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The first indication that Pakistan was back to playing a double game in the Kashmir Valley came in June from the LOC. Security forces reported a worrying surge in infiltration of militants from across the border. After the Islamabad agreement on January 6, 2004 between Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and the then Indian prime minister A.B. Vajpayee to resume the dialogue process, infiltration had dropped to an average of 30 a month-a third of what it was during the same period last year. Even in May, when snow melts in the higher reaches and there is an expected surge in militant crossings, the level remained low. It lulled India into believing that Musharraf was keeping to his promise to restrain the jehadis and "not to permit any territory under Pakistan control to be used to support terrorism in any manner."
In June, however, alarm bells began ringing in India's intelligence agencies. Their informers reported streams of highly trained militants crossing the border from Neelam Valley in PoK into Kupwara and Baramulla. On the Jammu border, the infiltrators were slipping through in the Poonch and Rajouri sectors. The number of militants who had got through in June was put at 111, similar to what it was in the same month last year. In July too the tempo of infiltration remained high. Forces monitoring wireless communication among militants reported a significant rise in conversations between militant commanders and their henchmen.
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