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Kashmir : Security forces gear up to counter militants |
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Faced with stepped up terrorist attacks, the security forces are gearing up to meet the challenge of Pakistan-backed militants. The unified headquarters responsible for coordinating counter-terrorist operations by the Army and paramilitary forces have evolved a mechanism to ensure that the anti-insurgency writ runs like a well-oiled machine.
Appreciating the fact that foreign militants, owing allegiance to groups like Pakistan-based and funded Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, are desperate to engineer terrorist attacks in the border state, the security forces are determined to deny them hideouts in the upper reaches of the mountains and remote areas, sources said.
Backed with precise intelligence, the law enforcing agencies are going after these terrorists, neutralizing them and maintaining pressure by way of forcing the militants to shift bases and come down to inhabited areas.
The political leaderhip has directed the security forces to deal sternly with the foreign militants who are determined to step up attacks and target innocent civilians. The Kashmiri militants, however, are not in favour of this and serious differences have cropped up between the foreign and local militants.
Security forces say that recent incidents like the car bomb blasts in Pulwama and Srinagar indicate that terrorist elements are set to intensify their campaign. Infiltration has gone up, though it is yet to reach peak level.
According to agencies monitoring cross-border terrorist activities, new terrorist training camps have opened in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) , distinct from old ones being reopened. These are in villages like Kala Kass, Sensa and Junabai (in Mirpur), apart from stepped up activity in the Pir Panjal areas. Pakistan, they say, is working hard on the infrastructure in PoK and doubled-laned roads from Chakwal to Nowshera and built bridges over the Jhelum at Dina, near Mangla.
Army to recruit reformed militants
In a bid to encourage youth to give up terrorism, the Army has decided to raise 14 battalions in Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from local people, militants who give up arms, will be considered for recruitment. This comes in the wake of encouraging results the Army got when it raised seven battalions of the Territorial Army last year. These units foiled terrorist attacks in the remote areas and provided useful intelligence to the security forces about the hideouts of foreign militants in the mountanious terrain. The Army recently employed 20,000 people for the repair of anti-infiltration fencing along the line of control. The fence was damaged in the heavy snowfall in February.
The go-ahead to raise the new battalions has been given by the Army Chief, Gen. J.J. Singh. He reviewed the security situation with the Operational Commanders in New Delhi last month. The idea to raise battalions comprising local people was mooted last year by the then Army chief, Gen. N.C. Vij. The political leadership readily gave its consent for the venture.
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