M A I N   N E W S

How mercenaries operate
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 4 — A fake Army jeep with an LMG atop escorts a private bus with foreign mercenaries in uniform. It proceeds from the border town of Kupwara to Srinagar uninterrupted. The police and the Army check-posts on the 90-km Kupwara-Srinagar road does not stop the bus, mistaking it for an Army convoy.

The passengers, all Pakistani infiltrators, are disembarked in Srinagar when they scatter in different vicinities.

This is what a senior retired police officer has to say. The officer was in the forefront of counter-insurgency operations for four years. He fears major acts of violence if various security agencies do not carry out coordinated operations against militants in different parts of the state, especially in Srinagar city and the outskirts of Jammu where large groups of foreign mercenaries have reportedly established their bases in recent months.

A senior state government functionary says the Pakistani agencies have adopted a novel but a dangerous strategy for giving the slip to the security forces while intruding into the state from across the border.

Basing his reports on the figures of various Indian agencies, he says not less than 5,000 foreign mercenaries, including battle-hardened Afghan guerrillas, are operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

They are equipped with highly sophisticated weapons, including rifle grenades and rocket launchers,” the senior defence officer says.

The task of these infiltrators is to target Army, police and BSF camps, convoys and pickets.

What has helped them extend their base within the state and launch attacks on Army units, police posts and other security pickets is that they come in “security” vehicles wearing either police or Army uniform. Whether at Surankot or is Sumbal or in Kupwara, these mercenaries were able to befool the security guards in this fashion.

They have achieved the object of forcing the security forces to be on the defensive. In Srinagar security bunkers and checkposts concealed by tin sheets placed in front of mounds of sand bags is a common sight.

The ministerial enclosure near Amar Singh Club is an equally fortified area with a brick wall and several police barriers.

Official sources say these measures have been taken to check “fidayeen” volunteers from carrying out suicide attacks. Even the entry of police vehicles into the Police Lines in Srinagar has been banned to prevent “fidayeen” men from storming into the sensitive arean.

Similar measures have been taken in and around the Srinagar airport. The road linking the Airport and the technical airport, where only Army aircraft land or take off, wears a deserted look after sunset with only security personnel patrolling the area. This has been done following reports that a large number of foreign mercenaries have established hideouts in stretch around the airport.