Pakistan has adopted a new technique of sending arms and ammunition to Jammu and Kashmir using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and several such incidents have been detected in the recent past, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh has said.
He also said less than 200 terrorists are currently active in Jammu and Kashmir, and just 26 terrorists could enter the Union Territory from across the border so far this year. “Pakistan has been trying to send arms and ammunition to terrorists through drones (UAVs). We have detected several such incidents in the past,” Mr Singh said. The police chief said such incidents of Pakistani UAVs carrying weapons were detected in Kupwara, Heera Nagar, Kathua and Rajouri. Another modus operandi of Pakistan to dispatch weapons through trucks to Jammu and Kashmir was unearthed in Punjab in the past, he said.
“There has been a huge shortage of weapons for the terrorists operating here,” the police chief said. The DGP said Pakistan has intensified cross-border firing this year so that terrorists could be pushed into Jammu and Kashmir. “There has been 75 per cent more firing from across the border in the first seven months of 2020. There were 487 incidents of firing from Pakistan till July this year in comparison to 267 such incidents in the same period in 2019. The firings are a cover to infiltrate terrorists. So far, just 26 terrorists could infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Singh said due to sustained anti-terror operations, the security forces have been able to curtail the number of active terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir to less than 200 now from 300 to 350 terrorists a few years ago. Referring to local youths joining terrorists, the DGP said 80 such youths have joined different terror groups this year, of which 20 are now active and the shelf-life of such terrorists is now a maximum of 90 days. “Eighty local youths have joined militancy this year so far of which 38 were killed and 22 arrested. Just 20 of those who have joined militancy are active now,” he said. The police chief said as many as 150 terrorists were killed in 2020 so far, of which 30 are foreigners and another 39 are top commanders. “The terrorist groups are leaderless and facing a huge shortage of weapons,” he said.
