Ever since Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s successful visit to New Delhi, Intelligence agencies have discovered an increase in radio traffic between terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) sectors facing Keran and Machil in Kupwara.
Alarmingly, the communications centre on vitiating the atmosphere in Jammu & Kashmir by triggering violence. Glimpses of it were witnessed on Saturday. Hours after unidentified militants snatched three rifles after shooting a policeman guarding a central Kashmir shrine, four policemen and two civilians were wounded in a separate attack when militants opened fire on a police party in Shopian town of South Kashmir.
The attack comes even as security forces are bracing for massive infiltration bids from across the line of Control (loC). The last such incident took place on May 10 and it is the lull since then that is a worrying factor for operational commanders, who are redrawing tactics to stop militants from sneaking into the State, especially from Kupwara which is known to be a hotbed of terrorists.
Moreover, while laskhar-e-Tayyeba chief Hafiz Saeed’s visit to some terrorist training camps in POK facing Poonch earlier this week is also an indicator of Kashmir bracing for a “hot summer”, recovery of weapons with markings of Tehreek-e-Taliban Mujahid (TTM) — a terror outfit operating in different parts of Pakistan — has caused serious concerns among the security grid in the State.
The AK rifle was recovered by security forces at the end of a fierce gunfight with infiltrators in Poonch sector on May 10. Prem Bhadur Roka Magar, a soldier of the Gurkha Regiment had neutralised one of the infiltrators in a hand-to-hand combat near Bagial Dhara along the loC in Jammu division.“Since Sharif’s visit here on May 26, the communication between the terrorists and their handlers in POK has increased. The directions are clear, violence should be stepped up,” sources maintained.
The State has so far not seen any major terrorist related incident since the infiltration bid. However, since all the known ingress routes are now open after remaining blocked during winter due to snow, the security forces have stepped up aggressive patrolling in specified sectors.
Army chief General Bikram Singh, who met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday in New Delhi, briefed him about this scenario and the measures taken to prevent increase in levels of violence which have seen a downward trend in the last three to four years in the State.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley will also be given a presentation by the Army in this regard sometime next week in the War Room in New Delhi.
Modi was supposed to be briefed on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and operational preparedness to meet any challenge from Pakistan and China on June 3 but it was postponed due to Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde’s death.Between April 16 and June 3, 2014, more than one dozen incidents of ceasefire violations and foiled infiltration bids were reported along the loC in Rajouri and Poonch districts. The presence of Border Action Teams (BAT) of the Pakistan Army was also noticed at different intervals along the loC. Few incidents of foiled infiltration bids were reported along the International Border as well in Jammu region. .
Incidentally, 267 infiltration bids were reported last year in which 38 militants were killed on the loC as compared to 32 attempts till April this year in which three militants were neutralized.On the eve of his retirement last week, the outgoing Northern Command chief lt-General Sanjiv Chachra while sharing his assessment about the current security situation in the State had warned the formation commanders about the considerable impact of the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan on the borders of Jammu and Kashmir.