Pakistan allowing terrorists to cross border

The increasing number of ceasefire violations along the line of control (LoC) could be a manifestation of a tectonic shift in the neighbour’s border policy, authoritative sources in the security establishment have told DNA.

These sources said they have reason to believe that Pakistan’s security agencies, especially the army and the paramilitary rangers, may have given up on their efforts, in place since 2004, of not allowing terrorists to infiltrate into India. For the first time in five years, India has inputs, data and trends showing that the Pakistani security forces are freely permitting, if not pushing, terrorists across the border.

The repeated violation of ceasefire is directly linked to this change and could deliver a body blow to the improvement of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. It could also upset the ongoing backdoor diplomacy between India and Pakistan.

Infiltration data for August indicates that 110 terrorists crossed over to India in the month. The corresponding figure for last year was 53.

In the first seven months of this year, barring March, the infiltration rate was lower compared to the previous year. In July, there was not a single infiltration. “We still don’t clearly know if they (Pakistani security agencies) are pushing them (terrorists) into India, but we are sure that they (Pakistani agencies) are closing their eyes to infiltration efforts,” said a senior source in the security establishment.   

Barring a few exceptions, the Pakistani security agencies have generally been tough on infiltrators over the last few years, he added.

Starting 2004 there has been a steady decline in the number of terrorists entering India. While in 2003 it was 1,373, the numbers dropped to 537 in the next year. By 2008, the total number of terrorists entering had come down to 342. This drop in infiltration seems to have stopped.

Meanwhile, official figures reveal there have been 110 ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC and the international border (IB) since 2006. Of these, three incidents took place in 2006, 21 in 2007 and 77 in 2008. Nine violations had taken place in 2009 till June.
BSF sources said Thursday’s firing was an attempt by Pakistani rangers to push infiltrators into the Indian side to create subversion during festive season.

However, the forces claimed that they have foiled the bid. “This was an infiltration bid which has been foiled. We will strongly retaliate if such incidents occur in future,” said AK Sarolia, inspector general of BSF (Jammu frontier). K Srinivasan, DIG of BSF (G-branch) at New Delhi headquarters, said the firing was not possible without the aid of Pakistani rangers. “There was firing this morning too. We later held a flag meeting with the Rangers where we lodged a strong protest,” he said.

Alarmed by the infiltration bids, a top army commander on Friday conducted an aerial survey of the area to review the security situation.

On Thursday, border security forces had come under heavy fire from the Pakistani side in Nikowal area of Akhnoor sector in the Jammu region, leaving two jawans injured. The firing had started at 6.45pm on Thursday and continued for two hours. On Friday morning, firing had resumed and continued for some time. Subsequently, a flag meeting between the Pakistani rangers and the BSF was held in which a strong protest was lodged by the border guards. The firing comes close on the heels of the firing of rockets from across the IB in Punjab sector a few days ago.

Lieutenant General GM Nair, general officer commanding (GOC) 9-Corps, carried out an aerial reconnaissance along the IB in Jammu and Akhnoor sector. The army commander later had a discussion with senior officers of police and the paramilitary forces over the security arrangements on the IB.