HVK Archives: U.S. report confirms Pak. support to Kashmir ultras
U.S. report confirms Pak. support to Kashmir ultras - The Hindu
Sridhar Krishnaswami
()
2 May 1997
Title : U.S. report confirms Pak. support to Kashmir ultras
Author : Sridhar Krishnaswami
Publication : The Hindu
Date : May 2, 1997
The 1996 United States' State Department report on the "Patterns of Global
Terrorism" has stated that though the Government of Pakistan acknowledges that it
continues to provide only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri
militants, reports continued (in 1996) of official Pakistani support to the ultras
fighting in Kashmir.
The State Department publication, released this morning, takes note of the fact
that the Pakistan-backed Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front, claimed responsibility
for three bombings in and near New Delhi in early 1996, that killed at least 40
persons. There were reports that official Pakistani support to Kashmiri militants,
including the Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), continued well into 1996.
Western hostages killed?
The 1996 report also makes note of the fact that terrorist camps in Afghanistan
remain open and that the fate of four Western hostages remains unknown although
unconfirmed reports from Kashmiri militant sources maintain that they were killed
in December 1995.
Noting that domestic terrorism in Algeria, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan appears
growing, and in more serious gross terms than international terrorism, the report
maintains that the Indian and Pakistani Governments accused rival intelligence
services of "sponsoring" bombings on each other's territory. "Islamabad alleged
in a press report that India sponsored a series of bombings in Pakistan's Punjab
province from late 1995 to mid-1996 in which at least 18 civilians were killed."
The report takes note of the continuing security problems facing India as a result
of insurgency in Kashmir, Assam and the involvement of the People's War Group in
Andhra Pradesh in several attacks on police and local political leaders. The
report points out that the Government has been largely successful in controlling
the Sikh separatist movement in Punjab but that Sikh groups claim to have worked
with the Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front to bomb targets in New Delhi.
On Sri Lanka, the report draws attention to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
continuing with "extremely violent attacks in its on-going campaign to cripple the
economy and target Government officials". The deadliest attack in 1996 occurred
in Colombo on January 31 when LTTE "terrorists" rammed an explosives-laden-truck
into the Central Bank killing 90 persons and wounding 1,400 others.
On a global level, the report mentions 296 acts of international terrorism, the
lowest annual total in 25 years and 144 fewer than in 1995. But in contrast, the
total number of casualties - 311 dead and 2,652 wounded - was one of the highest
recorded. About 25 per cent of the attacks were anti-United States, most being
low-intensity bombings of oil pipelines in Colombia jointly owned by the
Government there and Western companies, but seen as American targets by Colombian
terrorists.
PTI reports:
The HUA group has spread its tentacles in India, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Bosnia,
it says.
"The HUA, based in Muzaffarabad and seeking Kashmir's accession to Pakistan, has
carried out a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in
Kashmir," state department's annual report on global terrorism says. Details
about the organisation and its activities are given in the "background information
on terrorist groups."
According to the report, the HUA has several thousand armed members located in
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, southern Kashmir and the Doda region and uses light and
heavy machine guns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives and rockets.
It has a core militant group of about 300, mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but
also includes Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. Its members have
participated in insurgent and terrorist operations in Kashmir, Myanmar,
Tajikistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It collects donations from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf and Islamic states to
purchase relief supplies, which it distributes to Muslims in Tajikistan, Kashmir
and Myanmar. The source and amount of its military funding are unknown but are
believed to come from sympathetic Arab countries, wealthy Pakistanis and
Kashmiris, it says.
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