JOIN USPak Army, ISI coerce J&K militants to fight Nato troops
The Pakistan Army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) are coercing Kashmiri militants based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (POK) to fight alongside the Taliban against Nato troops in tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The revelations were made by dozens of militants who returned to Kashmir via Nepal and other routes during de-briefing by the police and Indian intelligence agencies, sources said.
“More than 150 Kashmiri militants have been sent to Waziristan and other tribal areas to fight alongside the Taliban against Nato troops. Kashmiri militants are being handled by Yousuf Baloch and Bakht Zaman – two Al Badr commanders – in Waziristan,” a senior intelligence officer here told Deccan Herald.
Recently a hardcore militant of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, who surrendered before the police, revealed that he opted to return after he was forced to go to Waziristan.
“The militant told his chief that he will go to Kashmir instead of Waziristan as he feared death there. On arriving, he surrendered and revealed that hundreds of militants who had crossed to PoK in early 90’s want to return,” the officer revealed.
Intelligence sources said there are about 3,000 to 4,000 Kashmiri militants stranded in and around Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK. In August, a Kashmiri militant commander Ahsan Aziz was one of several terrorists killed in a US drone strike in the Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled North Waziristan.
“After the killing of Aziz, most of the Kashmiri militants based in PoK are hesitant to go to Waziristan and other tribal areas to fight against NATO troops,” sources said and added that most of them belong to north Kashmir.
A senior police official posted in north Kashmir said that atleast 50 militants hailing from Sopore and Baramulla towns have returned from PoK in the last six months.
“The reason for their return are diminishing support from the Pakistan government, realisation that the ‘Kashmir jihad’ is going nowhere and a promise of amnesty by the government of India,” he added.
A former militant from this apple rich town, who returned back from PoK recently, said, “I was ordered to go to Waziristan. I thought it is better to die in Kashmir than going to the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan and fight against US drones.”
Asked why he chose to come back after staying in PoK for 20 years, he said, “The jihad is over. We were misled by Pakistan and now we have realised that it is better to live and die on your own land and around your own people than in virtual exile where we might be forced to beg for a living.”