More infiltrators arrested by Army as Pakistan continues to push terrorists into Valley

New Delhi, Sep 04: Two Pakistani nationals associated with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba have been caught while trying to enter Kashmir, top security officers said on Wednesday.

"Pakistan is desperate for terrorists to infiltrate... to disrupt peace in the Valley," General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army's 15 Corps Lt General K J S Dhillon said at a joint briefing with Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Munir Khan.

This development comes in the backdrop of the Army arresting two persons who were trying to infiltrate the Valley through the Line of Control last week.

Nazneen Khokhar (25) and Khaleel Ahmed Kayani (36) were nabbed by army troops from the upper reaches of Gulmarg last week, officials said.

The two terrorists are being interrogated, they said. The move comes in the wake of Indian intelligence agencies stating that a major push is being made to send in terrorists from Pakistan to India.

The intelligence has stated that Pakistan would be on over-drive mode and would not only look to raise tensions along the border but also launch terrorists into the Valley. With the government easing restrictions in a phased manner, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has advised that the forces remain on a very high state of alert.

Pakistan is trying to push at least 100 terrorists in Kashmir from Afghanistan.

With there being a lockdown in the Valley following the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan would look for the curbs to ease out, before it tried and implements its larger design to push 100 terrorists into the Valley in a bid to cause havoc.

In addition, around 15 Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists are already waiting at the terror launch-pads in Lipa valley along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side to infiltrate in Kashmir, Intelligence reports suggest.

According to intelligence inputs, Pakistan-based terror groups may target vital installations in several key Indian cities in the next few weeks, sources said.

Pakistan's plan is to trigger series of terror attacks in Kashmir to project to the international community that situation in the Valley is fast deteriorating following India's decision to withdraw special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two union territories, they said.

"We have credible intelligence that Pakistan is bringing over 100 hardcore terrorists from Afghanistan and they will be pushed into Kashmir in the next few weeks," said a military source.

Mufti Rauf Asghar, brother of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, held meetings with top commanders of the terror outfit at its Bahawalpur headquarters on August 19 and 20 with a primary agenda of pushing hardcore terrorists into Kashmir, sources claimed.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been making provocative statements targeting India following its decisions on Kashmir and even suggested recently that a Pulwama-like terror attack may take place again.

According to Pakistan's assessment, the local terrorists in Kashmir are not properly trained, have low shelf-life and there was a leadership crisis among them in the Valley because of vigorous anti-terror operations, the sources said.

"That is why Pakistan is bringing battle-hardened terrorists from Afghanistan", they added.

Sources claimed Pakistan has set up Kashmir desks at all its foreign missions to carry out anti-India propaganda in the wake of India's decisions on J&K.