Jammu, Jan 6: Around 400 terrorists are currently in launching pads across the Line of Control (LoC), waiting to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir during the winters, after a tight anti-infiltration grid frustrated attempts by Pakistan to push them into the Indian side, according to security officials.
A top police official said that Pakistan is trying to infiltrate terrorists along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir even during the winters when most of the passes and mountainous areas along the border are covered in heavy snow. There have been reports of infiltration by 44 terrorists in 2020 as compared to 141 in 2019, they said. In 2018, 143 terrorists manage to infiltrate into J-K. Rattled by the success of India’s anti-infiltration grid with the blocking of several key routes, the Pakistan Army carried out 5,100 ceasefire violations in 2020, the highest since the 2003 truce came into effect, in its attempt to push in more terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir under the cover of mortar shelling and firing, the officials said.
“There are 300 to 415 terrorists in various launching pads in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the LoC ready to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir to disturb peace and normalcy by engineering violence,” an official said. While 175-210 terrorists are in launch pads along the LoC on the other side of the north of Pir Panjal (Kashmir valley), there are 119-216 terrorists opposite to the LoC area south of Pir Panjal (Jammu region), they said. “Pakistani agencies are using tunnels to push in armed terrorists, weapons, ammunition and explosive material in J-K. “They are also using drones to ferry and drop weapons and explosive material into border areas in Jammu and Kashmir along with narcotics to finance terrorism,” an official said.
This year, they are also trying to infiltrate terrorists into J-K even during the months of heavy snowfall. “In December last year, terrorists infiltrated into Poonch despite heavy snowfall but were neutralized,” an official said. (PTI)
