NSA Ajit Doval, Army top brass, Jammu and Kashmir Police brainstorm over LoC, Pakistan and anti-terror grid

In the wake of latest reports that Pakistan has again reactivated launch pads and pushing terrorists into India, the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Saturday asked the security agencies to strengthen the counter-infiltration grid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to check the infiltration of terrorists.

In a high-level security meeting, NSA Doval reviewed the operation against the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in the backdrop of successful operation against top terrorist and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo who was killed. Naikoo along with his associate was killed on May 6 in an encounter in Beighpora village of Awantipora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the intelligence inputs, 25-30 Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists are currently present in the Kashmir valley who can carry out terrorist attacks on security forces. The JeM is conspiring to launch a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack on the security forces in the valley on May 11, according to sources. A meeting was held between the top commander of JeM Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar and senior officials of Pakistan's ISI recently in which Rauf was apprised about the preparations for the suicide attack. 

According to a report by security agencies, the presence of around 450 terrorists, including from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has been seen on the launching pads adjacent to the Line of Control (LoC). Intelligence agencies have informed that the activated launch pads are in Dudhaniyal, Sharda and Athkam near the LoC adjoining Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Till March the number of terrorists on the launching pad was close to 230, which has almost doubled now, according to security agencies. There are around 350 Pakistani terrorists in this group and most of them are from LeT and JeM.

An official associated with the security agency said, "We have concrete information about the terrorists on the launching pad. The terrorists have gathered on more than 20 launching pads in several groups and the Pakistani Army has been violating ceasefire repeatedly to get them access into India."

NSA Doval held the meeting with top commanders of Army and heads of other security agencies during which agencies shared concern about increasing activities of Pakistan Air Force on the western front that started after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that India could make use of the ongoing friction to embark on a ‘false flag operation’ against Pakistan on the supposed grounds of infiltration.

The meeting was attended by Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Research and Analysis Wing Chief Samant Goel, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen YK Joshi, General Officer Commanding of the Army’s Srinagar-headquartered 15 corps (GoC) Lt General BS Raju and the Nagrota-based 16 corps commander Lt Gen Harsha Gupta and Jammu and Kashmir Police DGP  Dilbag Singh.