A yr in the past, when 26 civilians were brutally killed in Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley, the Pakistani terrorists who carried out the bloodbath emerged from the tree line of the meadow. Baisaran, situated above Pahalgam city, is surrounded by forested slopes. Think about it as a hidden bowl within the mountains, among the many most treacherous in India. This mountain vary, referred to as the Pir Panjal vary, shapes the mountain zone near Baisaran Valley. Pir Panjal has a history, quite a long one, on the subject of terrorism. Again within the 2000s, when it was not fenced, it allowed cross-border terrorism.

Army officers recount that until the mid-2000s, terrorists from Pakistan would cross into India in hordes, because the vary extends into Pakistan as properly, with a considerable stretch mendacity in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). Immediately, it’s closely fenced, and specialists say infiltration from this route has decreased to an incredible extent.

Specialists say that many of the infiltration now occurs from semi-flat border terrains, such because the Ramgarh–Chambliyal belt and the Khora Submit space in Samba sector.

However there are cases when terrorists, skilled by the Pakistani navy, take Pir Panjal’s treacherous path to enter India. Regardless of being properly guarded, it stays one of the vital tough terrains to safe. The terrorists behind the Pahalgam carnage used the Pir Panjal forest cowl to their benefit.

The jungles of the Pir Panjal vary, stuffed with coniferous timber like pine, fir and deodar, kind a cover stretching for kilometres throughout the Line of Management (LoC), making it tough for surveillance drones to do their job effectively. Nonetheless, there are additionally stretches of open, rocky floor, together with terrain that continues to be snow-covered for a lot of the yr.

That is terrain the place there’s heavy deployment of the Indian Army, and the place particular forces models function in full pressure. A serving Lt Colonel says ambushes are arrange in these forests relying on intelligence that comes from the bottom.

However regardless of such heavy deployment of forces and a fence in place, how do terrorists, although far fewer at this time, nonetheless cross into India?

It have to be famous that it was this very vary into which the terrorists behind the Pahalgam assault disappeared, until the Indian Army, in Operation Mahadev, hunted them down and killed them.

Allow us to have a look at the terrain, and perceive what it’s actually like.

THE FENCING IN PIR PANJAL RANGE

It is very important perceive that the fencing within the Pir Panjal vary was not constructed throughout the vary itself as one steady wall.

It was constructed alongside the LoC by means of sectors that move north and south of the Pir Panjal area, utilizing what India calls the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS), in response to the Ministry of Defence. This consists of stretches by means of the mountainous Pir Panjal terrain.

Immediately, other than superior surveillance belongings, the Indian Military has included drones, night-vision gear, radars, underground sensors, amongst different high-tech methods, to strengthen the surveillance structure within the Pir Panjal, in response to the Ministry of Defence.

However infiltration nonetheless occurs due to how rugged and unpredictable the terrain is. It could snow at any time of the yr, temperatures can drop under zero shortly, and ravines, gorges and caves are pure shelters that terrorists use as hideouts.

Fencing of this area started within the early 2000s. Till then, the Indian Military needed to guard an open border right here.

Experiences counsel that large-scale LoC fencing was permitted and operationally initiated in 2003 after persistent infiltration in the course of the late Nineties and early 2000s. By June 30, 2004, India reported completion of about 580 km of fencing out of roughly 740–778 km of the J&Okay LoC, which included the Pir Panjal’s mountains.

However the tough terrain makes it tough even for the fence to stay in place, which has been repeatedly rebuilt, upgraded, realigned, and repaired on account of snowfall, avalanches, landslides, and shelling injury that occurs alongside the LoC.

A serving Lt Colonel India Immediately Digital spoke to mentioned, “It’s not a single wall, however a layered barrier of wire fencing, sensors, patrol tracks and watch posts. It’s constructed alongside rugged terrain, and is designed to sluggish infiltrators, detect motion early, and provides troops time to reply shortly. It’s a wire lure meant to purchase time for the troopers guarding it.”

HOW DO TERRORISTS STILL INFILTRATE THROUGH PIR PANJAL REGION?

Lt Colonel Sundeep Sen (Retd), a Particular Forces officer with in depth counter-insurgency expertise and a decade of fight operations alongside the LoC and within the northeast, says, “Until the time the fence had not come, terrorists were crossing into India at will.”

In accordance with Sen, the Pir Panjal route is now used principally in the course of the harsh winter window, when heavy snowfall adjustments the bottom scenario. “Infiltration takes place from Pir Panjal principally in the course of the snow interval,” he explains, including, “There may be 10 to 25 ft of snow, and the fence will get buried underneath it.”

That creates momentary vulnerabilities in some stretches. However even then, he says, the numbers stay low. “On the most, there could also be three or 4 infiltration makes an attempt in a yr, and that too, in small teams of lower than 4 militants. However sure, infiltration does happen, and it’s tough to protect it within the winters.”

The terrain itself explains why solely “specifically skilled terrorists” try it. Pir Panjal is a zone of steep ridge strains, cliffs, forests and excessive chilly. “The ridge line emanates from the Pakistan aspect,” Sen says, making motion attainable just for males skilled in high-altitude warfare. In some instances, he notes, operatives are skilled to barter snowbound mountain routes and evade surveillance.

It have to be famous that that was the case within the 2025 Pahalgam terror assault, through which one of many terrorists, recognized as Hashim Musa, was reportedly a former para-commando of the Pakistan Military’s Particular Service Group (SSG). Army sources India Immediately Digital spoke to mentioned it was most probably that Pakistani particular forces despatched Musa to steer the LeT terrorists.

Sen says, “It’s not possible for untrained terrorists to climb treacherous terrain just like the Pir Panjal, survive within the jungle for months, and stay hid from the inhabitants.” The terrorists have been neutralised by the Indian Military round three months after the assault contained in the Pir Pajal forests. They will need to have crossed over within the winter months, when the fence is snow-covered, and carried out the assault on April 22.

It is usually essential to notice that no fence may be completely uniform in such geography. “It’s as per the terrain and as per domination of who controls which floor,” Sen says, explaining that some stretches sit ahead, whereas others are adjusted due to enemy hearth positions, ridges or ravines.

So how do infiltrations nonetheless occur? Sen says it often requires planning, reconnaissance and exploiting climate or broken patches. “They [Pakistani terrorists supported by their military] recce for 10 to fifteen days earlier than even making an attempt a crossing, as a result of they know they are going to be engaged closely by the Indian Military.”

His bigger level is that infiltration from Pir Panjal has not disappeared, nevertheless it has grow to be tough, very harmful, and uncommon.

However for Pakistan, hell-bent on sending terrorists into India to destabilise J&Okay, the place normalcy has been returning to an incredible extent, it takes only one lethal assault to puncture peace. With such heavy guard, it’s almost not possible for untrained terrorists to cross by means of the Pir Panjal, particularly when there is no such thing as a snow, as a result of “intelligence works in methods unseen”, says the serving Lt Col, and the Military stays consistently deployed.

But even a single infiltrator slipping by means of a gap may cause immense injury, and Pakistan deploys its troopers and particular forces operatives to export terror into India.

– Ends