In a change of tactic by Pakistan-based terrorists, a new dimension has been added to the ongoing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The Army has nabbed six terrorists who were carrying Pakistani passports. They included: Abid Hassain Gani of Hassanpur Bagh, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatt of Arwini, Ashique Hussain Shah of Turigami Yaripura, Parvez Ahmed Wani of Bandipore, Mudassir Ahmed Wani of Kalantare Payen and Ashiq Hussain Teli of Kupwara.
This implies militants can now fly out of Pakistan unhindered to countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh and sneak into India, said a senior functionary. In fact, it was after several years that Pakistani passports have been found from terrorists in the Valley.
The Army and security agencies are interrogating the youths, who have been nabbed from various parts of Jammu and Kashmir in recent past by security forces. Notably, all these youths are originally residents of the Indian side of the J&K and all of them have been to Pakistan and had disappeared for a few years before re-surfacing again in the past. At least one of them has been to Nepal and has an entry stamp on his passport of that country.
Entering India from others countries is easier as compared to an attempt to cross the Indo-Pak border. Almost the entire Indo-Pak border is fenced. Thermal imagers and ground sensors pick out any movement while radio and telephonic intercepts are more fine-tuned and targetted. This is not the case on the highly porous Indo-Nepal border while large swathes of the Indo-Bangladesh border just cannot be fenced. Lastly, the sea route from Sri Lanka to India is very easy to take. The LTTE and Al-Qaida have had traditional links.
No Evidence of Taliban
The Centre, on its part, has denied having any evidence on the infiltration of Taliban terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir as the security in the insurgency-hit State was under continuous monitoring of the Government.
The security agencies had inputs about the Pakistan-based terror groups’ designs to vitiate the atmosphere during the parliamentary elections and accordingly the poll schedule for the six constituencies was scattered through all the five phases of polling so that enough security is available during the democratic exercise.
The infiltration of terrorists into the State has slightly increased in the last few months. Reports of a large-scale infiltration of terrorists in Jammu Kashmir are not valid. It is just not possible for anyone in the State to accommodate hundreds of the terrorists at any place on a particular point of time.
The Union Home Ministry is monitoring the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir on a daily basis and several meetings have been held to review the security situation there, including at the level of the Union Home Secretary and Union Home Minister. A meeting of the Unified Command was also held to review the security situation and take prophylactic steps to thwart any untoward possibility.
Alarming Situation
But what is of serious alarm is that the recent infiltrations are qualitatively much more sinister, and therefore, the rising concern about them within the security establishment is not unfounded. For one, in a significant shift from the trend over the last few years, terrorists have been infiltrating in large groups as was discovered during the fierce encounters in Kupwara and Gurez sectors of the Valley in the last few weeks. This is something that hasn’t been seen since 2004 when the Line of Control (LoC) was fenced.
That now the terrorists have reverted back to their old strategy, in spite of it being riskier is a measure of how motivated the present lot of jihadis are to carry out their evil designs.
Matter of Concern
In fact, the deteriorating security environment in Pakistan does not help either. It is quite possible that the resurgent nature of the infiltrations in 2009 is directly linked to Islamabad letting the Taliban and its ilk have their way in parts of that country, if not all. Also, due to the persistent bombing of the Taliban camps in Pakistan’s north-west by the US forces, the jihadis have been increasingly forced to move east. Since Islamabad cannot be counted upon, the only option left for India is to halt the terrorists at the LoC and gun down every jihadi who dares to put his foot on Indian soil.
Given all this, it is a matter of concern that New Delhi is doing little more than indulge in customary responses to counter the surge in cross-border terrorism. Although the security forces have been put on high alert across the western border, the present rush in infiltrations will require much more to contain the insurgency.
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