SAFAPUR (BARAMULLA), June 15: About a thousand villagers sat huddled together -- almost everyone shocked into silence. Nearby lay bodies of four militants, two of these reduced to charred stumps. A thick streak of smoke could be seen rising from the houses which had played host to the four.

Last Thursday's night-long encounter in Safapur village in picturesque north Kashmir proved only one fact: that militancy was far from over in the Valley. Also, that it had acquired a new face: that of foreign mercenaries. Two of the four militants who were killed on Friday were ``outsiders'' and there are many others operating in the area. This area once considered a stronghold of militant-turned-MLA, Kukka Parrey, is the new hotbed of terrorism.

For Colonel AK Rai and his troops stationed here, encounters with foreign mercenaries and their Kashmiri associates have become almost routine. ``We also get reports of large-scale presence of foreigners,'' admits Colonel PS Rathi. In four months, his men have killed 18 militants, of whom 11 were foreigners.

All the militant groups the troops encounter now comprise foreigners, says Colonel Rathi, and the locals are there for mere guidance and logistics support. Sometimes, Rathi's men strike lucky, like in Safapur. They were tipped off on the presence of militants in the village -- which is located on the banks of the serene Manasbal lake -- by some locals. ``They had been in the village for about 50 hours,'' says Col Rathi.

One of the mercenaries killed had explosives strapped to his body. While the foreign militants reportedly belonged to Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, their Kashmiri associates included a former counter-insurgent who was a Janata Dal candidate in the recently held elections.

The 30-year-old Latif, alias Bahadur Khan, had an interesting history. He started out as a ``deputy supreme commander'' of the Al Barq militant group at the onset of insurgency.

Later, he surrendered before the Army and became a leading pro-India counter-insurgent. However, after he contested and lost the last elections, he deserted an Army camp along with nine others and emerged as ``company commander'' of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Latif went on to become one of the most wanted militants in north Kashmir. Ironically, since he was an ex-Janata Dal candidate, he also remained eligible for security guards from the Government.

The Army is learning to live with the foreign mercenaries now, and the fact that they make better fighters. ``These men fight ruthlessly,'' notes Col Rathi. ``They know they will have to die and therefore they put up a desperate fight.'' He fears the foreigners will gradually assume control of militancy in Kashmir, especially once they become familiar with the terrain.

Reports of growing number of mercenaries have scared the villagers too. ``We shut ourselves indoors after 5 pm,'' says an elderly villager at Safapur. Not so long ago, the rise of counter-insurgents had almost brought normalcy to the area.

Parrey's men, in fact, are still working with the Army. However, their bravado notwithstanding, they too are frightened of the influx of mercenaries. (One of them puts their number in the area at 500-600.)

The main grouse of the counter-insurgents is the absence of a law to check Jamait-e-Islami activists, who are believed to organise logistics support for the foreigners. Under such circumstances, few villagers are willing to cross the path of the mercenaries.

Like when three foreign mercenaries and their two Kashmiri guides tried to kidnap the daughters of their ``host'' from a village near the local sector headquarters of Rashtriya Rifles recently. The ``host'' approached the Army for help. In the encounter that followed, all the five militants were killed.

Plot unearthed

In a major breakthrough, Jammu and Kashmir police has unearthed a plot to create disturbance during the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra with the recovery of a large quantity of arms and ammunition, including 40 packets of RDX, from Simbal camp near here, yesterday.

The DIG, Jammu-Kathua range, S K Mishra said that on interrogating suspected militants, police got the information that some Sikh militants were planning to create disturbance during the ensuing Amarnath pilgrimage by using dumped ammunition and arms.

The haul included 48 packs of RDX explosive weighing about 24 kg, 3 remote controls, 2 AK-56 rifles, 2 magazines, one pistol, 3 wireless sets, 30 detonators, 8 time pencils and other explosive material.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.