The terror attack on a police station at Dinanagar in Punjab has raised fears of a shift in infiltration from the Line of Control (LoC) to the International Border (IB) and revival of terrorism in Punjab after over two decades. While it is still not clear from where the terrorists sneaked in, they are believed to have come from across the border.
This follows a recent trend of a decrease in infiltration in Kashmir as security forces have put in place a multi-layered intelligence grid and increase in attacks across the IB.
Lt. General Syed Ata Hasnain, former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15 and 21 Corps, said this was an attempt by Pakistan to probe the defences to find new route for infiltration. “Infiltrating into the Valley has become increasingly tough due to the intelligence grid in place and better coordination between the Army and the Border Security Force. The stretch from Jammu to Pathankot is easier to infiltrate. The National Highway is very close. From there one can take a vehicle and carry out attacks on multiple targets,” he said.
Lt. Gen. Hasnain also noted that since 2014 there has been a shift in infiltration from the LoC to the IB in Jammu and downward to Punjab, and this is part of that strategy.
An Army officer, who served in Samba sector, said infiltration happens at night through the several nullahs that dot the landscape, and infiltrators are usually pushed in without any terrain maps and it is very much possible that they may have lost their way into Punjab while crossing into Jammu.
Official sources said that intelligence inputs on July 24 warned that 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were trying to infiltrate from Dudhiniyal in Jammu to carry out attacks in India on August 15 or before actively aided by the Pakistan Rangers with the Inter-Services Intelligence coordinating the efforts. But this advisory was not specific to Punjab.
