Srinagar: Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF) Raja Babu Singh on Monday stated that though the Line of Control (LoC) had been peaceful in Kashmir frontier since ceasefire agreement yet over a hundred militants across the border were waiting to sneak in.
“The overall scenario along the LoC is peaceful. Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, there has been a general peace all along the LoC in Kashmir frontier,” IG BSF Kashmir Raja Babu Singh told reporters during an annual press briefing here.
“There are reports that 104 to 135 terrorists are present across the LoC on different launching pads, waiting to infiltrate,” Singh informed. “As per intelligence input, last year 138-145 youths were indoctrinated to join different militant outfits,” he said.
BSF, besides the army, is on the frontier along LoC in Kashmir and IB in Jammu. There have been many incidents when BSF foiled infiltration bids along LoC and IB.
Singh said that infiltration was one of the challenges however there was complete synergy between BSF and army. “There is a lot of synergy between the army and BSF. The more we conduct area dominations, keep watch and surveillance, the more difficult it will be for terrorists to infiltrate,” he said, adding, “We are putting in all our efforts so that no infiltration is allowed and that zero infiltration happens.”
“As and when anyone is spotted crossing the LoC, he is challenged and if firing is used, he is killed like the recent killing of a terrorist on January 2,” he said, adding that there were reports that some guides from here had crossed the LoC.
“So, we need to monitor them as and when they return. Their families need to be monitored,” he said.
Singh said that last year, they foiled three infiltration bids. “One on February 10; second on April 13 in Kupwara and third on June 25 near Pir Baba,” he said, adding that in two bids, BSF seized arms and ammunition, besides detected two IEDs also.
Senior BSF officer said that the number of infiltration bids had also been lesser in comparison to previous years. “In 2021, 58 attempts were there, in which 5 terrorists were killed, 21 returned and one surrendered,” he said, adding that there were 31 infiltrations in 2020; 130 in 2019 and in 2020, there were 36 attempts. About the Taliban take over in Afghanistan he said, “There is nothing like that till now, but we are keeping an eye on the developments.” He said, “It is because of the synergy between forces and security agencies that there have been successful operations. No terrorist has a shelf life of more than six to eight weeks, which is a good sign.”
About the weapons from Afghanistan, IG BSF said that nothing concrete had come into notice so far, “but we are keeping an eye on it. We are keeping a strict vigil.”
Replying to a query about drone threat, Singh said, “Drone threat is very real. Last year also, drones were noticed, but no one ventured inside our territory.”
“This year, we are taking enough measures, anti-drone techniques, we are also getting a few drones and we will tackle it very effectively. There have been attempts to push narcotics from the other side. We have seized it. We have a zero tolerance policy against narcotics,” he said.