Spurt in cross-border terror likely in summer

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Ahead of the onset of summer, the defence establishment is apprehending a spurt in militant violence in Jammu and Kashmir with indications that Pakistan has increased its activity of pushing infiltrators into the state.

There has been a rise in activity to upgrade the terror infrastructure along the Line of Control (LoC) coupled with an increased number of ceasefire violations in the last few months, defence sources said today.

Three high-powered communication centres have been activated inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to facilitate the movement of increased number of militants and their guides across the LoC, they said.

The centres help militants run their own communication network to interact with their handlers inside Pakistan and the people set to receive them at their destinations, they said.

Citing the recent trends in violence initiated by militants, the sources said there was a possibility of increase in violence levels in and around Srinagar in the next couple of months.

In the first three months of 2011, only seven civilians died whereas in 2012, there were only seven attacks and there was no casualty to security forces.

However, this year there have been 18 incidents of terrorist-initiated violence in which 12 security forces personnel have lost their lives along with 10 civilians, they said.

They said the number of ceasefire violations in this period also indicated that there could be a spurt in militant activities in the coming months.

In 2011, in first two months of the year, there were only six ceasefire violations whereas in 2013, already 24 such incidents have taken place, they said. (AGENCIES)