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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Indian forces brace for summer violence in Kashmir |
| 2005-05-07 |
| Indian security forces are braced for increased violence by Muslim rebels in strife-torn Kashmir, fearing many rebel groups are becoming more desperate after suffering recent setbacks, an intelligence official said. "Summer is not going to be very peaceful. Whenever you see the desperation (among militants), it has to be transformed into some action, violence," K. Srinivasan, chief of intelligence of the Border Security Force (BSF), told Reuters late on Friday. Paramilitary forces have weakened many of the rebel groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region since armed insurgency began over 15 years ago, he said. However, the BSF had reports that up to 40 rebels had slipped into Indian Kashmir in the first three months of this year and over 500 were waiting to cross over, Srinivasan said. "We have interceptions that all the tanzeems (militant groups) have been asked by the ISI to unite," he said, referring to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. "We are not allowing them to regroup," New Delhi accuses Islamabad of arming, training and sending the rebels across the border, a charge denied by Pakistan, which says it only provides moral support to the struggle. At least 140 militants, including 36 rebel commanders, have been killed in gun battles with soldiers across the region in the past month. Over a dozen members of frontline rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in a gun battle with soldiers on Thursday, the highest toll in a single incident in recent months. "Jaish (-e-Mohammed) is now an army without generals, HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) is having no heads and LET (Lashkar-e-Tiaba) does not know where to go ... They have lost a lot of arms and ammunition and are left with little finance," Srinivasan said. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |