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COVER STORY: TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS
Inside Jehad
How the militants fighting Pakistan's covert war
with India are trained for battle and martyrdom
By Ghulam Hasnain in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad
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TARGET INDIA: A model of a Ghauri missile in Muzaffarabad,
182 km from Srinagar
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Four bearded militants warm themselves at a gas
heater in an Islamabad safe house. A wireless set suddenly crackles. "Our
boys have entered Srinagar Airport," a grave, distant-sounding voice
announces. The voice, speaking in Urdu and broadcasting from deep within
India's part of Kashmir, is detailing the progress of a suicide mission
by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a ruthless, Pakistan-based militant group waging war
to wrest Kashmir from India. Other militant groups in Pakistan can tune
in to the same radio frequency. So can the Pakistani military. A phone
in the house rings, and one of the men, all members of Lashkar-e-Toiba,
answers. He is asked what's happening. His reply: "Why don't you
find out from your side?" After hanging up, he explains the caller
was a Pakistani army colonel.
That scene occurred in early January. Five Lashkar
operatives disguised as police officers attempted to attack the Srinagar
airport that day. But Indian Army guards turned them away, and the operation
was aborted. However, a second attempt a few days later succeeded, leaving
six Lashkar-e-Toiba men and four policemen dead. Two civilians were killed
and 12 injured.
Since Kashmir erupted in 1989, India has pointed
a blunt and unwavering finger at Pakistan, accusing it of fomenting the
entire problem. It's a large and cynical exaggeration: anti-Indian sentiment
runs high within Kashmir, and in the first half of the 1990s, Kashmiris
themselves provided the steam in the anti-Indian militant movement. They
were disorganised and willing to murder, but passionate and anxious to
plead their nationalist cause with the outside world.
Today, however, India's charge rings a lot truer.
Despite a decade of denials-Islamabad insists it provides only moral and
political support, not training or tangible aid-Pakistan is fuelling militant
activity in Kashmir. Of the five main militant groups operating in Kashmir,
four are based in Pakistan, where open recruiting and fundraising are
commonplace. Training of militants is also done on Pakistani soil. The
Pakistani military is deeply involved, especially in the smuggling of
anti-Indian militants across the Line of Control.
Militant groups have roots all over Pakistan,
from well-equipped training centres in Muzaffarabad-the capital of Pakistan's
slice of Kashmir-and the North West Frontier Province to Lahore and Islamabad.
Here is an inside look at how Pakistan runs its covert war in Kashmir:
RECRUITING AND TRAINING
There are thousands of young, motivated Pakistani
men anxious to join the militancy in Kashmir, which they consider a holy
war. They come from all walks of life: not merely from the religious schools
known as madarsas, or the far-flung, poverty-mired towns and villages,
but also from Pakistan's educated and westernised middle and upper classes.
And for these highly religious volunteers, many of whom are still in their
teens, there is nothing more sacred in life than achieving the status
of a martyr. These are the grunts in the war. The leaders are Pakistani
veterans of the Afghan war.
The largest training camp in Pakistan is run
by the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a wing of an Afghan mujahideen group known as
Markaz Al Dawa Wal Irshad. It is set on a vast mountain clearing overlooking
Muzaffarabad. Armed men guard the facility round-the-clock. There are
only two structures, one an armoury, the other a kitchen. Trainees live
and sleep in the open. The field is dotted with installations used to
teach the fervent young-some no older than 14-how to cross a river, climb
a mountain or ambush a military convoy.
The day of a trainee begins at four in the morning.
After offering prayers, the militants go for exercises. A breakfast of
tea and bread is at eight, followed by a full day of rigorous drills,
which are interrupted only for prayers and a simple lunch, usually rice
and lentils. Coursework covers how to use sidearms, sniper rifles, grenades,
rocket launchers and wireless radio sets, as well as the art of constructing
bombs. The teachers are Lashkar veterans of action in Kashmir and Afghanistan.
Sports, music and television are forbidden. Trainees are only allowed
to read pre-screened newspaper articles.
Training is divided into two stages. The first
three-week session gives religious education and basic knowledge of how
to handle firearms. Once a volunteer has passed that course, which costs
the organisation about $330 (about Rs 15, 500) per trainee, he is sent
to a designated city or town, often near his birthplace, to work at the
group's offices and become more involved with the organisation.
When a volunteer proves himself capable, motivated
and loyal, he is enrolled in a special three-month commando boot camp,
which costs the group $1,700 (roughly Rs 80, 000) per student. (The money
is raised from overseas groups and the Pakistani public.) In the final
weeks, recruits use live ammunition, construct actual explosives and perfect
ambush techniques. The final exam lasts three days. A group of trainees,
sometimes as large as 100 individuals, hikes and climbs through high-altitude,
wooded terrain for three days without food or sleep. They are not allowed
to slow their pace except for a few naps. At the end the hungry and thirsty
survivors are given a goat, a knife and a matchbox. That's their reward,
and they have to cook and eat it in warlike conditions.
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