The
enemy within India's
army By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - Three Indian soldiers are
reported have admitted to links with a banned
terrorist outfit, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The
news has triggered some alarm, for this is the
first time in the 16 years since the insurgency
erupted in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) that
evidence has emerged of militants having
infiltrated the Indian army.
The three -
identified as Abdul Haq, Mohammad Sharief and
Mohammad Shakeel - belong to the Jammu and Kashmir
Light Infantry and come from Gursai village of
Mendhar in the Poonch district, which borders
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Infiltration of
terrorists across the Line of Control is very high
in Poonch.
Haq, Sharief and Shakeel are
reported to have admitted to helping the Lashkar.
A jihadist group with close ties to Pakistan's
intelligence
agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, Lashkar
has carried out several attacks, including suicide
operations in Jammu and other parts of India. It
is believed to have masterminded the recent serial
blasts in Mumbai as well.
The three
soldiers are said to have admitted to links with
the Lashkar's divisional commander in the Mendhar
area, Abu Osama. They have said they provided the
terrorist group with mobile-phone SIM (subscriber
identity module) cards on fake names as well as
batteries and pencil cells for use in detonating
explosives. They are also said to have provided
shelter to terrorists in their homes.
Their links with the LeT came to light
during the interrogation of Tipu, a Lashkar
operative who was arrested a few days after the
July 11 grenade blasts in Srinagar. Tipu's
interrogation also revealed links between the
Lashkar and two police constables, Sikander and
Kabir.
The links between the Jammu police
and militants have not created much of a flutter,
as the nexus between the two has existed from the
start of the insurgency. While some police
officers provided militants with information,
others facilitated the looting of police weaponry.
Some even carried out attacks.
In 1992, a
police driver was found to have planted a bomb in
the office of the then director general of police
J N Saxena, badly injuring him. More recently
seven cops, including a sub-inspector, were
arrested for links with militants who assassinated
a former minister, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, at a public
rally. There have been instances too of members of
the Special Operations Group (SOG), the Jammu
police counter-insurgency unit, being arrested for
their links with terrorist outfits.
But
this was not the case with the country's armed
forces. The recent arrests are the first time that
links between soldiers and militants have come to
light.
However, concern over possible
infiltration of the armed forces by terrorists
appears to have been on the minds of India's
policymakers and intelligence agencies. National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan had written to
state chief secretaries last August warning them
about possible terrorist infiltration into the
armed forces. In November, Narayanan had
apparently also alerted the Indian Air Force (IAF)
regarding possible infiltration by Lashkar
militants.
The possibility of terrorist
infiltration of the armed forces surfaced in the
media last week when a report hinted that the IAF
had been infiltrated. While admitting that the IAF
had indeed received an alert regarding Lashkar
infiltration, a spokesman clarified that the air
force had "scanned the system and hadn't found
any" infiltration.
Then came the report on
the links of the three soldiers with LeT.
Already under criticism from the
opposition parties for its soft handling of
terrorism, the government quickly played down the
threat posed by the reported links of the three
arrested soldiers. Officials denied that
infiltration had occurred, describing the links as
"some administrative support".
An army
officer based in Jammu told Asia Times Online that
the three soldiers "were too junior to have access
to sensitive information".
Interrogation
of the three soldiers has revealed that they were
coerced to provide help. They feared that members
of their family, who lived in the
terrorism-stricken district, would be killed by
LeT terrorists if they did not obey their orders.
For years, ordinary Kashmiris have
complained that they have had no option but to
obey the militants' diktats, as they would demand
food, shelter or money at the point of the gun.
Fear prompted many of them, even those who were
opposed to the militancy, to accommodate the
militants. But the armed forces would subsequently
harass these people for having "supported" the
militants. "The armed forces don't understand our
dilemma" was a constant refrain that one heard in
Kashmir.
If the army's response to the
reported infiltration of its ranks is any
indication, it seems that it is not so insensitive
to the pressures that Kashmiris confront. The army
has come out in defense of its soldiers. A
statement issued by the army says: "Their families
in Gursai village are vulnerable to violence by
militants; so they provided some administrative
support such as food, shelter, batteries and
clothes. We do not believe there are links or a
nexus with any [terrorist] outfit. Initial
inquiries have brought out that the jawans
[soldiers] acted under coercion or fear of threat
to their families."
Explaining the
complexity of the issue, the army officer in Jammu
pointed out, "For many Indians living away from
the conflict zone, Haq's, Sharief's and Shakeel's
support for the Lashkar-e-Toiba merits their being
labeled as threats to India's national security.
But for those on the ground in this violence-hit
region, these three men were also victims of
terror."
Indeed, recruiting locals is a
gamble for the armed forces, but it is a risk they
need to take to address the alienation of
Kashmiris from India. For years Kashmiris,
especially Kashmiri Muslims, avoided the Indian
army. The perception of the army as an occupation
force in Kashmir and fear of the militants had
kept them from joining the armed forces.
This has changed in recent years, with
Kashmiris slowly trickling into the security
forces. Early this year, thousands of Kashmiri
youth showed up during recruitment drives, despite
warnings issued by militant outfits such as the
Hizbul Mujahideen. "Whosoever joins the Indian
forces will be treated as a 'traitor' and dealt
with severely," the Hizbul Mujahideen warned in
advertisements carried in local newspapers.
While army sources admit that the
enthusiastic local response to recruitment drives
is grounded in rampant unemployment, they say that
the "act of defiance" of these youths must be
acknowledged. "More than the recruits, it is their
families that are more vulnerable to terrorist
reprisals," said the army officer.
The
Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry to which the
three LeT-linked soldiers belong is drawn from the
local population. Unlike soldiers from other parts
of India whose families are far away from the
conflict zone, the local recruits in the Jammu and
Kashmir Light Infantry have to live with the
constant fear that terrorists will harm their
families.
Gursai village to which Haq,
Sharief and Shakeel belong has repeatedly suffered
horrific violence because many boys from this
village joined the security forces. When a
constable refused to give Lashkar-e-Toiba shelter
in his home, his son was beheaded. Another Gursai
resident refused to obey Lashkar orders; his house
was burned down by the terrorists. Scores of such
incidents have been reported from Gursai.
But this is not the experience of Gursai
alone. There are scores of villages across Jammu
and Kashmir that have similar stories to tell.
This could mean that there are many more like Haq,
Sharief and Shakeel - victims of terrorism
perhaps, but threats to national security as well.
To deal with the problem of terrorism,
India's armed forces will have to continue to keep
their eyes trained on infiltration across the Line
of Control. But they might need to keep looking
over their shoulders as well. There is a looming
threat from within their ranks.
Sudha Ramachandran is an
independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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