Jammu, August 29
Various parts of Jammu region, particularly the border towns of Poonch, Rajouri and Akhnoor, may see a flareup in militancy-related violence, according to reports. The ISI has reportedly shifted one of its most talented officers, Col Sarfaraz from Kupwara Sector to Sialkot.
Col Sarfaraz is credited with extraordinary faculties which in the past has helped him carve out non-conventional infiltration routes from across Kupwara Sector. Between 1992 and 1994 Kupwara remained the main infiltration route for several thousand Pakistan trained militants and foreign mercenaries.
Under Col Sarfaraz’s guidance the militants have carried out a series of armed attacks on pickets, posts and convoys of security forces.
State government functionaries said recently Col Sarfaraz had been posted to Sialkot to give a fillip to subversive violence not only in Poonch and Rajouri, but in areas on this side of the international border, from Akhnoor to Kathua.
According to these functionaries, the task assigned to Col Sarfaraz is to ensure spread of militancy-related activities in Kathua district which hitherto has remained peaceful. Jammu city and its adjoining areas will be main targets.
Reports said large groups of militants had started establishing their hideouts in parts of Banni, Billawar and some border belts of R.S. Pora, Samba and Akhnoor so as to form an arc right from Kathua to Jammu and Jammu to Akhnoor.
Agencies across the border have directed the militants to carry out selective killings by attacking soft targets in order to kick up communal violence in Jammu region. Once this happens, Pakistan’s designs to destabilise peace will be achieved without much effort. The second task is to eliminate police informers and those cooperating with Indian troops. Another job given to the leaders of different rebel outfits and guides is to step up the rate of infiltration from across Poonch and Rajouri, which is easier than from across the north Kashmir borders.
These militants, especially foreign mercenaries, have been directed to attack soft targets so that the minorities are forced to migrate from the districts of Poonch, Rajouri and Doda. It is in this context that a series of massacres of those belonging to one community have been carried out in these districts in recent months.
Latest reports say that owing to a scare caused by the activities of militants, a number of families have started search for houses and land in areas that fall on the outskirts of Jammu city.
Along the international border and the LoC in Jammu Sector, Col Sarfaraz is said to have suggested to the troops to carry out intermittent firing and shelling on Indian villages and posts. This will keep the Kashmir conflict alive and create a chance for bigger groups of militants to sneak into the Jammu Sector.
The state government reports say militants have been asked to fortify positions in different parts of the Kashmir valley, particularly in the city of Srinagar and other towns. They have been asked to keep a low profile to make the security agencies believe that the level of militant activities has declined and they do not launch a counter-offensive.
But militants have been told to step up violence in the Jammu region to allow Pakistan to have a bigger bargaining position while holding negotiations with the Indian side.
