A week of encounters, recovered mines and a spy in a truck cab shows that the threat in Jammu and Kashmir has changed its shape, not its intent
The past few days should settle any debate about whether the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has turned a corner. It has not. Two Pakistani terrorists were killed in an encounter in the Majalta area of Udhampur under the ongoing Operation Sohan, and searches are still underway across Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and the Pir Panjal belt. Reports that an injured terrorist may still be at large are a reminder that every successful operation leaves loose ends, and loose ends in this terrain can turn deadly.
In Poonch’s Mendhar sector, the Army recovered and destroyed three rusted landmines near Dharana Basoni village, while an anti-personnel mine was defused close to the Line of Control. A hideout was busted in the same district and ammunition recovered. In Shopian, an operation against suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militants has stretched into its third day. Taken together, these are not isolated incidents. They describe a region where the infrastructure of violence remains in place, waiting for an opening.
The most unsettling development, however, came not from the forests or the border but from a highway. A truck driver in Kathua was arrested for allegedly sharing live footage of Army convoy movements with handlers in Pakistan through a SIM-enabled CCTV camera. If the allegation holds, it points to a quieter and more dangerous front. Cheap technology, ordinary vehicles and a willing individual can compromise troop movements without a single shot being fired. Surveillance of this kind can set up ambushes of the sort that have cost the Jammu region dearly over the past few years.
The shift of militant activity towards the Jammu hills, the persistence of old mines along the LoC and the use of everyday devices for espionage all demand a response that is broader than encounters alone. Convoy routes need fresh security audits. Commercial vehicles plying sensitive stretches, especially those fitted with networked cameras, deserve closer scrutiny. Village Defence Guards and local informants in the upper reaches of Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri must be strengthened, not sidelined. Intelligence sharing between the Army, police and central agencies has to be seamless, because the adversary is clearly exploiting the gaps between them.
None of this is a call for alarm among ordinary citizens, who have already paid a heavy price and deserve normal lives. It is a call for sustained caution among those responsible for their safety. Statistics of reduced incidents can breed a dangerous complacency, and complacency is precisely what infiltrators and their handlers are counting on.
The security forces have shown courage and results this week. The task now is to stay a step ahead. In Jammu and Kashmir, peace is not declared. It is guarded, every single day.
