Posted on 06/28/2002 5:37:49 PM PDT by Pokey78
Forced out of Afghanistan, troops close to al-Qa'eda are regrouping in northern Kashmir, reports Philip Smucker in Tarshing.
A jeep negotiates a gorge deep in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Across its bonnet is a banner proclaiming the arrival of a leader from an organisation on the US government's list of terrorist groups.
He and his warriors have come to fight in what is fast becoming "for some in the Islamic world" one of the holiest of guerrilla wars, the fight for the liberation of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Members of Harakat ul Majahedeen, which has long had ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network, suffered heavy losses while fighting the Western anti-terrorism coalition last year in Afghanistan. But the group now operates with relative impunity in this remote part of northern Kashmir.
Members of several Pakistani "jihad" groups use a road leading to the UN "Line of Control" near Kupwara that is fast being paved by the Pakistani military engineers with the help of local villagers.
What is just as worrying to officials in London and Washington, however, are reports that large groups of al-Qa'eda's elite fighters have entered the fray.
A week-long investigation by The Telegraph provided ample evidence that bin Laden's network and an array of affiliates are prospering amid popular support inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Nasir Ali, 27, a wiry jeep driver who regularly plies the slippery dirt tracks above the Astore River, said he recently drove three Arab fighters into the centre of Kashmir.
He said:"I drove them only part way in and their own jeeps met us and drove them the rest of the way."
He said: "Hundreds have entered Kashmir in the last several months. In some cases they left their new, four-wheel-drive vehicles with us and rode further into Kashmir with our trucks."
Villagers near the spectacular Nanga Parbat mountain said al-Qa'eda fighters preached to them in their bazaars about the need for self-sacrifice and struggle.
Mohammad Muslim, the regional chief of Pakistan's powerful Interservices Intelligence bureau, denied that al-Qa'eda was operating inside Kashmir.
However, he went on to denounce what he described as America's war against Islam.
"The US government destroyed the World Trade Centre so that it would have an excuse to destroy Afghanistan," he said. "After that, the US military killed tens of thousands of women and children in Afghanistan."
The terse comments from the senior Pakistani intelligence official also highlighted Western fears that Islamic radicals hold sway within the Interservices Intelligence.
Ironically, this bureau rose to prominence with CIA funding during the war against Soviet aggression in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military lost 10 of its own fighters earlier this week in a botched raid on a suspected al-Qa'eda hideout in South Waziristan, close to the Afghan border.
The attack, which left only two militants dead, was conducted on a tip-off from US intelligence sources and was overseen by US officials. It ended in the escape of 32 al-Qa'eda fighters.
However, yesterday Pakistani troops seized at least 16 suspected foreign al-Qa'ida fugitives involved in the shootout.
In the remote highlands President Musharraf's authority carries little weight.
The Pakistani government denies that terrorist organisations operate out of its own half of Kashmir.
The guerrilla war to take Indian-held Kashmir has been largely contracted out to a vast array of holy warriors, who answer only to their senior mullahs, or religious leaders.
Locals said some of the best fighters were Arabs in bin Laden's group. "They are the most courageous fighters," said a local tour guide. "They will ford a rushing stream at the risk of drowning."
Nasir Ali, the jeep driver, agreed. "They are the bravest. They are the elite warriors."
He said: "If you talk with the most devoted fighters, most of them will tell you that the only way to deal with the kafirs [infidels] is to sacrifice yourself by strapping on bombs. This, they say, is the way of the true jihad fighter."
Mr Ali described in detail his meetings with one Middle Eastern fighter he named as Mohammad Abdullah, who regularly waves a Koran in the air when he preaches holy war to Kashmiri villagers.
Since 1989, the Pakistani government has helped the uprising against government forces in Indian Kashmir.
In the Nineties, Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence bureau helped move Kashmiri guerrilla training camps into Afghanistan with the help of groups such as Harakat ul Majahedeen, whose members, mostly Pakistani, streamed into al-Qa'eda camps in the east of the country.
Despite Pakistan's vows to crack down on Islamic extremism, the Harakat and other Islamic extremists continue to operate openly.
Near the town of Besham in the Alai valley, the "School for the Revival of Islam" advertises on a large billboard that instructors provide Koranic studies and "military lessons". Students said the guerrilla tactics were useful in Kashmir.
Shabir Ahmed Madani, 35, an armed activist with Harakat ul Mujahedeen, whose own mountain redoubt was reached by a small cable car across an immense gorge, said his organisation had played a vital role in moving thousands of Afghan and Arab fighters into Kashmir.
"We have sent all of our Afghan friends to Kashmir," he said. "The army won't dare come across this valley and try to close us down. We have guns and we won't let forces across this ravine.'
Islamic militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir pledged yesterday to keep up their revolt, which could disrupt elections crucial to bringing peace to the region.
The Hizb ul Mujahideen guerrilla group, based in Pakistan, made its statement after a surge of violence in Indian Kashmir.
He said: "If you talk with the most devoted fighters, most of them will tell you that the only way to deal with the kafirs [infidels] is to sacrifice yourself by strapping on bombs. This, they say, is the way of the true jihad fighter."
Hey! Works for me!
Be Seeing You,
Chris
They just keep asking for more taxpayer handouts .... and our government keeps obliging.
This was vehemently denied by the Pakistanis much to Rumsfeld's embarrasment during his visit. I have a feeeling something is going to blow over soon!
we must continue giving them billions in money because of promises made to get them to help us win the recent war. that is true. but we should not think of them as real friends. No nation on earth has a higher percentage of their population that approves of the 911 bombers than pakistan. Their governments for years have been close to the US because they are desperately poor and need our dollars they get through IMF/WorldBank, charity, aid, etc. We've always remained close to them because their intelligence service cooperates with CIA, etc.
Regardless of our 'friendship' with pakistan, we should back India in this conflict. For thousands of years before the partition kashmir was part of india. At the time of the partition Kashmir was more than 50% hindu. While it is true that the muslim population has increased faster than the hindu, it is also true that the hindus have literally been chased out through violence. Also, a fair portion of the muslim population does not want to become a part of pakistan. The pakis have literally warred on muslim rivals that are native to kashmir. The means of this war being waged by pakistan has not been conventional. The paki army has never been able to stand up to India's army. The means by which they fight this war is to kill policemen, soldiers and civilians in surprise attacks right in kashmir. They basically assasinate the indians 1 by 1. It is a type of ethnic cleansing. A policeman or a solider is killed in his off-time right in India by some guy you just didn't know wasn't local. In 1 attack about 4 years ago they went to a wedding party, they had all the men line up and shot them all. Then they went home with their ak-47's in-hand in case the police or soldiers accosted them. Foreigners have come into kashmir with such weapons and wantonly killed hindus in this manner for 15 years now. We wouldn't tolerate what the serbs did in former yugo, we shouldn't tolerate the paki militants in kashmir.
And what is the political debate that the war is based on about exactly? I'll tell you. Pakistan says that their negotiators thought that in the agreement during the 'partition' 50 years ago that they would get kashmir. But india thought that in the same agreement they were retaining kashmir as they had prior to the partition and even for centuries before that. But pakistan accepted the partition with india in control of kashmir, the evidence is that from day 1 after the partition india controlled kashmir. Any talk of mis-understanding 50 years later is not to be accepted and certainly isn't to be decided by terrorist type violence. There were over a half million people killed in the violence leading up to the partition, don't open that fight again.
So, the US should investigate the possibility of helping India somehow. India should win this conflict and the world should know that the US took India's side.
At the same time we should try to find ways to help pakistan change out of the unfortunate politics they've fallen victim to. The ordinary citizens in pakistan are impoverished and victimized by home-grown tyrannies.
Question: Would god punish a nation that was born because its' citizens created violence of the nature they had in india in 1948?
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