NEW DELHI, July 6: The recent spurt in militancy in Jammu and Kashmir has yet again shattered peace in the beleaguered Valley. Intercepts of conversation between Kashmiri terrorists and their masters in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) suggest that local terrorists have been told to avoid the army at all costs.

It is the activities of foreign mercenaries that have exacerbated the Valley's ensuing war. In the past six months, Indian troops have successfully intercepted 591 militants, of which 458 were killed and 133 arrested. But the alarming fact is that out of the 591, 31 have positively been identified as foreign nationals from Sudan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These include Pakistan army regulars like Havaldar Mohammed Khaled of the Special Services Group, a commando force, captured recently following an encounter at Reasi near Udhampur.

Army sources state that the high success rate in capturing these mercenaries owes to a growing lack of will in obeying their Pakistani masters. On interrogation, Khaled, a Pakistani soldier, revealed that he was planted by Pakistan's ISI to run a cell for the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Khaled and a dozen other Pakistani soldiers had infiltrated into the Valley disguised as members of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Interrogation reports show that these captured mercenaries were briefed to expect absolute subservience from the Kashmiri people and little or no resistance from the Army. However, after the initial attempts at extortion, abduction and rape, they increasingly find it difficult to find food, shelter or support.

This has forced them to take shelter in the dense jungles where they are easy quarry to Indian Army troops. Finding themselves trapped in these conditions some of these foreign mercenaries have even made vain attempts at over-running Army troops.

Interrogations have also revealed that many of the ISI's activities, for which budgetary allocation cannot be made from government funds.

These mercenaries are simultaneously being used as couriers in drug dealings and are currently being encouraged to proliferate drug addiction among Kashmiri youth, say security force officials. This is expected to lead to a drop in support from locals, hitherto based on ideological and psychological factors.Moreover, another startling revelation which the Army has been able to obtain from interrogations of captured mercenaries is that many of them have resorted to terrorism due to social ostracism in their native societies, the causes for which are numerous, ranging from criminal or sadistic personality traits, mental instability, or the despair of leading life in refugee camps.

Interrogation reports also point to a high level of disillusionment within the cadres regarding the purpose of their jehad.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.