Five radio sets, not the routine automatic weapons, recovered from a group of infiltrators in Nowgam sector of North Kashmir on Saturday have put the security forces on conjectures to assess the strategy of militants. Three heavily armed militants, belonging to a group of five infiltrators, were shot dead in a prolonged gun-battle in Tutmar Gali area of Nowgam sector in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday. The group was intercepted shortly after its members sneaked into the line of Control (loC) in the wee hours. Three bodies were recovered while other members remained untraceable.
They might have either returned to the other side of loC or crept in deep forest to avoid contact with us, a security officer has said. But all the members have left their radio communication sets on the encounter site, which are being analysed by the Army engineers. The Army has not specified the manufacturing details of the radio sets but sources said that they are easy to handle, modern and effective communication tools.
Over past several years, since the mobile telephony was introduced in embattled Jammu & Kashmir, the use of radio sets has taken a back seat. “We used to recover only one radio set when such a group was intercepted. This time each member was carrying an individual set,” said a Defence source. Sources said that militants have suffered tremendous cadre loss due to use of mobile telephones. This is one of the major reasons for them to return to wireless systems where specific location of militants becomes difficult to trace for the security forces.
“The security forces have inflicted maximum damage to militancy after mobile phones were introduced in 2003. Once a specific lead is with the security forces, entire network is put on surveillance. This has helped to track down not only militants but also their over ground workers,” said a police officer. The police and Army have established effective surveillance systems to monitor militants’ mobile phones.
However, of late many militant groups, including Hizbul Mujahideen have given up using mobile telephony. In fact, a militant group lashkar-e-Islam attempted to ban mobile telephony in North Kashmir’s Sopore pocket where recovery of a wireless device from a mobile tower antagonised militants to issue threats. The attempt, however, boomeranged though militants were initially successful in imposing ban after they killed two persons associated with the telecommunication trade and hurled grenades at several mobile tower sites.
Following public outcry over the issue, hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Geelani declared lashkar-e-Islam as an outfit floated by “Indian intelligence agencies”. The police insist that the group is a front for Hizbul Mujahideen and it had plans to bring the mobile telephony to a grinding halt in Kashmir valley. The United Jehad Council also corroborated Geelani’s view on the outfit. “It is premature to say whether the import of radio sets has any link with the ban on telecommunications. We are looking into every angle”, Defence sources said. “This can be a new strategy or they (militant leaders across the loC) might be thinking of establishing effective command over the cadre,” he said.