping hand. The forbidding mountains, dense woods, swamps and ravines help the militants spring a surprise.





Timing of incidents intriguing

Commenting on the firing by Pakistani soldiers and a hostage drama by militants in Samba, last week’s failed infiltration bid and the Jaipur bomb blasts allegedly by ISI-backed outfits, political observers say, the timing of incidents is intriguing. A new democratic dispensation has taken over in Pakistan which has talked rather openly about mending fences with India. Even international pressure is there to make Pakistan shun terrorism.



Perhaps, some elements in the Pakistan Army are worked up over PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari saying that the Kashmir question cannot be allowed to come in the way of normalizing the relations between India and Pakistan. These elements, observers say, must have been upset with the success of the Composite Dialogue process in lessening the tension between the two countries. In fact, with increased people-to-people contacts, the peace constituency in both countries has increased considerably. But, this does not suit the interests of the Pakistan Army, though the peace process was set in motion when the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, controlled the reins of power in Islamabad. The anti-peace sections in the Pakistan army, it seems, are now bent on indulging in their old game with a popularly elected government being in place in Pakistan today.



Observers say what must be realized is that such skirmishes can spin out of control. The trust built assiduously over this long period has been shattered. You cannot talk of confidence-building measures and peace initiative on the one hand and try to push in infiltrators on the other.





Pak PM rejects Musharraf’s Kashmir proposals

Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has said President Musharraf’s proposals for the resolution of the Kashmir issue are not acceptable to the new Government. “These were half-baked things that did not have the mandate of Parliament”, Gillani said in an interview with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s programme “Devil’s Advocate”. He said the four-point formula proposed by Musharraf that envisaged self-governance and joint management of Kashmir was “actually the President’s idea. This is not the idea of the newly-elected Government”. There should be a “rethink” about it, he said.



He, however, said the Kashmir issue had to be resolved for “stable relations”. He said the process to resolve the Kashmir issue must start from UN resolutions and the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. He said, “There are some core issues that we want to resolve. At the same time, we want to maintain excellent and extremely good relations with our neighbours.” He said the Kashmir issue would be discussed when Mukherjee visits Islamabad. When asked about a statement by the PPP Co-chairman that the Kashmir dispute would not be allowed to become hostage to improvement of ties with India on other fronts, Gillani said Zardari’s contention was that trust and confidence could be built through people-to-people contacts and trade, commercial and cultural ties as the two countries “share a lot of commonalities.”



No change in US stand on Kashmir

Meanwhile, signalling that it has no intention of getting drawn into the Kashmir tangle, the US has made it clear that there is no change in its stand that it is for India and Pakistan to resolve the issue through dialogue. “No, there is no change in US policy on this”, the US State Department said on May 16 while referring to Gillani’s interview to Karan Thapar where he said the core issue of Kashmir should be resolved on the basis of UN resolutions.



PPP leader Faheem visits India



PPP Vice-President Makhdoom Amin Faheem, who was at one time a favourite candidate for the post of Prime Minister, paid a private visit to India during which he met top Government and Opposition leaders. He was due to visit Jammu and Kashmir as well, but had to rush back home after the coalition between the PPP and the PML[N] collapsed over the reinstatement of deposed judges.

Sarabjit clemency issue



On the issue of clemency to Indian convict Sarabjit Singh, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry has suggested that there should be a treaty with India for “transfer of offenders” if a death row convict is to be released. A high-level meeting in Islamabad on May 13 also discussed a proposal to strike a deal with India to exchange Sarabjit for “all Pakistani prisoners detained in India”, local media reported quoting government sources.



It is also learnt that Pakistan’s Home Ministry is against granting clemency to Sarabjit and reduce his death sentence to life imprisonment.



The new Gillani Government has also offered to hand over the Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim if the Indian Government provides “authentic proof”. In a TV interview, he said Pakistan would act against any terrorist group operating against India from its territory if India provides “authentic proof”. He rejected India’s concerns over terrorism in Kashmir being financed and executed by Pakistan-based groups like the LeT and with the backing of the ISI.