"India should realize and strongly convey this to Pakistan that continuous militant attacks could hamper the ongoing peace process at a time when India has been going all out to help Pakistan to meet the challenges of the Oct. 8 earthquake, " said strategic analyst Rajeev Sharma at The Tribune newspaper.

Sharma linked the increase in attacks to the deliver by India of aid to victims of the Oct. 8 quake that devastated Pakistani Kashmir.

"It is really amazing that India has already delivered 1,300 tons of relief material to Pakistan by road, by rail and by air and pledged $25 million toward quake relief, but terror attacks by Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba are increasing," he said.

In three consecutive militant attacks from Monday through Wednesday, 11 civilians were killed and 121 injured. Indian security agencies held LeT, which is on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organization, responsible for the attacks.

The first attack on a paramilitary force bunker in the state capital, Srinagar, Monday killed four people and hurt 13 injured. In the second incident, militants hurled a grenade at a public rally organized by regional People's Democratic Party, which shares power with the Congress party in the state.

On Wednesday, a car packed with explosives went off near a bank near a tourist rest house, killing four people and injuring 63 others, including an independent member of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

Indian security forces arrested an alleged suicide bomber whose accomplice, they say, was shot dead by forces on Monday.

"The arrested terrorist admitted to being a Pakistani national who was given military training in Pakistan-held Kashmir. He crossed the border in early November. He is a member of the LeT," said Gopal Sharma, director general of police Kashmir range.

The state police chief said the ongoing investigation into the car bomb pointed to the involvement of LeT.

"So far we have not made any arrests, but the investigation is going on and we are hopeful we will be able to crack down LeT modules responsible for the recent spurt in violence," said H.K. Lohia, deputy inspector general of police, Jammu and Kashmir.

Amid the increase in violence in the troubled state, the local administration has sounded a red alert. The federal government has asked the state police and security agencies to change their strategy and coordinate with intelligence agencies on terror-related issues, an Indian interior ministry official said.

State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called the attacks an act of sabotage to hamper the ongoing peace process in the state.

"The infiltration has increased after the earthquake and they (militants) are trying to destabilize the peace process, he said after visiting the injured at a local hospital. "They will not be allowed to succeed."

Indian intelligence agencies had warned the federal government of the possibility of increased violence ahead of its decision to open up the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, so quake-related relief can get through easily.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two wars over it. India accuses Pakistan of backing the separatist rebellion in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies. The two rivals have since April 2003 been engaged in a peace process to mend ties.

Indian media and analysts said that a listless peace process with Pakistan will only lead to more terrorism.

"The time has come for Delhi to dispel the impression in Pakistan that India has no option but to stay with the peace process," said an editorial in the Indian Express newspaper.

Sharma, the analyst, said the three attacks in Kashmir marked a failure of India's foreign policy.

"India's Pakistan policy is coming apart. It is indeed surprising as to what steps the Indian government has taken or is taking to practice what it preaches, which is zero tolerance to terrorism, " Sharma said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a recent regional forum warned Pakistan against the continued presence of militants in Pakistani Kashmir.

"Our terrorists cannot be your freedom fighters, " he said.

On Thursday, the prime minister used the a conference in New Delhi to reiterate those comments.

"We must join hands to put our collective house in order as peace in the region will benefit us all," he said. "Terrorism anywhere will hurt us all."

related report
India Holds War Games Near Pakistan Border
Pokhran, India (AFP) Nov 18 -- India's military Friday staged a grand finale to major military manoeuvres, showcasing newly-acquired T-90 battle tanks and warplanes close to the border with Pakistan in the Thar desert.

The Indian military said New Delhi gave advance notice of the 14-day exercises codenamed "Operation Desert Strike" to neighbouring Pakistan in line with a pact between the nuclear-armed rivals, who are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to end their decades-old feud over Kashmir.

"Such exercises show our capability and ability," said Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said, however, the war games were not designed to intimidate India's neighbours.

"India does not have any territorial designs...all our capabilities are just aimed at protecting our interests," Mukherjee said as supersonic jets dived in mock attacks.

Officials said the exercise was the biggest since the 1987 Operation Brass Tacks in the desert state of Rajasthan which sent tensions skyrocketing between India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars, two over the Himalayan state of Kashmir.

Forty-two observers and diplomats from 30 countries including Bangladesh, Britain, China, France and the United States were at the war games in Pokhran.

"We welcome such observers," the defence minister said.

The army chief General J.J. Singh said Beijing had invited New Delhi and Moscow to send observers to recent Chinese exercises. Ties between India and China, which fought a border war four decades ago, have warmed in recent years.

"Our men also went to China and so we invited them as we are just showing our capabilities and we hope there will be better cooperation in the future," Singh, head of India's 1.4-million strong army, told reporters in Pokhran.

The latest exercises were staged in the vicinity of India's nuclear testing site, where New Delhi stunned the world by carrying out nuclear tests in May 1998 that sparked tit-for-tat blasts by Pakistan days later.

Friday's finale came a day after the Indian Air Force wound up joint 12-day exercises with the US Air Force in Marxist-ruled West Bengal state.

The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest, said it deployed its French-made Mirage-2000, Russian MiG-27s and MiG-21s and British-designed Jaguar warplanes along with attack helicopters and drones in the Thar exercise.

"Forty percent of the participation in the exercises is by the air force," said Indian Air Force spokesman Squadron Leader Mahesh Upasini.

The army said some 20,000 troops, combat vehicles and artillery were also taking part in Operation Desert Strike, aimed at highlighting India's military capability in a high-tech environment.

"The exercise is of great significance as joint operations have acquired strategic importance," said a commander quoted by the Press Trust of India news agency, which did not disclose his name.

The army said the two Gulf Wars were key examples of successful military campaigns in which action was initiated by air power and sustained by ground operations.

India deployed some of the 310 T-90 tanks it bought from its Cold War ally and biggest military supplier Russia for 105 million rupees (2.44 million dollars) each as part of a February 2001 deal.

"These machines are being put to extreme tests in extreme conditions of the Thar," an armoured corps commander said.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware.

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