With Jammu and Kashmir nearing a year of being reborn as a Union Territory on August 5, directly under the control of the Union government, the security agencies handling the security grid in the Valley are keeping a close watch on the developments involving the US withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan.
With Afghanistan in the throes of instability, there are concerns of not letting the security situation in Kashmir deteriorate. The heightened levels of security in J&K may ensure that there will not be a repeat of 1989-90, when militancy peaked due to mix of Afghan Taliban fighters and Pakistan-sponsored terrorists crossing into the Valley. But there are fresh reports that representatives of Taliban, along with Jaish-e-Mohammed commanders, including Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, the JeM operational chief and brother of designated global terrorist Masood Azhar, held meetings with ISI officials to coordinate both in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
“JeM is working along with Taliban in Nagrahar, Kandahar and Helmand provinces, while Lashkar-e-Taiba has been allotted Nuristan, Kunar, Pakitiya, Paktika and Khost to work along with Taliban. LeT has also been given this area to operate as it has organic links with the Haqqani network which is based in this belt,” said the latest intelligence report. The ISI game-plan is to pool in resources of both Jaish and LeT for sharing infiltration routes and conducting attacks, it said.
A possible surge in number of terrorists available to the Pakistan ISI is being seen as a challenge for J&K in the coming months as the US-Taliban agreement rolls out.
