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Kashmir : More troops to be deployed to plug infiltration |
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The Centre has decided to redeploy the Army in Gurez and Poonch sectors in Jammu and Kashmir in view of growing infiltration from across the line of control. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the Army Chief Gen. J.J. Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday, June 28. Reports say that about 200 militants crossed over since April this year as against a total of 231 militants in the whole of 2005. Troops will be pulled out of parts of the Kashmir Valley and sent to Gurez and Poonch, which witnessed the maximum infiltration in the last three months. The Army along with BSF and state police will put in place a three-layer cordon to check infiltration. Officials attribute the stepped up violence in the valley in the past few months to the increased infiltration from across the border.
In a related development, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee rejected on June 25 a call by Pakistan for troop cuts in Kashmir to push forward the peace process. He said in view of the recent spiral of violence in the region, it will not be possible to reduce troops. In a television interview, the Defence Minister said, Pakistan is allowing militant training camps to operate in the areas of Kashmir occupied by it.
Observers say that the Army is deeply concerned over continued terrorist efforts to penetrate its defences along the line of control. On Thursday, June 29, troops shot dead eight Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who were attempting to cross the line of control at Hema in the Karen sector. Observers say that despite the Army’s successes, terrorists have been able to part-replenish the material needed for their on going campaign of terror.
Observers say that the spurt in cross-border terrorism is putting at risk the peace process between India and Pakistan.
As Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has candidly told Islamabad, even the talk of “demilitarization” is untenable until cross-border terrorism ceases and the “infrastructure of terrorism” in Pakistan as well as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is dismantled. However, that is precisely where the rub lies.
General Musharraf is unable to translate his words into deeds because of his “compulsions”. These, interestingly, include his “need” to “placate” jehadi elements even while being opposed to terrorism. He needs their support, the argument runs, if only to seek a second term from the existing national and provincial assemblies with the right to wear his uniform that he has described as his “second skin”.
Indian hopes of the US “persuading” General Musharraf to make good his promise to end cross-border terrorism were exaggerated even at the best of times. For, Washington then needed Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan and did not want to “pressurize” Islamabad beyond a point over terrorism in Kashmir. Now the situation has taken a bizarre turn. America’s own displeasure over Pakistan’s brazen assistance to the Taliban in their revival in Afghanistan is manifest. And yet Washington goes on hailing the Pakistani military ruler as a “key ally” in the “war on terrorism”!
India will have to fight its battles against terrorism on its own, as it has done so far.
Militants kill a Lt. Col.
A Lt. Colonel was killed in a fierce six-hour battle between the Rashtriya Rifles and terrorists at Bandipora in Baramulla district, on Friday, June. 30. The troops were raiding a militant hideout when the rebels opened fire and injured three jawans. The soldiers retaliated and killed one LeT militant Abu Talha Hazarwi and two civilians. Lt. Col. V.R. Chauhan, who was leading the operation, went into the hideout and was gunned down. A pall of gloom descended over the Army officers’ colony in Jabbalpur at the news of Lt. Col. Chauhan’s martyrdom. The body of Chauhan who is survived by his wife and two children, was flown there and cremated with full military honours.
Observers say that the forests near Bandipora have become Lashkar-e-Taiba’s strongholds where nearly 100 hardcore terrorists are hiding. The forests are used as secure bases for terrorists to cross the line of control in the Gurez sector.
Most important of all, the Bandipura base served as a centre from which operatives and explosives could be sent for high-profile operations, like the 2004 attack on the Prime Minister, the Delhi serial bombings and the assassination of Jammu and Kashmir State Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone. In these and over a dozen other cases, Lashkar operatives were dispatched from the Bandipora forests.
Sex scandal : CBI submits status report
The CBI has submitted to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court a status report indicating the progress made in the investigation in the sex racket case. The report was submitted in a sealed cover on June 26.
Meanwhile, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, has remanded two former Ministers allegedly involved in the racket to 14 days judicial custody.
In a related development, a senior IAS officer serving in the state government has been taken into custody in connection with the case.
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