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Pak 'design' to sabotage polls

By Harish Khare

New Delhi May 4. The Vajpayee Government is concerned over the stepped-up militant violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and these incidents of infiltration from across the border and the Line of Control are seen as part of an emerging "Pakistani design" to sabotage the Assembly elections, scheduled to take place in September this year.

As per the tabulation here, April alone has seen as many as 300 incidents, resulting in almost as many deaths. This is in sharp contrast to the relative lull of February, and the violence was seen as going up slightly in March. But April has made many people sit up. In the first four days of May, already 28 persons have been killed in militancy-related incidents.

The understanding at the seniormost level here is that it is the deployment of the Indian forces along the LoC that has slowed down the infiltration from across the border. But there is no dilution in Pakistan's policy of infiltration, with a view to stepping up violence, all with the objective of sabotaging the proposed election exercise. In this context, the continued deployment of forces is deemed necessary.

The "disquieting but not unexpected'' development, according to one senior official, is that the militant camps have been "re-activated'' in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. The Government is also believed to have information that a number of Pakistan Army "regulars" are being palmed off as "new recruits''; some of the "militants'' killed in the recent encounters have been identified as belonging to the Pakistan Army "regulars''.

The inference the Vajpayee Government has drawn is that Pakistan would do its best to derail the electoral process. Hence, the Centre's keenness that the National Conference (NC) should refurbish its image. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, has been persuaded to step down as the NC chief in favour of his son, Omar Abdullah. The Chief Minister was expected to hand over the baton to his son last month but last-minute anxieties had to be addressed. Now Abdullah the Junior is scheduled to take over the party leadership this month-end as a necessary prelude to the electoral battle later this year.

The Vajpayee Government is proceeding on the information, culled out from intercepts and other intelligence inputs, that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence or "rogue elements'' within the ISI have been threatening the moderates within the Hurriyat leadership against any kind of direct or indirect participation in the elections.

According to intelligence reports, the Pakistani intentions were spelt out at the recent meeting in Dubai, which was attended by two Hurriyat leaders, Abdul Gani Lone and Mirwaz Umar Farooq. The POK leader, Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan was also there, as were the ISI chief and another senior functionary, "brigadier Abdullah.'' The two Hurriyat leaders are believed to have conveyed to the Pakistani intelligence officials that they should be left to their own devices and ideas.

If the Vajpayee Government's strategy is to find ways of securing the direct or indirect participation of the Hurriyat in the election process, Pakistan's effort would be to force the Hurriyat to stay away from the poll process. The Centre is reported to be prepared to use the presence of the Army at the border to send out a message to the people within and outside Kashmir that Pakistan-trained and inspired "militants'' would not be allowed to intimidate and influence the poll process.

Government sources insist that India has been candidly sharing this assessment and perception with the international community, particularly the United States, about Pakistan's designs and that there is no ground for any withdrawal of forces from the LoC. Nor for any anxiety over a possible clash between the two countries.

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