Militants rule out total withdrawal

ISLAMABAD, July 14: Major Pakistan-based militant groups today ruled out possibility of a complete withdrawal from Kargil and said they h...

ISLAMABAD, July 14: Major Pakistan-based militant groups today ruled out possibility of a complete withdrawal from Kargil and said they have formulated a new strategy to carry out their operations in the Kashmir valley.

“For the time being, the mujahideens have formulated a new strategy to carry out their operations,” the United Jehad Council, an umbrella organisation of 15 militant groups, said in a statement here.

The statement indicated that the mujahideens were reverting to their old “hit and run” tactics by claiming responsibility for the ambush of a BSF camp at Bandipura in Jammu and Kashmir.

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“Mujahideens are changing their positions at the present Kargil front,” UJC said after holding closed-door consultation under the chairmanship of Syed Salahuddin to discuss the latest strategy, following appeals from Premier Nawaz Sharif to withdraw from the Indian territory. It also threatened to “create Kargil-like situation(s) in every part of Kashmir” as per its new strategy.

Incidentally,Lashkar-e-Taiba, by far the most organised and powerful militant group which is also a member of UJC, had also declared in a public rally here last evening that it had changed its strategy by urging the mujahideens to “go forward” instead of asking them to come back from Kargil.

Lashkar’s chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed severely criticised prime minister Sharif for agreeing to withdraw from the Indian side of the LoC and described the premier as a “coward” and a “traitor” who had bailed out India when its “neck was in our grip”. The UJC statement and the declaration by Lashkar-e-Taiba are viewed here as desperate attempts by the militant groups to maintain their public posture, in the face of the Govt’s resolve to implement the withdrawal decision as per the Washington Accord between Sharif and US President Bill Clinton.