ULFA used to engineer blasts

NEW DELHI, August 9: The Centre today finalised a fresh strategy to counter the ongoing spurt in militant-related violence in Kashmir and the Northeast particularly the Kupwara region in North Kashmir and few select areas in Assam. The nuts and bolts of the strategy are understood to have been cleared for instant implementation at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani at his North Block office here today. The meeting among others was attended by Chief of the Army Staff Gen V P Malik, Director General Rashtriya Rifles, Home Secretary and other senior officials of various intelligence outfits. Home Ministry sources said that even as re-induction of more troops from the army and RR in the disturbed areas is ruled out, the new strategy was geared to achieve the desired results by judicious re-deployment of the forces in some strategically-located pockets. "Besides streamlining the process of intelligence gathering and its subsequent sharing at the various levels, the strategy would also lay greater stress upon close co-ordination amongst the army/RR, para-military forces and the local police outfits," they indicated. The sources attributed the recent rise in militant activities in the troubled regions of the country to what is perceived as "an annual feature in the continuing insurgency and targeted attacks undertaken by the various terrorist organisations 'to do something big' around August 15." However, the fresh counter-insurgency strategy is understood to have been finalised in the backdrop of the new-found linkages of ULFA with some militant organisations operating in Kashmir. While the mastermind of this linkage continues to be Pakistan's ISI, leaders of these organisations are reported to have clinched plans to share cadres and armaments during their interactions in Dhaka and POK. Home Ministry sources said that the seizure of over 16 kgs of RDX following the killing of ULFA militant leader, Babul Ingti on Thursday last, was indicative of ISI's direct involvement in the ongoing violence in Assam. "The RDX recovered is of Pakistani origin given its black colour as against the normal straw-brand texture of such explosive materials," they revealed. According to these sources, the latest arrest of Maulana Hafiz Akram Malik of Kupwara (Kashmir) in Assam along with three other ISI agents leading to the nabbing of 27 militants belonging to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Badr and Harkat-ul-Jihad has added yet another dimension to the machinations of the Pak intelligence outfit's designs to co-ordinate the nefarious activities of the various militant organisations operating in Kashmir, Northeast and Punjab. The sources revealed that the ISI was now making greater use of Indo-Bangladesh border to push in trained militants with assigned missions in Kashmir besides Assam and few other regions of the Northeast. "The new route enables the Pak-trained militants to reach Guwahati through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border and catch a flight to any other destination in India including Srinagar airport in Kashmir," they added. The fresh counter-insurgency strategy is understood to have taken note of all these developments and the efficacy of corrective action both at the levels of the various State Governments and the Centre.