Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 21, 2001
Indian troops shot dead four Uighur
militants from China's northwestern Xinjiang province in Kashmir last month,
media reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, before
they died of their injuries, two Uighurs admitted they were trained by
pan- Islamic jihad groups in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.
The militants also admitted they
had infiltrated into Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with
a group from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the paper said.
The militants were in Kashmir to
observe "Lashkar's ongoing anti-India operations and then to head for Chechnya,"
the report said.
Information obtained from the militants
was passed on to Chinese assistant foreign minister Wang Yi, who visited
the New Delhi for the second round of the Sino-Indian security dialogue
earlier this month, it was reported.
During talks, the Indian delegation
called for joint efforts to combat Islamic fundamentalism, the news report
said.
Xinjiang separatists -- mainly ethnic
Uighur Muslims -- have been involved in frequent and bloody clashes with
the Chinese authorities in recent years.
Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language
and make up a large part of Xinjiang's population, have been linked to
deadly bombings as well as riots, most notably clashes in January 1997
which according to independent sources left as many as 100 dead.
The Chinese authorities have launched
a major crackdown on separatism in Xinjiang since the riots, recruiting
the help of neighbouring Central Asian republics. (AFP)
