Author: Anil Narendra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 10, 2000
According to Pakistan's
Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, Kashmir is not a part of India
and the Lahore declaration does not serve his country's interest.
Describing Kashmir as
disputed, General Musharraf dismissed India's contention before a gathering
of journalists that Pakistan was promoting cross-border terrorism.
"We don't call what is happening in Kashmir terrorism.
It is a freedom struggle...
the people of Kashmir have risen against India." He made a distinction
between jihad and terrorism jihad could be waged against poverty, against
illiteracy and against suppression of Muslims, as in Kashmir. In
other words, according to General Musharraf, the ruthless killings on 1
and 2 August were part of the so-called jihad.
Jihad, by definition,
is the killing of infidels for saving Islam. When Islam is in danger,
a war is waged to protect it. In this war all infidels are put to
the sword. General Musharraf perhaps thinks that the pilgrims of
Amarnath, which included men, women and small children, were posing a threat
to Islam and, therefore, had to be liquidated. The execution carried
out in J & K on two successive days had the stamp of army precision,
planning and execution. Look at the facts: In about four hours, the
terrorists struck at eight different places across the State, displaying
their paranoia over the peace process set in motion in the Valley by Hizbul
Mujahideen's unilateral declaration of ceasefire.
A news report I read
recently says the military government of Pakistan is indoctrinating its
soldiers with "Islamic" teachings. Pakistan Army has now assumed
near-total control of the operations aimed against Kashmir. The report
highlights the "sacredness of jihad" in India, and motivates troops to
stamp out "kafirs" (non-believers). These revelations came when Indian
security agencies got hold of a booklet, widely distributed by the General
Staff Branch, General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army.
Marking a shift from
professional soldiering and established norms of any regular army, the
Pakistan Army has sought to pump up fundamentalism in its ranks.
About 16 to 17 per cent of soldiers are believed to be going in for "Islamic"
signs like growing a beard. The booklet titled, "Jehad (holy war):
Sacred Benefits and Blessings", attempts to motivate the troops by saying:
"It has been ordained that Muslims will fight jihad in India."
The phenomenon of bearded
officers, though small in number, speaks volumes for Gen. Musharraf's
planning. Armies the world over insist on clean-shaven men.
These hardliners in Pakistan Army are trying to whip up religious passion
among the rank-and-file to intensify insurgency in Kashmir. In fact,
in recent months the Pakistani Army has taken over the reins from the Inter
Services Intelligence (ISI) in controlling terrorism in Kashmir.
It cannot be called a
mere coincidence if every time talks of peace and stability in Kashmir
begin there is severe bloodletting by the militants. I can point
out at least three recent such instances. The first was the brazen
attempt to grab Kargil after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus
journey to Lahore. Not satisfied with this, Gen. Musharraf
overthrew the elected government of Mr Nawaz Sharif. Third, when
President Bill Clinton visited India and was very keen to see that a dialogue
started on Kashmir, Gen. Musharraf answered with the massacre of
innocent Sikhs in Chhitsinghpur.
Finally, when Hizbul
Mujahideen looked ready to begin a dialogue with the Government of India,
Gen. Musharraf had a fresh round of killings ordered. Some
people, both within India and abroad, are of the view that the purpose
of the last round of killings could have been to browbeat India to talk
to Pakistan. The stand of the Government of India is categorical.
There will be no talks
till Pakistan stops its terrorist activities and the proxy war unleashed
by it against India. The question is, Is Pakistan killing innocent
Indians with the object of black ailing India to invite Pakistan to the
conference on Kashmir?
Hizbul commander Abdul
Majid Dar, who recently announced a three-month ceasefire, and which has
now been withdrawn, condemned the killings and told an Indian newspaper
on phone that such acts are un-lslamic. He also said that whosoever
is responsible for such violence should be condemned for it is a sin against
humanity. Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said, "Such savage acts
of senseless elements will not deter the peace loving people from pursuing
the path of dialogue to end this naked dance of death here." Both the Prime
Minister and the Union Home Minister, while condemning the killings, reiterated
their resolve to talk peace. "India will not bow down to terrorism,"
was Mr Vajpayee's return message to Pakistan.
Strategic experts and
Kashmir watchers are unanimous in their opinion that the attack is a serious
bid to sabotage the peace process in the trouble region. Apprehensions
that a determined attempt would be made to deflect the ceasefire move by
the Hizbul Mujahideen have come true. And now, from the evidence
available, this attempt seems to have succeeded. The foreign element
among militants in Kashmir have always claimed that they are not going
to back out, and they have indeed created fresh complications.
On the other hand it
is also admitted, unofficially of course, that there are weaknesses in
India's intelligence gathering. Radio intercepts had pointed to the
other militant groups being directed by their mentors across the border
to step up disruptive activities. Despite repeated SOS to J &
K police by the Intelligence Bureau and despite unprecedented deployment
along the Yatra route following the threat of Lashkar-e-Toiba on Monday
a dozen armed militants sneaked into the high security zone and shot the
pilgrims. Even earlier in the day a bid to attack them had been foiled,
but the authorities failed to take preventive measures. That the
pilgrims were a soft target ought to have been realised. An immediate
upshot of the attack will be the security forces abandoning plans to undertake
pro-active missions against the militants.
The killing of pilgrims
are a typical Pakistani army operation. This is the first time that
Amarnath pilgrims have been targeted. In 1996-1995, Harkat-ul-Ansar
warned that if the Amarnath yatra continued they would attack the pilgrims.
But the threat was not carried out. Acts of terrorism in any part
of the world are based on the element of surprise whether it is the massacre
of Sikhs in Chhitisinghpur, the killing of Shias in Patan, attack on Buddhist
monks in Ladakh or Amarnath yatris in Pahalgam.
According to a news report,
Al-Quida, a militant organisation associated with Osama bin Laden, has
claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam incident. A representative
of the outfit said this to the Islamabad office of an Indian newspaper.
Quoting Naseer Ahmed Mujahideen, commander of the group, the representative
said the incident occurred after a clash between members of the group and
the Indian security forces. With the Hizbul backing out from peace
talks, the mercenary designs of Pakistan seem to have succeeded for the
time being.
