In the fourth such incident within a year in Jammu & Kashmir, terrorists sneaked into an Army camp in Kupwara on Thursday and killed three soldiers, highlighting the vulnerability of Army infrastructure in the trouble-torn State.
Officials in Delhi said that lack of funds is one of the main reasons for the Army’s inability to secure its camps by installing high-tech gadgets, including electrified fences, night vision devices and radars.
The Army is likely to soon hold a meeting to strengthen its defences as proposed by a committee headed by former Army Vice-Chief lieutenant-General Philip Campose. The committee was formed after the Pathankot airbase attack in January last year.
Campose found gaping loopholes in the security set-up of many installations and submitted a report to then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in May last year, suggesting a series of steps to improve security.
They included inducting modern technology such as Closed Circuit Televisions, electrification of the perimeter fence, and night vision devices for soldiers guarding the camps. These proposed measures formed part of access-control, perimeter security-cum-intrusion detection systems and better Intelligence response mechanisms.
The Defence Ministry had circulated broad guidelines based on the Campose report to the three Services and directed them to conduct an internal security audit to plug the gaps.
There are an estimated 500 big and small Army camps and installations in J&K and at least Rs1.5 crore to Rs2 crore is required to enhance the security as per the Campose report, officials said on Thursday.
“Many of these camps are situated in remote mountainous terrain where only plain barbed wires serve as perimeter security. Their inmates are like sitting ducks in case of a fidayeen attack,” officials said.
Campose had mooted extra financial allocation for improving the security of the Army camps, but the Government is yet to approve it.
Following the report, strengthening perimeter security was accorded top priority and the Army was asked to have additional watchtowers and sentry posts along the periphery of camps to detect any suspicious movement. The Commanders were also asked to conduct area domination exercises regularly to deny terrorists movement and free run.
Officials said in most of the attacks, terrorists received support from local sympathisers in terms of inputs about the movement pattern of troops and the layout of the camp. Citing the instance of Thursday’s attack, they said the terrorists were not carrying backpacks, indicating they infiltrated some days ago from across the line of Control (loC) and possibly took refuge in nearby hamlets. This gave them ample time to assess the strengths and weakness of the camp and they attacked it in the early hours.
In his six-chapter report, Campose had also proposed an external audit of security of camps and installations. So far, the Services have not agreed to the audit, maintaining it should be left to them. Ensuring security of installations is the responsibility of the respective Services, be it airfields, Navy establishments or Army camps.
A proposal to raise a special unit of 20,000 retired but physically fit soldiers was also mooted for guarding the Defence installations. It was also under active consideration of the Government.
The proposed unit will be part of the Defence Service Corps (DSC), which secures the Defence establishments all over the country. The Campose Committee recommended making available better version of AK-47 rifles instead of self-loading rifles (SlR) to the DSC teams besides fast moving vehicles, bullet proof jackets and night vision devices. The DSC recruits retired Services personnel.