The Jammu and Kashmir Police’s latest worry is the ease with which militants are acquiring cellphones — to stay in touch and trigger blasts. Following disclosures in this regard, the police are now investigating how SIM cards reach the militants. On the trail, they found that most SIM cards fell into the militants’ hands after they were issued by private telecom major, Reliance, on the basis of fake documents. The discovery has set off alarm bells in the security establishment with the Crime Branch of J-K Police now tracking subscribers in the state in whose in whose SIM cards were issued on fake documents and later procured by militants. Significantly, it was recently detected that Pakistani SIM cards were being smuggled into the state and that the cellphones of Pakistan function even in the border areas of Poonch.

LoC firing chills India-Pak ties further

With India-Pakistan relations at a low, the firing along the Line of Control in Poonch only brought further chill in the already freezing ties between the two. Over a week ago, the Pakistani Army opened gunfire at Indian posts near the LoC in violation of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries. Army officials, however, tried to downplay the violation, but maintained that the firing was unprovoked. “We didn’t retaliate,” said a Defence spokesperson based in Jammu. Pakistani troops fired three to four rounds in Saujian sector of Rajouri at 10.45 am on the day. It was the second ceasefire violation along the LoC in less than a month. Defence Minister A K Antony recently said Pakistan committed more that 30 ceasefire violations last year.

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