Author:
Publication: Daily Excelsior
Date: June 5, 2003
URL: http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/03june05/news.htm#6
Attempts have been made by Pakistan-based
terrorist groups to create a network in Ladakh, but the geographical nature
and the climatic conditions of the Himalayan region have prevented militants
from spreading their tentacles, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
(LAHDC) Chairman Thupstan Chhewang has said.
"There have been attempts by ISI-backed
terrorists to spread their activities in Ladakh. But the attempts did not
succeed because the geographical nature and climatic conditions of Ladakh
are such that terrorists could not escape after entering the region," Mr
Chhewang told reporters at the end of the three- day Sindhu Darshan festival
here yesterday.
It was impossible for terrorists
to come and stay put in Ladakh, he said adding that the administration
was prepared to foil any attempt by terrorists to carry out suicide attacks.
Asserting that terrorists lack local
support in Ladakh, the LAHDC chief said the only place from where terrorists
had made some inroads into Ladakh was Kargil which after "Operation Vijay"
has become comparatively safer.
He said in 1989 the strength of
police, Army and other security agencies, notable among them the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP), was increased and security checks on various land
routes to Ladakh enhanced.
Security at the Ladakh airport was
also tightened with thorough frisking of each passenger coming to the region,
he asserted. Mr Chhewang pointed out that keeping the security requirements
in mind, a separate unified command was created for Ladakh which has borders
with China and Pakistan.
Refuting claims that terrorists
were coming from Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir and settling in Ladakh,
he said most of the people who have come as traders are from Jammu and
only a few antique dealers have come from Srinagar.
These people go back to their homes
after the tourist season, which begins in May and ends in October, he asserted.
"In winters, climatic conditions do not allow these people to stay here
and they go back."
However, he did not rule out that
there could be some undesired elements who could come to Ladakh in the
garb of traders. "But in the absence of any local support, it's difficult
for them to function or create a base," he felt.
The LAHDC Chairman believed that
the worst phase of terrorism was over in the state which was on its way
to normalcy.
Citing an instance of worst security
concern, Mr Chhewang said after the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha by
the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, tensions were running high in this Himalayan
region with a pre-dominant Buddhist population. Muslims constitute 15-17
per cent of the total population in the region which does not have any
Hindus.
But due to timely action by the
local administration, the situation was prevented from going out of hand,
he said. (UNI)
