New Delhi, April 10 :     Pakistan has reportedly begun massing troops and armed militants closer to the frontier in the Sir Creek region, causing some concern to Indian security agencies. According to officials in the defence ministry, a number of regular army battalions and hundreds of militants have been mobilised in the Umerkot and Musafirkhana areas of Sir Creek, a long disputed frontier between India and Pakistan around the Rann of Kutch. Several new army posts have been set up in the area and Pakistani Rangers have been replaced by regular Pakistani army troops, according to defence ministry officials. Their estimates are that nearly 2,000 armed militants have also been moved to the Umerkot and Musafirkhana areas. Another 200 have been brought to the Nawabkot region from training camps in Hyderabad, Sindh. 'This could either be aimed at pushing militants across into India or the Pakistani army may be planning some activity in the area,' the officials said. According to the officials nearly 800 militants have also been moved down from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to pockets like Ketibandar, Sahabandar and Gadap in the Sir Creek region. Hyderabad is one of the many places in Pakistan where ISI camps are being run to train militants from all over the world. The Indian Air Force had shot down a Pakistani surveillance plane, Atlantique, in the Sir Creek area in August last year when it was on a suspected spying mission inside the Indian territory. Pakistan is seeking compensation for the downing of the plane, in which 16 of its defence personnel had been killed. The dispute over Sir Creek is a fallout of the demarcation of the border in Rann of Kutch by the India-Pakistan western boundary case tribunal about four decades ago. The issue was left unresolved by the tribunal. Although a number of rounds of talks have been held between India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute, it remains one of the eight outstanding matters to be settled. The ISI had earlier got hundreds of Afghan mercenaries settled close to the Line of Control (LoC) in PoK by evacuating the local populace in Bagh Tehsil, Kotli, Nikial and Balnoi areas, the sources said. The Afghans have been settled in increasing numbers opposite Rajouri, Poonch and Doda districts of Jammu and Kashmir, obviously with the intention of pushing them across through these areas for militant activities. Defence minister George Fernandes today said an experts' group to draw up policies and programmes as per the recommendations of the Subrahmanyam Committee on Kargil will be formed soon. He gave hints of a Pakistani build-up in the Kutch region since US President Bill Clinton's visit last month. 'Talks regarding the formation of a group were being held with the finance ministry and soon the group which would draw up policies and programmes on intelligence gathering based on the committee's suggestions would be formed,' Fernandes told reporters here. The proposed group, as the first follow-up of the recommendations of the Subrahmanyam Committee, will look into ways for better intelligence gathering, co-ordination between various agencies and ensure availability of accurate intelligence to the armed forces.