Intruders run short of arms, food
Jamaat sends in volunteers
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, June 17 — Thousands of activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen have been sent, what Pakistani agencies call, as "volunteers" to Kargil, Dras, Gurez for sustaining the on-going armed conflict with Indian troops.

The Jamaat-e-Islami chief in Pakistan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, and the "supreme commander" of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, have already announced that they have started sending "volunteers", who are none else than militants, to the battle front in Kargil and Dras. These militants have been assigned the task of working as porters fighters to ensure the supply of war equipment and foodgrain to the Pak intruders engaged in battle with the Indian soldiers.

Reports reaching here from across the border said that the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant outfits stepped in when they found Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, wilting under the American pressure. As several countries, including the USA, France and Russia conveyed their displeasure to the Pakistan Government and suggested that the sanctity of the Line of Control be respected by withdrawing the infiltrators and Pak soldiers from the Kargil-Dras belt the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizbul Mujahideen adopted belligerent postures to force Nawaz Sharif not to withdraw the infiltrators from the Kargil heights.

Besides official agencies in Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizbul Mujahideen have enrolled more than 5,000 militants who are to be sent to the Kashmir border to fight with the Indian soldiers. Some of them have already reached the Kargil-Dras belt and others are on their way to the mountain belts. More than 3,000 battle-hardened militants, including Afghan guerrillas, have been brought close to the border right from Gurez in north Kashmir to Kathua in Jammu. These militants have been divided into small groups of 25 to 30. And each group has been given the task of sneaking into Jammu and Kashmir.

It is in this context that during the past 15 days there has been no let-up in Pak firing and shelling on the Indian border villages and Posts in more than nine sectors and subsectors. The Pak offensive is aimed at providing a fire cover to the militants who could sneak into the Indian territory once the Indian soldiers got busy in retaliating Pak firing.

Reports said large groups of "volunteers" had been spotted moving from Pak villages to Kunar, Khapllu, Gulteri across the Kargil-Dras belt indicating that Pakistan was facing man and machine shortage after more than 200 Pak infiltrators and soldiers were killed in the offensive launched by the Indian troops.

The need for sending in re-inforcement to the Kargil-Dras belt is to check desertion among infiltrators and Pak soldiers after they failed to receive food, weapons, medicines and other essential commodities from the base camps. The volunteers had been seen carrying weapons and foodgrains for the infiltrators on the Kargil heights.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops continued to pound several Indian posts and villages from Kargil to Kathua. Reports said there was slight decrease in the intensity of Pakistani firing in the Poonch, Rajouri, Akhnoor sectors but people living in Gurez, Tangdhar, Keran, Kupwara, Machel continued to be under the grip of fear owing to Pakistani shelling. The authorities stopped further migration from Gurez to Bandipore. They were stopped on the Gurez-Bandipore road and were asked to return to their villages.

In the Jammu sector the Pallanwala and Pargwal areas witnessed further migration. However, some of the able-bodied migrants returned to their villages to ensure that their cattle were not harmed and be ready to assist the troops in case of need.

Official sources said the entire border belt in the state continued to be tense with people praying for peace. Contrary to this the separatists in the Kashmir valley were happy with the turn of events in Kargil. Leaders of the All Party Hurriyat Conference and Mr Shabir Ahmed Shah have associated themselves with the cause for which the infiltrators were fighting. These separatists believe that the Kargil conflict is the "beginning" of the liberation struggle. They are of the opinion that after the liberation of the Kargil-Dras belt it would be the turn of the Kashmir valley. Hence their mood is upbeat.

5 militants shot in encounters

SRINAGAR, June 17 (PTI) — The security forces have shot dead five militants in two encounters and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition after smashing some militant hideouts in Jammu and Kashmir since last evening, an official spokesman said here today.

Four security personnel were injured in operations against militants and a house was gutted, while a militant arrested in the state during the period, the spokesman said.

Four suspected militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Dad Behak in Baramula last night.

Three AK assualt rifles, 22 magazines, 271 rounds of ammunition, a pistol, two magazines with 25 rounds and two grenades were seized.

In another encounter, the security forces shot dead a militant at Jurdji in the Banihal area of Doda and seized a pistol, two magazines, 166 rounds and a handgrenade.

Two security personnel also sustained injuries in the encounter which broke out during search operations in the area.

Militants ambushed a security patrol at Surankote in Poonch district last night, wounding two jawans. The security forces returned the fire but militants escaped after the ambush.

Militants also engaged the security forces in a cross-fire in the Mohara-Bichian area of the same district, but no one was hurt. However, a house was damaged in the incident.

Militant hideouts in Hachmargi and Hafrada forests in Kupwara were unearthed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered.

The seizure included 12 RPG rockets, 17 82-mm mortar bombs, nine carts of the bombs, seven fuses, two wireless sets, 11 rifle grenades, seven hand grenades, five rockets and 390 rounds of assorted ammunition.

The police apprehended a militant, Hamid Malla, alias Umair, from Marglary village in the Soibugh area of Badgam district last evening.

A pistol, its magazine, eight rounds and a rifle grenade were recovered from the captured militant who hails from Arath-Rakh village of Badgam.