September 28, 2013

AHEAD OF INDIA-PAKISTAN TALKS, MILITANTS KILL AS MANY AS 12 IN INDIAN-CONTROLLED KASHMIR

[It was a somewhat risky decision by a prime minister little known for taking political chances. Militant attacks in Kashmir invariably receive enormous news media attention in India, and are often followed by jingoistic drumbeating not only by right-leaning politicians but also by popular media figures. After an Indian soldier was found beheaded in January at the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani claims to the disputed territory, Sushma Swaraj, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, called for the Indian Army to behead 10 Pakistani soldiers in response.]
Jaipal Singh/European Pressphoto Agency
Coffins of officers killed in an assault on a police station in Hiranagar.
Militants dressed in Indian Army uniforms killed up to a dozen people in attacks on Thursday on an Indian police station and army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said. The attacks, near the disputed border with Pakistan, came a day after the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said he would hold talks in New York with his Pakistani counterpart.
Three militants armed with assault rifles and grenades arrived in three-wheeled auto-rickshaws around 6:50 a.m. and attacked the police station in Hiranagar, officials said. “They first lobbed a grenade and then fired indiscriminately,” Anand Datta, an inspector from the Hiranagar police station, said by telephone. “The first policeman killed was the sentry at the gate, and later three others also died.”
The militants then hijacked a truck and drove to an army base in the nearby Samba district. S.N. Acharya, an army spokesman, confirmed that at least three soldiers were killed in that attack, including a lieutenant colonel.
Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, said that altogether, the militants killed 12 people in the two attacks, but there were no immediate details about the remaining five deaths.
The three militants were killed after government forces confronted them in a counterattack that continued into the afternoon, Indian officials said. Television footage showed Indian helicopters and other military equipment converging on the area.
The attack led opposition politicians to call on Mr. Singh to cancel his planned meeting in New York this weekend with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.
“Pursuing a spineless diplomacy at this juncture will present India as a ‘soft state’ which could be pushed around by any big or small country,” said Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
But government officials said the attack followed a pattern of similar assaults, including ones this summer, that seemed timed to derail talks between two prime ministers who have repeatedly called for such a dialogue.
“This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of peace,” said Prime Minister Singh, according to a statement released by India’s Press Information Bureau. “Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue.”
It was a somewhat risky decision by a prime minister little known for taking political chances. Militant attacks in Kashmir invariably receive enormous news media attention in India, and are often followed by jingoistic drumbeating not only by right-leaning politicians but also by popular media figures. After an Indian soldier was found beheaded in January at the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani claims to the disputed territory, Sushma Swaraj, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, called for the Indian Army to behead 10 Pakistani soldiers in response.
Mr. Sharif campaigned earlier this year on a platform that called for a robust peace process with India, and Prime Minister Singh has long made known his desire for better relations with Pakistan. But the border between the two countries is one of the most heavily militarized in the world, and there are many who benefit both politically and economically from continued frosty relations.
Mr. Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that canceling the pending dialogue between Mr. Singh and Mr. Sharif, on the sidelines of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, would be a victory for the militants. The militants seemed to have only recently infiltrated the border, officials said. Mr. Singh’s decision to meet Mr. Sharif on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York this weekend was made public Wednesday.
India and Pakistan have feuded over control of Kashmir since the two nations were born shortly after World War II. Pakistan claimed the province because of its Muslim majority. But the British gave the province to India, and the two countries have since fought at least three wars over it.
A considerable section of Kashmiris would like to be independent from both countries, giving the conflict a volatile complexity. An insurgency within Kashmir that India has long accused Pakistan of helping to fuel began in 1989. India has occasionally used brutal tactics to try to quell the insurgency, and a controversial law in Indian-controlled Kashmir protects soldiers from being prosecuted even for crimes like murder and rape.
After a fairly quiet 2012, attacks in Kashmir have intensified this year, with more than 100 people killed. Not coincidentally, Pakistan held national elections this year, and India’s are scheduled for 2014.
Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi, and Sameer Yasir from Kashmir.