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Seema Guha
The Times of India
June 24, 1999
Title: Kargil represents a fundamentalist threat, says Jaswant Author: Seema Guha Publication: The Times of India Date: June 24, 1999 External affairs minister Jaswant Singh said on Wednesday that India was under threat from the forces of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir. "What we are witnessing in Kargil is not simply treachery, but an extension of the Afghanistan syndrome.. the so-called freedom-fighters are a spill-over of Islamic fundamentalists," the minister said in an exclusive interview to The Times of India. Mr Singh said Kargil represented a challenge not just to India but to the international community as well. He said these "forces" had to be defeated both "conceptually" and on the ground in Kargil. "We are very mindful of what the true challenge is in Kargil," Mr Singh added. The minister, for the first time, publicly acknowledged the government's fear that Islamic fundamentalists who have wracked neighbouring Afghanistan were now eyeing Kashmir with the objective of setting up a fundamentalists regime and extending their reach across frontiers. It is well-known that the Taliban had its origins in the madrassas or religious schools of Pakistan. Helped and encouraged by Pakistan, this handful of zealots had, over the years, become a powerful force and had succeeded in establishing its control over Afghanistan. The Pakistani army and the ISI, which had nurtured the Taliban, now wanted to take their help in stirring up trouble in Kashmir. They provide the cannon fodder and support for the Pakistan regulars in the Kargil and Dras sectors. India's point, it is contended, is that the challenge of fundamentalism is not just to this country but constitutes a threat to the world community. Washington knows that in the post-Cold War world, the principle threat to the U.S. and the rest of the free world is from terrorist groups and fundamentalists forces. The bombing of the World Trade Centre and the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya are pointers of these dangers to the international community. Even as Mr Jaswant Sing spoke of the threat of Islamic fundamentalism in Washington, two U.S. Congressmen wrote to members of the House of Representatives calling for support to urge Pakistan to withdraw the intruders. "It is reported that these infiltrators are Afghan and Pakistani terrorists associated with Osama Bin Laden and the Pakistani Harkat-ul-Mujahideen," they said. By drawing attention to Islamic fundamentalism, India wants the world to pay attention to the kind of threat it is facing in the snowy peaks of Kashmir.
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