A former Jammu and Kashmir police chief, Shesh Paul Vaid, has claimed a large number of commandos from the Pakistan Army's Special Service Group have infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to engage the Indian Army in a covert war.

Vaid, who cited unnamed sources, seemed to be reproducing a claim made by Amjad Ayub Mirza, a self-proclaimed human rights activist, author and critic of Pakistan who is from PoK but now lives in Britain.

Police sources do admit that dozens of Pakistani militants have infiltrated into India, mainly into Jammu, this year. But they dismiss the claims of infiltration by a large number of commandos from the SSG, the Pakistan Army’s special operations forces.

The security forces have not formally reacted to Vaid’s claims. Unofficially, they are asking why a former IPS officer, who served the Jammu and Kashmir police for decades, would make unverified claims that could add to the panic set off by a spate of militant attacks in the region.

Vaid was director-general of Jammu and Kashmir police from 2016 to 2018 and, after his retirement in 2019, emerged as a leading supporter of the BJP government’s policies at the Centre.

“You see a surge in attacks in the Jammu region. Similarly there is an effort in Kupwara district of Kashmir to destabilise the situation,” Vaid said in a video.

“Adil Rahmani, who is GOC (general officer commanding), SSG commandos of the Pakistani Army, is behind it, directing and organising it. About 600 SSG commandos have been earmarked for it, many of whom have infiltrated.”

He added: “Some more are attempting to do so. I think it is an act of war to involve 15 Corps and 16 Corps (based in Kashmir and Jammu) fully. (To) engage them in this war. There is one Lt Colonel Shahid Saleem who reportedly has infiltrated and he is directing the operations. They have activated local sleeper cells of the jihadi network. Two battalions of SSG have been kept ready.”

Vaid said India should act to defeat the covert war.

In a subsequent post, Vaid amended his statement partly and said only a few SSG men had managed to infiltrate while the rest were expected to be pushed through later.

“This is going to be a long haul, and we need to be prepared for anything,” he said.

The claim had originated from Mirza, who had on Sunday said that “one whole SSG battalion is said to have infiltrated”, which “means at least 600 commandos are in Kupwara region and elsewhere”. The rest of the details were also the same.

Vaid had in the past, too, issued controversial statements.

Last year, he faced censure from the former Northern Command chief, Lt General H.S. Panag, who had construed a tweet by Vaid as endorsement of the killing of gangster Atique Ahmad and his brother by gunmen in Uttar Pradesh while they were in police custody.

“Mafia Don and Gangster #AtiqueAhmed and his brother Ashraf killed in an attack in #Prayagraj. How deep rooted are their criminal activities that they were brutally shot down while in Police custody and in front of media cameras? Whose criminal secrets were these assailants protecting? Needs serious investigation by @Uppolice,” Vaid had tweeted.

Panag hit back to say that “even in worse (sic) of times such things did not happen in J&K”.

“Why did JKP not kill Masood Azhar in custody? Because then you upheld the law! Now you indirectly endorse its violation,” Panag said.

Vaid, in his reply to Panag, suggested he was not endorsing the killings.