Army maintains heat on militants in J&K

Author: PTI
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 29, 2003
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=47867988

More army troops have been moved to Jammu and Kashmir to maintain the heat on militants after the Operation 'Sarp Vinash' and in fresh big strikes on militant hideouts, 45 militants, mostly Pakistani mercenaries, have been killed and ten captured during the last three days.
 
Confirming that the operation against militants would be carried out with more vigour, highly placed Army officials on Thursday said eight to ten battalions have been moved to Poonch-Naushera sector and a new second tier of anti-infiltration grid, including setting up of electrified fence in suspected infiltration routes, had come up.
 
Asserting that army forces would continue to occupy militant fortifications in the Hilkaka region where over the last two months security forces had killed 63 militants, officials said that work on 275 km of the fencing in the most infiltration-prone areas on the line of control would be completed by the year-end.
 
Over 4,000 army engineers were working round-the-clock on the fencing and by the next year the fencing would be extended to over 600 km. The fence is being erected about 10 to 15 km inside Indian territory laced with anti-infiltration devices like ground sensors and pressure activate and infra red sensors.
 
"Every battalion operating in Jammu and Kashmir has now been equipped with some numbers of sensors and force multipliers like hand-held thermals," officials said.

Conceding that the placements of unattended ground sensors and other anti-infiltration devices were still at "very low coverage", senior commanders said that efforts were on to speed up their procurement.
 
Asserting that the induction of these force multipliers was "paying very good dividends" to forces engaged in blocking and intercepting militants, officials said use of hand-held thermals was almost making "a night battlefield into a daylight firefight".
 
Attributing the large number of militant casualty to the use of these devices, officials said recent intercepts of militants' communication had pointed to some indications that some curbs have been put on their operations.
 
"However, this is still to manifest on the ground", they said, adding, "We will believe it when we see these changes on the ground".
 
Officials said that one of the main militant training camps were located in Kotli, in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir about 20 km across the LoC, which had been mapped extensively by the Indian forces. revealing that the fringes of the built up town area were being used by militant groups who also availed of Pakistani army training facilities in the region.
 
They said for more rugged terrain training, the militants used camps upwards of the Muzzaffarbad-Chakoti axis, where despite orders the camps were yet to be shifted.
 

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