Published: April 01, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War-Kashmir-Islamic Militants Assassinate Senior Congress Party Leader
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - Tehran - Islamabad - Riyadh Watch - South Asia Theatre: Tehran - Beijing - Riyadh - Kabul - Dhaka - Nay Pyi Taw - Islamabad/Delhi - Moscow - Washington - Canberra - Singapore - Tokyo; Vale of Kashmir - Islamic Militants Assassinate Senior Congress Party Leader - Other Action in Province
Night Watch: BARAMULLA - In a pre-dawn attack Islamic militants in Kashmir assassinated, at point blank range, a senior Congress party leader as he was leaving prayers at a mosque. Killed was Jan Mohammed Kakroo while his personal security officer (PSO) was seriously wounded. There has been no word on arrests. Kakroo was a close associate of senior Congress Vice-President and Member of Legislative Assembly Abdul Gani Vakil and he was also a relative of Aijaz Ahmed Kakroo, special secretary of the Chief Minister.[
KONS]
In other action Indian security forces killed a militant member of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the largest known Islamic unit fighting Delhi's rule of Jammu-Kashmir, the Muslim majority province that was the flashpoint of two of the three India/Pakistan wars since 1947. An Indian Junior Commissioned Officer was also killed. The Kashmir Observer News Service (KONS) has reported that since Friday there were also violent incidents in the districts of Rajouri, Doda and Kishtwar, which injured three security men and 12 civilians. [KONS]
Usually the fighting increases as the snows of the valley and mountains melt in May. It has been estimated there are between 2,000-3,000 Islamic militants, supported by Tehran-Islamabad, that are on "launching pads" in Pakistan's part of Kashmir waiting to inflitrate into India, which is how wars between Islamabad/Delhi usually begin, but this time other governments, Tehran-Beijing-Riyadh, are prepared to enter. That is why the House of Saud purchased from Beijing, in the mid-1980s 50-60 CSS-2 intermediate range ballistic missiles. The missile has a 2,500 mile (4,000 km) range and can easily reach all of the sub-continent. Both China and Saudi Arabia had ground forces maneuvers with Pakistan in December. China just west of Kashmir and Saudi Arabia in the eastern Punjab.
There are also Islamic militant bases in Bangladesh which India has demanded Dhaka destroy. I far as I know there have been no estimates as to how many Islamic Jihad fighters are being trained in them, but they are directly connected to the government and Bangladesh's military. The militants are in effect a state within a state.
Night Watch Information Service
www.crossfirewar.com
* The views of Opinion writers do not necessarily reflect the views of NewsBlaze
Search News
