Author: Syed Shoaib Hasan
Publication: BBC News
Date: June 30, 2009
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8125039.stm
Militant groups banned in Pakistan are expanding
operations and recruitment in Pakistani-run Kashmir, according to a government
report seen by the BBC.
The observations are from a detailed secret
report submitted to the region's government on the groups' activities in the
city of Muzaffarabad and elsewhere.
Pakistan banned the groups in 2002 after an
attack on India's parliament brought the two states close to war.
A senior Pakistani minister denied that such
a report had been submitted.
"No such report has come before the government
which shows that these organisations have revived their activities,"
Qamaruzaman Qaira, Pakistan's Information Minister, told the BBC.
"However, if the report was submitted
by a secret agency then that is another matter altogether," he said.
Pakistan's allies, including the US, have
expressed fears regarding the groups' proliferation and their close links
to al-Qaeda.
'Cover for militancy'
A copy of the report, which was submitted
by regional police to Pakistan-administered Kashmir's cabinet on 25 March,
was obtained by the BBC in Islamabad.
It finds that three banned groups - Harkatul
Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba - are active in Muzaffarabad.
Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad are
said to be planning to open madrassas, or Islamic schools, in the city where
Lashkar-e-Taiba is already operating a madrassa.
"No officials are allowed to enter these
premises to gather any sort of information," the report says.
"We fear these madrassas maybe a cover
for furthering militant activities."
The report also elaborates how the militant
groups are growing in size and number across Kashmir.
It especially mentions the Neelum district,
where they are said to be at their most powerful.
The report says the militants are involved
in the logging of trees, one of the most lucrative trades in the region.
They have also set up offices in the Kandal
Shahi market in Neelum, where they have become a major law and order headache,
the report says.
The report mentions an incident which led
to the killing of some locals and a resulting stand-off with the militants.
"The situation was only resolved by the
intervention of the local administrator and senior army officials," the
report says.
It then goes on to say that the authorities
should take up the matter with the intelligence agency responsible for the
militants.
The report says officials from that agency
should relocate the militants to some area near the border, otherwise clashes
with locals could take place.
Deadly groups
The report comes as Pakistan's security forces
are involved in a fully fledged operation against the Taliban.
The militants are said to be backed up by
the jihadi organisations, especially the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Harkatul
Mujahideen.
Jaish-e-Mohammad has been involved in several
assassination attempts on top Pakistani officials, including former President
Pervez Musharraf.
Its members were also responsible for the
kidnapping and murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl, and are said
to have carried out the attack on the Indian parliament.
Harkatul Mujahideen is the Jaish's parent
organisation and one of the largest militant groups in the world.
Lashkar-e-Taiba remains the prime suspect
in the Mumbai attacks and is India's enemy number one.
The charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been accused
of being a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba - but it denies any links with militants.
Local people have confirmed to the BBC that
there has been a great increase in militant activity in the regions mentioned.
"These people are being protected here,"
said Raja Faisal Majeed, a lawyer living in a village near where some of the
militant groups have set up base.
"Sometimes they operate under the guise
of a charity, sometimes as a school. We have protested against them to no
avail."
The deputy chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Abdurehman
Makki, told the BBC that the group had not purchased any properties in the
area or been involved in any alteracations with locals in the area.
Despite the fact that the groups mentioned
in the report are banned under Pakistan's terrorism act, it does not advocate
any action against them other than to keep an eye on their activities.
