New Delhi, Nov 20: About 3,500 foreign insurgents continue to stay put in Kashmir and they are planning to step up their activities in Srinagar to gain greater focus on their presence while a steady flow of Kashmiri recruits for insurgency training to Pakistan has picked up again.These are some of the disturbing portents of the situation presented by the Home Ministry to the participants at the recent meeting on the security and development scenario in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.Contrasting with the image of normalcy which Home Minister L K Advani and J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah tried to portray at the end of the meeting, the Home Ministry has reportedly told the security forces to step up their guard in view of foreigners resorting to ``pro-active'' and offensive postures like attacking camps of the BSF and the Army. ``They (mercenaries) have realised that sneak attacks in the hinterland do not get as much media focus as incidents in city-centres,'' the summary report on the latestsituation said.Although both the Home Ministry and the state government agreed that the influx of foreigners had increased manifold this summer, particularly during the Kargil conflict, the Army contested this claim. The Army representative vice-Chief of Staff wondered how a headcount of the infiltrators could be made. He said the mercenaries' presence was highly exaggerated and asserted that the troops had maintained maximum alert on the Line of Control this summer.However, none of those present at the meeting had any explanation for the success of the recruitment drive launched by the Pakistan-based militant organisations among Kashmiris. This summer, about an estimated 1400 youths from across the Valley crossed the LoC to join the Pakistan-based jehadi organisations which are running religious schools-cum-subversive training centres.However, many of the participants privately agree that ``general disenchantment with the Abdullah government'' has kicked off a fresh wave of ``Pakistan chalo''among Kashmiri youth. Another reason stated is the high degree of religious indoctrination being imparted to youths within the Valley's secret centres where they are prepared to volunteer for jehad. Only one of the security officers has complained of lack of development in Kashmir. ``I don't mean to offend the state government,'' he began. The officer complained of lack of infrastructure like roads and said this was even obstructing the movement of the security forces in their drive against insurgents.`Give N-E type package'NEW DELHI: J&K Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has sought a North-East type of Central package for industrial development in the State and said he would again discuss the State's fiscal scenario with Central leaders.``The funds provided to J&K have been properly utilised which can be ascertained by any commission,'' he told reporters in an informal chat here.
