ISI training Chinese youth on Pakistan-Afghan border

JAMMU, May 6: Security agencies here are closely following up on recent reports suggesting that Pakistan's Inter-Services-Intelligence held ...

JAMMU, May 6: Security agencies here are closely following up on recent reports suggesting that Pakistan8217;s Inter-Services-Intelligence held camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border for giving weapons training to a group of youth hailing from the Chinese province of Xin Jiang.

From all the evidence collected by the agencies, corroborated by the disclosures made by some militants apprehended recently, it has come to light that these youth were trained at an Al-Badr training camp. However, the authorities have not yet been able to clearly establish where the militants are headed. While initial intelligence reports have ruled out the destination of these mercenaries as Jammu and Kashmir, the fact that the recruits are from the politically sensitive Xin Jiang province might have wider ramifications, according to insurgency experts.

Sources in the security agencies say that the Chinese youth were spotted for the first time in January this year. Arrested militants revealed during their interrogations that theyouth spoke Kashgari language popularly called Tarkistani Chinese and initially, reported to the Headquarters of the Jamat-e-Islami in Lahore. From there, they were sent to Al-Badr training camp at Ooji, a place on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Sources said that 15 Chinese youth were imparted training at a separate camp insulated from other mercenary camps for Algerians, Afghans and for those from the Gulf countries. Here they underwent a month-long basic training and 45-day specialised training in handling explosives. For improving their prowess8217; in explosive handling, the training was repeated 2-3 times. After the completion of the training, the militants reported back to the Jamat headquarters at Lahore.

Though the agencies here have been able to garner all this information, they are still in the dark about where the militants are headed. 8220;Even though we have lots of inputs on their training methodology and the numbers, the problem is that their destination is still not clear,8221; an officer said. He,however, said that Kashmir could not be a possible target. 8220;With their features and culture, they will be easily recognised if they are send here,8221; an officer involved in counter-insurgency services said.As of now, according to sources, it seems that the recruits are headed either for the insurgency-affected north-eastern states of the country or the volatile Xin Jiang province itself, whose residents have been demanding a Xin Jiang Autonomous Region XAR. 8220;Most probably they are headed for Xin Jiang province,8221; said an officer.

Explaining further, he said that in early 1995 the Xin Jiang region had witnessed an uprising, with the residents demanding an autonomous region. But the Chinese Government launched a crackdown on the separatists and many of them were forced to go underground, he said. Now, it is being speculated that the recruits trained by the ISI might be the separatists who had evaded the Chinese Government crackdown in 1995.