New Delhi, Oct 15: With winter setting in and protests continuing in Pakistan, increased activity is being reported across the border. Terror groups are finding it difficult to carry out infiltration attempts due to tight security along the India-Pakistan border. Indian intelligence agencies estimate that nearly 500 terrorists are waiting at launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir.
The terrorists have been split into small groups of three to four to minimise the risk of detection by Indian security forces. An Intelligence Bureau official said that there is a lot of activity that is going on at these launchpads. “The winter is closing in, and the desperation is only increasing as several attempts that have been made in the last one and a half years have failed owing to tight border security,” the official said.
Terrorists usually attempt to infiltrate before the onset of winter, as heavy snowfall makes it difficult to navigate these routes. There has been considerable activity at the launchpads, indicating that the terror groups may be planning a major infiltration push before winter sets in, the official added.
Indian security agencies have also learnt that the Pakistan Army has provided these terrorists with high-altitude gear to beat the winter and snow. This is to ensure that infiltrations can take place during the peak winter. Another official said that this increase in activity at the launchpads in PoK could also be a smokescreen. The very fact that these terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen have been provided with sophisticated gear to beat the snow suggests that their attempts to infiltrate could peak in December.
“If one follows the pattern over the last several years, infiltration of terrorists normally drops drastically during December owing to heavy snowfall,” the official said. These terror groups think that the Indian Army’s guard would be relatively lower during this period, and this could be taken advantage of and infiltration could be effected. Another official said that even in the past, the Pakistani army has deliberated on providing terrorists with high-altitude and sophisticated gear to beat the snow.
“This time, the army has gone through with this and provided these terrorists with gear that the Pakistani army uses in Siachen,” the official said. In addition to providing these terrorists with sophisticated gear, several army personnel have been posted near the launchpads to aid infiltration.
The Pakistani army is keeping a close watch on developments on the Indian side of the border. Terrorists are being provided with real-time information on the movement of Indian troops to help them time their infiltration attempts, the official added. Officials say that Pakistan is also extensively using drones to map routes and track movements of the Indian Army personnel.
They are leaving no stone unturned and are even using the most sophisticated technology and gear to ensure that a large number of terrorists can enter Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army is on a state of very high alert following these inputs shared by the intelligence agencies.
There is plenty of movement around the launchpads, and this prompted the Indian Army to take stringent measures to prevent infiltrations. The urgency to push as many terrorists as possible into Jammu and Kashmir is also linked to the severe internal security challenges Pakistan has been facing, the official said.
With Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan witnessing unrest, Pakistan is under pressure on the internal security front and may be seeking to divert attention from these challenges. If infiltration attempts succeed, terror groups could carry out deadly attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, potentially shifting the focus away from Pakistan’s internal security situation.
The worry for the Indian security agencies is that terrorists would continue to make infiltration attempts even during the peak winter. They have been aided by drone technology to map routes and movements. Further, the Pakistan Army hopes that the high-altitude gear that it has provided to these terrorists would help in infiltration even when the winter is at its peak, an official said.
IANS