Pak to raise Kashmir issue
NAM officials begin meeting

DURBAN, Aug 29 (PTI, UNI) — Officials from India and about 100 non-aligned countries today began discussions on the agenda for the NAM summit amidst indications that Pakistan would raise the contentious Kashmir issue at the meeting, beginning here next week.

The preparatory session began with a call from the South African Foreign Minister, Mr Alfred Nzo that the 113-nation movement must broaden its vision to play a relevant role in the 21st century.

"The new millennium affords us the opportunity of ensuring that NAM takes up its rightful place and ensures that the interests and ambitions of the South are placed firmly on the agenda of the international community," Mr Nzo said.

Stressing that the NAM "must continue to be the conscience and the champion of the many voices of the weak and powerless in defiance of the dominant hegemony of the strong and powerful," he said the coming century "throws open new challenges that are more complex than ever."

The Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr Sartaj Aziz, leading his country’s delegation in absence of the Premier, Mr Nawaz Sharif, is expected to raise the contentious Kashmir issue at the summit, beginning on September 2, APP news agency said.

The preparatory session is to be followed by a meeting of NAM foreign ministers on August 31 and September 1, to streamline proposals to be set before a full summit of heads of state and government on September 2 and 3.

The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who will be among the heads of state and governments attending the 12th summit, is likely to explain to NAM India’s nuclear doctrine in the aftermath of the Pokhran tests.

He is expected to stress India’s commitment to nuclear disarmament while emphasising on the discriminatory nature of the nuclear regime.

For the first time in the history of NAM, USA and other members of the G-8 developed countries have also been invited to attend the summit, despite Cuba’s objection.

"It would be better to have them hear to what we (developing nations) have to say," Director-General of South African Foreign Affairs Jackie Selebi said.

The UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan, who will attend the summit, has requested a special meeting of members of the South African Development Community (SADC) to discuss the recent US missile attacks on suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan, both NAM members.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for External Affairs Ms Vasundhra Raje, arrived in South Africa today to participate in the NAM ministerial meeting and to hold discussions with ministers of various countries on bilateral matters and issues of mutual concern.

Ms Raje is also expected to meet Mr Aziz to discuss measures to normalise relations between the two countries. She will hold talks with the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, Mr Abdus Samad Azad, and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amre Moussa, tomorrow.

The minister will also exchange views with Mr Lyonpo Khandu, the Bhutanese Industry Minister, and the Foreign Minister of New Zealand.

She will also meet the Foreign Minister of Thailand, Mr Surin Pitsuwan, Mr Aziz Pahad, Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, and other foreign dignitaries.

Porous border worries government
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 29 — Senior state government functionaries are worried over the recent step-up in the rate of infiltration of Pakistan-trained militants, including mercenaries, into Jammu and Kashmir in recent weeks. Government reports indicate that during the past two months, when Pak troops resorted to heavy shelling on Indian villages and posts in the Kargil and Kupwara sectors, more than 800 insurgents sneaked into the state. Out of this lot, more than 300 infiltrated from across Poonch and Rajouri.

According to state government sources, during the past two months arms and ammunition in large quantities have been smuggled into the state and mules were used for carrying weapons and high-grade explosives from across the Mendher sector in Poonch.

The sources said that during the same period, more than 500 boys of different areas of the Kashmir valley and from Doda, Poonch, Udhampur and Rajouri crossed into Pakistan and occupied Kashmir for receiving arms training in more than 22 camps set up across the border. In one incident, 25 Kashmiri youths were arrested while they were trying to cross over to the Pakistan occupied territory in the Kupwara sector recently.

The sources confirmed reports that 80 per cent infiltrators who succeeded in sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir were foreign mercenaries and out of the 200 militants killed in the past three months, more than 120 were foreign guerrillas.

The government's worry is the result of two factors. First, the 1260 km-long Indo-Pak border has remained highly porous. And what is surprising is that the Army authorities do not accept the state government report on the rate of infiltration as correct. The two sides have a different tale to tell. While the government has its intelligence field sources available in the farthest villages and have been collecting reports on infiltration regularly which cannot be disputed, the Army authorities have adopted an ostrich-type attitude, claiming a drop in the rate of infiltration.

The police authorities in Jammu are of the opinion that had the rate of infiltration dropped, militancy-related violence would have also registered a corresponding decline. But during the past three months, incidents of killing of civilians, abductions, bomb, IED and mine explosions in four districts of Jammu region, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur and Doda have registered increase indicating that the militants had received additional man and machine power.

Secondly, the government's repeated plea for additional companies of paramilitary forces has not been accepted by the Centre, with the result that several areas in the Jammu region and farflung border areas in the Kashmir valley have remained grey with militants enjoying the freedom to operate at their sweet will. What has astonished the state authorities is the decision of the Union Home Ministry to pull out three battalions of the paramilitary forces from Doda district on the plea that they had been sent to provide security to Amarnath pilgrims.

The state police chief, Mr Gurbachan Jagat, is said to have made immediate use of two Battalions of the IRP, whose men completed the training recently, by deploying each at Arnas in Udhampur district and the Kupwara sector. The police chief has not been able to meet the growing demand of the people from different sensitive areas for security cover. And the four ITBP companies sanctioned for the state had been sent, as per the instructions of the Union Home Ministry, to strengthen security bandobast on the Bhaderwah-Chamba border which has been a scene of series of civilian killings in recent weeks.

A senior state government functionary said that with porous border and with inadequate security forces it was not possible for the police and the "people to fight militants with sticks."

A situation has risen in which the government has to bank on village defence committees and over 400 such committees, operating in Doda, Udhampur and Rajouri, are also too inadequate to meet the fresh challenge posed by the Pak-trained militants. As a result of the failure of the central government to meet the requirement of the state government as far as posting of additional companies of security forces was concerned and on account of inability of the Army to plug the infiltration routes, people in the state have been gripped by fear in the light of escalation of militancy related violence, especially in Poonch, Doda, Kupwara, Udhampur and Rajouri districts.
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