NEW DELHI (PTI): There are at least 1,500 foreign mercenaries in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) Prakash Singh.
Singh told a Press conference in Indian Capital that counter measures were being taken to tackle this new facet of gradual infiltration of foreign mercenaries.
He said the mercenaries came from some west Asian countries for helping the local militant organizations in Kashmir. They believed that Islam was in danger that they had to wage ‘Jehad’ (Holy War) against India.
Singh said the BSF had so far killed 23 foreign militants which included 15 from Afghanistan, four from Pakistan, one Egyptian, one Sudanese and two others.
Prakash Singh said the post Hazratbal situation in Kashmir had shown little improvement. He claimed that the militants’ were still active.
In reply to a question, the BSF chief firmly stated that there had been no failure on the part of the BSF intelligence in assessing the evolving situation in Hazratbal.
“No comments,” was his answer when asked whether BSF had forewarned the federal Indian government about the Hazratbal siege by He said the BSF had been able to liquidate 332 militants and apprehended 1,566 in the state this year, A large quantity of arms and ammunition had been seized from them, he added.
During this period, 93 BSF personnel were killed and 542 sustained injuries during stepped up operations against militants in the state.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
