SRINAGAR, Sept 23: Claims about increased infiltration, especially from Uri sector in North Kashmir, are being contested by J&K Police prompting Army to reassess the figures and work out a mechanism for providing more authentic information about the entry of terrorists into the state.
The recent figures of about 100 terrorists having slipped into the Kashmir Valley this year seems to be an exaggerated figure, highly placed sources in the state home department said on Sunday.
Immediately after the conference of Directors General of Police in the national capital earlier this month, state police and home department flagged the issue and sought clarification about the number of terrorists who may have crossed over, official sources said.
The input provided by Director General of Military Intelligence and Defence Intelligence Agency about infiltration of nearly 24 militants from Uri sector in the month of July could not be substantiated either by the local army unit or state police, the sources said.
Extensive search was launched in nearby areas which later extended to Hafruda forests in frontier district of Kupwara, the sources said, adding that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) were pressed into service to ascertain the inputs but there was no corroboration of the input.
Local Army commanders held series of meetings with police after there were no tell-tale signs of any terrorist groups infiltrating into the Valley from Uri sector in a big way prompting a senior state police official to comment in one such meeting that either the terrorists have vanished into thin air or that ghosts only crossed the Line of Control.
The J&K Police held series of meetings with local Army, Intelligence Bureau and other security agencies over the likely inflated number of infiltration, the sources said, adding that it was decided in-principle to work out a mechanism for more authentic information to ascertain the magnitude of infiltration.
Sopore, popularly known as apple-town, in North Kashmir has also been screened thoroughly by the state police and security agencies but no such activity has come to notice, the sources said.
The Union Home Ministry was also communicated that before arriving at any figures of infiltration, the inputs provided by the state police and local intelligence agencies should be taken into account rather than the figures — which is generally based on technical intercepts — provided by the defence intelligence in the national capital.
Army has also been asked to involve local police in operations where they claim that the seized ammunition at the site of encounter with infiltrating terrorists was destroyed In Situation (INSITU).
PTI
