Posted on 01/29/2004 3:31:30 PM PST by Prodigal Son
New Delhi, January 29: After assurance to India that it will not allow its soil to be used as "terrorist" breeding ground, Pakistan has, under US pressure, shifted all militant camps to Gilgit where no ordinary Kashmiri had any access, claims a Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) leader.
"Pakistan establishment has merged several of these camps and moved them away from periphery of Muzzafarabad and other areas in PoK," says Shazia Ghulam Din, daughter-in-law of JKLF founder Maqbool Bhatt.
Shazia, whose husband Showkat Bhat formed an All Parties National Alliance, said the militant camps located in PoK had been moved away right now under United States pressure.
"I think they have been shifted to Gilgit and Baltistan areas and no Kashmiri or ordinary Pakistani has the right to visit these places," Shazia, who is in the capital now, said.
This looks like a further example of Musharraf ratcheting up his own war on terror. And once again we see U.S. fingerprints on the operation.
"Pakistan has...shifted all militant camps to Gilgit where no ordinary Kashmiri had any access."
LOL, no ordinary access in deed! Check out this map of Pakistan. Gilgit is up in the far northeast corner. While this is not a topo map, take my word for it, the mountains surrounding Gilgit are over 25,000 feet high! Even the valleys up there are around 9,000 feet high! In Gilgit, the terrorists will be busier than a one armed paper hanger, just trying to stay warm and fed!
Great reference map of Pakistan
--Boot Hill
In November 1987, I entered Pakistan overland by bus from China. We came over the Karakoram Pass and then down, first to Karimabad then to Gilgit. The highway passed quite near K2 (just under 29000 ft.) and many other massive peaks. It was stunning country and people were quite friendly at the time. I spent about five weeks altogether in Pakistan on that trip and had a fantastic time! Almost no hassles from anyone. Now, having seen what has gone on in these parts over the last 2+ years, I think back on hitchiking around those mountains with a backpack and just shake my head! I'm glad I did it then because I strongly doubt I'll ever again set foot in that country.
Wow, what a trip, now that's adventure!!!! Where you just bumming around the that part of the world, or did you have a purpose in mind?
--Boot Hill
So just what was in that backpack of yours?
Well, the purpose I had in mind was to bum around that part of the world. I was in my mid-twenties. Unmarried, no ties. Had a few bucks in the bank from working too much in Silicon Valley. Let my apartment go. Sold or stored all my stuff except a backpack full of clothes and some basic traveling supplies. Bought a one-way ticket to Beijing and then spent a year traveling overland around Asia. China-> Tibet-> NW China-> Pakistan-> India-> Nepal-> India-> Thailand-> Phillipines and then back home. Saw some stuff, alright!
Rogue was taking the bus to a special "training camp," along with other fellow Muslims.
Well, I’m not Muslim but I did see some special assemblages of various sorts. This was at the time when the USSR invasion of Afghanistan was at its peak and there were huge numbers of Afghan refugees in northwest Pakistan. I’ve got lots of stories. I met some mujahadeen and also saw some rather intense-looking American and British men dealing for weapons in the gun markets of Dir.
So just what was in that backpack of yours?
Just a bunch of ratty clothes. At the time the idea that anyone American, etc. would genuinely take the side of the mujahadeen was unthinkable to me. You had to see them. They were definitely “other.” I did meet an American who was there for the dope. Kinda funny, really. Sort of on the “High Times” tour. Whatever...
Sounds like an awesome excursion, especially along the Karakoram.
The drive down from near the China/Pak border to Karimabad was unbelievable. It was like some sort of bizarre twisted theme-park ride! Astounding scenery, horribly steep and narrow road with a crappy surface and no guardrails along absolutely sheer cliffs dropping down thousands of feet, a colorful but entirely unroadworthy bus, and an obnoxious driver who had been up all night the night before drinking crappy Chinese liquor (available at the border but forbidden elsewhere in Pakistan) and harrassing the women among the Westerners. I’m glad I lived to tell.
A friend of mine in 1977 took a bus from Italy to Belgrade, across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan to New Delhi. The last year one could do that before the whole area started to burn.
While in Asia that year I met a number of travellers who had been doing the bum-around-Asia thing periodically (or in some cases constantly) since the 60s or 70s. They had some great stories. It was still plenty wild and woolly when I was there. In Lahore we joined a bus and truck caravan that crossed over to New Delhi. This was a sensitive arrangement. Just before we embarked, our caravan was joined by two young Swedes in a beat-up diesel Peugot that they had driven there from Amsterdam. It had “Boys from Sverige” scrawled across the doors. They were a hoot! They had just driven through whatever. Their attitude was “Hey, we’re neutral!”
That year’s trip was the coolest, smartest thing I ever did. It cost a total of about $7500 and for a year it was just one thing after another. Changed me for life, it did.
--Boot Hill
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