Army to mine for grenade dumps in J&K

NEW DELHI: Taking note of the new terror trends in J&K including increased instances of grenade-throwing at soft targets, a high-level review meeting chaired by Army chief General J J Singh here on Wednesday decided to intensify operations to unearth grenade dumps across the state and apprehend carriers and those recruited by jehadi groups to lob them at identified targets.

As for tackling the sharp rise in infiltration this year, as compared to 2005, the meeting agreed on the need to redeploy security forces operating in the state, primarily the Army and BSF, so as to step up vigil in sectors where infiltration is reported to be high.

The review meeting — attended by Union home secretary V K Duggal, top Army commanders, director-generals of BSF and CRPF, J&K police chief Gopal Sharma and heads of intelligence agencies — especially focused on the rising infiltration, assessing in detail its causes as well as possible impact on the J&K security scenario.

Official figures put the number of infiltrators that have sneaked into J&K till May this year at 231, a three-fold rise from 71 infiltrators reported during the corresponding period of 2005. The security agencies operating in the state are disturbed at the trend and its possible fallout on the two important events lined up in the coming months: The Amarnath yatra as well as Independence Day.

While acknowledging the recent rise in infiltration, Union home secretary V K Duggal however underlined that incidents until May this year had dipped to 658 from 794 during the corresponding period of last year. He nevertheless conceded that the incidents this time, though less, were more high-profile and bothersome since they were aimed at soft targets including tourists, minorities and small-time labourers.

It was also acknowledged at Wednesday’s review meeting that while fidayeen attacks had dipped from 5-6 until May last year to just 1 this year and car-bomb attacks were down with the agencies often succeeding in defusing these bombs, the militants were now employing the easy method of hitting soft targets with grenades.

These grenades were mostly lobbed by petty criminals and young boys hired by the militants for a small financial reward. The agencies traced in detail the entire supply chain of grenades: they were being brought in by the infiltrating terrorists and then passed on to conduits who then deposited them in a storage dump.

From here, they were taken away in small numbers by militants to the places to be hit. Following some basic training of petty criminals, militancy sympathisers and young men wanting to make a quick buck, in handling of the grenades, targets identified by the jehadis were being hit.

During the meeting, the Army chief and top MHA officials underlined the need to break this chain by either raiding the storage dumps or apprehending the carriers of the grenades, besides closing in on those hired by the terror outfits to strike with the grenades.

According to sources, some success has already been achieved on that front with the Army recently seizing a huge cache of grenades during its counter-insurgency operations in J&K. The possibility of redeployment of Army and Central forces in J&K is also being discussed, although Mr Duggal on Wednesday ruled out pumping more forces into the state.

This may involve the Army or BSF taking over operations in areas where infiltration in reported to be high. Also, with many of the attacks of late concentrated in Srinagar, including those against tourists, the MHA brass and CRPF are reviewing the work of each CRPF commandant stationed in the state Capital.

“The message is clear: the commandants on duty must be shaken up wherever needed and asked to brace for the security challenges ahead,” said a senior MHA official.