Infiltration attempts on rise as winter sets in

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, November 19

With snowy winter about to set in when high mountainous passes will be covered by snow, Pakistan-trained terrorists are making desperate attempts to infiltrate into the Indian territory. There have been many infiltration attempts in both the regions of the UT and many terrorists have been eliminated in the recent past.

Many of the militants, who have been successful in entering the UT, have also been eliminated by the security forces, putting a major emphasis on human intelligence during recent times.

Five terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror organisation were killed in an operation in Kulgam district of Kashmir recently. While these militants were local residents, their location was detected with the help of human intelligence. A terrorist believed to be from Pakistan was also killed in Budhal of Rajouri on Friday. He most probably infiltrated recently.

Two terrorists, including a key terror launch commander, were recently killed along the LoC while infiltrating into Uri of Baramulla district. The Army had said that the anti-infiltration grid had been strengthened and terrorists trying to infiltrate into the Indian side were being detected and eliminated.

Sources in the Military Intelligence informed that the terrorists infiltrating from Pakistan into Rajouri and Poonch districts along the Line of Control (LoC) generally take the route of Pir Panjal mountain ranges to reach Kashmir where they are assigned operations. As many of the terrorists have been killed in different operations in the UT, the terror organisations are desperate to increase the number of militants in J&K before the snow season sets in.

Meanwhile, a combing operation is continuing in forest areas of Rajouri and Reasi district to make sure that no terrorist survived after an encounter at Behrot in Budhal. Sources informed that while the search operation in jungle areas had become a routine since Dhangri attack in January this year, an operation had been launched since Budhal encounter on Friday.