Kashmir News Network - Press Releases (09/12/2001)

For Immediate Release
Kashmir News Network
September 12, 2001

Terrorist Strikes: The Missing Part of the Story

The terrorist strikes in New York and Washington have shaken up the entire world. There is a chorus for retaliation in the United States against Osama and his Al Qaida network. However, US officials as well as media appear to be missing a significant part of the story.

Al Qaida, Osama as well as the Taliban do not operate in isolation. The common thread for all these phenomena is Pakistan. Since 1989, Pakistan, the main supporter of the Taliban, has coordinated the largest terrorist operation in the world directed against Jammu and Kashmir State of India. Groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed share logistics and training in dozens of Pakistani and Afghan camps with the Al-Qaida network. Trainees of these camps operate in Muslim hotspots from Bosnia in the west to Philippines in the east.

Senseless violence, and the mindset that gives birth to it, has been on display in Jammu and Kashmir for 12 years. Killings, torture and brutality by Pakistan-trained terrorists have been a daily feature, with tens of thousands dead. Hindus and other non-Muslims, as well as those Muslims who oppose Islamic fundamentalism, are specifically targeted.

Years before the Taliban was born, Kashmir had been turned into a fundamentalist morass, with attacks on women wearing jeans, movie theaters and cable TV operators. Today Muslim women are forced to wear veils, and non-Muslim women are forced to wear identifying apparel. Lashkar and Jaish operatives pride themselves for their suicide missions, and Pakistan’s jehad machine turns out thousands of fervent trainees annually. Pakistani terrorist groups promise to extend jehad around the world. Freedom, as democracies like India and US define it, is being lost.

By only focusing on Osama, the US will be leaving intact the infrastructure that Pakistan provides for holy wars around the world. Compounding this grave danger is the acceleration of nuclear missile development by Pakistan, which is controlled by fundamentalist forces. Sustained action against Pakistan and Afghanistan is urgently needed. Such action should neutralize Pakistani nuclear prowess, disband all terrorist camps and nerve centers in the region, and impose blockade on the two countries until they reverse their fundamentalist politics.

Subodh Atal, Lalit Koul, Sunil Fotedar
Executive Editors

For further information, please contact:
Lalit Koul
Executive Editor
Kashmir News Network
Email: editor@kashmirherald.com

Kashmir News Network, based in United States, manages many Kashmiri websites including: www.ikashmir.org , www.kashmiri-pandit.org , www.panunkashmir.org , www.kashmirherald.com and www.kashmirnews.org.

	Pakistan's Role in State Sponsored International Terrorism

	The Global Islamic Terrorist Framework