There's clear and and present danger in Jammu & Kashmir
Four pairs of wet trousers, four pairs of wet shoes, discarded wrappers of Austrian chocolates, dry fruits and high-energy bars are being carefully examined by investigators to shed more light on the two terror attacks that J&K’s Kathua and Samba districts witnessed on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The intelligence sleuths are combing the area and interacting with sources to know more about the exact location of the breach, which could be in or around Samba or the Pathankot belt along the India-Pakistan border.
A clearer picture is yet to emerge, but prima facie it appears the terrorists sneaked in from across the border through one of the nullahs, changed their clothes, ate a meal and then hijacked a vehicle. The investigators have spoken to several eye witnesses to conclude that the team of terrorists comprised four suicide attackers –two struck the Rajbagh police station in Kathua on Friday and the other two split looking for alternate targets. This could have been either the Army Public School in Samba or the 16 Cavalry location, which was attacked in 2013.
The terrorists lobbed a grenade at the sentry post of The Army Service Corps Tatra detachment following which the sentry immediately fired back and raised an alarm. The 81 Armoured Regiment was also on alert after the Kathua strike on Friday. Failing to enter the army camp, the terrorists fled down the main highway. The army quick reaction team was on standby and immediately launched a counter offensive.
Thereafter, reinforcements arrived swiftly in Mine Protected Vehicles (MPVs). The terrorist bullets failed to pierce through the MPV and the QRT succeeded in gunning down one of the heavily-armed attackers. As he fell into a roadside ditch, the second terrorist blindly ran towards a forested patch only to run into a wall of CGI sheets.
The MPVs soon zeroed in on the second attacked and killed him. With some inputs indicating there could be other terrorists in the neighbourhood, the army launched a wider search-and-apprehend operation. However, when the operation was called off by late evening, no other terrorists were located.
Of the four wet trousers found in the undergrowth near the international border, one appears to have been made in Pakistan, while three others are of Austrian make. The security forces are yet to share details of the weapons, ammunition and other recoveries from the four dead terrorists. But defence minister Manohar Parrikar believes that, across the border in Pakistan, the morale of terrorists and their handlers is down and the desperate high-visibility attacks are being launched with a specific motive boost their morale while telling the separatists and their ilk in Jammu and Kashmir that Pakistan has not completely abandoned them.
Headlines Today has accessed the latest intelligence report that indicates that small but lethal teams of four to ten terrorists are at launch pads in Poonch, Rajauri, Naushera, Mendher and Samba, waiting to infiltrate. Their aim is to reach the built-up areas undetected and then launch similar high-visibility, high-impact attacks before they are killed.
Though these are the traditional infiltration areas before the snow melts in the higher reaches of Kashmir, this time, the attackers are being launched to cause as much damage as possible before they are eliminated. The intelligence agencies and the security forces fear a spurt in such attacks in the near future.
Even as the security apparatus deals with the challenge, politics over the terror attacks has taken centrestage. The Congress accused the PDP-BJP government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir as being weak in the face of Pakistan-sponsored terror. Sham Lal Sharma of the Congress was quoted as saying that there were 846 ceasefire violations since the BJP came to power and that the government had no coherent policy to respond to Pakistan-sponsored terror. Former J&K Chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: “If Samba is indeed a terrorist strike it marks a sharp departure from past attacks. 2 attacks in 2 days in same area of Jammu very unusual.”
The PDP-BJP government in the state is exploring the possibility of partially removing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from pockets of Jammu and Kashmir. Kathua, which saw a terror attack on Friday, is one of the proposed sites for the revocation of AFSPA. The army has been against even the partial revocation of AFSPA citing logistical responsibilities. Both Jammu and Kathua, south of the Pir Panjal and Srinagar and Budgam north of the Ranges – have been the main routes for supplying troops in not only Jammu and Kashmir but also eastern Ladakh and Siachen. The army has requested that the areas within 3-5 kilometre radius of either side of the national highway need to remain under AFSPA for the army to dominate them and maintain the supply route.
The attacks in Samba and Kathua once again highlight the vulnerability of all parts of J&K to Pakistan-sponsored terror. Some political leaders and strategic affairs experts have argued that India should declare victory on terror and remove AFSPA, but the army has cautioned against such pre-mature declaration of victory against an enemy who has not conceded defeat and continues to spread terror in J&K.
The Kathua and Samba terror attacks, and the intelligence inputs, point to the clear and present danger the state of Jammu and Kashmir faces from Pakistan-sponsored terror. It is not politics, but pragmatism and national interest that should decide the next course of action in the state.