HM Desk
The killing of two Army officers and a police officer in Kashmir on Wednesday, and an encounter in Rajouri in Jammu at the same time in which two terrorists s were killed, with a soldier, too, losing his life, are signs that beneath the apparent normalcy in the Union Territory, all is not well.
The officers were killed in the course of a counter-terrorist operation in a mountainous and thickly forested area of Kokernag in Anantnag district. A security forces team had arrived at the spot following information on terrorists’ presence there, and were ambushed.
This is the fourth big setback for the security forces in J&K this year. Two attacks in quick succession in the Rajouri-Poonch areas of Jammu in April and May killed five Rashtriya Rifles soldiers, and five Special Forces Commandos.
Then, on August 5, terrorists struck in Kulgam, not far from where Wednesday’s attack took place, killing three Army personnel, the first indicator that the long calm in South Kashmir had been deceptive. Two attacks within five weeks in the same area indicates that these Valley districts that were a hotbed of a new wave of militancy from 2015 but had quietened down in the aftermath of the 2019 constitutional changes, are being stirred up again.
Security forces now seem to have on their hands a long arc of terrorist hideouts in jungles on both sides of the Pir Panjal. The Kokernag attack, in keeping with a pattern that has emerged over the last two years, shows that terrorists are sticking to hideouts in the dense woods in the mountains where they have the advantage, with eyes on troop movements and combing operations.
They are ambushing security forces personnel on mountain roads, or luring them into the forest to look for them. They seem equipped for long stays in inhospitable terrain, and are skilled marksmen — all pointing to a high level of training, making them more likely to be from across the border than new Kashmiri recruits. Significantly, a group called The Resistance Front has claimed the Kokernag ambush as revenge for the recent killing of a Laskhar commander in Rawalkot in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Even as it struggles with its internal problems, including a failing economy and dysfunctional politics, it seems Pakistan’s security establishment is loathe to abandon its favourite project. Trend lines show a sharp decrease in terrorism and the numbers of local recruits. But clearly, there is no room for complacency. Security forces need to rethink what they are getting wrong during operations. As well, the five-year absence of a political process has created a vacuum that troublemakers are trying to fill. The government must not drag its feet indefinitely over holding elections in J&K.
