Impact on India continues....

This sudden turnabout angered the groups, but they had no choice but to wait out till new alignments and coalitions were worked out. Many of these groups, including JeM, HuM and HuJI suffered heavy attrition in the US bombings in Afghanistan. JeM faced the ire of the Pakistan Army for defying its orders to cease attacks in Kashmir, more so after some of the JeM activists were found to be involved in the assassination attempts on President Musharraf.

With the ISI withdrawing its support and the Indian security forces neutralising the top leadership, JeM rapidly lost ground to LeT and Hizb-ul Mujahideen led Muttahida Jihad Council and its various local off-shoots. Stepping into the gap, LeT established a network of training

camps and shelter houses across Kashmir.

The group’s activities were largely reported from Bandipore forests, Yaripora-Shopian Tral belt in South Kashmir and Harwan near Srinagar where it had created camouflaged and fortified hideouts with an elaborate system of lookouts.

Buoyed by the increased support it was

drawing from ISI and local outfits, the group planned several panIndia terrorist attacks, beginning with the September 2002 attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Since then,

LeT’s growth in Kashmir has been steady, and growing from strength to strength, finding new recruits, operational areas and targets. For LeT, the Kargil conflict had paved the way to Kashmir, with the ISI facilitating its training and command network in areas which were strongholds of HuM remnants. The group found it

extremely difficult to find recruits and support from the Kashmiri population but, with the backing of the ISI and through money and sheer brute force, managed to find a foot-hold in certain areas like

Sopore and Bandipore.

To be continued...