Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, June 30: General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15 Corps, Lt General Subrata Saha, today said that number of militants on launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) has increased and there are increased attempts of infiltration this year.
Lt General Saha told Excelsior that the number of militants on the launch pads across the LoC has recently increased. He said that earlier around 200 militants were ready for infiltration and now more have joined them at launch pads.
The GOC said number of infiltration attempts have also increased this year. “In two weeks, 5 infiltration bids were foiled on the LoC and it signifies the increase in infiltration attempts by militants this year”, he said.
“The infiltration attempts are being made on regular basis. They come very close to the LoC, watch and go back”, said Lt General Saha. “We are there watching on the LoC ready to push them back”, he said.
The GOC said that the militants from all the three outfits of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) are making infiltration attempts.
When asked about the reports that JeM militants are more active on the LoC for infiltration this year, Lt General Saha said there is a perception that JeM militants are more on launch pads this year. “Once we intercept few groups then only we can say this with authenticity”, he added.
The GOC said that there are apprehensions that JeM may try to infiltrate more men this year after some linkages of the outfit with the fringe group of militants who are active in Sopore.
Lt General Saha said that infiltrators are desperate and “we may establish contact in a few days.” He said that the troops along the LoC are alert to foil any infiltration attempts.
This year Army has foiled five infiltration attempts by militants, mostly belonging to JeM, during past one month killing 10 infiltrators. Two Army jawans also lost their lives while one officer was critically injured. These infiltration bids were foiled in Tanghdar, Keran, Toot Mari Gali (TMG) and Macchil sectors along the LoC in district Kupwara.
Last year Army killed 59 militants along the LoC which is highest so far in past over a decade.
Army is upgrading the surveillance equipment deployed along the LoC to further strengthen the counter-infiltration grid. The new equipment includes obstacle and alarm system that could help in countering the infiltration attempts in a better and sophisticated manner.
It may be mentioned here that the infiltrators over the years have also changed to better equipment and communication devices and their communication is not picked up by the present equipment along the LoC.
They have also better quality of GPS as compared a decade back. Earlier, they were using sports GPS equipment and now they are coming with absolutely high technology GPS systems. Their reliance on radio sets is a bare minimal. The communication is happening on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), over Skype and so on which is difficult to trace.
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