Author: David Rohde
Publication: The New York Times
Date: September 20, 2002
Officials from three Pakistani militant
groups said in interviews this week that the government of Pakistan has
allowed Islamic guerrillas to resume small-scale infiltrations into Indian-
controlled Kashmir. India has repeatedly demanded that Pakistan halt the
practice, which brought the two nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war
this spring.
Under intense pressure from the
United States, Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, promised in
May that his government would do all it could to stop the infiltrations.
In a speech today, General Musharraf repeated that promise.
"I want to categorically state that
the government of Pakistan is neither allowing, nor sponsoring, nor encouraging,
any kind of movement across the Line of Control," he said, referring to
the boundary between the portions of Kashmir controlled by India and Pakistan.
He added that any claim to the contrary was "motivated and false."
In an interview in New Delhi today,
the United States ambassador to India told Indian journalists that American
officials believed infiltrations into Indian-controlled Kashmir had increased
recently.
"Infiltration is certainly still
going on, and our judgment is it is up in August and up in September,"
Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill said, adding that raids had decreased in
June and July.
Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, a spokesman
for Pakistan's government, denied the claims of the militants and the American
ambassador. He suggested that unknown persons in Pakistan could be posing
as militants to undermine the government and insisted that Pakistan was
neither aiding, nor even tacitly encouraging, border crossings.
But members of the three militant
groups said in separate interviews this week that while the government
had halted all infiltrations in May, it had signaled in late July that
small-scale infiltrations could resume. They said Pakistan continued to
finance their groups and allowed them to buy weapons.
"There was a green signal from the
authorities," said an official from one militant group. "Because of that
the groups took the initiative."
Ershad Mahmud, an expert on Kashmir
at the Institute of Policy Studies, a research organization in Islamabad,
said he could not confirm that the Pakistani government was still financing
the groups. But he said that small- scale infiltrations had resumed, and
that General Musharraf was under intense domestic political pressure to
allow them to continue.
In June and July, General Musharraf
was seen in Pakistan as having made a major concession to India by halting
infiltrations, he said, but that he had received nothing in return from
New Delhi. With the approach of parliamentary elections, scheduled for
October, Mr. Mahmud said, General Musharraf may be trying to outflank nationalist
and religious parties, which could accuse him of being soft on Kashmir.
"He is gradually changing his position,"
Mr. Mahmud said. "There is limited infiltration."
For months, India and Pakistan have
been locked in a standoff along their border, where both sides have massed
a total of more than one million troops. At the center of the tension is
a dispute over whether Pakistan is actively aiding a 13-year-old Islamic
insurgency in the portion of Kashmir controlled by India.
Tensions flared last week at the
United Nations General Assembly when General Musharraf demanded that Kashmiris
be allowed to hold a United Nations mandated referendum on independence.
He has denied that Pakistan is aiding the militant groups fighting in Kashmir,
but he often refers to the separatist drive there as a "freedom struggle."
India's prime minister, Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, responded by again accusing Pakistan of financing, arming and
training guerrillas. He also accused Pakistani intelligence agents of assassinating
political candidates in elections being held in Indian-controlled Kashmir
this month.
In the interviews, an official from
one of the militant groups, Hizbul Mujahedeen, the largest Kashmiri group,
spoke on the condition of anonymity but said that his organization could
be identified. Officials from the three other groups asked that their organizations
not be identified.
Two interviews were conducted by
a New York Times correspondent and two were conducted by a Pakistani journalist
working for The Times.
An official from one militant group
said that in the past government officials had provided money, issued weapons
and led groups of 10 to 15 guerrillas to points along the border where
they could cross into the Indian-controlled area of Kashmir.
He said that Pakistani officials
told his group in May that in response to intense international pressure,
Pakistan was temporarily halting incursions. "We were assured it was on
a temporary basis," the official said.
After May, the money the group received
from the government increased, he said. "In a sense, it was a bribe," he
said, a way of keeping them happy. But camps and communication points in
the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir were closed and his group was
barred from publicly raising money.
"For the previous two or three months
they were totally shocked and dispirited by the decision," the official
said, referring to members of his group. "But now they think that the government
of Pakistan is returning to its previous position."
In late July, government officials
signaled that infiltrations could resume, he said. His organization established
new communication posts and began sending small groups of three to five
cadres over the border.
Officials from Hizbul Mujahedeen
and one other large militant group said in interviews with the Pakistani
journalist that the government signaled to them that small-scale infiltrations
could resume. They also said their organizations continue to receive government
financing.
But the representative of the fourth
group insisted that the government crackdown on infiltration was continuing.
He said his group was receiving no government aid.
