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Kashmir : Sharp rise in infiltration

	June 04, 2007

With Pakistan-backed militants trying desperately to infil¬trate into Jammu and Kashmir, alarm bells are ringing in the security establishment. Army figures indicate that infiltration witnessed a two-fold jump in April and May this year compared with the same months in 2005-06. In April this year, there were as many as 82 attempts across the line of control of which 79 were estimated to be successful.



Observers say that militants have stepped up the heat as they feel emboldened after the demand for reduction of troops by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and some other political outfits.



There are reports that with the security forces plugging the traditional routes used by the militants for infiltration, not so common routes are being used in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir. Defence sources say that with the melting of the snow in the mountains, militants mostly used routes in Uri, Gurez and Kupwara to cross over to this side. But since the security forces have been able to plug these routes, militants are switching to not so common routes in Rajouri and Poonch area.



In major terrorist strikes on Friday, June 1, six militants and two security men were killed and 24 injured as the militants blew up an Army bus with an improvised explosive device (IED) and attacked a convoy. Nineteen Army jawans were injured in the IED explosion in the posh Raj Bagh area of Srinagar. The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the blast, the first major strike in the valley by militants this year. In the second incident, two militants, an Army jawan and a policeman were killed and five including four policemen, injured near the Police Training School in Baramulla. Heavily armed militants opened fire on an Army convoy leading to a shoot out with the security¬men. The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed respon¬sibility for the attack. In the third incident, two suspected Al Badr militants were killed in an encounter in Khrew area.





Security forces prepare for ‘hot’ summer



With wireless intercepts from across the Line of Control indicating that terrorists based in South Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch area have been asked by their mentors to increase terror strikes, the security forces are bracing themselves for a ‘hot’ summer in the state. The intercepts reportedly indicate that the militants have been asked by their mentors to take the men in uniform head on even at the cost of their lives. The security forces are now redrawing their tactics to meet the new challenge.





Congress-PDP on collision course on withdrawal of troops



Differences between the Congress and the PDP, coalition partners in the state, are increasing on the question of reduc¬tion of troops on internal security duties. While Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the situation in the state is not conducive for the reduction of troops, PDP patron Mufti Mohd. Sayeed is becoming more strident in his demand for withdrawal of troops.



State Congress chief Pirzada Mohammad Sayeed has gone to the extent of threatening to throw the PDP out of the coalition government in case it continued to stick to its demand for with¬drawal of troops and the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).



Over the past few months, PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has been propagating his demand for the withdrawal of troops and the Armed Forces Special powers Act (AFSPA) in view of the im¬provement in the situation in the state, particularly in the valley.



This has been on the pattern of the Mufti’s stand on provid¬ing “healing touch policy”, disbanding of the SOG of the police and other demands.



The Prime Minister has already constituted two committees to review the withdrawal of troops and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) after the PDP leadership met him on this demand earlier this year.



Warning against disruptive politicking over its demand for troop reduction, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has said the “skewed and offhand statements” from various quarters had the potential of sabotaging the peace process and undermining the state’s political authority as well.



Addressing party workers at Kupwara, she observed people’s confidence would shake if the critics of troop reduction do not understand the underlying need that the time has come to restore Fundamental Rights of the people to the maximum and allow them to chalk out their own destiny through democratic means.





Congress wrests Lower Leh seat



The Congress has won the Lower Leh seat of the Ladakh Auto¬nomous Hill Development Council, defeating the Ladakh Union Territory Forum. Sonam Dorje of the Congress defeated Punchok Wangdam of the LUTF by 2027 votes.



The seat fell vacant which Thupstan Chhewang of the LUTF was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ladakh.