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The Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force, S.C. Chaube, told newspersons here on Saturday that the emerging trend in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir clearly indicated that Pakistan was trying to carry out its anti-India operations from Bangladesh and Nepal.
``Intelligence reports have mentioned that our neighbour (Pakistan) is trying to explore our other neighbours (Bangladesh and Nepal) for induction of arms, ammunition and funds.
The North-Eastern corridor is vulnerable to various machinations of the Pakistan's intelligence agency — Inter Services Intelligence,'' he said.
The ISI had been trying to spread its network to the neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh and Nepal to carry out its covert operations in India.
There were militant training camps in Bangladesh and the ISI had been able to spread its network in these countries in the past six years, said the CRPF chief, whose force is gearing up to spearhead counter-insurgency operations in the country.
``The ISI has been finding it difficult to operate through our Western border, thanks to border fencing and patrolling. Now it has shifted its focus to the North-Eastern border.
The security agencies are on the alert and all appropriate measures were being taken to tackle it.''
Emphasising the need to strengthen maritime security, Mr. Chaube said the maritime borders in Gujarat and Maharashtra were also vulnerable though ISI plans to smuggle arms and ammunition had been thwarted by security forces in the recent past.
Pointing towards the ``left-wing extremism'', Mr. Chaube said it was turning out to be a major law and order problem in States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
``Now the cadres were getting proper training while their militarisation is also taking place. They have also acquired sophisticated weapons and are also expert in the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs),'' he said, adding that another signification feature was increased participation of the women cadre.
Besides, there were reports of inter-State co-ordination and networking among various extremist groups.
Stating that 50 per cent of the force was committed to North-Eastern States while one-third has been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir fighting militancy and insurgency, he said that in the first three months of this year, the CRPF personnel killed 32 extremists and apprehended 348 militants, besides recovering a huge cache of arms and ammunition while 12 CRPF personnel were also killed fighting militants.
The CRPF chief said a massive plan for reorganisation, expansion and modernisation of one of the oldest paramilitary force was already underway.
``The CRPF is also in the process of raising 64 new battalions. By 2005, it will become the country's largest paramilitary force.''
Stating that all this was being done to meet the challenges being posed to internal security, Mr. Chaube said that the CRPF would also be setting up its own intelligence network.
``The modernisation plan is going
on smoothly where the stress is on upgrading the armoury and procurement
of sophisticated weapons,'' he said.
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