Several Pak-based terror groups seeking to enter India from PoK

SOURCE: SUNDAY GUARDIAN LIVE

The newly appointed Joe Biden-led US administration is likely to face a challenging situation posed by Pakistan’s terror factory in the coming days as multiple terror teams, comprising terrorists from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahedeen (HM) are camping in various forward areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with the intention of infiltrating into India to carry out suicide attacks in Kashmir and beyond.

Both the Indian political leadership and the Indian Army have made it abundantly clear in the past few years that in case of a Pakistan-backed terror attack on Indian assets and people, Indian forces will not shy away from ignoring the restrictions imposed by international boundaries and in fact cross into Pakistan to avenge the terror attacks.

India had announced in September 2016 that it had carried out a surgical strike on terrorist assets located in PoK to retaliate against the terror attack on an Army base in Uri, which led to the death of 18 Indian soldiers. Then in February 2019, India conducted an air strike in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against Jaish camps to avenge the terror attack in Pulwama that led to the death of 40 CRPF personnel.

Strong verifiable intelligence gathered by the Indian security agencies, and seen by The Sunday Guardian, has revealed that terrorists belonging to these terror groups—with clear instructions to carry out attacks on Army installations in Kashmir, all working separately—are desperately trying to infiltrate into India.

One group of Lashkar terrorists comprising six terrorists, which is led by a commander rank terrorist, is camping in Poonch district of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (Pok) and has been entrusted with the task of assisting in carrying out a BAT-led (Pakistan’s Border Action Team) attack on Indian soldiers. The plan is for a BAT attack, in which Pakistani Army regulars, in close coordination with terrorist groups, go across the LoC with the intention of killing Indian soldiers, mostly by using sharp weapons.

Similarly, four Jaish terrorists are camping near the International Border (IB) in the Kathua sector and are looking to cross into India through a tunnel with the help of an accomplice, whose name The Sunday Guardian is not revealing due to operational reasons. These four terrorists, according to intelligence gathered, after infiltrating into India would be walking towards NH 44 to board a commercial vehicle for their onward journey.

Another batch of six HM terrorists, including two individuals identified as Nazim and Shadaq, are moving adjacent to Indian assets on the Naushera sector with the intention to carry out attacks on Indian soldiers.

A group of seven terrorists, who are heavily armed, as per the intelligence, are residing in Datote of Pachiot village, PoK. This group, which is “desperate” to enter India, has already made two unsuccessful attempts in the last one month to cross over, but have not been able to do so.

In its annual press conference on 12 January, Indian Army chief M.M. Naravane had mentioned that their immediate concern was terror emanating from Pakistan. Naravane, in a clear and unambiguous message to Pakistan and the world, had said that Pakistan was continuing to use terrorism as a tool for achieving its state objectives. “Pakistan continues to embrace terror and terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, we are very clear that we have zero tolerance for terror and we reserve our right to respond at a time and place of our own choosing and with precision. This is a clear message that we have sent across that we will not tolerate any such kind of activity,” the COAS said, in what is being seen as a reiteration of India’s “aggressive” strategy to counter Pakistan’s decades old method of using non-state actors to destabilize the country.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan, by way of a series of steps taken in the last few months, where it has “arrested” terror chiefs, has been trying to create a global perception that it is seriously tackling jihadi terrorism. However, according to intelligence officials, the situation on the ground in PoK, where terror groups are being protected and nurtured, tells a totally different story.

from Indian Defence Research Wing https://ift.tt/36a91PQ
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