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| India-Pakistan |
| ISI, arms smuggling, drugs, all cozy in Kashmir |
| 2002-04-09 |
This comes as no surprise. Any details are welcome, though... Balawaristan is the name used by locals to refer to the area comprising the Brooshaal, Baltistan and Dardistan provinces in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. New Delhi claims the areas as part of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir state that acceded to the Indian union. And naturally the Paks have no intention of letting loose the reins... Indian intelligence agencies have for long said that the ISI is actively involved in aiding drug trafficking by terror groups like Afghanistan's Taliban. The money made from such activities is used to fund the purchase of weapons and support terrorist activities within India, Indian intelligence officials say. We're probably not the first ones who've wondered where the money came from. Even the Saudis would have a tough time supporting an entire country full of madrassahs and professional hard boys with no visible means of support. It could be done, but they'd want to have a little left over to be able to subvert some other countries, too. So the drugs, coupled with extortion and a little white slavery is probably something along with lines of a part-time job. In his book, Khan writes that the drug cartels operating in the Gilgit-Baltistan region are headed by Pathans (Pashtuns) from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan that has been linked to arms and drug smuggling. Hmm. The NWFP? That's where Binny was reported to have scooted, and the Talibs are hanging out. It's the protectorate of Sami and Fazlur Rehman. In fact, Qazi was jugged there for awhile. The cartels are also involved in smuggling into Pakistan occupied Kashmir chemicals used to process heroin from opium, Khan says. The easy availability of drugs has resulted in "hundreds of local youths" becoming drug addicts. That's what usually happens when you're close to the source. "Pakistani terrorists, drug and arms smugglers, Taliban and other terrorists are speedily settled in Balawaristan to turn the indigenous people into a minority," he writes. And the locals don't like being elbowed out by a bunch of arrogant Pashtuns and Arabs. The terrorists are also used by the ISI for "hostile activities" against Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, Central Asian countries, Russia and the Muslim-dominated Sinkiang province in China, he writes. It's not like this hasn't been brought up before... Khan has also claimed the ISI works closely with the Jamaat-e-Islami to recruit youths for training at terrorist training camps in Gilgit-Baltistan region and Mansehra district, adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir. "In this regard, ISI relies more on Jamaat-e-Islami, tested in Afghanistan, and entrusts it with the duty of buying youths through (funds provided by Arab countries in the name of jihad)." Ahhhh... There's the Qazi link. Youths from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir are trained at camps run by the ISI in Ghowadi Skardu, Darel, Yashote, Astore and Gilgit. The youths are "instigated against non-Muslims of Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, the US and other countries." Pakistan-backed raiders used bases in Gilgit-Baltistan to occupy strategic positions in the Kargil region on the Indian side of the Line of Control in 1999. The Pakistani intrusion sparked a bitter border conflict that ended with US intervention in July 1999. Hundreds of the Pakistan-backed raiders were killed. The Indian Army lost more than 520 soldiers in the campaign. And Qazi lost nothing because all he had invested was a few hundred gunnies who could be replaced cheaply at any time. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |