It is official, there are 1,150 militants currently being trained in 17 terror camps in Pakistan and the part of Kashmir occupied by it, even as a large number of ultras are swelling-up on the launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) waiting to sneak into the valley for subversion.
Lieutenant General Satish Dua, general officer commanding (GoC) of 15 Corps, said as per the intelligence inputs out of 17 training camps, nine are opposite 15 Corps zone, four are in Manshera which is in Pakistan and five are in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir.
"Total assessed strength of terrorists in these camps is anything between 1,000 to 1,150. Opposite to 15 corps zone, there are 23 launch pads close to the LoC. To be precise the strength of the militants is 315 to 325 who are waiting to be launched," he said.
Lt Gen Dua said there is a bulge in the militants on the launch pads because they are unable to get across. "What is happening is that the numbers (of militants) are swelling because they are unable to get across? So much so that they are under pressure from their masters to do something," he said.
The GoC of the 15 Corps, who is responsible for guarding the Line of Control and fighting militancy in the hinterland across the Kashmir valley, said there is always an attempt to scale up the activities (of infiltration) before the mountain passes close after summer.
"Every year in summer when passes are open, there is an attempt to infiltrate. But we have a well-coordinated multi layered counter infiltration grid in place. All the infiltration bids have been foiled by us and two of them (ultras) have been captured alive," he said.
Lieutenant General Dua emphasised that time is not ripe for the army to pull out of the valley as they may lose the ground which could be filled by inimical elements.
"We have brought down the situation to manageable levels and there is a low-level of violence… I will say that we have made this gain very painstakingly with blood and sweat of our cadres... We have come to a pass where I think we need to give some more time. Time is not ripe for us to pull out because if we do it now then we may lose the ground and the space will be filled by the elements which are inimical to society," he said.
