IRANIAN AGENTS IN KASHMIR OPERATING UNDER PAKISTAN'S SPONSORSHIP
By Anvar Sultanov*
ALMATY 21 Dec. (IPS) To enhance its strategic status in the disputed Kashmir and train Islamist activists, the Islamic Republic of Iran uses intelligence agents operating as agricultural experts, according to a well-informed source.
"The clear intention is to build an infrastructure of cells of
well-trained combatants with radical Islamist ideology who, when needed, will
act against India in the Kashmir region, as instructed by the Pakistani
government", Mr. Anvar Sultanov, a political and intelligence
researcher told Iran Press Service.
"One way for the Islamic Republic of infiltrating its agents into (the Pakistani-controlled) Kashmir is through agricultural projects", Mr. Sultanov revealed in exclusivity for IPS.
He said to hide its true objectives and means (of providing service to the Pakistan-backed Kashmiri Islamists) from India and the new government of Afghanistan; the Islamic Republic sends agents disguised as agricultural experts.
"Pakistan’s President General Parviz Mosharrraf is well aware of these activities, as are the Interior Minister Haidar Mo’ineddin and his Iranian counterpart, Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Moosavi-Lari", he added.
In early 2002, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry instructed the country’s Agriculture Ministry to provide cover and instructions for its agents, supposedly in agricultural projects it implements in Kashmir under Iranian guidance. This includes instructions on saffron crops, a highly prized spice in the Khorasan area of Iran and in Kashmir, Mr. Sultanov added.
The control of the whole, mountainous area enclave between India and Pakistan caused three wars between the two neighbours, both of them now possessing nuclear arms.
"Iran activity in Kashmir fits in with Tehran’s plans to extend influence in Shi’ite Muslim regions", the researcher said, adding that the Muslim activists are trained in camps inside Iran, including one on the outskirt of the Capital and on the road to Qom.
Activists undergo a special training program to assist Islamic liberation movements active in Kashmir and various other places.
According to the information, obtained from informed regional intelligence sources, Iranians activities among the Shi’ites in Kashmir has been discussed and assessed for over a year among Iranian intelligence agents in India, who are in contact with leaders of the "Hurryat Kashmir Conference" (the organization for the liberation of Kashmir), including Omar Farooq and Sheykh Abbas Ansari.
"The latter asked for assistance from the Iran-controlled Hezbollah in Lebanon to beef up its guerilla forces in Kashmir", the sources said, adding that Iran consequently advised its representatives in Syria, (Hoseyn) Sheykholeslam to instruct Hezbollah leader Sheykh (Hasan) Nasrallah to send Hezbollah guerilla warfare instructors to Iranian-sponsored training camps to train activists designated for Kashmir, under appropriate cover on behalf of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.
"The clear intention is to build an infrastructure of cells of well-trained combatants with radical Islamist ideology who, when needed, will act against India in the Kashmir region, as instructed by the Pakistani government", Sultanov further explained, adding: "This obscures the identity of the combatants in Kashmir while serving Iran’s aims of entrenching its status and obtaining a foothold among the Shi’ite population in the region". ENDS IRANIAN AGENTS IN KASHMIR 211202
Editor’s note: Mr. Sultanov is a researcher based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
He provided this information in exclusivity to Iran Press Service.