December 22, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1424

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NEW DELHI, Dec 21: Indian security forces killed six alleged foreign militants in Kashmir on Sunday, but, perhaps more significantly, infiltration from across the Line of Control has stopped since last month’s ceasefire, a news report said.

“For the first time in the last three years, this November, the number of militants sneaking across the India-Pakistan border came down to a double-digit figure,” said the main story in the Indian Express.

It said the number of alleged infiltrators further came down in December. “But what has particularly been noted is that there hasn’t been a single infiltration attempt across the Line of Control since the ceasefire came into effect on Nov 26,” the paper said.

The details, collated by the India’s National Security Council Secretariat after inputs from the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and the Border Security Force, have reinforced the “warmth” this winter as both sides prepare for the Saarc summit in the first week of the new year, the newspaper said.

It quoted one intelligence report as saying that 14 militants infiltrated south of Pir Panjal in December, but it clarified that this report had not been independently corroborated yet.

“Sceptics in the establishment attribute this dip in infiltration to the onset of winter, but the numbers tell a different story, if you compare them with those of previous year’s,” the paper said.

The issue was the main topic of discussion at Friday’s meeting of the cabinet committee on security.

Although the point that President Pervez Musharraf has “virtually turned off the militant tap to shore up his credibility was taken note of”, one signal from the CCS” was that New Delhi would engage in a “bilateral contact” with the Pakistan leadership during the Saarc summit.

“What form it will take isn’t clear yet, but one thing is: the government is careful to avoid any bells and whistles this time around,” the paper said.

It quoted the unnamed sources as saying that “expectation levels will be calibrated in the run-up to the summit ensuring that they are not blown out of proportion.”

However, the United News of India said that five “hardcore foreign terrorists” were shot dead by Indian security forces along the LoC in the Balakote area of Mendhar sector in Poonch district in Jammu region on Sunday.