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India warns Pak against allowing marchers to breach LoC

Amberish K Diwanji

The threat by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front to cross the Line of Control on October 4 is fast becoming another dispute between India and Pakistan, with India once again reiterating that it is the responsibility of Islamabad to stop any attempt to cross the Line of Control.

The so-called Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front is based in Islamabad and seeks an independent Jammu and Kashmir. Led by Amanullah Khan, the JKLF has declared that on October 4, its cadres and supporters will cross the Line of Control which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The LoC has been functioning as a de facto international border since 1948.

Amanullah Khan has declared that the JKLF does not recognise the sanctity of the LoC as a border and believed in the unification of the state.

Pakistan has declared it will not seek to stop the JKLF from crossing the LoC, and that it was for the Indian authorities to deal with them.

In 1993, the JKLF had organised similar marches across the LoC, but were stopped by the Pakistani armed forces and border guards. The Pakistani forces broke up the marchers and dispersed the groups even as they attempted to breach the Line of Control.

However, this time Pakistan is refusing to take the responsibility for the marchers, claiming that it cannot be responsible for their actions while India insists that since the marchers will be moving from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control towards the Indian side, it is Pakistan's responsibility to deal with them.

New Delhi has once more declared that Pakistan will have to ensure the "inviolability of the LoC." The ministry of external affairs stated it had informed the Pakistani government through diplomatic and military channels that India expected Islamabad to take the necessary steps to stop any attempted crossing of the LoC.

New Delhi has also warned that Pakistan would be responsible for the "consequences which may result from its failure to prevent such a crossing." The MEA spokesperson said that maintaining the sanctity of the Line of Control is of fundamental importance for the maintenance of tranquillity and security.

Earlier, national security advisor and the prime minister's advisor, Brajesh Mishra, had also warned Pakistan against allowing any crossing by any organisation.

The army has made it clear it will foil any attempt by marchers to cross the LoC. Indian forces, particularly in the Poonch sector of Jammu, are gearing up to frustrate the JKLF programme. Indian army officers have said the army would put up signs in both English and Urdu to warn any would-be marchers not to cross the LoC.

According to reports, army officers have said that the army is keen to ensure that civilians are not hurt, but at the same time would not tolerate any forced crossing of the LoC. An officer said that shots would be fired into the air to warn marchers.

However, while Islamabad is officially maintaining it will not intervene, news reports indicate that the government is trying to dissuade the JKLF from undertaking the march across the Line of Control, which divides Indian Kashmir from Pakistani-held Kashmir.

Pakistan has appealed to the JKLF to reconsider its decision, saying that the Indian Army may open fire upon the marchers leading to a bloodbath.

Meanwhile, India continued its attempt to build an alliance against the spectre of international terrorism, especially that originating from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

On September 30, 1999, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh met his counterparts of the European Union, Belgium and Germany in Brussels and Berlin.

European Commissioner for Foreign Relations Chris Patten, who met Singh yesterday, suggested that India and the European Union, hold discussions on international terrorism and also on the financing of terrorism.

Similarly, at Singh's meeting with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer, both of them discussed the spread of terrorism in Central Asia and beyond, especially from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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