With the coming winters which will bring heavy snowfall will make the infiltration difficult so before the winters the Pakistani Intelligence Agency – ISI – is trying to revive its long-defunct terror group Al-Badr in Kashmir Valley.
Pakistan created Al-Badr back in 1999. For many years it had zero recruitment but the group got revived with fresh recruitment. According to the reports in 2020, about 131 youngsters from Kashmir valley had joined the group. It was 117 in 2019, 214 in 2018, and 128 in 2017.
The continuous recruitment has become a major concern for the Intelligence agencies of India as they believe that this number can even rise to 180 by December end.
Pakistan’s two major terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) are internationally designated terrorist organizations. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has asked Pakistan to put an end to its terrorist groups otherwise Pakistan will remain on their grey list.
According to the sources, the Al-Badr is using LET’s resources to build-up forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Al-Badr’s chief Bakht Zaman was put in touch with the Taliban leaders to ensure the revival of Al-Badr. The terrorist group is making its post in Athmuqam which is situated along the Line of Control (LOC) in PoK. The terrorist group is using a special training module prepared by the Chinese Army.
The security agencies believe that the ISI is planning to activate Al-Badr because the terrorist group is not designated on the terror list as a result Al-Badr’s attack will not put Pakistan under much pressure.
The idea behind the revival of this group is to increase terror activities in Kashmir and to remove Pakistan’s name from the grey list of FATF. According to the sources the revival of a terrorist organization was to show that the fight is against the Central Government of India and not as a religion-backed fight. From the beginning of this year, the security forces have killed around 180 terrorists in different operations out of which 169 were killed in major terrorist areas but still Pakistan was able to revive the terrorist organization.
By August 2020, about 89 locals from Kashmir have joined the terror groups out of which 57 have been eliminated by the security forces but first they were told to surrender by bringing their family members to appeal to the youngsters of their family.
According to the defense and security establishment sources in North Kashmir, there are around 88 active terrorists and 66 are from Pakistan. On the other hand in South Kashmir, there are around 123 active terrorists and only 25 are from Pakistan while the remaining are the local youth from Kashmir.
According to the locals, the recruitment is increasing rapidly and this is something which has been repeatedly failed. The sources said that if the recruitment continued in this way then these numbers could even rise to 180.
According to a study, 30% of terrorists were from the age group of 16-20 years while 60% of terrorists were from the age group of 21-25 years. Only 10% of terrorists were from the age of 26-30 years. Talking about the education 20% of terrorists were uneducated while 45% of terrorists had higher secondary schooling and 35% of terrorists had matriculation. The study also revealed the financial status of these terrorists. About 60% of the terrorists come from middle-class family while 35% of terrorists come from lower-middle-class and only 5% come from well-to-do families. The terror groups opt for mind-washing techniques to recruit these youngsters into the terror groups.
According to the Police, Pakistan is trying to revive Al-Badr after forming The Resistance Front (TRF) to continue terror activities in the Kashmir valley. The security agencies do not have any information about whether the Afghan Taliban have joined these groups or not.
According to the sources, most ultras joining Al-Badr are from LeT and JeM. The TRF terrorists who have been killed in the recent operations were the members of LeT, JeM, and Hizbul Mujahideen. The ISI is financing and sponsoring terrorism in J&K. They are running training centers, provide cover to terrorists to infiltrate through LOC and International Border. The Indian forces are trying hard to maintain law and order in J&K.
Terrorist organizations are facing a shortage of arms and ammunition. They are waiting for the weapons to recruit more youngsters from J&K into their terror groups. In several recent encounters, only pistols were recovered from the terrorists which show that the terror groups are short of Ak-47s supply.
In recent months, security forces have destroyed many shipments containing a heavy supply of arms and ammunition being smuggled by the Pakistani Army. The terror groups are in great need of weapons and Pakistan is trying to smuggle weapons not only from LOC but also from International Border in Jammu, Punjab, and even Rajasthan. Pakistan is also trying to smuggle weapons with the help of drones.
