PoK militants closing shop?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 24. India has reasons to believe that under American pressure, Islamabad has asked militants operating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to close shop.

Basing their premise on wireless messages intercepted by the Army and intelligence agencies, Defence Ministry officials said the Pakistan Army was advising militants to leave Jammu and Kashmir and return to Afghanistan. ``We feel these instructions are being given under the U.S. pressure,'' they said.

India is looking at these developments positively and hoping that it would improve the security scenario in the State. However, there are no signs of large-scale ex-filtration as yet, though military intelligence estimates that out of 3,000 to 4,000 active militants in the State, nearly half are of foreign origin. Security agencies are still assessing the ground situation to ascertain ``whether these people are really leaving Jammu and Kashmir,'' they said.

Signal intercepts have also revealed that the militants leaving Jammu and Kashmir will be not be allowed to remain in PoK, but will be escorted by the Pakistan Army to Afghanistan. Senior Defence Ministry officials assume that the change in Pakistan's attitude towards militancy was prompted by the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell's recent statement acknowledging the problem of terrorism in Ireland and Kashmir.

The level of violence in the State, they said, had come down after the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, declared his country's support to the U.S. As against over 40 violent incidents in Jammu and Kashmir during the first week of September, only a dozen incidents had taken place in the past two weeks.

Asked what kind of assistance would be given by India to the U.S. for possible strikes in Afghanistan, officials said no specific request had been received so far. However, India could provide ``air mobilisation command movement'' facilities, which entailed logistic assistance ``when a nation's military assets have to be shifted from one theatre to another''.

The officials were at pains to point out that extension of facilities for refuelling, landing, medical and overflight were granted ``semi-automatically'' and that there was ``nothing new or startling'' in providing such support to the U.S. However, there was no question of giving blanket clearance to a large number of aircraft. Permission would be accorded as per the established procedures of the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs. The officials said that India might not be required to give this kind of assistance if the U.S. decided to utilise bases and ports in Pakistan.

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