Panel concern over porosity of LoC

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 26. Noting that a low-cost proxy war was being waged in Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of Pakistan, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has voiced displeasure over management of border along the Line of Control (LoC), saying it was not adequate to check infiltration.

``The porosity of India's international border with Pakistan and the LoC is providing safe passage to the militants. Large scale exfiltration of Kashmiri youth for undergoing training at the terrorist training camps located across the border and infiltration of trained and armed militants into Jammu and Kashmir is taking place,'' the Committee said.

In its 75th report on Cross-Border Terrorism and Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, the committee, headed by the Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, observed that post-Kargil era had witnessed alarming rise in the number of attacks on security forces and their installations.

``Induction of `Fidayeen' (suicide squads) into militant organisations has also led to the increase in the number of such attacks. The ratio of casualties of security personnel against the militants killed has also increased. Such a trend has a direct bearing on the morale of the forces, especially when militants are resorting to frontal attacks on the camps and convoys of security forces,'' it said.

The 43-member committee, headed over by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, felt that effective border management was key to curbing exfiltration and infiltration across the LoC and international border with Pakistan.

Apart from effective border management, the committee said, strengthening of intelligence network in and around border areas was also the need of the hour.

During the visit of the committee's study group to Jammu and Kashmir between July 6 and 9, the Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, said that militants had changed their strategy and were now sneaking into the State through the Indo-Nepal border.

The border area from Uri to Kupwara, Gurez, Kuthwa, Rajouri and Poonch was porous and most of the militants crossed the border from these sectors but in the recent past militants had taken advantage of the porous Indo-Nepal border and easily sneaked into U.P. and Bihar and found their way up to Jammu and Kashmir. This apart, militants were also using the Indo- Bangladesh border for crossing over to India. The Chief Minister insisted that infiltration be stopped to contain terrorism in the State.

The committee noted the observations of the security agencies and the Army that around 1,500 militants belonging to different `Tanzeems' were active in the State and about 2,400 to 2,800 militants were undergoing training in the camps located in PoK and Pakistan. Similarly, 1,700-2,300 militants were waiting across the LoC to infiltrate. The study group was told that 11,205 terrorists had been killed since 1990 and nearly 2,000 foreign terrorists had been killed till June last year.

Minorities targeted

Apprising the study group of the latest trend in militant activities, the GOC, 15 Corps told the members that militants were engaging in stand-off attacks against security forces. They were targeting sources and informers of security forces and people belonging to minority communities. Suicide attacks had also become frequent and women and children were being used as couriers.

Observing that the decade-long militancy in Jammu and Kashmir had weakened the police system, the committee felt that there was scope for improvement and further strengthening of the force by giving it sophisticated arms and equipment. To enable the police to curb the activities of the terrorists, it felt the need for a suitable law to be enacted with adequate in-built safeguards to replace the TADA Act.

Noting that the recent massacre of Sikhs and migrant labourers had shown that they were ``soft targets'' of the militants, the committee said that it was part of a well-designed strategy to create a fear psychosis among the minorities. ``It also reveals the contours of a sinister game plan on the part of terrorists to engineer mass exodus of minorities from the State,'' it said.

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