J-K infiltration down by 50 pc, Pranab tells Upper House

Several doubts were raised by members of the Upper House over the Government’s policy in Jammu and Kashmir, its efforts in curtailing infiltration and cross-border terrorism and the wisdom of troop reduction in the Valley.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh asked if there was a spurt in infiltration. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was a 50 per cent reduction in infiltration this year, as compared to the same period last year. He also assured Singh that troops would be deployed again if the situation so desired. Responding to MP Ram Jethmalani’s query on how a count was arrived at, Mukherjee said: ‘‘…(Militants) do not stand in queue so that we can make an assessment…We can only make an estimate based on intelligence reports.’’

On former J-K CM Farooq Abdullah’s query on the divergent stands of the Home and Defence Ministries, he said: ‘‘All that the Home Ministry said was while infiltration had reduced, there was no let-up in attempts to cross the border.”