Pakistan's desperate
moves in Kashmir Valley
Pakistan Telegraph (ANI)
Wednesday
20th July, 2016
By Anil Bhat
New Delhi, July 20
(ANI): The mayhem in Kashmir Valley following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
(HM) poster boy Burhan Wani, worth a bounty of Rs. 10,00,000/- and ten of his
cohorts by security forces, is the culmination after a build-up of several
events and issues.
How did the young,
handsome ex cricketer Burhan Wani become the leader of HM, a Kashmiri group
raised by Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)? And, how
did his being killed, followed by a large gathering at his funeral spark off an
agitation with unprecedented violence against our security forces? A look at
some past events and developments throws light on how the situation in the
Valley was precipitated in July 2016.
The HM, with its cadre
base being drawn from Kashmiri Muslims and Pakistanis, was one of 32 outfits
proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. It was inducted into
the Kashmir Valley in September 1989 as the militant wing of the
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), an Islamist organization, at the behest of the ISI, to
counter the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) which had advocated
independence of Jammu and Kashmir.
Many of its early cadres
were former JKLF members. The HM has claimed to stand for the integration of
Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan and since its inception. It has also campaigned
for the Islamisation of Kashmir. Headquartered in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK), the HM is presently headed by Syed Salahuddin, who also
heads the United Jihad Council. The HM is believed to have strong links with
the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Following the assumption
of power by the BJP in May 2014, Pakistan went into overdrive with
unprecedented pressure of unprovoked firing across the International Boundary
(IB) South of Akhnoor and a step-up in attempts at infiltration by Pakistani
terrorist groups - mainly Lashkar e Taiyyaba (LeT) and Jaish e Mohammad (JeM)
across the Line of Control (LoC) and IB.
The aggressive responses
to both by the Border Security Force on the IB, the Indian Army on the LoC, and
other security forces, including Jammu and Kashmir Police in the Valley,
resulted in a fair amount of interceptions/arrests/elimination of Pakistani
terrorists.
While much of Pakistan
military and ISI's efforts got neutralized South of Pir Panjal, in the valley,
the ISI gave the HM a boost with a fresh induction of Kashmiri youths. Burhan
Wani was made the poster-boy and social media was aggressively used to
radicalise and inspire educated Kahmiri Muslim youth to join its ranks. Owing
to the many successes of the security forces in eliminating Pakistani
terrorists, the ISI pressed the separatists to deliver and the modus of
agitation with violence was resorted to.
On February 8, 2016, New
York Times correspondent Carlotta Gall reported that experts have found
evidence that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive.
Gall said, "This
behaviour is not just an issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a
number of foreign conflicts. Its intelligence service has long acted as the
manager of international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, and
there is even speculation that it may have been involved in the rise of the
Islamic State....the region's triumvirate of violent jihad is living openly in
Pakistan."
She named the three-
Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network, new leader of Taliban,
Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour and Al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri- all
enjoying sanctuary in Pakistan.
In October 2014, Lt.
Gen. Subrata Saha, then GOC of the Indian Army's 15 Corps, which is
headquartered in Srinagar (and now Deputy Chief of Army Staff ), speaking to
this writer, reiterated what he had cautioned then: "The emergence of ISIS
flags merits concern and deserves the highest attention of the security
agencies to prevent the youth of Kashmir from getting lured into ISIS."
While former chief
minister Omar Abdullah had dismissively stated "The flag was waved by some
idiots, which does not mean that ISIS has any presence in Kashmir," by
April 2015, there were reports of not only protesters raising anti-India
slogans and waving ISIS and Pakistan flags after Friday prayers at the Jama
Masjid, but also of setting ablaze flags of PDP.
Since then, the waving
of ISIS and Pakistani flags has become a routine affair outside the Jama Masjid
on Fridays. Further, Kashmiri separatists through their network revived the
2010 tactic of stone-pelting.
On May 31, 2016, Chief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while concluding the discussion on the Governor's
address in the Legislative Council, lashed out at separatists for disturbing
peace on Fridays. Without naming any separatist leader, she said they had
turned blessed Friday into a stone-throwing day. She said she was being branded
as anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmir.
"It is not only you
(Opposition), many others (separatists) have been issuing fatwas that I am
anti-Muslim. Kashmiriyat is that we should safeguard our religion and stay
together. Our Islam is not what they (separatists) say you have to do (protests
and stone pelting) on Fridays," she said.
The chief minister said
Islam did not preach "slaughtering and shouting religious slogans".
She reiterated the
PDP-BJP government's stand of bringing back migrant Kashmiri Pandits with
respect.
"First, we have to
put them in transit camps. We have to give them breathing space. We can't tell
them to go directly to their villages. How is this possible?"
Mehbooba asked.
"Workers of the Congress, PDP, NC and BJP are living with security. When
they can't live without security, is it not important to provide a sense of
security to Pandits? Once they feel the situation is conducive, they will go
back to their villages.. Kashmiri Muslims are fed up of violence. Kashmiri
Pandits are not afraid of Kashmiri Muslims. They are afraid of those who
perpetrated the Wandhama massacre. Who killed Abdul Gani Lone? Who shot Mirwaiz
Moulvi Mohammad Farooq?" she asked.
Earlier, while speaking
in the Assembly on the rehabilitation process of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and
other migrants, Mehbooba is reported to have said she would "not throw
Kashmiri Pandits like 'pigeons before the cat' ".
While the National
Conference said the Chief Minister owed an apology to people of Kashmir,
hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said she had "lost her
mental balance after gaining power". She hit out at critics over the
allegations that bringing back Pandits with Article 370 was totally wrong.
On June 12, 2016,
Mehbooba Mufti visited the much revered Kheer Bhavani Temple, in Ganderbal, 35
km from Srinagar, where thousands of Kashmiri Pandits had converged to attend
the annual 'mela' (fair), and said, "Kashmir is incomplete without
Kashmiri Pandits.... They will be brought back to Kashmir."
She also met with two
Pandit pilgrims who were injured during stone-pelting clashes between
protesters and police over the establishment of a police post, a day earlier.
Calling the incident "unfortunate", Ms Mufti said, "It creates a
wrong impression as lots of young Kashmiris are studying outside. There will be
stigma associated with those involved in stone pelting incidents in the future."
On Mufti's earlier
instructions to review stone-pelting and such like cases between 2008 and 2014,
state government approved withdrawal of 104 cases and on July 5, 2016, as a
gesture of amnesty on Eid, 634 persons facing stone-pelting charges were
released. In 2013, the Omar Abdullah Government had released 1,811 persons
involved in cases of stone-pelting in the valley during 2010.
All
agitations/lock-outs/stone-pelting by local populace are the direct result of
incitement/motivation by Kashmiri separatists beholden to ISI. Through their
intricate network of agents down to localities/colonies/streets, locals,
particularly youth are direct them to perform disruptive acts.
Pakistani terrorists who
have succeeded in infiltrating or lying low are also assisted by the separatist
network. And all this is supervised by ISI and Pakistani terror groups it
supports.
After Wani's killing,
Hafiz Saeed not only addressed meetings in Lahore and Muzaffarabad to mobilize
terrorists and separatists to up the ante in the Valley, but has been ranting
afresh that Pakistan should sever diplomatic relations with India, ban Indian
films, media etc. And to top it all, Kashmiri separatist leaders not only have
meetings with the Pakistani High Commissioner and his colleagues in New Delhi,
but also attend Pakistani terrorists leaders meetings/rallies in Pakistan.
On the very important
priority of the way forward, the thrust has to be twofold-tackle security and
political alienation. For security, firstly, separatists and their wide network
must be neutralized and not be allowed to be reorganizing again and secondly,
India must redevelop the capability to covertly strike at terrorists beyond its
borders.
Both these require
political will which must be exercised. For overcoming, the alienation that
Kashmiris face, keeping in view that all of them of the age of forty or so,
have been deprived of post -Independence Indo-Pak history. Government must make
sustained use of internet and social media to educate not only young Kashmiris,
but also powerful nations who have already been targeted by terrorists, or may
be so in future.
The views expressed in
the above article are that of Lt. Col. Anil Bhat, VSM (retired), a strategic
analyst. (ANI)
Sify
News
Pakistan's
desperate moves in Kashmir Valley exposes its frustration and support of terror
Source : ANI Last Updated: Thu, Aug
11, 2016 14:47 hrs
Anil Bhat, New Delhi, Aug.11 (ANI):
Yet another desperate attempt was made from Pakistan to further incite people
of Kashmir Valley to rise and widen the ongoing unrest there following Hizbul
Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani's killing. On August 1, 2016, Pakistan's
largest religious organisation and one of its mainstream political parties,
Jamat-e-Islami (JeI), led by its leader, Senator Siraj-Ul-Haq and other leaders
marched from Lahore to eight kilometers short of the Wagah border near Amritsar
to hold a rally. Ranting venomously against India during the rally which was
attended by about 10,000 people, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) 'supreme commander'
Syed Salahuddin (actively supported by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence
(ISI)), urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately
"suspend trade and diplomatic ties" with New Delhi, and asked why the
Pakistan government had invited India's Home Minister, Rajnath Singh to the
SAARC Home Ministers' conference. Members of the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), led by
Hafiz Saeed (also head of Lashkar e Taiyyaba (LeT) and prime perpetrator of the
26/11 Mumbai terror attack) and some Hurriyat/Kashmiri separatist leaders were
also seen taking active part in the rally, making anti-India hate speeches and
threats of launching a violent resistance to stop Rajnath Singh's visit.
"Inshaallah, we will do everything to stop him", said Salahuddin,
while protest organiser Senator Siraj-ul-Haq called on the Pakistan government
to ban Rajnath Singh's visit. The organisers even made children holding toy guns
participate in the rally. Saeed, whose 26/11 Mumbai attack was widely aimed not
only at Indians, but also at foreigners, particularly Americans and Jews, is on
the United States' most wanted list with a USD 10 million bounty on his head.
Ironically, the Jamat-ud-Dawa is on
the Pakistan government's 'terror watch list', while the HuM is a declared
banned militant organisation as per the Pakistan Interior Ministry's records.
Yet, they freely hold protests and rallies in major cities of Pakistan. The JeI
is planning to hold another such a march and rally on August 15, 2016 from
Muzaffarabad to Chakothi in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Also on August 1, 2016, thousands of
people in the Kashmir Valley reportedly reached the Karimabad graveyard in
Pulwama district, following a call given jointly by hardline Hurriyat leader
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, so-called 'moderate' faction leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,
and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik to pay tributes to
terrorists killed during the recent unrest. Abu Dujana, the most wanted LeT
terrorist, was also reported to have participated in the gathering, wearing a
mask and surrounded by many people, as pro-freedom and anti India slogans were
raised with the waving of Pakistani and LeT flags.
It may be pertinent to mention that in 2015,
there were 117 attempts by Pakistani terrorists to cross the Line of Control
(LoC) into Kashmir Valley of which 33 were successful. In 2016, till July
itself, there have been 80 such attempts, of which 54 have been successful.
These have led to 96 terrorists being killed in 2015 and 93 being killed till
July 2016, both near the LoC and in the hinterland. Only 170 terrorists remain
in the valley after such attrition which is a major reason for increase in
frustration/desperation by ISI and terrorist leaders.
Daanish Bin Nabi has written an
article in the online website Daily O titled "South Kashmir becoming
hotbed of terrorism" that elders are wary of the emerging discontent, and
its manifestations. He further states that they believe that the political,
economic and social rights of the youth have been compromised by the state
government, and that they blame social media tools like WhatsApp and Facebook
for playing an important role in the recruitment of militants and in the
radicalising the Kashmiri youth. He adds that after Burhan uploaded his video
in early September 2015, in Nizampora, Shopian, terrorist organisations
recruited 17 youth.
On Pakistan's role in Kashmir, its
"non state actors" (NSAs) and use of social media, Mohammad Shehzad,
one of Pakistan's bold journalists, says in his piece titled 'The War
Within'(December 2013 issue of Newsline), is very relevant: ".the ground
reality is that we are a state at war with itself, a state sans the state's
writ. The society is being governed by non-state actors - terrorists, religious
extremists, clerics and criminals. The state has cowardly ceded its writ to
non-state actors, of which the most powerful are the jihadis and sectarian
outfits who are exceedingly well-organised down to the street level. ..
violence against Shias and Ahmediyas, terrorist attacks against hapless civil
populace by Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan ((TTP) and a large number of jihadi outfits,
including those meant specifically for anti-India operations has been business
as usual, despite claims of disbandment of some of the outfits, which have
merely been changing names and street locations. The Nawaz Sharif government's
promises about tackling terrorism and sectarianism amount to naught, because at
least 55 of its members represent some or the other jihadi outfits, with the
TTP being a major factor". × Shehzad also wrote that during the tenure of
People's Party of Pakistan (PPP), jihadis/sectarian outfits started making use
of the social media to extend their dangerous mission, not only in Pakistan,
but across the world. However, instead of banning the provocative pages, the
PPP government blocked all those Facebook pages and Twitter accounts that
raised concerns about the rising militancy and sectarianism in the country. The
electronic media too played a very negative role by glorifying the
jihadi/sectarian militants.
There are some very interesting and
significant inputs on the current situation from senior Kashmiri journalists
this writer interacted with, whose names are not mentioned for the sake of
their safety. One is about a very recent incident in North Kashmir, where an
Army officer's reaction to grave provocation was highly praised. A violent
crowd converged on an army post shouting anti-India/'Azadi (freedom) slogans
and throwing stones. When the officer came out and requested the crowd to stop
stoning, one of the ringleaders came up to him and slapped him. The officer
surprised the agitators by not reacting aggressively and urging the crowd to
listen to him. He conveyed that while it was very easy for him to react by
firing on the crowd with telling effect, he did not do so as he considered them
as his own countrymen, though they were agitated. He explained that the army
could not grant them Azadi (Freedom), but said their demands should be
addressed to the government. In this situation, if the officer had ordered his
troops to fire, the public reaction would have spread far and wide in North
Kashmir. "This officer's very mature and patient handling of the situation
despite great provocation, saved many lives.hats off to him," said the
journalist.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
spoken, albeit over a month late, and appealed for "insaniyat"
(humanity/humanism) , "jamhooriyat" (republic/democtacy), Kashmiriyat
(spirit of Kashmir), "India loves Kashmir..only some have been
misled", he said, and also said that he would be guided by the policy
followed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. BJP's National General
Secretary Ram Madhav has also been reaching out to people in Srinagar. While
there is no doubt about robust political initiative and reaching out to sooth
hearts and minds, steps are still required to assuage hurt feelings and this
can only be possible with the help of a strong political will and deftness. The
involvement of the army has been debated and there are experts who have
questioned whether their presence is required. What is important is to break
the apparatus which keeps Pakistan supported terrorism alive and incites the
public to commit acts of violence. This must be neutralised.
The media must also stop eulogizing
and lionising terrorists. They must report correctly and in a balanced manner.
They must show the plight of victims of terrorism and not be mindlessly driven
by TRPs, sensationalism or circulation figures. Unfiltered/unedited footage by
audio-visual media can cause much damage as it did during the 26/11 terrorist
attack on Mumbai.
And last but not least, innovative
use must be made of the same social media which has been misused by the ISI and
separatists for radicalizing Kashmiri youth. Having interviewed many Kashmiri
children brought on all-India tours by the Army and BSF over the past two
decades, one can say that all is not lost and there is hope for retrieval. And
now, no time should be lost in taking the necessary steps for security and the
launching of positive projects.
The views expressed in the above
article are that Lt. Col. Anil Bhat, a strategic analyst
More links to the same article:
Pakistan’s desperate moves in Kashmir Valley exposes
its frustration and support of terror
