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Militants are pouring into Kashmir, says home ministry report

George Iype in New Delhi

The Lahore Declaration and the India-Pakistan peace talks notwithstanding, insurgency in the Kashmir valley has escalated considerably in the past two months.

Intelligence officials have reported to the Union home ministry that there has been a remarkable rise in infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, particularly in April, when India was plagued by political instability.

But the Indian Army is engaged in a troop reduction programme in the troubled state, citing an overall improvement in the ground situation. By June end, according to a defence ministry official, the army's 15th Corps will move out 13 battalions -- nearly 12,000 soldiers -- from the valley.

The decision to reduce the army presence in the border state was taken in 1997 by the Inder Kumar Gujral government. The government then said the exercise was to create a feeling of normalcy among Kashmiris.

Some 70,000 combat troops and 25,000 logistical soldiers are deployed along the Line of Control and in other parts of the state.

Defence officials, however, claimed that the reduction of troops would not result in increased infiltration and militancy. "We are deploying adequate paramilitary and police forces in the sensitive areas from where the army is withdrawing," an official told Rediff On The NeT.

"We have enough and more forces to tackle the sporadic incidents of violence perpetrated by militants," the official added.

In the meantime, the ministries of home and defence are examining the intelligence reports about the new methods of infiltration and insurgency being employed by the Pakistan-trained militants. Officials said the Inter-Services Intelligence-sponsored terrorism is now "entirely on a different plane". The militants, they said, are using night-vision devices, satellite phones, high-frequency radio sets and sophisticated explosives.

Terrorists are also using poison-tipped ammunition. To combat this, the Indian Army is now being equipped with more bulletproof jackets.

Earlier, army headquarters had submitted to the government that its main deficiency in counter-insurgency was the lack of modern equipment.

The security forces also say the terrorists are using counterfeit currency and drugs to bribe locals.

Home ministry records show that 29,151 civilians and 5,101 security personnel have been killed in ISI-sponsored terrorism across the country since 1990. The ISI has smuggled in nearly 70,000 sophisticated weapons and 50,000 kilograms of explosives. And the number of small, medium and major explosions its agents have triggered off in many parts of the country stands at 4,730.

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