Army accuses Pak of direct role in proxy war in Kashmir

Lt Gen D S Hooda said the support from Pakistan is not only moral but it is absolute physical

Asserting that Pakistan has "direct role" in fuelling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Army on Tuesday warned of more infiltration bids along the LoC in the coming weeks in view of the volatile situation in the Valley.

"Pakistan is interfering in Kashmir and has direct role in what we call as proxy war in Kashmir and there is absolutely no doubt in it," General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda told reporters.

He was paying homage to the martyrs of Operation Vijay on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial.

"We have seen it everywhere along the borders. We have seen it in the matter in which the support is given to infiltrating groups.

"We have seen how ceasefire violations have been used as a support to the people infiltrating into this side," Hooda said while replying to a question about Pakistan's role in current unrest and terrorism in Kashmir.

"In short, if there is an internal disturbance here, they will directly take advantage of it.

"You have heard the statements of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, trying to say that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir," the Northern Command Chief said.

He said "the support (from Pakistan) is not only moral but it is absolute physical and there is no doubt about it".

He also expressed concern over the increasing radicalisation of youth in Kashmir Valley.

"We have seen there is an increase in radicalisation mostly driven by social media and people are quiteactive on it," Hooda said, adding everyone at all levels has to put their heads together to reduce this trend.

The Army official warned of more infiltration bids in the coming weeks along the LoC.

Hooda said, "We are seeing regular attempts to infiltrate groups into this side."

"We have foiled some infiltration bids. One group which had infiltrated two or three days back and we have neutralised four terrorists inside the hinterland. We are seeing repeated attempts. We recently lost two soldiers during this infiltration bids.

"I don't see a slow down in this (level of infiltration. During this internal disturbance they will try and push in more and more infiltrators and weare well prepared to deal with it," he said.