Pak
terror camps are mobile
structures
Ultras May Have Died In
Quake But Their Leaders Are Safe.
The security assessment of Saturday’s earthquake on PoK terror camps is that it will have no impact on Pak-sponsored jehad in India .There are some reports of camps in areas like Kotli, Bagh, Nikial and Muzaffarabad in PoK being hit by the quake .However, since most of the
jehadi training camps are makeshift mobile structures that can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny , it would not amount to much tangible loss.>
The camps have temporary structures to house jehadis .The training facilities are also rudimentary in the sense that the firing range for practice could be in a jungle nearby, said an official.
Sure, some of the terrorist
cadres would have been killed or injured ,but Indian
officials sat this is akin to losing them in unsuccessful infiltration bids or even in encounters with the Indian Army .They are basically cannon fodder say officials The real leaders of the movement continue to flourish in Islamabad and Lahore, not in forward camps in PoK.
Moreover, as reported earlier by TOI, the dossier prepared by Indian intelligence and security agencies clearly shows that the over 50 training camps operating across the border are not limited just to PoK but are spread all over Pakistan.
For instance, while 29 such camps are located in PoK, 15 or more are present in the North West Frontier Province .Another seven are in Punjab, three in the northern areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, and one in Sindh.
One major location of the Jehadi factory hit by the quake is, of course ,the densely- forested Manshera region in NWFP.A hotbed for jehadis,it houses several kmadrassas, which also double up as training camps. But that again will not impact the terror tap ,said an official.
In 1998,the US cruise missile strikes in Khost, Afghanistan wiped out a number of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen cadres training there. But this had no effect on the organization or its activities .According to terrorism analyst Ajai Sahni, the December 26 tsunami washed away more than 2,000 known LOTTE cadres from Sri Lanka .But even that has not diminished the vigour of the Tamil Tigers.
Indian officials are now also concerned about the diversion of the flood of international aid in the aftermath of the earthquake .After 9/11 ,a series of international finance laws by the UN and the US had effectively shut off the fundings tap from Islamic charities which were being used to fund jehad by outfits like Lashkar-e-taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The earthquake opens Pakistan to funds from all manner of organizations in the world, and Indian officials fear that some of these may be diverted to oil the jehadi wheels again .Besides, they say, despite a ceasefire call from Syed Salahuddin of the United Jihad Council, militants mounted a big infiltration bid on Sunday night ,trying to take advantage of the post-quake chaos.
However it’s equally true that in the immediate future, Lashkar or Jaish cadres might occupy themselves by recouping their strengths or rebuilding their camps.
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