Rattled by the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, Islamabad could be looking at staging Pulwama-type attack on the security forces’ convoy or their establishments as Pakistani intelligence operatives have stepped up espionage efforts to extract information on troop deployment, especially the CRPF, and their movement from different parts of the country to the Valley.

Agencies here have alerted the paramilitary forces to sensitise officials connected with the troop movement not to reveal any information sought through unauthorised or unsecured communication lines.

Pakistani operatives are known to make pseudonymous calls posing as officials of Army/Air Force or police to seek information on the deployment and logistics of the paramilitary forces.

Last year, the security agencies had issued a detailed advisory to the stakeholders to remain alert to Pakistani espionage tactics by keeping a watch on the visa violators, tracing Pak nationals with valid visas and missing Pak nationals besides tracking visiting business delegations from across the border and fortifying counter intelligence apparatus around sensitive defence and scientific research institutions.

Pakistani intelligence operatives also seek information by attempting to compromise officials of Indian missions abroad, making pseudonymous calls to Government officials, cyber offensives and the like to gather intelligence on scientific developments in space and missile technology, defence exercises and simulation facilities among others.

The thrust areas for Pakistan-directed espionage include activities of the Indian Armed forces and the paramilitary forces and their deployment and movement patterns besides assessing their future requirement, procurement of military hardware, ascertaining the organisational set up, communication network, location of cantonments, air and naval bases, rail movement of Army and paramilitary units, annual exercise programmes of Army including simulation exercises and war games.

Their emphasis is also on gathering telephone directory of defence and paramilitary units, especially of those deployed along the Indo-Pak border. The ISI officials posing as Army, Air Force and police officers call the CRPF control rooms to seek information on various aspects of troops movement and deployment, officials said.

 “To the detriment of national security, the Pakistani operatives have been successful in a number of instances in extracting the mobile numbers and WhatsApp numbers of control room officials for further communication and intelligence gathering by befriending them,” an official said.

The renewed emphasis by the Pakistani intelligence agencies on CRPF could be due to the fact that the paramilitary has largest deployment in the Valley including after the recent troop build up of troops in the run up to the abrogation of Article 370 by the Parliament.

Presently, CRPF, being the largest paramilitary, is the biggest stake holder in securing the newly carved out Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The CRPF has been deployed in this border State since fifties and is a key contributor in the Valley’s security grid.

The latest alert assumes significance for CRPF as the mobility is highest amongst the forces and convoys could be a target of the Pakistan-sponsored terror groups.

The CRPF has suffered major casualties in the Valley with Pakistani terrorist groups adopting the tactic of carrying out suicide car bomb attacks on paramilitary and Army convoys. On June 17, an army convoy was targeted with a car bomb attack. It was preceded by the attempt on CRPF vehicle at Banihal. Somehow the car bomb could not explode in time. However terrorist succeeded in targeting a CRPF bus at Pulwama on February 14 killing 40 CRPF men. Many CRPF, Army and Jammu and Kashmir police vehicles have been ambushed in the Valley in the last six years leading to casualty of at least 50 troops.

CRPF veterans who have rendered most of their service in the Valley said that there should not be any let up in troop deployment even if there is perceptible improvement in the security situation on the ground. Return of normalcy has proved to be superficial in past occasions and the administration should launch massive de-radicalisation drives to channelize the youth into mainstream.