J&K: Infiltration bids to continue, but we are prepared, says army

Srinagar: Army today said militant activities at the launching pads across the Line of Control (LoC) have not died down but the troops are ready to face the challenge. “As per our intelligence inputs, there are activities (of militants) at the launch pad. We also got reports of a senior terrorist leader who has been visiting on and off out there. And we expect infiltration and at the same time we are prepared for any challenge of that sort,” said General Officer Commanding of Valley-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh. [caption id=“attachment_1271265” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The terrorist infrastructure across the LoC was intact and coming months would be “tough” from the security point of view, Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function. “Coming months are tough from the security point of view. We have the terrorist infrastructure intact across the LoC, on the LoC and in the hinterland. “But I would like to assure you that the counter- infiltration grid is effective and you will see it for yourselves the way we have sorted the infiltration attempts and also in the hinterland a large number of operations which were carried out in which we were able to eliminate large portion of the terrorist leadership,” he said. He said although the first snowfall has occurred, the area of the LoC is not fully covered by the snow. He added that there was excellent synergy among security forces and the intelligence agencies. “You have seen that in last operations there were specific intelligence, operations were done with surgical procedure and the results were in front of you,” he said. He said Army is prepared to fulfil its task of maintaining security preparedness and create a conducive environment for the forthcoming elections. “The security challenges are there, we have to be prepared and we are alert. We are prepared for any challenges in the hinterland also. Our task is to maintain security preparedness and create a conducive environment for the election and other processes,” he said. He declined to share the number of militants active in the launch pads across the LoC. “I would not like to share with you the numbers of those waiting to infiltrate. The numbers are related to security dynamics and it is more related to planning our security related operations. So at this stage it would be premature to share the number of terrorists in the training camps, launch pads or in hinterland,” he said. Earlier, Singh took salute of a parade of fresh BSF recruits held at the Subsidiary Training Centre of the force in Humhama on the outskirts of the city. Over 340 recruits were inducted as constables in BSF after completing 34 weeks of rigorous basic training. Besides the regular training, the cadets were imparted training in counter-insurgency, anti-terrorism, commando operations, field engineering, field craft and minor tactics. PTI