Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 26: After failing to infiltrate through Line of Control (LoC) following tight Army vigil, militant leaders are planning to enter Kashmir through Nepal following deep crisis of their leadership in the Valley.
Highly placed sources said that security agencies are keeping a tight vigil at Nepal route of militants as they have inputs that top leadership is now adopting this route to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said that Army along the LoC has maintained a tight vigil and has made infiltration difficult following killing of militants on the LoC. General Officer Commanding (GOC) Srinagar based 15 Corps, Lt. General Om Prakash, recently said that around 40 militants managed to infiltrate this year into Kashmir despite tight vigil but majority of them have been eliminated in the operations.
Army said that militants this year even activated Uri route for infiltration but failed to infiltrate due to tight vigil along the LoC. Ten militants were killed in Uri sector this year by Army near the LoC while others fled back to PoK. Uri was the traditional militant route in 1990 but was abandoned following tight vigil in this sector.
The leadership crisis in the militant ranks is being felt after security forces eliminated top militant leaders in Kashmir valley since 2011. Now among the top leadership there are Lashkar-e-Toiba Divisional Commander for North Kashmir, Fahadullah, its South Kashmir Divisional Commander, Qasim and Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad Qari Yasir left.
Last year in July, security forces killed five top militant commanders in an operation in Kupwara’s Lolab Valley. These 5 top militant commanders belonged to LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and were all foreigners. This was considered to be a single major success of security forces against militants in Kashmir valley in which top leadership was wiped out.
These commanders were trapped when they were planning militant attacks in Kashmir valley. These commanders were LeT Divisional Commander, North Kashmir Saqib alias Sohail of Kasur, Pakistan; LeT Divisional Commander for Kupwara Hamad alias Haneef alias Alfa Islam, of Abbottabad, Pakistan; LeT Divisional Commander Central Kashmir, Qari Saifullah of Pakistan; Battalion Commander LeT Chota Saad and Battalion Commander, JeM Umair alias Hafiz.
In September last year police in Sopore killed LeT Divisional Commander Abdullah Uni. Uni was one of the most wanted militant commanders in North Kashmir who was operating from Sopore area and had fled from the security force cordon a dozen of times.
In October last year security forces eliminated Abdul Reham alias Rehman Bhai, Divisional Commander of LeT for South Kashmir in an operation in Shubdani village near Newa in district Pulwama. He was reactivating militancy in South Kashmir and was named as Divisional Commander for North Kashmir as well after killing of LeT North Kashmir Divisional Commander, Abdullah Uni.
In August this year, security forces killed Abu Hanzala Divisional Commander of LeT in Handwara forests. Hanzala was responsible for infiltrating militants from across the PoK and his killing was a major setback to militants’ infiltration plans.
Last week, security forces eliminated Divisional commander of JeM, Yasir Tunda, in an operation in Rafiabad in North Kashmir. Tunda was operating in Kashmir valley for past one decade.
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