NEW DELHI: Pakistan is cranking up efforts to push as many infiltrators as possible across the Line of Control into Jammu and Kashmir , while also calibrating cross-border terrorist actions and disinformation campaigns to inflame passions among Kashmiris , said Northern Army Command chief Lt General Ranbir Singh on Tuesday.

A day after the Modi government revoked the special status of J&K and moved to split the state into two union territories, the Indian Army ’s assessment is that there is mounting pressure on the Pak Army-ISI combine within Pakistan “to show visible action” on the Kashmir front.

This could range from stepped-up ceasefire violations along the LoC, with caliber-escalation to artillery guns and heavy mortars, to planning a major terror strike in J&K in the run-up to the Independence Day on August 15. As per the Army, there are around 200 active terrorists in J&K at present, with another 200-250 positioned at the terror launch pads along the LoC waiting for opportunities to infiltrate across.

Pak Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa , on his part, declared his force “firmly stands” by the Kashmiris in “their just struggle” to the very end. “We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations in this regard,” he said, at a meeting of his corps commanders summoned on the “single-point agenda” of Kashmir in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

The Indian Army, incidentally, foiled two infiltration attempts in the Machhil and Uri sectors along the LoC in the intervening night between Monday and Tuesday, in which a soldier was injured and later evacuated to a hospital.

“The infiltrators in both the bids were forced to retreat under heavy fire. In the one at Uri, they left behind three AK assault rifles, three pistols and 13 under-barrel grenades around 500 meters inside Indian territory. It could be a new tactic to dump weapons on our side of the LoC for retrieval later,” said an officer.

Lt Gen Singh held a top-level meeting of security and intelligence agencies at Srinagar on Tuesday to review the operational readiness to meet any contingency that could adversely impact the security situation in J&K.

Pakistan has “intensified its efforts” at increasing the number of terrorists in launch pads along the LoC, initiating ceasefire violations, pushing infiltrators across the border, calibrating terrorist actions in the hinterland, as also exploiting the social media to launch disinformation campaigns in J&K, he said.

“The Indian Army is given a befitting response, thwarting their (Pakistan) nefarious designs of causing disturbances in our country…If Pak Army continues with this disruptive course, the Indian Army will respond with resolve and that the cost would be prohibitive for them,” said Lt Gen Singh.

Stressing that all necessary security arrangements have been put in place to ensure peace and security, the top officer urged people in J&K to “not fall prey to the enemy’s evil designs to poison their minds with incessant propaganda”, while also exhorting them not to “proliferate rumours as well as dissuade their near and dear ones from indulging in rumor-mongering”.

