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19 Killed In Kashmir Violence, India Says Pakistan Massing Troops
SRINAGAR, India, Nov 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Nineteen people were killed in separatist-linked violence overnight in Indian-administered Kashmir, a police spokesman said Sunday.
Indian officials also alleged that Pakistan was moving troops closer to the Kashmir border.
The Indian army, assisted by counter-insurgency police, shot dead eight Muslim rebels at Tarkhana Dhoke Shahpur in the southern Poonch district overnight, a police spokesman said.
Security forces have been carrying out counter-insurgency operations in the Poonch district since Friday, which have killed 50 Muslim and resulted in several arrests.
Indian security forces also shot dead three Muslims in the southern Doda district overnight, a police spokesman said. Two security force personnel were injured during the encounter, which erupted as troops moved in to conduct a search-out operation.
In the same area, police said, gunmen shot dead a Muslim civilian overnight.
Four separatists were also killed in two separate encounters overnight in villages near Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the northern district of Kupwara, police said.
Three more people, including pro-government activists, died elsewhere in Kashmir. Police blamed the deaths on "militants" - a term used by Indian officials to describe the armed Kashmiris fighting against Indian occupation.
The violence came as Indian officials said Monday that their armed forces and paramilitary border guards were put on alert after reports that Pakistan was moving men and munition closer to the border.
Farooq Abdullah, chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, said Pakistan was massing "troops, tanks and heavy artillery" along the Line of Control (LOC), the de-facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Further south in the desert state of Rajasthan, B.D. Sharma, deputy inspector general of India's Border Security Force (BSF) at Jodhpur, said India has been put on alert along the 650-mile border with Pakistan.
"We can see Pakistani soldiers belonging to the 191, 35 and 10 infantry brigades amassing some 15 kilometers [nine miles] from the zero line [outer limit of the shared border]," Sharma said. "We can also see some offensive formations comprising infantry and tank divisions near the border. There is a build-up near Ganganagar, Kishangar and Longewal in Rajasthan. It is not normal."
Abdullah spoke to reporters as the Kashmir administration reopened its offices at the winter capital, Jammu. He called for action to prevent the situation from worsening.
"They [Pakistanis] shell our villages and make our people leave their houses," Abdullah said. "How long should we tolerate this?"
Abdullah demanded the Indian air force strike camps across the LOC, where he claimed rebels infiltrate and stage attacks in Kashmir's Indian zone. Pakistan denies training Kashmiri rebels on its soil.
Indian and Pakistani troops have been exchanging fire over the LOC and international border since the beginning of last month.
Tensions further rose when the Indian army launched "punitive operations" against the Pakistani army along the LOC on October 15, damaging or destroying 11 Pakistani posts and claiming to have killed 30 Muslim "rebels" in the operation.
The Indian operation occurred as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell began a trip to India and Pakistan and the latest tensions come just as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the region.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since both gained their independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle against Indian rule. An estimated 35,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 1989.
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