Srinagar, June 21: A senior Indian army official Tuesday said infiltration attempts by militants from across the Line of Control (defacto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir)) were at a 20-year low.
“The infiltration attempts from across the LoC have come down to a 20-year low as no militant has been able enter Kashmir this year. There have been two infiltration attempts this year but both were unsuccessful. I will not claim that we eliminated the militants but they were not able to cross to this side of LoC,” a top army official in Kashmir Lt Gen S A Hasnain told media on sidelines of a function in North Kashmir.
He said the recent reports of infiltration of militants into the Valley were not credible. “The report of infiltration is only an assessment. We do not have any confirmed reports. Different agencies have different sources and the news reaches through different modes. The presence of militants in the region is based on these reports which are actually assessments based on inputs from the informers,” he said while replying to the query about difference between Army and police statistics over the number of militants present in Kashmir.
About any security threat to Hindu annual pilgrimage Amarnath Yatra, Hasnain said, “There is no militant threat as such. The biggest threat is from nature. However, adequate security and other measures have been taken for the safety of pilgrims”.