Posted on 06/02/2002 6:33:52 AM PDT by Ranger
Terrorists have virtually halted infiltrations into Kashmir under instructions from Islamabad, in a bid to avert war with India, militant sources said on Sunday.
India has demanded Pakistan fulfil a promise to end cross border terrorism, and the United States has also asked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to do more to prevent militants crossing from Pakistan to India.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the BBC there were indications Pakistan was trying to stop militants crossing the disputed border, but that he needed absolute proof of the clampdown.
"Instructions have been given to cease this kind of activity, but it is too early to say that it has stopped," Powell said. "If it does stop, it must stop permanently."
Sources among the Kashmiri separatist groups in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani part of divided Kashmir, said they had gotten the message.
"We have been asked to stop sending militants across the Line of Control," a militant source told Reuters privately.
"They have been asked, so infiltration has virtually stopped," another source close to the militants said. "The instruction was issued around a week ago or so."
"There is also a restriction on militant groups using any communication means to contact their guys in Kashmir," the source said.
A move to suspend infiltrations could bring them back from the brink of a catastrophic conflict, but some analysts say it might not be enough to avert eventual war.
Sources said Musharraf had called a halt to see if diplomatic channels have more success in convincing India to come to the negotiating table to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
But if India does not respond adequately, analysts say Pakistan could start to encourage the militants once again. Others fear that attacks by militants who are outside Pakistan's control could also turn the heat back up.
Publicly, a prominent Kashmiri militant leader sounded a defiant note earlier this week, saying his fighters had the right to travel where they wanted in Kashmir, and to continue their armed struggle against repressive Indian rule.
"United Nations resolutions have given Kashmiris the right to travel across the Line of Control," said Syed Salahuddin, head of one of the largest militant groups Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
"There are hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris living in Pakistan who have fled since 1947 and have family members inside Kashmir," he said. "Kashmiris living in Pakistan have every right to travel across the line to fight Indian forces."
But even if the cross-border infiltrations are suspended, analysts say there are plenty of militants already in Kashmir committed to continuing their violent campaign, especially ahead of elections planned for September.
If Kashmiris or Pakistani militants decide to defy Musharraf, it may not be easy to stop them either.
Army posts are often several hundred metres apart in the steep and wooded hills and valleys along the frontline in much of Kashmir, and local guides can usually find a path to take people across at night.
Nor does Pakistan's army show much sign of wanting to stop the infiltrations. Its hawkish policy on Kashmir has become one of its core doctrines since independence in 1947.
After lecturing visiting journalists for over an hour this week on the origins of Kashmir's "freedom struggle", Brigadier Mumtaz Bajwa said he had enough on his plate worrying about the real enemy, Indian troops facing him across the border.
"I am much thinner on the ground and if instead of looking forward at the high concentration of Indian forces, I start looking back (at militants behind the lines), I would have to buy a certain amount of risk," said Bajwa, section commander at the Line of Control near Rawalakot.
"It is physically not possible for me to look in two directions," he said.
The UN part of the problem again? You don't say.
I went fishing yesterday and caught a fish bigger than I am! Honest! You believe me, don't you? I mean... don't you trust me? Why would I lie about a thing like that? No, really... it was *bigger than me*!
Tuor
Captain James T. Kirk: They're animals.
Captain Spock: Jim, there is an historic opportunity here.
Captain James T. Kirk: Don't believe them! Don't trust them!
Captain Spock: They're dying.
Captain James T. Kirk: Let them die!
The Indians aren't this stupid. Reuters? Yes.
Halting infiltration is not enough. The terrorist organizations and all their resources and support must be destroyed.
Is that all it took to avert a nuclear war? And Ol Mush wasn't willing to do even that until now? What will it take now to get access to the Al Qaida groups in there?
So, does this prove that the terrorists are operating under the direction of Islamabad (Musharref)? Nice little admission...if, of course, anything in the story is true to begin with. Reuters and Debka have about the same track record for accuracy.
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