Since June, there have been about 11 attempts of infiltration in which the Army killed at least 19 terrorists. (Reuters photo)
More than a 1,000 terrorists, trained in 17 training camps across Pakistan, have been attempting to cross over into India through the border in Jammu and Kashmir but a tightened counter-infiltration effort has resulted in many of their bids being foiled and driving them to desperate measures, the top Army officer in Kashmir Valley has told NDTV.
In an exclusive interview, Lieutenant General Satish Dua, the General Officer Commanding of the Army's 15 Corps said that there are 23 launching pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir for pushing over 300 terrorists into the Kashmir valley.
"Because of our very well-coordinated grid they are unable to get across and there is always a pressure towards every summer," he said.
This leads them to take try reckless moves like engaging the military along the Line of Control and quickly retreat or even try more dangerous passages into India and fail, Lieutenant General Dua said.
Since June, there have been about 11 attempts of infiltration in which the Army killed at least 19 terrorists.
"There is a bulge (of terrorists) on the other side. There are trained terrorists waiting to infiltrate and they are unable to get across because of our counter-infiltration measures," he said.
The Lieutenant General also said that time was not right for the Army to pull out from the areas across Kashmir Valley which are relatively peaceful.
"It has taken us two and a half decades to get to this level. Army and all other security forces and intelligence agencies and civil agencies put together - everyone has worked in concert to get the situation to such a pass where it is peaceful by and large the incidents are few and far. I think the time to pull out is not right, because if we pull out this space will be filled by somebody else, I think patience is required," he said.