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COVER STORY: TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS
GUEST COLUMN: MAJ-GEN ASHOK MEHTA
Opportunity In Threat
 Every
Tuesday noon, the Director-Generals Military Operations (DGMO) of India
and Pakistan speak on the hotline. In these days of Operation Enduring
Freedom, Major-General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in General Headquarters (GHQ)
Rawalpindi invariably ends his conversation with "Sir, we're very
busy now!"
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SEARCH FOR PEACE: The US war on terrorism is an opportunity
to clean up Jammu & Kashmir
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With Pakistan's attention fixed on Afghanistan,
the heat is off the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army sees
the US war on terrorism as a window of opportunity to clean up Jammu &
Kashmir. A rare politico-military agreement has been reached in South
Block over extracting maximum mileage from the situation in Afghanistan.
The punitive artillery strikes across the Line of Control at Mandhar and
Akhnur on the eve of US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit forced
Pakistan to call for "maximum restraint". But Defence Minister
George Fernandes has warned that India would be "ruthless" in
dealing with incursions.
The army, fed up with the Government's now-off-now-on
directive on counter-terrorism and its mounting casualties, had prepared
plans for raising the cost of the proxy war for Pakistan after the failed
Agra Summit. These plans ranged from "limited war" to surgical
strikes to destroy terrorist bases. After September 11, hopes of offensive
action were rekindled, especially after radio intercepts indicated that
Pakistan had ordered closure of terrorists camps across the LoC and in
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Some 366 foreign mercenaries, mainly
Afghans, were to be disarmed and sent back under escort to HQ 7 Infantry
Division in Peshawar, the intercepts said. The recent fire in GHQ Rawalpindi
that destroyed records of terrorist networks in Afghanistan and PoK was
also no accident. It happened after US counter-terrorism inspectors flashed
a warning to the ISI.
The army's monthly intelligence summary for
September reported that terrorists were in disarray. Some had threatened
to close down their camps unless money and weapons were delivered before
October 15.
The action plan which is under way has three
strands: military, psychological warfare (PSYWAR) and political. With
support for terrorists from Pakistan diminishing, Northern Command is
determined to complete terrorist cleansing operations. The Big Thing could
start around October 30, a fortnight before the mountain passes close
for winter. Sealing infiltration routes is seldom accomplished, though
strikes on terrorists bases astride the Pir Panjal range have begun. The
intention is to prevent the terrorists from moving from their high-altitude
bases into population centres. Cleaning up Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag
and other towns will follow. The cordon-and-search operations are likely
to continue until May 2002.
Concurrent with these operations is PSYWAR.
The theme: Pakistan has dumped the Taliban in Afghanistan and will do
the same in Jammu & Kashmir. Communicating this message may encounter
difficulties as Indian TV in the valley is losing out to Pakistan TV.
The military and infowar operations are expected to create the political
space for more transparent elections in Jammu & Kashmir. US assurances
that terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir will be addressed in Phase II are
suspect. Actually, this is the Indian Army's unfinished agenda.
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METRO TODAY
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