Britons take war holidays in Kashmir

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>"Ashok Chowgule"

>"Ashok Chowgule"

>

>Britons take war holidays in Kashmir >Sun, 28 Jan 2001 19:49:39

+0530 > >Britons take war holidays in Kashmir >by Dalip Singh and James Clark

>The Sunday Times >January 21 2001 > >AT LEAST 900 young British Muslims are

leaving the country each year to >take part in the battle for Kashmir, with

many using holidays from good >jobs to fight in what they regard as a holy war,

an investigation has >revealed. > >Recruited in mosques, bookshops and community

groups, they spend three >months being trained in mountain camps on the Pakistan

border before >entering the conflict against India. > >Delhi is so angry about

the increasing numbers of fighters being >trained, and the £7m raised in

Britain to "defend" the disputed >province, that a private meeting has been

called in the Indian capital >tomorrow with representatives of the Foreign

Office and MI5, the >security service. > >Indian officials will demand that

Britain take stronger action to stop >recruitment and fundraising, which they

claim goes directly to terrorism >and sees up to 1,800 Britons making the

journey each year. > >MI5, which has a special section dedicated to looking

into the problem, >disagrees with the Indian estimates. However, a security

source said: >"There are about 900 UK citizens who make this trip for training

each >year. About 10% of those stay and fight, the rest take their political

>and religious indoctrination and bring it back to their own communities,

>mostly for fundraising and recruitment." > >He said the service was accutely

sensitive to accusations that it was >targeting Muslims, but insisted that it

was targeting terrorists >regardless of colour. > >The Sunday Times spoke to

three men in north London, all university >graduates from middle-class British

families, two of whom held down >highly paid jobs. All three had trained or

fought in Kashmir. > >Abu Yahya, 27, said: "I have just returned from Pakistan.

I joined >Islamic camps and met Islamic leaders. There I was trained with Islam

>jihad movements like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami and

>Harkat-ul-Ansar. We were trained to use Kalashnikovs, make bombs, >everything

that an army would need to wage battle." > >Izzadeen Abdullah, a 25-year-old

white former Christian with a degree in >optical engineering, adopted Islam,

had also recently returned. "I >crossed the border in Kashmir. I think for any

Muslim, the most eagerly >awaited opportunity is to kill the enemy. > >"The

Indian soldiers don't deserve any mercy and I'm happy to say that I >took part

in wiping them out. > >"We are planning to go there next month. I'm an engineer

in fibre optics >so I just contract out for a couple of months from work." >

>Also in the house was Abu Ibrahim, a 29-year-old computer engineer. "You

>would be surprised to know that there are many computer guys in places >like

Canary Wharf who are involved in these kinds of activities. I have >had

training here in the Territorial Army and again in Jammu and Kashmir >in

Pakistan." > >The one thing all three have in common is a fear of the

government's new >anti-terrorism act, due to come into force this year. They

believe it >will lead to them being jailed in Britain if they continue to

travel to >Pakistan and Kashmir. > > > > > Get your FREE download of MSN

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