With the state scheduled to go for polls this autumn, the recent attempts of infiltration from across the Line of Control have left the Army and the state’s top brass worried. Though this year the number of such attempts was at the lowest initially, fresh figures portray a grim picture. New groups of militants have started sneaking into the Valley from north Kashmir’s Nowgam, Keran and Tangdhar sectors and are using the tracks of dense Shamsabari range.

Senior Army officials claim that 500 to 1,500 militants of foreign as well as Kashmiri origin are waiting at the launching pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), especially in the Leepa Valley, to sneak into the Valley. The Leepa Valley was earlier, too, used as a launch pad for militants.

The foiling of a fresh infiltration attempt in Tangdhar sector is an indication that the process to launch fresh militant groups had already started, as anticipated by Defence Minister A K Antony and Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor during their recent visits to the LoC. “There are chances that infiltration will increase this year,” the Army chief had told troops while asking them to remain vigilant.

Since Monday, 12 infiltrators and six Armymen, including three officers (JCOs), have been killed near the LoC in Tangdhar sector.

In Srinagar, Army officials admitted that this was one of the biggest infiltration attempts that had been foiled by the Army and the slain militants were mostly foreigners. At the same time, the Army and police termed it as a beginning of fresh infiltration attempts, aimed at derailing and destabilising the election process.

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