'Cross-border infiltration into J&K on the rise'

Voicing serious concern over rise in infiltration from Pakistan, Defence Minister A K Antony today attributed it to forces across the border which are "jittery" over return of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir.

"In 2009, violence (in Jammu and Kashmir) came down, compared to 2008. At the same time, compared to 2008, last year attempts to infiltrate has gone up. It is a matter of serious concern to us," Antony told reporters here.

Giving his assessment of the situation in the border state, Antony said, "Inimical forces across the border are jittery" as they saw normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir. "If the situation continues like this, J&K will fast return to normalcy and peace. That, militant forces will not allow.

"When they realised violence level has come down across the state and tourists are coming and normalcy is coming, they started making serious attempts to sabotage the situation. That is why there are more attempts at infiltration," he said on the sidelines of a CII defence seminar.

Antony held discussion with the Chief Minister and civil administration in the presence of Army Chief Deepak Kapoor in Jammu yesterday and directed the security forces to be "more vigilant" against infiltration attempts this year, particularly at the end of this month.

Antony told the State government that though the police was becoming efficient in bringing down the violence levels, it was not possible to "lower the guard" as infiltration attempts were increasing.

"This increasing number of attempts to infiltrate is a matter of serious concern. So, we cannot lower our guard. We have to be more vigilant and be prepared to face serious threats at any time this year, particularly in January," he said.