Published: August 02, 2007

700-800 militants active in Kashmir

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Srinagar, Aug 2: According to the Indian security agencies, around 700-800 militants are presently active in the trouble-torn Kashmir Valley.

A top army official told this correspondent that nearly 700-800 militants are presently active in the Kashmir Valley. "They belong to different militant groups, Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Albadar", the senior army official said.

The official said that half of the strength of 800 militants belong to Hizbul Mujahideen while the rest owe allegiance to other groups like Lashkar, Jaish, Albadar and Harkat.
When questioned about the ratio of foreign and local militants in Kashmir, he said, it is "70:30 in favour of foreign militants, mainly Pakistani nationals".

A top paramilitary officer also said they have credible intelligence reports about the presence of 700-800 militants in the Valley. "We regularly assess the ground situation and seek reports from our intelligence agencies to keep ourselves abreast of the number of militants present in the Valley at the given point of time", he said.

Meanwhile, another senior army officer stated that they have intelligence inputs that 2500-3000 militants have been brought to the launching pads from across the border close to the frontiers, where from they would be pushed into Kashmir. "We have increased the strength of soldiers along the frontiers with Pakistan and also increase surveillance of the sensitive areas to prevent the other side from pushing the armed militants into Kashmir", he said.

It is in place to mention here that the Indian army yesterday claimed they foiled a major infiltration attempt by militants from across the border, by killing eight Afghani militants owing allegiance to Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.