200 terrorists waiting across border

Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Upendra Dwivedi, said on Friday that though the infiltration from across the western border in Jammu and Kashmir has come down drastically, there are 200 militants waiting in Pakistan ready to be pushed into the Union Territory.

“The number of trained terrorists in J&K is dwindling with each passing as 21 foreign terrorists have been eliminated so far this year in absence of local shelter and support. The number of terrorists staged across the Indo-Pak border are approximately 200. They are waiting across (LoC) to be launched to this side,” he told reporters in the garrison town of Udhampur.

Lt. Gen. Dwivedi, however, also said that the November 2003 ceasefire along the LoC and other sectors in J&K is “working well” after it was renewed in February last year.

“In the last 12 months, to say so, the number of ceasefire violations has been very limited — only one to three such violations took place,” he said.

On the other hand, India’s counter-infiltration grid is very fool-proof “as we have made sure that all reserve troops were put in the second tier of defence so that no infiltration takes place,” he said.

Also, the Indian troops are maintaining close watch along the LoC in view of the terror infrastructure being seemingly intact across the border.

Elaborating, he said, “There are six major terrorist camps and 29 minor camps. There are temporary launching pads located close to various military establishments.”

Lt. Gen. Dwivedi said that infiltration not only takes place via mountainous areas and forests but also through the International Border via Jammu and also Punjab and Nepal.

The Northern Army commander blamed Pakistan army for sustaining the terror infrastructure and said that “the complicity of Pakistan army and its agencies cannot be denied”.