Militants regrouping in PoK to cross over to India

Militants have regrouped in large numbers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and are crossing the Line of Control to sneak into the Indian side of the Himalayan region, local residents and political leaders have said. The militants have regrouped and launched jehadi activities in the Neelum valley on the Pakistani side of the LoC, local politician Arif Shahid said. Local residents and Shahid said the militants were not from PoK. "Jihadi activities have been restarted during the last few weeks," said Mr Shahid, the secretary general of the All Parties National Alliance. "Most of the activities are concentrated in the Neelum valley along the LoC," Mr Shahid told the BBC. Mr Shahid, who had visited the region with other APNA leaders, said the militants were based there in large numbers
and had set up camps in the area. "The men are not locals - they have long hair and beards. Most do not speak the local language," he said. Residents of Neelum valley backed Shahid's assertions. "We are scared... The armed men are moving around the area and are trying to cross the border," a local resident said. "We can make out from their appearances and languages they are not from any part of Kashmir," the resident said. Shahid said he believed that militants are planning to sabotage ongoing peace negotiations between India and Pakistan. "They have set up camps in the region and many are crossing the border... This is the start of another proxy war," he said. Following a meeting between the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani, and his Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh, last month, the foreign ministers of the two countries
recently agreed to meet in Islamabad on July 15 to nudge the peace process forward. Shahid's comments were supported by Jammu and Kashmir National Liberation Front leader Shaukat Maqbool Bhat. "The fighters are there and they are regularly crossing into India," Mr Bhat said. "The local people are very scared - they believe the (militant) crossings are going to restart artillery exchanges between the Pakistani and Indian armies," Mr Bhat said. Indian and Pakistani troops regularly fought artillery duels and exchanged small arms fire till a ceasefire was put in place along the LoC in November 2003.

Terror infrastructure in Pak remains intact: Centre

The government has said the terror infrastructure in Pakistan continues to remain intact and infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir remains unabated with a substantial increase in 2009.

“There are reports to indicate that the infrastructure for training terrorist elements across the border continues to remain intact,” the 2009-10 annual report of the Home Ministry said.

It said the government was firmly committed to thwarting the challenge posed by terrorists and violence sponsored from across the border.

“The available information reveals that the infiltration that consistently decreased since 2005 has reversed in 2009 and increased substantially when compared to 2008,” the report said.

There were 485 attempts of infiltration last year in comparison to 342 in 2008.

Giving an overview of the internal security scenario, the Home Ministry report said, the situation in the country remains largely under control, though violence has increased in terms of number of incidents and casualties of civilians and security personnel, as compared to the corresponding period of 2008.

“In the recent years, the concentration of Left Wing Extremist (LWE) violence has been mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra,” the report said.

Left wing extremists operate in the vacuum created by functional inadequacies of field level governance structures, espouse local demands and take advantage of prevalent dissatisfaction and feelings of perceived neglect and injustice among the under-privileged segments of population.

“CPI (Maoist) philosophy of armed struggle to overthrow the Indian state is not acceptable in our Parliamentary democracy and will have to be curbed at any cost. Government has given a call to the Maoist to abjure violence and come for talks. This has not been accepted by them so far,” it said.

While the overall counter action by the affected states in terms of LWEs killed, arrested and surrendered has shown much better results in 2009, there is an urgent need to strengthen police response particularly by Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh by improving actionable intelligence collection and sharing mechanisms and strengthening their police force, the report said.

There were some instances of major agitations during the year, which led to disturbance of public order and disruption of normal life in the affected areas such as the agitation in Andhra Pradesh for and against separate Telangana State and in West Bengal in the context of the demand for a separate Gorkhaland State, it said.

Pulwama encounter ends; Army Captain, 3 ultras killed

An Army officer and three militants were killed in a 30-hour long fierce gunbattle in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Thursday in the second major operation in eight days.

The gunbattle broke out when militants hiding in a cluster of houses fired at a joint search party of police and troops of 42 Rashtriya Rifles in Mir Mohalla Dadasir, 40 kms from here, police said.

Captain Deepak Sharma was killed in the encounter that started on Wednesday in which three jawans and a policeman were injured.

The operation to flush out the militants was suspended on Wednesday night due to inclement weather. It resumed this morning and the exchange of fire went on till afternoon between the two sides, police said adding three militants were killed.

The Captain is the second Army officer to be killed in an encounter in Kashmir in eight days. On February 24, Captain Devinder Singh Jass was killed in a gunbattle in Sopore.

One killed as militants attack police station in J&K

A policeman was killed when ultras attacked Sopore police station in Baramulla district of north Kashmir on Tuesday.

Head constable Mohammad Yousuf was entering the police station at 10:45 AM when militants opened fire, Deputy Inspector General of Police (north Kashmir) Abdul Qayoom Manhas told PTI.

The policeman died instantly in the firing, he said.

The militants fled when police guards retaliated, Mr. Manhas said, adding a massive hunt has been launched to nab them.

The attack in the apple-rich Sopore, 55 kms from here, comes barely five days after militants killed two persons including a policeman in the town.

The militant attack sparked panic in the area as shopkeepers abandoned their shops and ran for safety.

Transport also came to a grinding halt, official sources said.

Reinforcements of police and paramilitary carried out a thorough search operation despite incessant rains and snowfall. However, no one was arrested, the sources said.

Sopore has witnessed a spurt in militant activities since December last year.