It was music that killed him. On a lazy morning on September 26 in Samba, near Jammu, the lone sentry guarding the camp gates of the armoured regiment, 16 Cavalry, was listening to songs on earphones attached to the cell phone when three men in the black battle fatigues of the regiment arrived. Most of the 16 Cavalry were out of the camp precincts, practicing battle moves with their 40-tonne tanks. The remaining members of the regiment and their families were not expecting danger on that peaceful, sunny day. Only one sentry was posted at the gate instead of the standard two-man detail. Since the new arrivals wore the 16 Cavalry uniform, the sentry thought they were part of the unit and threw the gate wide open. They happened to be terrorists, who riddled his body with bullets and went on to unleash a carnage that claimed the lives of five Army men in a gun battle that lasted eight hours.
The same militants had mowed down five policemen at Harinagar police station, near Kathua, at 6 am that day, and had killed two other civilians when they hijacked first a truck and later a car, to reach the camp. The audacious attack claimed the lives of 12 Indians.
In the longest war between the Indian State and Islamic militants, thousands have died in Kashmir. Terrorism showed signs of a decline, but the dark side of statistics is that more and more security personnel are being killed by terrorists and the number of attacks on Army camps and the police has gone up.
The year 2013 recorded the highest number of casualties among security personnel in the last five years with nearly 50 killed. Police sources say 28 men from the security forces and 18 from the police were killed in militant-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir from January 1 to November 25. According to them, 103 militancy-related incidents have taken place in the state till November against 118 during the same period last year. However, only 17 police and security men were killed in militancy-related incidents in 2012.
There is a combination of factors that is resulting in the daring attacks. The terror groups that were training militants in camps inside Pakistan territory were getting “frustrated” over their infiltration attempts getting foiled more number of times than they are successful. Moreover, due to tough counter-insurgency measures, the Indian security forces have eliminated half-a-dozen of their leadership in the Kashmir hinterland, thereby reducing their cadre numbers in the state.
“The militants have lost operational space due to security forces’ domination and hence they have gone underground these days,” an Army officer said.
He also noted that militants were successful these days in killing a good number of security personnel due to their “better training” in Pakistan. Also, they are now carrying better weapons such as machine guns, radio sets and night vision devices.
METICULOUS PLANNING
On June 24, just two days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to arrive in Kashmir, soldiers from the 35th battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles were on their way to Baramulla in a convoy. Three militants appeared from nowhere at about 4.30 pm on the Hyderpora bypass road, 5 km from Lal Chowk, the heart of Srinagar. They stopped one of the army trucks, opened fire and lobbed a grenade at it. The vehicle stood in the middle of the road like a reminder of peace orphaned with its broken windshield, blood splattered and tense troops standing around it. The brazen attack left eight soldiers dead and injured 16 others.
The heavily guarded Hyderpora Bypass area was cordoned off but before that the militants managed to flee on a motorbike.
They were, however, stopped by the security forces at Barzulla, some 2 km from Hyderpora. In the brief exchange of fire, one CRPF jawan and one policeman were injured. The militants managed to give the forces the slip again, leaving the bike behind this time. This was the second attack in less than three days. On June 22, militants killed two cops in the Hari Singh High Street locality near Lal Chowk. But the Hyderpora bypass attack was one of the deadliest militant attacks in Kashmir in recent years.
It was also one of the meticulously planned terror strikes. “The militants had done a lot of planning. They struck when there the number of security men in the area were the least to provide security cover to the Army convoy,” a senior police officer said. He said the attack, claimed by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), was actually carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)—again a tactic designed to mislead security forces. The terror strike led to the realisation that the militants were now getting “bolder” and were carrying out “close-in” attacks on security personnel, a style akin to that of the fidayeen.
Police sources say that civilian killings have dropped considerably this year. “Eight civilians died in militancy-related incidents in the Valley this year. In 2012, the figure was higher at 14”. The grenade attacks by militants against civilians have also dropped considerably. “As against 25 grenade attacks in 2012, which caused death of two civilians and three security men and injuries to 37 people, including 18 security personnel, only 13 such attacks have taken place this year in Kashmir,” police sources say. They say in the 13 grenade attacks in 2013, a civilian was killed and 25 others, including civilians and security men, injured.
Top police, paramilitary and army officers are analysing why the number of killings of security personnel have gone up despite militancy-related incidents witnessing a further drop. “We are trying to ascertain what went wrong and why security forces were at the receiving end,” said a top paramilitary official. He points to either a change in militant strategy or a rise in the infiltration of militants as factors responsible for the rise in the killings of securitymen.
INFILTRATION INCREASES
Security and intelligence agencies say that cross-border infiltration was higher this year due to tension between Indian and Pakistani troops on the LoC and International Border. They say scores of militants have managed to sneak into Kashmir from different sectors on the LoC, and around 650 terrorists are waiting at various launch pads operated by ISI and Pakistan army to infiltrate into India. Reports say even camps in Muzaffarabad are very much active during this time of the year which is intriguing.
LeT’s political arm Jamaat-ud-Dawa has recently set up terror training camps at Bhawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab and have bought land in Sindh’s Khairpur (75 acres) and Karachi (50 acres) for the same purpose, sources said. “Militants have been sighted in upper reaches of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora. Some of them were transported to South Kashmir as well,” they said.
State Director General of Police Ashok Prasad terms the presence of militants in Jammu province—which witnessed “zero infiltration”—as “problematic”. General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh said at the BSF passing-out parade at Humhama near Srinagar that militants were planning fresh infiltration bids from across the LoC.
“The militant infrastructure is very much intact across the LoC, on the LoC and in the hinterland. There are a lot of activities on launch pads across LoC in PcK and militants are preparing for infiltration into Kashmir in coming days,” Lt Gen Singh said, alerting that the coming months will be tough from the security point of view.
There is hardly one feet ice on the upper hills, so the terrorists-in-waiting across the border are on ice. “An alert was issued by intelligence agencies last week warning that the terrorists will launch a major infiltration bid before Christmas. They are well-equipped and have undergone subsistence training by ISI so that they can launch operations in harsh winter,” sources said.
Intelligence reports claim that militants may try to launch attacks in both Srinagar and Jammu during winter.
“We are also approaching election year and they (militants) may try to stage attacks to make their presence felt,” said CRPF IGP Singh, adding that winter makes it difficult for the security forces to detect a militant—covered under traditional pheran (long gown)—carrying a weapon.
CHANGING TACTICS
The militants keep changing their tack. “Earlier, they used stand-off attack tactics, fearing to get closer to the security personnel. But this year, that has changed,” an Army officer said. Citing the June attack in Haiderp0ra bypass, he pointed out that in urban areas the strategy of the terrorists was to “hit and merge”. They attack targets and then quickly merge with the urban population, which would hinder a fitting response from the security forces fearing collateral damage.
Other types of targets relate to the Army’s routine activities such as road opening parties, which are in the open and are easy to attack. “Instead of operating in larger groups, they operate in batches of two to three. It becomes easy for them to strike and difficult for the security forces to detect them,” said CRPF Inspector General P K Singh.
A recent intelligence input on Al Badar and HuM activities has dropped a bombshell among the security forces. It has warned that ISI is pushing Afghanistan-trained, battle hardened mujahideen into Indian territory.
Intelligence agencies expect a surge in Afghan-trained militants in Kashmir in the coming days due to the gradual pullout of NATO forces from the country. Their argument: Taliban-backed militants need conflicts to keep jihad alive; they would rather sneak into Kashmir to cause death and destruction.
FICTITIOUS OUTFITS
On December 2, Delhi-based intelligence officials, involved in counter-terror operations, were puzzling over a curious terror outfit that claimed responsibility of the deadly attack on a police party in busy Chandoora market of Budgam district. Hours after the incident, ‘Al Nasreen’ sent emails to media houses claiming the attack. Spies with years of experience in handling counter-terror desk were cautious. There were no records of ‘Al Nasreen’, or ‘Wild Roses’, in the Indian intelligence database; neither were they on the radar of the intel team watching splinter groups. “We examined the database and analysed the intercepts. It was confirmed that the terror attack was carried out by HuM and LeT but a new name was floated to introduce the element of deniability by Pakistan-based terrorist outfits,” sources said.
Earlier in September, intelligence agencies were flummoxed by ‘Shohada Brigade’, which claimed responsibility for the Samba and Harinagar attack. Strongly denying the existence of Al Nasreen, Al Jehad, Al Mujahid or ‘Shohada Brigade’, intelligence officials said there was no such terror outfit operating in J&K and a fictitious name was circulated to portray that home-grown terrorists were behind the attack. “It is LeT’s propaganda. We are monitoring LeT, Al Badar, HuM and JeM activities. These groups are still active at the launch pads across the border due to below normal snowfall this year,” sources said.
According to an estimate by the intelligence agencies, there are about 350-odd Pak-trained militants operating in the state. Of them, over 60 per cent are of foreign origin and belong to Pakistan-based terror outfits such as LeT, JeM and HuM. Most of these terrorists—coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia—are active north of the Pirpanjal mountain range.
The number may look insignificant considering the vast expanse of land they operate in but their capability to cause bloodbath can’t be undermined. Take the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Just 10 armed attackers, trained to inflict maximum damage during their activity, held the commercial capital of India to ransom, killing 166 and injuring 300.
The Chadoora attack is a case in point. A single terrorist opened indiscriminate fire on a police party, injuring three policemen, including Station House Officer Shabir Ahmad who died later.
FORCE MULTIPLIER
The attacks might have diminished their numbers but they have certainly not demoralised the ranks of the security forces. Rather, each attack and each personal loss have strengthened their resolve to wipe out terrorism from India’s paradise.
A CRPF jawan who lost a close friend, Amit Tyagi, to enemy bullets in front of his eyes in a fierce gun battle with militants at Mundyari, Palhalan-Pattan in Baramulla district in April 2009, shows exemplary courage and conviction to serve the nation. Two close encounters have failed to impact his ever combat-ready self. The father of two says, “Duty keeps us motivated. We have joined the force to serve the nation and to safeguard the country.”
But like the music that was still blaring out of the dead Samba sentry’s earphones, the guns refuse to fall silent in the Valley of Violence.
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Also read:
Opinion: DC Pathak - The Valley is Still Stuck in the Past
Opinion: Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain - Balance is Answer—No Despondency or Elation
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