Impact on India continues...

The experience in Afghanistan had given the ISI enough expertise to operate each of the organisations, keeping their

leadership and cadre separate and independent of each other. This

helped the agency to manipulate these organisations, which drew

its cadres from the local community.

Within a short period, the

agency was able to sidetrack pro-autonomy and nationalist

elements in Kashmir, replacing them with radical elements indoctrinated and trained in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Besides propping up these groups, ISI also set about creating groups like Dukhtaraan-e-Millat (DeM, Daughters of the Nation), Allah Tigers and the Hizb-ul Nisa, with the objective of radicalising

the Kashmiri society. This was a critical part of Pakistan’s strategy

to gain control over the so-called jihad, project Kashmir as a conflict

zone and force India to come to the negotiating table. The next step

in the strategy was to network the different groups the ISI had created for raising the pitch of violence in Kashmir and other parts of India.

This was implemented through two organisations Tehrike-Hurriyat-e-Kashmir (headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani) and

Muttahida Jihad Council led by Salahuddin. Both, incidentally,

were Kashmiri groups.

What the ISI did not factor in was the reaction of the government and the Indian Army’s strong and decisive counterinsurgency operation, which caused severe attrition of the terrorist ranks. Sustained counter-terrorist operations saw a large number of terrorist cadre and leadership killed or captured, bringing a

much-needed spell of peace in the region.

This forced the ISI to alter its strategy in the jihadi chess game. It replaced the local

Kashmiri pawns with the more lethal foreign terrorists and mercenaries from Pakistan, Afghanistan and West Asia.

They were pushed into the valley to step up violence by targeting minority communities and security forces. The then Indian Army chief, General S. Padmanabhan said in June 1998 that about 40 per cent of the militants were from Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said Pakistan was persuading its soldiers to take premature retirement

to take part in Kashmir Jihad.

To be continued...