Over 1,000 trained J&K terrorists are "currently stranded" in three camps of the Hizbul Mujahideen in the Hazara region of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), according to a media report.
"Of these (three camps), the Hisari and Batrasi camps are located in Mansehra district while a third camp is located in Boi in district Abbottabad," The Herald magazine reported.
It quoted unnamed sources saying that thousands of other terrorists were confined in camps run by half a dozen smaller Kashmiri groups or predominantly Pakistani outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al-Badr Mujahideen in the frontier and PoK regions.
The report quoted an unnamed Islamabad-based terrorist leader saying that the top brass of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had "conveyed to the J&K terrorist leaders in January 2006 that they should not even think of crossing the Line of Control (LoC), armed or unarmed".
It said the ISI functionaries "who had earlier worked with the terrorists have been asked to run routine checks to ascertain the whereabouts of the Kashmiri guides and porters who helped terrorists infiltrate" into India in the past.
The recent decision to stop "official funding" of these outfits has rung alarm bells among jihadis, many of whom are now fleeing to their villages in Jammu and Kashmir, getting caught or surrendering to Indian armed forces.
{{/usCountry}}The recent decision to stop "official funding" of these outfits has rung alarm bells among jihadis, many of whom are now fleeing to their villages in Jammu and Kashmir, getting caught or surrendering to Indian armed forces.
{{/usCountry}}However, the magazine quoted former ISI Chief Gen (retd) Hamid Gul as saying that "Gen Pervez Musharraf's decisions (to contain these terrorist outfits) do not necessarily reflect the army's vision".