The standard response from any government sponsoring terrorism is to deny. As always, Pakistan denies a role in training terrorists in Kashmir, India. India produced irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
At the same time Vajpayee was taking a bus (or train) ride to Pakistan to bring peace between the two nations, Musharaf, who was the joint chief of Pakistani forces mobilized his troops in the Kargil valley, a territory controlled by India. FOr whatever reasons, Indian military presence in that region is increased only during winter time. As the Indian troops returned for guard in winter of 1998-1999, the Pakistani troops (not just the Kashmiri militants) staged a gorilla war on the troops. Heavy casualities were inflicted on India - as they were taken by surprise - especially in the light of peace initiatives from Vajpayee.
Pakistan kept insisting that the fighters were only Kashmiri militants and not Pakistani regulars. India produced the proof to the UN and the US. Clinton administration intervened and slapped Pakistan on the wrist and urged Pakistan to retreat, which they did. As I understand, that incident raised anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
Directly or indirectly, the same incident led to the military coup by Musharaf. Pak trained islamic militants have infiltrated to India and are passionately trying to incite religious tensions between Hindus and the other (non-muslim) minorities in India. Apparently they will dress as right wing Hindu extremists, a la RSS, and incite riots against Christians, Sikhs, Budhists and Jains. At least two such plots were foiled and direct links to Pakistan were discovered.
Musharf denouncing terrorism now is like the devil reciting Bible verses. For all you know, his administration may be hiding Usama bin Ladin in his own back yard.
One thing the US must absolutely be careful is how warm and cozy it gets with Pakistan.
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washingtonpost.com
Pakistan's New Role Riles Indian Leaders
Actions in Kashmir Called 'Terrorist'
By Rama Lakshmi
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, September 27, 2001; Page A15
NEW DELHI, Sept. 26 -- As Pakistan's pledge to help the United States fight terrorism brings the two Cold War allies closer than they have been in a decade, India's leaders are reminding anyone who will listen that their South Asian rival has long supported Muslim guerrillas in the disputed Kashmir region.
"Our fight against terrorism did not start on Sept. 11," Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said at a recent news conference. "We have been fighting this battle alone for years now. Pakistan has spawned, encouraged and sustained terrorist activities in Kashmir."
Referring to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in an interview last week with the Times of India: "How can he be concerned about terrorism? He has promoted it."
Like Pakistan, India has endorsed Washington's campaign against international terrorism, offering its "full moral and diplomatic" support. But Pakistan's proximity to Afghanistan, where alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden is believed to be, has made it a particular focus of U.S. diplomacy. Musharraf has agreed to U.S. requests to open Pakistani airspace to U.S. military aircraft, share military intelligence and allow troops to stage operations in Afghanistan from Pakistani military bases.
India has praised Pakistan's promised assistance, but its leaders have been asking with increasing frequency whether Pakistan will be the subject of scrutiny or special treatment as the United States takes on countries that support or harbor terrorists.
As with so many disputes between India and Pakistan, the controversy arises from their conflicting claims to Kashmir. Since gaining independence in 1947, the two countries have fought two wars and countless skirmishes over the mostly Muslim region. The Indian government considers all of Kashmir to be an integral part of India, but Pakistan controls the northern portion of the region and supports Muslim guerrillas trying to end Indian control in the south.
Pakistan maintains that it provides the guerrillas with only logistical and moral support in their 12-year-old insurgency, which the Pakistani government describes as a "freedom struggle."
But India accuses Pakistan of arming and supplying the rebels and providing them with bases inside the Pakistani-controlled section of Kashmir and Pakistan, from which they stage cross-border raids. In at least one sustained period of fighting, the 1999 conflict in Kashmir's Kargil region, firm evidence emerged that Pakistani troops had taken up positions on India's side of the line dividing Kashmir.
Indian officials appear unsure of how much pressure the United States will exert on Pakistan. The two countries were closely aligned during the Cold War, particularly when they supported the Afghan resistance to Soviet occupation in the 1980s, working largely out of bases in Pakistan. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 sharply lessened Washington's interest in Pakistan, and relations grew strained when Pakistan imported missile technology from China and tested a nuclear device.
But the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent focus on Afghanistan have brought Washington and Islamabad together again, and what India fears most is that Washington will crack down on terrorism around the world but turn a blind eye to Kashmir.
"If America is serious about the war on terrorism, it should also ensure that all terrorist training camps in Pakistan are permanently wound up and Pakistan's proxy war against India is stopped forever," said Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a member of Parliament from India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party. "Only then the war is over for India. Otherwise America's double standards would be exposed."
Since the attacks in Washington and New York, India has given the United States intelligence about terrorist training camps it says are located in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Baluchistan, and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The Indians received what they considered an encouraging sign Monday, when Washington listed 27 entities whose assets would be frozen for alleged links to terrorism. One was Harkat ul-Mujaheddin, one of Pakistan's most militant religious groups; another, Al-Rashid Trust, was tied to Lashkar-i-Taiba, one of the most active Pakistani organizations involved in the fighting in Kashmir.
"We hope we will see more of such organizations included in the list," said Nirupama Rao, spokeswoman for India's Foreign Ministry. "We would like to see this list expanded."
Today, India's national security adviser, Brajesh Mishra, met in Washington with his U.S. counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage. Afterward in New Delhi, Rao said, "The United States has assured us there will be no change in U.S.-Indo relations in terms of the level of understanding and interaction between the two countries."
"You can rest assured that our concerns [about militant activities] were conveyed to American officials," Rao said.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company |
