Pak Army Officers Infiltrating Across LoC?

Jul 28,2006 00:00 by Newsdesk

In first incident of its kind after the Kargil war, a serving Major from the Nine Baloch Battalion of the Pakistan Army has been killed along with two Pakistani terrorists after a foiled infiltration bid along the Line of Control in the Gurez sector in Jammu and Kashmir. So the questions now being raised are that is this just a one of incident or is this a sign of another Kargil like planned intrusion?

According to the army spokesperson Lt Col VK Batra, Turkey was a resident of Gujranwala in Pakistan and the incident has clearly established the Pakistan Army's involvement in infiltration. The other two terrorists were identified as Mohammad Qasim Khan alias Abu Usman and Mohammad Ayub Khan alias Islam, both residents of Pakistan's Punjab province.

During the Kargil war Pakistan had used its Northern Light infantry but now with this incident coming to light its evident that core battalions of the Pakistan army like the Nine Baloch are actively helping the ISI backed infiltrators to create disturbances in parts of India.

Earlier Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee had made a statement saying that the infiltration has gone up in Kashmir in recent times clear signaling that India-Pakistan peace process is running into roadblocks. The Defence Minister has also ruled out any demilitarization in Kashmir, a suggestion being touted in recent times by General Pervez Musharraf as part of a long-term solution to the vexed issue.

Pakistani Prime Minister has started on a blame game by stating that India is not passionate enough to make peace with Pakistan. Meanwhile, terrorist outfits are now adopting new tactics and finding ways to evade or neutralize security measures have posed new challenges for security agencies. The fencing undertaken to check infiltration has not proved effective enough, even though they are fitted with thermal sensors to detect any humans going close to the barrier.