Militants change tack, go for uncommon routes
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, May 27
With security forces plugging the traditional routes used by militants in Kashmir to infiltrate through Line of Control (LoC), infiltrators seem to have changed strategy by attempting to infiltrate through the "not-so-common" routes in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

In fact, the recent attempts by militants to sneak into this side of LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts substantiate the change in their strategy.

In the first such case, on May 25, a group of militants chose the "not-so-common route"of Chakla in Sunderbani tehsil of Rajouri to infiltrate to this side of the LoC. More recently, on May 26, militants tried to infiltrate through the Mankote area of Poonch district, which again is not their favourite route for infiltration.

Defence sources reveal that with the melting of snow on the mountains, militants mostly used the traditional routes of Uri, Gurez and Kupwara in Kashmir to cross over to this side, but since security forces have been able to plug these routes, militants are switching over to the not-so-common routes in Rajouri and Poonch. They said the shift in strategy was due to the fact that militants were trying all new possibilities of infiltration to escape casualties.

"Previously, they used the routes like Mendhar, Balnoi, Bhimber Gali, Balakote and Krishna Ghati in Poonch and Keeri, some border areas in Sunderbani and Laam Ladoka in Rajouri. But these routes were not frequently used for infiltration", said Defence sources. "The shift in their strategy can also be gauged from the fact that the militants mainly used Kupwara, Uri and Gurez for infiltration in April-May, while the routes of Poonch and Rajouri were being used in the winter months".

Defence spokesperson (9,16 Corps) Col S.D.Goswami told The Tribune that with all traditional routes plugged in a big way, militants now were trying "not- so-common" routes for infiltration. "As part of their changed strategy, they are emphasising on lesser important routes for infiltration. We were expecting this was going to happen after the melting of snow in that mountains", said the spokesperson. "We are taking preventive measures and have been successful in foiling all infiltration attempts through Rajouri and Poonch sector".

He said till the militant camps in PoK were intact, these types of infiltration attempts would always be tried by the militants.

Last year from January to June, the number of infiltration attempts was 74, whereas the number of militants who actually crossed to this side was 35. However, this year, there have been 97 attempts, while 56 militants actually sneaked to this side.