US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI8791

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 008791 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PBTS, KISL, MOPS, PINS, EAID, ASEC, PK, IN, Kashmir 
SUBJECT: INDIANS WORRY LASHKAR TERRORISTS ARE THRIVING IN 
PAKISTANI KASHMIR 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 8751 
     B. NEW DELHI 8715 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  Apprehension is mounting in India about 
Pakistan-based terrorist groups' exploitation of relief 
efforts to enhance their capabilities, recruitment, and 
operations against India.  Indians are also noticing with 
alarm that terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) 
and Jammat-ul-Dawwa (JuD) are taking credit for relief 
materials distributed by the USG and other donors; one 
Kashmiri separatist told us he personally saw the LeT 
hoarding and distributing American relief, metaphorically 
wrapped in the Jehadists' unyielding ideology.  The loss of 
government schools on the Pakistani side of the Line of 
Control (LoC) also provokes Indians to worry that terrorists 
are expanding recruitment into Madrassas.  As reftels report, 
the spike in terrorism against India is sparking worry here 
that the quake did not, in fact, wipe out these groups. 
Rather, it may have strengthened the terrorists and weakened 
Indian defensive perimeters.  Proof of this, say the Indians, 
is that police have seized 1600 kilos of explosives since the 
quake, while only 140 kilos had been intercepted in the nine 
previous months.  Meanwhile, Kashmiris are themselves sick of 
the violence.  The Kashmir-based Hizb-ul-Mujahiddin condemned 
the car bombing that killed four on October 16.  The Hurriyat 
called November 17 for an end to bloodshed, and a leading 
hardliner defected from hardline India-hater SAS Geelani. 
One Kashmiri Muslim who lost a relative in an October 16 
blast was quoted in a newspaper as saying, "This is evil; God 
will punish them."  In Indian Kashmir, at least, Jehadists 
have lost the war for the hearts and minds of Kashmiris.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
HIJACKING USG RELIEF, SPREADING HATE 
------------------------------------ 
 
2. (C) Poloff spoke November 10 to Yasin Malik, a noted 
Kashmiri separatist who traveled to Pakistan shortly after 
the October 8 quake to show solidarity.  Malik said he had 
met with President Musharraf and PM Shaukat Aziz, and, at 
their urging, had met Pakistani political parties including 
the MQM and PPP, and also had seen extremists such as Syed 
Salahuddin (Muhamad Yusuf Shah) of the United Jehad Council 
in Muzzafarabad and Hafiz Mohamed Saeed of Markaz-ul-Dawwa in 
Lahore.  His message to the "militants," said Malik, was 
simple:  Kashmiris were sick of violence and wanted 
terrorists to surrender their weapons and participate in 
political dialogue.  Kashmir would find peace only through 
dialogue, insisted Malik, and, in his view, even the 
extremists needed to be brought on board if violence was to 
stop for good.  Quoting the last hadith of the Prophet, an 
exhortation that peace-makers will attain paradise, Malik 
says he tried his best to convince a crowd of 700 rigid, 
unyielding extremists in Lahore of the value of contributing 
to the political compromises taking place between India and 
Pakistan and between Kashmiris and Delhi. 
 
3. (C) Malik concluded his readout with some disturbing 
"ground truth" for our consumption.  He said he had 
personally seen USG relief aid in what he thought were LeT 
camps in Pakistani Kashmir, and had seen LeT operatives 
openly distributing foreign relief even as they spread their 
message of uncompromising poison and religious hatred.  The 
LeT commanders, claimed Malik, boast that the foreign aid has 
actually strengthened their capabilities, organization, 
recruiting, and effectiveness.  More worrying for Indians 
over the long-term is the quake's impact on education. 
Former US Institute for Peace fellow Praveen Swami, writing 
in the "Hindu" on November 17, said Pakistani newspapers are 
reporting that Lashkar is using its relief operations to 
recruit growing numbers of young people, for whom tales of 
fedayeen (suicide) exploits are seductive. 
 
AND KILLING INDIANS 
------------------- 
 
4. (C) Reftels cite the litany of almost-daily terrorist 
incidents in India since the quake.  Delhi-based analysts, 
who initially chortled that the quake had destroyed terrorist 
camps, are now worried that the quake actually strengthened 
them.  The "Asian Age" reported November 18 that security 
forces have recovered a staggering 1600 kilos of explosives 
since October 8, compared to only 140 kilos recovered during 
the entire first nine months of 2005.  The newspaper cited a 
Home Ministry source as saying 50-60 LeT operatives have 
managed to enter Jammu and Kashmir following the quake, 
taking advantage of the Army's shift from LoC patrolling to 
humanitarian relief.  Security forces claim also to have 
arrested 58 terrorists since October 14. 
 
KASHMIRIS ENTIRELY FED UP 
------------------------- 
 
5. (C) The net effect of all this killing is a sense among 
Kashmiris that the Jehadis are a scourge.  On November 18 the 
moderate Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat separatist group issued a clear 
statement calling for an end to violence, saying, "Kashmir 
has soaked a lot of blood and time has come to put an end to 
the violence, in whatever form or level, so that there would 
be no hurdles in the way of a peaceful resolution..."  In 
another development, notorious India hater and hardliner SAS 
Geelani suffered yet another defection as Masarat Alam left 
his group and condemned the Geelani Hurriyat's rigidity. 
This marks the fourth defection from Geelani in two months, 
showing how far his stock has fallen among Kashmiris. 
Geelani remains resolutely opposed to dialogue with India. 
An Indian Express article following the J&K bank car bombing 
quoted Kashmiri Muslims as saying, "This is evil; what do 
they want to accomplish with these bombs?  God will punish 
them."  Another quote:  "This has to stop. (They) cannot get 
away with such senseless mayhem." 
 
IT'S NO WONDER THE INDIANS ARE WARY 
----------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) COMMENT:  As a result of the rising tide of violence, 
it comes as no surprise that the GOI is moving with extreme 
caution on opening the LoC to people who wish to visit family 
on the other side.  Indian officials tell us they would 
genuinely like free trade and movement of peoples, but the 
certainty that terrorists from Pakistan will mix themselves 
among the LoC crossers is too high for them to ignore.  The 
GOI is watching what is happening in Pakistani Kashmir with 
increasing alarm, even as ordinary Kashmiris mourn their 
dead, senselessly killed by fellow Muslims.  For the GOI, at 
least, the silver lining in the whole affair is that Indian 
Kashmiris are more and more repulsed by Jehadi rhetoric and 
tactics.  END COMMENT. 
BLAKE