DATE=12/15/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=YEARENDER: KASHMIR
NUMBER=5-44992
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: For centuries, writers and poets have called
the Kashmir Valley, which straddles the India /
Pakistan border, paradise on earth. Surrounded by
snow-capped peaks, the valley is dotted with lakes,
fruit orchards, pine forests and alpine meadows.
However, in recent years, Kashmir has become paradise
lost -- wracked by a vicious insurgency between
separatist militants and the Indian Army. Both India
and Pakistan claim all of now-divided Kashmir. V-O-
A's Jim Teeple reports 1999 was an especially-painful
year for those who call the Kashmir Valley home. They
saw their beautiful valley once again become the focus
of conflict between India and Pakistan.
TEXT:
// ACTUALITY OF SOUND PROTESTORS CHANTING
//
Text: Hundreds of young men taunt police in front of
the centuries-old mosque in the heart of Srinigar, the
ancient capital of Kashmir. Nearly every Friday,
following prayers at the Jama Masjid Mosque, young
Kashmiri men play a cat-and-mouse game with Indian
police and paramilitary units. Ten years after it
began, the separatist insurgency in Kashmir shows no
sign of losing support among many of Kashmir's young
and disaffected.
Things were supposed to be different this year in
Kashmir. Following a bus trip to the Pakistani city,
Lahore, by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
in February, it appeared that Pakistan and India would
work to settle the Kashmir dispute -- which has led to
two of the three wars the countries have fought over
the past half-century. In a sign of optimism
following Mr. Vajpayee's trip to Pakistan, more than
100 thousand Indian tourists visited Kashmir. But
that was before mid-May when an Indian Army patrol
stumbled into a group of heavily-armed guerrilla
infiltrators inside Indian territory, along the steep
mountain ridges which overlook the Kashmir valley.
India's Army Chief of Staff V-P Malik left no doubt as
to who he thought was behind the infiltration.
// MALIK ACTUALITY //
The intruders are regular Pakistani troops in
disguise. We are very clear in our subject, and in
our minds it is a very well-orchestrated and very
well-planned operation by the Pakistani army.
// END ACTUALITY //
Pakistan strongly denied the accusations, saying it
only offered diplomatic and moral support to
separatist militants fighting to free Kashmir from
Indian rule. As tens of thousands of Indian Army
troops and hundreds of Indian Air Force pilots began
operations to push the infiltrators out of Indian
territory, there were fears the conflict could
escalate into the fourth Indo-Pakistani war. A year
earlier, both countries tested nuclear weapons and
global attention was soon riveted on the region as
fears mounted of a greater conflict
// OPT // But the conflict did no escalate beyond the
mountain battlefields of Kashmir. Air Commodore
Subash Bhajwan -- who directed offensive operations
for the Indian Air Force during the conflict -- said
India's only goal was to regain its lost territory
// OPTIONAL BHAJWAN ACTUALITY //
Our aim, between the army and the air force, is to get
these infiltrators out of our country -- out of our
territory. And therefore there is, at the present
time, absolutely no clearance to go across the border.
But I will also state that if there is any
interference from across the border we reserve the
right to take appropriate action.
// END OPTIONAL ACTUALITY //
In early June, talks in New Delhi between India and
Pakistan on defusing the Kashmir crisis ended without
agreement. But by July -- as Indian Army troops
closed in on the high peaks occupied by bands of
guerrilla fighters -- diplomatic efforts intensified.
Following talks in Washington with President Clinton,
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to work to
withdraw the infiltrators from Indian territory. By
the end of July, Lieutenant General N-C Vij, the
director general of military operations for the Indian
Army, said the withdrawal was complete.
// VIJ ACTUALITY //
These intruders have now been evicted, and there is no
Pakistani presence on Indian territory.
// END ACTUALITY //
However, the end of fighting in the Kargil region of
Kashmir did not mean there was peace in the Kashmir
Valley. In July, as fighting subsided in Kargil,
India was hit with a wave of attacks by separatist
militants, all across the Kashmir valley. Gurbachan
Jagat, the director general of the police in India's
Jammu and Kashmir State, said the upsurge in fighting
in the Kashmir Valley was linked to the battles in the
northern mountains.
// JAGAT ACTUALITY //
When the security forces were busy in Kargil and a
large number of units were shifted out of the valley
to deal with the Kargil situation, at that time
Pakistan sent a large of number of infiltrators.
Seventy to 75 percent of these are foreign mercenaries
with a good component of ex-servicemen. By foreign
mercenaries I mean most of them are Pakistani's and a
few Afghans. These are people who managed to
infiltrate when the security forces were in Kargil and
there was a slight break in the security grid in the
valley.
// END ACTUALITY //
At the beginning of 1999, Indian security officials
like Gurbachan Jagat believed they had largely
contained the ten-year separatist insurgency. But
recent attacks by separatist militants on heavily-
guarded installations such as army headquarters in
Srinigar indicate violence in Kashmir is increasing --
at least temporarily.
// REST OPTIONAL //
When relations between India and Pakistan began to
thaw earlier this year, many in Kashmir were more
optimistic about their future than they had been in
years. But now, after weeks of renewed conflict
between India and Pakistan and an upsurge in daily
fighting between Indian security forces and separatist
militants, there are few optimists left in Kashmir.
(Signed)
neb/jlt/WD
15-Dec-1999 06:08 AM EDT (15-Dec-1999 1108 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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