The newly appointed J&K police DIG, Dr S P Vaid, has sent a letter to his staff asking them to avoid going home for the next few months. This follows intelligence reports that the Pakistani handlers of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Valley have approved “Operation Tiger”, which targets not just local cops, but their families too. Over the past few months, militants have stormed the houses of several policemen, and warned that their families would face consequences if they did not stop harassing the kin of militants. Some policemen were hustled into local mosques and forced to announce their resignation, and warn youngsters not to join the police force. All this is part of a disturbing new strategy chalked out by Pakistan to raise the stakes in Kashmir.
The main aim appears to be to prove that the uprising is domestic in nature. So far, each time there was a terror strike in the Valley, India would cite the Pakistani weapons and other gear found on captured or killed jihadis to prove the country’s involvement. To circumvent that, militants have been asked to loot weapons from Indian forces and use them for terror strikes. Another tactic: Rush local youth to encounter zones, and help militants escape in the ensuing confusion. Wooing local youngsters to their cause and threatening the families of cops, politicians and local leaders are other parts of this strategy.
Worried officials say there has been a spike in local recruitment since January 2015, with several youngsters (mostly from the average middle class) being touted as the new leaders of terror outfits. Over 250 youngsters have ‘disappeared’ over the past couple of months, and they are apparently awaiting arms and instructions from across the border. While the security forces in Kashmir redraw their rules of engagement given the new dynamics, the political leadership, at the state and Centre, are yet to come up with a long-term plan to deal with the situation. Any such plan must factor in the root of the problem: Pakistan.