Militants use GPS in J&K

KUPWARA (J&K): Militants sneaking into India from across the border are increasingly using GPS devices in their ventures, posing problems to the army who has no equipment to track them.

According to the soldiers manning the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir's Kupwara sector, militants now depend on the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) instead of human guides to infiltrate into the Valley.

"Militants have gone hi-tech as they are using sophisticated devices to find their way into our side of the Valley," said a top army official.

"The incidents where militants rely on GPS to sneak into the Valley have increased in the recent past," he said.

A GPS device can be as small as a mobile phone and is available as little as Rs3,000-5,000. It can be used by anyone with a little technical knowledge.

Earlier infiltrators relied mostly on 'not always trustworthy' human guides who used to take hefty sums in crossing the border but now the hi-tech equipment has taken over as it can easily remain untraced.

"Earlier we used to track mobile conversations between infiltrators and their guides but now we don't have any resources to track GPS signals," said another official.

"A person sitting kilometres away can easily guide the infiltrators and we cannot trace the signals," he added.

Sources in the army said that training in GPS equipment have been made mandatory for militants operating on the other side of the LoC.

"We have apprehended some militants with these devices and subsequent interrogation revealed that it was mandatory for them to train in the use of these equipment. Every group that prepares to cross the LoC has an expert to handle these devices," they said.

PRO of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Col AK Mathur, however, said counter-measures are already in place.

"We have installed some counter measures to neutralise the militants using GPS. These equipment can only help them cross the LoC but cannot aware them of the places where we have put mines," he said.