Headache for Army schools: Pak intel operatives posing as teachers

The Army Welfare Education Society is learnt to have flagged in an advisory that “students have been receiving calls and WhatsApp messages” from two mobile numbers in particular.

The callers pose as “school teachers” and ask students about their personal details, including information about their family members and teachers. In some cases, the students are also misled into joining WhatsApp groups that the caller claims is for school students.

“These suspected PIOs (Pakistani intelligence operatives) are calling and sending messages by initially giving the reference of someone known and then asking students to join other groups by sharing an OTP,” a source said, quoting the advisory.

Details being sought from students include information about their father’s profession, their school routine and timings, and queries about their uniform and names of their teachers.

“Schools and colleges have been requested to sensitise teachers and students and, if required, dissolve all (WhatsApp) groups and make new ones,” the source said, quoting the advisory.

“Such messages can come from other numbers also and the modus operandi can be changed,” the advisory reads.

Officials in the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir said they are “surprised” by this “new low”.

This comes at a time when militants, who had crossed over to Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir for arms training, have been making desperate WhatsApp calls and messages to woo local youth in Jammu and Kashmir — especially the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch districts and the Chenab Valley region — to join the terrorist ranks.

While these attempts have failed to elicit much of a response, the few who did establish contact with such militants have been apprehended by the Jammu and Kashmir police and detained under the PSA.

In May this year, Army public schools in Jammu were shut temporarily between May 10 and 20 as a precautionary measure, following reports of possible militant attacks on vulnerable targets ahead of the G20 meeting in Srinagar. The G20 meet was successfully held in Srinagar between May 22-24 and no untoward incident was reported.

The past few weeks have also witnessed a renewed spurt in infiltration attempts from across the Line of Control.

The Army and J&K Police, in a joint operation on July 18, killed four heavily armed foreign militants in the Sindhara area of Poonch district.

A day earlier, they had gunned down two Pakistani militants when they were trying to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir through Krishna Ghati sector.