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Jihad loses its pull in Kashmir
By Praveen Swami Late last year, Bilal Ahmad Mir decided to undertake the most dangerous decision of his life: he volunteered to leave the comfort of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's (HM's) offices in the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, and take charge of a terror cell in northern Kashmir. Mir's handlers at Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate armed him as best they could. He was given a legitimate Pakistani passport, AH0992231, stamped with a Nepal visa issued in Islamabad. On March 3, Mir flew from the Pakistani port city of Karachi to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Pakistan International Airways flight 268 - and promptly handed himself over to waiting Indian intelligence operatives who his family had made contact with the previous summer. Even as India prepares to resume dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), stalled by the political crisis that swept Pakistan, J&K is readying for elections to its legislative assembly. By this winter, J&K should have a new government in place. Meanwhile, India and Pakistan will likely be fleshing out a five-point peace formula reached by their covert negotiators, S K Lambah and Tariq Aziz, which includes the recognition of the Line of Control (LoC) as a de facto border between the two sections of Kashmir, cooperative management of some agreed subjects, free trade and movement, and demilitarization - all contingent on an end to terrorism. Posted by: Fred 2008-04-11 |
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