Terrorists from Afghanistan sent to J&K to escalate terror activities: Sources

New Delhi: Pakistan plans to send Afghan terrorists to the Valley to escalate terror activities in the wake of the Indian government abrogating Article 370, which granted autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), sources said on Thursday.

Some 15 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists have also been deployed at the Leepa Valley on Line of Control (LoC) to carry out Border Action Team (BAT) activities against the Indian Army.

Pakistan-based terrorists have either entered or likely to enter India to carry out a “stellar” terror strike in major cities including Delhi, said sources in North and South Block here. Other states, which can be hit by terrorists are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Pakistan is desperately trying to push Afghan terrorists in Kashmir as local militants are not able to sustain operations against security forces. “Pakistan is looking to push battle-hardened Afghan terrorists into Kashmir as the ‘shelf life’ of local terrorists is around four to five months. There is no leadership of terrorists left in Kashmir. The sole long-surviving terrorist in Kashmir is Hizbul Mujah-ideen commander Riyaz Naikoo,” said sources.

Most of the local terrorists in the region are poorly trained as they get their training within the Valley itself, said sources.

Terrorists are recruiting people from North-West Frontier and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for terror activities against India.

“A meeting of the JeM was held in Bhawalpur in Pakistan under Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, the operational chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad and brother of Maulana Masood Azhar, on August 19-20 with the commanders of the terrorist launch pads. The launch commanders were instructed to push maximum number of terrorists into Kashmir,” said sources.

A 10-day refresher course was also conducted for terrorists in Mansehra, they said.