Security forces yet to nab five who sneaked in from Pakistan

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the Pakistan-based terrorist group which owned responsibility for the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Kashmir on Thursday, has grown in strength in the last few months and at least 40 of its operatives are now active in south and central Kashmir.

Moreover, out of 11 foreign terrorists neutralised by the security forces in last two months, nine of them were from JeM.

Besides these alarming trends, the security forces are also worried as they have so far not been able to nab at least four to five suspected JeM terrorists who sneaked from Pakistan into Jammu region almost a fortnight back. Some blood trails were found in the fields in Samba region then and a manhunt was launched but so far no luck for the joint team of Border Security Force (BSF), Army and the local police.

Giving these details, officials in the security establishment said on Saturday this is very alarming as JeM terrorists are infiltrating into the Kashmir Valley through Jammu region considered to a “non-traditional” route in terms of infiltration. After sneaking in from the heavily guarded Jammu region, they travel through the 300-km long national highway till Jawahar tunnel in Banihal, the gateway to the Valley, undetected as the vehicles are rarely checked while going from Jammu to Srinagar.

Even as the security forces have managed to neutralise at least 11 foreign terrorists including nine of JeM, alarm bells have started ringing as three encounters near Srinagar in late last month, in which three JeM terrorists were killed, took place after they managed to reach the outskirts of the capital by road from Jammu undetected.

Admitting that the phenomenon of JeM using non-traditional routes like the borders of Jammu and Punjab has emerged the “highest point of worry and concern,” sources said. Explaining their apprehensions, officials said most of the terrorists of JeM are foreigners.

After infiltrating into Jammu, they are ferried in trucks or cars by sympathisers on the nearly 300 km long Jammu-Srinagar highway. Since vehicles going to Kashmir from Jammu are rarely checked, the JeM is taking advantage of this factor and after crossing Jawahar tunnel, the ultras merge into the thickly populated Qazigund and Kulgam areas near the tunnel. In fact, two encounters in last week of January took place in Kulgam thereby clearly indicating that the terrorists came via Jammu, officials admitted.

Elaborating upon this crucial factor, they said in November last year 39 terrorists were killed including three of JeM, one JeM ultra out of 20 terrorists killed in December and four in January this year adding nearly all the JeM came in through the Jammu region. They also mentioned local terrorists were also killed along with the JeM as they were not well conversant with the terrain and the local ultras acted as guide and points man.

Another cause of worry is Kulgam slipping back into active militancy, officials said adding the district was declared terrorist free in 2011. With the influx of JeM into Qazigund and Kulgam and large presence of sympathisers amongst the local population, sources did not rule out situation getting tense in these areas close to the Banihal tunnel.

As regards infiltration, they said the “traditional” routes including those in South and North of Pir Panjal ranges have reported almost nil infiltration due to snow and the Army not reducing its troop strength on the Line of Control (LoC). The troop strength is generally thinned out during winter months but this time around the Army wants to maintain its tempo of operations by following a twin-pronged strategy.

Giving reasons for the alarm about the new trend of militants using “non-traditional” routes, officials said at least 250 ultras are active in South and Central Kashmir including 40-odd JeM cadres.

Though suffering high attrition rate as nearly 270 terrorists were neutralised last year, the terrorist ‘tanzeems (organisations) have managed to shore up its fighter strength through infiltration through non-traditional routes, foremost being international border in Jammu and Punjab, they said.

The International Border has come into focus in terms of infiltration after National Investigation Agency (NIA) in December last year is learnt to have submitted a comprehensive report to the Union Home Ministry, highlighting the fact that terrorist outfits, based in Pakistan, are relying more on International Border.

The NIA report was based on interrogation of over ground workers engaged in the task of ferrying these infiltrators via Jammu Srinagar National Highway in trucks headed towards Kashmir. More than three dozen terrorists were transported by overground workers (OGWs) or sympathisers through the same route before they came on the radar of the security forces during gun fight between hiding terrorists and the security forces near Jhajjar Kotli on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway last year.