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Interdicting Highway 1A has been Pakistan’s military objective in the three wars and the 11-week long border conflict the neighbours have fought since independence 55 years ago with the aim of cutting off the Jammu region from the rest of Kashmir. Local Kashmiris, strongly opposed to the army’s presence in the region for the last 13 years during which the State’s Islamic insurgency has raged, are also likely to dilute the military’s capabilities during hostilities, intelligence officers said.

"Anticipating war, this brigade strength of armed, trained and highly motivated lashkare (insurgents) are repositioning themselves in key locations in Kashmir waiting to strike," a senior military officer said, declining to be named. To counter such an eventuality, a reserve infantry brigade deployed on counter-insurgency operations has recently been withdrawn and re-located to deal with the anticipated threat posed by these "fifth columnists", he added.

Over one million Indian and Pakistani soldiers, amassed along the frontier since last December, went into a heightened state of alert in June following the attack on soldiers’ families at Kaluchak. India blamed the attack—like the December attack on Parliament—on Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the army to prepare for a "decisive battle". But even as army units ranged along the border awaited orders to switch to "hot war" mode, they felt vulnerable to attack from behind their own lines.

Officers said Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, which India accuses of fuelling Kashmir’s insurgency, has specially trained groups of 6-10 militants for "hit and run" raids on Indian army units. Pakistan denies sponsoring Kashmir’s insurgency, claiming to provide it only political, diplomatic and moral support.

Besides ambushing the security forces, these guerrillas are also experts in laying mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at key locations. "Their strategy is to keep the army under constant threat," a senior military officer said. Their arsenal includes anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers, heat activated missiles and anti-tank mines, security officers said.