SRINAGAR: Captured Pakistani militant Mohammad Naved alias Usman Khan’s claim of having infiltrated via Tangmarg sector along the Line of Control in North Kashmir is bitter news for the Army.
Very recently, a topmost Army commander in the region had made claims of zero infiltration in Kashmir this year.
“Eight infiltration bids were made by militants along the LoC in Kashmir so far this year. We foiled all of them,” General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Subrata Saha told reporters recently. Sources said Naved, arrested after the militant attack on a BSF convoy in Udhampur on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Wednesday, has told interrogators that he and three associates infiltrated from Tangmarg sector some 45 days ago by cutting the LoC fencing.
Naved also told his interrogators that he has been to Kupwara, Tangmarg, Awantipora, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag in the Valley.
“This puts a question mark on Army’s counter-infiltration grid, put in place along the LoC. How did the militant manage to escape from the counter-infiltration grid and how did he reach the populated areas in different districts in the Valley without detection?” a senior security official said, pleading anonymity.
He said there are at least three tiers of security along the LoC and passing the security grid without detection means there are some loopholes in the grid.
“We have to find these loopholes so that they can be plugged to ensure that no infiltrator manages to cross the LoC for creating trouble in the state,” the official added.