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India-Pakistan | |
Upsurge in terror in the Valley | |
2003-09-18 | |
There has been "a quantum jump" in infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC) as well as terrorist violence in the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir in the last three months. Army officers claim Pakistan is desperate to push in as many heavily-armed militants as possible before snow blocks the mountain passes and traditional infiltration routes along the 740-km-long LoC. Anticipating more fidayeen (suicide) and "stand-off" terrorist attacks against "high-value" targets in the coming days, the Army does not want to reduce force levels in J&K. Army vice-chief Lt-Gen Shantonu Choudhary himself said on Wednesday that Islamabad had "revived" terrorist-training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). "We have photographic evidence of this," he said, rejecting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s claim that his government had clamped down on jehadis.
The security forces, of course, are also notching up more successes against terrorists. The "kill ratio" has improved, with roughly five terrorists being killed for every soldier. Ninety-two militants, including some key leaders like Gazi Baba and Nasir Mehmood Ahwan "Ansar" of Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been killed by the security forces so far this month. In all, around 560 militants have been killed since January. With a large number of battlefield surveillance radars and hand-held thermal imagers now being inducted, which can detect movement almost 2.5 to eight km away, Army troops are also better equipped to detect infiltration bids across the LoC. "Even though militants also now have night sights, we have killed around 80 infiltrators since July. But only one out of four to five infiltration attempts is detected," said an officer. | |
Posted by:Paul Moloney |