E-Paper
Jammu on terrorists’ radar, security forces on their toes
With the killing of an army officer in Doda encounter on Wednesday, the number of security personnel killed by terrorists across Jammu has gone up to 13
With a spike in terror attacks across Jammu region and the casualties inflicted by the Pakistani terrorists with their shoot-and-scoot strategy, the year 2024 so far has been a tough one for the security forces.
With the killing of an army officer in Doda encounter on Wednesday, the number of security personnel killed by terrorists across Jammu has gone up to 13.
Besides, 11 civilians including a village defence guard have also been killed in various incidents of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism across the region this year. The statistics show that the losses inflicted on security forces and civilians are higher than those of the terrorists. Forces have so far eliminated six terrorists across Jammu this year.
In Kashmir, where the security forces have gone all out against terrorists, 21 of them have been gunned down so far. Five security personnel and seven civilians have also lost their lives in the Valley this year.
Put together, the UT has so far recorded the killing of 27 terrorists, deaths of 18 security personnel and 18 civilians. In 2023, the number of killings across Jammu and Kashmir was 44 (30 security personnel and 14 civilians) in 46 terrorist-initiated incidents and 48 encounters or counter-terror operations.
Lieutenant General (retd) Rakesh Sharma, who had five stints in Jammu and Kashmir, felt that the pattern of terror attacks in Jammu clearly indicated a shift in Pakistan’s strategy.
“Since revocation of Article 370, the army went for operation all out and terrorism has almost been contained in Kashmir. However, Centre pulled out troops from Jammu and deployed them in eastern Ladakh post Galwan clash on June 15, 2020. This created voids in the interiors of Jammu region and Pakistan was quick to calibrate its strategy to exploit these voids,” Sharma said.
The Pakistani terrorists, around 50 to 60 in number, who have reached in the upper reaches of Doda, Udhampur, Reasi and Kathua, have adopted the similar modus-operandi of shoot and scoot, he added.
The retired army general strongly advocated for utilising services of the ex-servicemen as village defence guards, saying, “Equip them with automatic weapons to tide over the situation. They are responsible and well trained. And, they are in every village.”
Besides, withdrawal of the forces from Jammu region, Centre’s anti-terror operations in Kashmir post revocation of Article 370 also unnerved Pakistan.
With operations all out across Kashmir, various terror outfits suffered huge losses and a time came when they ran out of support in Kashmir. Eventually, Pakistan changed its strategy and shifted its focus to Jammu region, which largely has a mixed population.
The recent surge in terror attacks in the hilly areas of Jammu region actually began on October 11, 2021, when five army personnel including a junior commissioned officer were killed in an encounter with terrorists at Chamrer forests in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district.
With the Centre possibly failing to grasp the gravitas of the situation at the time, carnage followed in the eight months after August 2022.
Pakistan terrorists with body cameras struck at will, ambushing army convoys and killing 20 soldiers within eight months (August 11, 2022 to April 20, 2023).
However, a senior police officer contested the statistics and felt the need to look at them with a positive perspective.
“There is a shift in our strategy too. Security forces are (NOW) hunting them down. We are maintaining a pressure on them all the time. The spike in encounters should be seen as proactive approach of the security forces, which are working 24x7 to eliminate them. However, in counter-insurgency operations, there is always a risk of life because we are fighting terrorists trained in guerilla warfare,” he said.
