Pakistan is actively building an airport at Muridke, around 120 km from Jammu and about 100 km from the Line of Control (LOC).
After the ground breaking ceremony on March 22, according to intelligence reports, the building of two runways and parallel taxiways is moving forward.
Clearly, despite recent floods that submerged nearly half the country and a continuing financial crisis, construction work has not been delayed.
The airfield is located 15 kilometres northeast of Lahore-area Muridke town.
The most potent terrorist organisation in Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Toiba, has its headquarters in Muridke, which is significant.
The Muridke airfield, once ready, will not only be 120 km from Jammu but about 250 km from Srinagar. It will also be close to Indian Air Force airfields in the area like Pathankot and Awantipora. Of course, what the Pakistan Air Force will eventually place there remains to be seen, but the airfield could also be involved in the defence of the LET headquarters.
The Indian Air Force made a feint toward the Punjab region of Punjab before striking the Balakot terror camp on February 26, 2019, and the PAF immediately sent fighters to the area.
The fact that the airfield is being built at such a breakneck pace shows that Pakistan recognises some sort of vulnerability in the region and the necessity for enhanced air defences there.
The Jaishe Mohammed and the Hizbul Mujahideen are smaller and less nimble terrorist organisations than the LET, which continues to be the main source of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is a terrorist organisation that is outlawed globally and a tool of Pakistan’s ISI, the army’s branch of military intelligence.
