NEW DELHI: The terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pak-occupied-Kashmir “remains fully intact”, with the main training camps in the hinterland and “launch pads” along the Line of Control (LoC) still very much in place, senior Army officers said on Tuesday after the deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam.
The massacre comes soon after Pak Army chief General Asim Munir last week claimed Kashmir was Islamabad’s “jugular vein”, while invoking the two-nation theory. “Our stance is absolutely clear — it (Kashmir) was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their struggle,” he said. India had, of course, rubbished the comments.
The Army HQ in Delhi, especially military operations directorate, was assessing the latest situation till late on Tuesday. “Pak-trained terrorists are using other routes to sneak into J&K since strong counter-infiltration grid along the 778-km LoC has made it tough for militants there. Ten infiltration bids were foiled along LoC last year, in which 25 terrorists were killed,” a senior officer told TOI.
Though there is no major Army deployment in Pahalgam area, a unit of its specialised counter-insurgency force Rashtriya Rifles in the region dispatched a few columns as soon as news of the massacre came in the afternoon.
Officers said the “low-cost, high-impact” strike was probably carried out to coincide with US Veep J D Vance’s trip in India as well as PM Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the most prominent Islamic country around the globe, to garner global attention.
With 144 terrorists being killed in J&K in last two years, terror outfits were looking for a big strike to mark their presence. “The terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK, with the so-called strategic assets like LeT, JeM, UJC and Al Badr, jihadi seminaries and madrassa networks, remains fully in place,” he added.
“As was evident from Gen Munir’s recent rant against India, Pakistan was not happy with improving situation in J&K, with 2.9 million tourists visiting it last year surpassing previous records,” he said.
