India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Kashmir : US all set to ban Lashkar and Jaish

	November 05, 2001

The Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Lahore-based pan-Islamic group, currently the most serious security threat in the Valley and whose suicide squads have carried out several attacks, is finally be in Washington’s anti-terror net. Along with the Jaish-e-Mohammed-the group floated by Maulana Masood Azhar which was blacklisted earlier following which Pakistan froze its assets-the Lashkar was designated as a ‘’foreign terrorist organization’’ with reports that the US State Department had accepted Attorney General John Ashcroft’s recommendation.

Although the formal notification was yet to reach New Delhi, coming on the eve of the Prime Minister Vajpayee’s visit abroad, both External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Union Home Minister L K Advani welcomed the decision calling it a ‘’step in the right direction.’’ Singh, speaking to reporters after a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting, said that more than the ban, what was ‘’heartening’’ was that Washington had acknowledged that the ‘’fight against terrorism cannot be localised as regional or local.’’

According to a report from Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Secretary of State Colin Powell, in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury and Ashcroft, designated 22 additional foreign terrorist organizations for a total of 46. ‘’We are taking the foreign terrorist organisation list, which had previously been issued, and all of those organisations that had previously been under various kinds of financial controls, either as foreign terrorist organisations or under other executive orders, and we are moving the remainder of the 22 groups on that list into the new executive order, so that everybody is covered by one set of financial steps.’’ he said. The US state department designated the Let and JeM as Foreign Terrorist Organisations following a recommendation of Attorney-General John Ashcroft to put a total of 46 organisations under the new Anti-Terrorism Law.

State department spokesman Richard Boucher said the terrorist groups were proscribed under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush on September 23, freezing their assets. A US ban on the LeT and JeM had been a long-standing demand of the Indian government for their active involvement in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision by Secretary of State Colin Powell allows the United States to act against individuals and organisations that are associated with these terrorist groups. The ban is to have a direct impact on these outfits and their benefactors. The members of these orgnisations and their supporters will come under a number of legal restrictions in the United States.

Boucher said, “The list of affected organisations and individuals is a living document. We will continue to expand it as we identify and confirm additional entities that provide financial and other support to terrorist organisations.” “It is an unfortunate fact that Al Qaeda is not the only terrorist organisation,” he said. All terrorist groups designated by the US maintain networks across the world and use them to facilitate deliberate acts of violence against innocent people to further their nefarious designs, he added. “We will not rest until every terrorist group has been removed as a threat to the United States, our citizens or interests and our friends and allies,” the State Department spokesman added.

In Srinagar, the consensus was that although the ban against Lashkar and Jaish would, in no major way, affect their activities but it had a significant symbolic effect.

‘’It will have a psychological effect on these outfits. It will affect their finances, recruitment and arming,’’ according to security forces. The ban is also being seen as yet more evidence of Pakistan being pushed against the wall. Hurriyat Conference executive Abdul Gani Lone said that since Pakistan was an ally of the US in its war against terrorism, listing of these two groups as terrorist groups will definitely affect them.

Launched during the last days of the Afghan resistance, Lashkar came into limelight in Kashmir in 1997. It’s the militant wing of a purely religious group, the Markaz Dawah-ul-Irshad, led by Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed. Initially, the group used local Kashmiri militants as helpers and guides but now most of its leadership is Pakistani. This is the first group that introduced suicide squad which changed the complexion of militancy in Kashmir. The Lashkar’s ban, therefore, sets the stage for Vajpayee’s trip which began on Sunday when he left for St Petersburg and Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Prime Minister then goes to Washington for a meeting with US President George Bush in the White House on November 9. From there he will travel to the United Nations to address the General Assembly. On his way back from the US, Vajpayee will meet Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair for talks in London. Vajpayee will also meet leaders of the US Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the House International Relations Committee and the Congressional caucus on India and Indian-Americans.



Abdullah questions Hurriyat credentials

J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has once again hit out at the Hurriyat and questioned its credentials. In the past too, he and his son, Union Minister of State Omar Abdullah, have been sharply critical of the Hurriyat and its attempts to speak on behalf of the people of the State. Farooq Abdullah urged the Kashmiris to be beware of the “so-called bunch of seven people” who were selling them to Pakistan. “The Hurriyat Conference has been taking money from not only anti-nationals, but also from people who are anti-Kashmiri. An open example of it is the recent threat by a militant outfit to one of the so-called executive members of the Hurriyat asking him to return the money,” Abdullah said.

Recently, a militant organisation, Al-Badr, had threatened senior Hurriyat executive committee leader Abdul Gani Lone asking him to return some money that he “owed” to the outfit. “I have been regularly saying that this bunch of seven jokers has been ruining the fate of Kashmiris and only serving as an extension of the Pakistan High Commission,” the Chief Minister commented. Farooq has been critical of the Centre’s efforts to send feelers to the Hurriyat. He considers it an act of sidelining him, who is an elected leader. Stating that the number of Pakistan sympathisers had come down to a trickle in the State, he claimed that the new “development should serve as a warning to them that Islamabad has never been serious about Kashmiris”.

Abdullah said the Hurriyat leaders had rushed to New Delhi and requested the Pakistan High Commission to exert pressure on the militants to stop their anti-Hurriyat statements. Some of the recent statements of the Hurriyat leaders that violence was not the way to solve the Kashmir issue, did not go well with the extreme outfits. The two Hurriyat leaders who camped in the capital were chairman Abdul Gani Bhat and former chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Abdullah said. Abdullah said the Hurriyat leaders had faced charges of swindling money earlier also.

The Hurriyat Conference was happy to note the statement of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) chief Maj. Gen. Hermann Loidolt, on Jammu and Kashmir. Hurriyat executive member Abdul Gani Lone claimed that the Centre’s attempts to link the Kashmir movement with international terrorism had badly failed as the post-September 11 scenario was going in favour of the Kashmiris’ “just” struggle.

“There will be active participation of world powers in Kashmir soon after the Afghan war ends. The world powers will try to resolve the dispute and the statement of the UN Military Observer Group has hinted towards that,” Lone asserted. Lone said he believed that Loidolt’s statement had the approval of the UN Secretary-General and should come as an “eye-opener” for the Indian Government. “Loidolt cannot make such a sensitive statement without the approval of the UN Secretary-General,” he claimed. He also said that the UNMOGIP’s stress on US involvement to resolve the Kashmir dispute was laudable. The statement that the US might have to involve itself to resolve the vexed Kashmir issue was encouraging Lone said. This had vindicated the Hurriyat’s stand which had always maintained that the Kashmir issue cannot be solved bilaterally. Another Hurriyat executive memberrs, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, also appreciated the UNMOGIP statement. He said that Loidolt’s statement on the Kashmir issue was a positive sign. On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Vice-Chairman Javid Ahmad Mir said that the remarks of the UNMOGIP that both India and Pakistan were playing “political games” on the issue was totally justified.



No free passage to militants

The long siege by the security forces on the mosque in Badgam district in central Kashmir, where one militant hiding inside was finally killed, is seen as a shift in government policy to refuse “safe passage” to militants who used places of worship as cover. Earlier, fearing the reaction of the minority, the forces hesitated before taking any strong steps to flush them out of mosques. But this time, the Army and other agencies persisted with their patient vigil and cordoned off the premises. The fleeing militants, escaping from the forces during a search operation, escaped into the mosque. But with the government’s new pro-active policy of controlling militancy, the forces had their mission cut out.

The policy was also adopted when dealing with six Lashkar-e-Toiba militants who took shelter inside a mosque at Shangus in Anantnag. After a stakeout lasting nearly 40 hours, the security forces killed all the six militants, with a little damage to the mosque. The “safe passage” to militants in such cases which was the rule earlier, had now been given up. It was felt that the forces were demoralized by such action, allowing the armed men to walk away free. It also resulted in increasing the number of militants using mosques as shelter to escape from the forces. In 1993, militants holed up inside the Hazratbal mosque had to be allowed safe passage after a 15-day siege when they threatened to damage the shrine. In May this year too, three LeT militants hiding in a mosque for 20 hours in Shopur, were allowed to leave unhurt to avoid damage to the mosque.Following the shift in policy, on July 31, three Hizbul militants who were hiding in the shrine of Syed Mohammad Ali Sahi at Goigam in Nadgam district were shot dead after a fierce encounter.

As the J&K Government makes preparations for shifting its offices to the winter capital of Jammu from the summer capital of Srinagar, authorities are wondering whether the militants too will shift their operations for publicity reasons. In the course of the past six years, the militants have shifted their activities to Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts. Gradually they have also indulged in terrorist action in Jammu and Udhampur. Police have strengthened the security and intelligence network to tackle the expected terrorist activities. The movement from the higher reaches in Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts has been an annual feature of shifting bases by the militants. They move in the guise of shepherds, with the cattle brought from the hill pastures. From the first week of November, the seats of power, including the Civil Secretariat and the State Legislature besides other vital Government installations reopen in Jammu. This time trouble is expected in Kathua district which has escaped the attention of militants. Since Kathua district borders Punjab, the Pakistani agencies have a plan of kicking up turmoil in Kathua which will cast its shadow on Punjab.

If past record is any indication, this time too crowded places like bus stands, railway stations, business centres and cinemas could be targeted . Temples and shrines too could be attacked for sparking communal clashes.Just like in the Valley, mosques too might be used for taking shelter and getting publicity. It is estimated that more than 7,000 Pakistan-backed terrorists were operating in India, out of which 4,500 in Jammu and Kashmir only and most of them are dominated by foreign mercenaries and mujahideen. According to the Intelligence Bureau which reviewed the terrorist organizations and their operations after the enactment of the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, currently there are 141 terrorist outfits having close nexus with terrorists and underground outfits-some of them also enjoy protection and patronage of State and national political leaders. What is alarming is they had acquired a large quantity of latest arms and ammunition.

The current US operations against the Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan has revealed that the ISI of Pakistan had an indirect but long-standing relationship with the terrorist network. The ISI reportedly used Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train covert operatives for use in the war of terror against India. The ISI also maintained direct links with the militants fighting in Kashmir.