Author: Izhar Wani
Publication: AFP
Date: December 11, 2001
The swift rout of the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan has left Kashmiri supporters of the radical Islamic militia
angry and disillusioned.
The launch of US-led air strikes
against Afghanistan following the Setember 11 terrorist attacks in New
York and Washington, triggered demonstrations and strikes in Indian-administered
Kashmir where a Muslim separatist insurgency has claimed at least 35,000
lives since 1989.
The protests had condemned the US
military action and backed the Taliban's decision not to hand over suspected
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
"The Taliban's refusal to hand over
bin Laden to the United States had created a heroic image of the militia
in Kashmir," said radical student Idress Ahmed.
"We appreciated the decision as
the United States did not produce evidence linking bin Laden to the
September 11 attacks."
But Ahmed said the Taliban's image
had taken a nosedive after the fall of the strategic northern Afghan town
of Mazar-i-Sharif which prompted the spectacular collapse of Taliban forces
elsewhere in the country.
"We were expecting the Taliban to
give a tough time to their opponents, but that didn't happen," said fellow
student Nasir Dar.
"It has been a meek surrender after
a lot of Taliban rhetoric that they would fight until the last man."
Ahmed and Dar both took part in
pro-Taliban protests in Kashmir, but now admit they may have done better
to heed the call of the All Party Hurriyat Conference -- Kashmir's main
separatist alliance --not to agitate in favour of the militia and bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network.
"The issue of Osama bin Laden is
irrelevant to us," Hurriyat chief Abdul Ghani Bhat said at the time.
Hardline Kashmiri Muslims had expected
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his men to provide sterner
resistance to the anti-Taliban forces and their US backers.
Disappointment was especially acute
after the Taliban surrendered Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, their last
remaining stronghold.
"Sympathy for Mullah Omar is over
in Kashmir with the surrendering of Kandahar," said an activist with a
pan- Islamic political group.
However, he sympathised with foreign
Islamic fighters under fire in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains where
bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
"They had come to (the Taliban's)
help, and now they have been left alone to defend themselves," said the
activist, who declined to be identified.
Kashmiri mosques, which have been
filled to capacity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, have in recent
days witnessed heated debates, with moderates taunting hardliners over
the Taliban's rapid collapse.
"No one expected the Taliban to
surrender," said former militant Abid Ali. "Afghans are very tough fighters.
I have seen Afghan volunteers engaging Indian troops in fierce gun battles."
India says a substantial number
of Afghans have fought alongside Kashmiri Muslims in their 12-year insurgency.
Local Kashmiri newspapers are no
longer carrying the large photographs of bin Laden and Taliban fighters
which had been popular at the start of the US military offensive in Afghanistan.
"Such pictures did boost sales in
September and October," said newspaper vendor Ansar Ahmed. "But now, I
don't think anyone is interested in that stuff."
