New Delhi: Terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have initiated a massive expansion drive across Pakistan, establishing mini training facilities to decentralise terror operations, intelligence sources have said.
The Muridke camp, which was destroyed during Operation Sindoor last year, is no longer the primary training facility of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The outfit has instead been setting up smaller training camps across Pakistan, with a particular focus on Punjab province.
The same is the case with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which has also been expanding its recruitment drive rapidly.
An Intelligence Bureau official says that this signals a shift in strategy whereby terror camps would be spread across the country and not be primarily focused in one single area
The Murdike training camp and the Bahawalpur headquarters of the Jaish have been rebuilt with the help of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistan Army, which has pumped in a lot of money.
“While these facilities remain operational, the scale of activity has come down drastically. These hold more symbolic value today,” the official said.
Another official said the strategy of setting up mini training camps across Pakistan for both the Lashkar and Jaish is aimed at more than simply expanding recruitment activities across the country. The ISI has deliberately adopted this approach so that even if a few camps are targeted or destroyed, the others can continue to operate, the official said.
“Post Operation Sindoor, there was a lull in activities by the Jaish and Lashkar. This was because the cadre had become demoralised and massive terror infrastructure had been destroyed,” the official said.
Another official said that the ISI does not want a similar scenario as it realises that rebuilding infrastructure and then boosting the morale of the cadre is a challenging job.
This has also put the brakes on terror-related activities targeting India. Jammu and Kashmir is a case in point.
Infiltration has become extremely difficult, and as a result, the number of battle-hardened Pakistani terrorists operating in the Valley has declined significantly.
The ISI has been finding it difficult to resume its operations, prompting it to adopt the strategy of setting up mini training camps across Pakistan, officials said.
“This would ensure that terror operations continue without a break even if there is a big hit on some of the training terror camps,” the official added.
Until recently, a major chunk of the recruitment would take place in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The region is on the boil currently, and this has hampered smooth operations that the ISI carries out.
The new directive to the Jaish and Lashkar is to recruit from all parts of the country. The idea is to recruit over 1,000 terrorists and train them at these mini camps that have been set up across the country.
They would then be kept on standby and moved to PoK and subsequently into Jammu and Kashmir only when a window for infiltration opens up, officials said.
At present, more than 500 terrorists are believed to be stationed at launchpads in PoK. However, amid the ongoing unrest in Pakistan, its security apparatus is finding it difficult to keep a close watch on these launchpads, which require extensive security and surveillance.
This has left the terrorists at these launchpads exposed, and the focus is more on managing the situation rather than making infiltration attempts.
During an infiltration, the security agencies are present in full strength to oversee the process. This is currently not taking place due to the protests that have been on for nearly three months now.
In the past years, the ISI has also brought in several leaders of the Hamas into Pakistan. The ISI plans to deploy Hamas operatives at these mini training camps across the country. The involvement of Hamas would make the recruits more battle-hardened. When multiple such camps are set up, it becomes hard for the Indian agencies to track them.
Moreover, the ISI would ensure that once the training programme is completed, it would shut that camp and then open it at another location. This once again largely eliminates the risk of a camp being identified and then hit, an official said.
