INDIA/PAKISTAN: Kashmiri militants preparing to infiltrate Indian-administered Kashmir assemble at Pakistani army border posts in the dark, shivering in the icy winds sweeping down from the Himalayas.
Trained in camps across Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, they are poised to join their tanzems, or militant groups, fighting the 13-year civil war in the disputed northern principality, which is shared between the nuclear rivals but claimed by both. More than 35,000 people have died in Kashmir's insurgency.
On a signal from their guide, they slither towards one of the Pakistan army's machine-gun nests along the line of control near Kupwara, in northern Kashmir.
The tanzimi or administrator attached to each of the 35 to 40 training camps hands a promissory note to the guide, which is to be signed by his counterpart across the frontier, indicating that the crossing has been made safely.
On returning the guide receives about Rs 10,000 (£147 sterling) for each crossing for the well-oiled operation which has been in place across Kashmir's 600-mile porous border ever since the insurgency for an Islamic homeland erupted in 1989.
As the heavy-calibre guns open up, following a wireless transmission by militants from Indian territory, the nervous insurgent group, led by a sure-footed scout, dashes across no man's land into the thickly wooded hills.
Within seconds they are squirrelling their way across a maze of rock-strewn gullies that offer excellent cover, preventing any meaningful pursuit by the Indian army.
Like a ghost, another guide, familiar with the minefields, army patrols and ambush parties, emerges from the forest and escorts the newly infiltrated militants to their particular area of operation. Often they have to trek several nights across high mountain ranges, spending the day in "transit camps", their location changing continually.
Indian security officials said Pakistan's secret Inter Services Intelligence, which "runs" Kashmir's insurgency, follows precise procedures before helping militants infiltrate India.
They said once the tanzimi receives a "requisition" for fresh cadres over the wireless, he determines where and when the crossing will take place. This information is relayed back across the border and the crossing is effected a few days later, sometimes under cover of artillery fire.
Pakistan denies all links with Kashmiri militants, saying it provides the insurgency only diplomatic and political support. Indian and western intelligence agencies, however, refute Pakistani claims.
Indian security officials said the insurgents were trained in two stages, lasting about three months each, in about 30 to 40 camps located near the frontier in and around the Lipa valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
In the "foundation" course, batches of 50 to 100 militants undergo Islamic indoctrination and basic weapon training. In the "advanced" phase, they are divided into groups depending on their individual talents, and given rigorous commando and advanced weapons training.
The insurgents are also trained to make improvised explosive devices which have been responsible for killing a majority of the 4,200 security force personnel in Kashmir over the past 13 years.
At dawn every day, road-opening parties, armed with metal detectors and long sticks to probe the foliage, walk down highways and pathways frequented by the security forces, looking for buried explosives. At great cost the army acquired 90 mine-protection vehicles from South Africa four years ago to counter the improvised explosives.
