It is the third time someone has made an incursion in Poonch this month. Add in a possible Pakistani drone over Samba that same morning and you have a reason for the heightened alert on two fronts. On Sunday, the Indian Army held a man from the Balakot side of the border, in line with a trend we’ve seen of late, officials say.
Third arrest in Poonch this month
The one in custody is 31-year-old Raees Khan, hailing from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Army says he was picked up as soon as he put foot on our side.
A first look turned up nothing to make a case against him, but he is under questioning. They want to know what he was up to, if he has any contacts here, and whether he was on a job of some sort.
Drone alert near the International Border
Then there was the matter of a suspected drone that put in an appearance over Nundpur in the Samba district early Sunday. A combined effort by the BSF, the Army and local police was set in motion to find out more.
They combed the area for any sign of dropped arms or drugs but came up empty. It was all over in no time, but having it happen on the day of the Poonch catch is enough to give the brass some pause.
A pattern takes shape in Poonch
You can put this down to a run of them; there have been two before in the district so far this month. Just on Friday, 26-year-old Mohammad Sajad, another from PoK, was rounded up in the Gulpur part of the Krishna Ghati sector.
And then there was Javid Ali, 14, who was held on June 9 after he made the crossing. He was sent back to Pakistan a week on, which shows how much age and intent factor into these matters.
Why these incidents matter
Put them together and the picture is clear. Three in a row in one district is a strain on your resources and means you have to be quick to verify where they’re coming from and who might be behind them.
The drone over the I.B. is just another thing to keep an eye on. You don’t need to have found anything to know it puts your watch and reaction times to the test.
What officials are probing now
The questions for Raees Khan are straightforward: why did he come over? Was he expected? Does it fit with something larger? Since there is no physical evidence to point to, the answers will have to come from him.
They are also looking at the route and the timing, as well as what has been happening in the Balakot sector, to see if a common thread runs through the three cases we’ve had this month.
You can make or break a case by comparing it with past detentions.
Actionable steps underway
Security has put more of a presence in Poonch and is seeing to it that the forward posts are in better sync. Over in Samba, they’ve been running joint patrols and re-scanning the area since the drone was spotted, just to be sure nothing was left behind.
As for what happens next, that will come down to whether we can pin down any contacts or objectives. The Sunday takedown and the drone are being kept in separate files for the time being; we’ll only tie them together if the evidence does.
Signals from recent cases
Look at the Friday arrest in Krishna Ghati or the one we made on June 9 involving a minor: you see how the reasons for being there can be all over the map. One ends up in custody, another is sent back, and the most recent is still under a microscope with no hard takeaways yet.
We haven’t found any guns, drugs or comms gear in these matters. So the onus is on us to piece it together from what’s being said, the timeline, and what we’re getting from across the border.
Operational implications on the ground
An infiltration, violent or not, means the military has to rework its patrol and watch routines in the neighbouring sectors. We do an after-action review on every one of them to get our surveillance and interdiction right.
Then you have something like the Samba drone, and you need a multi-layered response. Ground crews go back over where a drop might have happened and we check for any holes in our aerial view.
Key developments at a glance
Here is how officials put it when it comes to the two stories of the day and the trend this month:
– Poonch has seen its third cross-LoC arrest
– A Pakistani drone was clocked in Samba
– Neither incident turned up contraband
– The one in custody is 31-year-old Raees Khan
– We are in the process of nailing down his motive
– Some joint work was done in the Nundpur village area
What comes next
In the days ahead, you can count on some more legwork as we put the detainee’s side of things up against our logs and field reports. If we find a thread to the earlier ones, that’s a lead; if not, we still have to be ready for it.
The word to the locals is to be on your toes but don’t panic. There are no weapons or narcotics to worry about in the latest round, so the risk is what it is, even if we are making this a priority.
We’ll be looking at the cameras, the night-vision and where we have men posted in the more sensitive parts of Poonch and Samba. The goal is to be quicker from the time we spot something to the time we have someone in hand, and to head off any more of this.
Why the focus is on speed and clarity
When you have three intrusions in a district in as many weeks, every hour you spend checking a story is important. The quicker we know if there is some kind of coordination, the better we can position ourselves on the LoC and the International Border.
With the Sunday and the Samba cases coming up empty, we have to let the interrogation and the data do the talking. That’s already happening.
