M A I N   N E W S

Pak agents collecting petro dollars
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, May 20 — Pakistani agencies, engaged in giving teeth to the ongoing anti-India armed campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, have reportedly sent agents to several Islamic countries for collecting funds for Jehad in the state.

Official sources said that the fund collection drive from the petro-rich countries has been launched to lure youths in the state to arms training camps, allot money for purchasing weapons and explosives, and for increasing the monthly wages to militants and the ex-gratia to the kin of those killed in operations against the Indian security forces.

According to the official sources, since the current military regime in Pakistan is faced with acute financial crisis Gen Parvez Musharraf has been able to allocate meagre funds for the ongoing proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. Latest reports said that Gen Musharraf had recently allocated Rs 5 crore for the armed campaign, which the Pak agencies have treated as a paltry sum. The infiltrators, operating in Jammu and Kashmir, had put up a demand for amount.

As far as funding the militant outfits is concerned Jammu and Kashmir provinces have been divided into five zones. While Poonch and Rajouri form one zone, the other zones are Jammu-Doda, Srinagar-Budgam, Anantnag-Pulwama and Kupwara-Baramulla. Each zone is to be provided funds to the tune of Rs 30 to Rs 60 lakh for a period of six months.

In these zones the Pak agencies have launched what is called Operation-al-Saharia (the ever vigilant group) under which religious scholars, Maulvis and Imams have been booked for motivating youths in each zone for joining militant ranks. Those engaged in carrying the Operation-al-Saharia to its logical conclusion have been asked to persuade the Kashmiri youths to join militant outfits in the name of Jehad convincing them that the ongoing armed campaign was a “war against Kafirs (infidels)”.

These Imams and Maulvis have also been directed to collect funds and launch a door-to-door campaign to lure boys to militancy. In addition to this the Dukhterani Milat (daughters of Isam) will receive added patronage from agencies across the border so that the Milat was able to secure the active participation of women in the ongoing armed campaign. The Milat has been assured of heavy funds for wooing woman to militancy.

In a bid to cause confusion to the Indian security and intelligence agencies old militant outfits were being revived. The nomenclature of the existing ones was being changed. A dreaded militant outfit, Harkatul Mujahideen, is said to have merged itself with Jaish-e-Mohammad (Army of the Prophet), founded by Maulana Azhar Masood, who is one among the three to have been released from detention in exchange for the release of over 150 Indian Airlines passengers who had been held hostages in Kandahar.