Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 28, 2001
While it is all very well for us
to offer air force bases to American forces to fight their war against
Osama bin Laden, it must not be forgotten that we have to fight alone our
own war against terrorists in Kashmir. Terrorist incidents in the Valley
have not actually declined to the extent we assumed they would after September
11.
There have been 58 incidents of
terrorist violence since then, four of them suicide attacks on security
forces and establishments. The number of security personnel killed exceeded
15, and credible intelligence reports speak of more than 400 newly-trained
terrorists waiting to be pushed into the Valley by the Pakistan Army, consistent
with the latter's intention of keeping Kashmir on the boil through a difficult
time in its own affairs.
Reports about terrorists moving
out of the Valley to join the jihad in Afghanistan were either clever plants
on the media by the ISI, or followed naïve assessment made by an enterprising
journalist (or a bureaucrat operating from the comforts of his New Delhi
office). The Army has been quite categorical from day one that while terrorists
might lie low after September 11, they would not leave Kashmir. The reason
is simple. The military in Pakistan cannot afford to have a peaceful Kashmir.
Its entire identity, history and way of thinking draws legitimacy from
what it calls 'India-occupied Kashmir'. Kashmir is not merely a landmass,
not even a question of religion. Without a strife-torn Kashmir, Pakistan's
military would lose its justification for calling the shots in the country
and getting huge budget allocations. There is no doubt President Musharraf
has been forced into toeing the American line, since the latter has him
on an economic and military squeeze. But the cunning General that he is,
President Musharraf is banking on an enraged and purblind America being
for the moment, interested only in taking out bin Laden and overlooking
Islamabad's own role in fomenting terrorism in the region, especially in
Kashmir. His commanders quickly put together a plan to up the ante in the
valley while the world remained glued to events unfolding in Afghanistan.
They launched a disinformation campaign that terrorists were leaving Kashmir
for Kandahar to fight the Americans; it fitted neatly with the events.
The objective was to lull the Indian intelligence and security forces into
believing that terrorists were leaving the Valley for good. The plan was
to renew the attacks thereafter and catch the security forces off-guard
and inflict heavy casualties.
One hopes the Government will foil
the Pakistani strategy and take the terrorists' belligerence head on. With
the Pakistan Army and the ISI forced to chaperon the Americans around in
Afghanistan, terrorist groups in Kashmir will have to make do with downgraded
across-the-border support in the next few weeks. This is the best time
to strike. We must launch a sustained military campaign against terrorists
and their harbourers, including the likes of the Hurriyat as a legitimate
part of the global war on terrorism. India has to fight and win its own
war and not rely on outside forces.
