Key Points

While those involved in the Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives have been eliminated, the focus is now back on the massive infiltration bids that Pakistan has been making.

On Wednesday, the security forces eliminated two Pakistani terrorists while foiling an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. They were attempting to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) when they were intercepted by the security forces and killed.

A massive search operation has been launched at the Deghwar sector, Poonch, after intercepts suggested the presence of suspicious persons near the LoC. Reinforcements have been called in to sanitise the area and also prevent any further infiltration.

After Operation Sindoor, a large part of the terror infrastructure in Pakistan had been destroyed. Prominent among those were the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s primary training facility in Muridke and the Jaish-e-Mohammad headquarters in Bahawalpur.

Since the operation, Pakistan has been making multiple attempts to revive its terror infrastructure. While the terror infrastructures are being re-built closer to the Pakistan army’s facilities, terror groups have been asked to ramp up operations.

Following Operation Mahadev, terror groups have been trying to send their cadres in larger numbers, since they lost three key terrorists during the encounter that took place on Monday at Dachigam in the Kashmir Valley.

The three terrorists who were killed have been identified as Suleman alias Faizal Jatt, Hamza Afghani, and Zibran. Suleman, who is an ex-Pakistan army personnel, was leading this team. He is the one wholed the team that carried out the Pahalgam attack.

Investigations have found that a team of terrorists led by Suleman had entered India from Pakistan three years back. After infiltrating India, they split into two teams. The second team, led by one Musa, is still active and is being pursued by the security forces.

The number of terrorists who have managed to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 has come down. Statistics show that in the past three to four years, around 25 terrorists have infiltrated the Valley. Tracking these hardened terrorists has become harder as they are operating in smaller teams of three to four. Moreover, they do not communicate with each other.

This explains why the security forces took so long to eliminate the Pahalgam attackers. It was ultimately a combination of both human and technical Intelligence that led the forces to the terrorists on Monday.

Officials say that when it comes to Pakistan, there is never a good time to take your eyes off. Even at the height of tensions during Operation Sindoor, infiltration attempts were made by Pakistan. These attempts were aided by coordinated artillery fire from the Pakistan side.

Two days before the ceasefire was announced, the Border Security Force (BSF) on May 8 foiled a major infiltration bid in the Samba sector, killing seven armed terrorists.

With major operations against Pakistan done for now, the focus of the security forces has now shifted to internal security. Gaps along the infiltration corridors are now being plugged, while area domination patrols are being launched.

The security forces are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that there is no regrouping of infiltrators.

- IANS