More telecom towers set up in PoK to help ultras: Officials

PTI

Jammu, February 18

The number of telecom towers along the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) has been increased in recent times with an aim to aid terrorists and their associates in infiltration activities, officials said here. Terror groups have been using highly encrypted YSMS services, a technology that merges smartphones and radio sets for covert communication purposes, the officials said after a study of the pattern of infiltration bids and recent terror attacks, particularly in the south of the Pir Panjal range in the Jammu region.

Past attempts thwarted

Past instances of use of the CDMA technology in 2019 and 2020 were thwarted by security agencies by breaking the encryption. Officials say the present attempt will meet a similar fate.

Violation of international law

• The move of Pakistan violates the Article 45 of the constitution of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• Officials say the matter is being discussed at the ministerial level for taking it up at the international forum concerned.
• Pakistan’s officials have been deploying CDMA technology that allows multiple signals on a single transmission channel, posing challenges in controlling illegal communications.

With this technology, a handler of a terror outfit in PoK is connected with the infiltrating group and its reception party in the Jammu region on a telecom network used across the LoC. This is done to avoid detection by the Army or the BSF, which guard the borders with Pakistan. The project for boosting telecom signals has been completely handed over to the special communication organisation led by Pakistan’s army officer Maj Gen Umar Ahmad Shah, believed to be formerly working with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

The strategic placement of telecom towers near the LoC and the international border, generally used for aiding terrorists and their associates in infiltration activities, stands in violation of Article 45 of the constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a body under the United Nations. Article 45 of the ITU’s constitution requires all 193-member countries to take the steps required to prevent the transmission or circulation of identification signals, “and to collaborate in locating and identifying stations under their jurisdiction transmitting such signals”.

The matter is being discussed at the ministerial level for taking it up at the international forum concerned, officials said. The new telecom towers are operating on the Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology and the encryption has been done by a Chinese firm mainly for catering to YSMS operations, the officials said. The deployment of CDMA technology along the LoC has been done with the aim to complicate monitoring efforts as the technology allows multiple signals on a single transmission channel, posing challenges in controlling illegal communications.

Past instances of use of such technology in 2019 and 2020 were thwarted by security agencies by breaking the encryption. The officials said the present attempt of terror groups aided by state actors of Pakistan would meet a similar fate.

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