Pakistan's main spy agency gave military training to Kashmiri freedom fighters battling security forces in Indian occupied Kashmir, a pro-independence leader has revealed for the first time. While India has long accused Pakistan of training and arming the freedom fighters, a charge Islamabad denies, this is the first confirmation by a pro-independence leader. It comes at a time of unprecedented peace steps by the two nuclear-armed powers.
The revelation of help for the freedom fighters from Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency comes in a new book by Amanullah Khan, chief of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
"We had a gentleman's agreement, an oral sort of agreement. I was given the idea that the ISI was all for the independence of Kashmir," Khan told Reuters on Friday, referring to the beginning of ISI help for his group.
He said he was given the impression that Pakistan's then military ruler, General Ziaul Haq, also supported the notion of independence for Kashmir.
Khan said the JKLF began bringing young men into Azad Kashmir from the Indian (occupied) side in 1988, where they received training from the ISI.
"The agreement was that we will bring boys from across and indoctrinate our ideology by ourselves. ISI trains them and they are sent back," he said.
The JKLF, which wants independence from both India and Pakistan, is one of about a dozen groups opposed to Indian occupation.
It split in the mid-1990s, with one faction giving up armed opposition. Khan's faction suspended its military action several years ago.
Khan's Urdu-language book "Jehed-e-Musalsal", is the second volume of his autobiography. He said he expected to publish one more volume.
Khan said ISI training for his group ended in late 1989 or early 1990 after the intelligence agency tried to interfere in his group's affairs.
At the time, the ISI was nurturing other groups with a different ideology, he said, referring to the gradual rise to prominence of more Kashmiri groups, compared with his more secular, nationalist group.
Since then, relations between the two neighbours have improved, and last year they launched peace talks.
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