Kashmir militia chief says he needs guns for 15 years
Ashutosh Razdan
Kashmir Website: *** http://webusers.anet-dfw.com/~kashyap/Kashmir.html ***
Kashmir militia chief says he needs guns for 15 years
By Jawed Naqvi
SRINAGAR, India, Sept 20 (Reuter) - A militia chief contesting local
elections in troubled Kashmir said he would surrender his guns to the
government only after the last pro-Pakistan guerrilla was dead, saying it
could take 15 years.
Kuka Parray, a bard-turned-militia leader, said his Awami League party
would work as a watchdog to keep Kashmir's new government, due to be
elected in four-stage local polls ending on September 30, from going soft
on separatist insurgents.
"My mission is to see the end of the last Pakistani militant in
Kashmir," Parray told Reuters this week in Srinagar, summer capital of
India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
"After that I will surrender all my weaponry at Lal Chowk (city
square) in Srinagar."
Parray, 39, is the best known "renegade" -- armed militia battling
separatist guerrillas in the Himalayan province.
He picked up the gun in 1993, putting on hold a profession as singer,
poet and musician.
"When I saw excesses by the militants growing every day -- they were
raping women, killing intellectuals, doctors and journalists -- I sold a
piece of my ancestral property and bought three guns with the money."
Parray dismissed widespread claims, also denied by government
authorities, that he is armed or funded by Indian security personnel, who
critics contend allow his men freedom of movement in the strife-torn
Himalayan region.
India accuses neighbouring Pakistan of formenting separatist violence
in Jammu and Kashmir where more than 20,000 people have been killed since
the separatist revolt began in January 1990. Pakistan says it provides only
moral and diplomatic support.
Human rights groups and Kashmiri politicians say Parray's militiamen
have killed many suspected militants, part of a spiral of violence in a
state with some 200,000 police, paramilitary troopers and soldiers, and
thousands of militants.
Parray, 39, shrugs off the accusations.
"God was kind to me," said the portly father of six children. "No
sooner than I got the guns I was told about seven Afghans who had kidnapped
some Kashmiri women to rape them.
"I went to the house, killed all the seven Afghans, and got their guns
as a bonus."
Parray formed the Awami League party six months ago ahead of Kashmir's
first parliamentary elections in nine years.
The Awami League is contesting 44 seats in Kashmir's four- stage polls
for the 87-member assembly.
Parray admitted there had been "excesses" but said the perpetrators
had either left his group or were thrown out.
"For six months, I am sure you have not heard of Kuka Parray's men
being involved in any controversial incident," he said, smoking a Kashmiri
hookah pipe.
Outside the room, the Awami League office in a posh part of Srinagar
was guarded by uniformed gunmen and state policemen.
Several Kashmiri political parties including the state's largest
grouping, the National Conference, have asked New Delhi to disarm some half
dozen government-backed militias.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, expected to be the state's
next chief minister, has lodged formal complaints with the federal Election
Commission, threatening to pull out of the polls if pro-government militia
are not disarmed.
Abdullah has vowed to crack down on both separatist guerrillas and
renegade militants if his party wins. But Parray dismisses the threat.
"No one has the guts to disarm me before my mission is over," Parray
said. "It could take 15 years."
Asked how many gunmen his own group had, Parray said: "Enough to
finish off the 7,000 militants who are still there."
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