The Indian Army, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Jammu and Kashmir Police have intensified their vigil at various locations near the International Border after intelligence warned that the dense fog in the region may be used by cross-border terrorists to enter the country.
Anti-terror activities, including search operations and aggressive patrolling, have been launched in the Kathua, Samba, Jammu, and Rajouri districts, besides the Chatroo forest belt in Kishtwar of Jammu and Kashmir, by security forces in the light of the intel, reports said. Terror launchpads along the border opposite the Hiranagar, Ghagwal, Ramgarh, and Akhnoor areas in the Kathua–Samba–Jammu sector have been activated in the past two days, intelligence inputs reportedly said. Thus, search and cordon operations are underway in multiple locations to counter any possible infiltration attempt, news agency PTI reported.
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In the Kishtwar district alone, security forces conducted searches in over a dozen forest villages for the second day on Saturday after locals reported the movement of suspected terrorists. The Bobiya border outpost, Tappan, Mareed, Paharpur, Pansar, Maniyari, Tarnah Nallah, Bein Nallah, Kishanpur Kandi, Chak Chabbey, Dolka Samyal, and Rukh-e-Sarkar areas in the Kathua district were named among the places where the security forces have upped their vigil. Search operations were also conducted at Babar Nallah, Paloora, Treyal, Mansar, and Chilla Danga in Samba, and Pragwal and adjoining areas in the Akhnoor sector, the PTI report added.
However, there has been no contact with any suspects so far, they said, adding that the anti-terror operation was ongoing when the last reports were received.
According to officials, the searches are also part of area domination in view of the prevailing harsh weather conditions accompanied by dense fog cover. The weather department has predicted that heavy rainfall or snowfall is likely at isolated places over Jammu–Kashmir–Ladakh–Gilgit–Baltistan–Muzaffarabad on Sunday, 21 December. On Saturday, five flights were cancelled and eight delayed in Jammu, while flight operations from Srinagar airport were partially disrupted due to fog.
Earlier this month, BSF intel had claimed that over 100 terrorists were waiting for an opportunity to enter India from Pakistani territory. "Simultaneously, various training camps of terrorists are also under the scrutiny of our intelligence wing... Our G unit is keeping a close watch on all the 69 active launching pads along the LoC, where around 100–120 terrorists have been waiting to infiltrate," the BSF had said.
