ISI Has Been Providing Money, Arms And Training To Terrorists
Tashbih Sayyed
Pakistan Today
May 28, 1999
Title: ISI Has Been Providing Money, Arms And Training To Terrorists
Author: Tashbih Sayyed
Publication: Pakistan Today
Date: May 28, 1999
http://www.paktoday.com/isi28.htm
Pakistani Army is duplicating Afghan war tactics in Jammu and Kashmir
LOS ANGELES: What is said to be an attempt by Pakistan army to
dominate the strategic heights of Kargil has resulted in the death of
several Indian and Pakistani soldiers. Experts are saying that
Pakistan, here in Kashmir, is employing tactics that it learnt during
the Afghan war. During the whole last week, Kargil continued vibrating
with gunfire for a number of hours, every day. According to Indian
sources, Artillery and mortar fire by Pakistani troops and
infiltrators from as many as five high-altitude pickets was said to
have resulted in the killing of at least nine Indian soldiers. Another
report said that with 9 deaths of Indian soldiers on Sunday ( May 21
), the total number of casualties on the Indian side so far has
officially been put at over 90. The same report said that the number
of Pakistani causalities has reached 150. Commenting on the situation,
Jane's Defense Weekly, quoted South Asian expert at the Royal United
Service Institution, Damon Bristow, as saying in its latest issue,
that Pakistani Army is duplicating Afghan war tactics in Jammu and
Kashmir in a bid to dominate strategic heights in key sectors along
the Line of Control overlooking vital highways.
The Weekly added that the incursion appears much bigger and more
heavily armed than Indian authorities are letting out. It could well
be aimed at cutting off the vital Srinagar-Leh highway. The Weekly
pointed out that, even earlier, Pakistan's Army had pushed in
mercenaries of the Lashkar-i-Taiba to dominate Indian posts along the
LoC in Poonch and Rajouri sectors and to dig in their heels in areas
overlooking the vital Jammu-Poonch highway, it noted. According to
Jane's Defense Weekly, The infiltration comes close on the heels of
recent disclosures in local media in London that Pakistan's ISI has
been providing money, arms and training to Islamic terrorists.
According to the disclosures in The Sunday Telegraph, Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been accused of providing arms
and money to radical terrorists linked to a group dedicated to
kidnapping and killing Britons and Americans.
According to the report, in The Sunday Telegraph, the former members
of the Pakistan's intelligence services, now living in Britain, have
informed the Scotland Yard that the terrorists who operate under the
umbrella of Harkat-ul-Ansar, are provided "training, expertise and
funding" by the ISI. It said that the Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA) people
were closely associated with Osama bin Laden. "They (Harkat-ul-Ansar
people) are assisted by Pakistan's military intelligence agency, the
Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). This provides training,
expertise and funding." the newspaper said.
The general impression, here in the West is that the Taliban type
fundamentalists encouraged by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's pro
Taliban policies and personal backing have infiltrated Pakistan Army
to a level that no body can dare oppose their extremist objectives.
They cite the example of General Jahangir Karamat, former Chief of
Pakistan' Army, who had to resign from his post, since he could not
dare annoy the fundamentalists in the armed forces who support Nawaz
Sharif. Former Army Chief of Staff Jahangir Karamat have told some
people that he could not act on his convictions fearing a rift in the
armed forces of Pakistan. Experts say, that right now Pakistan's armed
forces are dominated by fundamentalists, who believe that they ought
to liberate Kashmir at any cost. Some say that Taliban influence in
Pakistan Army may result in an all out war between the traditional
enemies.
The Sunday Telegraph claimed that Al-Faran group in occupied Kashmir,
which kidnapped five Western trekkers in the Valley in 1995, was also
a splinter group of Harkat-ul-Ansar. One of the five, Hans Ostro, a
Norwegian, was later found beheaded. The others included two Britons,
Paul Wells, 23, a Nottingham University student from Blackburn, and
Keith Mangan, 34, a Middlesbrough man who lived in London. They all
remain missing, presumed dead.
Pakistan observers are convinced that fundamentalists have also taken
control of Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. "Fundamentalists
are believed to have infiltrated Pakistan's ISI, which has long been
considered out of control by diplomats and government officials," the
paper said. "The agency was shaped into a sophisticated intelligence
service by the CIA during the Afghan-Soviet war, when agents channeled
arms and aid to the Mujahideen. Despite repeated official denials in
Islamabad, diplomatic sources say the ISI continues to support the
HUA, with which it shares a common goal -- Pakistan's complete control
of Kashmir," The Sunday Telegraph said.
Many Pakistanis are also of the view that because of Mian Nawaz
Sharif's pro Taliban leanings, it is only a matter of time that
Pakistan will also be facing a similar situation that exists in
Afghanistan. Pakistani liberals point out at the recent judicial
decisions, crackdown on journalists, and the Shariah bill awaiting its
passage in the senate as a sign of coming Talibanization. The paper
said that in recent years, the HUA has expanded beyond its remit in
Kashmir, and is now believed to pose a serious threat to the security
of both Pakistan and the wider south Asian region. "Declared a
terrorist group by the US State Department in 1997, the HUA comprises
two militias, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the more extreme
Harkat-ul-Jihad. They were formed in the Eighties - with CIA and ISI
backing - to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. Both factions maintain
headquarters in Muzaffarabad and Kotli, from where they have
dispatched militants to wage a guerrilla war against Indian security
forces in Jammu and Kashmir," the paper claimed.
"The two Harkat militias provide shelter, food and clothing for the
trainees, while the ISI provides weapons, ammunition and transport,
along with specialist instructors," the paper claimed. "The HUA also
has training camps in eastern Afghanistan, mainly in Nangarhar
province. Its militias formerly used bin Laden's Afghan training camp
near Khost which was blasted by US cruise missiles after last year's
embassy bombings."
Having dug themselves in on the crest of the ridges, scores of
Pakistanis are said to have posed a serious challenge to the Indian
Army. Even as majority of infiltrators, to quote sources in the Indian
Defense Ministry, "have now been boxed in", the task of the Indian
troops is by no means easy, considering the fact that the terrain is
pretty difficult and weather more or less hostile. Equally hostile is
the attitude of heavily-armed Pakistanis who have captured two posts,
namely, Shipper's Alley and Batalik-Satru in the upper reaches of
Kargil. These two posts used to be occupied by Indian troops for some
time from May onwards every year. This time, after the sighting of
small groups of infiltrators in certain pockets of Kargil sector in
the first week of this month, observers found these two pickets in the
occupation of Pakistani troops.
South Asian expert at the Royal United Service Institution, Damon
Bristow, as quoted in Jane's Defense Weekly, said the latest incursion
follows a pattern revealed by earlier ones. Earlier, groups such as
Lashkar-i-Taiba and Harket after illegally crossing the LoC would
concentrate on the south Kashmir hinterland, which had little Indian
security presence. The sector behind the Verinag mountains is vital as
it overlooks the Jammu-Srinagar highway, he said. So you see the
pattern of the mercenaries appears to be to reconnoiter all these
vital highways, may be for future conflict calculations. Some experts
are following the present situation in the light of what had happened
in 1965. In 1965, General Ayub Khan had started similar crossings into
Indian occupied Kashmir thinking that India will never dare to cross
the International border in Punjab and Rajhistan. But for Indians, the
defense of Kashmir lies in attacking Pakistan in Punjab and Rajisthan.
And according to one report, which has not been denied hitherto by the
top brass of the Indian Army, the two posts were captured by Pakistani
troops in March itself. Obviously, the undetected march of groups of
infiltrators from across the line of control(LoC) started after the
two important posts were occupied by Pak troops. These infiltrators -
one estimate has put them around 500 - got one full month before they
dug in on the crest of the ridges.
That Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had played a major
role in organizing the induction of armed infiltrators into Kargil
sector was borne out by two significant events - first, the
unpublished trip to some Pakistani forward bases across Dras and
Kargil sections by the ISI chief on the eve of heavy shelling by
Pakistani troops on Indian personnel on May 17 and 18 when at least 25
Indians were killed, and second, the stern warning administered on May
22 by Brigadier Rashid Qureshi, the head of Inter-Services Public
Relations, that Pakistan would not tolerate Indian attempts to violate
Pakistan air space. According to a valley newspaper, between May 19
and May 22 there was considerable step-up in the armed skirmishes
between the armies of the two countries at some higher reaches in
Kargil sector, which, naturally, resulted in heavy casualties on
either side. On May 19, Lt. Gen. Krishan Pal, Commander of the Army's
15 Corps, said in Srinagar that 12 Army personnel had lost their lives
in the Kargil operations. Three days later, on May 22, the GOC-in-C of
the Central Command, Lt. Gen. Surjit Singh, said that the Indian Army
had so far suffered 70 casualties.
Obviously, the figure doled out by Lt. Gen. Surjit Singh related to
the period till Thursday, May 20. "Just add 20 more to the figure to
cover the casualties between May 20 and May 23 as a result of heavy
exchange of fire between the armies of the two countries", sources in
the Defense Ministry said on Sunday ( May 23) afternoon. These sources
confirmed that in view of the tough resistance put up by the Pak
troops and infiltrators and also in view of the "sudden" march of
additional Pak troops close to the border across Kargil, several
companies of additional troops had been rushed to the most vulnerable
section of the border (between Dras and Kargil) to deal with the
situation arising from the "heaviest" infiltration from the Pakistani
side in recent years.
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