June 3, 2002	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

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NEW DELHI, June 2: Al Qaeda fighters who allegedly fled Afghanistan to Pakistan are poised to enter occupied Kashmir, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes claimed in an interview published on Sunday in the Hindustan Times.

“We have information that Al Qaeda men were in Pakistan and are now poised to enter Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan does not want to keep them there to create problems for itself,” Fernandes said.

“This is what is worrying us more than anything else. They are all in camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” he said.

He said it was difficult to pinpoint the camps since they were “makeshift” and could easily be moved from one place to another.

“The moment you say that they are in this particular spot, they promptly shift them. People can mix with the local population, so Pakistan can claim there are no camps,” he said.

Fernandes told a security conference in Singapore that cross-border incursions in Indian Kashmir were part of the war on terrorism born from the Sept 11 attacks.—AFP