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| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
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Separatist leader relives memories of risky trans-Kashmir border crossing KAMAN POST, India, Saturday (AFP) Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik this week made his easiest crossing ever of the heavily-militarised Line of Control (LoC) that separates rivals India and Pakistan in Kashmir - he simply walked across the bridge. Malik, 38, was one of the nine separatists, and the only former rebel commander, who crossed over Thursday to Pakistan's zone of divided Kashmir for talks with Pakistani officials and Kashmiri leaders. Previous crossings, Malik told AFP before stepping onto the wooden structure spanning a small canal at Kaman Post, had been cloak-and-dagger, life-and-death, heart-in-mouth affairs. His closest shave, he said, had been in September 1989 when he came hair-raisingly close to being caught or even killed by Indian troops after he had infiltrated into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side. "I and my close associate Ashfaq Majeed had just managed to cross... when we spotted an army patrol only few feet (metres) away from us," Malik told AFP. "We were both armed and panicky waiting behind the bushes awaiting our fate." Malik said Majeed, then chief commander of the militant wing of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) insisted he would provide "covering fire" to allow him to escape. "He muttered 'you should escape as you are the only son of your parents'. "I didn't give heed to Majeed's repeated pleas... at times mere gestures. We were there for 45 anxious minutes, almost breathless. Miraculously the troops left without spotting us. "Only few feet separated us from possible death," said Malik. The two were returning to Indian Kashmir after sneaking across the LoC to consult JKLF leaders based in the Pakistan zone. They had earlier done a risky crossing to reach JKLF camps in Pakistani Kashmir where they underwent arms training. Those crossing the de facto border risk being arrested, or more likely, shot dead by Indian troops. "I am familiar with the area and the topography. I crossed back and fro from this area thrice dodging troops and booby traps laid by them," he said Thursday. In all, he added, he had sneaked across the LoC eight times since June 1988 and never been caught on the border. After Majeed's death in an encounter, Malik headed JKLF's militant wing for a short time before he was arrested in 1990. The rebel leader declared a unilateral ceasefire in 1994 after several years in Indian prisons, during which he also underwent open heart surgery. Since then the JKLF has been active only on the political front, with Malik taking a lead role in pushing for reunification of the two portions of Kashmir and its independence from both India and Pakistan. The ongoing insurgency was launched by Yasin, Majeed and two other JKLF leaders - Sheikh Hameed and Javed Mir - in 1989. More than 40,000 people have died since then in the region once thronged by tourists for its fast-flowing streams, huge Himalayan mountains and breath-taking landscapes. Majeed and Hameed were killed by Indian troops, while Mir recently walked out on Malik and launched his own party, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Forum. On Thursday, Malik wore an all-black kurta pyjama for the historic crossing at Kaman Post. "I am clad in black for a purpose. It is a tribute to all those Kashmiri boys who died in these mountains and along the Line of Control," said Malik. Times had changed, he added, since he first crossed over as a militant. "That was romanticism... bringing the gun to Kashmir," he said. "Going to Pakistan (now) is also romanticism. "I am going to Pakistan with a verdict of 1.5 million people," Malik
said, referring to the 1.5 million signatures he says he has collected from
people pleading for the involvement of Kashmiris in any talks over the
future of the region. |
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