New Delhi, April 25: Pakistan is aggressively working to reconstruct its terror support infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir by recruiting an entirely fresh batch of overground workers (OGWs) — individuals who provide critical ground-level support to active terrorists — as its existing network has been decimated by sustained crackdowns by Indian security agencies. Simultaneously, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is reviving a covert programme to fund the overseas education of Kashmiri youth as a vehicle for radicalization, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Why Pakistan Is Replacing Its Existing OGW Network

The OGW network forms the backbone of any terror operation in the Kashmir Valley — responsible for the movement of militants, arranging shelter, food, and logistics. Without it, even foreign fighters inserted across the border cannot sustain operations on Indian soil.

However, Indian security agencies, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir Police, have systematically identified and neutralized much of this network. Officials confirmed that a majority of existing OGWs now carry police records, making them easy to track and intercept. "The ones with police records are easy to monitor, and this intelligence has been repeatedly used to apprehend OGWs," an official stated.

To circumvent this, Pakistan is now targeting individuals with clean records — including shopkeepers, tour guides, and unemployed youth — to build a fresh, harder-to-detect support network. Critically, authorities note that Pakistan will not entirely discard its old OGW operatives; a select few experienced handlers will be retained to train the new recruits, ensuring institutional knowledge is passed on.

ISI's Covert Student Radicalization Programme Revived

Beyond ground-level recruitment, the ISI is attempting to restart an earlier programme that uses overseas education as a radicalization pipeline. Under this scheme, the ISI would covertly sponsor the higher education of selected Kashmiri youth in universities across the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Crucially, Pakistan is deliberately avoiding routing these students through Pakistani institutions — a move that officials say is designed to obscure the programme's origins and avoid raising red flags with Indian intelligence. "The ISI will push money for education discreetly so that the funding trail cannot be traced," an official revealed.

Once abroad, Pakistani agents would make contact with these students, gradually radicalizing them. Upon returning to Jammu and Kashmir, these individuals would be expected to spread the ISI's narrative, recruit additional youth, and serve as ideological foot soldiers. Officials emphasized that this is not an educational initiative in any genuine sense — it is a structured radicalization operation disguised as scholarship support.

The Strategic Context: Why Pakistan Is Desperate to Reset

These moves reflect the mounting pressure Pakistan's establishment faces domestically over the Kashmir issue. Since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the security environment in Jammu and Kashmir has transformed significantly. Infiltration attempts have been sharply curtailed by heavy border security, and the Indian government has made sustained efforts to integrate Kashmiri youth into the national mainstream, actively discouraging separatist sentiment.

Within Pakistan, hardline groups and terror outfits have been questioning the Army and ISI over the apparent quietening of militancy in the Valley. For Pakistan's military establishment, Kashmir remains a central pillar of domestic political legitimacy — and a visible decline in militant activity is politically untenable.

This explains the dual-track strategy: rebuild the physical OGW infrastructure while simultaneously attempting to recapture the ideological space among Kashmiri youth through the overseas education-radicalization pipeline.

India's Counter-Measures and the Broader Implications

The Indian security establishment appears well aware of these maneuvers, with officials actively monitoring recruitment patterns and financial flows linked to ISI-sponsored programmes. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has demonstrated a strong track record in dismantling OGW networks, having used police record databases to systematically identify and arrest operatives.

However, the shift toward recruiting individuals with clean records — combined with the overseas radicalization angle — presents a more complex counterintelligence challenge. Tracking financial flows routed through third countries and identifying radicalized students returning from abroad will require enhanced coordination between Indian intelligence agencies, foreign liaison services, and university monitoring mechanisms.

Notably, this development comes against the backdrop of heightened India-Pakistan tensions, with both nations on alert following recent security incidents along the Line of Control (LoC). The pattern of rebuilding OGW networks from scratch mirrors tactics previously observed in the early 2000s, when Pakistan restructured its Kashmir proxy apparatus following the post-Kargil diplomatic fallout.

What to Watch Next

Security analysts will be closely monitoring whether Pakistan succeeds in operationalizing this new OGW network before Indian agencies can map and neutralize it. The revival of the overseas student radicalization programme, if confirmed through financial intelligence, could trigger diplomatic action by India at international forums, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), where Pakistan has historically faced scrutiny over terror financing. The coming months will be critical in determining whether Pakistan's reset strategy gains any traction in the Valley.