Intercepts suggest Taliban presence in Kashmir valley

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The militancy scenario in the
northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir may change as
wireless and satellite intercepts suggest presence of a group
of nearly 15 'Taliban' militants in higher reaches of Kupwara
in north Kashmir.

While all central security forces and agencies and the
Army are tight-lipped over the development, sources in the
Home Ministry said wireless messages of a group of militants
holed up in Chowkibal area of Trehgham in Kupwara were
intercepted. Another such communication was heard in Lolab
area, also in Kupwara, they said.

The intercepts, the sources claimed, were enough to
"shock" the security agencies as one group identified itself
as being part of the Taliban which had crossed the Line of
Control using the Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled
maps.

The sources said a gun-battle was already on in the area
for last five days and even the Army was encountering tough
resistance from the group believed to be numbering between 10
and 15.

So far the two militants from the group are believed to
have fallen to the bullets of the Army but their bodies are
yet to be found due to heavy gun fire from the militants'
side, the sources said.

In the intercept, the sources said, militants of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, suspected to be behind the Mumbai carnage,
were heard asking the Taliban to go back but the militants had
refused to go by it.

Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta has been in constant
touch with the Army and para-military forces and is monitoring
the situation, the sources said.

He, along with Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, has held
wide-ranging consultations with the police, the para-military
and the army in the state. During the meeting, the two top
bureaucrats were briefed about the development and the
intercepts, they said.

Security forces are on high alert in the state after
movement of suspected militants was noticed on the other side
of LoC in Gurez and Machil sectors. The army had even engaged
a group of terrorists trying to infiltrate in Gurez area last
week.

Despite conflicting claims by the Army, security agencies
believe that nearly 80 militants mainly of Lashkar-e-Taiba had
entered into the Valley.

However, the Ministry maintained a silence over the
issue and refused to say anything officially.

The recent infiltration bids also threw another surprise
for security agencies when they found Muzamil, one of the main
Lashker-e-Taiba masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks, as
being the brain behind large-scale intrusion from Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir.

Agencies monitoring wireless intercepts along the LoC
tracked a conversation in which Muzamil was heard asking
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Sallahuddin to push a large
number of militant cadres into the state. PTI SKL
JVN