20000303India again accuses Pakistan of backing Mujahideen

NEW DELHI: India turned up its rhetoric against Pakistan on Thursday, accusing the military government of sponsoring terrorism "as a matter of state policy".

New Delhi, which plays host to U.S. President Bill Clinton later this month, said the international community now openly recognised Pakistan's backing for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

"Pakistan continues to pursue activities directed at spreading propaganda about Jammu and Kashmir in the international community," Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh told parliament.

"Its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India also continues unabated."

Minister of State in the interior ministry Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao alleged continued efforts by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and pro-Pakistan Mujahideen groups to send their men across the border into occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

A LITANY OF VIOLENCE

He told parliament that in the three months from November there were 62 instances of hurled grenades, 66 explosions, 10 rocket attacks and 188 instances of random firing in the state.

He also said that in 1999, 821 civilians and 356 security personnel were killed by Mujahideen in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Security forces killed 1,082 mujahideen during the year.

Rao said that as of mid-1999, 400 Pakistani nationals, who had come to India with visas issued in their home country, had gone underground in the state of Uttar Pradesh alone.

"The possibility of some of them having links with the ISI cannot be ruled out," he said, adding that the government was considering a White Paper on the activities of the ISI in India.-Reuters