Amid fears that Afghanistan's developments would encourage terrorism in Kashmir, the Army Chief, General M M Naravane, on Saturday admitted that Afghan-origin foreign terrorists would attempt to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir once the situation normalizes in their country.
To substantiate his point the Army Chief cited similar instances when the Taliban was in power in Kabul over two decades ago.
General Naravane, however, assured that Indian armed forces are well prepared to deal with any such situation as forces have a very strong counter-infiltration grid as well as the mechanism to check activities of terror outfits in the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir. The Army chief was speaking at a media conclave at New Delhi.
Although the Army Chief has not linked recent terror incidents in Kashmir Valley with the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, he predicted that there has been a spurt in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
40 Pakistan-backed Afghan terrorists trying to sneak J&K: reports
Recently a news channel has reported that ahead of the festival season, Intelligence agencies have warned of a possible attempt by terror groups to infiltrate India to execute terror activities.
Quoting intelligence officials it was reported that about 40 Pakistan-backed terrorists of Afghanistan-origin are positioned in terror camps near the Line of Control (LoC). "The state police and paramilitary have been issued alert about the intel inputs", the report said.
A news agency, quoting intelligence officers reported that after the Taliban took over the government in Afghanistan, agencies have got the input regarding the movement of Afghanistan-based terrorists entering India with the help of Pakistan-based terrorist organizations which are backed by ISI.
"The agencies have got the input that around 40 such terrorists are stationed at a terror camp in the Nakyal sector of Pakistan near the Line of Control (LoC). They have been trained to enter Indian by crossing the Poonch river using tubes and snorkeling," reports said.
Foreign terrorists were active in Kashmir when Taliban was in power earlier
The Army Chief recalled that in the past when the previous Taliban regime was in power, that time foreign terrorists of Afghan origin were very much active in Jammu and Kashmir.
"So there are reasons to believe that the same thing might happen once again that once the situation in Afghanistan stabilizes, then we could see an inflow of these fighters from Afghanistan to the Jammu and Kashmir," he added.
The Chief of Army Staff said the Indian armed forces are fully ready to deal with any such attempts. "Just as we dealt with them in the early 2000s, we will deal with them now also should they venture anywhere near us," he asserted.
Experts already cautioned against the evil designs of Pakistan
Security experts have already cautioned against trusting the new dispensation of Afghanistan at this juncture. They have already cautioned the security agencies to increase vigil on the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Experts fear that Pakistan's notorious ISI may push Afghan terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir to disturb the prevailing security scenario.
"Keeping in view the desperation of Pakistan to disturb peace in J&K, it is my opinion that ISI may ask the Taliban to divert some of its terrorists to Jammu & Kashmir to revive terror activities,", said former Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Dr. S P Vaid.
Vaid said that Pakistan will now shift terror training camps of terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to Afghanistan with the support of the Taliban government.
Vaid recalled the 1999 infamous Khandhar hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight when the Taliban had helped Pakistani terrorists to force India to release dreaded JeM terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar from Kot Bhalwal Jail of Jammu. Vaid was DIG of Jammu when the incident happened.
