NEW DELHI: India on Thursday asked Pakistan to take action against the increasing number of terrorists being spotted at “launch pads” along the Line of Control, even as it conveyed the two Pakistani teenagers who had accidentally strayed across the border last September would be handed over at the Wagah border on Friday.
“In the DGMO-level talks over the hotline on Thursday morning, Lt-Gen A K Bhattexpressed concern to his Pakistani counterpart about the movement of terrorists noticed along the LoC,” said an Army officer.
With infiltration attempts on the rise once again as the snow in the mountain passes melts, sources said it was clearly conveyed to Islamabad that the “onus was on the Pakistan Army to take action against the terrorists and not allow them to cross-over into Kashmir.”
The Pakistan Army, on its part, “rejected Indian concerns on movement of terrorists along the LoC” and asked the Indian Army to “look inward, share evidence”.
But the Indian security establishment, which is closely tracking the situation along the 778-km long LoC, maintains that18-20 terror-training camps directed against India are still very much active in the hinterland in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
In an interview to TOI in January, Army chief General Bipin Rawat had warned Pakistan that it should stop actively aiding cross-border infiltration and terrorism. Pointing to the “surgical strikes” conducted by the Indian Special Forces against terror launch pads in PoK on September 29, Gen Rawat had said: “The operation’s unequivocal message was that we have the capability, we are aware of the terrorist infrastructure that lies across the border and the intelligence is forthcoming.”
During the DGMO talks on Thursday, Islamabad was also informed about the repatriation of the two Pakistani teenagers, Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsan Khursheed, who were earlier suspected to have facilitated the infiltration of the terrorists who attacked the Uri Army camp in September. But they were later cleared by the NIA and handed back to the Army. “They will handed over to Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border on Friday. The modalities have been worked out,” said the officer.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-expresses-concern-over-terrorist-movement-along-loc/articleshow/57561219.cms