FATF pressure off its shoulders, Pak might up ante against India

The LoC has already witnessed a major rise in firing and shelling by Pakistan since Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir was revoked, with at least 823 such incidents being reported from August 5 till Friday.

New Delhi: With the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over, India apprehends that Pakistan may escalate military action on the Line of Control (LoC) and increase attempts to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.

The LoC has already witnessed a major rise in firing and shelling by Pakistan since Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir was revoked, with at least 823 such incidents being reported from August 5 till Friday, Army officers said.

The number of incidents is more than half of such actions undertaken by Pakistan in the entire last year.

"Since August 5, Pakistan has been under tremendous internal pressure over the political developments in Jammu and Kashmir," an Army officer said.

The officer said that Pakistan had anticipated an upsurge by locals in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, but it did not happen.

"There was also international pressure on Pakistan to come clean at the FATF meeting over the issue of terror funding and money laundering. Since the meeting is over now, it is expected that Pakistan might up the ante," he said.

At the plenary session of the FATF held in Paris from October 16 to 18, Pakistan, which is already in the 'Grey List', escaped being blacklisted by the international watchdog, which gave it time till February next year to comply with all the actions prescribed by it.

Pakistan has been agitated ever since the special status to Jammu and Kashmir was abolished and has been trying to escalate tension besides attempting to internationalise the issue, without any success.

As part of the efforts to increase tension, Pakistan has resorted to cross-border firing and shelling 823 times in 82 days, at an average of more than 10 times a day.

In the entire 2018, the total number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan stood at 1,629.

The number of ceasefire violations till October 25 this year has been the highest in the last five years.

During these 82 days, as many as 35 Pakistan-backed terrorist-initiated incidents have been reported in the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the death of eight civilians.

There have been 13 incidents in which terrorists opened fire at civilians while grenades and petrol bombs have been lobbed upon civilians three times each.

The Army has also been successful in neutralising 15 terrorists during this period.

Data compiled by security agencies also show that terrorists have caused damages to four civilian and two government infrastructures since August 5.

There has been one incident of terrorists opening fire on the Army and one incident of grenade attack on Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Besides, there have been two incidents of petrol bomb attacks and one incident of weapon snatching from the Jammu and Kashmir police personnel.