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US indicts Musharraf regime for
supporting J&K insurgency

T V Parasuram in Washington

In a forthright report on the patterns of global terrorism, the Bush administration on Monday indicted Pakistan's military regime headed by General Pervez Musharraf for its continued support to insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

The report by the State Department expressed concern over "Pakistan's support of the Taleban in Afghanistan with material, fuel, funding and technical assistance, besides active participation of a large number of Pakistani nationals in Afghanistan's civil war on the side of the Taleban."

Besides Harkat ul-Mujahidin, the report, issued every year, identified Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed among the key terrorist groups.

In sharp contrast to the slamming of Pakistan's support for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and military support for the Taleban, the Bush administration commended India for its "continued co-operative efforts with the United States against terrorism."

Security problems associated with various insurgencies, particularly in Kashmir, said the report, persisted through the year 2000 in India.

"Massacres of civilians in Kashmir during March and August were attributed to Lashkar-e-Tayiba and other militant groups. India also faced continued violence associated with several separatist movements based in the northeast of the country."

The report notes that during the year, the US-India Joint Counter Terrorism Working Group --founded in November 1999 -- met twice and agreed to increase co-operation on mutual counter-terrorism interests.

Referring to Pakistan, the report, with a picture of Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of Jash-e-Mohammed inset, said: "Pakistan's military government, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, continued previous Pakistani governments' support of the Kashmir insurgency and Kashmiri militant groups continued to operate in Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting new cadre.

"Several of these groups were responsible for attacks against civilians in Kashmir and the largest of the groups, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, claimed responsibility for a suicide car-bomb attack on an Indian garrison in Srinagar in April. In addition, Harkat ul-Mujahidin, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, continues to be active in Pakistan without discouragement by the government of Pakistan," the report said.

The United States, said the report, remained concerned about reports of continued Pakistani support for the Taleban's military operations in Afghanistan.

"Credible reporting," it said, "indicates that Pakistan is providing the Taleban with material, fuel, funding, technical assistance and military advisers."

PTI

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