In the past one or two months, the security forces officials claim to have build pressure on the militants by launching frequent operations in which many local and foreign militants were killed. Officials say that they are now receiving good flow of information about the militant presence, earlier, during the last year’s unrest; officials had acknowledged that flow of information has either dried up or was negligible.
Asem Mohiuddin
As valley is again on boil not only in the urban centres or the countryside as well as the Line of Control, the security is on high alert as there are reports that many militants are waiting to sneak into the Valley and have apprehensions that annual Amarnath yatra could be targeted.
Militants operating in Kashmir has also increased intensity of the attacks, only last week, when an encounter in which three Lashkar militants including prominent commander, Javid Mattoo was trapped in a house, the militants at neighbouring Achabal area attacked a police vehicle and killed Station House Officer, Achabal, Feroz Ahmad Dar along with his five guards. This was one of the biggest attacks on the J&K police in the recent months, as per the data in first six months; militants have killed 18 police personnel in different attacks. The lynching of DySP, Mohammad Ayub Pandit by a mob outside the Jamia Masjid, has exposed the venerability of the local police officers and men by the militants. In the past few months, militants have issued several warnings to the local policemen and officers, the incident in which mob lynched an officer who lived close to the mosque has once again exposed the situation in Valley, especially for the local police officials and jawans who have already been asked to stay away from their native village due to militant threats.
The last big attack came in Kulgam when militants targeted cash van of Jammu and Kashmir bank in which an assistant sub inspector and four jawans were killed, two private security guards who were accompanying with the vehicle were also gunned down in the attack. Last year also 13 policemen were gunned down by militants in different militancy related incidents. Also militants managed to snatch more than 40 weapons from the policemen and in most of the incidents, the policemen didn’t resist and handed over their weapons to militants.
On Friday, militants of Lashkar- e- Toiba wanted to replicate the attack similar to last year when after attacking the CRPF on the national highway; the militants took shelter inside huge complex building of EDI. The attack was second in the last eight months, earlier also militants had remained holed up in the sprawling complex and it took three days for army to flush out the militants and in both these attack, several army men were killed including a Para commando officer. After attacking the CRPF near Athwajan in which a CRPF officer was killed and another injured, the militants took shelter inside the Delhi Public School building, a mammoth complex of buildings with 450 to 500 rooms. Due to the experience gained in previous operations, army commandos managed to neutralize the militants within 24 hours.
The militants killed were identified as foreigners. Officials said the militants took shelter inside the school complex as they wanted to prolong operation for days together. “We were lucky that militants got neutralized within few hours, otherwise, it could have been a cumbersome job to kill the militants in such a big complex structure, still we concluded this operation only after room to room intervention was completed,’’ said an officer privy to operational details.
J&K’s, Director General of Police, S P Vaid said that militants had big plans, but they were neutralized without causing damage to the school. “We foiled the militant design for trying to create a big scene inside the school complex.’’
Since past one month, the forces have tried to build the pressure on the militants by launching frequent operations, especially, Cordon and Search operation (CASO) in different parts of south Kashmir and even managed to kill around one dozen militants, however, militants have still upper hand as they can strike anywhere at their will. To bring further pressure on the militants majority of whom are local militants, the army has moved around two battalions in the south Kashmir and many fresh camps were erected that had been abandoned after the situation had improved. With establishment of new camps, the army and police is aiming at to curtail the militant movement especially in south Kashmir, where militants have been making videos and showing their appearance on the funerals. The Army has also decided to trouble the common villagers under the garb of the CASO, in many operations, the villagers have alleged that they were thrashed and also their valuable items were stolen. By building pressure on the civilians, the army and police are aimed to curtail the public support to the militants, especially when villagers try to disrupt the operations during encounters.
The army and police officers have started using all such tactics to discourage the involvement of civilians in the protests. So far, the forces have not been able to fully control the situation, especially in south Kashmir, where many youths are joining militancy creating more trouble for the security forces. In the past one or two months, the security forces officials claim to have build pressure on the militants by launching frequent operations in which many local and foreign militants were killed. Officials say that they are now receiving good flow of information about the militant presence, earlier, during the last year’s unrest; officials had acknowledged that flow of information has either dried up or was negligible.
“In south Kashmir, the situation is very tense but now forces have started to maintain pressure. We will not be able to end this situation, but will definitely bring it to manageable level,’’ said a senior police officer posted in south Kashmir. After the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani last year in an encounter at Kokernag, the south Kashmir has witnessed lot of violence even number of young boys without any training joined militancy. Such was the volatile situation in four districts in south Kashmir – Kulgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian that government couldn’t hold the by elections for the LoK sabha seats fearing widespread protests and civilian killing. The another headache for the government is annual Amarnath yatra, the important route of the yatra passes through Anantnag district, the officials fear that militants could target the yatra and if that happens, there are fears of huge violence against the people of Kashmir in other states. So the officials in the past few weeks have been making unprecedented arrangements for the security of the yatra. However, separatists have termed the reports about the attack on yatra as the information spread by security agencies and Government of India to defame Kashmiri people.
Hurriyat chairman, Syed Ali Geelani termed these rumors as baseless and said that Amarnath yatris are their guests. ‘Kashmir have always welcomed yatris as they are our guests. The news about the attacks on pilgrims are deliberately spread by certain agencies to bring bad name to our struggle.’’ Whether there are inputs about the attacks or not, this year, however, the government has made top security arrangements and placed three tier foolproof arrangements. While, the south is on boil, the top officials are also worried about the situation in north Kashmir, where most of the active militants are foreigners. Even though dozens of militants were killed on the Line of Control majority of them (infiltrators), however, there have less number of militant incidents in the north Kashmir though as per the Home ministry around 25 to 35 infiltrators have managed to sneak into Valley. Even militants this year tried to sneak into Valley through Uri that is considered the safe area and high secure zone, the officers say that those trying to sneak from Uri are mostly fidayeen militant who are ready to target any camp soon after crossing the LoC. Army officials believe that infiltrators are being helped by the Pakistani Army like it used to happen in the past. This year, not only there have been many ceasefire violations on the LoC, also both India and Pakistani soldiers got involved in the BAT attacks. Officials say that situation on the LoC is not as peaceful as it used to be in the past and even a small incident could snowball into a big controversy. Even New Delhi has been closely monitoring the situation in the Valley, especially on the LoC.
Though, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh had recently said that with few months situation in Kashmir will be normal. Also the Army chief, Bipin Rawat who has been frequently travelling to the Valley and LoC has said that forces have been given a free hand to control the situation. Despite these measures, the situation is not so normal as militants have even managed to target cops in the city that was considered safe from past many years.
The story appeared in print edition of 28-5 July 2017
