The silence and sanctity of the three year long ceasefire across the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, violated by the latter over 20 times, was shattered again recently by Pakistan Army which resorted to unprovoked firing killing Naik Ajay Kumar Lama, of a battalion of 8th Gorkha Rifles.

This and many other incidents this year disprove claims of reduction in infiltration across the LoC as well as by other routes. In fact infiltration attempts into J & K increased in the wake of the recent political unrest in Pakistan. The Daily Excelsior (Jammu) of November 23 quoted Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor as saying the trend in infiltration from the other side has increased.

He, however, added that the situation was under control. Also what have not changed are the double standards of separatists of all hues in J & K. While the Indian Army is criticized or processions are taken out after anyone is killed in operations, no attack by terrorists even on innocents is condemned. After pressure to 'demilitarize' J & K, came the 'relocation' plan.

The Army has vacated all hospitals and schools in Kashmir valley, ahead of the November 30 deadline set by the Defense Ministry. All hospitals and schools used by the Army have been vacated, except a school at Mirgund in Budgam district.

General Officer Commanding, Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen A S Sekhon told reporters that the school campus in Budgam district is being used by Army as a helipad as the building is unserviceable. This has not affected the education of the students as a new building for the school has been constructed nearby, he said.

October 27 was observed as 'Black Day' by separatists to protest against Army's presence in the valley. Their activities also continue unabated. On November 18 PTI reported that alleged hawala operator Nasir Safi Mir, who is claimed to have been the 'financial brain' behind Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, jumped parole and is understood to have fled the country.

Mir, against whom a Delhi Court issued a non-bailable warrant, was arrested by Delhi Police in February last year while ferrying Rs 55 lakh from a Delhi-based jeweler along with some explosives, but later let out on parole following repeated requests made by Mir's family to the court citing medical problems.

Mir, considered a prize catch by the Delhi Police, was nabbed in a well-executed operation by central security agencies. According to The Times of India report from Jammu, a close aide of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and his four associates were arrested for carrying Rs 50 lakh Hawala money concealed in a CNG gas cylinder of the vehicle carrying the accused on November 4.

While both Geelani and Farooq are keenly watching events in Pakistan, terrorists are arming themselves relentlessly as revealed after an operation by 31 Rashtriya Rifles Kupwara District's Haphruda forest which found an anti-tank gun buried underground.

Speaking to Sahara Time, Army spokesman Lt Col A K Mathur said that the heavy artillery weapon is the first of its kind to be seized since the advent of terrorism in J & K. 'Mortar shells and guns have been recovered before but this is something really big,' Mathur said.

Its projectile, which can blow up tanks, can amount to an overkill for Casper and other armored vehicles used by the security forces from a distance of up to 500 meters, whereas from 1.5 kilometers it can destroy normal vehicles.

While terrorists with sophisticated weapons kill innocents, Hindus and Sikhs living in the valley as well as pilgrims visiting Amarnath, creating fear psychosis among non Kashmiri Muslims in J & K, why are village defense volunteers still armed with ancient .303 Lee Enfield rifles?

Even after two decades of combating terror, why are there no winning strategies? Are only rogue armies like Pakistan's going to continue bleeding India with the thousand or million cuts as its third dictator, General Ziaul Haq had planned?

Such questions have not been answered or addressed for long, but better late than never.

Col Bhatt, a security analyst, is the author of recently released book 'Information and Security: Where Truth'