INDIANS WORRY LASHKAR TERRORISTS ARE THRIVING IN

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
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