A senior National Conference leader has charged the Indian army for triggering the 5th December blast in Srinagar to seek a greater role for itself in the present administration in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The bomb went-off minutes before the arrival of puppet chief minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, at a function near Hazratbal at the grave of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah. On the condition of anonymity, he said, that the blast was reportedly meant to expose the loopholes in the chief minister's security detail and to shake his faith in the Jammu and Kashmir police.

Aasha Khosa wrote for The Indian Express, Kashmir corps to tackle militancy: "Sources close to the government revealed that the decision to appoint army commanders of Jammu and Kashmir Corps as the ex-officio security advisors to the chief minister, was clinched immediately after the blast.

"The state department handed over the investigation of the bomb blast to the crime branch. However, even the tell-tale signs at the blast site advanced a sabotage theory.

"The bomb planted on the periphery of the university campus was not a device as suspected earlier. It was a crude explosive detonated by a battery. 'The suspect could clearly see the target and the fact that he chose the time to detonate the bomb when not even a bird was around, reveals that it was sabotage, a senior security officer told The Indian Express.

"According to investigations carried out thus far, the bomb blast was aimed at making a point rather than aimed at a target. The bomb was planted around 11.30 p.m. the previous night, amidst large scale surveillance. Its wires were traced to the staff quarters of university employees.

"Sources in security told The Indian Express that investigators were able to find out that the explosion was a sabotage by one of the official agencies. It was yet another example of the many internal warfare taking place within the security forces. The experts have opined that the security of the Chief Minister be entrusted to a single agency instead of involving a plethora of them as is happening presently.

"Army authorities insist that they had no hand in getting the proposal of corps commanders materialised. 'However, it is a fact that the army played a major role in insurgency situations,' a senior army functionary remarked. The army claims that the proposal was mooted by the 'civil government.' . . . the army and the National Conference government, the party legislators from Kashmir today (11th December) held a long session with army officials here [at Srinagar]. The meeting was aimed at 'ironing out distorted perceptions about each other,' an official of army informed," The Indian Express, 11th December 1996.

Meanwhile, a senior member of the puppet regime of Dr Farooq Abdullah has charged the Indian security forces for keeping turbulence alive in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Dr Mustafa Kamal, the younger brother of "chief minister" Farooq Abdullah and the Health Minister, alleged that a section of Indian forces and bureaucracy has developed a vested interest in the continuation of violence in the occupied state. In an interview (17th January) with the Jammu-based English daily, The Excelsior, Dr Kamal said that the forces had been involved in smuggling of timber and other such activities. Asked why his government appointed two army generals (the army Corps Commanders Lt Gen J S Dhillion, Kashmir, and Lt Gen J S Bhullar, Jammu) as security advisors, he said "the arrangement was made to keep the army in good humour," adding "if his government did not maintain good relations with army, they will kill double the number of people they were killing now." He reminded the forces that there was no martial law imposed in the state and suggested that they should carry out their operation in a humanitarian way. The minister said "we will throw the forces outside the state, by reducing their deployment in Kashmir. We cannot allow them to spill the blood of innocent people on our roads."

Dr Kamal is a practising allopath and a bachelor. He stayed back in the Valley over the past nine years when all the active members of the National Conference, including his brother Farooq Abdullah, fled the occupied state.

Earlier, after assuming power, Farooq had decided to minimise the role of Indian security forces to win over the Kashmiri people. However, finding himself helpless in front of the army of terror, his government has virtually surrendered to the India army by handing over to them affairs of law and order and authorised them to coordinate and intensify counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Acquiring a new mandate to kill the people of Kashmir, sanctioned by Indian installed "democratic government," the army decided to raise four new battalions consisting mainly of renegades. The new battalions would be, one each of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and two newly created battalions called Indian Reserve Police Force (IRPF).