Some quiet on the western front but don’t jump the gun

In fact, this morning itself, three Army personnel were killed in Poonch district in an encounter with militants who apparently made an attempt to sneak across the border from Sultanpathri near Loran Mandi.

Wireless intercepts both in the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and the Nagrota-based 16 Corps indicate that the terror tap is being tightened, at least for now.

Some straws in the wind:

• On June 5, an intercept of the 16 Corps Pak Army Headquarters reported that senior Pak Army officials visited command control stations located at Nikial and Samani.

It also revealed that the Pak Army has asked Makka (a Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami commander stationed at Zafarwal) to ‘‘close down (operations) for the time being.’’

• There has been a drop in encounters (engagement in military parlance) with terrorists at the LoC.

• A 70% drop in the wireless communication in the form of instructions to terrorists from their bosses in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

• Drop in the intensity of shelling across most sectors in the state including the Kathua-Samba-Jammu belt.

• No reports of infiltration from Nowshera and Keri sectors of border district so far.

• Right from Hiranagar across Samba and R.S. Pura, regular small-arms fire exchanges were replaced by heavy mortar shelling since mid-May. This is the latest infiltration route extending up to Poonch since the passes north of Pir Panjal remain blocked in winters. But in the first week of June, these sectors have been under control.

• The last time infiltration was reported in Rajouri was on May 27—the day Musharraf announced his clampdown—when troops killed three terrorists at Chawa near the town.

General Officer Commanding of 16 Corps, Lt General J B S Yadav, says it’s too early to say anything and one can arrive at some conclusion only after watching the situation for ‘‘six to eight weeks.’’

Muzamil Jaleel adds from Srinagar: Brigadier Anand Verma of 8 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, the Army brigade engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Lolab Valley, said he could not comment on the present status of infiltration. ‘‘We have been getting inputs that militants are still sneaking in,’’ he said.