This summer is witnessing spurt in militancy in Kashmir. The number of infiltration bids has increased despite strict vigil mounted by the troops guarding the border. The Kupwara border has become active with Army Commander in Kupwara said that about 200 to 220 Pakistani militants, mainly from the LeT terrorist outfit had succeeded in infiltrating clandestinely and they are supported by the local chapters totalling about 100 of them. This information is based on the dependable intelligence received by the Army through its own sources. There is a known reason for the Pakistani militant outfits to accelerate infiltration and militant activities in Kashmir. Pakistan’s domestic condition is critical. The recent annual report of the Pentagon to the American Congress has categorically stated that Pakistan has not played the desired role in dismantling the terrorist structure especially that of Haqqani in Afghanistan. The report obliquely says that Pakistan-based terrorist structure against India also remains intact. The widening gulf between the Army and the civilian Government in Islamabad leads to acceleration of infiltration bids in Kashmir because that is the only way for Pakistan Army and ISI to justify its stance on domestic policy of Pakistan.
However, India’s strategy is to meet this menace on its merits. Pakistan expects that India will take a precipitate decision of embarking on a massive retaliatory action. This is not the strategy of the rulers in New Delhi who do not want to give any opportunity to Pakistan that will bail it out of present predicament. A massive retaliation will create empathy for Pakistan as a victimized nation and it will lead to consolidation of the disparate groups within the country which India will not venture to do. Thus we have been seeing a spate in terrorist activities in Kashmir this summer and it has been gradually increasing after Pathankot air base attack.
Last week there have been two operations against the jihadis led by Pakistan-based LeT, one in Lolab Valley and the other in Waterkahani, Drugmulla in Northern Kashmir. Yes, there has been some infiltration from Kupwara border as it is long and porus one. The border security forces are taking adequate steps to meet this challenge. The jihadis will continue to sneak in and the Army is ready to seek them, challenge them and liquidate them. That is the strategy Army Commanders have adopted. The Army has established a dependable and fully functional intelligence network and is fed with up to date information about the movement of the jihadis in the recesses of the forests of Kashmir. The third encounter that has taken place during the past one week is at Wudar Bala where two armed jihadis are reported to be hiding in the forests. They have been challenged and encircled and, of course, they will be liquidated soon like their other activists in the region.
On June 25, the militants attacked a convoy of CRPF killing 8 soldiers and wounding about 20 of them in Pampore area. In retaliatory action, two militants are reported to have been gunned down. The wounded have been admitted to the military hospital and three out of the twenty of them have succumbed. The Army has cordoned off Pampore area especially the Frastbal where the mishap occurred. The Prime Minister, Governor and the Chief Minister and many others have condemned the dastardly act. The Chief Minister has said that the act is done with the purpose of derailing peace and law and order situation in the State. It has to be noted that firstly, election to the vacant Assembly seat of Anantnag was underway and the Chief Minister happened to be the main contestant and has won it. Pampore has seen some militant activity for some time in the past especially from the day when election to the vacant seat was announced and Mehbooba happened to be the prime contestant. The militants and their handlers from across the border wanted to disrupt the election process.
Secondly, and more importantly, intensifying contradictions at home has made Pakistani rulers including the Army desperate. Their Afghan policy is faced with disaster; their war against the TTP in PoK is faced with stiff local rejection and their Kashmir terrorism is not yielding any concrete results rather is boomeranging. There is widespread disquiet in so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan are already in flames and Pakistan, unable to control the area through military power has embarked on a total sell-out of the region to China. The Gwadar sea port that was claimed to be the opening of a new Sino-Pak oriented strategy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf has met with a slap in the shape of tripartite treaty among India, Iran and Afghanistan on Chabahar seaport which will provide Afghanistan an outlet to the Gulf and the Indian Ocean by passing Pakistan. Islamabad has begun to feel the pinch of counter strategy in the Gulf with far reaching consequences for entire South and Far East. It indirectly helps stabilizing US India-Pacific policy. In the background of this scenario, the recent Pentagon annual report slamming Pakistan with intentionally not dismantling terrorist structure in Afghanistan has made entire Pak ruling circles fret and fume.
Ambushing the CRPF convoy and killing jawans is not going to help the jihadis and their handlers in any way. Rather it will help them boost security arrangements in Kashmir. These dastardly attacks are not going to win Pakistan the land of Kashmir. It should stop dreaming about that. But of course, policy planners will upgrade the counter-insurgency strategy and plug the loopholes if any. These attacks make India’s position stronger in Kashmir because people in Kashmir are steadily getting alienated from militancy. A large number of youth are distancing themselves from militancy because they are finding many creative opportunities opening up which can bring about sea change in their economic status.
This having been said, we would like to invite the attention of the State political leadership to an important aspect of current militancy. It is the responsibility of elected leadership in the State, irrespective of what political group they belong or what political ideology they contribute to, to establish very close contacts with the masses of people and make them understand the adverse consequences of violence. They are the instruments with which alienation among the youth can be done away with. Instead of indulging in unending debates and discussions — though necessary in their turn —they should spend more of their time in engaging people, drawing them in fruitful discussions and convincing them that violence is not the way of solving economic, political, social and other problems. They must play their role in helping Kashmir wriggle out of the stranglehold of violence.
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