The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sale of Army uniforms heightens militant threat
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Nowshera (Rajouri), April 11
Ahead of the polling for the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary seat slated for April 16, despite Taliban threat looming large, military combat uniform is selling openly in the area. This area lies just 15 km from infiltration points in the sector, which militants have been using for sneaking into India for some time now.

For around Rs 500 any one can buy an Army fatigue from local cloth shops here. Following reports of infiltration by Taliban cadres, the security agencies have stepped up vigil in many areas of the Jammu division, especially in the dense forests of Rajouri and Poonch districts. Senior officials disclosed that intelligence inputs indicated that the militant activity may be confined to the Lolab valley in Kashmir, but they could not leave anything to chance in the area.

The biggest advantage here is that locals are throughly nationalists, who in the past had apprehended an armed militant who had infiltrated into the area from the PoK. Some vigilant locals could spot him because of his looks despite the Army uniform he was wearing.

This parliamentary area in the vicinity of Nowshera has a number of known infiltration points like Laam, Ladoka, Kalal and Keeri sector that have seen several failed as well as successful infiltration attempts in the past. With reports of Taliban and Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants waiting to infiltrate into India from the PoK, the open sale of the Army uniform and material increases the risk of militant threat.

It is pertinent to mention here that leaders of various political parties are campaigning in Rajouri and Poonch sectors of the Jammu division. There are in all 21 candidates for the first phase of the poll on April 16, many of them from lesser known parties could become soft targets. Intelligence sources say foiling the elections in the state is on the top of the agenda of Pakistan militants.