ISLAMABAD: The much-published second attempt by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) militants to cross the Line of Actual Control (LAC) flopped March 30 with Pakistan security forces arresting 500 marchers and plugging the entry points.

While groups of JKLF volunteers assembled near the town of Chinari close to the LAC they were not permitted to proceed further with their plan of crossing over to the Indian side.

JKLF spokesmen had claimed thatabout3000oftheirvoluncers had managed to reach the vicinity of Chinar adjacent the town of Chakoti 10 km from the LAC Sunday night preparatory to their attempt to cross over. Repos however said the volunteers did not amount to more than a few hundred and while they had managed to defy the stringent security measures and overcome any demoralization caused by the detention of their leaders they did not appear to have sufficient strength to mount the final assault on the LAC.

A by-product of the confrontation between the Government and the JKLF was the arrest of leaders of the mainstream Opposition parties of Pak-occupied Kashmir (Pak) Sunday night. These leaders whose parties had clubbed together in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Alliance had proposed to party out a parallel march to Chakoti to bid farewell to these seeking to cross the LAC from the West and i receive those coming over from the Indian side.

This clever attempt to delink them from the JKLFs program which they felt was being lunched at an inappropriate time never the-less posed an administrative problem as the authorities would have had to contend not merely with the JKLF sympathizers but with those of the mainstream Opposition parties as well.

This added threat appeared to have been nipped when the POK police arrested the Liberation League president Sultan Mahmood Chaudhary former Speaker Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar of the Peoples Panty Azad Kashmir and Sardar Khalid Torahim of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party in a raid Sunday night.

Sultan Mahmood Chaudhary had told journalists prior to the arrest that their decision to proceed to Chakoti had been taken in fulfillment of their national and moral “obligation While pointing out that the Government of Pakistan had no right to arrest residents of Azad Kashmir he had said that there was a need to review the constitutional relationship between Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. He further accused the “Azad Kashmir” Government of having imposed a regime akin to martial law.

According to reports from Muzaffarabad a peaceful atmosphere prevailed Monday morning. Police and paramilitary forces had been deployed in strength on the approaches to the LAC and the administration expressed its resolve that not a single person would be allowed to proceed to the LAC The PoKs Minister for General Administration Sardar Siab Khalid who outlined the steps taken said that operations to nab JKLF volunteers were still on as of Sunday though the police were facing difficulties in tracing the hideouts of the JKLF leaders.

While pointing out that restriction on vehicular traffic moving towards Muzaffarabad had been removed strict vigilance was being maintained on all routes leading to Chinari and Para-military forces had disallowed traffic and the mobilization of pedestrians in areas adjoining Chakot.

Earlier in the day the JKLF was holding tight maintaining that their few thousand volunteers who had reached Chinari adjacent to Chakoti about 10 short of the border would begin their march from this township. These 3000 volunteers as claimed by the JKLF had managed to sneak into Chinari before the security clamp down came fully into effect and were said to be hiding in small groups preparatory to the commencement of the march.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992