India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

Vol. 15 :: No. 25 :: Dec. 05 - 18, 1998

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THE STATES

A Pakistani infiltrator tells his story

Mohammad Asim is one of the few foreign insurgents operating in Jammu and Kashmir to have been captured alive in recent years. A resident of Multan in Pakistan, Asim's story challenges many of the myths about foreigners active in Kashmir. Far from being motivated by Taliban-style religious bigotry, Asim was led across the border by poverty, fear and exploitation by religious groups. Last fortnight, he surrendered to the Special Operations Group in the State after his hideout in the Bandipore forests was surrounded. One of his colleagues, Abdullah, was killed in the course of the encounter, while a second terrorist, Tauseef, escaped. Praveen Swami met Asim to hear his story. Excerpts from the conversation:

What is your background? Were you motivated to fight in Kashmir from an early age?

No. My family lives in Qadirabad mohalla in the Laiyya tehsil of Multan. We are very poor. My family has just six qillas of land. My father passed away some years ago. I am the only son. I used to study at a madrassa after school. We were not taught anything about Kashmir at the madrassa, we only studied the Koran. After the 10th standard, I dropped out of school in order to earn a living. The madrassa offered me the job of making rotis and I started work there.

How did you join the Al-Badr faction of the Hizbul Mujahideen?

After I spent a year at the madrassa, Moulvi Abdul Haq, the head of the madrassa, asked me to join the jihad group in Kashmir. I did not want to go, but the moulvi assured me that I would not be involved in any fighting. As I am the only son, my family was also scared to send me. The moulvi promised me a proper job when I came back. He also promised money to get my three sisters married. Finally, I agreed to go. I was sent to the Al-Badr camp at Mansera (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). There were about 150 boys there, who mostly spoke Punjabi. For 20 days, we were taught to use small arms, Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and rocket launchers. Then I was told the time had come to cross the border.

Did you realise by then that making rotis was not your only job?

Of course, I had been given a gun. But the Al-Badr camp leaders told me I had nothing to worry about. They said all the fighting in Kashmir was in the towns and not in the forests where we were going to stay. My job, they said, would just be to cook for the mujahids at their bases. I knew this was nonsense, but at this point there was nothing I could do. Had I demanded to leave, I would have been shot.

How did you cross over to Kashmir?

We were brought to Haltiyar on the border, near Kupwara. After two days, a Kashmiri guide joined us to take us across the border. Everyone called him Mama Guide ("Mama Guide" was killed in December 1997). We moved over the hills for days, up towards Uri and then to the Bandipore forests. There we were given another guide, a Kashmiri boy who was code named Maseb. Maseb took me and Abdullah, another boy from Pakistan, from Bandipore through Safapora, Pattan and Beerwah to Budgam. I think we were to join a larger group there, but that never happened. Maseb treated us badly, making us clean up the hideout and do all the cooking. As our group seemed to have vanished, we were very nervous. Finally, Abdullah and I made our own way back to Bandipore.

Why Bandipore?

We knew other Pakistanis were there because of our wireless contacts. Like us, many of the Pakistanis and Afghans who had come here were fed up with the Kashmiri Hizbul Mujahideen. We had decided to work separately as Al-Badr and learnt the lay of the land by ourselves. For myself, I had been told that I could go back home after three months. But three months became six and then twelve. I was desperate to go back.

How did you survive once you left Maseb?

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Mohammad Asim.

We would take shelter in familiar hideouts in the hills. When we came across a village, we would stop to ask for food and a place to sleep. People would usually give us food, but very rarely let us stay. They would insist that we leave the village after eating. It was very difficult to survive. The Kashmiri people were not at all helpful. This was another reason why Al-Badr was formed - so that those of us from Pakistan could operate independently.

How were you finally caught?

One night Abdullah, Tauseef and I walked into a house on the outskirts of Bandipore. The people there did not want us to stay, but we were tired and we forced them to let us sleep. In the morning, Abdullah and Tauseef suggested that I go down to the town to find out the routes from there. I also needed a haircut because after more than a year in the jungles my beard had grown very long and dirty. An hour or so later, the police and the Army surrounded the place. Tauseef had left to scout around, so he got away. Abdullah opened fire, but he died when they fired rockets on the house. I was in a state of total shock, and could only cower in a corner. Then they asked me to come out with my hands up. I did so.

What do you hope for now?

I have been produced before the magistrate in Baramulla and I hope he would be lenient to me. But I can never go back home. They will kill me because I surrendered. I hope I can find a way to stay here until times change. I would also be grateful if someone reading this could tell my sisters, Riyaz Bibi, Tahira Bibi and Shaida Bibi, that I am alive and well. They live in Mohalla Qadirabad, Ward No. 8, Laiyya tehsil, Multan, near the Zia Qaryana merchant's shop.