ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) President Pervez Musharraf”s pledge to crack down on terrorism failed to persuade India to ease the tense military standoff, and Kashmiri militants vowed more attacks against Indian rule in the contested Himalayan territory.
- Paul Wong
- A policeman shows a padlocked gate at the office of religious party Tehrik-e-Jafria yesterday in Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistani President Musharraf declared Saturday a crackdown on Islamic extremists and other sources of terrorism.<br><br>AP PHOTO
India”s government yesterday welcomed Musharraf”s promise to prevent Pakistan from being used as a base for terrorism and to ban five Islamic extremist groups. Two of the groups have been accused by India of the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian parliament in which 14 people were killed.
More than 1,000 people, most of them from the five groups, were rounded up during a weekend crackdown that began just before Musharraf”s speech was broadcast Saturday, Interior Ministry official Tasneem Noorani said.
Police also raided the offices of at least two Kashmiri groups not covered by the ban, according to members of the organizations. At least 80 people from those organizations al-Badr Mujahedeen and Harkat-ul Mujahedeen were arrested.
“The government is targeting (militant) groups at the behest of America and India,” said Mustaq Askari, an al-Badr spokesman. “But any crackdown or restrictions won”t hurt our struggle. Our Kashmiri jihad will continue.”
In New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh welcomed the ban on the two extremist groups blamed for the parliament attack Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. However, Singh told reporters India was “looking forward to full implementation of this measure” so that members of the groups do not continue their activities under other names.
“There would be a similar need to address other organizations targeting India, as also the parent organizations that spawned them,” Singh said.
Meantime, India will maintain its forces along the Pakistani border, where a million heavily armed and nuclear capable troops from the two nations face one another in their largest buildup since the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
“The mobilization remains as it is,” Indian Defense Ministry spokesman S.K. Bandopadhyay said in New Delhi. “We will keep the situation under observation. Whether it will ease or not is something to be seen over the next few days. Whatever (Musharraf) has said, he has to act on.”