A senior army official on Tuesday said Pakistan was sending weapons to Kashmir for militancy related activities, a day after the forces recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition in an area along the Line of Control (LoC), in this border town.
“The recovery (or arms and ammunition) highlights that Pakistan is unrelenting in its efforts to pump in arms and ammunition,” said Major General Virendra Vats, GOC 19 Infantry Division, Baramulla, while addressing a press conference here.
The GOC said the militants who were getting killed, mainly in south Kashmir, were being found to be in possession of “pistols only.”
“So, they are feeling the heat for not getting the support and Pakistan is trying to sent more advanced weapon,” he said.
The Major General said the security forces were able to defeat the attempts of the militants along the LoC. “They are now also facing the heat from several agencies and civil population,” he said, adding since Pakistan was not able to “send their people to this side of LoC, they are now infiltrating the weapons.”
He said it was not clear yet that which outfits was involved in “weapon dropping.” “We will get to know it,” he said.
Meanwhile, army said it recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition along the LoC in Rampur sector here.
A statement issued by Srinagar-based defense ministry spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said that on August 30, movement of suspicious persons was detected in the Rampur sector.
The movement was from a village close to the LoC and the suspects had crossed into this side of LoC, the statement said. “Due to adverse terrain of thick foliage and bad weather conditions, an alert was sounded for likely infiltration attempt. The surveillance grid was beefed up across the area and ambushes were sited to thwart any such attempt. Surveillance continued throughout the night.”
Subsequently, the statement said, a search was carried out in the area. “After an extensive search of seven hours, a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from well-concealed locations in two hideouts in Rampur sector,” the statement said.
“The cache of arms recovered comprises five AK series rifles (along with six magazines and two sealed boxes with 1254 rounds of AK ammunition), six pistols (with nine magazines and six rounds), 21 grenades, two UBGL grenades and two Kenwood Radio sets,” it reads.
The statement said similar attempts were made on July 22 when inputs were received regarding likely weapon drop along the LoC ahead of the anti-infiltration fence.
“During the search operation along the LoC in Rampur sector, one AKS-74U with magazines, five pistols (one with Chinese markings) and magazines, 24 grenades and other warlike stores were recovered,” the statement said.
It said the modus operandi shows desperate attempts by militant groups to infiltrate weapons into J&K. “Robust surveillance and Line of Control domination activities will continue to deny all such misadventures,” it said.