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Israeli Intelligence Helps India Quell Kashmiri Resistance
LONDON, Aug 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli intelligence agencies are heavily involved in helping India combat Muslims in the disputed province of Kashmir, said Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor, news agencies reported.
The Israeli regime was reported to have "several teams" in Kashmir training Indian counter-insurgency forces to fight Muslim groups.
The Monitor said the moves "fits into Israel's increasing focus on events in Central Asia, and as far afield as Indonesia," the Times News Network reported.
Both sides acknowledge the "mutuality of the threats they face" from what was called "Islamic militants", the monthly magazine said.
The intensified cooperation was said to follow Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani holding talks with Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, during a visit last year, when he inspected Israel's security operations and defense industry, the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported.
As in Central Asia, there was a "convergence of U.S. and Israel strategic interests, where India is concerned," it said.
Last month, India's Hindustan Aeronautics signed a memorandum of understanding with the state-run Israel Aircraft Industries, which the monthly also said opened the door to several joint projects involving technology transfers to India, IRNA added.
The Monitor suggested that the Indo-Israeli partnership had been growing for sometime and was "beginning to show similarities with the military partnership that has developed between Israel and Turkey".
Recent reports in the Israeli media also speak of increased exchanges between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, including one account of a phone conversation between India's foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, and Israel's Shimon Peres, in which they discussed security issues facing their countries, according to Times News Network.
Although Singh did not express openly any support to Israel's assassination of Palestinian resistance activists, Perez is said to have explained the rationale of the Israeli attacks.
Israel's goal is not only to defeat Palestinian resistance, which it terms "terrorism", but to find an all-out solution by a complete crackdown on Palestinian activists, Perez is understood to have told Singh.
The Indo-Israeli exchanges are attracting plenty of attention in U.S. strategic circles and many analysts are watching to see what lessons New Delhi will draw from the Israel's aggressive measures against Palestinian resistance movements.
The two sides are beginning to talk regularly on the political plane as well. The Israeli media reported last week that Singh assured Perez that India will not accept any form of the Zionist-racism equation at the International Conference On Racism in Durban, South Africa, later this month.
Israel has, meanwhile, signed secret cooperative agreements with 39 countries, including India, to prevent information leaks from joint security projects, The Times of India reported.
As per the agreement, in the event of an information leak or transfer of sensitive information to a third party by a spy, both countries must work together to investigate the matter, media reports said.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Indian army chief General S. Padmanabhan said Friday that troops in Kashmir had succeeded in killing a number of key Islamic activists battling New Delhi's self-imposed rule in the region, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"The militant groups have lost significant chunks of their leadership," the United News of India (UNI) news agency quoted Padmanabhan as telling reporters in New Delhi.
"They have suffered substantial casualties. I am not saying it's promising, but militarily it has been good," Padmanabhan added.
New Delhi accuses Pakistan of allegedly aiding what it terms "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir.
Islamabad rejects the allegation, emphasizing it only extends "moral and diplomatic" support to the Kashmiris who are fighting an "indigenous war of independence."
Meanwhile, in Kashmir, Indian occupation force border guards shot dead three Islamic fighters belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, official sources said Friday.
The three were killed in Ponychak in the Akhnoor region of Jammu, they said.
Indian occupation troops also killed a member of the Lashkar in an encounter in Udhampur district on Thursday, an Indian defense spokesperson said.
According to AFP, the conflict in Indian-occupied Kashmir has claimed 990 Muslim activists lives and 336 Indian personnel since January.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between them and claimed by both.
Pakistan, which puts the toll at 70,000, denies Indian allegations of sponsoring "cross-border terrorism", but backs the Kashmiris' "legitimate struggle for self-determination".
"We are not encouraging any violence in Kashmir," said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during the failed Indo-Pakistan summit in Agra last month. "This is an indigenous freedom struggle. You call it terrorism, we call it genuine freedom struggle."
Last month, a summit level meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Musharraf in the Indian city of Agra collapsed over disagreements on Kashmir.
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