How the Lashkar-e-Tayiba is cutting costs

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba is gradually changing the face of terrorism in India.

There was a time when the Lashkar sent in only hard core militants who would have trained at least for 6 to 7 years.

However there is a change in their pattern and the Lashkar has been picking the young to stage quick fire attacks.

The recruitment of youth between 18 and 20 has become the order of the day. If one looks at the Mohammad Naved incident, it becomes clear that he is a fresh face who came, attacked and created an impact.

Catch them young and watch them die:

The quick fire training camps that are being held across the Lashkar camps in Pakistan also save a lot of money and time for the terrorist outfit. Lashkar recruiters look around for youth and take them away to train with false promises.

If the boy or his family resists, then they are threatened and left with no choice. Around 3 to 4 years back the recruitments that took place involved a lot of money.

There was information that the family of 26/11 terrorist, Ajmal Kasab was offered a lot of money. He was also assured that his family would be looked after.

However that does not appear to be the norm today.

There is very little money on offer and the Lashkar just wants to send out half trained youth into India and carry out hit missions. If they manage to return well and good and if they were to die, the Lashkar has no problem.

Keeping off the radar:

If one looks at the Gurdaspur and Udhampur terror attacks, the gunmen involved were extremely unassuming.

Their style of attack was completely different. They were more interested in taking position and firing. Although there were claims that the terorrists did attempt to take people hostage, none of them succeeded.

Senior officials say that at Gurdaspur there was a better chance for the terrorists to take people hostage. They had an advantage, but failed to do so and this shows inexperience.

Despite being from a Fidayeen squad, they were more in a hurry to carry out the job and leave.

A hardened terrorist would know well that he is going to die and will attempt to battle till the very last moment.

The 26/11 attack was an example of that. All the ten were hardened terrorists and thoroughly trained and hence they managed to drag on the attack for nearly 3 days.

With so much security and surveillance, it is becoming difficult to infiltrate trained terrorists.

The Lashkar and other militant groups have been very unassuming persons who are suspected less.

This makes it easy for such terrorists to walk in and carry out a hit and run terror strike.

Repeat after me:

When Mohammad Naved was caught he seemed to be extremely relaxed. It was very clear that he was just repeating what was told to him.

He felt like a hero in front of the cameras. He clearly has no understanding of Jihad and what the real agenda of Pakistan is.

There have been several instances where the recruitment drive in Pakistan by the Lashkar and the army has picked up boys in the age group of 14 and 15.

They are given minimum training and sent to carry out strikes. Such persons hardly even understand the real agenda. All they know is to get into an and shoot mindlessly.

For the Lashkar this is always a cheaper option. It has to hardly spend any money on the training and although the attacks may not have the impact that a 26/11 would have, the job is still done at a very low cost.