Following a fresh spell of snowfall in the higher reaches of Kashmir valley including the areas along the line of control in North Kashmir, security forces are gearing up to intensify their anti-terrorist operations anticipating the movement of terrorists towards the plain areas. During heavy snowfall several high-altitude mountain passes and traditional infiltration routes in the region get blocked. The terrorists hiding inside the thickly forested areas of North and South Kashmir also relocate to safer hideouts to escape the adverse weather conditions.
Anticipating the movement of terrorists in the coming days the security forces have further enhanced their vigil and also strengthened their intelligence network to neutralize them before they can execute their nefarious designs to target security forces in the region.
At the same time, the security forces are facing the challenging task of extracting human intelligence due to a slight shift in the terrorist strategy. Sharing his assessment of the prevailing security scenario in the valley, Inspector General of BSF, Kashmir Frontier Ashok Yadav Saturday said terrorists have cut down on communications amongst themselves which is posing a huge challenge to the security forces in tracking them down.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of BSF’s Raising Day celebrations at STC Humhama, Srinagar Ashok Yadav said, “Terrorists always try to strengthen their security protocol. They minimise communication which creates gaps in intelligence gathering. “But, all the agencies analyze whatever inputs they get to identify their hideouts and supporters to neutralise them”.
Asked whether the minimum communication among terrorists was posing a challenge to track them, the IG BSF said, “It is a huge challenge,” but, he added, the security agencies will also implement new strategies to counter that. “The security and intelligence agencies are brainstorming to find ways to counter these new challenges,” he added.
Yadav said there are continuous attempts of infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) before the onset of the winter, but the security forces make their operational plans ahead to dominate the “vulnerable gaps”. This year too, Indian forces are dominating and they endeavor to thwart any such attempts before the heavy snowfall, he said.
Asked if there was information about the presence of terrorists at the launchpads across the LoC, the IG BSF said according to the intelligence inputs, there are people at the launchpads waiting to try to infiltrate “to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere here”.
“But the way we are alert on the LoC and conduct area domination, we are very confident that we will thwart such attempts,” he asserted.
In the Jammu region, the joint teams of security forces are already conducting massive search operations in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch to track down the footprints of the foreign terrorists hiding inside the natural caves in the higher reaches. On Thursday, a terrorist hideout was busted during a combing operation by the Army in the Chajla area of Mendhar in Poonch. A huge cache of explosives and ammunition was recovered from the hideout, which was located under a bridge in upper Chajla in Mendhar.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is likely to activate its Winter border management strategy to prevent any major infiltration bid from across the International border. Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi also reviewed the current security situation in the Kathua district of Jammu region in the first half of November.
