Add another to the growing—and divergent—list of assessments of infiltration across the Line of Control. Army Chief General S Padmanabhan said here today that infiltration from the Pak side of the LoC has reduced by 43-44 per cent now compared to the corresponding period last year.The Army chief’s new estimate comes a month after he had said that infiltration was down 54% and barely days after National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra told BBC that Pakistan had done ‘‘absolutely nothing.’’Padmanabhan was talking to reporters after inaugurating a new building for a military hospital in Chennai. When asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that infiltration from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir was on, the Army chief said: ‘‘He (Putin) is the leader of a great nation and must have considered carefully why he said it.’’Padmanabhan disagreed with Defence Minister George Fernandes’s description—in a statement in Parliament—that there was a ‘‘mini Kargil-type occupation’’ by Pakistan earlier this year. ‘‘All that happened was that about 15 Pakistani troopers took control of an unoccupied land extending to 700 metres at Point 3620 at the LoC for nearly three days. But they were thrown out immediately,’’ he said. On the release of prisoners by the Mufti government, the Army chief said he would refrain from a comment as the new government was formed just a few months ago and needed time to settle down. On the re-deployment of troops from the borders, he said that what was left was the ‘‘movement of heavy equipment from the borders’’ and this would be completed by the New Year. Troops of the Eastern, Central and Southern Command had been fully withdrawn from the borders, he said.
