Of late there has been a decline in trans-border intrusion by the Pak-trained terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and the casualty in recent encounters is mostly local terrorists. It means that the infiltration from across the Line of Control has come down due to a better security grid and alert security men. Army has been on the vigil and this has borne the fruits but has paid a heavy price in terms of loss of human life. “There used to be infiltration by militants from Pakistan. But I can say after surgical strikes, incidents of infiltration have come down to a large extent. I compliment both the army and the BSF for ensuring border security,” said Home Minister Rajnath Singh while addressing a BSF investiture ceremony in the beginning of June. At that time he had said that government was working to fully deploy a Comprehensive and Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) to secure the frontiers by using radars, lasers, cameras and other command and control devices. India shares 3,323 Km (including Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir sector) of its land border with Pakistan. This border runs along the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The Indo-Pakistan border has varied terrain and distinct geographical features. And placing CIBMS would help in sealing the vulnerable spots of infiltration by terrorists and smuggling of arms, ammunition and contraband. Challenges remained on the contentious Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and army has accepted that previous years have seen more infiltration than this year. No doubt some stray attempts are being made in Jammu and Kashmir but the ground reality is that development activities, economic activities, trade, tourism along with close vigil by security forces has worked as deterrent. Notwithstanding, Pakistan continues its intransigence on proxy war and fuel separatist sentiments in J and K. The counter-infiltration operations are an important aspect of counter-proxy war operations and winter months help in further strengthening the grid along the LoC which helps army to thwart any attempt from across the border. This slowdown may be a misguided symptom and vigil cannot be lowered especially when the annual Amarnath Yatra has begun, with the first batch of Yatris being flagged off from Jammu on Wednesday.
