Pakistan's support to terrorism behind Kashmir turmoil; claims PoK activist

Rawalakot: A political activist has lambasted Pakistan for creating turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir for decades by using terrorism as a tool to set its agenda.

Sardar Saghir, a leader of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) told Tanveer Ahmad, a local journalist, that Pakistan has been using terrorists as proxies to create instability in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The indigenous movement of Kashmir's liberation was sabotaged in 1947 (by Pakistan) by sending Pashtun tribal forces in the region. In the late 1980s, when the people of Jammu and Kashmir launched another movement, it was highjacked (by Pakistan) in 1989 by forming terror groups such as Hizbul Mujahideen and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen," Saghir said.

"Later, Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) was also brought in. In 1992-93, we condemned these non-state actors, which were brought in by Pakistan's spy agencies. It has sabotaged our peaceful struggle. The world community is now looking it as an act of terrorism," he added.

Saghir is one of the vocal activists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), where people are suffering from persecution and terrorism.

"After the 9/11 incident, strict measures were taken against terrorism and our peaceful struggle was backtracked. However, we continued to protest. When Pakistan was pressurised by the international community then besides LeT, they further started promoting Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) headed by Maulana Masood Azhar."

Recently, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan confessed that about 30,000-40,000 terrorists have been trained in some parts of Afghanistan and Kashmir.

The activist added that Pakistan has been using PoK's territory as a launchpad for terrorists to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.

"Now, JeM terrorists are getting trained at a very large scale to infiltrate into India. The world attention was towards the Kashmir valley, but Pakistan's intelligence agencies have diverted it deliberately. These militants are infiltrating, getting killed and will be killed in future," he said.