By IANS
Udhampur : A senior commander of the Indian Army Sunday ruled out presence of global terror network Al Qaeda in Jammu and Kashmir, saying there was "no evidence" to prove such claims.
"There is no Al Qaeda in Jammu and Kashmir," Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, told reporters at the command headquarters in Udhampur, 66 km north of here.
He, however, said, "Al Qaeda's equation with the terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan is known to every one. "The wider question of Al Qaeda's intentions and operations in the rest of India is the subject matter under scrutiny of the security agencies."
Panag was replying to a question about the threat of Al Qaeda in Kashmir, especially after a compact disc was circulated in Srinagar June 8 in which the group had declared "jihad against India".
The group, "Al Qaeda fil Hind" (or Al Qaeda India) as it called itself, had also stated it would make "Jammu and Kashmir its gateway for jihad in India."
The Northern Command chief made it clear that the Indian troops in the state were at the behest of the "democratic state government in consultation with democratic central government".
"The demilitarisation is a wrong word to use in this backdrop," he said.
Troops of the Northern Command guard the borders with China, Pakistan, and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and are positioned at Siachen glacier – reckoned as the highest battleground in the world – and are also engaged in anti-insurgency operations in the state.
There are only 80,000 troops fighting insurgency and that is only 25 percent of the total strength of the troops in Jammu and Kashmir, Panag said.
Other 25 percent were committed to support bases – guarding ammunition dumps and other installations. The other 50 percent, he said were guarding the frontiers, Line of Actual Control (with China), LoC (with Pakistan) and Siachen glacier.
Panag said infiltration from across the LoC has marginally increased this year due to the damage caused to fence by snowfall.
There have been 137 infiltration bids as compared to 118 during the last year. "We hope to repair the fence by June 30," he said.
Regarding Siachen, he said, "Indian troops are in a dominating position and Pakistan would have to agree to our actual ground position at the glacier."