Choosing Jammu region and particularly dense forest terrain in Poonch coupled with duly identified target killing of poor non- Kashmiris in Kashmir valley, engaging army personnel in long stretched operations and succeeding in inflicting casualties, Pakistan sponsored proxy war of terrorism is seen with its new and changed strategy. Undoubtedly, a short period of a comparative peace following abrogation of Article 370 hence ‘special status’ of Jammu and Kashmir appears to have been a lull as new and ruthless strategies appear to have been stitched from across the border looking to how one of the longest ever heard encounters with the armed men in Mendhar Tehsil of Poonch was still going on when reports last came in. To have suffered a loss of nine brave hearts including the two Junior Commissioned Officers in the course of operations smacks of anything but a full range of organised and well prepared hostilities against the country and thus projecting Jammu and Kashmir as ”disturbed and simmering” to suit the nefarious interests of Pakistan. Making Jammu region as the choice for ambushes and such attacks engaging our Army in long operations bears testimony of such a craftily carved strategy from across the border.
The timing has been pointedly chosen as India is currently confronting yet another undependenable and inconsistent hostile neighbour on eastern Ladakh where China simply dodges resolution of issues of border friction, even not disclosing its intention while holding high level military talks with India, of course, on our initiative in order to ensure peace and calm on borders. Developments in Afghanistan are no less relevant in due context for Pakistan upping its terror agenda against this country. Para-commandoes and SOG personnel joining the multiple search operations in Poonch conducted by the Army have so far resulted in no major success in tracing the militants or neutralising them.
Search operations undoubtedly have not only been intensified but helicopters too pressed into service to trace the militants but so far with no major success. We reiterate that a nexus between the over ground workers (OGWs), sympathisers and hard core extremist fundamentalists are the ones who sustain these enemies of peace and order and provide them with all types of logistics and, therefore, are equally responsible for what the militants indulge in. The Police, the intelligence agencies and the security forces need to have a focussed stress on tracing, identifying and apprehending these helpers and facilitators of the rabid zealot militants killing innocents and unarmed, even poor street vendors after duly identifying them from their identity cards. The question is how long are we going to put up with this affliction exported from across the border?
We are conscious of the constraints and limitations in fighting this type of undeclared proxy war as the enemy does not confront in the open and fights not a conventional war but adopts hit and run policy, hiding in forests, or in holes deep in ravines or with known acquaintances, or helpers and even then the security forces have been very successfully tracing them and upon being attacked neutralising them too. The biggest obstacle in a ”free run” in operations by the Army is to avoid at all costs collateral damage which warrants operations to be conducted very carefully which speaks for the strategy to compel militants to surrender. However, instead of responding positively, they fire upon the security forces only to get killed. Recently, the two killers responsible for gunning down civilians have been killed. In spite of that, in an utter act of cowardice, they again shot dead two non local civilians, one each at Srinagar and Pulwama in Kashmir and latest in Wanpooh Kulgam areas where militants again fired discriminatorily on non -Kashmiri labourers , killing two innocent poor labourers hailing from Bihar while seriously injuring another one.
This all is indicating the militants’ resorting to utter desperado and inhuman behaviour and strictly as dictated to them by their masters. Well, obviously this all cannot be tolerated anymore and therefore is warranting an effective pro-active policy. Therefore, the UT Government in close understanding with the Central Government, police, intelligence and the security forces must adopt a befitting strategy to effectively deal with the menace of terrorism. It becomes incumbent upon the Government to have this menace of terror wiped out from the UT in that any type of stumbling blocks should be dealt with accordingly as per law of the land.
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