Intelligence inputs have warned of specific terrorist threats to military installations in Jammu and Kashmir, even as Army officers said they had conveyed to the government difficulties involved in ensuring security for the Amarnath Yatra, beginning later this month, if the ceasefire is extended.
According to one report, at least two different groups of terrorists are waiting in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to infiltrate and target two different military installations — one of them on the Poonch side and the other in the Valley.
This input says there are 35 militants who are on this specific mission.
Infiltration at a peak
Intelligence inputs also speak of an unusual spike in the number of militants ready to infiltrate.
A senior Army officer said they had not “seen such massing of militants in launch pads in PoK. Almost all the pads are now active, and we have been witnessing infiltration attempts almost every night in the last one month.”
Estimates put the number of militants in launch pads at almost 250.
Reluctant about going further ahead with the government-announced Non-initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) or ‘cease-ops’, the Army has told the Centre that it would only hamper their efforts to secure the Amarnath Yatra routes. “We will ultimately go with whatever the government decides,” sources said. Terrorists attacks have almost tripled during NICO in the Ramzan period, compared with the number in the previous month, officers point out.
Grenade attacks have at least gone up by almost four times in the same period, from a mere five attacks to more than 20.
From a single weapon-snatching incident during May, it has gone up to eight in June, according to the officials. The killing of rifleman Aurangzeb and senior editor Shujaat Bukhari further challenges the logic to extend NICO, Army sources said.