Srinagar: After a brief lull, Pakistan has again increased attempts to push militants into Jammu and Kashmir and a spurt in infiltration bids has been witnessed over the past few months, belying Islamabad's claims to the contrary, the Border Security Force (BSF) said at Srinagar on October 3.

"There has been an increase in infiltration attempts, particularly since July 2002," BSF Inspector General G S Gill told in Srinagar.

Substantiating his assertion, Gill said indication in this regard were the 41 encounters witnessed on the line of control (LoC) since July 19 in which 90 infiltrating militants had been gunned down.

These attempts were aimed at sabotaging the ongoing Assembly elections, he said adding the security forces had anticipated spurt in the infiltration after a brief lull.

There was a phase when infiltration declined temporarily, he said adding, "but since the May-end statement of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, we had been anticipating an increase as we believed that the enemy was reconsolidating."

Expressing satisfaction over the conduct of three phases of elections, he, however, regretted the loss of lives of 12 BSF personnel in two militant attacks in South Kashmir within 24 hours after third phase of balloting ended on October 1.

"We were fearing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks in South Kashmir and we had taken precautions. But the incident in Tral when five BSF men were killed was caused by a huge IED," he said.

Pointing out that Tral area of Pulwama district was badly affected by militancy, Gill said the heights and topography suited militants' designs.

PTI