Influx of weapons from 778-km long Line of Actual Control shows no signs of abating

Army jawans digging out arms hidden under the ice near BadgamIt would be the envy of traders even in the notorious illegal arms bazaar at Darra, situated on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Endless rows of Chinese - and Russian-made AK-47 and AK-56 rifles line the circular hall.Beside them lie anti-aircraft MAT-81 guns, Dragunov sniper rifles with Russian markings, 7.62 bore Pika medium machine guns and UMG guns (all with Chinese markings), rockets, hand grenades and a myriad of small-range weapons including 22 mm Spanish pistols and 7.65 German Mausers. There is also a whole range of explosives and detonators.Yet this 'museum' in Srinagar - meant for weapons seized by the Indian Army's 15 Corps from the Valley in the past five years - displays only part of a staggering cache of over 20,000 assorted weapons.It is enough to equip 24 battalions of a security force. Even more deadly has been the seizure of more than 10,000 kg of explosives including RDX, which security experts say is sufficient to blow up all of India's major dams.In 1995 alone, 1,689 kg of such explosives were seized apart from 2,348 AK-46 rifles, 3,746 grenades, 587 remote-controlled explosive devices and 100 rocket launchers. Such huge seizures not withstanding, the influx of weapons from the 778-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) - stretching along the Pir Panjal mountain range - shows no signs of abating.Heavy troop deployment - nearly a four-fold increase from their strength in the '90s - coupled with better LAC management have reduced arms smuggling to some extent. But still not a day passes without security forces discovering arms and explosives from the militants' hideouts. Says Brigadier, general staff, P.P.S. Bindra of the 15 Corps: "It's a running arms pipeline from across the LAC. The militants' arsenal gets replenished quickly."Such has been the proliferation of weapons in the Valley that all major militant outfits have their separate arms dumps, mostly in the built-up areas and forests.Of a plethora of over 100 Kashmiri militant outfits, four - Hizbul Mujahedin, Tehreek-ul-Mujahedin, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Harkat-ul-Ansar, all known to be rabidly pro-Pakistan - are understood to possess large quantities of weapons.Intelligence reports based on the interrogation of captured militants say that almost every militant outfit active in J&K has its representative in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) who liaises with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan for the supply of weapons.Each outfit has its own conduits for getting weapon consignments in PoK which are reportedly channelised by the ISI through the vulnerable Baramulla and Kupwara sectors on the LAC. As Mohammad Aslam Malik, a recently captured arms conduit for the militants, reveals: "Each militant outfit has its channels in PoK which keep a proper record of the weapons smuggled and intercepted." The Gujjars and Bakarwals who live close to the LAC and are conversant with the routes act as guides.The price for a one - way trip is between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. "The more the risk, the better the wages," says Mohammed Hanif Chaudhry, a Gujjar of Lalpur Gawaltu village close to the LAC who worked as a porter cum guide for militants for two years.The Hizbul is believed to have the largest network of guides roped in either by coercion or lucrative payments. Once a weapons consignment lands on the Indian side of the LAC, it is dumped either in the Gujjars' dwellings or in forests. The weapons are retrieved in small numbers through various means depending on the presence of security forces.Each district commander, upon getting his assigned share of arms, spreads these out by keeping it in the safe custody of contacts. Only top-rung militants are in the know of the arms dump.While a Kalashnikov can cost around Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 in the Valley, intelligence reports suggest that all the pro-Pakistan outfits receive weapons without making any payment. Of late, Jammu too has become one of the country's most vulnerable stretches to arms smuggling.Especially since both Rajasthan and Punjab have undertaken massive fencing operations to demarcate their borders with Pakistan. "The Jammu border is virtually flowing with smuggled arms, gold and narcotics," admits a senior BSF officer. Yet, paradoxically enough, this 189 km stretch is among India's most weakly manned border areas.The thinness of the BSF deployment is evident from the fact that there are only five force battalions guarding this stretch when there should have been twice that number.An ambitious Rs 200 crore project to fence the 189 km stretch that began last July has been stalled due to regular firing by the Pakistani troops at construction personnel. Pakistan opposes a fence ostensibly because it still maintains that the Jammu stretch is only a working border, and not an international one as India maintains.But BSF officials suspect that Pakistan's main motive is to prevent the blocking of a major arms smuggling route. Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 15, 1996 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

Download App

Get 37% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

Influx of weapons from 778-km long Line of Actual Control shows no signs of abating

Border-fencing efforts in Jammu have been stalled due to regular firing by Pakistan.

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION