Terrorists could target J&K polls, warns Army chief

TAKING ON THE ENEMY: 11 terrorists were gunned down by troops on Thursday.

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New Delhi: Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor issued a warning on Thursday that terrorists could now target the Assembly elections, expected to be held later this year in Jammu and Kashmir.

In biggest infiltration attempt by Pakistan-based terrorists in years, in a three-day encounter, which ended on Thursday morning near Tangdhar in northern Kashmir, 11 heavily armed terrorists, allegedly from the Pakistani groups Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Badr were gunned down by Indian troops.

The Indian Army sees this as an indication that terrorists are gearing up to disrupt the Assembly elections in the state.

"The very fact that 11 infiltrators have been shot yesterday indicates attempts to destabilise things," says General Deepak Kapoor.

The Army claims that 500 terrorists, mainly Pakistanis, are ready at launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, waiting to infiltrate.

With violence levels down to half of last year's figures, terrorists are under pressure to revive the flagging insurgency.

"The fact is violence levels are down and if insurgency has to be sustained therefore some incidents must happen," General Kapoor reveals.

There's another worrying signal that of Al Qaeda entering Kashmir.

"There's this possibility of some of our people or some of the Kashmiris being there. I don't think I will like to rule it out," he says.

For both sides, this would a crucial summer in Jammu and Kashmir.

(With inputs from Mufti Islah)