No mobiles, terror will strike through PCO's

On one hand the government is planning on banning the use of blackberry thanks to terrorist outfits making it their favourite tool and on the other hand, India’s next big worry, the Sikh militants have completely done away with technology and plan to battle it out the primitive way.

No use of mobile phones while carrying out operations in India is the clear directive that has been given to two terror outfits- the Babbar Khalsa International and the Khalistan Zindabad Force. An intelligence bureau communication which was first sent out to the Punjab police and later to the rest of the police stations in North India suggests that there is a need to keep a close watch on terror cells and modules manually since these militants have stopped communicating through mobile devices.

This particular strategy has become a major headache for security forces across Northern India since they are finding it virtually impossible to track down the movements of these operatives. Moreover this new strategy comes at a time when there are repeated alerts by intelligence agencies and also the Delhi and Punjab police on the rise of Sikh militancy. In addition to this there is the upcoming Common Wealth Games which are very much on the terrorists’ radar and intelligence reports all suggest that it is the Sikh Militants who are looking to target the games.

Intelligence bureau officials told rediff.com that it is the following the blackberry issue that militants have decided to go primitive in their operations. The ISI which has total control over both the BKI and KZF has instructed these operatives to make use of the local booths to communicate with their cadres. It is very difficult to pick up conversations when they adopt to such means since there are so many booths and it is hard to keep a track on each call. In fact is next to impossible to track communications which are made from the STD booths and hence there is a need for ground level intelligence through which movements of persons are watched manually.

IB sources say that these militants have their support groups in Nepal, Pakistan and Malaysia and it is extremely tough to monitor the calls that they make especially to foreign countries. Some of the militants may have already landed and there is a red alert against these cadres. The Punjab police in particular have been told to keep a close watch since these militants are most likely to set up their primary base in that state. When they land in Punjab they are most likely going to dish out sympathizers of their movement so that they can set up their local intelligence cell.

The IB along with the Punjab police are carrying out extensive operations around their possible bases so that these persons are not able to re-group. In addition to this a general advisory has also been issued to all PCOs to make a note of all calls that are being made from their booths and also report on any suspicious caller to the nearest police station. The situation is similar in Delhi, the primary city that these militants would be looking to target.