Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 25: At least 17 groups of militants have become active across the Line of Control (LoC) opposite twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and Kupwara district of Kashmir valley with a view to infiltrate into the State to create disturbances even as the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), set up by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has maintained that 18 militants have infiltrated this year so far.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the credible inputs available with security and Intelligence agencies revealed that at least 17 groups of militants have been observed across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, who were fully geared to infiltrate into the State but high alertness being displayed by the troops hasn’t allowed them to succeed in their task.
As per the inputs, there were two groups of militants waiting across LoC in Poonch, three opposite Mendhar, four across Rajouri and two opposite Nowshera. Two groups of militants were stationed across the International Border (IB) in Samba. In Kashmir valley, there had been specific reports of two groups each waiting across Keran and Kupwara but the number could grow due to fast melting of snow in the summer.
All these groups belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits.
Some of the militant commanders of these three outfits were also active across the LoC to facilitate infiltration attempts by the militants.
“At some places, the terrain is such that infiltration would be there. Moreover, there is pressure on militants waiting on launching pads to infiltrate due to depleting number of terrorists in the State in view of successes achieved by security forces against the militants,’’ Northern Command (MoD) spokesman Col SD Goswami said.
He said focus of the Army will be to consolidate the gains made against the militants.
“We have a robust counter-infiltration strategy, which has appropriate mix of technology and human resources, innovative troops deployment, efficient use of surveillance and monitoring devices and enhanced ability to detect and intercept infiltration by the militants,’’ Col Goswami said, adding that all these measures were part of summer strategy to check infiltration attempts by the militants.
Sources said the Army has enhanced its capability and boosted its strategy to check the infiltration attempts on the LoC in the entire State. Similarly, the Border Security Force (BSF), guarding the International Border (IB), has also braced up to tackle any kind of intrusion bids from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, according to the MAC figures, only 18 militants have infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir during first about five months of this year as against 35 in 2015 and 65 during 2014.
“The infiltration was well under control,’’ sources said.
The MAC compiles the figures of infiltration based on the inputs of multiple agencies like Intelligence wings of various security forces, police etc. The MAC operates under the MHA.
Pointing out that the militants have now started using the International Calling Cards for communication to avoid interception of radio sets and normal SIM cards, sources said this trend has gained momentum for the past sometime now and the militants have started adopting this practice more and more.
According to sources, at some of the places across the LoC, Pakistan army has also been seen sheltering the militants to facilitate their infiltration during the night but troops have not allowed them to succeed.
They said that all 17 groups of militants observed across LoC are on radar of security forces as troops were determined to thwart their infiltration attempts. All these groups comprised majority of Pakistani militants and appeared to be well trained.
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