Echo in the Valley

By Shujaat Bukhari

WHEN ALL of India observed a two-minute silence to mourn the dead of the terrorist strikes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Kashmir did not. An anti-America and pro-Osama wave is sweeping the Valley. A complete strike was observed across Kashmir on Friday on the call given by the Pakistan-Afghan Defence Council, an alliance of Islamist forces in Pakistan. The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) had to face humiliation as it had vehemently opposed the strike and asked people to carry on with their normal work. ``Today's strike has proved that people are with militants active in jehad and not with selfish politicians,'' claims Ms Asiya Andrabi, chief of the radical women's group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat.

Notwithstanding the fact that the militancy in Kashmir still remains out of the international network Osama bin Laden has built over the years, Friday's strike has made it clear that pan- Islamic forces now hold sway. It is not only a rebuff to the Hurriyat Conference but has also questioned its representative character. Siding with the Pakistan president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in supporting the U.S. plans has not served the APHC's cause. Observers in Srinagar say the feeling on the ground is that the APHC is unable to take a decision on its own.

However, the APHC leaders deny that the ``people have rejected them''. This cannot be taken in isolation as the situation in Kashmir is different, there is scare among the people as well, says Moulvi Abbas Ansari, one of the APHC executive members.

Even as Wednesday's televised speech of Gen. Musharraf has convinced many people in Kashmir, the general refrain is that Pakistan should not have supported the U.S. ``There was no other option for Gen. Musharraf but to take such a stand as India would have taken advantage of its refusal to provide airbases,'' commented a teacher at the Kashmir University. Raising a voice in support of Muslims anywhere in the world is not new to Kashmir. But with the onset of militancy, the religious bonds were cemented further with the arrival of ``warriors'' from Sudan, Algeria, Chechnya and Afghanistan, besides Pakistan.

That is why there is an upsurge of support for Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan in the Kashmir Valley. This though the Kashmiris have always looked to the U.S. for resolving the issue ``in accordance with their wishes''. Pakistan's deliberate attempt to bring in the Kashmir issue in the U.S.-Afghan tussle has also not impressed the masses here. ``Even if we get azadi by Pakistan's support to the U.S. but we do not want it at the cost of the life of Osama bin Laden,'' said Mohammad Hussain, a shopkeeper in Lal Chowk. However, a sociologist at the Kashmir University termed this an ``emotional outburst''. ``Osama has never been seen in Kashmir but it is the wave which which has swept parts of the Muslim world which forces them to think on these lines,'' he adds.

On the security front, fears loom large about the fallout of possible strikes by the U.S. against Afghanistan. Many hold the view that dislodging the Taliban may have disastrous consequences for India, while some security officials hope militancy wil suffer a setback. But top officials do not agree with the view that the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has sought the help of the Kashmiri militants against the U.S. Since the Taliban or Osama bin Laden hardly have any role in the Kashmir militancy, a change in Kandahar or Kabul could not have much impact in Kashmir, they say.

Osama bin Laden himself, as quoted by the editor of the Islamabad daily Ausaf, Mr. Hamid Mir, had no plans to strike against India. In an interview to Mr. Mir in 1998, Osama bin Laden had made it clear that as far as Islamic teachings were concerned, only Christians and Jews were enemies of Islam and there was no mention of Hindus or Buddhists. On the ground also, the involvement of Afghan nationals in militancy was negligible. Officials confirmed that in the last several years the percentage of Afghan militants getting killed had not crossed even three. ``Among thousands of foreign militants operating in Kashmir the number of Afghans could not be more than 50 in any case,'' a top intelligence official said.

However, it remains a fact that the pan-Islamic militant organisations see the Taliban and Osama bin Laden as great sources of inspiration. Moulana Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e- Mohammad, who was exchanged in Kandahar for the Indian Airlines passengers, has close links with the Taliban, who facilitated the exchange at that time. But in the event of a strike against Afghanistan, the possibility of the jehadi groups in Pakistan getting marginalised may give a big jolt to militant operations in Kashmir. Since jehadis are at war with the Musharraf regime, the changing equations will have a far-reaching impact on the armed struggle in Valley.

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