Representative image of BSF soldiers.
Credit: PTI file photo
Strict patrolling by the Border Security Force and the Army along the Line of Control and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir has forced militants to infiltrate into India through Nepal, sources said.
They said that militants are now using the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and later entering Jammu and Kashmir.
“Several terrorists in the late 1990s and early 2000s fled Kashmir and some of them set up businesses in Nepal. They have now become sleeper cells for the ISI in Kathmandu, and with their active support and help, infiltration is being carried out,” a source said.
The Nepal route was proposed by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Omar Abdullah in 2010 as part of the state’s rehabilitation policy for former militants. However, it was scrapped in 2017 by the Union Home Ministry. Till then, 377 former militants along with 864 family members had returned via the Nepal route.
Earlier this month Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Divwedi confirmed that terrorists were infiltrating through Nepal and Punjab routes to foment trouble and disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in J&K.
“Terrorists are now coming by road from Nepal and Punjab to foment trouble and to disrupt the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in J&K,” he said.
Due to low infiltration along the LoC and the IB and a decline in recruitment of locals into militancy, there has also been a considerable drop in violence in Jammu and Kashmir this year.
In July, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that until June end of this year, there had been no infiltration from across the LoC and IB in J&K and that “there has been a perceptible decline in infiltration due to the approach adopted by the government to tackle cross-border terrorism.”
A senior police officer told DH that militant handlers across the border were desperate to infiltrate “and the Nepal route is one of the safest for terrorist operatives to sneak in.”
“As the ISI has found a new way to drop weapons and drugs through drones, terrorists are infiltrating through safer routes and the Indo-Nepal border is one of them. This route has been used by the terrorists since 1990s and still remains an option for them,” he revealed.