Author:
Publication: Sify News
Date: February 23, 2004
URL: http://headlines.sify.com/2927news2.html?headline=Kashmir~terrorists~get~$7~million~a~year!
Islamic terror groups in Kashmir
are getting seven million dollars a year to keep alive a 15-year insurgency
there, a media report said Sunday.
The estimate includes salaries,
compensation to families of slain rebels, payments to guides and clothing
allowances for militants, The Times of India newspaper said, quoting unnamed
intelligence sources. The report said the figure does not include 'special
incentives' for 'fidayeen' or suicide attacks, killing of leaders or top
army personnel, or missions of key importance to the groups.
The intelligence sources said most
of the funds originated in Pakistan, through its military Inter-Services-Intelligence
and various charities.
India has repeatedly accused Pakistan
of training, arming and funding the revolt in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad
denies.
The report comes after nuclear rivals
India and Pakistan announced a "basic roadmap" for peace last week aimed
at ending over five decades of hostility over divided Kashmir, which has
triggered two of their three wars.
Other sources of funds included
the Rabita-e-Alam-e-Islami of Saudi Arabia, the British-based World Kashmir
Freedom Movement and Friends of Kashmir, and the Kashmir American Council
and the Kashmir Study Group - both based in the United States, the newspaper
said.
More than 40,000 people have died
in Kashmir since terrorism erupted in 1989, according to officials. Unofficial
sources put the toll between 80,000 and 100,000.
