New Delhi: Five years since the Indian army carried out a surgical strike against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani Occupied Jammu-Kashmir, Pakistan seems to have learned no lesson.
Taking the same route along Salamabad Nala through which terrorists infiltrated in 2016 with the help of the Pakistan Army and carried out a suicide attack on Uri Garrison, the Pakistanis tried to push some Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists into Kashmir.
A resident of Dipalpur in Okara in Pakistan's Punjab, terrorist Ali Babar Patra, was handed over to the police by the Army officials in Uri on Tuesday, September 28. In custody, Ali Babar Patra told reporters at Uri: "After joining LeT, I got Rs 20,000 and was handed over to the ISI. Along with others trained by the Pakistan Army. My family was to be given Rs 30,000 after I got launched in Kashmir." Ali Babar and other terrorists "infiltrated" from Sawai Nala Camp to Hallan Shumali Launchpad to Jabri in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which led to the Salamabad Nala.
Major Gen Virendra Vats, GOC, 19 infantry division, said the incident took place on September 25 when a brief encounter erupted between the terrorists and security forces.
"The operation was initially launched on the intervening night of September 18 and 19 when an infiltration bid by six Pakistani terrorists was made along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector. As an encounter broke out, taking advantage of the dark and dense foliage, four terrorists retreated back to Pakistan while the remaining two sneaked into Uri."
While Ali Babar was arrested, another one died during the operation. He and other terrorists were perhaps misguided and lured into joining LeT to escape poverty. The deceased was identified as Atiq ur Rehman alias Qari Anas, a resident of Attock in Pakistan's Punjab province. Seven AK-47 weapons, nine pistols and revolvers, more than 80 grenades and Indian and Pakistani currencies were recovered during the latest Uri operation and the one that took place on September 18.
Ali Babar Patra said he underwent three weeks of training at the Garhi Habibullah camp in Pakistan in 2019. There was another updated version of training for a few days before he was launched. He also said that most of the terrorists' physical and weapons training instructors were Pakistan Army officials.
On September 29, 2016, India announced it conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and inflicted "significant casualties." The casualty figures were reported as anything between 35 to 70.
Even the western press, including 'The Guardian', had said that Indian patience had run out due to Pakistan's inaction in curbing the activities of terror organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
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