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| Pak's bid to demine borders, create new, "safe" infiltration routes....! | | Wildland fires on LoC | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Dec 26: Wildland fires caused by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC) are largely seen by defence experts on this side as its attempts to demine Indian borders for the purpose of creating new and "safe" infiltration routes.
They were in dire need of new routes to push militants as the old routes had counter-insurgency (CI) troops on almost every part of them, an army officer said.
Since it was not possible to dodge forces on these routes, militants were now looking for new routes, he added.
The officer said there were certain areas on the LoC in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri which were heavily mined. The presence of troops was also less in such areas, he added.
As Pakistan was in knowhow of it, it wanted to demine some of these land stretches to carve out "safe" routes for the infiltrating militants. To achieve this aim, they had been setting ablaze forests on the LoC, the officer said.
In one such incident, several mines exploded in Dabbi and Satali border areas of Balakote in Poonch late last night. "As demining makes the area safe for human movement, new infiltration routes are created," he added.
The officer said their only intention was to create new infiltration routes which was possible only if the areas on this side of the LoC were demined.
He said apart from alert troops and fencing, landmines were another hurdle for the infiltrating militants because once they were trapped in a mine-field, they were sure to get hurt, or killed in the explosion.
In two incidents of fire in Balakote area in January this year, dozens of landmines had exploded.
Once a particular area was demined, the infiltrating groups of militants needed only to breach the fencing and dodge troops.
In December 2010 also, fire had extended to Balakote from PoK as a result of which over 20 mines had exploded.
Landmines have been laid all along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir to prevent infiltration.
The officer said in 2009, several incidents of fire along the LoC were followed by infiltration attempts by militants.
Fire had started from the Gola woods of PoK on June 8 last and spread to Balakote, engulfing about 13 km area. Forces had heard over 50 explosions in this fire.
Panicked by the blasts, residents of Deri Dabsi and Lanjyote villages had fled their houses.
On May 22 last, fire spread from across the LoC to Keri in Rajouri as a result of which several landmines had exploded, clearing a large chunk of the border land of them. A forward post was also partially damaged in this incident.
The officer said due to the demining of a vast area on the LoC due to fires, army had enhanced vigil and laid ambushes on it to foil any infiltration bid. |
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