New Delhi: As part of its new strategy to check infiltration from across the border,
the government is understood to have given its nod to erect barbed wire fence at
several points along the line of control (LoC), besides prohibiting nomads from
going to higher reaches for greener pastures during the coming summer.
According to sources, a proposal was jointly mooted by the Army and the Jammu and
Kashmir government to the Centre, which was cleared for implementation with the
former bearing cost of laying double barbed wire fence at several places along the
line of control.
A joint survey conducted by the intelligence agencies, the Army and state government
along the LoC identified several points from where militants used to sneak into the
state and create trouble.
They said the move was taken in view of information from several border-observing
posts that a large number of militants were waiting across the LoC for the snow to
melt so that they could infiltrate.
They said besides these measures, the Army had also decided to prevent "Gujjars"
(nomads) from going to higher reaches during the coming summer in some areas
following reports that militants used to come down to the villages posing as
shepherds.
The sources said an amount of Rs seven crore had been earmarked for relocation of
these nomads to other places, besides providing with necessary facilities for their
cattle.
The move comes in the wake of confessions by some nomads, picked up for questioning
during the winters, who had revealed that militants had come down with them in some
areas of Poonch and Surankote, when they had gone up for feeding cattle.
The sources said some of the militants responsible in creating a terror scare in
Doda, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur in Jammu region had come using the same modus
operandi.
The Army has already deployed "sensors" along the strategic points along the LoC to
detect any infiltration and now "thermal devices" had also been put in place for the
same purpose.
PTI
