Chinese equipment for Pakistan army ending up with terrorists

Srinagar, June 23

Encounters with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir have led to the seizure of highly encrypted Chinese telecom gear “Ultra Set”, an equipment used by the Pakistan army that has ended up in the hands of terror groups, an official said.

‘State actors across loc training ultras’

• Beijing has been actively enhancing the defence capabilities of the Pakistan army along the LoC for quite a while now
• The seizure of mobile handsets from terrorists indicates that terror groups are receiving training, weapons and ammunition from state actors in Pakistan, an official said

This has also raised concerns over undetected infiltrations from across the Line of Control and terrorists potentially residing in the outskirts of cities and villages, the official added. The seizure of mobile handsets used by foreign terrorists, primarily from Pakistan and its occupied Kashmir, indicate that terror groups are receiving training, weapons and ammunition from state actors in Pakistan, said an official aware of the matter.

These specialised handsets, exclusively customised by Chinese companies for the Pakistan army, were seized after a gunfight in the intervening night of July 17-18 last year in the Sindarah top area of Surankote in Jammu’s Poonch district and on April 26 this year after an encounter at the Check Mohalla Nowpora area of Sopore in Baramulla.

While four foreign terrorists were killed in the Surankote encounter, two were gunned down in Sopore. The “Ultra Set” handsets, which have also been found in the south of the Pir Panjal region, combine cell-phone capabilities with specialised radio equipment that does not rely on traditional mobile technologies like Global System for Mobile (GSM) or Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA).

The device operates on radio waves for message transmission and reception, with each “Ultra Set” linked to a control station located across the border, the official said and added that the two “Ultra Sets” cannot reach out to each other.

They said Chinese satellites are used to carry these messages that are compressed to bytes from the handset to the master server in Pakistan for its onward transmission. This is yet another help being extended by China to its key ally Pakistan, the official said.

Beijing has been actively enhancing the defence capabilities of the Pakistan army along the LoC for quite a while now. This support includes the construction of steelhead bunkers, provisioning of unmanned aerial and combat aerial vehicles, installation of encrypted communication towers and laying of underground fibre cables.