LeT wages 'water war'

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba issued a statement in which the dreaded outfit made it clear that the next war would be over water. It may sound strange that a concern of the Pakistan government is being voiced by a group which has been declared as a terrorist outfit.

This is the second time in three months that the Lashkar is issuing such a statement regarding the water dispute with India. Around 15 days prior to the Pune blasts, the Lashkar during a huge rally in Pakistan occupied Kashmir had spoken about the water dispute with India. The leaders of this outfit had said that India would continue to get attacked.

The Lashkar realises that it has been branded as a terrorist outfit and gradually the local public in Kashmir too is accepting the fact that this outfit has nothing good in store for them. The Lashkar had a lot of local support in the Valley in certain quarters. However now with the numerous incidents of meaningless acts on part of the Lashkar, that local base is being shaken up. Indian agencies say that a couple of months ago, the Lashkar along with the ISI reviewed its strategy. During this meeting it was decided that they would have to regain the sympathy and support of the local public. The lack of support from the locals has made their battle against the Indian troops difficult since they are unable to get the logistics which they would have desired. Moreover the Lashakr and the ISI is also trying to counter the strategy of the Indian agencies which has been doing everything possible to involve the locals in its battle to restore peace in the Valley.

The Lashkar in this regard launched and has now been propagating that India has designs to obstruct the flow of rivers towards Pakistan. They have also been saying that India proposes to construct several dams on Chenab and the Indus rivers to stop water to Pakistan. They have also been trying to convince the people of the Valley that they will be badly affected if India goes ahead with these projects.

Further the Lashkar also says that India is trying to create problems by constructing dams in violation of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 thanks to which the rivers in Pakistan have reached low levels.

Intercepts that were picked up of the meeting would go on to suggest that the Lashkar is trying to raise social causes so that it emerges as a saviour. They would in future concentrate more and more on social issues such as water and electricity to ensure that the local support for them returns. However the meeting also went on to decide that they would use aggression in case India did not stop all these projects. The IB says that the Lashkar has plans of destroying these dams if India does not stop work on it. The Lashkar is already working towards it and in the months to come it would try and target dams across the country to prove its point. The Lashkar has towed a new line while recruiting cadres for these operations. They say that it is better to blow themselves up and help others who may die of thirst.