'Pakistan Has Activated Launchpads In J&K, Plans To Revive Terrorism': Govt Sources After Doda Attack

The recent spurt in terrorist attacks shows that Pakistan has activated launch pads closer to Jammu, said government forces. Pakistan is now trying to revive cross-border terrorism in India.

Doda Attack: Security forces rush to Doda after a terrorist attack killed five soldiers in the region on Monday.

Source : PTI

The Doda terrorist attack has prompted the Army and the government to look closer into the bases of the Pakistan-sponsored militants and terrorists. Last month, DGP of Jammu & Kashmir Rashmi Ranjan Swain had said that 60-70 terrorists had infiltrated India from Pakistan and were active on launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC). The terrorists were reported to have assembled in groups of five or six at the different launch pads. 

With the terrorist attacks intensifying, in the past few weeks, government sources are saying that Pakistan has activated the launch pads closer to the Jammu region in areas such as Poonch, Rajouri, Sambha, and Kathua. "It seems they are sending terrorists from the Uri side to areas like Poonch and Rajouri which is easier for them. Terrorists may also have been sent to Samba and Kathua through tunnels," he said.

Till now, Jammu & Kashmir was the target of larger terrorist organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. But now, smaller outfits like The Kashmir Tigers and The Resistance Front have taken their place. But the Common thread is Pakistan, which is trying to revive cross-border terrorism in India.

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It is suspected that the Punjab Border is also being used by terrorists to enter India. The sources said that the exact figure is not known, but "around 20 (Pakistani) terrorists are in the Jammu Region as of now and about 20-24 are in the Kashmir valley". "Pakistan has understood that the abrogation of Article 370 will not be reversed and hence, has reactivated the launch pads to attack India. It is noteworthy that local recruitment in the Kashmir valley is zero. They are only sending foreign terrorists," one of the government sources said.

Pakistan could also be attacking the Jammu region to see that more security personnel are sent from Kashmir valley to boost the security there, leaving the forces in the valley thin., the sources said. The terrorists could then be free to take advantage of the absence of a larger deployment of security forces in Kashmir. "Pakistan, obviously, wants to send out the message that terrorism has been revived in Jammu," the source said.

Sources further pointed out that the ambushes and precision attacks indicated that the terrorists had been in the areas for a long time. They said that the terrorists escaping quickly after launching attacks far away from military stations showed that they were aware of the topography and the strikes were planned as reinforcements couldn't arrive before they fled. 

Citing this, the sources said that there were lacunae in Intelligence inputs and work needed to be done on Intelligence acquisition. "Locals (like the Gujjars/Bakarwals), who see suspicious movements inform either local SPOs, or their local political contacts. Police personnel at the ground level need to be motivated to gel better with locals in these forest areas so that they get information in time. The police must rework their approach and connect more with locals. They cannot paint everyone with the same brush and alienate locals," another source said.