42 terror camps active in PoK, new ones added: Indian Army chief

Anti-India terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is intact and currently 42 terror camps, including new ones in Pak-occupied Kashmir, are being run, army chief Gen VK Singh disclosed today.

Now even women are being trained to wage Pakistan's proxy war against India, he told PTI in an interview.

Gen Singh said infiltration has gone up recently and around 600 terrorists are waiting at "launch pads" in PoK along the Line of Control and International Border to sneak into India.

Pakistan has "invested heavily in the proxy war against India" and there has been "no substantial effort" by it to act against terror groups which operate from its soil and are used as a "strategic tool" by that country.

"Currently, 42 terrorist training camps are located in Pakistan/PoK. Inputs reveal that some new camps have also been established in PoK for undertaking terrorist training," he said.

The army chief was responding when asked whether Pakistan has done something to dismantle anti-India terror infrastructure as has been promised by it repeatedly.

"It is assessed that Pakistan will continue to foster terrorism against India and the terrorist infrastructure is likely to remain intact in the foreseeable future," he said.

Gen Singh revealed that the terror outfits are maintaining a number of officers, stores, transit accommodations and temporary training facilities at various locations in PoK.

"Launch pads are used extensively for infiltration into Jammu & Kashmir and are located all along the Line of Control and parts of International Border," he said, adding "As on date, approximately 600 terrorists are located in the launch pads, poised for infiltration in the near future."

Talking about infiltration, he said it has recently gone up, with 10 incidents being recorded in June, six in July and 33 in August.

Significantly, August witnessed the peak of stone-pelting incidents and other forms of agitation in the Kashmir Valley, which also was being fuelled from across the border.

Gen Singh felt that about 20-25 infiltration attempts had succeeded, which is indicated by the fact that 12 to 15 terrorists were killed in the last 15-20 days. "This shows people have come from somewhere," he said.

Noting that Pakistan perceives Kashmir as an "unfinished agenda", he said, "it is assessed that Pakistan will continue to foster terrorism against India and the terrorist infrastructure is likely to remain intact in the foreseeable future."

On meeting the challenge, he said the Army has a "robust counter-infiltration strategy" which has yielded "excellent results".

He said the Army's ability to detect and neutralise terrorists attempting to infiltrate or exfiltrate has increased with dynamic troop deployment, pro-active use of surveillance and monitoring devices and the anti-infiltration obstacle system.

"Inputs also reveal use of terrorist tanzeem (groups) sponsored madrasas for religious indoctrination of new recruits," Gen Singh said.

To a question on ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the recent months along the LoC and International Border, he said these are "generally in few specific areas and we are trying to ensure that these remain confined as also reduce altogether."

He said the ceasefire has generally been holding out except for a "few aberrations" and all violations of ceasefire are taken up with Pakistani military authorities at the appropriate level through the established mechanism of hotlines, flag meetings and weekly talks between the director generals of military operations.

On the situation in Northeast, the army chief said the multi-pronged strategy adopted by government and sustained operations by security forces have considerably marginalised the activities of various insurgent groups operating in the region.

He said these initiatives have also brought a few of the insurgent groups to the negotiating table, resulting in "relative peace" in the region. "However, the situation needs constant monitoring."