Author: Praveen Swami
Publication: The Hindu
Date: February 25, 2004
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/25/stories/2004022505201100.htm
Police interrogation of three terrorists
arrested for an abortive attempt to storm the Indira Gandhi International
Airport here has thrown up disturbing evidence of a renewed cross-border
offensive by the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The three Lashkar terrorists, Mohammad
Ahsanullah, Mohammad Bashir and Rashid Ahmad, have, according to the Jammu
and Kashmir police, said that at least three specially-trained fidayeen
(suicide squad) groups had been sent across the Line of Control since December,
when India and Pakistan began observing a ceasefire. Members of these groups
carried out attacks on a bus stand in Poonch and the Jammu railway station
before initiating plans to hit the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
One of these fidayeen groups made
its way into Jammu and Kashmir through Goi village, facing the Mendhar
area of Poonch district, in mid-January. Although the Pakistan Army did
not support the infiltration attempt by providing a forward launching base
or fire support, local military commanders were made aware the Lashkar
squad would be crossing the LoC. The fidayeen group crossed newly- installed
border fencing along the LoC by lifting the concertina wire enough to enable
men to crawl under it.
Ahsanullah, a resident of Gujranwala
in Pakistan's Punjab province, and Bashir, a resident of Karachi, were
both members of this group. Four other members of the unit were eliminated
in the course of operations in the Poonch area. While one terrorist was
shot dead on January 23 by the Jammu and Kashmir police, two others were
killed by troops at Sanei village a week ago, in the course of an encounter
which also claimed the lives of three troops from the 15 Assam Rifles.
Lashkar commanders had earlier despatched
a second fidayeen squad led by Rashid, also a Karachi resident, in early
December. This squad carried out the December 10 attack on the main bus
stand in Poonch, killing three persons and injuring 10. One fidayeen was
also killed in the course of the attack. Two other Lashkar cadre volunteered
for the January 2 assault on the Jammu railway station. Four security force
personnel were killed in this attack, in which both fidayeen who carried
it out also died.
Shortly after the Jammu railway
station attack, the remnants of both these fidayeen groups were charged
with carrying out an assault on the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Sources said the terrorists had considered a frontal attack on any of the
three departure terminals, where passengers are not screened by security
staff until after they enter the buildings. A third Lashkar unit separately
attempted to execute a bombing in New Delhi, but was interdicted by the
Delhi police, who arrested the three terrorists involved just before Republic
Day.
In an effort to replace these losses,
a fourth fidayeen group attempted to cross the LoC two weeks ago at Dehri,
in Poonch. Troops of the 25 Punjab Regiment intercepted this unit metres
from the LoC, and killed five terrorists in a brief but fierce battle.
The firing almost led to a showdown with Pakistani troops, said sources
who also claimed that the terrorists bodies lay on their side of the LoC.
Indian soldiers eventually recovered three bodies, while Pakistani troops
took two.
The welter of recent Lashkar actions
gives little support to the Defence Minister, George Fernandes' recent
assertion that terrorist activity in Jammu and Kashmir was now being carried
out by elements outside the control of Pakistan's military establishment.
Reports from Pakistan instead indicate the government there has made no
effort to crack down on fundraising by the Lashkar, which reached a high
during the recent Eid festival, or to stop distribution of its magazines
and propaganda material.
At a recent rally in Islamabad,
the Lashkar's supreme leader, Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed, exhorted followers
to join the fighting in Jammu and Kashmir, which he described as "the greatest
Jihad in the history of Islam." Pakistan's Interior Minister, Syed Faisal
Saleh Hayat, however, said that there was no credible substantive evidence
the Lashkar was using Pakistan as a base to harm the interest of people
or governments outside Pakistan.
Speaking to The Hindu, a top Army
official described recent events as "highly disturbing." "We've been lucky
none of the major Lashkar-e-Taiba acts so far have actually succeeded,"
he said, "but sooner or later, it is likely one will. If the peace process
is derailed, the root cause will be Pakistan's unwillingness act on its
promises, and actually shut down terrorist organisations."
