The training of these teams commenced last June in the PoK camps. They will be going 5-10 km within Indian territory and stay for short stints, intelligence reports indicate.

They are also being sent for tasks which require expertise, like handling of explosives, assassinations, recruitment of local youth, intimidation and liquidation of locals whose commitment to the cause of militancy is weakening and even for acting as spotters for directing Pakistani artillery fireon the LoC, a senior police officer said.

The Uri region of the Valley and the Jammu sector have been targeted not only because of their easy accessibility but also due to their ethnic composition which makes it easy for the PoK militants to hide.

Evidence of the Pakistani Army's direct involvement surfaced this year when two of its personnel -- both captains -- were killed and three apprehended.

Indirect and circumstantial evidence indicates that the number of Pakistani Army regulars, ex-servicemen, Rangers and policemen infiltrating the state may be much higher. Those who have been caught are personnel who violated directions and chose to carry their ID cards along with them. ``In recent months, we have caught two of them and this indicates more may be coming in. One of their main tasks is to monitor the activities of the Kashmiri militants, whom the Pakistani establishment does not trust at all,'' said Let Gen Krishan Pal, Commander of the Srinagar-headquartered 15 Corps.

Most Pakistani Armypersonnel entering the state are from PoK. The Special Operations Group of the Jammu Police killed Abudl Bashir Kashir on October 4 last and his ID card revealed he was serving with the Army's General HQ (GHQ). Capt Ali Shahir of the Janbaaz Force, a civil defence outfit in Pakistan, had been sent to mastermind the Wandhama massacre of 23 Kashmiri Pandits last January. He was shot dead in February.

Sepoy Mohammad Bashir (815 Mujahid Battalion) was apprehended in the Keran LoC sector in April. Shahnawaz Malik of the 834 Mujahid Battalion was a deserter. He was caught by Pakistani officials and given the choice of going into Kashmir or facing punishment. Malik was caught in September this year.

Shahid Ahmad of the 815 Mujahid Battalion was apprehended in the Uri sector. He had been picked from the Army guards posted at the militants' launching camp in PoK, given Rs 10,000, trained for 20 days and sent to Kashmir.

Setting up a militant network in a new area of the Valley and authentic reporting on themilitant activities are other objectives before the Pakistani soldiers with local militants prone to send exaggerated reports of their `successes' to Pakistan.

The mounting evidence of the Pakistani Army's involvement includes very professional wireless transmissions intercepted by the security forces, interrogation reports of apprehended local militants and encounters like the three-day-long Jaggarpora and Ahagam ones.

``Of the 16 militants killed in the Jaggarpora operation, one can safely conjecture that at least two were personnel of the Special Services Group of Pakistan. They clung onto the BSF armour-plated bunker behicle, rolled underneath it, placed grenades and tried to fire through the slits when being hounded out of the shoulder-high maize fields,'' said a Rashtriya Rifles officer.